http://www.pwarchive.com is being shut down because of Church Music Publishers Association. I think they should be ashamed to put church in front of their name. This is the letter I wrote them,
By not allowing free movement of chords for the church to use you are hurting the movement of Christ across the world. You are hurting the movement of Christ. Do you get that? I am a business student so I know all about business but this is some bull shit, turning the church into a den of thieves because you all don't make enough money off CDs and concerts. You all need to examine your lives. If a church is large enough it will just have some guitarist figure the chords out and write the lyrics down for free. If a church is small and has to pay for your useless sheet music just because it doesn't have the resources to figure out the music is RIDICULOUS. It is absurd to make a small church have to pay to play music.
American capitalists and their copyright laws at their finest defiling the church of God.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Investment Banking Interviews
35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." 36And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" 39And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?"
_Mark 4:35-40
I thought it would be beneficial to write down my thoughts before the end result of all this madness I’ve been going through recently. That way no matter what happens I could solidify the lessons that I learned. These past 2 months have sadly been 2 of the most trying months of my short life. I guess it was kind of like SAT + college apps on steroids. When I realized that God was calling me towards investment banking I had this vision of what that would look like. I’ve always wanted to work at this place called Lehman Brothers, but I wanted 10 backups just in case to make myself feel safe. I did not have any backups going into my interview with Lehman in New York on Tuesday. Someone told me when you give your plans to God that you have to make sure you give all your plans to God and not to hold on to what you think that plan looks like. I’ll make this a lot shorter than I normally do but this is probably one of the most important lessons that I have ever learned. The first is that when the pressure and stress comes it is really not about the result of what you are striving for. It is not about your test scores, or the college you get into, or where you work, or anything else. The only thing that matters is that God gets you to the place where you can say it does not matter where I end up because I have faith that God knows what is best for me. As my friend in investment banking so eloquently put it, “I would have never realized how selfish I was and how faithless I was unless I went through this process.” Thank God that I can relate with that. Aren’t we so blind when we think that God does not care because of the rain? When the storm comes may we have an attitude that is like Jesus’, who slept through the storm because he had so much trust in what was going to happen.
_Mark 4:35-40
I thought it would be beneficial to write down my thoughts before the end result of all this madness I’ve been going through recently. That way no matter what happens I could solidify the lessons that I learned. These past 2 months have sadly been 2 of the most trying months of my short life. I guess it was kind of like SAT + college apps on steroids. When I realized that God was calling me towards investment banking I had this vision of what that would look like. I’ve always wanted to work at this place called Lehman Brothers, but I wanted 10 backups just in case to make myself feel safe. I did not have any backups going into my interview with Lehman in New York on Tuesday. Someone told me when you give your plans to God that you have to make sure you give all your plans to God and not to hold on to what you think that plan looks like. I’ll make this a lot shorter than I normally do but this is probably one of the most important lessons that I have ever learned. The first is that when the pressure and stress comes it is really not about the result of what you are striving for. It is not about your test scores, or the college you get into, or where you work, or anything else. The only thing that matters is that God gets you to the place where you can say it does not matter where I end up because I have faith that God knows what is best for me. As my friend in investment banking so eloquently put it, “I would have never realized how selfish I was and how faithless I was unless I went through this process.” Thank God that I can relate with that. Aren’t we so blind when we think that God does not care because of the rain? When the storm comes may we have an attitude that is like Jesus’, who slept through the storm because he had so much trust in what was going to happen.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
2nd Semester Junior Year
"This is what the Lord says: 'Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me."
-Jeremiah 9:23-24
Review of Kite Runner: Kite Runner has been the first novel I've read in a long time. Perhaps I'm learning a lot because Kite Runner is the first novel that I've read in a while or maybe it is indeed a good book. It has certainly taught me more about myself and about life than I expected. The book really shows how sinful human nature can be. At one point after reading about how the main character, Amir, betrayed his best friend, I had to hold my breath as I could hardly take in the tremendous burden. Maybe I am truly emo at heart but it is the dark moments that remind me about the greatness of it all. When I think about suffering it reminds me that God in heaven suffered for us, when I think about sin I am reminded of grace, when I think of pain I am thankful that I do not have leprosy, and when I think of how much time we waste I am reminded of God's rich plan for us all.
Kite Runner is themed around the idea of guilt – one unforgivable sin that haunts Amir throughout his life. What is the benefit of reading a book about guilt? I haven't in a long time considered the goodness of grace embodied in the character that is betrayed by Amir. The book slows down significantly after the fast paced beginning but it is fitting for a book that talks about the weight of guilt, perfectly embodied by a laborious tone. The story is about much more than guilt but the road to redemption, and while Amir runs away from forgiveness, and runs away from redemption, he is kicking and screaming, perhaps the way C.S. Lewis did when he first found that the gospel was real. We often run as fast as we can away from the acceptance of forgiveness and truth because our pride is too fat that it clouds our judgment. The one part that Amir may have gotten right is that he was consistently convicted by his guilt. The road to redemption is much more beautiful than we would ever expect. It is inherently human to yearn for forgiveness, grace, and redemption only to be denied by the clout of our own rational and logical thoughts, but being able to accept these inalienable needs is where we find true joy. We will never understand forgiveness, as Alexander Pope says, "to err is human, to forgive is divine," but we must nevertheless learn to accept it so we may be free.
