Do What You Can, When You Can

As Christians we strive to be more like Jesus.  We want to be more loving, more compassionate, more giving.

About a month ago, I went to the BASS Convention.  (Bay Area Sunday School)  The theme was to do what we can, when we can.  I would also like to add something to it: "Do what we can, when we can, how we can."  What we do for others doesn't have to be much.  You don't have to spend your life savings on charitable organizations.  You don't have to go find ten orphans to house and feed.  The idea is, that when we go about our daily lives, every aspect of it should be based around being more like Jesus and always thinking about the other people around you.  (Of course, keeping your heart, mind, and body safe at all times.)

As you're walking to your driveway you see a girl on the sidewalk trying to fix her bike.  Giving just five minutes of your time to ask her if she needs help won't hurt.  Of course if she's asking you to give her a ride in the completely opposite direction from where you need to be wouldn't work.  But you could give her a lift to the nearest bus station or a bike shop.  You'd be doing what you can, when you can, all within your means of giving.

You're walking to your nearest grocery store.  You see a woman in her car struggling for some reason.  All the cars around her are honking at her to get out of the way and she's honking right back at them and cussing them out.  It's obvious she's dealing with something.  It wouldn't hurt to ask her if something was wrong and she needed help.  Giving her fifteen minutes of your time wouldn't hurt your stomach in any way.  If her car ran out of gas, you could help her push her car out of the street.  Maybe she was panicking and forgot what to do in that situation.  You could calm her down and walk her through on how to call her insurance company.  You'd be doing what you can, and when you can, and this is again, all within your means of giving.

The two above situations are actually taken directly from my life.  The bike incident happened just yesterday morning, and the car incident happened months ago.  Yesterday evening, another situation came up.

I was sitting at my computer.  I had just woken from a nap and was thinking about eating.  Then someone knocked on my door.  To me, the next five seconds were crucial.  I could have done one of two things.  I could have ignored the knock, or have opened the door.  I make sure all my friends call me before they get to my apartment.  I don't like unexpected visitors.  A random knock could mean anything.  It could mean a stranger with a gun pointed at my head.  In that situation my parents would tell me to wait it out and see if the person knocks again.  Maybe peek out the window, see who it is.  But definitely don't open the door yet.  Of course, as that one rebellious daughter that I am, I shook that thought away and opened the door.  (I love defying my parents' weird rules and regulations.  It's one of my standards of living:  Always do the opposite of what my parents did.)  I opened the door to see my neighbor in tears, pacing side to side, "Jeen, can you take me to the hospital?"

So I rushed her to the hospital, running about three red lights on the way there.  Safely running the three red lights.  Making sure there no cops or cameras, or other cars crossing the road.  Always be safe, especially when breaking laws.

My neighbor has IBS (irritable bowel syndrome).  She couldn't hold her food down and was vomiting the entire way there.  She had explosive diarrhea, and was shuddering so bad she couldn't stand straight.  Because of her illness, she doesn't have a steady income.  She braids hair for a living, but only when she has clients, and half the time, she has to cancel on them.  She can barely pay for her rent, let alone all the medical bills.  She had been sick for the whole week, and had to cancel about the entire month's rent in clients.

I hadn't tithed in a couple months.  I don't know why.  I wasn't saving it up for anything.  So last week, I had written out a cheque to the church for a couple months worth of tithes.  But I've been feeling really iffy about giving it to the church.  An opportunity came along, though.  Last week, one of the former youth students (now freshman in college) was going on a mission trip and needed help raising money.  I decided to write out the cheque to her.  It didn't feel quite right, but it felt a lot better.  I was even wondering if I should split the cheque and donate part of it to the KLove ministry.  But when I was sitting next to my neighbor at the hospital, I felt something tug at my heart.  When we got back home, I wrote out the cheque to her, so she could cash it in and pay part of the rent with it.  It felt completely right, and very perfect.  This was why I wasn't compelled to tithe for a while.  I started to see how God was working in her life, through me.

It wasn't just the cheque, though.  Last week, I had made dinner plans with another friend of mine.  We were going to meet up at 7:45pm.  The day before, for some reason, I thought it was Tuesday, and I called her asking her where she was.  We decided to meet up that day instead of Tuesday.  If I had remembered it was Monday, if I had met up with that friend on Tuesday instead, I wouldn't have been at my apartment, and no one would have been there to open the door when she knocked.

Tuesday afternoon, I realized that my car was getting low on gas.  I was thinking about waiting it out, and refueling it early in the morning, because that's what I usually do.  But for some reason, I decided to refuel my car on the way back home.  If I hadn't done that, I wouldn't have had enough gas to drive my neighbor all the way to the hospital.

You can see through the simplest, tiniest of details, so insignificant that it all seems like a big coincidence, God can orchestrate entire events to help you in your time of need.  He's always there, always looking out for you, always caring about you.  You just can't always see the big picture.

And that's why we have to do our parts.  Every detail, every small, insignificant thing counts.  We should always try to do what we can, and when we can, and how we can.  Through doing so, who knows?  We might just save some lives.

Value of a Person

On Sunday, the youth Pastor was giving a sermon on the roles that men and women play in the Bible.  He talked about how God saw both men and women as equals in their value, but that they had different roles to play in life.  Society was the one that first put a higher value on men over women.  The key point was that although we have different roles to play, we are equal in importance and are both loved dearly by God.

