Swimming Pigs

The Midwest has been ravaged by rain and thunder storms, creating really bad floods that are 10 ft high in some places even in major cities like Des Moines, Iowa. So I read this article about how pig farmers in Iowa were trying to save their pigs. They sold most of them when they were alerted about the potential storms and flooding. But some pigs were left behind (sounds like the movie about the last days). Pictures could be seen of pigs trying to stay afloat on top of rooftops that were nearly reached by the floods.

Here's some interesting facts in the article about pigs in Iowa. There are (were) 8,500 pig farms in Iowa in 2007. The pigs outnumber people by a 5-1 ratio in Iowa. There are more than 60 million pigs in the US (we are not talking about people who eat too much, but the actual animals).

Free books

I like reading books. I've liked reading books ever since I was four. Yup, four years old. But since my budget is pretty strapped these days, I have to be careful about how I get my fix on books. Here is the way I've been getting books for a really good deal.

I have the Discover credit card (which by the way has the BEST cashback bonus program among all credit cards, because the cashback is prompt, regular, and flexible on how you can receive your cashback). I get 5% cashback on gas and other automotive maintenance and repair. I get 1% cashback on all other purchases. These cashback bonuses usually add up to more than $20 per month. I trade in my $20 cashback for a $25 value Borders gift card. Since I'm a member of Borders, I get regular coupon offerings of 20%, 25%, 30% and sometimes 40% off on one book. I wait to receive the 30% or 40% off coupon from Borders in my email. I use both the 30/40% off coupon from Borders and the $25 Borders gift card converted from my $20 Discover cashback. With these two items, I'm usually able to get 3 brand new books (which retail at ~$24 each) every 2 months for practically FREE!

That's my system. Works for me.

i preached at an opc church in crystal lake, illinois this past Sunday. this was my fifth time preaching there. they specifically asked for my wife wenny to come along. after the worship service, they explained why they wanted wenny to come along. they had prepared some wedding gifts and snacks and refreshments to celebrate our wedding.

wow! i had never been so pleasantly surprised. it was unexpected because it was not my home church. it was not the church i'm a pastor of. i was just their guest speaker. but they treated me like i was their very own pastor. this is one of the reasons why i fell in love with opc churches in the midwest. they care so much for each individual, each new visitor, and each member.

a little tangent... about 2 months ago, one of the couples had invited me and the other church members over to their house for fellowship after the worship service. i found out that they had adopted a girl from korea when she was just a baby. now she's all grown up and majoring in music performance, specifically the harpsichord, at univ. of michigan ann arbor grad school. well, their korean daughter was visiting for the weekend this past sunday and i got to meet her. i really thought she would be more whitewashed, but she had so much of the korean ambience about her. i think because her parents tried to maintain some of her korean culture for her by cooking her korean food once in awhile and introducing her to other korean people.

anyways, wenny and i got home and opened up our wedding gifts. one was a handcrafted knitting. it was the kind that you place on a coffee table and put picture frames on top or other things. the other gift was a calligraphy of a bible verse and it was framed. this was also done by one of their church members. the last gift was a silver serverware which would be perfect for putting a loaf of bread in for the lord's supper.

i feel like i've been adopted by these church folks. they really made my day and my week, because i was having a tough week. i really needed that refreshment and that encouragement which God brings through other Christians.

It happened again. Another trouble associated with my car. This one was strange though.

I came home from work around midnight. I parked my car on the streets as I usually do. A car pulls up next to me and the driver asks, "Are you coming in or going out?" I told him I was coming in. There was another vacant spot behind my car, so he pulled in. I thought everything was okay, so I got out of my car and walked a few steps toward my condo. Then I heard it. BANG! BANG!

I turned around. The guy had banged his car into my car twice. I walked towards him in shock and in dismay. I asked him, "What's going on?" Then to my shock and surprise, he bumped my car again and then again. I asked him what he was doing, and he replied in a sarcastic tone, "I'm trying to straighten out your car." Then he banged my car again and bumped it two more times right before my eyes while I was standing there. I couldn't believe that anyone would do such a thing, especially with the owner of the car right there!

Then he and his male companion got out of the car. I asked for his insurance info and driver's license. I jotted down his insurance info and driver's license info. And I could see why he was acting so irrationally and so stupidly. He was intoxicated. His breath had a smell of alcohol. I took a step back, because I thought this guy could do something violent or dangerous.

He and his friend started to walk away. His friend was calling someone. I picked my cell phone and dialed 911. I told them to come over here. They started walking towards me, and I spoke to the police, "There's a guy here who bumped my car 7-8 times on purpose for no reason and he has a smell of alcohol on his breath." That's when they started to get panicky.

Two girls in a Jeep Cherokee came to pick them up. One of the girls introduced herself as his brother. She saw the damages on my rear bumper and said that it wasn't too bad. It was her birthday so I shouldn't cause too much trouble for them. She asked me how much I would need to fix it up. I told her I'm too shocked and upset to think about anything right now. His male friend asked if the police were coming now. I told him that I wasn't sure. Just then, a police car pulled up on the other side of the street, and that's when they took off in their Jeep Cherokee. I told the police that was them. They asked if they needed to go after them. I said, "Yeah, if the guy's drunk." So the police made a u-turn but by then it was too late. They had already gone too far. The police came back later and said that they couldn't catch them. They told me to file a police report at the police station, which was one block away.

By the time I filed a police report and called my insurance company. It was 3 am in the wee wee hours of the morning. I felt really broken and just sad in a way. I was thinking about all that happened during the past 7 months here in Chicago - working a part-time job while working on my church plant, my car accident during a snowstorm that resulted in a total loss wreck, my foul purchase of a used car, my speeding ticket just last week costing in $200, and now this. I was feeling sorry for myself. I read a Psalm and tried to go to sleep.

The following day I was feeling better. My wife asked me, "So do you regret coming to Chicago? It seems like you are having so much bad luck, and it's mostly with your car." I told her, "No, I had car accidents and speeding tickets in California too. God is breaking me, so that I will be humble. That means that God will do great things, and He wants all the credit and praise to go to Him."

I truly believe this. I believe God will do awesome, mighty things. He just wants to make sure I'm of a humble, broken, and contrite spirit, so that He can do great things. God will get all the credit and glory. It is God who will work amazing things in Chicago. I need to pray and depend on God alone.