OASIS
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other. “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason. “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. And you also must tes-
VINE
CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR
{FROM THE EDITORS} STRIPPED AWAY
Going into GRACE 2014, I tried my hardest not to have expectations. I’ve gone to the conference for a while now, and each year I’ve been surprised by God. I guess this year, I wanted to achieve that same feeling again.
to challenge us to continue worshiping God without the huge emotional drive that would only fade weeks or even days later. After coming home for a while, I received an email from the main coordinator. It detailed the reason behind the lack of the “right” atmosphere that night. She stated that she wanted the community there to genuinely worship God — the vision of the Grace Conference was not a conference “that led to a ‘spiritual high.’”
There were a lot of things that happened, but I guess what really disappointed me was on the last night during the time of prayer and worship. In the years past, there was the whole “mood” for us to worship God — shoes off, lights dimmed, background music, chairs moved to the side, on and on — but this year, it was set up just like a regular sermon. In my opinion, it deterred a lot of people at first, myself included. In the night that followed, there was a certain structure that felt rigid and limiting — it seemed like there was hardly any room for emotion. It began with a full reading of Psalm 119; most of the music was not emotionally driven. But that night, still most of us worshiped freely and prayed to God. In hindsight, it was an environment that would not usually produce a spiritual high, and for the coordinators to do that was actually a service —
In all honesty, I felt like might have been a little too much. But I also think that this prodded a deeper question — who are we, as followers of Christ, made of? When everything is stripped away, will we still be there through it all? Worship is a lifestyle; it is not confined to the church or to retreats or conferences. It is glorifying God, in every single way. So in 2015, I hope that all of you will live your lives for Christ — because He is worth it. “You are worthy, our Lord and God, To receive glory and honor and power, For you created all things” — Revelation 4:11a
— Michelle Shen 2
{FROM THE EDITORS} MEMORIES FROM 2014
GIVE THANKS TO A NEW YEAR WHOOO: About a year ago, a friend of mine burned a Christian playlist CD for me. To be honest, it’s actually pretty sweet. A couple weeks before I received the CD, I messaged this friend in an attempt to give an update about my life. Basically, it turned out to be an overflow of complaints about how life sucked and how I hated certain things about myself/felt ashamed about them. It was quite cynical to be honest. Three weeks later, that same friend gives me a CD with a collection of encouraging praise songs burned onto it. There was even a note written on the CD along with some uplifting bible verses that were suggested for me to check out. Although it may seem cliché for a friend to burn a CD full of encouraging music in order to hearten a distressed friend, I actually found it very moving. I was quite surprised when I received it. I wasn’t expecting my friend to really “do anything” after I sent the message. I think that just leads me to being even more grateful for the beautiful people God has placed in my life. There are so many times where I worry about the negative attitudes people may feel towards me rather than the wonderful people who love me and, I guess, truly mean good for me. I
tend to take a lot of things in my life for granted and it’s definitely something I want (and am willing) to change in light of God. There’s just so much to be happy about, yet we make so many excuses to be sad. Why not focus on the things that DO make you happy instead? Although, this does not mean you should ignore the things you are struggling with in life. Rather, concentrating on the things that you are blessed with and make you happy can serve as encouragement and motivation to face your obstacles. God has given everyone a life full of His will. It can be hard at times to be thankful for your challenges, but just remember that everything that happens is allowed by God. And sometimes we just can’t see why and really hate the way things are turning out. But in the end, if you follow through strongly holding fast to the Lord, I promise you it will be a walk you won’t regret. God doesn’t guarantee that following Him will be easy, but He does ensure that He will not fail you. "If the Lord delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand." —Psalms 37:23-24 Not for a moment, will He forsake you. He’s always there. Keep going. In the end, He will reveal His amazing work to you. Just believe.
