Year of 2007

As far as what I have acheived this year... it's nothing compared to the many things happening around me and what God had me learn throughout this year.

Jan-April: Writing my first author paper , End of April - Sue and Matt's wedding in Miami

May: Got scooped by another lab, submited my paper anyway, Baby sister graduated from BC! Parents visited, went to the cape to hunt for lighthouses and lobster rolls.

June: Peter's work conference in Orlando, got to stay at the Dolphin hotel in Walt Disney World. 

July: Went to the International Herpesvirus Workshop in Asheville, NC with my coworker and daily lunch buddy Vey. It was a great time of learning about herpesviruses and developing a friendship. Peter and I bought bikes! During the weekends, we rode along Memorial Drive with our friends Jen and Bryan.

August: Joined facebook. Peter was inspired by Tiger Woods so we took up golfing as well.

Sept: After a resubmission and a rebuttal, my paper is finally accepted! Esther got into a car accident and broke her arm, and we became her pseudo parents for a while, kinda fun actually. Celebrated Peter's birthday with a Tee party, too bad we didn't get to play any golf games. We went to NYC to celebrate our first wedding anniversary! We went to our favorite Top Chef contestant Herold's restaurant, Perilla, in Grenwich village. The food was amazing!

Oct: CP came to visit!

November: Peter schemed up a surprise birthday party for me at cheesecake factory :)

December: Sofia's birthday at Helmands, had Jeremy and Mike over for an impromptu dinner during the huge snow storm, celebrated christmas early with Esther and Nakchan, then with the Buntens at their annual christmas party. Then celebrated Patricia's birthday over dumplings and line charades, great fun! Got to hang out with Vivian before we leave for L.A. for the holidays. Also with Mike before we left for the airport (thanks for the ride buddy)!  Hung out with Peter's parents watching HK soap operas, went to the Getty Center, Little Tokyo and dinner in Santa Monica.

Though not talked about here, God has taught me alot about friendship and living out the christian life this year. I've been blessed abundantly through my friendships. I'm glad for sisters in christ whom I meet or talk on the phone to once a month to keep each other accountable, share concerns and edify each other with God's word. All in all, my prayer for myself for this coming year, Paul pretty much sums it all up in Colossians 4:4-6:

Pray that I may proclaim it [the Gospel] clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

I have many friends and family who are still yet believers, I pray that through living out the christian life the best we can, we may be able to win them to Christ, that they may see the Holy Spirit working in us and ask who He is.   

On World Religons and Cults

I've been reading So What's the Difference? by Fritz Ridenour for sunday school. The author compared biblical Christianity to all the major world religions and cults. The book highlights the major doctorines of each religion/cults and summarizes key points on how they differ from Christianity. Specifically, who God is, who Jesus is, what they regard as Scripture, how they view sin and salvation.

Here's a snipet summary of the book (courtesy of Peter who's teaching the class)

	Chrstianity	Judaism	Islam	Hinduism	Buddhism	Jehovah's Witnesses	Mormanism	New Age
Regarding God	Three Persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) in One; a Personal Loving God	Lord God is One (Father)	Allah, an Impersonal God	Brahma, a formless all encompassing being	No God or Bodhisattvas	Two Gods; Jehovah, the Almighty God, and Jesus, the mighty God	Father God is Exalted Man; Jesus and Holy Spirit are Distinct Gods from Father God.	Pantheism; All is God
Regarding Jesus Christ	Messiah; Only Son of God; Both Human and Divine	Good Teacher or Prophet	A Man and a Prophet Below Mohammed	One of the incarnations of Vishnu	A Good Teacher Lesser Than Buddha	Archangel Michael in Human Form,; Raised as a Spirit	Jesus is son of Father God and a Resurrected Exalted Man	One in a line of Spritual Leaders that Continue Today
Regarding Sin	Born Evil	Born Neutral; Choose Between Two	Born with Clean Hearts' Sin can be overcome by Will	Karma; Demerits Only Relevant for Reincarnation	Lustful Desire	Born Evil	Born Evil But not with Adam's Sin	There is no Sin, only Human Growth and Happiness
Regarding Salvation	Through Faith in the Atoning Death of Christ	Through Commitment to One True God and Moral Living	Allah Does not Love Wrongdoing; Must Earn Salvation	Deliverance from a Cycle of Suffering	Achieve Nirvana	Christ's Death Opens the Way to Work for Salvation	Christ's Death Atones for Adam and Eve's Sins; Individuals have to earn Salvation	Salvation is Englightenment; Reincarnate Until you get it Right
Scripture	The Bible- Old and New Testaments	Talmud; Mishma; Old Testament	Qu'ran, Torah, Zabur, Injil	Vedas, Brahamanas, Aranyakas, and Upanishads	Tripitaka	The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures; Teachings of WTBTS	Canon Not Closed; Book of Mormon; Doctorine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, the Bible (KJV) if "Translated Correctly"	Comes from Many Sources Indcluding all the World Religions

* WTBTS: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society

* KJV: King James Version

Characteristics of major cults:

1. Reject the Trinity - Reject Jesus' Divinity

2. All Christian churches are wrong and only their group has the real truth about God

3. Claim to believe the Bible but they distort its teachings to suit their own views/doctorines

4. Deny salvation through faith in Christ alone

5. Skillful at using Christian terminology but may not mean the same thing to Christians

On Evangelism

After reading this book, I've thought alot about the many different religions and cults lately. I think it was probably due to my sister receiving a publication from the WTBTS at her door this summer and being asked to participate in their headquarter meetings (which was kind of random) that triggered my wanting to evangelize more... (I.e., why don't I evangelize more??)

