Who Will Hold up Half the Sky?

"But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."
Luke 18:16

"耶 稣 却 叫 他 们 来 ， 说 ： 让 小 孩 子 到 我 这 里 来 ， 不 要 禁 止 他 们 ； 因 为 在 神 国 的 正 是 这 样 的 人 。" 
路 加 福 音 18:16

Most children, when asked who their biggest role model is in their life will quickly shout out an answer like, "My Mommy!" "Dad." "My big Dai Dai!" But what happens when you ask a child that question, and you get this answer: "I don't have a family." Whatever warm fuzzy feelings you had - whooosh! - gone. Whatever your beliefs on the family unit are, most people would agree that for a child to grow up without a family to love and nurture them is sad, depressing and just wrong. And in China, where the family unit is everything, for a child, specifically females, to be abandoned to grow up without a family - who will hold up half the sky?

Chinese proverb states, "Women hold up half the sky." In the 1950's with the communists "Great Leap Forward," society saw it as their patriotic duty to produce children. But as the population began to rapidly expand, in order to curb the growth China implemented the one-child policy, which did indeed slow the population growth, but at the cost of their female population. A patriarchal society, male children have always been preferred over female children, and thus the implementation of the one-child policy left many young girls abandoned by the wayside, and many more aborted and never given a chance to live. Oftentimes, it is not merely healthy girls that are abandoned, but those with special needs. So what becomes of these girls? These girls that are supposed to grow up to carry half the sky? In a few years, will there be a Chicken Little that cries out, "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"?

KayKay* was one of those girls. An abandoned infant with special needs, she was one of the lucky ones. She was taken into the loving care of an orphanage organization aptly named Half the Sky. A majority of those given up or abandoned by their parents end up in government welfare institutions, with only their basic needs of food, shelter, and basic medical care are taken care of. Half the Sky realizes that it takes so much more than that for a child to have a healthy start in life: "the nurturing love of someone who truly cares." Founded in 1998, their Baby Sisters Infant Nurture Centers, Little Sisters Preschool, and (in 2002) Big Sisters Program have worked around the idea that family-like nurturing and loving care of these orphans does matter and that it leads to the healthy development of the child. In the Baby Sisters program KayKay was played with, cuddled, and loved. The medical needs for her condition were met and she is simply one of the happiest little girls you could ever meet. Adopted by close family friends, I have watched her grow from the curious little girl in a new environment to the "terrible two's" stage she is in now. And from her adoptive mother's experience with the adoption process through Half the Sky, I know that KayKay wouldn't be the way she is today if it weren't for Half the Sky's patient nurturing.

Upon her arrival, her adoptive parents had a little trouble at first with the English to Chinese conversion. But while she may not have understood their commands, she did understand one thing: play. You could give her a toy and she'd know what it was and what to do with it. Many children adopted from China's welfare institutions would have very little idea of play. KayKay would run around, explore, LOVED the family dog (a big fuzzy Golden Doodle), and immensely enjoyed running her older brothers around (much to my amusement). She connected well with her new family and loves and is loved by them. Granted, if she had come from a welfare institution the results may have been the same in the end, but the process would have been much longer. I still laugh at one of my earliest memories of her. I was visiting the family and she came out into the room in her nifty squeaky shoes (a popular thing for small children in China) and did a little dance, laughing and giggling the whole time at the sound her shoes were making.

Holding up Half the Sky
One day an elephant saw a hummingbird lying on its back with its tiny feet up in the air. "What are you doing?" asked the elephant.

The hummingbird replied, "I heard that the sky might fall today, and so I am ready to help hold it up, should it fall."

The elephant laughed cruelly. "Do you really think," he said, "that those tiny feet could help hold up the sky?"

The hummingbird kept his feet up in the air, intent on his purpose, as he replied, "Not alone. But each must do what he can. And this is what I can do."
— A Chinese Folktale

There are millions of little girls like KayKay in China and not very many of them are as fortunate as she. Half the Sky may be small now, but they are having a big impact on the lives of so many young girls. Every child deserves a chance to succeed, and I am so thankful for all the work Half the Sky has done to advance that.

