After a thrilling episode of Cupcake Wars...

GREETINGS EARTHLINGS!!!!

16:50 into the Burn -- picking up the Word at Deuteronomy 18
17:39 -- Deuteronomy down! Yay Pentateuch!
*refill food and water supplies before once again locking self in room*
18:45 -- Joshua down. Definitely revisiting this book!
*worship team from 19:50 onwards for about two hours*
22:30 -- swinging by a mall with a nice coffee shop
22:51 -- Judges down! Chapter 21 left me snickering to myself for a couple minutes. Really really really looking forward to the next book!!
23:00 -- ...Ruth went by way too fast.
24:02 -- 1 Samuel down!
24:51 -- 2 Samuel down!
26:18 -- 1 Kings down!
29:51 -- 2 Kings down! phew this is a heavy set of books to wallow through so quickly...

I'm almost halfway through the Burn in terms of countdown and I've only just passed the 24-hour goal (1 Chronicles 17).
Sidetracked by Cupcake Wars. Oops.

I should mention that I was taking note of interesting passages I'll want to study deeper after the Burn. I lost my compilation of notes halfway through the day though. :( Oh well. God's way of urging me to reread these books soon :)

One striking thing that I do still remember is the apparent rashness of Jehovah. Joshua 11:11, a single example among many passages like it. As I fly over the record of Israel's and Judah's early rulers, the recurring wrath and harshness of God towards evil instills in me a fear of God. Is the fear of God worth the lives of so many men, women, and children that were taken during the many battles of Israel's conquest of the Promised Land? I dunno. God is the judge of that, not me, simply because He is perfect Justice. He defines the rules of the game.

That may seem disturbing atm, but I only see a teeny portion of the big picture. God's ways are far higher than ours. He doesn't have to reveal His ENTIRE plan to us, but He may, step by step.

Over and Out!

4/5 THE PENTATEUCH

Greetings, Earthlings!!!

I. Am. On. DAY ONE of the Bible Burn!

...No. there is no actual combustion going on. My good ole Bible is in good shape.
In fact, it's being put to good use. And it's going to be in (very. very. very. very very very) good use for at least the next 65 hours.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen. This Bible Burn of which I speak represents something very simple: 66 books. 72 hours.

That is MAJOR CONSUMPTION of the Word of God! Can you say hardcore?

Okay okay. Bringing it all back to what's really at work here....I can only say that I am immensely grateful for this love of the Scriptures that my God has infused in me. He's pretty clear about the fact that without His initiation, nobody seeks after the Lord on his own. It is only by His grace that I am willing, if entirely unable, to reciprocate His love and at least respond in some tiny way.

The Bible Burn is one of them.

The saturation in Scriptures has been exhilarating so far. I'm about 7 hours into the 72 total hours-- here's how it's been going so far:

Grab a water bottle, lock self in room...
...aaand timer starts at 00:00 -- Starting at Genesis 1:1
01:15 -- Genesis down!
*complete a few chores, grab a few snacks*
02:54 -- Exodus down!
04:01 -- Leviticus down! I should mention that I had dinner in between chapters 3 and 4.
06:38 -- Numbers down! Phew!

It's been thunderstorming all day and it's actually pretty soothing. It's like the angels in heaven are cheering me on (in really really deep voices... o.O).

The Burn continues!

Over and Out. I leave you with a picture of something I'm working on in between chapters chock full of "sundry laws" and instructions for tabernacle-construction.

