1yr old

My how time fly.  I know that's a bit of a cliche, but that fact is that a bout a year ago, Mindy and I became new parents.  God blessed us with a beautiful baby boy.  We named him Michael James Evan Oida Wong.  Each name had a significant meaning:

Michael: Named after the Archangel Michael.  In the book of Daniel (chapter 10) it was Michael that assisted the angel (that was entangled with Satan for 21 days); in the book of Revelation (chapter 12) it is Michael that threw Satan out of heaven.  I don't know about you, but I wanted to give my boy a name of great power and absolute servitude to Jesus Christ.

James: Now it should be pretty obvious why he got that name.  But for those that may be a bit clueless, its my name too.

Evan: I wanted to honor my mother with whom I loved dearly.  Sh passed away before Michael was even conceived, but I know she would have found so much joy if she had a chance to meet him.  My mother's name was Eva.

Oida: Mindy's family has no sons and her father has no brothers.  I thought it was fitting to continue the Oida name (at least one more generation).

Well, there you have it.  God's precious gift to Mindy and I.  I know I haven't blogged for awhile, but I'll ry to do better.

Well, it's been a long while since I posted a blog.  But I guess better late than never.

Well, my beautiful wife is pregnant.  We are going to be parents to a baby boy named: Michael James Evan Oida Wong.  What a name!  But what you don't see is the incredible story behind this name.  Let's break it down:

Michael - I wanted a name that is connected to power in biblical proportions.  Remember, other than Lucifer, Gabriel and Michael were two of God's most powerful creations.  Not simply angels, but archangels.  This is a name that I pray my son will grow-up to respect and love.  To know that he was named after one of the most powerful creations by God, should give him some inspiration and motivation to serve Christ Jesus.

James - Great name.  But beyond that, this was the name of Jesus' brother who become one of the pillars of the church in the book of Acts.  I pray my son lives up to James' nickname, "Camel-knees".  May his prayer life be strong and a reflection of his close relationship to Christ Jesus.

Evan - I miss my mother a whole lot.  Her name was Eva.  Naming my son Evan gives him some connection to the grandmother that he will only know through stories from his father, auntie, and uncle.

Oida - This is my wife's maiden name.  She had only an older sister and her father was an only child.  I wanted to provide her family a legacy in that her wonderful surname will not be forgotten.

Well, it is Sunday.  I have been at church since 6:15AM and finally came home for good around 10:00PM.

Good night and God bless.

It's been awhile since I wrote my last blog.

As some of you are aware , my wife and I attend Calvary Chapel South Bay.  I was hired as the IT Manager and it has been an extremely rewarding experience.  Recently, Pastor Steve Mays (Senior Pastor) has offered me an internship at his church (basically an intern pastorship, kinda learning how to be a pastor without actually being a pastor).  It is definitely a challenge and will grow/mold me into the man I feel God wants me to be.

Also, this is the first Christmas after my mom passed away.  Strange how she was the glue that kept everyone in touch.  I tried to have a family holiday dinner and my brother is not only non-committal, but it sounds like that making extra money is more important than family.  My cousin Henry is nowhere to be found.  And my cousin Sandy and her mother "may" stop by late in the evening.  My wife's family (parents, sister, and brother-in-law) will all be there and only my sister and her family is all my family have to show for.  I figured that since mom has passed away, maybe I can keep things going, but I guess its not going to be that way.  I really miss my mom.

This is the first year I am on staff at a church and therefore did not know what to expect (being Christmas and New Year's is on a Sunday).  Mindy and I have both been working at the church 6-days-a-week.  Don't get me wrong, I love what I'm doing, just didn't expect it to be so much work.  But all-in-all, all the services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day was awesome.  Yeah, it felt weird not being with the rest of my family on Christmas Eve and the morning of Christmas Day, but consider what our Heavenly Father gave us as a gift.  Jesus Happy Brithday!!!

PRAYER

Lord, thank You for Your Son.  Thank you for all the many blessings that I have enjoyed this year.  Please comfort me and heal my broken-heart.  You have always known of my needs and always provided.  I pray for Your Hand of Providence to touch me.  I pray Your Hand never leaves me.  O God, I bless Your Holy Name.  On this day, a day that you extended grace upon grace by presenting Your Son as a gift to us, thank You Lord.  Amen.

Well its been a REALLy long time since I placed a post and so many life changing evensts have happened.

The biggest life-changing event to my life is the recent death of my Mom.

Mothers are people the we deeply care about, yet never really give them the amount of love and adoration that they truly deserve.  It is as if they we give their entire life of servitude (to their family) can easily be appreciated by a singular yearly holiday, their birthday, Christmas, and maybe an occasional event of celebration.