— Krystal Qin 3
GOD’S GIFT OF WORSHIP
What is worship? Psalm 100:2 [ESV] says, Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! It is said that worship is serving the Lord through singing. To me, I would describe worship as an overflow of emotions. Singing itself is not called worship, but instead what makes it worship is your emotions, your thoughts, and your dedication to God. Worship is the time where you solely dedicate yourself to God. To me, worship is such a wonderful thing; during this time, it feels as if all my worries and fears are gone in the presence of the Lord. For God to give us this opportunity to worship and praise Him is something so great, but yet we take it for granted at times. One verse I found that described worship was in Psalm 150: 1-6 [ESV]. It says, Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! I think our churches embody most of these things, like using instruments and having a sanctuary for God, but often times we just sing and forget to praise God Himself. That’s why it is important that this time of worship is focused on God, that we take this gift from God, and use it to the fullest extent. Everyone has his or her own ways of worship, so find your own way of worship that is comfortable and just give everything to God. Just stand in His presence and feel his presence. For me, God speaks to me through worship more than anything else, and I feel that God gave me worship as a way for Him to speak to me. Next time you worship, try to push away your surroundings and just know that there is only one person there, always watching you, and that person is God. Two questions I have (these are things I still struggle with): why are you worshiping? And to whom are you worshipping for? Sometimes I question myself. Am I doing this for God, or am I doing this to impress other people? I challenge everyone to answer these questions the next time you worship, and to take this gift of God and use it for him. One question I want to leave everyone with: what is worship to you?
— Michael Li 4
RESOLUTIONS obligated to please others. I am here to love,
My 2014 New Year's Resolution was 1 Pe-
not to make people like me. I'm torn, as the
ter 4:8:
gap is so divergent. Can it be bridged? It's hard to accept that actions don't
Above all, love each other deeply, because love
speak louder than words, not always, because
covers over a multitude of sins.
some people can't see, or they're too busy seeI think I tried, but in
ing something bigger, better, more
the wrong way. I tried to
beautiful. It's hard to accept that you
love others by spreading
need to speak in order to be heard.
happiness and being posi-
It's hard to open up when you've
tive with them, but that was
lived your entire life in a shell. But
impossible to maintain, at
this is my 2015 New Year's Reso-
least on the inside. The
lution: to be more open. I want to
positivity turned into a mask
be real. I'm already secure in Christ,
to cover everything up. The
but I'm insecure in faith. I will try.
longer I kept it up, the wider
God has carried me this far and I
the gap became between
know He will continue to walk by my
what people saw and how I
side. May God allow me to open
really was. Recently, I tried to bridge the gap be-
up. May I walk out into reality. May I make mis-
tween my hidden and revealed selves. I got
takes and learn from them. May I continue to
— Crystal Sun
negative feedback. "You don't smile enough
grow. May the things I experience this year
anymore," I was told. This is what I was afraid of,
bring deeper, more genuine life and faith.
but I learned and I'm still learning that I'm not
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WE’RE DUMB SHEEP (AND THAT’S OKAY) The size of sin is as small as a grain of sand, but separates between Wide Ocean and dry land … but God took upon himself the weight of sin reserved for us; a weight so significant that only the blood of an innocent one is acceptable and worthy. So rather than make light of [sin] or minimize the size of it, we should marvel at the magnitude of mercy. —The Size of Sin by Beautiful Eulogy This year was my first time attending the GRACE conference. In the months/weeks leading up to it, as much as I hate to admit it, my mindset was kind of “okay, I can let myself be a trainwreck ‘til I go to the conference. Maybe it’ll give me a boost or something, and I can feel a little better after that. If I’m lucky it’ll last me a while.” Oh boy, can God surprise us even through our cynicism. I overthought and beat my mind up so much that I reached the point of defining myself by my inabilities, apathy, and dysfunction. And I may very well have been in denial of it, but I relied on things like friends and my own limited success for reassurance of my worth. I speak of these things in the past tense, but I know I’ll still keep struggling with them. And failing. And sometimes not even wanting to get back up. Our speaker used the term “dumb sheep” to refer to this — we’re all familiar with the analogy of Jesus as our shepherd and us as His sheep. We like to imagine a lost sheep cowering in the rain, rejoicing and running into the arms of its shepherd when it’s found. But in reality, sheep are likely to run in the opposite direction. They don’t want to be found. As humans, it’s unavoidable that sometimes we like sin. So we’ll run away, even when we’re given opportunities to return again and again. I’d beat myself up so much about this —but the real reas-
