Batman Begins training. Christian spiritual formation. The story of my life for the past 4 years... and counting. Much progress has been made by God's grace. But I still have light years to go.

Sure, there are specific areas in this movie, more specifically this scene, that just go against the Gospel. The trainer lacks compassion, his views on justice are different from the Bible etc.

But the overall "spirit of training" really captures the proactive attitude of training that Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 9:27.

Always new levels to attain in the art of spiritual warfare.


"You know how to not gossip, we can teach you how to never look down on people in your heart, just like Jesus."

"You know how to not praise yourself in front of others, we can teach you how to earnestly yearn that they do/appear/become better than you, just like Jesus."

"You know how to be honest with your money, we can teach you how to find greed uninteresting, just like Jesus."

"You know how to not curse your enemy, we can teach you how to joyfully bless your enemy, just like Jesus."

"You know how to avoid watching porn, we can teach you how to be so sexually pure in Christ, so that the thought of having sex with a woman who is not your wife will become just as naturally repulsive to you as the thought of having sex with your biological sister, just like Jesus."

"You know how to not complain, we can teach you how to be so inexhaustibly satisfied in communion with God that coveting seems boring, just like Jesus."

"You know how to keep God in your mind every hour, we can teach you how to keep God in mind every minute, just like Jesus."


gUmmI, you have much to learn still. Continue to humble yourself and learn from the great spiritual masters who have concrete/hands-on experience of mastering these Christlike traits as you follow them as they follow Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1).

Privileged to re-experience some "Great Commission bonding" again

It's interesting how pursuing the Great Commission bonds people together.

When I was a missionary with Campus for Christ for 2 years in East Asia, I colaboured for the Great Commission alongside with people of 6 different nationalities (including my own). Fellow Canadians, such as myself, Americans, Singaporeans, Koreans, Japanese, and Chinese. All for 1 purpose. To fulfill the Great Commission, specifically through the Back to Jerusalem route. There was a type of spiritual camaraderie in Christ that I felt with them that I didn't, and just couldn't feel with some of my Christian friends that I spent years developing friendships with in Toronto. There's something different about proactively pursuing the Great Commission together with other soldiers of Christ... rather than... just... talking about it. Sure, with my Toronto Christian friends, a lot of us talk about the Bible together, pray together, and eat meals together. But that's about it. Maybe it's satisfying for them, but not me. Maybe that's all they're looking for at the moment, but not me.

To draw a simile, that is like a bunch of Americans on American soil, during World War 2, just talking about the war happening against the Nazis in Europe together as well as eating together. Their bonding can only happen to a certain degree as well as kind. In contrast, the soldiers who are actively running together in the same direction against Nazi bullets being fired at them on Normandy Beach on D-Day are going to bond to a different degree, and also different in kind.

The same goes with the Great Commission. I've been almost 2 years "out of the game" of missions ever since I came back in August 2010. I miss that "Great Commission bonding" feel that I had with fellow missionaries in C4C. I haven't had it for a while.

But recently, I was so privileged to encounter a bunch of Koreans in a Korean organization that sends missionaries to unreached people groups in the 10/40 window. As I was sharing tonight at their Church about how God led me to go on missions this summer, my heart re-experienced that "Fellowship of the Ring" feel that I had with people of different nations over 2 years ago. My spirit could feel that unspoken, yet deeply felt bond as I was saying bye to them and thanking them for training me to go to the nation I am going to. My heart could sense the unseeable, yet undeniably felt link between our hearts in Christ as they (all of which who have done the kind of Luke 10 missionary style in the 10/40 window which I am about to embark on), told me that they would pray for me as I went, and received their "goodbye-send-off" prayer.

And yet, I just got to know them a few months ago. Once a week for 8 weeks. Yet, my spirit feels this bond with them that is deeper and incomparable, both in degree and kind, to my friendships with Christian friends in Toronto whom I've known for many years. Just like how the mission of destroying the Ring in The Fellowship of the Ring united the hobbits with the peoples of different races (elves, humans, dwarfs, wizards). It is reasonable to assume that Frodo and Sam bonded with Legolas, Aragorn, Gimli, and Gandalf, in the short but deep time they spent together, in a way that they haven't and couldn't bond with their fellow hobbits in the Shire whom they grew up with all their life.

Thank you Lord, for allowing me to re-experience these great Great Commission bonds once again. My spirit missed them. And you are one who allows these deep bonds to take place in You.

Thoughts on finding a Christlike significant other

“Nobody’s perfect” we all concede. Very true. However, there is a world of a difference between an imperfect person who has prioritized pursuing Christlikeness above all else versus someone who is complacent in his or her imperfection. In terms of a model Christ-centered relationship, I am always struck by my conversations with Kaarina Shieh (Dean of Seminary Students at Tyndale Seminary), who has been married for 15 years. While talking to her about my relationship with my girlfriend, she casually remarked that her and her husband have never got in a heated argument, raised their voices at each other, or emotionally “fought” during these 15 years of their marriage. Taking my whole knowledge of her character into consideration, I can tell that she and her husband are not holding up pent up negative emotions towards each other that have been suppressed all these years. No one can suppress bitterness, anger, or hostile emotions towards one’s significant other for 15 years no matter how good of an actor one is. The only rational explanation for how that is possible is that both partners, although imperfect Christ followers themselves, are nevertheless experientially living from the Kingdom of God on a daily basis in such a way that has extraordinary effects on the moment to moment ups and downs of daily existence. Imperfect people? Of course. But they are imperfect people who have learned and are learning how to consistently step into, operate from, and utilize God’s divine resources from another reality (the Kingdom of God) that cause superhuman effects of being truly loving, caring, and selfless in the 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 sense. The end result is an imperfect but supernaturally loving person who can love others like Jesus in a way that exceeds our natural capacities and is beyond human.