The one-child policy in China has left two very big gaps in society: 1) enough young people to help care for their aging population and 2) too few women to hold up their half of the sky. China has been trying to re-educate the public to value women and to hopefully erase completely the anti-female mindset, but it is still likely that China will begin to see a few cracks in its sky as the innovation, creativity and management skills that women can bring to the economy are simply not there. As China has already realized, it is not simply cutting edge technology or a large army that makes you a world super-power; rather it is the people, both men and women, that become a countries pillars of strength, each holding up half the sky.

For more information on Half the Sky and how you can help, visit their website here or watch this informational video here.

*Name is fictional, child is not.

Pray For Japan

"Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God, For to You I pray."
Psalm 5:2

On Friday, March 11, 2011 an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 rocked the small country of Japan. A major scare, yes, but nothing too out of the ordinary for a country regularly jostled by the shifting earth. Though the country is barely the size of the state of California, Japan is possibly the most disaster prepared country in the world. Their buildings are built to be earthquake resistant. Their tsunami detection technology is quite advanced. However, country could not have foreseen the small window of time they would have between the two natural disasters.

Fifteen minutes.

Fifteen minutes was all the time those costal residents had before the tsunami struck. Five minutes to panic; five minutes to think about their family; and five minutes to run for their lives. And by then it was too late. People who were in the middle of the story of their life on an otherwise normal afternoon suddenly found their books snapped shut right under their noses. The lucky survivors and those who got away lost only their possessions. However, thousands of people (the count currently around 10,000) lost their lives. With barely enough time to grieve, the Japanese nation suddenly had to worry about their failing nuclear reactors. From Hiroshima and Nagasaki, you'd think the Japanese government would be more concerned for the safety of their citizens. However, press reports indicate an already shaky Japanese government is having a hard time properly dealing with the disasters overshadowing their country. The public support, on the other hand, has been enormous.

My grandmother recalls the days back in World War II when no one lifted a finger to help the Japanese. No money was donated to them, they were not talked to, their stores were not shopped at, and their wares were not bought. Contrast that to today, the small Buddhist temple down the street from my home has been overwhelmed with donations of clothing, blankets and other relief items. Volunteer teams from organizations such as World Vision and other non-profit organizations are being deployed to Japan, and people all over are doing whatever they can to help with the relief effort. Even in this economy, people have been very forthcoming with monetary donations, and Asian idol groups such as JYJ (formerly DBSK) and Kuraki Mai are setting an example with generous donations and awareness campaigns. And, to top it all off, let's not forget the simple campaign sweeping through Twitter (#prayforjapan) and Facebook (with the profile picture button that reads, "Pray for Japan").

"Pray for Japan."

What does that really mean? After all, if you're not particularly spiritual or religious it seems like this is a rather impractical request. From the perspective of the religious background of Japan (Buddhism or Shinto), I would speculate that it means to keep Japan in mind, repeating wishes for them regularly in the hopes that the gods will hear them and make them come true. This is also the concept behind the folding of the paper cranes. As noble as this idea sounds, though, I as a Christian have something to say about that:

 "And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Pray, then in this way: 'Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.'" Matthew 6:7-13

It's pretty clear here that repetition won't get you very far. Rather, it states that - say what?! - God already knows what I need before I ask Him. Sovereign Lord over all creation, the incident in Japan wasn't surprising to Him, it wasn't a, "Oh, shoot, how the heck did that happen?!" moment - No. It's a carefully thought out and calculated part of His divine will. "Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven." Yes, what happened in Japan is a devastating tragedy, but simply because I think it's wrong and horrible and shouldn't have happened, all those things don't make God any less sovereign. No, I can’t pretend I understand why He allows horrible things to happen, but the passage also indicates a level of trust in God that He does indeed know what He’s doing, and that He will continue to take care of me: “Give us this day our daily bread.”

