Merry Christmas!

"these are a few of my favorite things..."

.: mood - wearing down :.
.: noise - "Scrubs" on Comedy Central :.

It was a matter of time that I would be found out at my Korean restaurant of choice in East Lansing (Korea House, btw). After living here for nearly a year, and ordering the same thing at every visit, my waitress volunteered to guess my order at lunch today: "Kalbi dinner portion with a Diet Coke, right?"

For my vast readership's edification, here are some of my usual items that I order just about every time from these fine establishments:

Starbucks: triple tall, nonfat, no whip mocha
McDonald's: 10-piece McNuggets value meal, Diet Coke, and a Filet-o-Fish sandwich
Arby's: Beef & Cheddar with curly fries and a Diet Coke
Chili's: peppercorn burger, extra blue cheese dressing on the side and a Diet Coke

As you can see, the Diet Coke thing is a big deal for me. It counteracts just about any unhealthy food. It's a scientific fact that I just made up. (I'm using the same dietary magic that can make any food healthy by adding cottage cheese and a cling peach slice.)

Holy Observer: "Asian American Pastor Speaks Only English"

The following is an article from the humor website "The Holy Observer" (a la "The Onion"). I thought this was hysterical. Mostly because this does ring true with many 1st and 2nd generation Asian-Americans in my experience.

All growing up, I dreaded the following conversation...

My least favorite question: "Where did you learn to speak English so well?"
ME: "New Jersey."

Followed by: "When did you come to this country?"
ME: "Uh, I was born in New Jersey...I'm from Hoboken."


Asian American Pastor Speaks Only English
Chicago native of Korean descent also knows no martial arts

HOUSTON – The employment of James Kim as youth pastor at Mt. Olive Baptist church here has resulted in some disappointment among church members, but not for the usual pastoral dissatisfaction reasons.

“When I saw that we had hired him, I was so excited,” said church treasurer Lilly Rudd. “I thought we could finally start an outreach to the Chinese and Filipino populations of Houston, but when he opened his mouth I noticed there was no accent at all – even his l’s and r’s were all pronounced right. That’s when I had to ask him if he even spoke Chinese at all. I was completely speechless when he told me he’d never even been outside the US.”

Kim’s great grandparents emigrated from Korea to Northern Illinois in the early 1920’s. Despite persistent ethnic misconceptions from new acquaintances throughout his life, Kim says that he actually knows very little about Asian cultures.

“Well, I went to high school on the north side of Chicago, I root for the Bears,” Kim said. “My dad’s an engineer, not a convenience store owner, and I don’t really know how to cook any special kinds of food.”

But while he may be completely comfortable in his fully Americanized skin, Kim’s ambivalence toward his heritage is causing some problems in his new position. Kurt Eisen, a longtime member of Mt. Olive Baptist who served on the search committee that ultimately hired Kim, says that he feels Kim misrepresented himself.

“We had a lot of good candidates for the job,” Eisen said. “It was a really close race between some really good guys, and the slightest considerations ended up making the difference. While we may not have discussed it directly with him, the committee talked a lot about how great it would be to start some karate outreach programs with the youth group and how it would be cool to do some Kabuki drama skits on Sundays. Now, it looks like none of that is gonna happen. Needless to say, we were quite disappointed.”

Kim seems unfazed by the nonplussed nature of his new employers.

“We’re talking about starting a basketball ministry to reach out to some of the poorer youth in the African American neighborhoods,” he said. “Then we were talking about some kind of Halo 3 party to draw the kids in, but we’ll have to talk about that, because I’m not very good at video games.”

As far as satiating the hunger of church leaders for some eastern flavor from their youth leader, Kim says that there are a few things that may stand him in better stead over time.

“I’ve had acupuncture a couple of times, and I really liked it,” he said. “Oh, plus, I took some violin lessons as a kid, and I’m a really bad driver, so I think I’ll be OK."