In contemplating what characteristics are important for one’s significant other to have, I would have to say that there is a difference between searching for the gifts of the Spirit in one’s partner, and searching for the fruit of the Spirit in one’s partner. According to the Bible, the gifts of the Spirit are unique in each disciple of Jesus. According to 1 Corinthians 12:7-11, Paul writes that each person is supernaturally gifted by the Holy Spirit in their own unique ways. In addition to the specific examples given in these lists, some of us followers of Christ have a strength of being a leader, others are good thinkers, others are gifted in empathy, other are skillfully artistic, others are skillful with their words and communication and the list can go on and on. What we desire in a significant other in terms of how they are gifted in their strengths may vary according to personal preferences. However, when it comes to the fruit of the Spirit, Paul writes in Galatians 5:22-26 (within the context of Galatians 5:16-26) that the fruit of the Spirit should not be “optional” for the disciple of Jesus. While it is reasonable to think that some members of the Body of Christ are to be teachers, others evangelists, others with the gift of hospitality etc., we should not think that some members of the Body of Christ should only be gentle, while others should only be patient, while others are only kind. In other words, it is the duty and responsibility of each member of the Body of Christ to learn how to have a hands-on grasp of how to be led in the Spirit in such a way as to naturally produce the fruit of the Spirit as a byproduct of abiding in Christ. This, on the human side of things, is done through connecting with God consistently through Christian spiritual disciplines.

 I would say that when choosing a significant other, the gifts of the Spirit in the disciple of Jesus that one is considering should be secondary and even optional according to certain preferences. However, the fruit of the Spirit should not be optional, and although no one is perfect, the person under consideration should be a person who has it as their priority to abide in Christ so deeply and consistently that the fruit of the Spirit naturally grows in the person. A person who is so connected with God that the fruit of the Spirit are growing abundantly in them is a joy, pleasure, delight, and thrill to be with (provided that you have social and spiritual chemistry with them). If you have the added bonus of being romantically attracted to them, and the attraction is mutual, you have found a partner where, although you both will never be perfect, you can have the type of Christ-centered relationship where you two can experience a marriage where both partners do not raise their voices angrily, vent out frustration, and emotionally fight with each other for fifteen years. Effortlessly and easily. Even if fights, outbursts, and tension do arise from time to time, they will not be the regular pattern of things, and the texture of the relationship will be qualitatively different from the texture of the relationship where one or both members of the relationship do not have abundant amounts of the fruit of the Spirit to produce superhuman effects of Christlike character in each person as a result from being led by the Spirit to deeply abide in Christ.

I am so immensely blessed to have found my current girlfriend who strives to deeply abide in Christ through being led by the Spirit to have such great character. The fruit of the Spirit definitely are exhibited in her character and she is such a joy to journey together to serve God with and grow with in God. What a blessing to be with her.

Meditating on Scripture can actually be more engaging than any favourite hobby of ours

The events of John 7:32, 45, 46 truthfully are just overwhelmingly stunning.

"Earlier, when the temple police came to arrest Jesus, he sent them away, telling them it wasn't time yet. They actually went away, much to the confusion of the chief priests and Pharisees. Their explanation was, "No one ever spoke the way this man does." - Jan Johnson

Temporarily don't concentrate on the theological truths that can be extracted from this passage (as important as they are in themselves). For the moment, just imagine a modern day equivalent of this passage occurring. Let's say Jesus chose to live in 21st century North America with the average physical appearance of one of us. And the police chief of the district that he's living in sends cops to arrest him. The cops arrive and are ready to arrest him. They talk with Jesus. Then, they are sent back empty handed to the police chief. The police chief asks them "why didn't you arrest him and bring him in?" And the poor cops reply "Because no one ever spoke the way this man does."

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The output of the power of Jesus' words create mind-blowing effects that vastly outweigh an impact coming from mere human capacities. The supernatural/divine power of the words he spoke had an effect that was super-human, divine, and not of this world. That is the only way to explain how a person who is supposed to be arrested by cops can send them back to their police chief empty handed without the person himself engaging in self-defense, hostage taking, threats, name calling, or blackmailing the police. Just speaking words peacefully, calmly, with love, and without hate. Words with an impact that is not only different in degree but in kind, which are coming from another world.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbYQb-WhOak

Friggin' think about the implications of this man! CRAZY! Now that's a Lord I want to follow!

What Does it Mean to be Saved? The Inherent Connection Between Justification and Sanctification

For my second systematic theology 2 paper, I wrote an essay about my understanding of salvation, and the need for an inherent connection between one's understanding of justification and sanctification. Although it's kind of long, I decided that I would post it. For those interested, here it is.







In modern Protestant theology, the term “salvation” immediately brings up a host of connotations associated with its meaning. At times, the mention of the word salvation automatically brings up the notion of substitutionary atonement where Christ took the punishment from God for our sins so that we will not have to experience God’s eternal wrath because Jesus bore it upon himself already (Isaiah 53:5, Romans 3:25). This substitutionary atonement is then supposed to enable Christians, those who have chose to accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, to attain eternal life in heaven with God because Jesus Christ has provided a way to connect sinners with God through the penal substitution that was enacted when Jesus was crucified and then resurrected from the cross. The notion of sanctification is then sometimes included as an afterthought of what it means to be saved, where the Christian, through the Holy Spirit after one has been justified through Christ, grows in grace, holiness, and good works. Although I agree with these orthodox ideas of the Protestant understanding of salvation, it is my understanding that the popular understanding of salvation in our Western culture lacks a logical connection between salvation and sanctification that is intrinsic and natural in and of itself, rather than just theoretically being stated that the two are connected on an abstract level somehow. Upon theological reflection and understanding, I have arrived at the conclusion that the notions of justification and sanctification in the Protestant understanding of salvation need to be understood in a way that makes sanctification a natural outworking of justification that is intrinsic in its essence, instead of being incidental in its nature. It is my understanding that a proper understanding of heaven will aid this endeavour.


If heaven is understood merely as the absence of eternal punishment, then it follows that all humans would want to spend their afterlife in heaven, rather than in hell. However, if heaven is understood as a place where everything and everyone is going to worship God (serve God out of reverence for who he is) for the rest of their afterlife, the question of whether or not a person would like to spend eternity there has to be rethought carefully. Since it is clear that some humans in this lifetime abhor the idea of worshipping God an hour or two a week, it would be absurd to think that these same humans would desire to spend the rest of their afterlife in a place where worshipping God every moment will take place.


With this proper understanding of heaven in mind, it is easier to see why the idea of justification under the penal substitution model of salvation in and of itself can have a difficult time showing the intrinsic connection between justification and sanctification. While being helpful to understand certain aspects of soteriology, the penal substitution model of salvation may find it challenging to show how its idea of justification (God declaring a sinful person to be “just” on the basis of the righteousness of Jesus which leads to God’s peace, God’s Spirit, and God’s “salvation”) inherently causes one to desire to spend eternity in a place where the core and central activity is going to be the eternal worship of God. With this understanding of justification under this model of salvation, it is problematic to see how the “justification” of a person in front of God with the “imputed righteousness of Christ” inherently causes the justified person to have a transformed inner desire to spend an eternity worshipping God, instead of spending an eternity worshipping something idolatrous (whether it is money, fame, power, or lust).


