War Dance: Acholi Children of Uganda

Have you ever heard of the 'children of war' in Northern Uganda from the tribe of Acholi? Well, if you have never heard of them, you should check this out: War Dance the movie. Click on the link and go to "trailer" for a short clip. This is a documentary of the Acholi children who have been through the atrocities of war and often experienced things more savage than we can ever imagine. Music and dance is a way to escape their past and their reality, creating a way to heal from their wounds. The movie details bone chilling story of several of these kids, told from their own words, and how they turn it into an inspiring story. This film has an awesome and beautiful cinematography, often panning the shots from a beautiful natural scene to a larger view including the poor human existance; what a sharp contrast differentiating the creation of God and the creation of man. If you like the movie, as I did, your feet will not stop dancing, and you will be made aware of the beauty of these fellow children of God.

Tulsa Zoo

Here is what I've learned from the animals at the zoo:

When people stare and wave at you strangely, stare back!

When you have some free time, take a nap!

When you are tire of entertaining people, go ahead... show them your BUTT!

Beautiful Pictures in Central Park, NY that I took in Dec '07

Evening In Pakistan

Alright, I just got this through my mail. I was at this event several weeks ago, and I feel that this is very good to share with you. I, along with many others, have compassion and the heart for those who don't know the Good News. This is a video from an organization that reaches out to Muslims around the world. If you are interested, please check out this introductory video: https://secure2.convio.net/mio/site/SPageServer?pagename=Pasadena_Videos_Banquet_Highlights&JServSessionIdr005=36dcwxic24.app1b, then go to this following one on a conversation of a Muslim to us: https://secure2.convio.net/mio/site/SPageServer?pagename=BanquetVideosPasadena and click on "Observation of Christianity," the 6th video down. As I have talked to many Muslims, this observation is what is commonly believed. Enjoy. If I figure out how to post the videos on my page, I will.

My New Blog

I just created a new blog... yeah, I am bored and going blog crazy, spending all my last drop of free time on blogs. I do think it is a very cool concept, and I hope I get some help with it.
Check it out: http://trueosteopathy.blogspot.com/

Simplicity is calling me...

After almost a full week in Tulsa, I am getting a better picture of what life is like here. I figured that Tulsa and Okalahoma City, the 2 largest cities in OK, probably feels like a big city for people from these parts of the country (and those who have never seen LA, SF, or NY){I love both the large cities and the countrysides} However, for me, I'd consider Tulsa almost the countryside or may be a small town. There is a center of town with some high-rises, and some old looking churches, but, most of Tulsa are industrial and quiet neighborhoods. Due to the recent thunderstorms, Tulsa is quite green, and there are water in the creeks. There are lots of tall green trees, little creeks by the road, frogs croaking in those creeks, not much bugs (probably eaten by the frogs in the creeks), green pastures, open lands, cute houses, and mansions... I'll show you some pictures when I go explore this Saturday. The temperature is mild at around 65-75F, occassionally overcasted and some loud thunderstorms. I like driving here, it makes me feel that I am driving in some country place... very green and natural, and houses are mostly built out of bricks and stones. Gas is around $3.19 to 3.29 per gallon.

As for work, I am working 1.5 weeks in the clinic and 2.5 weeks in the hospital. I have been working with many doctors here and had good exchanges of conversations and stories. My overall impression of people here are that they are very nice. They also tend to be much gentler when it comes to medical education, not much pimping. I am enjoying the clinic work, everyone is very nice, but, having to rotate with a different doctor every 2 hours doesn't give me much time to adjust to each of their personal styles. I learned that about 30% of their graduates end up in the mission field long term. All the residents and staffs are Christians. Almost 20% of residents are from a foreign country... but they alls have amazing stories of how they know Jesus. A lot of them hangout together when off work and routinely go to Bible studies together. They also make it a habit to pray with their patients both in the clinic and in the hospital. Having been here for a week, I get the feeling of going to a church when I go to work... I really feel the 'togetherness' when I see how everyone interact here; like a family. The director of the residency shares spiritual guidance and calls the residents his kids.

