Kelly James

His name may not seem familiar now but on Dec 17, 2006, Kelly James' name was all over the news as one of the 3 climbers on Mt Hood in Oregon who died while climbing in storm conditions. It made national news and I followed it with some interest, like everyone else.

It's not until just today that I read that Kelly was the brother of Frank James, President of Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, and brother in law of Carolyn James, speaker and author of "When Life and Beliefs Collide" among other books. Frank and Carolyn have been very good friends to Campus Crusade. Many staff, including myself have taken the course "Church History" by Dr. James and have heard Carolyn speak at conferences on many occasions.

Carolyn has actually been a personal "hero" for me. I met her when I asked her to speak to our women staff at New Staff Training in 2005. I so enjoyed her at NST that I decided to ask her over to my humble home for dinner. I didn't think a famous author would have the time to come to dinner at my home but she graciously accepted and my roommate and I had a wonderful evening with Carolyn. What an amazing woman.

It's intersting that the news of Kelly James was just headline news to me when it was happening. I knew he had a wife and kids and family members, but I couldn't really empathize with them. It only took knowing his family member to experience sadness for a lost life.

It makes me wish I saw people more as precious souls, even if I don't experience them being precious to me, they are still precious to the Lord. What more reason to feel connected to people who are in need or just passing by us in life. That will be my prayer today.

Caption Contest Winners!!

Thanks all for entering the 1st Ever BTLA Caption Contest. Since there were so many great entries, I've decided to award 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winner. But alas only one can be 1st place WINNER and recipient of the coveted Teriyaki Wok T-shirt. Here you go!

3rd Place : Katie with "they say that people often look like their pets - "Angel slowly taking on the form of her new pet - her hen!" - it was the best use of other blog entries to personalize the photo.

2nd Place : Jenn with "Mother Angel please bless me and heal my hand!" - best incorporation of both the HAND and the HEAD THINGY

Drum Roll Please : BRBRBRBRBRBBRBRBRBRB
The Winner of the Caption Contest is Shawn with "Hey lady, lookout! There's a rabid albino vampire bat on your head!" - don't know why, it just made me laugh out loud.

By the way, that picture was taken by Dennis Brockman during my very first HR Vertical Team meetings for Campus Crusade. This one was held in Scottsdale, AZ and as the one fun event of the very long 4 day meetings, we went to a Arizona Diamondback game and they were giving away free promotional towels. That's Amy Rector's hand. :)

Thanks everyone for entering or reading along.

The Apprentice

So, I'm sitting here watching the Apprentice, which is one of my favorite shows. Imagine my surprise when I saw my friend, James Sun, on the show. Have you seen him? We used to go to church together in Federal Way, WA. I recognized him right away, especially his voice. The last time I saw him was when we ran into each other at the Seattle Airport. He was going on a business trip and told me he was thinking about an internet business which is pretty hush hush right now. Well, reading from his bio, it sounds like it was a success. It's always fun to see people you know on TV. :) Good luck, James!

Caption Contest! - You could win BIG!

There is only ONE MORE DAY left of the 1st Ever BTLA (Bubble Tea Life of Angel) Caption Contest!

This is how you play.
1) Observe the contest picture posted below
2) Think about a fun caption for this picture
3) Post your entry under "comments" by Jan 19th.
4) Wait with anticipation for the announcement of the Winner on Jan 20th!

Grand PRIZE : a brand new Teriyaki Wok T-shirt. That's right! It's the original TWok Shirt. Not sold in any stores. Once in a lifetime memorabilia. Could be worth millions one day on Ebay.

Here it is : the Picture for the Caption Contest: Yes, that's me!