I look back on all that my Mom did for me and I am first to admit, I did not hug her enough, kiss her enough, send enough flowers/gifts/cards, visit her enough, converse with her enough, and even hung out with her enough.  For some reason, once we hit a certain age, the necessity for a perosn to fill the role of "Mother" in our lives diminishes greatly.  And because of that, instead of changing our relationship with our Mothers as friends (maybe even peers), we start to slowly phase them into a less important part of our lives.

Don't get me wrong, I loved my Mom and I miss her so much.  But as I began working full-time, moved out on my own, and got married, I had other important aspects of my life that now take a lot of my time.  Time that before, was available to share with my Mom.

For those that do not know, my Mom passed away on Wednesday, June 1st at 3:50AM.  And I hated every moment of it.  I literally watched my Mom die a slow and emotionally painful death.  Two weeks prior to her death, she went in for a check-up because of her anemic condition.  They then informed her in a most insensative manner that she has between 1-4 weeks to live.  she was so devastated that she wanted to see her children right-away.  I was the first to arrive (within hours after she received the news).  She was so fraught with anxieties that upon seeing me, she went into a seizure that took her two full days to recover (during those two days, she was unable to talk and incoherent when she attempted to).  That insensative so called "Medical Professional" wasted two days that I could have spent with my Mom.  Two days that I was unable to tell her how much I love her.  Two days that I was unable to expression all the ranges of emotions that I was experiencing.  Two days of not allowing my Mom the opportunity to express her heart and soul to me.

I'm sorry, I working with God in managing a forgiving spirit to that particular doctor.  But when you ahve a limited time with a loved one, every day becomes more than precious, it becomes priceless.  And I really feel that doctor robbed me of two days with my Mom.  Priceless, because what value can anyone place to make me feel that I got an "even trade".

My heart is in so much pain.  This pain is like a chronic pain.  It hurts a lot at first, and then people say it goes away.  Actually, it never really goes away, you simply get used to the pain.  You begin to learn to live with the pain, sleep with the pain, go on with your everyday life with the pain.  But still, there are times when this pain flares up and it really hurts.

There are times when driving, and all of a sudden, I feel this overwhelming loss of my Mom and begin crying in the car.  There are times when I'm praying for someone and this feeling of deep sorrow reminding me of my loss of my Mom and IO begin to tear-up and whimper.  But the hardest is when I'm worshipping God (whether in church, work, or home) and fro some reason, God allows that pain to strike hard and fast.  When that happens, my joints get weak, voice begins to crack, my entire demeanor saddens, and I'm no longer praising God, I'm crying out to Him to take the pain away.

I MISS MY MOM!

I don't have any time-tables of how long the grieving process takes.  I don't even know what are the steps in a grieving process.  All I know is that I miss my Mom and my wish for those that read this is:

Enjoy you Mom.  She is a precious gift from God.  And even though at times we want to live our lives independant of her, her contribution to your life is priceless.  Her love for you is sacrificial.  But mostly she is the only one that God has entrusted to love, care, raise up.

MOM, I really miss you.

Well, it's a new month and I'm starting behind the "8-Ball" again.

My wife and I started this exercise routine in which we do it every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday.  We were doing pretty good for about a month and then I got sick last Thursday.  As many of you who know me, I rarely get sick, but I was so ill that I actually had to take time off from work.  So Friday I stayed home, but went to work on Saturday (the project had to be completed by Monday).  Rested somewhat on Sunday (went to go support my wife's hula ministry and lunch with the in-laws).  But even though I'm not 100%, I went to work on Monday.  It got so bad that on Monday, I needed my wife to drive me to go see my afternoon appointment.  I basically slept in the car to and from the appointment (just saved up enough strength to do the appointment).  On Tuesday, on the way home from my afternoon appointment, I pulled off the freeway and took an hour nap in some corporate park parking lot.  I just got so tired that I knew that if I didn't pull-over, I definitely be in an accident.

I'm still not 100%, but tomorrow evening I'll be on-site doing technical support until 8PM.  I'm hoping to last to the weekend so I can rest up.

On the flip-side, I finally took out my guitar since I moved to SoCal.  It kinda felt a bit weird playing, but quickly got into a nice groove and stayed there for about...5mins (took a small break during work hours).  It's always nice to take a nice break from reality.

Today, Yahoo! was giving out free ice-cream.  So if you are fortunate not to be lactose-intolerant, you were (hopefully) able to take advantage of this offer.  My wife did, she got (the tiniest scoop of) mint chip ice-cream.

Well, I hope I get better quick.  I really was enjoying working-out with my wife.  Losing weight is definitely a motivator, but being healthy enough to live longer, sleep better, and recover faster from sports is definite BIG plus in my books.

And for many of those that are wondering, I have not played any golf nor swung my clubs since I moved down last summer.  Not enough time/money/people to play.

I wonder what kind of golf courses are in heaven?