Let's get ULTIMATE!

Last night was the beginning of a new era: The utter domination of team Black Rain in the Hong Kong Ultimate Players Association. 

Now, this ain't your grandma's ultimate. This ain't even Kanakuk-style ultimate. This is legit ultimate. Positions and strategy and all that stuff. Maybe it's the way ultimate is really supposed to be played, and I just know the toned-down version of it, but this stuff is the real thing. I didn't think I'd like it from the way it was described. But it was AWESOME.....and we destroyed our opponents. We beat them soundly. We scored more goal point units (thanks, Brian Regan) and the 14-8 score at the time of the lights being turned off at the stadium in Causeway Bay was more than enough to prove that Black Rain is not a team to be messed with.

Besides getting to play as a part of an organized league again, which is incredible, it also makes me think of something that my good friend Andy Braner likes to talk about a LOT: the idea of community.

Part of my community here in HK has remained pretty static since about the time I first moved here. There are a few of us who make sure that we hang out all the time. We do church together, most of us work in the same office, we randomly go eat American breakfast together early in the morning, etc etc etc. We are each other's primary community. It makes life here great.

But part of my community has been extremely dynamic since getting back to Hong Kong. The first week I was here I met Eric in the gym. He's not a believer from what I know and I think his priorities are extremely different from mine and the people in my 'static' community. Fortunately the first time we actually hung out was the night after he had become heavily intoxicated, so he wasn't wanting to do that again. Which I was perfectly fine with.

The next week I met "Steven" (I don't know his Chinese name, and even if I did, I wouldn't know how to say it or write it, I'm sure). Steven told me the other day that he has only ever had any encounters with one other American, and he was black. I am the first white American he has been willing to play soccer with, talk with, hang out with. He told me it's "not a racist thing" but whatever. I don't care why he hasn't talked to Americans in the past. But now whenever we get to talk he has a million questions from "what do you think about the pollution" to "don't you think John McCain is too old to become president?"  For some reason he has decided now that he wants to know how other people think. And while I don't always have clear answers for him, I think it's helpful for him, and it's definitely helpful for me too.

And now I've met all these people whom I play ultimate frisbee with. A good number of them are Christians, but a good number of them are not, as well. It's a place where I can fellowship with other believers, and a place where hopefully we are examples to those who do not choose to believe what we believe. 

The point of this is that in the past my "community" has been 99% Christian (except for my 3 months at NOLS when I had no other Christian influence). It's been great. It's given me a solid foundation (I think) and I know that I have a HUGE support system, especially with the plethora of people from Kanakuk whom I know will be there in less than a heart beat if necessary.

But this time in life is so encouraging because I get to have my comfortable community around me almost all the time, and I also have the opportunity to go to the hungry, the lost, the broken down, the searching, the angry, and be an example to them. And while I write about how great this is, I also know in the back of my mind that it's something that scares me. It's freakin hard. But it's an honor to have this ability and I pray that I will use it well.

Thanks for being a part of my community.

INK!

I got a new tattoo today.

On the way back to my apartment a guy was getting arrested, just outside of the MTR (the subway station for all you non-Hong Kongers).

I am glad that I'm the one with the new tattoo, and not the sore wrists from the cuffs.

Also, went on a sweet hike/jog/swim with Marcus. So that was rad. And then we ate ramen with ham. Ordering ramen from a restaurant is still weird to me. Nowhere in any Westernized portion of America (meaning outside of China-town in whatever city you happen to be in) would you go to a restaurant and order ramen noodles. You would just buy it for 10 cents at the store and make it at home. But here, I had a beer and a bowl of ramen with ham and I paid HK$ 30. Like...US$ 3.50.

I love this place.

I'm Here to Please You

I decided that I'm really just too tired to blog right now, but it's 6:20 on a Friday night and I realized that I exist to make my avid blog-followers happy (meaning...me.)

Some good news from life recently:

Ocean Kayaking

Hot Yoga

Sunday Morning Hikes

5 PM Service at Church

The Espresso Machine at Work

Re-reading Journal Entries

Sleeping 12 Hours on a Week Night

Getting up at 6 the Next Morning and Working Out

I guess I'll get into my actual post now. Hope you liked my list, tho.

I had a slightly disappointing day. At this point I am questioning a lot of things. Not fundamental things, like God or love or my feet or something, but things regarding what I'm doing, where I am (in life, not physically...that's easy to answer), and so on. And I almost blogged on that. But I realize that it's probably just a whim that will pass with the next breeze. Which in Hong Kong means a typhoon. Frickin' rad! Anyway, I digress (can one digress before one even begins?)

So instead I'm gonna write on one of my recent journal re-reads, which is actually a reflection on something I read. I read it many months ago, but since it's taken me almost a year to get not even half way through the book, it's probably only a few pages back from where I am now.

It's The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard. I'm picking up in the middle of what he's talking about, but here it is:

"When this cheerleading approach to the 'real world' triumphs among those who profess Christ, they may then have faith in faith but will have little faith in God. For God and his world are just not 'real' to them. They may believe in believing but not be able to rely on God - like many in our current culture who love love but in practice are unable to love real people. They may believe in prayer, think it quite a good thing, but be unable to pray believing and so will rarely, if ever, pray at all."

Man, well done Dallas. I mean, not that I feel really qualified or whatever to make comments on the entire Christian community, but from my own observations, especially in my own life, this is totally true. I think the comment about those who love love but are unable to love real people is huge. All my Christian buddies, my self included, talk about love like it's the only thing there is to talk about. I don't know how many people either have or want to have a tattoo that says something about love. Even I do, and I have some designs ready, but we can discuss love all freakin day long. But are we really doing it, to real people?

The Savior didn't just sit and talk about love to the Scribes and Pharisees and whoever else. And the Father didn't just have a conversation with the Spirit about how great it is that He created love, and that he even IS love. He sent Jesus to earth, and the Spirit loved us enough to descend upon us at our conversion. If our example is God, we have no ability to say we don't know what love looks like.

I know I fail at this myself about 83,000 times a day, but it's good for me to get it on paper. This didn't exactly end up going the direction I thought it was going to, but whatever. I rambled and this came out, so I'm happy with it.

I started tonight's blog at work but then I went to Encounter (the high school youth group here in HK) and so I'm finishing it now at 1:40 am.

I just wanna end with one more really important thing:

If you're playing Mario and Sonic Olympics on Nintendo Wii, Peach is totally the best character to use on the Trampoline event. I got a perfect 10 with her like a million times.

Tryin out the love...after I take my nightly nap. Praise God for Saturdays!