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| My first association with bamboo is a movie my father showed to a group of people from church when I was eight or nine. I don't remember the title, but I remember it was about missionaries in China. I don't remember the plot or the characters, but I remember the phrase "bending without breaking" and that it used the image of bamboo trees bending in the wind but not breaking as a metaphor for the survival of Christians amidst persecution in China. I have since seen films where bamboo is part of the cinematography of martial arts. I have recently admired the beauty of the wood in a set of dishes at Target and in a skateboard owned by a good friend. Next door to my new place is a bamboo garden, the second or third I've seen in real life; I admire this one when I wash dishes. I had never seen bamboo in winter, though, until today: whispered strength I have seen blood on snow in Chinese silver screen and heard bamboo bend beneath foley footsteps but as my windows quiver with the sinister wind and evergreens rain branches in the violent ice the bamboo garden whispers strength and stands without fear. | | |
| I was driving to Bible Study, and as I passed the train station, I saw a familiar face. It was a man who had visited my Bible Study a couple times before, meaningfully joining in our discussion of Hosea. He looked like he was trying to get somewhere, so I turned around and asked him if he needed a ride. He was going to a prayer and meditation service at a church a few blocks from the next train stop, but he had missed the train and the bus he would have taken had stopped running by that time. He accepted my offer, and we talked mostly about his relatives in other parts of the country for most of the ten-minute ride. This man is also homeless. My giving him a ride is a drop in the ocean of his problems. Yes, I helped, but instead of feeling good, I felt overwhelmed by my incapacity to actually help. I was complaining about my apartment being below 60 degrees because the boiler for the heating system was not working today (now it's fixed), and here is a person who might have to spend the night outside in 20-degree weather! He is also my brother in Christ. And my roommate said that my action would be an encouragement from the Lord, a reminder that God cares for him and is providing for him. I cannot help, but God puts each of His children in a specific place at a specific moment to fulfill His mission for them, to be His hands, His feet, His love to a world where "people need the Lord." | | |
| I spent a total of 14 hours in my car over Thanksgiving break, but it was worth it. On my way to visit friends in New Hampshire, I stopped at Yale University to stretch my legs and take a brief walking tour of the campus. After I arrived on Wednesday night, my friend and I caught up over hot chocolate. On Thursday, we ate with her family and her husband's family. We also watched The End of the Spear. On Friday, we went hiking in the White Mountains, seeing waterfalls and frozen ponds. It was wonderful to get away from Long Island for a few days, spend time with friends, and see another part of New England.  On December 17, I directed my church's youth choir in singing, "Dance and Sing for the Lord Will Be With Us," a fun song to the tune of "King of Kings and Lord of Lords" with a text based on Isaiah 11:1-9. For Christmas Eve, a family from church invited me to dinner, and my church had a worship-based service that night. Although I spent most of Christmas Day in the airport or on an airplane, my family and I had dinner together after I arrived. I do not know what I will be doing for New Year's, but I will enjoy doing anything with family or friends. | | |
| This semester has had a lot of ups and downs, but the downs have been some of the worst I have ever had. I am dealing with some problems that have been around for several years and will take some time to fix. In addition to being in prayer and in tears, I am also in counseling with a Messianic Jew. I have a close friend here who has gotten me out for some fun (see the picture below) and gotten me out of bed (by phone) on a day when I didn't feel like doing anything. Playing hymns and worship songs on the piano in my church's sanctuary (which is nicer than any piano I have access to at school) has also been very helpful in communing with God during this time. 
Most of the ups have come from being a music teacher (teaching undergraduate introductory music theory, accompanying youth musical theater through the school/camp I worked for this summer, and directing my church's youth choir), from taking an engaging class on Brazilian music (hence Villa-Lobos), and from spending time with friends. *Ezri is the Hebrew word for "help" and is in Psalm 121, a psalm that is particularly meaningful to me because I still play the Jewish tune for it that one of my undergraduate professors shared with me. | | |
| This week, I lead a Bible study for the first time. It was a group of fellow young adults, and my responsibility was to introduce Hosea, which we will be studying over the next few months. After reading through all of Hosea at the beach on Saturday, I thought I would teach on a related passage, such as Ezekiel 16. When I later read through this chapter, however, it seemed too long to cover in one study. Thus, I decided to investigate the historical background of Hosea and see where it would lead me. What I discovered was the consistency of the Old Testament (OT), the nature of some OT prophecy, the repeated sins of God's people, and the way God pursues His people. Verses in Deuteronomy, II Kings, II Chronicles, Isaiah, Hosea, Micah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel refer to the relationship/covenant between God and His people in terms of God's faithfulness, anger, and love while the people were sinful and unfaithful toward Him. The passage in Deuteronomy predicted what would happen to the people if they forgot God and worshiped idols. In Hosea, Micah, and Isaiah's time, this was fulfilled in the short term in Assyria and Aram. In Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel's time, this was fulfilled in the 70-year captivity in Babylon. God pursues His people through both judgment and compassion; it is a pattern of His wrath, their repentance, His restoration of them. Although we did not get into a discussion of the new covenant during the Bible study (it was mentioned in the Jeremiah passage), I did look at John 8 while I was preparing. It is fascinating how this is relevant. Christ takes the wrath of the Jews toward the adulterous woman and shows her compassion. By His death on the cross, Christ took God's wrath once for all and offers grace to all. | | |
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