On Thunderstorms

Shanghai has been experiencing a bit of rain lately. These sudden, intense thunderstorms usually arrive around noon or mid afternoon and last for about an hour. It really is quite amazing to see and hear the thunderstorm unfolding from my office. My office is on the 11th floor and I can see several large mirrored buildings from my window. As the thunderstorms begin to unfold, I can see the lightning reflected in the mirrors of these tall office buildings and hear the thunder reverberate across the city as the noise bounces from building to building.

A few days ago I commented on how being unable to see the splendor of God here in Shanghai. Well, the past few days, in these thunderstorms, I once again saw a glimpse of the splendor of God - not the comforting, soothing vistas of clear blue skies and abundant sunshine, but in the awesome power and fury of lightning and thunder. How easily it has slipped my mind, that the great comforter is also a God of Wrath. I'm not a great fan of the video, but the song itself always blows my mind. Ever since I first heard it in college freshman year.

It is an easy way out to only think of God in one dimension, as the loving gentle Father, but it is also too simplistic. I need to stop characterizing God in my own terms. I need to continue my journey of trying to know Him better, instead of just convincing myself that I already know what He is like.

On the splendor of the King

Work has mercifully slowed down.

I finally went to my small group after skipping out on them for the four (plus?) weeks because of work. And it was awesome. I forget how necessary it is for me to be reminded that there are good, decent people here in Shanghai who have chosen to dedicate their lives to Jesus.

We had a short worship session where we sang along to praise songs from a DVD that apparently the church handed out. Who knew there was gospel karaoke? In the DVD though, there were a ton of aerial shots of mountains, clouds, urban landscapes, etc... and a few of those shots really reminded me of home.

See, my family lives in Orange, Texas - a small town in the border of Louisiana and Texas. Whenever I want to do something fun (like hang out with my friends), I have to drive about an hour and a half into Houston. The drive itself is pretty monotonous and I've done it many times, but now and then, I get to witness a little bit of the splendor of the King. If the timing, weather, and season are just right, you can see beautiful clouds against a blue clear sky with rays of sunshine filtering through them. It really does look like something out of a calendar or a picture book. It's absolutely amazing. I sometimes half-expect heavenly hosts to start descending on these rays of sunshine with harps and robes and halos and sing about the majesty of the King.

I've tried to find similar meteorological or scenic representations of the splendor of the King in Shanghai, but have met with little success. Perhaps it's because the skies over Shanghai are way more polluted or because there are just too many tall buildings blocking the sky. Or perhaps, it's because I've closed my eyes to the splendor of the King here in Shanghai. I've just been too wrapped up in my own work-related stress/misery that I've stopped looking for signs of His glory or even worse, stopped being able to recognize His glory altogether!

It's amazing how quickly I forget his love and grace when I'm worried about other stuff. I've ignored Him for too long. It's time to start seeking the splendor of my God and King again...

On Mortgages

I recently watched an old episode of The Simpsons ("The Boy Who Knew Too Much" S05EP20) where Bart has a great quote after skipping out on school. As he's lazily fishing by the side of a river he contentedly sighs: "Ah... the joys of mortgaging your future."