1 August 2005

Well, we're off to Korea!

I should be back, God willing, sometime on Friday -- until then, I doubt I will be able to check e-mails or be in contact at all. I'm quite sure my inbox will be overloaded with offers of zero-percent financing, "performance-enhancing" drugs, and various bodily enlargements -- so please, if you send me a message and I don't get back with you before, say, Sunday night, then you might assume that message got lost. 

Say a prayer for us... 
   

6 August 2005

Returned from Korea last night around 7pm -- all was well -- HOT, but well. I will certainly try to post something about that (including photos) later. 

BUT, on our return I learned that our friend Takahito had been in an accident at his work (in his father's factory) in which he lost parts (or all?) of his pinkie and ring fingers on his right hand. 

Takahito is 21 years old, a member of Sagamino CP Church, and the leader of Japan Presbytery's youth groups. He was also one of the two representatives from Japan to last year's CPYC and Triennium. So there are many in our churches in the USA who will CERTAINLY remember meeting him last summer. 

. . .

I also hear that my friend, Kam Miu in HK (she was one of the Hong Kong representatives to CPYC and Triennium last year), will find out on Tuesday which university she has been accepted to. This is also a HUGE deal to her, you can imagine.

. . .

LASTLY, Miu's older brother Ken (in HK) is facing a rough time now, as his girlfriend will be leaving HK for a year in England next week. I know he must be pretty sad about that, though he probably won't show it!

Please keep these guys in your thoughts... 
  

8 August 2005

You may now consider me officially, totally, BEHIND on everything. That week in Korea was cool, I still hope to post photos and "story" soon.

BUT, you're gonna have to WAIT...  

. . .

In the meantime, I forgot to tell you guys (who care) that sax icon Michael Brecker is very seriously ill. He has myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and is undergoing treatment now. 

Most of you probably have no idea who Michael Brecker is -- but jazz musicians (and saxophonists in particular) know Brecker to be without equal in the modern generation of players. I honestly feel like I can guarantee you -- GUARANTEE!! -- that NO ONE (other than Coltrane) has been studied and imitated more than Brecker on the tenor. He is simply a GIANT -- honestly... 

I mean, the guy is so huge, especially to sax players of MY generation, that it's almost STUPID to say it out loud... It would be like telling a pilot that Chuck Yeager was a darn good fly-boy... Like telling a basketball player that Jordan was a monster... 

Dude, it's like telling a fat guy that McDonald's has fries to go with that shake... It's just STUPID because everybody KNOWS...  

Anyway, I have only met Brecker about 3 or 4 times (due to my old job), and seen him perform a few more times than that... But he looms large in any modern musician's view of the tenor sax (and jazz in general). 

As I understand it, they are currently looking for a bone marrow donor -- please pray for that, AND for Brecker's wife and family. 

. . .

Lastly tonight, my parents are traveling to Memphis to visit my Uncle David -- please pray for their safe conduct to the home of Elvis and back. They ain't exactly spring chickens to be driving all over God's creation... 
  

11 August 2005

Still working on my photos/story from our trip to Korea last week -- not sure if I'll have time to finish that this week or not, as the next couple of days are really busy. But just want you to know I am really determined to try and post something about that. Eventually, I mean. 

. . .

Next, I finally received a big order of books and materials I had ordered from the CP Church Resource Center. I order about 9 things, and to be honest, I expected it was gonna cost me about $200 -- but thank heavens it was only about $100, including shipping. 

But two interesting things: 

1) I ordered a book called "Fifth Chinese Daughter" by Jade Snow Wong, which was first published in 1945. It is an autobiographical text about a young Chinese-American girl growing up in San Francisco in the pre-war years. It is being sold by our church resource center because, in the book, the girl is influenced greatly by her minister in Chinatown (San Francisco) -- and that minister, though never named in the book, was Gam Sing Quah! That's a name most CP people of a certain generation will know -- pretty cool, eh? 

But the INTERESTING part is that I wasn't sent a "normal" text. What I mean is, the book has been reprinted numerous times, and is available at Amazon in it's seventh printing (from the year 2000) as a trade paperback which also includes a new introduction by the author -- that is the edition which is available at Amazon, and it's the same edition (book cover) that is listed on our CPC Resource Center website. 

But MY copy is a 1950 edition hardback!! Seriously -- I opened up the box and was like, "Hey, what's this old book in here for?"

Anyway, the first inside page has a handwritten "dedication" which reads:

Don't you love that? I mean, who ARE these people? Why were Pete and Jackie giving Josephine a copy of this book? Were they CP people? How did this copy get in the hands of the CPC Resource Center -- and even more interestingly, how did they end up sending it to ME when I ordered it?!?

If anyone reading this has ANY idea who these people are/were, please let me know. 

2) The OTHER really interesting thing I found in my order was the 2006 CPC Calendar -- they print this thing every year, and fill it with photos of goings-on all over the church. 

