Half Chinese, Half Texan

What I Read Today - 2 Chronicles 24

2010-01-26T15:47:00.000-08:00

I don't always have something to say about what I'm reading, but this is a first stab at gathering some of my thoughts . . .

When you start reading 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles, one of the first things you realize is that the kings who followed David and Solomon in Israel and Judah were pretty hit-and-miss. There are a lot of kings who did not walk in the ways of David and who paid dearly for it. The sad thing is that even the ones who did follow God were very flawed too.

In the previous chapter, we read about Jehoiada the priest's dramatic power play, inserting Joash as the new king of Judah and deposing the evil Queen Athaliah.

In Chapter 24, we see that Joash reigned for 40 years (good sign) and that he did what was pleasing in God's sight (another good sign). Then comes the kicker - "throughout the lifetime of Jehoiada the priest" (Verse 2). Joash's devotion to God was only as strong as Jehoiada's.

Joash did a lot of good things as the king--following God for many years, spearheading the rebuilding of the Temple. But when Jehoiada died, it all went out the window. All of the reforms gone, the idols brought back, even the murder of Jehoiada's son, the only one who stood up and called out Joash for his backsliding.

The irony is that when Joash died, he was buried in Jerusalem, but not in the royal cemetary. Meanwhile, Jehoiada (the one who apparently was the power behind the throne all those years) was buried among the kings.

Is my faith my own, or have I been riding the coattails of my parents all these years? Am I teaching my children to have their own faith, or are they just coasting along on my shoulders? And what am I doing to strengthen my walk, my faith, now?

Dad told me this story once...

2009-12-27T17:19:00.000-08:00

For as long as I can remember, my parents have always showered me with stories of the past, their experiences. Most of it was related to being responsible with my money, the importance of following Christ, or some combination thereof.

It never really occurred to me that I should be writing down these stories until after Danielle said, "Hey, you should be writing down these stories." She, of course, was right. My parents were the ones who came over from China, escaping Communist rule in 1959. The story of their departure is an incredible one, all by itself.*

* - Hey, I should write that story down sometime.

Last year, during one of my father's hospital stays, I actually sat down with my laptop and sat next to his bed and actually wrote down a bunch of the history. One of these days, I'll actually get around to refining it and creating a whole story.

Just before Christmas, however, Dad was talking to me about some stuff when I realized, "Wait, I really ought to chronicle some of these stories. And hey, I have a dormant blog that's just begging for new content." A new feature was born.

This isn't meant to be funny, like that stupid "S--- My Dad Says" Twitter account. I write these down because this is the story of my parents, and if I don't document it somehow, it will disappear when they pass. There is no family history, I can't go to some ancestry Web site and look up my family's past.*

*-Can you imagine what a colossal failure one of those sites would be in China? "OK, your family's surname is Lee. You have 135 million matches."

But by saving some of these stories, hopefully my parents' legacy will survive long after they depart to heaven. And maybe it will mean something more to me too...

Anyhow, this is just the introduction. I'll start on the actual stories soon. And the rest of them won't be nearly as long as the introduction was. You're welcome.

So then I realized...

2009-12-09T19:54:00.001-08:00

...that it's been over a year since the last time I or Danielle posted on this blog. And it's been even longer since we did a real post.

Well, life got in the way, along with all of our usual distractions.

All of this is to say that I haven't forgotten about this blog, and I fully intend to start writing again, since there's a lot of stuff to write about.

There's a lot in my head that never makes it out into the open. Some of it for good reason, some of it because there was never an outlet for it. Well, this will be that outlet, at least for me...

So as I was saying...

2008-12-02T22:37:00.000-08:00

Back when I started this blog thing, I figured I would be posting reasonably often. But then work got in the way, we discovered Facebook (here and here) and MySpace (here and here) and LinkedIn (here) and we totally got sidetracked...

Anyhow, all this is to say that I'm back and I'm going to be posting more often... I think part of the problem before was that I was trying real hard to be perfect every time I posted and, well, that's not easy to keep up. And it's not really the way blogs work.

So I'm hoping to post more often, but not nearly as long or planned out. And we'll see where this takes us...

Hey, you got your Tetris in my arm wrestling . . .

2008-04-25T23:53:00.000-07:00

All joking aside, this is actually not a terrible idea in terms of concept (yes, this is faint praise). And you can't beat the "Eye of the Tiger." Oh yeah, if you want to check it out yourself, click here.

Uh oh...

2008-04-20T21:31:00.000-07:00

Guess this means no more lattes for me. Would I be doing any better going soy instead?

And is it bad that I think that subscribing to a men's health magazine will help me lose weight and trim down?

Get a Peep at this...

2008-04-06T21:54:00.001-07:00

Danielle and I have this thing about Peeps, those marshmallowy things that permeate around Easter time: we don't like them. But we do appreciate those people who find ways to use them in creative ways without having to, y'know, eat them...

So, in honor of Christopher Laurie, who celebrated his birthday on April 1 and digs Peeps, we present you with this selection of images from the Washington Post.

To see the rest of them, click here.

I'm Unbalanced

2008-03-26T21:21:00.000-07:00

One of the things that I've struggled with, ever since Danielle and I became a couple and then parents, has been the idea of balance. It's one thing to pour yourself into work and then go hang out with your co-workers when you're off the clock. It's another to handle work and family and leisure, and feel like you're giving all three their proper due.