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surance is that Jesus will take our stupid selves back any time. And I really needed to hear that. With the theme True Identity, aside from meeting some incredible people, I discovered that my worth and identity are certainly not defined by any of the things that I do or fail to do. I’ve heard it so many times before, but it took so long for me to begin to understand that it’s not about us: it’s about the God who sent His Son to pay it all. So many times I’ve been unable to even consider the fact that He paid it all. I’m just gonna emphasize that again: He paid it all. I could sit here and think of things — “What about this situation? What about this habit I just can’t kick?” — for hours. Yes, He paid for those, too. Rather than spending all my time mentally condemning God and asking, “Why won’t He just give me some clarity?”, I’ve realized that He’s already given me answers I haven’t bothered to look for. Giving up on God is such a tempting thing to do. It’s the easy way out. But please, trust me when I say that seeking Him is so much more fruitful. Even after admitting all this, I know that there will be times I will want to turn to other things first, and there will be times I will follow through with that desire. And I might get stuck. But that won’t be the end of it. Again: dumb sheep, infinitely graceful shepherd. I could try to write eloquently for paragraphs about how incredible God is, and none of my words could ever come close. I’m gonna shift gears and recount a specific event I experienced during this conference. Being wary of crowds, I always tend to sit on the end of a row if it’s possible. Shortly before the last evening’s session began, I was sitting with my small group to my right and an empty seat to my left. All seemed to be well until a boy I didn’t know sat down in the empty seat. He appeared to be in the elementary school age group. I thought,
“alright, bummer, but I can handle this”. But as the room began to grow quiet, he began to grow conversational. He started asking if I played video games, if I had a smartphone he could borrow, etc., and I knew then that it would be a difficult session to sit through. I’m bad at dealing with social situations among peers, and even more so with kids. I have absolutely no idea how to interact with children, let alone those who like to talk. Not 2 minutes after the session began, it was evident that this boy was restless. He was shifting around a lot, and at one point he got off his chair and put his head down on the seat. Here, my selfish human nature and introverted tendencies began to emerge: I sat on the far right side of my seat, and I was focusing more on the boy’s movements than the speaker’s words. I grew a bit anxious, because this was supposed to be a solemn session and I couldn’t focus. I did wonder how the boy must have felt, and although I usually don’t consider myself a selfish person, my thoughts in that situation were mainly me-centered. I remember thinking “oh, no,” as the boy got back in his chair, put his feet up on the occupied seat in front of him, and pushed with his legs. Now, this situation was about the guy in front of him. The occupant briefly turned his head to see what was going on, and I felt a sense of obligation: “I might be able to handle the kid alone, but not on another person’s behalf. Am I supposed to be controlling this kid I don’t know? Is it rude to just do nothing?”. The guy returned to face front, and the kid put his feet down. It happened again. The second series of events was the same as the first, except my sense
of obligation grew stronger: I felt like I was supposed to stop the kid, but I didn’t know how. I spent the next few minutes piecing together something to say in case it happened again. Not surprisingly, it happened a third time. This was a few seconds before we stood up for worship. But this time, the guy completely turned around as he stood up. At this point I was thinking, “this kid is so gonna get rebuked.” What happened next really caught me off guard: the man extended his hand. He introduced himself, then asked for the boy’s name. That’s all he did. In a world dominated by self-centered thoughts and actions, this man opened up and asked something about the boy. The boy looked at his feet. He mumbled something, then shook his hand. He didn’t put his feet up for the rest of the session. Although I was not much more than a bystander, I learned something from this situation. My first thought about the man’s action was “dang, that’s Christlike”. Instead of just telling the kid that he was doing something wrong, the man introduced himself into the situation. Maybe there can be a connection between this situation and the whole dumb sheep thing— how Jesus sees us sinning again and again, and instead of condemning us, He introduces Himself. We will take some dumb actions. We might look at our feet as our Redeemer looks us in the eye and extend His hand. But through this, we learn. We’re affected and shaped. We’re truly helped. If there’s one thing I can take away from what I learned and experienced the conference, it’s probably this: dumb sheep and an infinitely merciful shepherd are a really good combination.
— Jenny Boudon 7
UNTITLED
I suppose I should just write about my
that here there are some Christians who sepa-
Grace Conference experience. I was a first year
rate themselves from the people they simply
GRACE attendee with little expectations for the
find difficult to speak to. Of course, you cannot
conference. I had heard great things about it,
become everyone’s best friend, but attempting
but I hadn’t truly realized I was going until I was
to do so is still a nice gesture. Even I am often
on my way to the conference itself. Neverthe-
part of those people. To be honest, I find this
less, GRACE seemed to be an extremely pleas-
problem especially prevalent at Oasis.
ant experience overall on the first day. That
I guess after realizing these situations,
quickly changed, however, as I soon saw con-
I’m forced to make a decision. I find for myself
versations in my small groups digress to simple
that it is simpler to get away from those prob-
girl talk and I saw divisions among groups of
lems and not face them head on. I can continue
people. I had been told I would be introduced
to pretend those problems aren’t prevalent, or
to many people and have fulfilling conversation
actually do something about it. Currently, I’m
with them.
not sure what my decision is. I do suppose since
That never really occurred, in all
honesty.