An illustration of a legal judge in human affairs may be of some help in illustrating this point. Suppose a judge is to justly punish a criminal who stole a new car worth fifty thousand dollars from a car dealership. However, just before the judge punishes the guilty person, a generous businessman decides to pay the fifty thousand dollars out of his own pocket to take the punishment for the criminal. All the criminal has to do is to “freely accept this gracious offer”. If he does, then the criminal has the legal right to be declared “righteous” in front of the judge, and is legally absolved from the punishment for his crime. However, it is possible for the absolved criminal, who accepts permission from the judge to accept this gracious offer from the businessman, to have unchanged desires in his heart to continue stealing after he has been acquitted. Although he is declared “righteous” in the eyes of someone else, namely the judge, and even may have a degree of gratitude in his heart, he may not have decided to become the type of person who finds stealing unattractive, and the opposite of stealing (which we will identify as generosity for the sake of illustration) attractive. For the judge to grant him the freedom that a law-abiding citizen has in civil society, because somebody else has paid the price for his crime, has no connection of whether the inner desires of his heart want to be a law-abiding citizen that honours societal laws in the future.


In the Christian understanding of “eternal citizenship”, the true Christian is understood to be a person whose ultimate citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20) while being a “foreigner” in this world (Hebrews 11:13-16). With this in mind, it can be understood that the destiny of someone justified is to go to a country where everything and everyone worships God forever. This is where a proper understanding of sanctification can help us understand the inherent link between itself and justification. It is my understanding that a crucial (although not exhaustive) aspect of Christian sanctification involves the changing of one’s inherently sinful desires into inherently holy desires. Sticking with this theme of going to a country where one worships, serves, and reveres God for the rest of one’s life, in Hebrews 8:10 we are told of the New Covenant where God will start to change the hearts of the people who truly belong to him. He will do that in a way that involves the laws of his country (the Old Testament laws including the Ten Commandments) being “written on the hearts” of his people. In contemporary terms, this involves the laws of God being internalized in one’s heart which results in changing one’s heart’s longings to pump out desires that are inherently in conformity to the order of God’s kingdom.


With this in mind, perhaps an analogy following the same theme of citizenship will help us grasp how a biblical understanding of justification should be inherently linked with sanctification. Suppose that one is a son of immigrant parents from China. This son, while he is in Canada, commits a crime against the Chinese government. Since he has committed treason against the Chinese government, he is denied access to ever again enter and live on Chinese soil. However, someone else has graciously offered to take the punishment for his crimes against the Chinese government, so that he is “justified” in the eyes of the government of China and has gained his citizenship in China. If only this were the case, it does not follow that this act of the Chinese government naturally causes the son to desire to live in China, where (for the sake of illustration) Chinese people eat Chinese food on a daily basis, interact with others using Chinese customs, speak the Chinese language in everyday life, engage in Chinese arts and entertainment every night, want to abide by the laws of the Chinese government, and want to serve and honour the Chinese government. Whereas, if the Chinese government not only accepts the “justification” of this son of Chinese immigrants, but also sends a native Chinese citizen to live with this son in Canada to model, embody, promote, and encourage this son to desire more and more the permanent destiny of one day spending the rest of his life in China, the yearnings of his heart will inherently change and he will have greater and deeper longings to live in his home country more and more over time, because he will be desiring the natural outworking of what he was “justified” in attaining by grace.


Returning to the Protestant understanding of justification and sanctification, this illustration shows how justification and sanctification, while distinguished from one another in abstract analysis, cannot and should not be separated in reality. If one fundamental (although not exhaustive) aspect of sanctification is the inherent changing of the desires of one’s heart from originally desiring to hate, be proud, covet, and worship something created to the changed desires of desiring to become the type of person who is more loving, humble, content, and desirous of worshipping the Creator Yahweh, then one can better understand how justification (a sinful person being “just” on the basis of Jesus’ righteousness so that one day he/she can enter heaven) is intrinsically connected to sanctification (partially the changing of one’s sinful desires to holy desires congruent with the order of God’s kingdom which are perfectly implemented in heaven). Although one is never justified in God’s eyes because of the changing of one’s heart’s desires, we have seen here how one cannot really be justified in the end if one does not have a change of desires in one’s heart as an intrinsic effect of justification.


One practical implication of this failure to see the inherent connection between justification and sanctification in modern day Protestantism is the erroneous notion that one can be saved by Jesus without longing and yearning for the journey of becoming like Jesus (which includes having the transformed desires that Jesus had while he was on earth). This, in turn, sometimes leads to the notion that one can be a “saved Christian” without being a disciple of Jesus, who is someone who desires more and more to follow Christ and emulate his lifestyle not because one has to, but because one desires to. Although one will never be perfect in this lifetime, a truly saved Christian should be one who, in this life and the life to come, is not only saved from the guilt of sin (eternal damnation), but from the power of it as well. And one is saved from the power of sin largely by having sin lose its inherent attraction, so that it is no longer attractive, but disgusting. One reason for this is the fact that heaven will be a place where sin is not only absent on the menu of spiritual food, but is realized to be as distasteful, filthy, and repulsive to play with as dung.

witnessTO.com post

Some time ago, witnessTO posted a blog entry that I wrote for them about my journey in labouring for city wide revival in Toronto. It describes some of my spiritual journey for the past 3 years or so.

http://witnessto.com/post/17604741240/sharpening-for-city-revival

Gratitude to various people who have equipped me in their own respective ways

There have been various people I have come across within the past 10 years or so who have, both intentionally and unintentionally, equipped me to learn the particular skills that they possessed.

As this year comes to an end I got a little reflective and realized that I owe a lot of gratitude to these people whom God has used to cultivate certain traits in me with. There have been many areas that I have grown in that I have learned by virtue of studying from a variety of people in my life who had their own unique craft.



In no particular order, here are some of them:

1)Overcoming self-consciousness in potentially awkward situations. Learned from Sam Hui, my best friend in highschool.

