Love always, Ashley

I was inspired by Switchfoot’s song, Souvenirs, to...

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:06:25 -0800

I was inspired by Switchfoot’s song, Souvenirs, to remember the little bits of memories that have occurred in the past year. What are you souvenirs?

5 days until I leave for Antarctica!!!!!!!!!!

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 14:28:49 -0700

5 days until I leave for Antarctica!!!!!!!!!!

follow me as i prepare for antarctica/see what i see while i'm there

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 23:49:58 -0700

follow me as i prepare for antarctica/see what i see while i'm there

I can’t believe I’ll be on this boat from...

Thu, 19 May 2011 01:45:23 -0700

I can’t believe I’ll be on this boat from September-November sailing the coast of Antarctica!!!! It’s so surreal

emailed from my pastor Dear CCMN Family, Local Newspapers and TV News in Pakistan: Christians in...

Thu, 12 May 2011 00:13:10 -0700

emailed from my pastor

Dear CCMN Family,

Local Newspapers and TV News in Pakistan:

Christians in Pakistan are bracing for possible attacks after U.S. forces killed long sought-after terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, who was hiding in one of the country’s northern cities.

“The situation is tense,” said Pakistan’s religious minorities adviser. “There are, in fact, strong reactions of unreasonable fear against Christian minorities. The government is paying close attention to preventive measures.”
Vatican-based Fides news reported that schools and Christian institutions in the country have been closed – and local churches guarded with high security measures – after a U.S. special forces military operation raided the summer residence of Osama bin Laden on May 1 in the city of Abbottabad, killing the Al Qaeda leader and several others.

Bin Laden is credited for the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 that left nearly 3,000 Americans Myterdom.
Pakistan authorities have provided security measures in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Multan Faisalabad and several others cities out of concern for possible violence against Christians by Taliban groups.

I humbly request you please pray for the Christian in Pakistan, I know when USA attacked Afghanistan and Iraq, Christian suffered and were persecuted in Pakistan. Christian in Pakistan are in fear, but we are ready to pay. We love Jesus Christ and praise God we are honored when we are being persecuted for Jesus Christ, Amen.

Please stand with us and pray for our innocent Christian nation in Pakistan.

We observe, however, that intolerance and radical Islamic groups are flourishing in the country, and other extremist leaders could establish themselves and continue terrorist actions.

Please keep praying and supporting Pakistian, we need you so much!

There is only one body, there is only one church. If one part of the body suffers, all parts of the body suffer.

CCMN

yojjhwang: kid-burna: ….. This made me cry ):

Sun, 08 May 2011 23:39:53 -0700

yojjhwang:

kid-burna:

…..

This made me cry ):

Warmth. The fuzzy feeling that happens in a place you can’t quite describe. This day was...

Sat, 07 May 2011 21:53:41 -0700

Warmth. The fuzzy feeling that happens in a place you can’t quite describe.

This day was filled with adventure: breakfast burritos as Pipes Cafe, popped tires, thrift store runs, costco gelato, and finally, as a conclusion to our fun-filled day, afternoon tea at Shakespeare’s…British style!!

Despite the drizzle and the lingering storm clouds in the horizon, my 21st birthday was complete with the three things I love: close friends, adventure, and a great cup of tea (I got the Cream Earl Grey, which is a must!).

So better late than never, but thank you to all of you who came down to celebrate my 21st with me! You definitely filled that weekend with lots of warm fuzzy feelings.

FOOD BLOG IS NOW UP AND RUNNING

Sat, 07 May 2011 21:42:02 -0700

Please check out my food blog as I post more and more delicious recipes! It’s lilwhimsies.tumblr.com.

what my nails sort of look like right now

Sat, 07 May 2011 20:15:36 -0700

what my nails sort of look like right now

my dreamscape…maybe i’ll consider moving somewhere...

Sat, 07 May 2011 20:11:27 -0700

my dreamscape…maybe i’ll consider moving somewhere like portland :D so that way i can have something like this in my backyard

micasaessucasa:

(via outdoor inspiration | the style files)

Give a man a fish, and it will feed him for a day. Teach a man...