I am addressing this situation in this Vine arti-
I’m not really sure what I exactly learned
cle… well, I am swaying towards one side. I
about my identity in Christ. Hopefully this article
guess I want to say for everyone to just step a
itself will help my journey to understand what
little out of your comfort zone. If God is leading
God was showing me. Anyways, those inade-
you outside of it, you have an almighty fortress
quacies caused me to question the purpose of
with you. You should have no worries.
— Anonymous
attending church in the “Troy Bubble.” I find
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REFLECTIONS
Going into GRACE, I was struggling with a lot. Ever since I hit that submit button for small group leader, Satan’s been attacking me, but God’s been letting these attacks become a learning experience. During GRACE as well, Satan kept fighting me. There was one girl in my small group, however, who began depressed and isolated, and she just seemed to hate everyone. I started to talk more about myself, and she did the same. We shared a lot of the same stories. By the end of the conference, she changed completely. She was smiling, laughing, and hugging people. It’s very encouraging to see such a change with just 3 days of interaction. Praise God for GRACE. Praise God for my small group. Praise God for staying by me as Satan’s strong presence still exists. Despaired… I keep reading about how at GRACE, us small group leaders were really discouraged and sad whenever someone would skip something to socialize, especially when small groups were involved. I’ve been there too… I’ve skipped because it was boring… however, being in that leading position, all I wanted to do was keep people engaged and help them learn something about themselves. When my own friends skipped… I was so disappointed. I was there trying so hard to keep my own small group engaged, but I couldn’t even keep my own friends engaged. My small group members were all so young, so they didn’t really relate to any of the messages besides the family dysfunction one. This made me think… Was I a bad leader? Was I just bad? Was I being punished? Was I just not ready to
lead? I felt so defeated. My heart breaks that focus was off for everyone this conference. Something could’ve been learned at any session, despite it being boring or being even distracted. People worked really hard preparing for each session and I finally understand the hurt from all of this. So in leading small groups, I was successful. I was able to break down walls. Leading friends: I epically failed. Even though they aren’t my responsibility, and their learning isn’t my responsibility, I still failed. I know to not depend on other people’s relationships to define my own. Knowing all this, I understand… but I still feel defeated. I learned a lot from GRACE though. It was a horrible experience, but I learned more than I ever have. In the end, I got messages from my small group members saying how they really loved me. Besides hearing God speak to me so clearly at Grace, that’s when I felt the most encouraged all year probably. But yeah… Skipping actually helped me learn a lot. So I’m pretty grateful for that. Pretty twisted. So… things to remember: Never make assumptions. What’s going on is most likely a greater issue in your head. Keep up with God. Is what I’m doing affecting someone else negatively? It really does matter what others think. Live the life Christ lived. Your works are his works.
— Bethany Chung 9
TWO THOUSAND FIFTEEN STARTS OFF WITH A NEW HAIKU
FROM THE TEDDY DU
A resolution Make God a priority For this brand new year
— Teddy Du 10
FOREVERMORE It’s twenty fifteen Jesus is so good to me He is my Savior
— Anonymous
TRUE IDENTITY Jesus Christ is all We find ourselves in His love Be embraced by Him
— Anonymous 11
BIGGER PICTURE Dear God,
My brothers and sisters, recently a friend
I am a poor soul
gave me good advice. Why are we magnifying
hungry, cold, angry
the sin and hatred around us? When we amplify
at myself, others, and above all, You
and put focus on the bad stuff lingering around us, it'll natu-
You told me to trust You
rally make it bigger. If I put a
and I did I look around me
magnifying glass on a speck
death has stolen
of black paint on a white t-
tears have fallen
shirt, it blows the speck up to
and chaos crowned king
the size of a penny. Had the magnifying glass not been
How can I say, "it is well
used, no one would have
with my soul?"
known that there was black paint on a white
churches are sick, we need a doctor houses are torn, we need a builder
shirt. So I ask, friends, don't focus on the small
friends are fighting, we need a peacekeeper
pains in life. They are not worth your time. Learn
My God, my God, when will you rescue us?
and grow from them and move on. Care for one another like Christ did to the people around
But then, I look up and take a stand back
Him. And, last but not least, don’t be selfish and
Birds chirp, friends laugh, and the sun still rises
keep God to yourself; people out there need to
from the east
know the best news in the world. It's your job to
— Jason Qin
Then, I ask, "why am I so pessimistic?"
deliver it !