Thanksgiving through the eyes of a 3-year-old armed with a digital camera

My daughter, Ainsley, and her photos of Thanksgiving... (Copyright 2007 - Ainsley Lumanog - all rights reserved). Apparently, pickles are very important to her Thanksgiving experience.

this is the future of the Church...

Primates of the Global South meeting in China. This is the future of the Anglican Communion -- sorry to sound so self congratulatory as an Asian person of faith, but this is where the growth is happening.

Read more at Global South Anglican.

great quote from Carrie Fisher

My favorite issue of the year from Esquire magazine is the annual "What I've Learned" issue. They ask celebrities and regular folks like you and me about any pearls of wisdom we'd like to share with the world. I came across this great quote from Carrie Fisher and it resonated with me and my wife where we have these moments every so often in our respective work and ministries:

"When you get on a manic run, you feel like you're a house burning down
from the inside out. It's like having a bellyful of electric eels. Every ball
you hit is out of the park. Every word you're searching for is right at the tip
of your tongue. You look through the facts in your head, your library, your
catalog of memories and experiences and information, and it's all there,
everything. You have every connection before you even look for it. It's the best
version of yourself, sold back to yourself on the cheap every minute every
minute every minute."

born again cook

inspiration from Julia Child...

After growing up in the restaurant business (could I be anymore Asian?), I've been around all kinds of food just about all my life. My Dad is most responsible for my palate. He and I used to eat out on his day off and we'd go to just about every restaurant there was just to see what was new and different.

After watching way too much Food Network one day, I was suddenly inspired to cook. I was watching "Barefoot Contessa" and thought, "Wow, that looks good. I'd like to cook that." And, I was off to the races. (By the way, I was inspired by a simple looking steak sandwich with a homemade mustard sauce and caramelized onions atop a ciabatta roll. It was pretty darn good.)

That led to me cooking up some rack of lamb (which my 3-year-old lovingly refers to as "rocket lamb"), veal saltimbocca (Amy has a hard time eating anything involving veal) and this beautiful Beef Burgundy sitting atop buttered egg noodles...


Now thanks to finally getting my hands on the 2-volume set of books by Julia Child on French cooking, I've been inspired to cook more in the last few months than I have all during my nearly 10-years of marriage to Amy. I'm thinking of doing something with duck for my next cooking adventure...

.: mood - exhausted :.
.: music - Ray LaMontagne - "Hannah" :.

Let me preface this by saying that I love being a pastor. It's a blessing to be used of God to minister to people at their deepest need. Though I don't always know what to say, God manages to use me when I'm available to Him.

I just officiated at a funeral on Monday. This is my second funeral this year. And, it so happens that this was my second funeral ever as the officiant. Mind you, I've planned many a funeral and many a wedding as an assistant pastor. But, it's not quite the same as being the priest in charge over the whole deal.

I've found that I approach weddings and funerals in the same way. They are both a celebration of life. And, when done correctly, it allows God to be glorified because these sacraments are celebrations of life. I throw myself completely into the preparation of weddings and funerals. So much so that I just realized (Monday afternoon) that I crash as soon as it's over. It's now Wednesday night and I'm still not back to my full strength.

I'm not sure why I'm blogging about this. I'm kind of an emotional guy at weddings and funerals which is a bit of an occupational hazard as a pastor. Yes, I've got feelings and I'm not a robot that just reads stuff out of the Book of Common Prayer. But, I'm sensitive that I don't want to be a distraction or take someone's attention off of God because I'm having a moment.

I held it together pretty well for the funeral on Monday until the very end. The very last prayer from the funeral service is what got me:

Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant N. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. Receive him into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light. Amen.

I got really choked up with this very last prayer. Possibly because I'm very aware of how much God has done in my life, too. I'm also a sheep of His fold, a lamb of His flock, a sinner of His own redeeming. I'm grateful for His grace in the here and now -- especially as we celebrate one's life ending here on earth and entering into eternal glory.

