Hosive

this is the second video in the lent series(one a day through easter sunday):

we’re entering holy week….the highest holy days in the christian faith when we focus on the last week of jesus’ life before his death and resurrection. we start off with his jubilant entry into jerusalem, celebrate with the last supper and communion before we descend into his betrayal, trial, torture, crucifixion and death. usually, stories that end in death….end. but the story was not over yet. this was only friday…..sunday was coming.

for the next week, i’ll be posting a video a day to retell the story. these videos were made by leo chen, a bsg fan, videographer and movie maker in my church.

the best part of the job is going over to celebrate new births. here is caleb benjamin soo.

i get to be with people during the best parts of their lives…and the most important times of their lives: weddings, graduations, births, baptisms, wrestling over career, school and moves…..and funerals which are the hardest part of the job. and at vision, we’ve felt the full range of emotions this winter. we are growing up.

look at that hair!!!….this is less than a week old! 5 days! no joke!

what was a joke that has started becoming reality is naming rights. i’ve encouraged people looking for biblical names for their kids to go with joseph. in the new testament, there are only 2 people specifically called out as good: joseph of arimithea and barnabas! not even jesus! better than jesus! better than ezra! and of course you know….barnabas is not barnabas’ real name….barnabas is a nickname….barnabas’ real name: joseph

so i started offering $100 for sons to be named joseph. if you name 2 sons joseph, you get the $100 for the first and $1000 for the second. a third son named joseph, i’ll pay for your therapy.

but dan and jess gave their son a middle name of benjamin which is also my middle name. everyone especially my jewish neighbors thought i had such a biblical name with joseph benjamin, the two beloved sons of israel….but in reality, my great grandfather’s name was joseph and my parents liked benjamin franklin. wah wah. but still a good name for a future minister.

so i think i’m going to offer $50 for middle name benjamin. $50, $500 for two sons with benjamin as their middle name.

but what to do with my friend who is considering the name joseph barnabas? joseph joseph…….

on dec 31 2006, the chen family, annie and andy(and ricky too)created a new year’s eve event at our house. they started with a rumor….”pastor joseph, i hear people are coming over to your house for new year’s” our response was……”no….but you’re welcome to come over.” they expressed the fact that they were tired of the same old same old in nyc….paying a ton of money to hang out at a lounge consuming alcohol in a too loud environment. they wanted something……”wholesome”.

thus a night of wholesome fun on wholesome new year’s!

so we did it again in 2007:

a night of wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!……………….

a night of milk and cookies…..all the way from maryland, berger cookies….theresa tells me these are a hoilday tradition in the baltimore area where she grew up. the cookies are more than half fudge. is this cookie or candy? it was a big hit that night!

a night of hanging out with church, friends and family………

and of course, a night of baby!!!!

wow!!! can’t wait for next year!

a flu wiped me out at the wrong time so i’ve been behind on blogging ever since……let’s catchup…..

we said good bye to our good friends liz and leonard as they headed back to la with a meal at one of their hidden treasures in nyc. its a steakhouse right above the fairway around 72 and broadway. fairway is a regular(but very good)supermarket in nyc and inexplicably they also cook steaks. big honking steaks at reasonable(nyc)prices. we had a great time eating meat….which t and i have given up for lent….we’ll likely break lent at some point using the gift certificates for the all you can eat meat-arama that leonard and liz got for my ordination…….

we miss our friends dearly.

christmas eve and christmas day were spent at da sto. my in-laws have random shops….jewelry, pool hall, beauty supplies…..booze. its not the holidays unless……..

i spend the day catching up on dvds……futurama, alien nation and blade runner. theresa spent it helping sell 40’s and lottery tickets. the program is set up so that koreans can operate it easier.

the official name of the store is called vision! its nice to know that my faith is having an impact on the family. so when people ask me what i did at christmas, i say i spent it at vision!

we proceeded to philly to actually have a more spiritual christmas at chinese mission 2007. i did workshops. t did sound. steff did art. peter did the big talks. LT did everything.

i have done this conference every three years since 1995. but mayhaps my time with youth are drawing to a close. i can still tell some funny jh jokes. maybe that’s the only kinds i can tell.

finally, we wrapped up with a week with the tsangs before the new year! more like the brownings and the tsangs. but life was dreamy and slow…the way christmas used to be

life is good and content. then we all caught the flu. boo flu. yea, u2.
i got my u2.com fan club t-shirt as part of my dues. it also came with a double cd set of a dvd i already own. eh. the real prize we hope are access to concert tickets. i was part of the original fan club, propaganda….and they rewarded me with double access to tickets last time around. hoping to keep my status. i’m also part of the killers fan club and we are part of the hallmark ornament club which used to have two good selections per year but lately, only one. but its the club that allows us to keep collecting the christmas windows ornaments that mark our anniversary each year. more about that in may.