Tuesday, February 20, 2001

11:28 AM: 

do you know, i think guns n roses were the only good hair band, ever. they did what every other hair band tried to do and failed, which was to make songs perfectly expressing something in the vein of wanting to get laid and to smash things, either activity first, and maybe both at the same time.

Monday, February 19, 2001

10:55 AM: 

so i was sitting there, thinking about the 6-week english-teaching missionary trip that i am gonna be participating in over summer. it's quite a long trip, actually, and i am thankful that God has presented me with this opportunity to go. and as i was thinking about it, i started thinking, "you know... maybe i should visit some friends in the SF Bay area enroute to HK..." and then continuing along the same theme i went "yeah... and maybe i'll also hit denver and visit a couple of other friends"... and then i threw some more ideas in "maybe i should check out Las Vegas and maybe do a little shopping in LA." And then reality struck. why am I going out to china in the first place? it's to serve God and the people out there. it's an opportunity. and by thinking about all of these side trips, it's making it sound like a vacation, which it is not. as much as i know i will be enjoying it, it's a purposeful trip also, and i relish in that fact. so when reality struck, i realized that leading into the trip, it is my responsibility to focus on the task at hand, which means hitting as few side trips as possible prior to the actual trip into western china

how can it possibly help anyone to take this kind of attitude? the world isn't black and white. this guy can vacation and do missionary work in the same trip. doesn't he realize the meaningless punishment going on here? he's not going to get to see his friends. he's going to have to take as few side trips as possible. and why? because he thinks that if he's doing something that's too enjoyable, if his life is not constricted and shadowed constantly by religion, then it negates his faith. you can't tell me that somewhere, deep down, he's not bitter about giving up so much for such a bad reason.