This is something that, in my opinion, can't be learned (at least fully) from books. The reason why I think that, is that this trait is something that pretty much most sane human beings would want to possess. Who in their sane mind would not want to overcome the psychological-straightjacket of self-consciousness in "awkward" situations that typically render the average person socially paralyzed as to how to get oneself out of the "awkward turtle" situation? We have probably all told ourselves at times to "not be self-conscious!". Yet many of us still have this problem despite telling ourselves not to have it. It is not an ignorance problem.

I am incredibly blessed to have hung around this individual a lot in highschool. He had absolutely zero-shame when he encountered (and sometimes engineered) awkward moments with people. I have no idea how he did it, and still does it, but he seems to have a forcefield around his mind that makes him immune to being paralyzed by the socially-induced fear of other people's opinions of doing "stupid"/"weird"/"strange" things. And it rubbed off onto me as I hung around him a lot in highschool. This is a trait that is caught more than it is taught, and I see how my social interaction is highly influenced by all those highschool years of being molded by him.

One anecdote. One time, as he was doing his homework in the hall, either he or someone else accidentally spilled the juice in a juicebox onto his schoolbag. He stopped doing his homework, used his mouth to suck the juice off of his schoolbag, then continued doing his homework. All in front of others. He wasn't oblivious to how weird people thought he was. He was aware of it alright. But he's just... him. His forcefield is strong. He acted as if he was the only person in the hall too. Respect.

2)Growing in the art of verbal expression and the skill of articulation. Highly influenced by my first-year-university crush and Joseph Tam.

Before and up to highschool, I didn't really care about developing my skills of articulation and up until then, language was used merely for utilitarian purposes and I was oblivious to the intrinsic value of verbal-craftsmanship. Then, I fell for a girl who was really articulate with her words. When I stalked her blog, I fell in love with her language as well. I really admired her linguistical competency that was so expressive of her very dramatic adolescent experiences. I then endeavoured to overcome my linguistical limitations and to learn how to speak/write more elegantly, eloquently, expressively, and poetically.

Then Joseph Tam, a friend of mine who is just crazy with his language skills, helped me sharpen my craft more. Being very forthright in his corrections and advice, he helped me improve in my journey of becoming a wordsmith.

9 years later, I am so indebted to these 2 individuals who helped me develop this craft. With each increasing year, I have realized more and more the importance of effective communication and how word-choice and word-usage is so important and influential in human affairs. Glad to have developed this craft.

3)Critical thinking with a Christian worldview. Ravi Zacharias opened the door to this.

Although I don't know Ravi Zacharias as a personal friend (I have only shook his hand twice, I think), he was the one who "opened the door" to the world and glory of Christian thinking. Before I encountered him, I never thought that thinking and learning could be fun. It was only after encountering him that I fell in love with loving God with my mind, critiquing things in society taken for granted, defending the Christian worldview intellectually, and just learning more about God and the world through a Christian lens. It was fascinating! It still is!

4)Putting a label on and developing the spiritual gift of "culturally relevant parable making". Jan Johnson helped me develop my theology of culturally relevant parable making as well as inspire me to grow in it.

Through her, I realized that Jesus was doing this all the time. He usually would not give culturally irrelevant analogies to illustrate spiritual truths. When I read the words (paraphrased) that Jesus could take any everyday object in your culture and tell you truths about the Kingdom of God through it, that just opened the door to putting a label on this gift and developing it. Although this gift is not explicitly mentioned in the several lists of spiritual gifts that Paul writes about in his epistles, since Jesus was doing this all the time, I think it is one. I now believe that, since Jesus would not give Korean analogies to Jewish audiences, or African analogies to roman audiences, if he were physically with us today, he would not (at least primarily) give Jewish or Greek analogies to our contemporary North American audiences.

I did think of culturally relevant analogies to express spiritually discovered truths before, but Jan Johnson helped me to put a label on it, gave me biblical basis for it, and inspired me to grow more in it.

5)Reading people. Irene Wong, my co-leader in East Asia.

Before, I wasn't that good in reading people. A lot of it was hit or miss. But God blessed me with a co-leader while being a missionary in East Asia who was naturally gifted in reading people. She showed me the importance of it, and gave me some starter tips of how to grow in it.

That inspired me to do my own research and practice more. I researched Paul Ekman as well as other psychologists who have devoted their entire working lives to studying body language and facial expressions. I have grown a lot in it due to this help.

And I am becoming more and more convinced of the value and premium of being able to read people well. I am significantly better than how I was doing before thanks to Irene and others.

6)Charismatic listening to the Holy Spirit. Colin (don't know his last name) and Francis Jean.

Since I grew up Baptist, I didn't know how to train myself to listen to specific verbal messages the Holy Spirit had to tell me. I mean, I did feel impressions from the Holy Spirit about some things before, like conviction of sin, desire for the Great Commission to be fulfilled in certain parts of the world, and general growth of intimacy felt with God. But I never was able to hear very specific verbal messages from the Holy Spirit about the present, the future, my classmates, my friends, myself, strangers etc.

Colin opened the door when he first prophesied on me in November 2010. Then I kept asking him for practical advice/wisdom in this area of the gift of prophecy. Then through a friend, Francis demonstrated more of it to me and gave me practical tips as well as a workbook that has helped herself a lot in this area. And this workbook has helped me a lot too!

Without these (and others) I wouldn't have grown in this trait!

There are just some of the areas I feel that God has blessed me to grow in that I am severely indebted to him for. Through others, God has equipped me in various areas to be better in any future ministry as well as just to become a better blessing to those I want to serve in Christ.

Thank you Lord.

A Surface Level Order vs. Deeper Level Order of Things

Which smile is the fake/artificial smile? Which smile is the genuine one? A year ago I would not have been able to tell you which one.

Although I knew before that not every smile that I saw was genuine, I did not know how to tell which smiles on the face were natural, effortless, and sincere. I mean, although I try not to give too many fake smiles, I do give them from time to time. When I do, I don't do it intentionally to deceive, but because some situations seem too awkward not to put a smile on your face (e.g. if you happen to be in a really sad mood and someone happens to really go out of their way to do you a favour and you don't smile back when you say thank you, it just seems rude). I reasoned that if I, a reasonably sane person (at least I like to think I am), sometimes gave fake smiles, chances are that most of the rest of the sane human population also sometimes did as well. I knew this in theory. However, although I knew that theoretically some of the smiles I saw on other people's faces throughout the day were fake smiles (perhaps around 50% give or take depending on what type of people I was hanging around), I just didn't really know how to skillfully differentiate which ones specifically were real or fake about a year ago.