So what does cause us to value one person over the other?  The Pastor talked about how feminism, although good in the ideal of letting the world know that women are just as valuable, puts worth of a women in the position she holds.  A female president is more valuable than just a president's wife.  A female administrator is more valuable than a female secretary.  A female principal is more valuable than a female teacher.  A woman with a job is more valuable than a housewife.  Why is this so?  Is it simply because of the income they get?  It can't be the importance of a particular job that they hold because every miniscule job is important for our society to function.  If we're all part of a big clock, some cogs are bigger than others, but even with a tiny cog missing the clock ceases to work.  So is it the money?  Do we value money over other things so much that the ruler we hold against a person is really measuring their bank accounts?

This is an issue that I had been struggling with for a very long period of time.  To put it bluntly, I measured everyone else as superior, inferior, or equal to me based on their education and potential income.  I thought myself better than most others because of my engineering degree.  I became utterly humiliated when I couldn't get a permanent job in that field.  When others asked me about my educational background, I would try to avoid the subject because someone with my background must definitely be well-off by now.

Honestly I think it's because of the way I grew up.  My parents taught me that education defined the person. They would tell me how ashamed they would be to even hold their heads up at work because they didn't go to college.  They would talk in awe about the parents who were able to send their kids off to Ivy Leagues and look down on those whose kids could do no better than a community college.  They told me that when I got to college, they would support me in every fashion if I went to a good school, but that I would be left on my own if I didn't.  On top of all the college talk, they would constantly tell me that I needed a good job that would make lots of money.  Teaching wasn't an option because it didn't pay well enough.  I feel like this upbringing was the reason I chose chemical engineering in the first place.  It was something that I liked to do, something I was good at, and something that had a potential for a nice fat cheque.

After college, after I moved out, when there was absolutely no one around me to influence my perspectives on other people, my ideas slowly began to change.  Everyone is equally valuable.  No matter how smart they are, or how stupid they are, no matter what job they have, what their educational background is, no matter what they wear, or how they speak, and definitely no matter how rich they are, everyone is equal.  Everyone is just as valuable.  Everyone deserves the exact same respect.  Everyone should expect same treatment.  From the rich white people with their millions of dollars and fur coats to the poor brown people with their unwashed hair and smelly clothes, everyone deserves an equal amount of love, respect, and compassion.

I guess this is still something I struggle with.  I have this one friend who talks before she thinks and is definitely not at all smarter than me.  She's short, has a thick accent, isn't very graceful, and although she's cute, one wouldn't consider her desirable.  Every time I talk to her I have to remind myself that she's a child of God, and is just a precious as me and everyone else I like.  I guess that's the main reason I hang out with her still.  Not because I think she's great and amazing and completely worth my time and attention.  (Yes, I know this is mean, and no, she doesn't know.)  But because I still have to learn to see the inner person and beauty in everyone through God's eyes, and not see people through my own eyes.

All is His

I was thinking back to the Friday when we did the fasting.  Later, at the youth group meeting, the pastor asked everyone a question: what did we learn from fasting?  What insights did we gain?

What I took from this:  God is the one that provides.  Everything is ultimately His.

For weeks leading up to Easter Sunday, God has been providing me with food.  He kept sending someone every week to give me the week's worth of food.  The weekends I would eat through the church.  The day before I was going to fast, I was worried about water.  The tap water is disgusting, and I don't trust that water going into my body.  I didn't have enough money to buy bottled water or a good filter.  So Wednesday night, God provided me with two bottles of water.  I went on a walk with my friend, and he brought water along with him.  One for him, and one for me.  He didn't touch his water bottle, and at the end of the walk, he told me to keep it.

Wow.  I know that the job I have was provided by Him.  God also generously gave me the car I have and the apartment I live in.  He is also providing me with the food I eat and the water I drink.  But I realized, it goes even further.  The air I breathe is given by Him.  The clothes on my back are because of Him.  The socks on my feet are thanks to Him.  Everything I have is because God gave them to me.  The good health I have is thanks to Him.  The hair on my head is thanks to Him.  Everything I have, own, everything...  is thanks be to God.

Thank you God.

Going to Texas

I'm going!!!!  I have an interview on Wednesday, April 24th.  It's a long interview.  I have to bring a lesson plan, and do the lesson plan, show them all the necessary paperwork, etc.  I have three weeks to work on it.  I'm pretty nervous, but the big hurdle, getting the interview, is done and over with.  Apparently there are a lot of applicants, and they only accept about 10% of them.

First off, I want to thank God.  I thank Him for the opportunity, for the experience, and for the interview.  I know that if I do get accepted for the position, it will be completely His will.  I pray that God gives me the wisdom, knowledge, dedication, and His Love so that I may see this through.

Thank you.

Easter and Spring Break

I was sick on Easter Sunday.  I woke up super groggy, not really able to move anywhere.  On top of that it was raining outside.  But I still went to church.  I missed the baptisms, but it's ok.

I also had a spring vacation.  Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I was in Davis hanging out with old housemates and the replacement housemate.  They're amazing.  I wish I could have stayed longer.  I definitely do not miss the allergies that comes with being in Davis, though.