I don’t know the exact statistics, but Japan as a nation has a pretty low number of Christians among its populace (think China before the surge of missionaries). Ariel Lee, a missionary there with Campus Crusade for Christ International who used to post weekly blogs to this site regarding his ministry is a missionary to Japan for precisely that reason. By God’s grace he is shaken up but unharmed from the disasters and is hoping to volunteer with CRASH Japan to help with the Relief effort. But, as a supporter of his ministry there, one of the things I know I have been regularly praying for is a spiritual revival in Japan. After this earthquake and tsunami combination, I'm terrified and excited. It is a brutal door, but maybe - just maybe - it is the door to the revival Japan needs. For many people in Japan, life revolves around school, work, and materialistic things. If you don't work overtime, you are considered lazy. Students live and die by test scores. It is a very face-valuing, prideful country (much like many Asian and Southeast-Asian countries). But in any country, nation, people, etc, the number one thing that hardens people's hearts to the message of salvation is pride. The "I can do it on my own. I don't need God," attitude is a barrier that constantly needs to be knocked down - for Christians and non-Christians alike.

"And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil." There is a reason we continually ask for forgiveness and deliverance. Pride. Letting go of past grievances; forgiving those who hurt us, even though they may not deserve it; and steering clear of that path of pride that can and will lead us down so many tantalizing roads that will ultimately destroy us. That is what we should be praying for.

Many people in Japan had everything taken away from them in an instant. All they had worked for, all that they were working towards, was suddenly gone or became nothing in light of the tragedy they suddenly faced. I know where I live, I expect nothing of that magnitude to happen to me, but if it did, would I be ready? Am I living for what matters, setting my pride aside and trusting in God's will for my life? Am I asking God for forgiveness, and am I forgiving others? Am I giving in to the "good" things in life, or am I chasing after what is better? The last line of the passage says, "For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen."  I do not discourage people from praying for Japan. But I do challenge you: is your life disaster-ready? Japan needs help and Japan needs hope, so please do pray for them. Pray for the people, not only for their material needs, but for their spiritual needs as well. Pray for their safety. pray for their government that they will have wisdom in their decision. Pray for a spiritual revival in Japan. Pray for God's glory to be revealed. But most of all, if you have not already given your life over to Christ, pray for yourself and your pride and whatever it is that is holding you back from seeking Him. 

Pray for Japan.

"Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation."
Romans 10:1

It's been a while since I've been here I suppose. And once again I am here to talk about RISE the fellowship and praise night at my church that will be happening this upcoming April 18th. Currently, I am sitting behind the sound board at my church, listening to them practice, jam, and pretty much all around mess around in preparation for the event. It's a tad boring sometimes, just sitting here and watching them all, occasionally shifting the dials on the soundboard to create optimum sound meshing. I've been told I'm "pretty good," whatever that means. If I overanalyze the comment, I don't feel like there's any way I can make the talent that is currently on stage sound any better than they already do. But then I think back to 1 Corinthians 12:14-19:

"14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.16 And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be?"

I like to be acknowledged in my service. And for the most part, to be a follower of Christ is to basically put aside yourself and to know that a greater reward is waiting for you in heaven. It sounds rather riddiculous for the most part, but it's truly only by faith that I can even begin to stop focusing on me and think about others. RISE consists of so many different players aside from myself and the worship team. The speaker presents the gospel, there's a whole team of guys doing the paperwork and praying for this event, there are people in the church acting as supervisors and supporting this ministry, and the worship team (including myself), is just one small part of this "body." It's just super neat to think about that. I mean, if this is one "body," think of how intricate the entire church body is - supporting one another through prayer, love, and good deeds and whatnot? It's mind blowing.

Because of Christ, we as Christians are never alone. It's just so cool to think about! As we wind down this practice session, although I may feel kind of down about just being "the sound tekkie," in the big picture of things, I'm really honored to be a part of this event.

