Chan can't cook

I don't think I'll be having a meal plan next semester because the price of North apartments + ridiculously overpriced Umass meal plan is just too much financially. The good news... we will be having our own kitchen (and our own CLEAN bathrooms!) so we can cook our own meals. The bad news: Chan can't cook. *side note - the dude from Yan can cook came to Umass last week and not only is he a cook, dude was hysterical. I guess Yan got jokes too!*

Over the summer, I've already asked my parents and my sisters to teach me how to cook. They've already agreed to teach me how to cook a few chinese dishes and I'm very excited because I am a huge fan of mah po tofu. But as much as I love my mah po tofu, I can't eat that every single day. You may be asking yourself, "what can I do, Jeffrey??" Mmm yes my loyal readers, here's where you can help me!

Please share your recipes with me! Or better yet, please teach me how to cook! I know you guys are out there! My goal is to learn at least 7 so that can cover a week. Or enough so I can go up to my roommates next year and go... STICK WITH ME AND YOU'LL NEVER GO HUNGRY AGAIN! (Shoutout to my Lion King fans out there)

Mah Po deliciousness

Christ is risen!

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride

See from his head, his hands, his feet
Sorrow and love flow mingled down
Did ever such love and sorrow meet?
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross
Bids me come and die
And find that I may truly live
O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross
All who gather here by grace draw near
And bless Your name

Were the whole realm of nature mine
That were an offering far too small
love so amazing, so divine
Demands my soul, my life, my all

What's so good about Good Friday?

(This post was originally intended for Friday)
I've always wondered why we call this day "Good Friday." It didn't make sense in my head. Every year, we observe the death of Jesus Christ. He is the perfect lamb, the most innocent blood, the ultimate form of love... slain, murdered. And not just any death, but death in the most gruesome form humans ever conceived in history. *Side note - I remember a few years back I heard a talk about how hideous the crucifixion actually was. Ask me about it some other day. The pastor put it in such great detail that I remember it brought me to tears.* And all that just added to my confusion. I didn't understand how any "good" could come from this. I mean, we don't look at MLK's death and call it "Good MLK's assasination day" right? Well, as I grew more in my faith and more in my knowledge of the Gospel, I began to see why we name it such. There is a clear distinction between historical moral teachers like MLK and Jesus Christ. But it still didn't fully click in my mind. Wouldn't some other word like "dark" or "gloomy" be more fitting and appropriate? Why GOOD?

This morning it bothered me so much that I even googled it, hoping it would clear up some of my confusion. The Wikipedia page (the most reliable source of course) gave it a few alternate names: Holy Friday, Black Friday or Great Friday. Holy Friday fits but we rarely use that (i think). Black Friday would make more sense but Americans already use that for the annual official start to Christmas shopping. Great Friday is an even stronger word than good so that didn't really help me. I was not satisfied.

Later on that night AKC had a joint Good Friday service with Amherst Christian Fellowship. The theme for the night? What's so good about Good Friday. Mmm! Exactly what I was looking for! An answered prayer! Needless to say, I was more than excited to hear the message and what the pastor had to say.

The guy (who's actually not a pastor but an Amherst College alum currently in seminary) offered some really good insight. He broke it down to three reasons why this is truly a GOOD friday.

1. Good Friday is good because it demonstrates God's love
2. Good Friday is good because it fulfills all that which Jesus Christ came down to earth to do
3. Good Friday is good because it subsequently led to Jesus' triumphant rise from the dead = our salvation, and our hope for abundant and eternal life. Our relationship with God is reconciled through Jesus Christ

- It demonstrated God's love because it was not out of obligation or duty. It was out of love, God's love for us. John 3:16 tells us that He loved the world so much that He sent his one and only son down to die on the cross for all of us so through that act of love, our broken relationship is fully healed.

- Jesus Christ did many wonderful things here on earth. Like the long list of great moral leaders in history, he taught many valuable lessons; lessons that teach us how to live everyday. He was here to heal the sick. He came to show us how to care for the ones that are oppressed and ignored by everyone. But ultimately, he was sent to die on the cross and rise on the third day. He even predicts this in Luke 9:22, when he was speaking to Nicodemus. He was sent to fulfill God's sovereign plan and he achieved that through the cross.

- Jesus' death made it possible for me and for you to opt back into life with God. It is possible now for us to finally and truly live. It is possible now to experience all that God has to offer to us. And it is only possible because of His love.


Mmmm a good lesson learned on a very good friday. Hi mom!