Justin's New Year's Resolution 2003 will actually be almost a copy/paste of Justin's New Year's Resolution 2002.

1. I want to be a better person, I want to be a better Christian. It doesn't sound as simple as it looks. There are lots of things I want to work on. I know it sounds being overcritical, and most likely I'm going to fail at my resolutions, but I'm going to try as hard as I can to stick to them all the time.

a. I want to be wise. This year, I dug into Proverbs, a book written by the wisest guy ever to live, and decided to change my ways. I wasn't completely evil or anything, but there was room for improvement. Subpoints of being wise: tactfulness in speech, slowness to anger, and humility.

b. Gotta possess and express the fruits of the spirit, which are "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Against such things there is no law". Galatians 5: 22-23.

c. You see that one special word in point b?? Love: it's the one concept I and many other students are trying to grasp. My take on this thing we all call "love" is that it goes way deeper than just being caring of someone, but it shouldn't be limited to just one person. Straight up from the Bible, love is patient, kind, not jealous, not arrogant, does not brag, does not act unbecomingly, not self-seeking, not provoked, rejoices in truth, bears, believes, hopes, and endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13. One thing I want to be able to do this year is to genuinely love everyone around me just as God loves me to the point that I won't be uncomfortable to say "hey, I love you". I've always shied away from using that word when I speak because I'm afraid of it leaving the wrong impression. Now, I can really mean it. God's shown me way too much love for me not to share it with others. One thing I noticed about love is that it is super hard about it is that it is not self-seeking and is patient. God loves us unconditionally, and it's amazing how He does it, because even when I decide to break off connections with Him for two weeks He is still there, waiting. Can I say the same for myself? If a friend doesn't talk to me for two weeks, will I still be as caring and loving towards that friend? I can't safely say yes. And that's where the patience comes in. I have to keep on loving, even when there's nothing in return. And this should be applied to everyone; I want to love everyone in this way. I want to share God's love.

In other words, I want to be a true man of God, to be one who loves, worships, and abides in God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, to be one who is a true worshipper. That is my goal, that is what I strive for.

Here's is resolution #2: I want to improve our church youth group. For a while now I've just been sitting back and grumbling what needs to be changed in our youth group, so this year I am determined to initiate change. I have a rough draft of my "first affirmative constructive", or my plan to improve our youth group. I'm only going to post one issue. One thing that seems to define the Houston Chinese Church youth group from all other church groups is that the guys don't socially interact well with the girls. There's this big round guy clique, this big round girl clique, and there's an invisible barrier that separates the two cliques from mingling. It's almost like the guys have a "don't be friends with girls, just read the bible" kind of mentality, and this is hurting the cohesiveness of our youth. I want it to the point where the guys and girls won't be reserved in a normal conversation setting, to the point where guys and girls don't feel awkward when they ask each other "what's up" rather than "how is your walk with God". There needs to be events where we can all just hang out and get to know each other more.
posted by justin at 11:20 AM