Given that, I've been very interested in this week's series on LifeChurch's Swerve blog. For those of you who don't know, LifeChurch is on the cutting edge of church presentation, from promotions to worship service production. Swerve is Pastor Craig Groeschel's blog, mostly for church leadership, but very appropriate for anyone who works in a church setting.

Anyhow, Craig's topic this week is "The Myth of the Balanced Life." And he didn't pull any punches in his first post:

One of the most common topics people ask me about is how I balance my life, family, and ministry.
My response is simple, “I don’t live a balanced life.”

In my opinion, the balanced life is unachievable and unbiblical.
Jesus didn’t call us to live a balanced life. He called us to follow Him.

Not sure if I fully agree with the idea that the balanced life is unbiblical, but I think there is something to it. The more that you struggle to keep things in balance, the more likely you are to either fall short in an area or compromise yourself to make it happen.

But if you (and, most importantly, your family) are willing to treat things like an amoeba--adjusting your emphasis as needed--then you can live life not in balance, but in something more like harmony.

There's nothing that says that my life has to be 33% work, 33% family, and 34% leisure (hey, I needed to make it add up to 100%). But during one season, it might be 60% work, 30% family, and 10% leisure. Another time, it might be 30% work, 50% family, and 20% leisure. Either way, that is the situation that God has put us in.

Like I said, it's the kind of thing that requires a spouse and children who are willing to roll with the seasons. And I'm lucky that I have a wife who does understand, and children who love me dearly.

Just another busy Saturday...

2008-03-15T17:27:00.000-07:00

You would think that our weekends would be nice and calm after all we do during the week (Danielle babysitting, Jim working). And I guess, truth be told, it's not nearly as stressful, but we still do a lot.

Jimmy had tae kwon do (or as Emma likes to call it, ta ka go) this morning, and he had a board breaking clinic to attend. So Danielle made a nice bag lunch and Jimmy and I had lunch between his class and his clinic. Jimmy did an awesome job; he was able to break a board (a plastic one) with his hammer fist and with a side kick.

Once we got home, Danielle was checking out ringtones for our new phones, so that kept us busy for a while. Emma, once she woke up from nap, was being playful and she actually went No. 2 on the potty (let's just say that we've been working on this for a while).

So it's been a good day. Now all I have to do is work on Greg's message for tomorrow.

The Rick

2008-03-15T17:05:00.000-07:00

So I was reading CNET's Crave blog on Friday and read about this thing called rickrolling, and I must admit I had not heard of it before.

In short, during a message board or blog discussion, someone posts a link that they say is related to the topic. In reality, the link takes you to a video of Rick Astley singing "Never Gonna Give You Up." Apparently, this is quite the rage. (NOTE: I will not subject you to that here)

Personally, being a child of the '80s, this is kind of distressing. And frankly, I know that Rick wouldn't condone that sort of behavior. In fact, there are lot of things that he wouldn't do.

See this handy chart for a clarification:

Our new toys

2008-03-14T21:41:00.000-07:00

Something that many people may or may not know about Jim and myself are that we are nerds. Now, I say this with great love and affection. We love video games and our gadgets. It is almost a guarantee that for any major holiday, a new techie thing is in the box. It may be the newest iPod or my PSP or his Palm thing.

We are very different about our approach. I love to play with these things, but I don't read the manuals unless I get stuck somewhere. Not Jim, he will read the manuals cover to cover if he feels so inclined. Then I have him set my thing up for me. See, further proof that God knows that we are perfect for eachother.

Why do I bring this up? We got new phones. They are too cool! We both went for the Sony Ericsson's Walkman phone. Jim got the grey one and I got the pink. I always get the one that screams "girl". It is a new slider phone. It has a FM tuner built in. Now I think we were both a bit concerned about how good the radio reception would be when we got it. To our surprise, it is as good as any FM radio we have. Van and Matrix included.

Are you wondering why I need an FM radio in my phone? Since it is not advised to drive with ipods, it may even be illegal, I pretty much only get to listen to what the kids want. Princess music for Emma, Linkin Park for Jimmy (I like that one too), and booty shakin' stuff for Hannah. Since this is my phone, the ear buds double as a speaker phone. Do you have any idea how nice it will be to listen to a station I want to. I can listen to the teachings on KWVE without having it interrupted by complaining. I think I am going to like this. The other cool thing is that when a call comes in, it just rings in and when the call is over, it goes back to the music.

I am so blessed to have so many great kids around me all day, and I love them all so much. However, I am looking forward to enjoying something other than kids music and kids TV in the background. Not to mention the squeals of joy that Emma so loving lets out as she plays in the living room. Very loudly!

We take you to your blog, already in progress...

2008-03-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

In the last month, Danielle and I have created MySpace and Facebook accounts, which makes us late-adopters. So hey, why not go all the way into Web 2.0 and create a blog?

So this will be one way we can keep our extended family up to date on what we're up to. And we can post photos and let our handsome (that's Jimmy) and beautiful (Emma, obviously) children chime in too. Oh yeah, and feature our two cats (Dusty and Shadow) and one dog (Belle).

And we'll get to that . . . um . . . uh . . . soon.