I am getting use to the 'southern twang'... well, you may catch me with an occassional bad grammer or two when I get back... In general, people are not as superficial here and not as focused on appearance as much as... let's say, Newport Beach. (what kind of a standard do you have, SoCal boy?!)

Ok, I do have some life stuff that you can pray for me about: rejuvenation. As my third year in medical school comes to an end... I am feeling exhausted! I really feel I can use a good vacation and relaxation right now. I felt that I have put in a lot of energy this past year on various rotations, working hard, pulling 80-100 hour weeks on majority of the months (like all other med students), loving what I do, loving interacting with patients and their families, surviving tough life ordeals with God's/family's/friends' help... well, all that has just about drained me. I still have 2 end of the year exams to take at school at the end of May, and 3 medical board certification exams in the beginning of July and August. I still have to invest a lot of time into studying for these... ahhh...

So, I hate complaining, but, perhaps you can lift me up to our Father for some extra strength and energy and also restoration and rejuvenation in Him. Pressures of life never ceases, I feel that Wisdom from the Lord teaches us to grow and mature with our difficulties and not to avoid them. So, here we go.......

First Impression of Tulsa, OK

I had the privilege during my second year of medical school to be the president of our chapter of the Christian Medical Dental Association (CMDA). I have always had the vision of connecting medical students to Christian doctors who are actively applying Faith in their practice. Through CMDA, I was connected with Rev. McLaughlin, who told me about this Family Practice residency in Tulsa, OK called In His Image… cool huh? This program has a mission to train Christian medical doctors to serve Him all over the world. Along with their medical training, they also built into their program spiritual retreats, spiritual assessments of patients, and tools to address spiritual needs of the patients. So, of course, I signed up as soon as I heard about it.

Well, I got to Tulsa yesterday! Here are my impressions before I got here: Bible-belt, tornado season, and I asked a friend about hiking (cuz I love hiking), well… I got the ‘are you crazy? look’… then followed by ‘it’s as flat as flat can be!’ So, now I’ve been here 2 days and drove around some, these are my first impressions: FLAT, fudge-brownie river, cute brick houses, very green, lots of big trees, lots of churches, lots of people exercising on the very nice long river trail next to the fudgy-brownie river. Oh yeah, the air quality is not bad! I have 3 roommates, all very passionate Christian guys who wanted to serve God and change the world. Ok ok ok, here are some pictures…

The flight over the Rocky Mountains; The Fudge-Brownie River (aka Arkansas River)

My home for the month; lots of international people have already beat me to it!

Oral Roberts University and its bell tower (the crystal looking thing)

You know how to reach me: Ski down the Rockys, float down the fudge river, and look for the crystal! Stay tuned...

(*) Balancing Life?

Life hanging in balance? I think God in His wisdom is trying to show us that what seems impossible is possible! This is the famous Big Balanced Rock in Chiricahua National Monument in southern AZ. To get to take a picture of this rock, I had to hike a difficult trail for ~4 miles. The diameter of this rock is 22 feet, height of 25 feet, and weights about 1,000 tons. It is standing, unassisted, on a point probably no wider than 3 feet wide.

I was reminded of God's beauty and creativity today as my thoughts trailed to several pleasant and unique memories I had in this park. To be honest without dipping into details, this past year had probably been the hardest year for me so far in my 28 years. I have experienced things more difficult than I can comprehend. Things in life didn't make sense. Previously, if I had tried my best and done my best, things tend to work out. But, this last year, something happened that forced me to think differently. There are times, things don't work out, even if we try our best. These are times we ask God lots of questions as a reaction to trying to understand our pain. I thought, shouldn't God or couldn't God have done something to help me avoid pain? I ask, could I have done things differently for a better result? If you understand what I am talking about, then I presume that we may perhaps be companions in this journey together.