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My only defense against my nemesis, now I can rest knowing that nothing can come against me unless the Father gives consent. Evil intentions will not disturb God’s purposes or interfere, so who shall I fear if my anchor is secure?
— Jenny Boudon
— Anchor, by Beautiful Eulogy
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[SPOTLIGHT] RESOLUTIONS FOR THE NEW YEAR BOTH BIG & SMALL
— Hannah Wong
1. Clean my room at least once a month 2. Clean my cat’s litter box more often
— Ailun Huang
1. Be less moody
2. Have more faith. Experience the love of Christ more. 3. Eat out less
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[SPOTLIGHT]
1. “Get ripped” 2. Continue believing in college
— Jeremy Lua
3. Be more open & social towards people 4. Show humility in words and actions
1. Continue to grow in faith 2. If you want something, go get it. Kinda simple actually. 3. “Less for self, more for others, enough for all” 4. Drink tea, run lots 5. Keep up with my blog 6. Be more encouraging, more understanding, less judgmental
— Joanne Du
7. Wake up with determination, go to bed with satisfaction
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[SPOTLIGHT]
20 THINGS TO DO IN 2015 1. Drink more water. 2. Eat healthier. 3. Read more printed books. Don’t try to replace them with other things. 4. Sleep earlier, rise earlier. Choose to glorify God each morning. 5. Exercise for yourself — and follow through. 6. Expand the genre of music you listen to — discover new songs, new artists. Try everything. 7. Expand your vocabulary. Learn to use it. Don’t come off as pretentious, though. 8. Don’t be afraid to meet new people. Cement old friendships, forge new ones. Learn and remember facts about people. Remember their names. 9. Put effort into everything, academics, church, other people, yourself. 10. Write, write, write. Don’t be afraid to imagine. 11. Don’t be afraid of change. Embrace it. Don’t settle into a comfortable routine. 12. Learn guitar. Spend more time praising God. He is worthy of all praise. 13. Keep the promises you make. Try to be on time. Learn to say “no” to the things you know you can’t follow through with and/or don’t want to do. Stop feeling the need to explain why. 14. Give your heart. Love others radically; forgive freely. Stop being so selfish. 15. Be genuine. Give your all. Don’t worry about what others think. Stop comparing yourself to others and others’ standards. 16. Forgive yourself. Make mends. 17. Stop waiting. Make it happen. 18. Stop doubting in God. We operate on His time, which is infinite, and not the other way around. 19. Manage your time wisely. Stop procrastinating. You only have once to live this moment.
— Michelle Shen
20. Enjoy your life. ENJOY IT. Make the most of what comes your way.
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[EDITOR’S PICKS] POKEMON PROFILE PICTURE MONTH: CAN YOU GUESS WHO IS WHO? Daniel Yan Newton Ni Shanon Shen Teddy Du Parker Decraene Peter Ko Jack Hsu Kenneth Wang Michael Li 17
[SURVEYS]
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[SURVEY]
WHAT’S SOMETHING INTERESTING THAT WAS ON YOUR WISH LIST? An ostrich pillow Motivation iPhone 6 Shoes I need Jesus J. Crew Tickets to Wicked (the musical) A selfie stick League of Legends RP (game card) For my friends to be happier
WHAT’S ONE UNIQUE NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION YOU HAVE?
Sleep more Improve Learning what it means to rely completely on God's strength Have 1 sleep schedule instead of 2 separate ones Grow a beard 365 Day Running Challenge
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Get more J. Crew Work out more Floss everyday Eat healthier Read more classics Bring old people in the hospital flowers ! Do what makes you feel good
[SURVEY]
When do you start listening to Christmas music?
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT WINTER BREAK? “As we ponder through such trivial inquisition, one must ask oneself, is there such things as favorite things about winter break? Or is it rather winter break’s favorite thing about you? In any case, the longevity of life must truly be respected and relished, for times are quickly passing by. It’s best to live life, love life, and thank God everyday for his grace and love bestowed upon us feeble creatures.“ 20
Love your Editors,
UPCOMING EVENTS January 10: NO OASIS January 11: Whole Church Worship, Thailand Missions Trip Informational Meeting @ 1pm January 18: Winter Retreat forms DUE February 14-16: Winter Retreat
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