And you should too. Come to CGBC on April 18th and join us for an awesome time at RISE. B]

Haha, I know, blog with a shameless plug. :P

A short update from the lovely city of SF:

Na ho ma?! Hak fan me ah! Sun nein fie lok! :D

No, I don't speak Chinese. Or understand it.

But Happy New year in whatever language you speak! :D I am currently in SF and have been volunteering in a convelescent(sp?) hospital for the past few days as a Rehab volunteer. I'm currently exploring the occupation of Physical Therapist (because that's what I think I want to be later in life). It's been rather exciting, learning and seeing new things, however (if you know anything about SF), it's the ultimate melting pot for Asian languages. Being only English speaking, I have had a failure to communicate in Cantonese, Mandarin, Tagolog, Japanese, Korean, AND Spanish! So much for my Spanish skills. I need to brush those up...

Anyway, my career goals and how I'm getting there is not my real reason for posting. As you may have read, this particular blog title is "RISE." Why? Because RISE Praise Night is coming up THIS SUNDAY! January 3rd at Chinese Grace Bible Church. This time, instead of tagging along with the RISE team, I have been formally invited on as a - no, not a singer - a sound tech. :] So far I have attended most of the practices and it's just been a huge blessing. Having just entered College myself, this ministry has really plugged me in to the older college folks as well as the other college ladies who have a wealth of information to give out that has much benifit to me at this point in my life. The music so far? Sounds GREAT. It's going to be an awesome night.

RISE will be at Chinese Grace Bible Church in Sacramento, CA. It's located at 6656 Park Riviera Way and... well, if you're interested, click on the Opportinity Link below and just GO! :D

See you there! :P

How to Install LOVE 

Tech Support: Hello … how can I help you? 

Customer: Well, after much consideration, I’ve decided to install
Love. Can you guide me through the process? 

Tech Support: Yes. I can help you. Are you ready to proceed?

Customer: Well, I’m not very technical, but I think I’m ready. What do I do first? 

Tech Support: The first step is to open your Heart. Have you
located your Heart? 

Customer: Yes, but there are several other programs running now.
Is it okay to install Love while they are running? 

Tech Support: What programs are running ? 

Customer: Let’s see, I have Past Hurt, Low Self-Esteem, Grudge
and Resentment running right now. 

Tech Support: No problem, Love will gradually erase Past Hurt
from your current operating system. It may remain in your permanent
memory but it will no longer disrupt other programs. Love will
eventually override Low Self-Esteem with a module of its own called High
Self-Esteem. However, you have to completely turn off Grudge and
Resentment. Those programs prevent Love from being properly installed.
Can you turn those off ? 

Customer: I don’t know how to turn them off. Can you tell me how?

Tech Support: With pleasure. Go to your start menu and invoke
Forgiveness. Do this as many times as necessary until Grudge and
Resentment have been completely erased. 

Customer: Okay, done! Love has started installing itself. Is that
normal?

Tech Support: Yes, but remember that you have only the base
program. You need to begin connecting to other Hearts in order to get
the upgrades. 

Customer: Oops! I have an error message already. It says, “Error
- Program not run on external components.” What should I do?

Tech Support: Don’t worry. It means that the Love program is set
up to run on Internal Hearts, but has not yet been run on your Heart. In
non-technical terms, it simply means you have to Love yourself before
you can Love others. 

Customer: So, what should I do? 

Tech Support: Pull down Self-Acceptance; then click on the
following files: Forgive-Self; Realize Your Worth; and Acknowledge your
Limitations.

Customer: Okay, done.

Tech Support: Now, copy them to the “My Heart” directory. The
system will overwrite any conflicting files and begin patching faulty
programming. Also, you need to delete Verbose Self-Criticism from all
directories and empty your Recycle Bin to make sure it is completely
gone and never comes back. 

Customer: Got it. Hey! My heart is filling up with new files.
Smile is playing on my monitor and Peace and Contentment are copying
themselves all over My Heart. Is this normal? 