Consider the Book of Job, one of the oldest in the Bible. Job went through tremendous loss and grief. He had smart friends who argued philosophy and manipulated ideas. His friends accused Job with that bad things happen to people who 'missed the mark.' However, Job was a person of integrity and a person who loves God. Through all his pain, he NEVER cursed God. But, Job did cursed himself. As the story continues, God answered Job by asking him a serie of questions. Such as: who created the heavens and the earth, who gave life to various animals and set them free to roam, who tells the ocean to come thus far and no farther... These questions seemed so simple and fundamental, but, Job cannot answer them; I would assert that even in our understanding of mathematics and physics and biology, we cannot answer these questions either. What we do know is that if we can't understand simple things, why do we try to grasp the mystries of God?

God made creation to reveal His beauty, wisdom, and humor; and He also made them as a WITNESS and a Testamony to us! Imagine, His creations are witnessing to His beloved regarding His love and His REDEEMING GRACE.

Here is another point, if you understand this one as related to pain, we should be friends! (Alan taught me this one) "Life as we have grown accustom to says that things work out when we do our best (like Newtonian Physics, A+B=C). But, spiritual growth comes when pain happens eventhough we did our best (like Quantum Mechanics and Einstein's relativity, non-linear). To those faithful ones, consider Psalm 44:17 "All this happened to us, though we had not forgotten You or been false to Your covenant." King David had an understanding of quantum mechanics as related to the spiritual journey.

So, as I was camping in the Chiricahua, I threw a sleeping bag into the bed of my truck and fell asleep to the serenate of rustling leaves under the nightlight of a smiling moon. I dreamt of a God that blew me gentle kisses and embraced me within the soft caressing breeze. Amidst my pains and sorrows, His gentle embrace melts me into His love and ease the wells of tears from my eyes. I am no longer held down by the depressive emotional chains that dragged and ripped away chunks of my heart and grind down the wings of my mind. In His Love and Grace I am being set free. I often think about the ones that took a different path and pray for their heart's willingness to be led by God back to His arms' sweet embrace. Like this Big Balanced Rock, God is witnessing to me once again and reminding me to Trust Him always and place my Delight in Him.

What's to become of baby Timothy's first cake?

Left to right: mom (Amber), Timothy, dad (Brian), (Justin peeking in); Kavi and Taylor (godparents); Kavi, George, Jen, Doug, Taylor eating Ruben's in a park in Ojai.

So, congratulations Kavi and Taylor! I am really happy and excited for you to start a new chapter in life at Ventura! Yay, Kavi is going to be starting her residency in FP in June at Ventura County Medical Center, which is the best FP program in California, possibly in the country. This weekend was also Timothy Dowd's first birthday celebration. All of his family, including proud parents Amber and Brian Dowd, Justin and Priya Livengood, Kavi and Taylor Simpson, grandmas and grandpas, and lots of other friends and families were there (including me) to celebrate Timothy's birthday. Here is a 3 minute video showing Timothy as he encounters his first birthday cake! It is hilarious.

Surgery

OMT in St. Barnabas, Bronx, NY

I'm currently a third year student physician traveling around the country for my rotations. I took a lot of pictures while I was in NY for Dec.07. Here are some pictures of my travels if you are interested: http://s232.photobucket.com/albums/ee20/doccurious/ Enjoy!

Introduction

Fellow steamers, are you aware of where good ideas and revelations happen? As for me, many times they occur in a hot steamy shower. Yeah, call me weird. Why does it happen there when I have no way of writing anything down. I'd have to trust my brain to remember it. However, in the mix of hot steamy euphoria, trying to hop out into a dry towel, dancing the tango love affair to the hot blow dryer's hum, my deep thoughts usually drip drip trickled dry before I can splatter them on my modern LCD typewriter. Revelations dissolved as swirls of milk melange into the dark abyss of stimulant. Ah, as I often reminesce about those tangled and faded dreams, wishing I had a rewind button on the remote of my journey; or perhaps a portal to my future dreams. Creativity bounces in and out of the mirror as if I can see into the past, the present, and the pearl. You see, if you have accidently hopped on this steam train of thought for some otherwise sexy and kinky bent of life, you are sorely mistaken. I, for one, hoping and knowing one day that my steam will go in the direction of heaven, as millions of cups of strong steams have gone before me. Until that time, I will remind you with my aroma that His presents is forever here with us. Hang on, put on your seatbelt, dilate your senses, laissez le bon temp roulez.