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 01:25:33 -0700

Give a man a fish, and it will feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and it will feed him for a lifetime

Holistic Ministry. Holistic Change. Holistic Life. Starting with a fish, and having it last a lifetime.

If Jesus could make two fish and five loaves feed 5000 people, can He not take what meager gifts and abilities to bless the many? I wish I had enough money to buy all the children and women out of trafficking, enough money to feed the hungry and quench the thirsty, enough money to heal the sick, but clearly, at this point in time, I am not capable of doing that. In my ideal world, there would be a redistribution of wealth that would bring the rich and the poor closer together so that we are all co-dependent on each other…but again that is in my ideal world.

It’s one thing to talk about change, but another thing to actually do something about it. I can’t wait for this summer and my trip to India, but I don’t want to wait until then to start changing the world. I want to give more than a fish!

props alan! props asianssleepinginthelibrary: the king of...

Sat, 26 Feb 2011 11:41:37 -0800

props alan! props

asianssleepinginthelibrary:

the king of studying

taken at ucsd geisel library

His eye is on the sparrow This past summer, I become a...

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 22:46:00 -0800

His eye is on the sparrow

This past summer, I become a surrogate mother to three orphaned baby sparrows that looked like this one…tiny, hungry, and featherless. The first couple of days, they refused to eat, and I thought they were going to die, but eventually these resilient little guys started to eat the baby bird food I was giving them; my heart softened whenever they chirped simply because they heard my voice or saw me. I was even more surprised that even after 3 days of googling “how to teach baby sparrows to fly”, they ended up learning on their own!

After a pretty excruciating past week, I was sitting on my favorite bench at Scripps Institute of Oceanography before I had to go in for work, and as I watched the dolphins hunt near the pier, I was again reminded of these three sparrows, and ultimately how much I am loved by God. If God can provide for these sparrows and dolphins, how much is He going to provide for me even when things seem grim.

This is what I wrote in my journal that day:

Your love is as vast as the ocean, and it is just as deep. In it holds many a mystery and it contains treasures untold. It is the wellspring of life, and in it, the impossible things happen. If I had many more lifetimes than just this one, I still would not understand Your love. It does not change though I change like the waves. It will be here even when I am not. From it there comes encouragement after encouragement…Lord, I so easily forget this very truth when my life gets so shaken up, but Your love is constant. You love me not because of what I did or who I am, but simply because You choose to!

I hope that love extends beyond just Valentine’s Day for all of you!

@samjau: what a great reminder! love ya bro! spread the gospel...

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 00:33:02 -0800

@samjau: what a great reminder!

love ya bro! spread the gospel to RISD!

A man’s age is something impressive, it sums up his...

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 02:53:16 -0800

A man’s age is something impressive, it sums up his life: maturity reached slowly and against many obstacles, illnesses cured, griefs and despairs overcome, and unconscious risks taken; maturity formed through so many desires, hopes, regrets, forgotten things, loves. A man’s age represents a fine cargo of experiences and memories. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Wartime Writings 1939-1944, translated from French by Norah Purcell

To be forever young in both heart and faith…….

New Food Blog

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 00:10:50 -0800

New Food Blog

UCSD's FIGHT SONG...believe or not

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 01:27:56 -0800

The lyrics made me laugh

Let’s drink to the Tritons, the bravest of men,
Vive la campagnie
For even their Freshmen can hang at least ten.
Vive la campagnie
Let’s drink to the Tritons so fearless and brave,
Vive la campagnie
At home when they’re reading, or riding the wave.
Vive la campagnie
The Tritons they dwell where the sea meets the sky,
Vive la campagnie
Their spirits not damp, their professors not dry.
Vive la campagnie
Let’s drink to the Tritons, so handsome and brave,
Vive la campagnie
They’ll wave at a figure, or figure a wave.
Vive la campagnie
The Tritons they live in the southland so far,
Vive la campagnie
Where their schooners forever sail over the bar.
Vive la campagnie
Let’s drink to the Tritons, both dead and alive.
Vive la campagnie
They can dive in the drink, or can drink in a dive.
Vive la campagnie
Let’s drink to the Tritons; they learn and they teach,
Vive la campagnie
And every man there is a son of the beach.
Vive la campagnie