The point is that although I knew that there was more than what met the eye on a "surface level order" of things (what was taken on people's faces at "face value" [pun intended]), I knew that there was a "deeper level order of things" that one could gain access to which enabled one to understand and detect truthful smiles from false smiles and differentiate truth vs. deceit in general in one's social environment.

Although I did not yet have first hand grasp of this "deeper level order" of the social world, I really did want to understand this "actual world behind the world" of social reality. I wanted to peek and see behind the curtain of voluntarily induced facial expressions and be enlightened to what was behind it. I was not satisfied with just knowing that theoretically there was a deeper order of things. I wanted to experientially grasp it so that I could have access to its liberating truth of what people are actually thinking/feeling in moments of social interaction.

So I did my homework. I studied facial expressions and emotions on an academic level (non of that pop psychology stuff, life's too short to risk one's life/knowledge on that stuff). I decided to study the academic work of one of the world's most influential thinkers according to Time Magazine. Paul Ekman. He has spent decades on studying the microexpressions on people. Long story short, this guy knows what he's talking about in his area. I studied his stuff, trained myself with his material, watched Lie to me which was a show based on Paul Ekman's professional research and read Dr. Ekman's academic commentary on it afterwards, and got considerably better in the skill of deception detection and the art of reading people. Although I am far from perfect and still make mistakes in my judgments at times, all in all, I am way better than I was before (I used to not be good at it).

This is what some of his stuff is like:





The point at what I'm trying to get at is that after all this research/study/training I am now somewhat privy to this "deeper order" of the social world, the "world behind the world" of my social environment. I am getting longer and longer glimpses of what is going on behind the curtain of voluntarily commanded facial expressions. For example, I can sometimes detect if someone is trying to hide his/her discomfort even though the content and tone of his/her words may seem like he/she is comfortable. I can sometimes detect if someone is starting to get angry even though the content and volume of his/her speaking may seem calm. And I can sometimes detect fake smiles.

Now there is a trade off here. I used to be for the most part oblivious to what was actually occurring on the deeper level order of things although I knew it theoretically existed. But since I didn't know what was actually going on in the world behind the world as I was interacting with people, in a sense I was relatively more blissful. In a way, the saying "ignorance is bliss" was kind of true to me in this respect. When I actually thought that people were okay when their unconscious body language and involuntary/uncontrollable/subtle facial reactions showed that they weren't, I was ignorant of their discomfort and hence blissful. When people said they weren't angry but their unconscious body language and a slight shift in their eyebrows and eyelids showed otherwise, I was ignorant of their hidden anger and hence blissful. When people gave fake smiles, I (sometimes) thought that they were really blissful, and hence seeing them blissful made me blissful.



Now, after entering into a deeper order of things in social reality, I can no longer return to the bliss I once had. Because I am becoming less and less ignorant of what's actually going on in the "world behind the world". The trade-off of bliss was the truth. And would I really want to go back? To return to my previous bliss at the price of being ignorant of the truth? I wouldn't. Although short-term bliss is good, truth is more wise in the long-run. Although it can be painful to know someone is faking happiness and positive feelings towards me, I would rather know that they are faking it rather than be ignorant of it. Also, if I can detect concealed discomfort, I can try to subtly offer comfort to those who are being troubled by hidden discomfort. If I can detect concealed anger, I can try to do what I can to be a peacemaker and help the angered person (and others) to calm down and maintain inner peace as well as interpersonal peace. If I detect fake smiles, I can try to see what's really wrong, and take appropriate action to try to really cheer the person up if it happens to be in my control.

I say all this because something extremely similar is happening in the spiritual realm of things right now for me.

Allow me to illustrate first with an analogy of what it feels like.

It feels like my level of analyzing a wooden checkered board that had moving pieces used to only have the depth (or lack thereof) of a checkers level of analysis. I used to see and be comfortably familiar with some pieces of the board moving 1 or 2 spaces diagonally. And seeing these pieces move 1 or 2 spaces diagonally made sense to me. That "fit" with my checkers' interpretive framework. Things stayed within my "box"/level of understanding of how things ought to move, how they could move, and why they could move.



However, after a while, it is as if I noticed some pieces of the board moving straight. Some pieces started to move sideways and backwards. Some pieces could move both sideways and diagonal. Some pieces that could only move forward and diagonal one space at a time but could turn into the pieces that could move anywhere sideways and diagonal. Some pieces could jump over other pieces and move in an "L" shaped direction. After noticing that things didn't always "fit" with my old checkers-paradigm of understanding the checkered board, I knew that theoretically a deeper order of things existed and that I needed to discover, unlock, and gain a first-hand grasp of how this deeper order of things worked to comprehensively understand what the heck was happening! The surface level order of checkers-analysis wasn't working anymore! My previous paradigm needed to descend to a deeper and more profound paradigm called the Chess interpretive framework.



The initial result? Things felt unfamiliar and odd, yet strangely coherent at the same time with strangely reliable explanatory power. Things started to weirdly make sense as paradoxical as that may sound. That was how it was initially. But this deeper level order of spiritual analysis has started to become second nature to my spiritual awareness now.

The book of Proverbs in the Bible talks a lot about the "simple" vs. "wise" (those who have understanding and insight). Now by "simple" I do not mean the opposite of complex. It is possible to be complex + shallow (complex without insight) and complex + deep (complex with insight [e.g. Romans 7-8]). It is also possible to be non-complex + shallow (non-complex without insight) and non-complex + deep (non-complex with insight [e.g. many of the parables of Jesus]). One can visualize a quadrant to separate the four categories. The point is, what is to be desired is wise insight (as the writer of Proverbs talks about in the first 4 chapters of Proverbs) . By "simple" here I mean the opposite of deep insight. By "simple" I mean the opposite of wisdom which is folly. This is the type of simpleness that we should avoid. In a way we are called to be simple. But in a way we aren't.


"How long will you simple ones love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge?"
-Proverbs 1:22

"Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of understanding"
-Proverbs 9:6

"the woman Folly is loud; she is undisciplined and without knowledge"
-Proverbs 9:13

"A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps"
-Proverbs 14:15

"A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it"
-Proverbs 22:3


Before I engaged in my journey of spiritual formation, the Christianity I was part of was too simple. Simply true, but too simple nevertheless. It may have been appropriate for a Christian in his/her first year of walking with Christ. But after a while, I felt like this "surface level order" wasn't all there was. To quote a Matrix line, there seemed to be a "splinter in my mind" that I couldn't quite put my finger on, but sometimes mystically felt nevertheless.

