Simply Katherine, a Christian blog

I'm having a hard time to crack open the most wonderful experience I've had with Christians on Campus. I keep thinking what's the best way to present the secret to my spiritual progress and human development in college. To be honest with you, I haven't found it yet. But I guess I can start by giving you a little background of how my first semester looked like. My mom's favorite ice cream. My mom and grandma went back home. Whenever I opened the freezer and saw that my mom's favorite ice cream was not there, I would start tearing up. It was rough, but I began to attend Christians on Campus various gatherings and activities.  There was an older man, involved with Christians on Campus, who would give a message every Saturday night. Every time he spoke, it was like he was speaking right into my inner being. Of course, he spoke from the Bible but he always had a way to make the Biblical points so practical and applicable to a young person...

I usually set some time in the morning to read the Word and to pray to touch the Lord. I also have a personal time to converse with the Lord during the day, just small prayers here and there. Yet I've been feeling a little distant from the Lord. I don't know how to explain it, there's like something is missing. Here's the story. I've been traveling a lot this summer so I've missed the church gatherings quite often, particularly in the weekends. The Lord is so wise. He is the Chief Shepherd who's caring for us in every way but sometimes He insists on supplying us indirectly through the other members of His Body (i.e., our fellow Christians).  So today I was sitting in a church gathering, called the "the prophesying meeting." It's a church gathering practiced based on 1 Corinthians chapter 14. FYI, 'prophesying' here mainly refers to speaking for God and speaking forth God into others (John 1:1 says "and the W...

This post is the continuation of my recent post, Christians on Campus - The Blackout . So my plane was obviously delayed for several hours, but I landed on Chicago and finally got back to Austin safely. My mom and grandma were very relieved seeing me again safe and sound. Days after that, I followed the news on the blackout. Looking at the photos of people living in darkness in the Northeast, of the total chaos in New York City, my heart just sank. Actually I was more in shock, realizing from what kind of situation I had escaped. Just reminiscing that time, I felt like I was not grateful enough to Someone who had faithfully cared for me.  Recently, I was listening to a fellowship given by an older brother in the Lord (he's associated with the Christians on Campus club). He said that actually all throughout our life God always has His hand over us to cover us, to protect us. I didn't really understand at first the magnitude of this statement. Now as I dw...

Po and I just came back from our road trip to Tennessee this past weekend. We drove from Texas to Memphis, then all the way east to Johnson City. We went back to Memphis via the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Sweetwater, and Chattanooga. All in one week. We were on the road all week. I have to say, Tennessee is a beautiful concoction of history and nature (two of my favorite things).  Centennial Park, Nashville In Memphis, we stayed with three dear Christian ladies in their home. I didn't ask them how old they were but they were like my grandma's age. Po and I had a wonderful time with them. What impressed me the most was the fact that they were always so joyful and lively in the house - praying, singing hymns, and praising the Lord. They were definitely not silent Christians. One of them actually worked in a nearby restaurant and whenever she had the opportunity, she would speak to her customers about the Lord. The other lady (she's in her 70s) would ris...

Dear readers, I apologize for the delay of the next post. I'm currently on the road to the Smokies. Actually this would be a good time for our new subscribers to explore my archives on this blog. I know this may sound strange but I do have interesting blog posts buried in my archives from the previous months. To make it easier for all of you to look through my previous posts, I've put links to the different categories of my posts right below the header of my blog.  Your comments, suggestions, and questions are always welcomed. Have a free read, everyone! Ready to write, Simply Katherine

I've been sharing my personal experiences as a Christian on campus in a series entitled, Christians on Campus. This post is the continuation of my previous post, Christians on Campus: Global Young Leaders Conference .  So I was about to leave New York City, sitting in my seat with the seat belt buckled, waiting for the airplane to take off to Austin via Chicago. I fell asleep. An hour later I woke up, the plane was full of noises. People were standing in the aisle, opening the luggage compartments, talking on their phones. I thought, "Wow, we got to Chicago fast!" But then I looked around, these people, their countenances didn't look so good. I actually forget how I found out what was wrong with the whole thing, yet I remember frantically trying to make a phone call to Austin, to let the people there know that there was something wrong with my departure. For the longest time, my phone would not connect. It was very strange. My mom and grandma did not have a...

This is my most recent post for the Christians on Campus series . So I flew to Washington D.C. to be at the 12-day Global Young Leaders Conference (GYLC).  That was my first global event ever! There were high school students from the U.S., Greece, Brazil, the U.K., Indonesia, Australia, China, South Korea, just to name a few. To be honest, I was quite overwhelmed meeting young people from so many different cultures all at once. Like I said, that was literally the "globalization" of my personal universe. During those twelve days, I sure learned a lot about countries, cultures, natural resources, human resources, poverty, politics, and the intermingling of all these boxed into an entity called, The United Nations.  GYLC tried to gather young people from all over the world to learn leadership skills and exchange ideas with top business leaders, diplomats, journalists, lobbyists, and many more within the global context. So I had many interactions with t...