Food for Thought (A College Student's Dilemma, or I Wish I Had a Chance to Meet C.S. Lewis)

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 09:04:47 -0800

“A university is a society for the pursuit of learning. As students, you will be expected to make yourselves, or to start making yourselves, into what the Middle Ages called clerks: into philosophers, scientists, scholars, critics, or historians…we can see that every Christian who comes to a university must at all times face a question compared with which the questions raised by the war are relatively unimportant. He must ask himself how it is right, or even psychologically possible, for creatures who are every moment advancing either to Heaven or to hell to spend any fraction of the little time allowed them in this world on such comparative trivialities as literature or art, mathematics or biology”—C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

As each week passes, I come to the pain-staking realization that this could very well be my last Fall Quarter here. My parents are starting to pester me more and more about what I’m going to do with the rest of my life, and the only answer I can give them is “Whatever the Lord wills”. I’d like to say I have a master plan: I can justify why I decided to be a Biochemist, why I did fruit fly research for two years, where I’m going for Grad School, what I’m doing as a career, when I’m getting married, what type of guy I’m getting married to, how many kids I have, etc. BUT I CAN’T!!!!!! I’ve been finding more and more that every pursuit, however noble or unselfish it may seem, if not founded in the Lord, is all foolish! Furthermore, I need to ascribe more value to the lives around me than my degree because when compared with one another, one will always always seem the more trivial.

JESUS LOVES YOU! As simple as that statement is, it is indeed a profound one! That God, whose hand placed the stars in the sky would reach that same hand out to us in an embrace, whose mouth that commanded the universe to be would speak with that same mouth words of love and redemption, who gave His most precious belonging, His son Jesus as both our fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. I believe if we truly ponder the weight of this statement, we realize that this isn’t just for us, but for all the men and women around us, and we begin to ascribe value in the those people, which trickles into how we see life like attending classes, etc.

My thoughts are all over the place, I know, but you get a raw glimpse of my train of thought! It’s like spaghetti…all over the place!

Deeper In Love: SOP (Stream of Praise)

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 21:15:20 -0800

Deeper In Love: SOP (Stream of Praise)

Let This Be A Reminder…… Today I got to attend an...

Wed, 03 Nov 2010 22:55:00 -0700

Let This Be A Reminder……

Today I got to attend an honors seminar with James Avery. Many of you know him as “Uncle Phillip Banks” from Fresh Prince of Bel air. On top of that, I had the privilege of sitting to his right hand. I don’t know how else to describe having him in the room other than he was a man who demanded a respect—it was the way that he carried himself! He may have been in a wheelchair, but when he spoke, you were so inclined to listen.

There was one thing he said today that I’ll never forget…well…I don’t want to forget. It was his last statement before he had to leave and he encouraging the class to take a stand and be a voice on the UCSD campus. He began by giving an analogy from an old film about a slave who had taken over a slave ship. He tried to turn it back to Africa, but was captured in the end. As he awaited his trial, someone asked him if he was afraid that he was going alone. The slave answered that he wasn’t afraid because he wasn’t going alone—all his ancestors were going with him. Then James Avery turns and looks us all straight in the eye to address us. He said that our very existence is due to those who have come before us. My thoughts suddenly turn from thinking about civil and inalienable rights to something else…something I didn’t think I’d think about in a class discussing political plays.

Hebrews 12:1 says “There we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us”. I find that it’s when I try to get down on my knees to pray or lead people, or even strike up a conversation with a stranger that I feel the weakest and the most vulnerable. But just as James Avery said…we stand on the pinnacle of the sweat, blood, prayers, faithfulness, etc. of those who have come before us! I exist because there was once a man named Paul who was once known as Saul, who on his way to Damascus was met by God and transformed to be a great evangelist, church planter, etc. We are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses who are encouraging us to pick up their story and run with it. Fabula est vestri—the story is yours; the story is ours. It’s now our time to run!