I've been in the Gospel ministry for 16 years now with nearly 8 years in a sacramental framework. I keep thinking it's going to get easier but it doesn't. In fact, I kind of like it like that. I've had conversations with other priests that tell me, "Oh, that emotional stuff will pass." I hope it doesn't. I don't ever want the sacraments to be some exercise between me and God or just words on a page.

this kind of stuff never happened to me when I was a waiter

In case you missed it in the infotainment news, apparently Donald Trump left a $10,000 tip for his waiter Billy at the Buffalo Club. I never got tips like this when I was a waiter!


I don't know what's weirder...Donald Trump leaving a $10,000 tip or that an iced tea is $5.00 at the Buffalo Club.

man, that's a lot of Hot Pockets

I was almost persuaded to take advantage of the 6 boxes of Hot Pockets sale for $10. That's how I got into my Hot Pockets rut back in January. The new Meijer in DeWitt, MI has THREE CASES of all the varieties of Hot Pockets. Hot Pockets even get their own sign in the frozen section...that's how you know you've arrived as a food product. When your various products gets its own signage.

DETAILS: Joel Osteen #16 on the Power 50 List

Joel Osteen addressing his kingdom congregation

Everytime I see smiling Joel Osteen whilst channel surfing, I throw up in my mouth a little. A bit strong, eh? Today, I was just going through DETAILS magazine looking for advice on how to match my glen plaid flannel suit with some new accessories to freshen up the old wardrobe. And then ... WAM! ... here comes a little blurb about Joel Osteen in my very non-spiritual men's magazine. (Osteen made it to the 50 most influential under 50 in DETAILS.)

Osteen drives me crazy. OK, sure, he's got the largest church in the US. Fine, he makes a trillion dollars a year now due to his book sales and his little tour he's got going. I'm not sure how he manages to do this ... especially with his mullet.

I've never heard a preacher use such little Scripture in a sermon quite like Osteen. And, if you believe what he's saying, there's no such thing as poverty, suffering, depression or anxiety. It's amazing that he can turn every verse in the Bible (if he quotes any) into something folksy about how God wants us to be rich, happy and pain-free.

Also, I've not seen very many in the media make the connection that Osteen treads in the same self-help waters of Dr. Phil (another one who makes me ill...those match.com commercials of him just make me want to throw up) and Deepak Chopra.

Here's the blurb from this month's DETAILS:

16 // The Spiritual Leader
Joel Osteen, Pastor, Lakewood Church; Age: 44
The most popular pastor in America casts God in the role of benevolent life
coach. Known as the Smiling Preacher (his lovely blonde wife, Victoria, might be
the reason for the grin), Joel Osteen doesn’t rail against sin, threaten
damnation, or even refer to the Bible all that often—a strategy that’s helped
his brand of “pastorpreneur” sell in precincts where Dr. Phil and Deepak Chopra
hold sway. Each Sunday, Osteen’s services draw 40,000 people to a church that
was once the home of the Houston Rockets, and he hosts the most-watched
inspirational TV show in the United States. All of which helps explain how the
Oral Roberts University dropout has sold 4 million copies of his 2004 book Your
Best Life Now and why his new book, Become a Better You, had an initial print
run of 3 million. “For men,” says Jim Twitchell, the author of Shopping for God:
How Christianity Moved From In Your Heart to In Your Face, “seeing a minister
with a hot wife kind of says this guy is one of them.”

Paris je t'aime

Just watched Paris je t'aime. This is a great movie. Not the whole thing, but there are some incredible standout features in this 18-part movie each lasting 5 minutes. There were supposed to be 20 parts to resemble each of the 20 arrondisements (districts or neighborhoods) in Paris but I read somewhere that 2 of those parts fell through and didn't make it to the final film.

One of the most profound faith statements I've seen in a long time was in one of the pieces toward the middle (features Juliette Binoche as a grieving mom). I don't want to give anything away because it's just awesome. I had to watch it twice because it was just that awesome. That was worth sitting through some very bizarre esoteric French cinema stuff to get to that moment.