The JW's are well known for their door to door evangelizing and in so doing have amounted a large number of members who are taught to earn their way to salvation by doing good works/evangelizing. (This teaching is in stark contrast with that of Christianity where Salvation is through faith in Christ Jesus who died for our sins and rose again. As Christians, we do not need to earn salvation because we already have it but we do good works as a reflection of their salvation.)

So I tried giving our tracts and Christian newspapers this weekend in the middle of Chinatown during August Moon Festival. It's not as tough as I thought, the Chinese elderly are very friendly and are often surious about what you are handing out. It's unfortunate that I feel a language barrier between us and that I was not able to talk very much (they speak cantonese). Although giving out christian literature is a good way to get the Good News out there to as many people as possible, it fails its purpose if people fail to read them when they get home. Or worse still, if they don't understand it or get confused and subsequently gives up understanding it. I do pray that God will work in the hearts of these folks who read the newspaper/tract. That He will provide people around them to resolve any confusion or direct them to a pastor. May God reveal himself to them in a personal way such that they would evaluate their lives and see whether they want Jesus to be part of it.

There are rare opportunities, perhaps divine appointments, that we are given a chance to share the gospel to our coworkers and friends. Do take advantage of them, whenever the conversation touches upon your faith and God. People who you work closely with, who get to know you for any long period of time, come to respect who you are and your faith. They become genuinely interested in what you believe in and are comfortable in asking any question under the sun and asking your opinion, as a Christian, on certain issues. What's important is that you tell them your honest opinion and share the biblical values without being judging or sounding too preachy -- too many Christian terms would also confuse a non-believer. I do not claim to know how to evangelize effectively, but I learn through trial and error as well as through God's grace in giving me plenty more opportunities to learn my way through it. At the same time, challenging me to know Him more and talk about Him more accurately.

As 1 Peter 3:15 says: "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, "

International Herpesvirus Workshop 2007

Hi everyone! Just came back from a Herpes Meeting.... no it's not like an AA group where people talk about how they deal with Herpes... It was a big gathering for the leading scientists (and their minions like me) in the Herpesvirus field to talk to one another about the recent advances in the field and where we can go forth from here. Yes EBV is a herpesvirus, thankfully its not one of those that causes STDs but one that is involved in some cancers. However, its cousins like HSV-1 and  HSV-2 is the agent for oral and genital herpes respectively.  

A number of pharma scientists came and gave talks as well. There was definitely a focus of directing the research for pharma applications. You definitely see how all the basic research, deciphering how the virus enters, exits or replicates can be eventually used to come up with a small molecule inhibitor (like most drugs) to block the viral processes and thus prevent disease. 

I realize that alot of drug discovery doesn't neceassarily involve humans, there's work being done for the benefit of animals like the chickens we eat, the horses we go horseback riding on etc. Alot of research is currently underway to make sure that our chickens do not get the H5N1 or avian influenza virus that cause avian flu - which would really dsrupt our chicken consumption and economy.... Which makes me think of many more options for research... hmmm

The Great Divide - Point of Grace

Words and Music by Grant Cunningham & Matt Huesmann

Silence
Trying to fathom the distance
Looking out 'cross the canyon carved
By my hands
God is gracious
Sin would still separate us
Were it not for the bridge His grace
Has made us
His love will carry me

(Chorus)
There's a bridge to cross the great divide
A way was made to reach the other side
The mercy of the Father, cost His son
His life
His love is deep, His love is wide
There's a cross to bridge the great divide
God is faithful
On my own I'm unable
He found me hopeless, alone and
Sent a Savior
He's provided a path and promised
To guide us
Safely past all the sin that would divide us
His love delivers me

(Repeat Chorus)

The cross that cost my Lord His life
Has given me mine

There's a bridge to cross the great divide
There's a cross to bridge the great divide

(Repeat Chorus)

************************************

If you've been to the Grand Canyons you'd be in awe of the natural beauty and wonder...

On the other hand, you'd be stuck by the vastness of the great divide that separates one cliff from the next and makes you think that this is a picture of the reality of our relationship with God... if not for what Christ had done.

Thank God for sending his Son to be the bridge to cross the great divide, Thank our Lord for the cross to bridge the great divide!

Do you believe there's a bridge? Do you believe that Jesus came to do just that? To be the bridge of reconcilation with our God, our Creator?

John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,^[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.