Tech Support: Sometimes. For others it takes awhile, but
eventually everything gets it at the proper time. So Love is installed
and running. One more thing before we hang up. Love is Freeware. Be sure
to give it and its various modules to everyone you meet. They will in
turn share it with others and return some cool modules back to you. 

Customer: Thank you, God.

"The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. 
They will kill him, and after three days he will rise."
-Mark 9:31

Sunday evening, October 18th, the sanctuary of my church was packed full of people. Loud music blared from the front speakers, the lyrics to the songs projected onto a screen for everyone to read and sing along. The worship leaders were rocking everyone in the crowd, except me - the chick working the soundboard.

There's a peace I've come to know
Though my heart and flesh may fail
There's an anchor for my soul
I can say, it is well

Now, there's nothing wrong with working soundboard. The simple pleasure of being able to make the worship team sound their best is not one that I would trade in easily. However, that night I was not supposed to be working the sound board. I was supposed to be with the rest of the people in the audience, singing my heart out to God at my church's first ever RISE worship and praise night. The event had been getting a lot of hype (especially because it was being organized by a bunch of the college guys at my church and was being backed by many of the socially affluent families) so at first I felt compelled to go. But when the day came, I realized I had made some bad choices the weekend before, leaving myself with an entire 6 minute speech to write before the following morning. I had worked on it all day, but by the time RISE rolled around at 7:00pm, I was no where near done with the speech. Anxious and irritable, I arrived at RISE wanting nothing to do with the worship. And that brings me up to where I was, sitting at the soundboard, in the back of the sanctuary, watching as many of the other audience members clapped, lifted their hands, and in general praised the Lord. 

Jesus has overcome
And the grave is overwhelmed
The victory is won
He is risen from the dead

Looking back on it now, I suppose choosing to sit at the soundboard rather than joining the audience was the best choice that night. Since I'm not very proficient in working the sound system, it takes a lot of concentration for me to do my job correctly, effectively making it easier for me to momentarily forget about the impending doom of my speech grade. Another benefit of sitting at the soundboard was the fact that it was in the very back of the sanctuary. I could sit back and observe everyone as they worshiped. Sitting directly in front of the sound board was the youth pastor from another nearby church. During the worship, it was amazing to see how humble he was before his God. Sometimes he sang with his hands raised high, and sometimes he knelt in meditative silence. The worship was convicting to him. Off to the side of the soundboard sat some family friends. The parents I'm 99% sure are Christian. Their teenage son, on the other hand, I am not certain. During one song, the father decided to stand as he worshiped. The son, noticing his dad was basically the only one standing, pulled on his arm and tried to make him sit down. Now, in my mind I was thinking, "What, fool? You ashamed that your father is praising God? You should be proud! Now knock it off and let him worship!" Fortunately the father was not one to fall for the foolish pleadings of his son, and continued to stand and praise. However, this mildly humorous event led me to wonder, "Why are we so ashamed when people stand up (outside of the crowd) and proclaim their love to the God who created them?" As a side note, I attend a Chinese church. During RISE, I also noticed that, well, them Asians don't do much when they worship. Heck, they barely clapped let alone stood up! My church needs to break that "conservative Asian" trend. It's rather depressing.

And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagle's wings
Before my God fall on my knees
And rise, I will rise

Lastly, the best benefit from my working of the sound board was the fact that I did not get to sing. Now don't confuse this as "oh, she didn't worship," no, no, no. I wrote "sing", and I meant "sing." For the most part I consider myself a very good singer. I have a quite lovely Med-Soprano voice that I take a lot of pride in. Unfortunately, during worship, I tend to find myself distracted by the fact that I can sing well, and rather than using the voice God gave me to praise Him, I sing for the people around me just to say, "look at me, I'm so good". Working soundboard, on the other hand, kept me from singing and allowed me to, instead, listen to the songs and just read the lyrics. I think because of this, and because of this only, I was able to lay my anxiety and frustration at the Lord's feet and let RISE truly a night of praise and worship to Him, even if I wasn't singing. While my hands were working and my voice silenced, my heart was crying out to the Lord, asking Him to forgive me as well as just praising and thanking Him for who He is. So in the end, even though I walked into my church with a heavy and downcast soul, just being in the presence of God (as well as awesome worship music) was able to lift up my soul, and I was able to feel my spirit rise on the wings of praise and joy.

