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| Here is my testimony that I recently wrote for an alumni newsletter for CCF:
Greetings! Let me tell you of how awesome God has been
in my life! I was born in 1987 to a Christian family: My parents, two older sisters,
and my Poh Poh. I was a mischievous kid growing up, full of pride and always
wanting to be #1. Most of the time I was number one, which only fueled my ego
even more. That pride got in the way of my relationship with God as I grew up.
Throughout Jr. High and High School, I constantly sought after the highest of
positions, not only in school, but also in Church. I frequented the podium to
receive awards for my accomplishments in band and school, and I served on the
worship team in my home church as well. My ability to "look"
Christian enabled me to become a role-model to some of the younger youth in
Church, and I was even Vice President one year on the Church Youth Group
Committee (I "humbly" turned down the nomination for President). But
through all these accomplishments, all these noble positions, all this stuff
that fed my pride, I fell further and further from God, despite growing
responsibilities as a church leader. I confess; those years when I looked like
I had it all together had to be some of my lowest times spiritually.
God turned things around for me in Cal Poly though. Despite my pride, He wanted
to see me become humble. Despite my unhealthy spiritual life, The Father had
plans for me to be an example of His love and grace. Freshman year at the Asian
American Navigators Conference in San Diego, I learned that it is "not by
might, nor by power, but by [His] Spirit," (Zech 4:6) that we are able to
accomplish anything. This year continues to be a lesson of humility, as our
theme verses, Philippians 2:3-4, constantly challenges and convicts me of my
outright disobedience to God's commands. Even as I write this, the story is not
over. I am constantly being refined and renewed by God, yet one thing about me
will never change: I am a child of God; I am an Heir to His Kingdom; I am the
devil's enemy; and as a follower of Christ, I am saved by His grace.
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| Hey all,
If you wanna see pictures from my trip to Mexico, here is the link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vermin87/sets/72157603463961599/
Hope you all had an awesome, Christ-centered CHRISTmas and I'll hopefully see you soon!
~Verent
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| So it has been a while, but I thought I would give a brief update before I begin winter break:
Highlights:
- I shared the gospel with a friend named Jing Lei. After meeting up almost every week to talk and share with him more about what Christianity is, he decided to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior! How awesome is that? Praise the Lord!
- Kevin Chung accepted Christ after coming to CCF for a year! I fasted for two days, eating nothing and only drinking water, praying that God would bring someone into His family during our Gospel Praise Night and Kevin accepted! I say that not to exalt myself, but to show you all that when we delight ourselves in the Lord, (not in food or anything else) He gives us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4). In this case, that desire was for someone to come to Christ. And the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective (James 5:16), so those who are obedient to God will see His power!
Other things:
- Joined the Cal Poly Super-mileage team. Last year they won the national competition with a car that got 1,905 miles per gallon! I didn't misplace a decimal. It's one-thousand, nine-hundred and five miles per gallon! The world record is actually in the 13,000 MPG range, so we still have some work to do, but it has been cool seeing it all come together. We're modifying our design for this coming year's competition.
- My t-shirt design won the competition for Chinese Christian Fellowship's shirt this year! Pretty cool, I'll post the design later so you guys can give me feedback on it as well. It is still able to be modified before we print them.
Need Prayer!!!:
- Going to Mexico tomorrow for missions! I'll be in Tijuana for 4 days. Pray first for openness to the Gospel in the kids we will be with, and also for the hearts of us that are serving God through this opportunity. Oh and also, I'm feeling sick, so pray for my health as we head down there too, and that others stay healthy as well.
Maybe I'll post pictures or something later of Mexico, but you can view what has happened so far here.
Awesome! Well I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas break. I'm looking forward to seeing some of you old friends this break as well. Later
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| So today I received notification of my first picture being used commercially for a presentation.
Youth For Christ Australia, www.yfc.org.au
Took one of my pictures from the CCF/AACF praise night of Winter 2007 and put it in a DVD presentation they are making. It is as follows:
Kenneth is gonna be famous in Australia now!
On another note, I'm quite excited for this coming year. Our theme for this year in CCF is "Humility: Surrendering Pride, Following Christ" from Philippians 2:3-4, and it is very fitting for even this situation.
I must remember that even in my victories and my accomplishments, God's hand was in it all. "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." Psalm 24:1
Remember that our worship to God only works when we remove ourselves from the picture and place Him on the throne.
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| "I don't believe it." The patient was very skeptical of the doctor's test results. "I read in a medical journal last week that these are the symptoms of colon cancer. I want you to do another test."
"Sir, we have already run this test three times and you have tested negative each time. I am convinced that you do not have cancer."
"I don't believe it. Run it again."
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Psychosomatic disorder is a condition that affects a large majority of the world population. My father, who is chief cardiologist at Kaiser Permanente in Fresno estimates that about 80% of the patients he sees suffer from some degree of psychosomatic illness. For those of you who don't know, "Psychosomatic disorder, now more commonly referred to as psychophysiologic illness, is an illness whose symptoms are caused by mental processes of the sufferer rather than immediate physiological causes." (1) Basically, people think something is wrong with them even though medically, nothing can be found.
Often times, like the illustrated conversation above, even numerous scientific tests cannot convince patients that they are cancer-free, or free of any physical ailments. My father said he's had patients that have not been satisfied with ten lab tests, all with the same negative result.
I found it interesting when I heard this, because if we examine our society today, it is largely built on scientific knowledge and logic. If we can't prove it through science, it must not be possible; or if we can prove it through science, then it is true. However, looking at the psychosomatic condition of 80% of the population, not many people actually rely on science when it comes to issues that affect their lives directly. They would rather trust their own feelings than what the doctor has to say.
When I talk to people about God, so many ask me to show them proof, to cite scientific research that proves the existence of God. In actuality though, even when given scientific evidence and proof of something, we as humans won't even acknowledge it as truth, as seen in the case of psychosomatic patients. It seems so contradictory to me--how we demand scientific proof so often, but refuse to accept it when given.
Many of those who work in the field of medicine will probably agree that the costs of medicine and treatments rise largely due to psychosomatic patients. Blood tests, medicine they don't need, CT-scans of perfectly healthy individuals; it all adds up to higher expenses. If people actually believed in science, trusted in science, and accepted science as truth, your doctor visits would probably be a lot cheaper than they are.
Perhaps it is safe to say that people find it just as hard to trust science as they do find it hard to trust God.
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