Citizenship

My citizenship is in heaven.

Thank God.

I spent almost the entire day on wikipedia, educating myself on historical events such as the Korean War and Sino-Japan wars, that I didn't really learn in high school, and looking up Wikileaks-related news, and North Korea-related info on google.

However, after a while, I felt that all this was pointless. I am proud to be pro-democracy and pro-justice, but perhaps my feelings go beyond that boundary into feeling superior in other ways. It's nice to have nationalistic feelings towards the country you associate yourself with, but not if it hinders you from seeing the greater picture... not if it hinders you from loving people, despite their beliefs

In the end, all countries will bow to the King of Kings. And I will proud to say then as I am now, that my citizenship is in heaven.

(Also, if you read wikileaks, you can see that every country has flaws, and every country is still motivated by self-interest and is still fearful of the same things)

Your Reality

Your reality is what causes you to become alive.

Some people are zombies when they go to work, but as soon as they come home and head off to a party or to the mall where their friends are, they become alive, their eyes light up, etc. and, basically they become another person. Because of their zombie-like state at work, their coworkers are probably just acquaintancs, since they have no interest in getting to know their coworkers, but simply are just waiting to meet up with friends after work. This situation only highlights 2 aspects/realities, one of which is significantly more 'real' to that person.

Most of us have multiple aspects of our lives, multiple realities. For me, I have work/coworkers, apartment-mates & western interns, Chinese tutors, Church people, Harry Potter novels, God's Word, iPod music/audiobook, Prayer time, etc.. Each of these has a different level of "realness" feel for me. It's not always about the amount of time you spend in each category that determines how real they are to you, because you could spend the most time at work and be the least 'awake' during that time.

I developed this theory yesterday, as I realized that before I started my Chinese private tutoring, I paid more attention to my coworkers and my life at work was slightly more "real"-feeling to me--I looked forward to seeing my coworkers and my eyes lit up more when I saw them,etc. , but since then my Chinese tutoring sessions have ranked higher in realness-feel. Also, I had stopped reading Harry Potter for half a week, but started reading the 4th book again yesterday, and felt that it decreased the realness-feel for other aspects.

But I don't think that when one aspect of your life becomes more real, then the other aspects necessarily become less real. ... but our own love is limited. We are selfish by nature, and when we have something else that makes us come alive, we are tempted to ignore the other things that do not satisfy us as much. But I want to try to keep giving my full self for my coworkers and my work, and the other aspects of my life. --and remember that I can only do this if my love comes from God. I hope that my greatest reality will be God, and that I may fall so in love with Him, that this reality will spill over to every aspect.

Okay. Sorry if this made no sense... it's probably a hit or miss type of thing to understand. I was really encouraged by 2 Peter1:3-11 yesterday, as I realized I am often nearsighted!!

Learn from Cults?

Cults.
What makes them not good?
Wrong Theology. Usually also legalism and an aspect of rigidity/controlling-ness.

The good parts. What draws people in?
The love, obviously. Or, should I say the initial love or love-showering? The friendship, the attention, the warmth, the openness. They live together; they are passionate; they are missional.
They believe in what they do, and they do what they say they beieve in. No one in a cult is lukewearm, unless they are 2nd generations. (the kids/teens)

It's been a while since I first (unknowingly) encountered /got slightly involved with a Church that was borderline cult. I wouldn't call them a cult, because they aren't really. But I remember really loving it, before I realized they were a cult. I remember thinking that it was so awesome that they are actually taking the bible literally! They live together, just like in Acts. Every morning, they pray together. Everything was the same as Acts, except that they didn't care for the spiritual gifts.

Anyway, I was just reminded of this, because a sister told me that she just visited a home fellowship and had the same experience I had when I visited one last Sunday. People in the fellowship asked us very directly "are you a believer?" We were both taken aback by this directness, but felt that it was very good. --very good, as in it is a good thing to do, and very good in the sense that it also felt very good. For me, it was the attention and the caring tone in which they asked whether I was a believer or not. The girl who asked me, practically stopped me in mid-conversation to ask me. It was the kind of tone in which you reach your hand out and touch the other person's shoulder and look in their eyes as you ask them in a concerned yet caring voice, 'are you a believer?'

Because that is what really matters.