A Christmas To Remember

Around this time last year, I was trying to decide whether to go to El Cajon for Winter Missions or not. I prayed that God would take me across California, because it would mean expanding my horizons, reaching out of my comfort zone and shining the Light alongside people I love. I was still planning the following year's Sunday School lessons for my precious 2nd-3rd graders, like "oooh they'll love this game," or "oooh I can use THIS prop when I'm telling THIS story during the winter quarter; the kids will LOVE this."
Around this time last year, my family had already started packing for relocation, but in the midst of studying for finals, practicing for worship team, editing my NaNo, I hadn't really understood that Christmas 2011 would mean a sudden and complete cutoff from what had been everyday constants to me. Sure, I could have told you that I was going to Hong Kong, but I hadn't grasped the fact that a month later, I would have no piano in my house, no worship team practice on Fridays, no Crossroads on Thursdays, no community colleges, no park day, etc etc.
Transition from suburbia to city life was way harder than I'd thought. We'd ended up not returning to the States during the summer. The only predictable thing about my life was school :P So I sulked for a bit. But only for a bit. Because then I began to see that God had answered my prayers explicitly and specifically, beyond anything I had prayed and hoped for.
I wanted to go across California? He took me across the Pacific Ocean. I wanted to expand my horizons, reach out of my comfort zone? He brought me into new places, new peoples, new foods, with new ways of seeing things, doing things, saying things; I'm getting used to seeing/hearing everything in three languages, taking public transport instead of our car. I wanted to shine the Light alongside people I love? He's brought some pretty incredible people along my path, and we've laughed together, cried together, sung together, studied together, served at VBS together, run away from a mob in Sham Shui Po together, etc. :P
I'm a daughter of the Most High. And my castle just happens to be Hong-Kong-shaped. ♥

My name is Faith, and that is my 2012.

What's in a heartbeat?

...a love song. That's what.


So last night I did something daring. I allowed myself to be wooed by the Creator. I surrendered myself to the whispers of the One whose words had the power to bring all the universe into existence.


And what can I say? It was thrilling.


They all say that there's nothing quite so exciting as a hot guy's affectionate embrace and muttered sweet nothingness into your ear. Well, I say, OBVIOUSLY you have never been cradled in the arms that stretched out on a cross just so that you could personally enjoy tender, intimate love and genuine peace and security.


Laying on my back in the middle of the night, I decided to ask a favor of my soul's Lover: Jesus, can you sing me a song?


For a minute I lay there in silence, wondering if that was something I was allowed to ask of Someone so powerful and mighty, who had so many bigger, more important things to think about....


And then I became fully aware of my heartbeat.


Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub.


I caught my breath as I listened to the rhythmic thumping. Dear Lord, it's beautiful. Thank You for the song. Thank You for life.




Through the following morning, I conversed with Him on and off as I sat through classes, did a little homework, watched a few YouTube videos. Over lunch, I told Him all about my exams next month and how frustrating and overwhelming they felt. And He made me smile with His replies; the gentle lub-dubbing never ceasing.


And then I randomly collapsed in a mental breakdown. What a dumb interruption to a perfectly romantic day! It was like time froze for an despairing moment. I felt cornered by myself and other people. My palms went clammy, beads of moisture formed on my forehead. My words were utterly useless to me. My breath came inconsistent as I tried vainly agin and again to organized my scattered senses and to proceed with conversation/work/life.


The only and loudest sound I heard was lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub.

One thing after another...after another...and another...

Dear Keyboard,


Yeah....today, the Stanford OHS launched into the first day of finals week! I took my English final today, I have History of Science tomorrow, and AP Bio on Friday!
If you asked me, on Sunday night, what I thought was my most challenging final, I'd say my English final was the hardest one.
Now that I'm done with my English final, I honestly think that my History of Science final will be the toughest final that I'll be facing.
Tomorrow night, will I be thoroughly convinced that AP Biology will kill me, after English and HSC have been playing with my wits and nerves for a week??


Only time will tell.


Another thing that's been bothering me is how easily the squishy organ sitting in my skull can't hold half as much info as I'd like it to.

Actually, I take that back. The thing that's been bothering me is that my brain holds all the information that is of no use whatsoever to me at the moment, leaving no room for the stuff that really does matter. For example, how come I am obsessed with the philosophy behind Gmail's spam button when I'm supposed to be cramming Tusi couples into my head?

Ah, it's late .... maybe the Tusi couples will stick if I read through them again tomorrow morning. Goodnight hon! Rest well.

(oops I didn't post this until morning. Uh. I'm still sleepy, dude.)

Love,

Fether

NaNoWriMo

Dear Keyboard,

Yes I am aware of the fact that Fireblood has a blog post with the exact same post title as this post does. Wow. trippy grammar. But yes. I accepted this deathly challenge as well.
NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. During the 30 days of the month of November, participants of NaNo attempt to write 50,000 words of novel. That's approximately 1,667 words per day.
I, of course, did not stay consistent with this guideline . I wrote about 800 words everyday. On November 29, I had ~27k words. On November 30, 11:59pm, I had 50,063 words.

Insanity?