But I was excited to see that my friend Kam Miu from HK is the "poster girl" for July:

This photo was obviously a quick snapshot from the CPYC last summer (2004) -- and obviously only the guy on the right knew he was getting his picture taken!! Miu and the guy in the middle aren't exactly saying "cheese"... 

Anyway, I thought that was pretty cool. I've spent two e-mails trying to convince Miu that it's a good photo of her, she has no reason to be embarrassed -- but I decided she wouldn't believe me until I actually POSTED it here... 

As an aside, Miu tells me she got her assignment for university -- she'll officially be studying ENGLISH at the Chinese University. She has already signed up for classes online, and is now nervously awaiting the beginning of classes. 
  

12 August 2005

From an article about a recent Pentagon report regarding China's massive submarine development programs, which will see China's sub fleet surpassing America's (in numbers of subs) within 15 years (emphasis mine):

"They want to deter us from interfering if they feel they have to use force to deter Taiwan [from independence], raising the potential cost [in sunk ships and casualties] of U.S. intervention to such a high degree that they think we will calculate we can't defend Taiwan without paying an exorbitant cost," Murray said. Although Rumsfeld has raised concerns about China's military buildup, he has continued to state publicly that he believes the Taiwan dispute will be settled through peaceful negotiation. "Our position with respect to Taiwan and the People's Republic of China hasn't changed in years," he said at a news briefing last month. "Our view is that whatever changes are to be made in that connection should be made on a peaceful basis by both countries." "You judge military threat in two ways," said Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, who becomes chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff next month. "There're lots of countries in the world that have the capacity to wage war. Very few have the intent to do so. And clearly, we have a complex but good relationship with China. So there's absolutely no reason for us to believe there's any intent on their part." "On the contrary," Tkacik said. "The Pentagon report shows that there is every reason to believe that China intends either to coerce Taiwan or to attack it. There is no third option."

16 August 2005

Yet again I feel obliged to quickly chime in that all is well here after another strong earthquake shook Japan this morning.

I was at Sagamino CP Church at about 11:46am when the 7.2-magnitude quake hit, and we were just about to finish our first "summer morning class" for the older primary kids (namely, Takuya and Nanako). I was trying to teach them how to play the game "Cluedo" (which is a baby-fied version of "Clue") when the house started rockin' and rolling. In particular, the HORIZONTAL movement was quite intense, such that after a few seconds when I stood up to look out the window, I actually had a bit of difficulty walking across the floor. 

Anyway, it was another strong one, but all here is well with us -- not so with others in northern Japan, where there were injuries (some serious). 

Passengers on a bullet train evacuate after services are halted due to "the ground being all shaky and stuff"...

Neighbors and officials inspect a collapsed house in Kazo (outside Tokyo)

This indoor sports complex had something like 200 swimmers inside when the quake hit, causing the roof tiles to collapse. So far, reports have most of the injured from this location -- I think you can look at the photo and see why... It must have been terrifying -- seriously... (I'd hate to be in my Speedo's when the roof starts falling)... 
   

19 August 2005

I got the news that Audrey Bruce passed away sometime Wednesday night (USA time). I never know how many people are aware that Audrey was our "Grandma Bruce" -- she babysat me and my sister, Lisa, for years when we were young. I have SO MANY memories of  her, and Grandpa Bruce, and that house they lived in. I remember riding those old tricycles up and down the driveway -- I thought they were OUR tricycles, until their REAL grandkids showed up and put pay to THAT misinformation, ha ha... I remember the garden in the back, with the rocks and paths -- it was probably tiny, but to a little tiny kid that place was huge and magic... I remember the upstairs attic, with the little kid-sized doors leading into the crawlspace -- there were few places that held as much mystery and adventure as that crawlspace -- I always wanted to get in there... I remember her watching the Watergate trials on TV... I remember watching Presto The Clown read out my happy birthday on TV one day -- he really said it, "Happy birthday to Glenn Watts!" -- one of my proudest moments, ha ha... I remember she used to get these frozen pies of some sort -- were they strawberry pies? -- but MAN, I loved those things... I remember getting mad as all get-out one time when they gave Lisa a birthday present but didn't give me anything -- despite the logical fact that it wasn't my birthday, I was inconsolable, ha ha -- but I remember my selfish pouting to this day... I remember raking the front-yard leaves into a huge pile and then jumping into them... I remember the next door neighbor, and how she and Audrey would talk over the fence... I remember the special "seat" she had for potty training -- and I know that is weird, but I remember that thing so well -- (was it one we kept at her house? or did we just have ONE which we took back and forth every day? I have no idea)... I remember in first grade, when I missed the bus, and my teacher (Mrs. Moses?) and her husband had to drive me to Grandma Bruce's house -- everybody acted so impressed that I knew the address and how to get there from school, but I thought that was stupid -- of COURSE I knew how to get there -- it was my Grandma Bruce!! 