Dear readers, It's been almost 5 months since I first started this blog. I started with no previous knowledge at all about blogging. The good thing is the Internet has made the learning curve easier. There are many helpful instructions, tips, and articles on how to start a blog and how to blog effectively.  Thanks to all of you, I currently have about 50 subscribers to my blog . Well, I'm not aiming for mere popularity by continuing to boost traffic and subscription to this blog, but it'll be such a waste if others can't benefit from the life experiences that I've shared so far on this blog. I have several readers, young and older, who told me how they had appreciated the  Christians on Campus and Conversations with Mrs. L  series.   This blog is actually written for quite a broad audience. I've made a commitment to produce consistent, original posts revolving around my personal experiences on faith and life in general. The overarch...

Continuing from my post on The Church Life Bubble : And so I was told that you could actually stay and learn the human life in the church life bubble , that I didn't have to explore what's out there to experience genuine human experiences. I kept this matter in my heart, but contemplating this past year, I'm amazed with how much I've learned by just being in the church life . Some of the things that I've learned to varying degrees this past year: making a fire pit, cutting tree branches (with a saw made of a blade tapped on an old hockey stick), statistics, event planning, personal finances, people/social skills, data entry, search engine optimization, blogging, then I also learned a lot from being around more mature Christians. They're my patterns. I'm learning not just about what they believe but also how they live in their family life, in their daily life, in their church life. I'm often touched with who they are, their heart, their willingness t...

This post is a continuation of my previous post, " My Recent Trip to Chino Hills, California ."  I asked him if I should go out there and explore the world to find experiences that I wouldn't be able to learn in the church life bubble. So in response, he had this big smile on his face and said, "Katherine, I hope to stay in this church life bubble all my life!" I tried to reiterate my thought, "You mean, you can learn everything here?" He nodded in an emphatic way; it was a strong "yes, you definitely can" kind of nod. I didn't quite understand at that point, why he said that. So back to the two ladies in Chino Hills. They heard the story that I just told you about. One of them nodded her head with agreement; the other shook her head and said, "There's nothing out there. Only pains and disappointments." I wasn't expecting such responses, but I began to understand why. These two middle-aged ladies h...

A week ago, I was in California, attending a Christian summer training (Note: the training is almost like an intensive topical study of the Bible; this time it was called "The Crystallization-Study of the Book of Psalms: Part 1"). The weekend before the training began, I visited Chino Hills with a handful of pursuing Christians from Japan, who were also attending the same training. Yes, every time I go to one of these training, I always meet new friends who are also Christians from all over the globe. This time the attendees of the summer training came from 49 different countries. Back to Chino Hills, so I met two middle-aged ladies (one was originally from Brazil and the other from Norway) there during lunch after our church gathering in the morning. We were eating delicious Chinese food and were engaged in a quite profound conversation. I was sharing with them about how I always wondered how life would be outside of the church life bubble that I'm currently...

Continuing from my recent post in the Christians on Campus series:  My mom and grandma went to Austin with me. I came about a month earlier than the beginning of the school semester to attend the Global Young Leaders Conference in Washington D.C. and New York City. I spent about a week in Austin with my mom and grandma, then I left them with some dear Christians in the community around the UT campus. These Christians were volunteers who helped support Christians on Campus activities and fellowship.  Christians on Campus also had home gatherings, the home meetings, all around town in the evenings. They would eat dinner together, sing some songs, and have some informal fellowship in these Christian homes. I went to one, I think right before I left to Washington D.C. During that gathering, I came to realize how these people truly loved the Lord and desired to live their lives according to the Bible, to the Word of God. I still felt like dreamin...

Please click here to see my previous post for context. As we were sitting there face-to-face, Mrs. L leaned forward to answer my question. I tried to brace myself, anticipating a mind-blowing answer. Her expression was permeated with a mix of gravity and approval (I guess from my openness to ask and learn). Mrs. L would never tell you what to do in life, but I had this sense that she was always ready to impart something into you if you had the right key to open her treasure storehouse. She looked into me and said, "Just live a simple life, Katherine." She paused for a second then continued, "If someone else has something, that doesn't mean you need to have that same thing. If someone just bought something, that doesn't mean you have to buy it too." What? That was not mind-blowing at all, but at the same time, it was! I nodded. Coming from a ninety year old person, that answer had greatly impacted my being. You know what, these exact words, "Ju...

Following a request from a reader to continue on  Conversations with Mrs. L , I want to share with you my old plain question that I had asked Mrs. L about a year ago. You have to understand the context of this question though. So here we go. Mrs. L is a ninety-some year old experienced Christian. Her husband passed away about 14 years ago, but everyone knew that Mrs. L was a devoted wife. She had faithfully rendered the utmost aid to her husband and to her husband's ministry (in his lifetime, Mrs. L's husband was truly a minister of Christ). Long story short, I was curious to know how Mrs. L had lived her life thus far. The question was, "Mrs. L, how do you live? How do you think I should endeavor to live?"  People in this generation pride themselves in their lifestyles, don't you think? Now consider, Mrs. L is a person who has passed through all these different tides of lifestyle trends throughout the years. When you meet Mrs. L, she's like this immo...

Dear all, Sorry for the long delay for my next post. It'll be coming soon, meanwhile please explore my archives. You can also request topics, just drop me a comment on this post. Please suggest what would you like to read about on my next post: Christians on Campus , Conversations on Mrs. L , a scientific blog post , etc. Let me know, everyone! Ready to write, Simply Katherine