I had two classes at my school that day. Yes, the Stanford Online High school. Stanford University=THE best university, therefore Stanford Online High School=THE best high school. #OHSpride. and #randomhashtagsoutsideofTwitter. But I digress. I had two classes there, as well as a fitness test at my local junior college, and mind you, I gained 2% body fat. That does not sound weird at all. But while I was listening to my classmates ramble about dominant and recessive genes as they scribbled out Punnett squares on the Centra whiteboard, and our teacher advising us to make fools of ourselves on the webcam, and lining up behind 40 rowdy college students who were all waiting to have their blood pressure and resting heart rate measured, I was spewing out a nonexistent plotline, passing thousand mark after thousand mark. I think I had about 33k by the time the morning was over.
I passed the 35k word mark and realized that I had a Chinese pop quiz to study for. But never mind that, I wrote on. I'm not sure what grade I got on that quiz yet, but throughout the whole thing I was thinking about my two main characters chilling out in a saloon that my imagination had sketched on the blankness known as writer's block.

I came home from Chinese class, and I can't write about much more after that. A lot of it is blurred into a flurry of pressuring myself to write 2-3k words per hour, being booted out of skype groups by people who claimed that they loved me and just wanted me to write in my novel and stop chatting everyone, screaming at my characters to start helping the synthesis of a plot, my characters yelling something about not being little puppets of my creation, and my screaming that they really were ... it was a wonderful evening.

And I *DID* make 50,000 words. Sure, I wrote like half of those words on the very last day of November, but I made it! Traumatic experience as it was....I cannot wait until next November =)

Sorry for all the beating you had to go through as I slammed my novel out on your precious little keys. You're a resilient ol' pal, Keyboard. ♥

Love from the dearest,
Fether

P.S. what do you mean you're still dusty? I dusted you over the weekend! You ungrateful little board of keys! Curse your high-maintenance status!

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE???

Dear Keyboard,
Yes I know. I have a wonderful name for the third post of Arnold. However, it is not half as creative and random as the first two were. Oh well.
I was compelled to tell you that I had a random outburst after class today. Which was very unexpected (as implied by the word 'random'), given that my Thanksgiving break started that same minute. I strangled Fireblood (who, btw, has an AWESOME blog as well. Click 'Burning Raindrops' on the left sidebar! That is, after reading this post) and screamed "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE!?!??!?!"
It's quite a nice question. Slightly depressing for some, upsetting for many, and thought-provoking for all. Although it was merely a blunder of words when it first came out of my typing fingers, it has gotten me thinking. And I wanted to ramble my train of thought to someone. And here you are, Keyboard! Thou canst not escape the iron clutches of mine rambles! Thou art dooooooomed!!!
Okay. So. First of all. When attempting to answer "what is the meaning of life," I needed to ask myself, "what is life?" WHAT is life? What IS life? What is LIFE? Easy: life is the time between one's birth and death. Why do human beings want to determine the meaning of this period of time? Because one's view of it will decide his actions, words, and thoughts. It defines who we are. The difference between a serial killer and a saint are their outlooks on life. The question "If you were to die tomorrow, what would you change in your life, or would you change your life at all?" will be answered according to one's views on the meaning of life.
Here is my own answer to the big question. As a follower of Christ, I am a bondservant of God. Therefore the sole purpose of life is to obey and honor and glorify Him. This goal has to be the center of every choice I make, every word I say, and every thought I think.
There's my answer, Keyboard.
Oh, and if you ask, "If the world was going to end in 6 months, what would you change in your life?" or some similar question, this is my answer: NOTHING. Haha. A little unexpected, I know. 
Well, see, God is in control of all things, past, present, and future. I believe that the things that are happening to me (and everyone else, Christian or not) are placed before us by God. In my life, that includes school, Fireblood, YOU, and the dear blog-stalkers. I study because I believe that God placed school in my life for a unique and perfect purpose; due to this fact, I want to do my best in my academics, knowing it that will honor and glorify Him. Until further revelations from the Holy Spirit, I'm not going to change my academic life at all, whether the world is ending tonight, tomorrow, six months, or six hundred years. My duty during this stage of life is to learn -- from school, parents, pastors, 6-year-olds, Occupy movements, peppermint bark, etc. We live in an interesting world.


Keyboard, what is YOUR purpose in life?


Love,
Fether
P.S. ....aaaaand, yes. You're still dusty. I've been busy, okay?