Here are some random lessons that I have learned recently in a sermon I heard at midtown community church in Atlanta:
The world would make us believe that it is difficult to be successful. Instead, the most difficult part in life is can we be successful at what matters? This is such a simple point but so hard to get. Being successful at what matters would assume that we know what matters.
The greatest suggestion I have heard for finding out what matters is constantly reminding ourselves what the mission is. We must constantly ask ourselves: what was the original mission? For a long time I have wanted to go into ministry but last week was the first week I pondered what it would be like if I didn't go into ministry. This is dangerous water for me.
When you do anything long enough you somehow forget what your original mission was. When I chose not to go to Wheaton and to go to Emory my mission was to reach out to non-Christians. After being at Emory for 3 years my mission sort of became a little of how can I expand the Christian fellowship, and a little of how can I get the top job on wall street so I can reach out to those unreached people in investment banks, and a little of a lot of a lot of other things. These things in and of themselves are not bad, but you can see how the mission can be forgotten in the fog. We ought to ask ourselves every morning when we wake up: how can I love God well today? Our metric for the success at the end of the day when we close shop ought to be: Did I love God well today?
Road trip: New York
I have probably been most joyful when I have been able to forget about everything and go on sabbaticals from Quebec, to Atlanta, to New York. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
Here is a video we worked on for youth group:
-Jeremiah 9:23-24
Review of Kite Runner: Kite Runner has been the first novel I've read in a long time. Perhaps I'm learning a lot because Kite Runner is the first novel that I've read in a while or maybe it is indeed a good book. It has certainly taught me more about myself and about life than I expected. The book really shows how sinful human nature can be. At one point after reading about how the main character, Amir, betrayed his best friend, I had to hold my breath as I could hardly take in the tremendous burden. Maybe I am truly emo at heart but it is the dark moments that remind me about the greatness of it all. When I think about suffering it reminds me that God in heaven suffered for us, when I think about sin I am reminded of grace, when I think of pain I am thankful that I do not have leprosy, and when I think of how much time we waste I am reminded of God's rich plan for us all.
Kite Runner is themed around the idea of guilt – one unforgivable sin that haunts Amir throughout his life. What is the benefit of reading a book about guilt? I haven't in a long time considered the goodness of grace embodied in the character that is betrayed by Amir. The book slows down significantly after the fast paced beginning but it is fitting for a book that talks about the weight of guilt, perfectly embodied by a laborious tone. The story is about much more than guilt but the road to redemption, and while Amir runs away from forgiveness, and runs away from redemption, he is kicking and screaming, perhaps the way C.S. Lewis did when he first found that the gospel was real. We often run as fast as we can away from the acceptance of forgiveness and truth because our pride is too fat that it clouds our judgment. The one part that Amir may have gotten right is that he was consistently convicted by his guilt. The road to redemption is much more beautiful than we would ever expect. It is inherently human to yearn for forgiveness, grace, and redemption only to be denied by the clout of our own rational and logical thoughts, but being able to accept these inalienable needs is where we find true joy. We will never understand forgiveness, as Alexander Pope says, "to err is human, to forgive is divine," but we must nevertheless learn to accept it so we may be free.
Here are some random lessons that I have learned recently in a sermon I heard at midtown community church in Atlanta:
The world would make us believe that it is difficult to be successful. Instead, the most difficult part in life is can we be successful at what matters? This is such a simple point but so hard to get. Being successful at what matters would assume that we know what matters.
The greatest suggestion I have heard for finding out what matters is constantly reminding ourselves what the mission is. We must constantly ask ourselves: what was the original mission? For a long time I have wanted to go into ministry but last week was the first week I pondered what it would be like if I didn't go into ministry. This is dangerous water for me.
When you do anything long enough you somehow forget what your original mission was. When I chose not to go to Wheaton and to go to Emory my mission was to reach out to non-Christians. After being at Emory for 3 years my mission sort of became a little of how can I expand the Christian fellowship, and a little of how can I get the top job on wall street so I can reach out to those unreached people in investment banks, and a little of a lot of a lot of other things. These things in and of themselves are not bad, but you can see how the mission can be forgotten in the fog. We ought to ask ourselves every morning when we wake up: how can I love God well today? Our metric for the success at the end of the day when we close shop ought to be: Did I love God well today?
Road trip: New York
I have probably been most joyful when I have been able to forget about everything and go on sabbaticals from Quebec, to Atlanta, to New York. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
Here is a video we worked on for youth group:
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