Although the "elementary teachings" of Christ were a good foundation (Hebrews 6:1) such as:

-you are a sinner
-Christ died for your sins
-repent in your heart from the former way of life that ultimately leads to death
-have faith in Jesus for eternal life
-rely on God's grace daily to sanctify you

I wanted deeper solid food, not milk anymore (Hebrews 5:12-14).

If I were truly to "grow in knowledge and depth of insight" (Philippians 1:9), I could not just remind myself of these elementary truths without going any deeper. And I am not talking about the type of "going deeper" where I just engage in more academic/cerebral study of biblical studies (although that has it's place, it doesn't automatically lead to depth of insight. It can also result in complex + shallow just like the Pharisees). There is a difference between adding facts to one's brain and entering into deeper and deeper levels of insight. It is possible to quote a ton of scripture and remain at a shallow level of analysis.

I can't fully explain it, but it seems that the journey of spiritual formation (which emphasizes the wisdom of Jesus and how to live wisely just as how he lived wisely and avoid folly) has allowed me to plant my feet in a "deeper level order" of the spiritual realm. Although I knew that theoretically a deeper order existed, I did not have first-hand experiential awareness of it during the days that my feet were still planted on the surface level order of the "elementary truths" of the Christian life.

But by God's grace (a lot of it was by reading Dallas Willard stuff, grasping it in my mind, then slowly but gradually becoming aware of it on a hands-on basis) I have been gaining steady footing on this deeper order of spiritual reality as opposed to staying on the surface order of it. I have been getting longer glimpses of what goes on behind the "spiritual curtain of how things appear at first sight". And walking through this "spiritual reality behind the spiritual reality" has shed insightful truths to me that I have been both intellectually and experientially ignorant of before. Once again, the trade-off between ignorance + bliss vs. truth + sobering feelings has emerged, just like how this trade-off has emerged in my understanding of social reality.

It is really hard to articulate what this really feels like. Because, after all, it is spiritual stuff, and spiritual stuff is non-physical. The best I can use is analogies. I feel like Neo in The Matrix. He used to analyze reality through the physical world of the 5 senses before he got "converted". Then, he came to the light, was able to plant his foot into the deeper order of things, then operate from the "world behind the physical world" and from a first-hand experiential knowledge of this deeper order. For him, checkers turned into chess. He learned how to move the pieces on the checkered-board in ways he never understood before through understanding a chess-interpretive-framework.



I feel a little like 1:03-1:06 in this clip

I can give a couple concrete examples of what "seeing the deeper order under the surface order in the spiritual realm" is like.

1)When Christians struggle with doing the right thing even though they have the good intentions in their heart.

Let's say that on the "surface level" a Christian suddenly decides that he wants to not care about what others think about him, and be the kind of person who just isn't bothered by what other people's opinions of him are. Then he enters a social situation where someone humiliates him in front of others. He then finds him defending himself in front of others, explaining to others elaborate background information on his side of the story in order to make himself look good. Well, he just did what people who care a lot about what other people think did - defend himself. Why is this the case even though he had absolutely good intentions to only want to care about what God thinks? On the surface level order of things, this makes absolutely no sense.

However, when we descend into a deeper order analysis of the situation, we find that although this person knows that God wants him to only care about what God thinks and that he's actually really having the right intention to only care about what God thinks, his bodily responses are still stuck in their old habits of defending himself. His physical tongue literally is ready to cock back and fire like a gun as soon as he finds his reputation at risk of being sullied. This all takes place in his body which operates for the most part outside of his conscious control. It is like having the perfect intentions to want to learn how to type on a computer keyboard with all 10 fingers at once after one has only typed with 2 fingers previously for many years. Although the typing-learner genuinely desires to ingrain typing habits in all 10 of his fingers so that one day his muscle-memory is so solidified that he can type 100 words per minute, his fingers have many years of bad typing habits. Just like the fingers, the tongue literally has to be retrained with proper habits to change. Just like how one cannot shed one's native/mother-tongue accent when learning a foreign language just by "deciding to" in a one time decision of the mind, one cannot just all of a sudden get rid of years and years of stored up habitual responses of the body to defend oneself with one's tongue. Knowledge and intention are not enough. The problem is not an ignorance problem. The problem is a problem of training and discipline. Just like how if a professional athlete just "talks about winning", has the best intentions to win, but doesn't engage in any rigorous training at all, he is screwed on the court/field. The same goes with the person who has the intention to only care about what God thinks but doesn't engage in the rigorous/long-term training of the discipline of one's body to not care about what others think.

And it is not only the case that caring about what others think makes you defend yourself with your tongue. Defending yourself with your tongue makes you care more about what others think.

Without deliverance from this repetitive feedback loop, one will forever be enslaved by other people's opinions. Sure, if you're a genuine Christian, then God will forgive you for the sin of caring too much about what others think. But being delivered from the guilt of sin is different from being delivered from the power of sin. Although God will forgive us of all future guilt of sinfully living under the control of other people's opinions, seriously, who wants to continue to be enslaved by the power of what other people's opinions are? Sure, if you keep on eating expired and mouldy food, you might not die and the doctor will give you medicine, but who wants to experience the stomach pains of food poisoning and eat bitter medicine every few days for the rest of their lives if they can learn to simply avoid eating expired and moldy food?

2)When Christians struggle with temptation in one's mind.

Let's say on the surface level a Christian is constantly bombarded with temptations that enter his mind (e.g. thoughts of committing adultery). This Christian seems to be constantly tempted in his mind of whether or not to commit adultery. Sometimes his thoughts give in. Sometimes they don't. Either way though, he is in a constant struggle because these thoughts have a see-saw-effect in his mind frequently without any net progress over many years.

However, as we descend into a deeper level order of analysis into this Christian's life, one realizes that he was not understanding that there is an even deeper struggle that he should focus on in his mind. The struggle is not merely with what his heart's desires want during the moments of temptation. The struggle is with what his heart's desires want to want. This is the deeper interpretive framework which he has to address in order to get to the root of the issue. The struggle is ultimately whether he desires the desire to lust, or whether he desires the desire to not lust. During the time of temptation, he has to work on not wanting to want the evil that he wants now, and to want the good that he doesn't want now. As Dallas Willard said, he has to know that the way to tell when a temptation turns into a sin is when he starts to enjoy the temptation. He has to know that there is a difference between enjoying the fact that he enjoys lustful thoughts vs. being repulsed by the fact that he enjoys lustful thoughts. That is the deeper order of things in this spiritual situation.

