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Sunday, January 25, 2004
i really love the church i go to. mosaic is awesome! i think i've only come to this realization with one other church - harvest - when i was still going to school down in san diego. i look forward to worship on sundays... i really do. the messages are so refreshing and relevant to every aspect of my life. pastor erwin spoke on faithfulness this morning. he touched on 4 passages. one was about moses when the israelites were complaining about not having any water for themselves and their livestock. God told moses to speak to the rock and water would pour forth. moses having encountered the rock/water problem before... instead of trusting God, went about it in his own way, striking the rock instead of speaking to it. as a result, he would never lead the israelites into the promised land. faithfulness isn't dependent on the past... its the choices you choose to make right now. the next was the story of elijah and elisha. (2 kings 2) elijah knew that he was about to be taken up to heaven. God called him to go to bethal, jerico and jordan... and each time elijah told elisha, "stay here, elisha; the Lord has sent me..." but elisha would only reply, "as surely as the Lord lives and as you live. I will not leave you." elisha's one request from elijah and God was that he would receive a double portion of God's spirit after elijah was taken away. his faithfulness to God and his mentor granted him that double portion of God's blessing. there was also the story of elijah on mount carmel dueling with the prophets of baal. (1 kings 18:41)the nation of samaria had been in serious drought for many years... so elijah was sent there by God to demonstrate His power. elijah starts praying for rain. seven times he tells his servant, "go and look toward the sea," and the servant would come back reporting, "there is nothing there." the seventh time the servant reported, "a cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea." each time the servant went to the sea... the vast expanse of blue sky may have caused him to miss the small cloud... but that didn't mean the cloud wasn't there to begin with. only with constant faithfulness and searching will we find that God's been there since the beginning. lastly, pastor erwin mentions naaman, commander of the army of the king of aram. (2 kings 5) naaman was a great man and a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. now naaman heard that elisha the prophet of israel could heal him of his sickness... so off to israel he goes. elisha tells him simply to dip himself in the waters of the jordan 7 times to be healed. not only does naaman not listen, he complains, "i thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. are not abana and pharpar, the rivers of damascus, better than any of the waters of israel? couldn't i wash in them and be cleansed?" only through his servant's convincing does he dip himself in the jordan and ishealed. faithfulness isn't just doing the big things God asks of us... its being faithful in the little things of life. and only when we are faithful in the little things, can we complete and stand the tests of life's bigger trials and tribulations! faithfulness produces perserverance, perserverance produces wisdom... the sun is out, life is decent, and God is faithful. :D xxx Saturday, January 17, 2004 i think with age comes more introspection. i guess i'm getting old. :D what i realized lately about myself, is that i'm not very vocal or articulate. there are some people who can just talk and talk about just anything and everything... even how they talk. they talk about every detail, about every action, about everything they're feeling and just go on and on. its weird. when i have things to say... i'll say them. but that's about it. i don't flower my language with stories or analogies or butter it up with feelings... i just tell what needs to be said. funny coming from a guy who's always thought himself as outgoing. but with time and age... i suppose things change. with everything - LIFE - thats going on around me... i find myself more and more of an introvert. in social circles... i don't say much. i don't do much. i don't feel much. i don't have much fun. i think i need to make a change. because i'm not having fun. and life is all about learning and finding things to smile about... things to enjoy. so many things weigh my heart, my head down... but its a choice. the hardest thing is not in making the choice to not let those things affect me... but actually doing it. there's an internal switch that needs to be flicked... i think i'm getting close to finding it. some pics from my digi: 
bc and his little lady 
jeff acting like a complete idiot in san diego  
the ratpack  
adrian and tony from today's ride up in angeles crest xxx Monday, January 12, 2004 GOD!!! why is life so frustrating. why am i the bearer of such inner turmoil? i'm up i'm down i'm up i'm down. i'm on an never-ending fluctuating current of warm air. i'm so tired of it all. i wish i was a robot with no feelings. i wish i didn't care for anything. i wish i didn't want anything. i don't care. i don't want. i don't know what to do with myself. i just want to disappear for a while... xxx Sunday, January 11, 2004 "It is not the beautiful whom we love, it is the ones we love who are beautiful." unknown got this from my buddy ben's site. so simple. so true. i like it. xxx Saturday, January 10, 2004 WOW. how some things have changed. *sigh* xxx Thursday, January 08, 2004 discipline has kind of been the theme of my week. actually... its more of a resolution for my year. i feel that i've always been a pretty disciplined guy - ever since crew in college - i've been pretty good at setting goals, thinking of ways in accomplishing them, and finally just doing it. last year, with the start of my new job... discipline was definitely needed. starting my day at 6am required a good night's sleep and the will-power to not hit the snooze button repeatedly. :) i rarely missed a day of work, but in retrospection over the break, i realized that the rest of my life was not disciplined. lets just say i was disciplined in a disordered way, whereas i am now striving for organized discipline. this isn't going to pertain to just my sleeping habits... but also my eating, exercising, and mental/emotional/spiritual habits. this past week... i've gone to the gym every night except wed. (break!). i've been eating healthy... salad every night... 3 servings of fruits and vegetables. i feel good! body is kind of tired... but i guess it will just take some getting used to. you know what they say... practice makes perfect... and habits are formed by repetition. no doubt. so along with everything... i've been consistent with my reading of the word and devotionals. my mom sent me this devotional called streams in the desert - it has been dry times for me... and this devotional has more than been refreshment to my thoughts of life and God. i've been meditating on a specific passage... i hope it will encourage and sustain you as well! "... I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances." - philippians 4:11 xxx Saturday, January 03, 2004 i miss... 2003. *sigh* xxx "The real measure of our power is the freedom and opportunity we create for others. Men and women who are marked by integrity point the way to freedom. Leaders of integrity don't simply lead by example; they lead by essence. These leaders call others only to choose the life they have already chosen. They don't point the way down a certain path; they pave the way where no path exists. They inspire others not only by their words and actions, but by the promise of the kind of people we can become. A person of integrity never lies about the journey. He acknowledges in humility where he came from, who he is, and where he hopes to go. His accomplishments, as great as they may be, never overshadow his character." - uprising by erwin mcmaus i aspire to become this type of leader, both at work and in life... a leader of character, integrity, inspiration, humility and hope. xxx Friday, January 02, 2004 life has been rough. lots of up and down emotions and turmoils. but God is faithful... or... more like... i'm not sure if He is... but i'm at the point where i have to see if i can learn to trust Him again. don't got much to write about now... but here are some pictures of some of the happenings in the last part of my year. 
jay leno @ the rockstore! 
jay's jet powered car with 300+ hp and 1000lbs. of torque   
warriors vs. celtics with old sd homies 
my favorite picture of zoe! 
ride up palomar mountain in san d with caleb    
company christmas party pictures xxx |
 name: joshua chiu age: 28 birthdate: march 26, 1979 height: 6 feet weight: 172.5 lbs. location: san diego, ca loves: God, family, kids, motorcycles, sports, music, deep-meaningful relationships, competition over video games, food - any and all |