Sean Taylor (1971-2007)

My dear friend of 15 years from Green River Comm. College, Sean Taylor, went to be with the Lord on Sunday morning. It was a whirlwind as I read an email on Sat afternoon that he was in the hospital and that the doctors only gave him 3 days because his kidney and liver functions had shut down. I was shocked because I had never known him to be sick. Sat evening, Zack, another friend from Green River and I drove up to Seattle to visit him. I was able to take some time to say goodbye to him privately. I didn't know if he could hear me or if he even knew I was in the room. He did make a few different sounds as I talked to him and touched him, so I hope that he could hear me.

Sean has had a very difficult life. He struggled with issues from his past for most of his life. When he became a Christian through our college group at Green River, it was a radical transformation. We became like his new family. All these years, Sean and I remained close friends.

Tonight I attended my very first memorial service for someone I was close to. It was hard but it was also a celebration of Sean and his life. It was surprising a happy time. I joked with his mother and sister, I saw old friends, I remembered my old friend. It was a gift to have know Sean, a fun, crazy, wild, guy who loved SpongeBob Square pants, his friends, and the Lord. I will miss him always.

I have a pet chicken

No kidding. Not only do I live in a totally ho-dunk town, but now I own livestock. One of our cooks at the Wok was given a chicken last week (don't ask me why). So, he decided to fatten the chicken up before chopping it up for dinner. But that takes time and since he couldn't keep it in his apartment alone, he decided to bring it to work and raise the chicken outside our restaurant. Well, I'm not even gonna name all the health codes this chicken breaks.

So, I decided to bring it home with me and raise it for him until the chicken grows up. Of course it was a sacrifice for me to have to look after this chicken for the sake of not jeopardizing our business. But, actually, this little chicken is growing on me. I went to the feed store to buy it some food and found out that this chicken is actually a hen and she will be laying eggs soon. Cool! Now I'm raising a chicken in a laundry room. So, what did I name this little bundle of joy? I just call her CHICKEN. As in, "Bo, stop barking at Chicken!" I hope I don't get too attached to Chicken because she's gonna be dinner soon. Gosh, if only I hadn't watched "Charlotte's Web" last week. :)

Does anyone have any advice for raising Chicken for me? For instance, do I have to walk her or bathe her? I'm this clueless!

Matt and Katie

Katie and I met at Univ of Washington. I didn't really know her but after we graduated, she ended up being the third roommate of my two best friends where she became one of my THREE best friends. Well, fast forward like 12 years. Matt, Katie, Alathia, and Abigayle are on furlough from ministry in East Asia here in Seattle and they came to see me at the WOK. It was so wonderful seeing them. They liked my bubble tea too. :)

I'm hoping that we will be able to have our annual reunion this year. We have faithfully had annual reunions ever since leaving college, and last year was the first time all 4 of us were not together. Daniela will have to come from New Mexico, and Sherri from N Carolina. I hope we can do it this year. In any case, I love that they are here in WA. :)

An incredible loss for a friend

I've been so burdened as I grieve along side a friend who is experiencing a deep loss. Haley Chitty was one of my new staff when I directed New Staff Training for Campus Crusade. I really enjoyed her because she was always so smiley and so sweet. Haley is on Campus Crusade staff at Univ of Tennessee and just after Christmas, her whole family, parents and two younger brothers were killed in a plane crash. She would also have been in that plane except she had to fly to attend a Campus Crusade conference. If you have a chance, please pray for her, even though you don't know her personally, I'm sure you can image what an incredible loss this is for her. Click here to read more.

Back to normal life

How that all the holiday festivities are done, we're back to normal life. Gone is the Christmas CDs playing at the WOK, the wreath is down and all is kind of boring again. So to not get bored myself, I have decided to take on the next project which is remodeling our bathrooms. It may not seems very exciting to most people but i'm really looking forward to it. I wish I could do the work myself but with codes and stuff, I can't afford to do it wrong so I'll let the professionals take care of it. :) I would post some "before" pictures but we've already done a few cosmetic things so the contrast from before to after won't be as dramatic. Mainly, I'm changing out the vanity and mirror and painting. Hope it turns out well.