There's a day that's drawing near
When this darkness breaks to light
And the shadows disappear
And my faith shall be my eyes

Besides the worship aspect of RISE, there was also a gospel/outreach aspect. And so, one of the college guys stood up and gave a gospel presentation from the book of...Job. His reasoning was that, well, Christianity isn't exactly all "happy happy joy joy."  Suffering is what breaks a person enough to where they know they can't piece themselves back together again. Suffering stretches a person to their limit until, whether they believe in a god or not, it forces them to cry out to God for help. Suffering is what truly brings a person to Christ. He then went on to explain the love of Christ through a beautiful and romantic analogy of the perfect boy/girlfriend who loves you, loves everything about you, with all their heart. The only catch in the relationship is that you can't be together for 5 years. There's no particular reason why, but the girl/guy asks you to wait, but promises to call and write to you every day to remind you how much he/she loves you. There's more to the analogy, but that part is rather fuzzy in my memory. I do remember, however, the ending. Christ is that perfect boyfriend/girlfriend. He might be gone for a little while, but He promises that we can be together someday. To keep us going, He sends us letters, His word, through the Bible. And those phone calls? Sermons, worship music, verbal reminders of His love for us. And though the wait may be long and difficult, it will be worth it, because when the day comes when we are finally together with the Lord, think of how great our joy will be. The love God has for us now, the glimpses of it we see through His "letters and phone calls" and the joy we recieve from them, how much greater it will be when we are finally able to see Him face to face in all His glory!

And I hear the voice of many angels sing
Worthy is the Lamb
And I hear the cry of every longing heart
Worthy is the Lamb

After the message, I felt a great pain in my heart for all my non-Christian friends. I have been praying for their salvation for a number of years, but have slowly come to realize that I might be the only one that will ever bring them the gospel. This thought actually terrifies me. Although nice people, my friends are rather hostile when it comes to all things Christian. They know OF God, but they don't know Him. At the same time, I see it in their lives how much they need God. It's sad and...rather pathetic all the things I see them use to fill their lives and make it look like they have some kind of purpose. It's painful, I'm terrified, oh, God, give me the strength.

And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
And I will rise on eagle's wings
Before my God fall on my knees
And rise, I will rise

I think through this blog post I might have given off the impression that this was more about me than the RISE event itself. But trust me, if every single person that attended blogged about their experience, each blog post would be different. RISE technically wasn't about the event as a whole. Heck, the people who were organizing it thought that only 40 people were going to show up, and over 100 people actually attended. The truth is, RISE wasn't about everyone as a whole. It was about the person and God. Sure, it was a great time worshiping with fellow believers and a good event to bring friends to, but in the end it comes down to individuals. RISE could have been a total blow for me if I had held on to my anxiety and my irritation, but God took those things away from me, and the event was a blast. I'm not sure what else I can say about this event. It was totally awesome and fortunately will happen again. So, if you happen to be in Sacramento during the 1st week of January, hit me up about the next RISE praise and worship event and I will be more than happy to give you the information.

Christian or not, Asian or not, if you feel the call, rise.

All photos are credit to Tran-Shawn Yu 

 It was going to be a trip to remember. Myself and 30 other teens had signed up back in December of 2008 to go on this community service trip to Mexico. From February 2009 till the end of March 2009 we had raised funds, prepared materials, and in general steeled ourselves for this event. Our entire Spring holiday spent living in the dirt in tents, no showers, and every day playing with children from poor Mexican barrios? For us spoiled American teenagers, those things were minor details we would have to overcome. I, myself, was a veteran on this team headed down to Mexico. I had made the trip 3 times already and was more than ready to serve in Mexico once again.