Okay, and, I remember the back scratches. It was the greatest thing in the world for Grandma Bruce to let me lay in her lap and she'd scratch my back. 

I have neither seen nor talked to Grandma Bruce for YEARS. But she was so much a part of my life, and so beloved... Most of you will never know how much... 

. . .

My cousin Clay and his wife Carrie-Ann have a new kid! I believe they said her name is Ivy Collier Hogan -- but unfortunately, I somehow erased the e-mail my mom sent about that, so I don't actually feel confident of the details. 

Hopefully they'll send me a photo soon!
  

22 August 2005

In a shocking and unexpected development, I have just heard that Jackie Wilkerson passed away this morning between 7 and 7:30am (USA) time. 

Here is the e-mail I got from my pastor in the States, Rev. Jim Butler:

There will be a service in Kansas City (where she and her husband, Paul, currently lived) on Wednesday, and she will be buried in Paducah on Thursday.

. . .

For my friends in Japan:

The Rev. Bert Owen was Moderator of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church General Assembly in 2002. Many of you will remember when he, his wife Pat, and their two grandchildren (Chris and Dana Syme) came to Japan (and Hong Kong) on a "Moderator's Tour" in February of 2003.  

In the early 1970's, the Owens served the pastorate at what was then called Hillview CP Church, in Louisville, KY, which is where my parents attended church -- it was also where I was baptized, where I was ordained an Elder of the CP Church, and where I was "commissioned" by the Board of Missions for missionary service four years ago. That church has since been "transformed" into the new HeartSong CP Church and moved to another part of town -- but during the years when Bert was pastor there, the manse (i.e., pastor's house) was just behind OUR house, and the Owens' have always been very close to our family. 

Bert's two daughters, Becky and Jackie, are especially dear to me. In an "echo" of Grandma Bruce (see post for the 19th, above), the "Owen girls" used to baby-sit me and my sister all the time when they were teenagers -- maybe "baby-sit" is not the right word, they weren't much older than us! -- and we were VERY young, but I do still have some memories of those times (though I admit they are vague and hazy)... In August of 1994 Jackie's daughter Melissa went with us on a "mission trip" (with Rev. John Lovelace) to Poland, Belarus and Russia. And, if truth be told, Becky's son Chris is one of my closest friends in the world. 

So the "Owen family" means a LOT to me... 

Jackie had been fighting cancer for a while now, but I thought she had overcome the worst, and I had no idea that things had taken a sudden downward turn last week. When Chris told me this morning (last night in USA time) that Jackie wouldn't make it thru the night, I just was floored. I guess I'm still in "shock"... 

Besides her parents and sister, Jackie leaves her husband Paul, her daughter Melissa, her sons James and Patrick (students at Bethel College), and their youngest son Joshua (who they adopted from Russia a couple of years ago). 

ANYWAY, what can I say to express my heart tonight? 

I almost feel stupid saying ANYTHING...  

Please pray for this family -- while they are happy that Jackie's struggle is finally over, they are surely suffering a tremendous loss as they adjust...  
   

26 August 2005

Quote about the London Zoo's recent "human" exhibit, featuring 8 people "frolicking" about in what is normally the bear habitat:

"We have set up this exhibit to highlight the spread of man as a plague species and to communicate the importance of man's place in the planet's ecosystem," London Zoo said.

27 August 2005

This world is not a nice place. Don't argue with me, we all know it. 

This past week there was a vicious attack on a kid in Hong Kong -- a 7-year-old boy, walking with his grandmother. 

SEVEN... YEARS.... OLD.... 

The attackers jumped out of both sides of a taxi, masked and armed with large knives (the weapon of choice in HK, since guns are illegal) -- they pushed the grandmother to the ground, then held the boy on the sidewalk, repeatedly chopping at his right arm and wrist. 

"They were like butchers chopping pig legs," said one elderly witness. 

They have not released too much info on his condition, except to say that it is very serious -- that the cuts went deep into the bone -- and that as his hand was almost severed completely, they are not sure if his arm will continue to develop normally or be "stunted" at its present length. 

It was the second time in a month that he'd been attacked -- he's 7 years old, did I mention that? -- but a month previously, while walking with his mother, a teenager (18 or 19 years old) pushed them both to the ground and kicked the boy until his nose bled. 

Supposedly -- SUPPOSEDLY -- they can so far find no motive for this gang-style campaign of terror -- a campaign of true terror, against a SEVEN YEAR OLD KID. But naturally the city is outraged and the entire 100-man crew of the New Territories South Regional Crime Unit was mobilized to tackle the case. 

And I don't know, I just wanted to tell you about that. It makes me mad, and it makes me sick... And I don't know if someone owes someone money, or if someone crossed someone on a business deal, or if someone insulted someone, or what -- but he's a seven year old kid, and even if you are a HK gambler up to your neck in loan sharks, you can BET that HE didn't have SQUAT to do with it. 

God have mercy on us all...