If he fails to succeed on this deeper level, he will continually fall victim to the lie that he is being deprived of something good by not seizing the window of opportunity to sin when it is available. He will fail to realize that he doesn't only desire one thing, but multiple things on different dimensions of his being (e.g. to be a loving father to his children, to be a faithful husband, to be a joyfully selfless friend, to enjoy the pleasure of sex, to enjoy the romance between a man and a woman) and that if all these natural God-given desires of his orbit around the solar system of what he impulsively wants at any moment, sooner or later, all the planets will collide and cause the whole solar system to implode. He will fail to realize that only if the center of the solar system of all his desires is God's timing, plan, and design, then all the planets can orbit harmoniously in their proper places and contribute positively towards the Solar System's wellbeing. But during the moment of temptation, one part of him will desire the former solar system and another part of him will desire the latter solar system. If he is wise, he will want to want the latter. In short, if he continues to want to want the former, he will continue to believe that he is seriously "missing out on something if he chooses to not sin".

The goal for him should be to desire the desire for righteousness after realizing the vision of the "goodness of righteousness" (as Dallas Willard puts it) and that he is truly not "missing out" on anything by not sinning.





Examples such as these have not merely been "intellectually registered" in my mind. They have started to become the subconscious analysis of the "spiritual world behind the spiritual word" in both my spiritual journey as well as the subconscious analysis of the spiritual journey of my fellow brothers and sisters. Just like how the grammar of my mother tongue (I'll just say it's English to make things simpler) has been so subconsciously embedded in my understanding of language that I hardly think about how I think with it now, this deeper level order of analysis has started to become more of an automatic thing right now where I find myself thinking less and less about how I think with it now. It is starting to become effortlessly applied in how I experience Christian spirituality in my spiritual environment. It's "just there" a lot of the time.

I still recognize the trade off of the ignorance + bliss of the surface level order of spiritual perception vs. the truth + sobering feelings of the deeper level order of spiritual perception. But, would I trade the latter for the former? Never. Any day I'd take the latter over the former. For the former leads to very short-term happiness coupled with long-term confusion and disappointing struggle whereas the latter leads to healthiness, wholeness, and deep Joy in the long run.


"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding."
-Colossians 1:9

"My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
-Colossians 2:2-3

A Tony Stark Attitude Towards Ephesians 6 Spiritual Armour

I've been on a looong journey. God's put big things on my heart. I want to accomplish great things for him. However, I forget that growing in his spiritual competence takes time, and it is a process that can't be rushed. Living in a fast-paced culture with a youthful heart that tends to get impatient, I struggle in the "waiting" times sometimes, where one grows gradually yet steadily in his grace and knowledge (2 Peter 3:18). I desire to be a strong and courageous warrior for Christ (Joshua 1:9). He has put this desire in my heart to fight in this spiritual war for him. I desire to be a mighty warrior for God. A quality warrior, who by God's power can take on multiples of myself. Just like David's mighty men in 2 Samuel 23. Josheb-Basshebeth (v.8) raised his spear against 800 men and killed 'em all. Abishai (v.18) raised his spear against 300 men and also killed 'em all. Benaiah son of Jehoiada (v.20) went against an Egyptian with only a club in his hand. And even though the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, he snatched the spear out of the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear. Although in the New Covenant with the New Testament the people of God are not called to fight physically for him anymore, I want to be a mighty warrior for him in spiritual warfare. "Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle" -Psalm 144:1 However, I forget a lot of the times that this process of becoming a mighty warrior for God takes time. Change of the character does not happen in an instant as opposed to miraculous healings, prophetic words, visions, and miraculous powers of the Holy Spirit. At least it didn't happen to Peter. After he witnessed a ton of miracles with Jesus (including the awesome privilege of being with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration), he still denied him 3 times afterwards. And in his first letter, he writes in 1 Peter 1:7 that "[trials] have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour with Jesus Christ is revealed". This process, as Peter experienced, takes time, effort, learning, time and... just more...time as we can see in 2 Peter 1:5-7. I want this stuff. But I get restless, antsy and forget that it is a process that takes time. As Dallas Willard says in The Divine Conspiracy: "a major element in this training is experience in waiting for God to move, not leaping ahead and taking things into our own hands. Out of this waiting experience there comes a form of character that is priceless before God, a character that can be empowered to do as one chooses. This explains why James says that patience in trials will make us 'fully functional' (teleion), 'perfect' (James 1:4) Sometimes we must wait for God to do as we ask because the answer involves changes in other people, or even ourselves, and that kind of change always takes time. Sometimes, apparently, the changes in question involve conflicts going on in a spiritual realm lying entirely outside human affairs (Daniel 10:13). We always live in a larger context of activities we do not see. But whatever the exact cause, Jesus emphatically taught that we are to stay with our request. That is, quite simply, an aspect of all serious human relationships. We stay with an issue until it is resolved one way or another." But I am resolved to believe that this process of persevering in training is worth it. Not only worth the price, but, one may say, it is even a bargain. What one gets is worth a million times the price and time it costs. I am choosing to believe this by faith. Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, took time, effort, and psychological investment to build his iron man suits. All 3 of them. Was it worth all the cost of time and energy? Initially, he was kidnapped by terrorists, lost his comfort, and lived in really hard, tough conditions in that terrorist cave. He thought his life may have been over. Yet, we see that without this "unfortunate" event, he would have never been forced to build his first iron man suit. It took time, hard work, trial and error, yet after he was done sweating literally in that cave he finally came out of that trial a new man, with a new suit, and began his journey as Iron man. He got the first edition of his suit. That is priceless. I can relate. If I was never strained, perplexed, hard pressed, struck down, pushed as hard as I was in my 2 years in East Asia (2 Corinthians 4:8-9 style [I was never attacked so vividly/directly/manifestly by demons in my life up until then], although metaphorically), I probably would not be on the spiritual formation-style journey of growth, at least to the point where I am right now. The upgrades of my spiritual suit that I have right now would just be as unreal as a dream. I know that. If I stayed in comfortable Canada in typical "North American Christianity", my spiritual armour would still be at an elementary level, although still existent. But because my spirit was so stretched over in the East, I was forced to build up my spiritual armour or die spiritually. And by God's grace, I was built in a way I could not have been over here. I flew out of the East with a new set of spiritual armour (via spiritual formation), and fast forward to today, where I'm in the process of learning about the nature of spiritual armour in Ephesians 6, studying its essence, experimenting with how it actually works in different real-life situations, discovering cause-and-effect relationships with how to use it in the spiritual journey, sharpening its armour, upgrading its material to better quality and becoming a better warrior of God with it. The elements include what Paul talked about in Ephesians 6: -the belt of truth -breastplate of righteousness -feet fitted with the readiness of the Gospel of peace -shield of faith -helmet of salvation -sword of the spirit which is the Word of God -prayer in the Spirit There is a lot of trial and error in this journey of discovery, experimentation, and modifications to make a custom-designed spiritual armour-suit for myself. This is because the armour of God is custom-fit to each uniquely shaped individual differently. While all these elements in spiritual armour are the same substance from God, how they are fit, shaped, and "upgraded" into each life is unique. For example, the spiritual exercises I do to grow my faith in my life stage, idiosyncratic personality, social situation, job environment, daily task rhythms will be different from the next person. The same goes with building up my practical righteousness, peace, faith, etc. Also, I have noticed that these traits - [knowledge of] truth, righteous habits, inner peace, faith in God, perspective of salvation ("God with us wherever we go"), meditation on the Word of God, prayer in the Spirit - can be improved, and grown through grace, training, and experience. And the growth is very interesting and mysterious at the same time, because it is something supernatural (extra-natural that is non-physical) that is growing within us. That is what I mean by "upgrading spiritual armour" It has been quite the journey though, I have to say. Spending a lot of time in the "spiritual formation lab". Just like how Tony Stark used discoveries of science in the physical world to engineer more efficient and cutting-edge technology, I have been on a Christian-wisdom journey, studying wisdom from the Bible, wise people, and my own observations of life in the spiritual world which has basically been my "science of the spiritual world". "Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding" -Proverbs 4:7 Throughout the past few years, I have been on a journey of studying the wisdom ("spiritual science" of how the spiritual world works) from different camps/denominations/faith traditions of the Church throughout Church history. It has been astonishing/mind-blowing. I feel like a first-year/freshman studying life-sciences in a university realizing how little he knows about the science of the physical world. Just starting to delve into the spiritual science of all these different camps/denominations/faith traditions throughout the years of Church history has been overwhelmingly glorious and so vast beyond anything I thought of or imagined before! It truly will take more than a lifetime to learn it all (not to mention experimenting, internalizing, sharpening them, and modifying them to fit myself etc.). The attitude I have been having this whole time has been Tony Stark's attitude of research, study, planning, trial and error, then subsequent fixing to improve. Much like this trial and error with the Gospel of Peace: The word "technology" essentially means "tools". A tool is something that simply helps you accomplish your objectives. Therefore, "spiritual technology" is essentially "spiritual tools" that help you accomplish your objectives. And the objective in spiritual formation is none other than to become Christ-like. So by "spiritual technology", I mean any tools accessed through God-enabled-wisdom that helps one to become more Christlike. Studying the spiritual technology of philosophical apologists who intellectually defend the Christian faith such as Ravi Zacharias and C.S. Lewis has definitely tightened and fastened the belt of truth. Reading heroes of the holiness tradition who earnestly and hardcorely discipline themselves to cultivate automatic habits of "gut-reaction righteousness" such as Jeremy Taylor and John Wesley have upgraded my breastplate of righteousness. Reading some quietists/medieval mystics such as Madame Guyon and St. Teresa of Avila who teach one how to "center down one's being" into the inner stillness of Christ dwelling in one's heart have upgraded my battle shoes in the Gospel of peace. Reading how the great modern revivalists who expected great things for God and believed great things for God (e.g. massive societal-scale revivals) like Charles Finney and Leonard Ravenhill has upgraded my shield of faith. Reading from Christians who have practiced praying without ceasing and spending every moment in the presence of God such as Brother Lawrence and Frank Laubach has helped me upgrade my helmet of salvation in so that it helps to keep my perspective in every situation as one of perpetual union with God. Reading from medieval Catholics such as St. Ignatius of Loyola and even the modern Jan Johnson has helped me to meditate on the word of God more effectively and creatively with the imagination richly involved, hence making the sword of the Spirit more powerful in my journey. And finally, reading some charismatic stuff from modern day prophets such as Jack Deere and Graham Cooke have helped me to truly "pray [and begin to prophesy [a type of communication with God {which falls under the subset of prayer}] in the Spirit". To add to the spiritual science/spiritual technology, I have also recently got into dream interpretation, which has helped me, I think, understand the "devil's schemes" (Ephesians 6:11) more. This has been a spiritual technology that I have only begun to study and apply in the spiritual formation lab recently, but it has proved to be amazingly helpful in my walk, giving me insight about myself, the devil, and God in reference to where I am at in the journey, sort of like a spiritual GPS kind of spiritual technology. After a few years of building "suit #2", I feel like I have begun to achieve "lift-off" with the armour of God now: "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time." -1 Peter 5:6 Yea baby. So reflecting back, this journey has been well worth it. Although at times I do wish to rush things and I get impatient, I must remember that God values quality over quantity. Although at times every fiber in me just wants to "get out there" and start fighting, I feel that the season that I'm currently in requires me to patiently wait, not to rush things, and gradually yet steadily keep upgrading this armour of God. After all, 1 Iron man could take on 10,000 enemy soldiers. But it took time for Tony Stark to build the suit. And the cost was well worth it. The wait was well worth it too. I hope to do this one day. Hallelujah for the promise of James 1:4! To switch superhero analogies, it's easy to put on weak armour that took no investment of time, effort, failure, and applied-research in advanced technology to try to fight the bad guys. But we see here that there's a big difference between someone who has spent the time to build good quality armour, and someone who just put on some hockey pads.

a very touching video

http://vimeo.com/26871884

I didn't get a chance to go to the wedding myself, because I don't really know the bride & groom. I knew of their existence, but I don't think they knew me haha. But anyways, if I could have chosen to either go to their wedding or Will & Kate's wedding a few months ago, I sooo would have chosen this one!

One of the most touching (in a unique way) videos I've seen in a while.