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. T h i s i s m y c o m m a n d : L o v e e a c h o t h e r . “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.
VINE
OASIS OUTREACH: 26 OCTOBER 2013
From the Editors Dear Oasis, As I write this on the bus back home after my last cross country meet of the season (don’t be like me—submit your articles early!), I struggle to think about the topic I will write about for my first Vine article as editor. So after flipping through a couple of ideas, I finally decided on this: Encouragement. We’re nearing the end of the first marking period (or we already have, in some cases), and we’re drowning in sports, clubs, school, and all the other extracurricular activities. We’re exhausted, stressed, frustrated, and maybe even angry or upset. There’s no time to do what we want, no extra slots in our jam-packed schedules. Maybe there isn’t even any time for God, for prayer, for devos. I, for one, am falling behind on strengthening my relationship with God—lately, it seems like all I have is piano and cross country and Algebra 2 and tests and quizzes (I’m really dumb at math), and every night before I fall into bed, exhausted, I say a really quick prayer and go to sleep. But isn’t there something more than this? Wasn’t I created to be more than school and sports and extracurricular activities and going through the motions and faking it? Oasis, we need to encourage our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. We need to encourage them to continue on with their walk with God despite all the distractions and worries and stress we’re all going through, and encourage each other to rely on God in this mess of life. If not, how else will we become motivated? How else will we grow in faith? “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” —1 Thessalonians 5:11 This week, I challenge you to meet up with friends and encourage each other in your faith. Ask each other about your walk with God, your prayer life, quiet time, devos. Help each other to overcome obstacles and pray earnestly for each other. We are the body of Christ, so help each other. Thanks for reading the Vine. I hope you have a wonderful
Michelle Shen week!
From the Editors Dear Oasis,
God is near. God hears us, God moves. He speaks to us
through something bigger and better than language and our job
is
to look for it and listen, through our personal experiences, through tragedy, through people. Two weeks ago Malala Yousafzai, a 16-year-old girl who stood up for her right to an education against the Taliban, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. This 16-yearold girl was shot in the head for her unyielding faith in the power of her words and civil disobedience. It was not her faith she was standing up for; it was her education. So what does that say about us? Malala reached into her own heart and remained true to her ideas of how humanity should run. This action was not about life or faith (although she did believe life without education was not worth living), but rather on the right for
that a women
to
be educated. This woman was willing to become a martyr for this simple idea, and that is what strikes a dissonant chord of guilt in so many of us Christians, albeit half-consciously. If Malala laid down her life for her right and others’ rights to be educated, how much more important is it for us to try it too—to lay down OUR lives for THE Life, the Glory of our Christ Jesus and how he died for us BECAUSE we are terrible, selfish beings? Does he not dare you to move? Is this not God calling you to move? He is the One and Only, the perfect being that created us, then died for us, then rose again
Melody Zhang
so that He could be with us. Because He loves us. Does this not dare you to move? Because for me, it does. Move.
Title Goes Here
Hunched over a desk, scribbling away at homework, mind wandering—a typical Tuesday eve-
ning, as I’m sure many of you can relate. This scene, however, isn’t complete without the little distractions that surround us: music playing in the background, perhaps Hillsong or Beethoven; snacks within reaching distance; smartphone with a variety of games and apps; Facebook open, hoping for notifications, for attention, for interaction. There’s so little time to just relax and think, since we’re constantly bombarded by everything from deadlines to pokes. Serenity seems like an impossible notion in today’s hectic world. How does this affect our spiritual lives? Personally, I find it difficult to pray without getting sidetracked. Distractions definitely don’t help, which is why I’ve tried to find places and times that minimize them. For me, it’s while I walk home from school, or outside at night. I suggest finding your own—it could be on your favorite couch in the morning or maybe in your car after school. Turn off the phone. Forget about how busy you are. Pray for 10, 15, 30 minutes. Who knows, it might help your prayer life. Or not. But you can never go wrong with more prayer, right?
Newton Ni
The Road
This road has gone so far ahead
In their useless never-ending roam.
I feel that I've been left behind
Of twists and turns I'm not afraid
Around my struggling arms and legs
Already I know that they'll be there
Vines snag in place and intertwine
Of rocks and boulders in the way—well,
My senses have been dulled and tricked
Everybody has their share.
And focus never meets my mind
Lord, help me cut away these vines
I'm waiting as the seconds tick
These anchors that just cannot leave
Thrown away and left behind.
Lord, free me from their hindering binds
My mind is but a blurry mess
So life's real duties I receive.
My hands can reach but never grasp
Lord, guide my step past rushing rapids
My feet trod on; no time for rest
And may my feet and spirit hasten
I doubt each day that I will last.
Bounding on until this path ends—
My eyes have lost all interest
Until then, I will not stop chasing.
My mouth is but an upturned lie
Help me to surprise myself
God, please, will you clean up this mess?
To go see what life has in store
At least teach me how to try.
To skip and fly down this long path
My ears hear but don't understand
Then be with you forevermore.
My gaze has fallen to the ground Lord, please give to me Your hand And please don't let me be torn down. Take me; lead me down the road To someplace that I can call home Please stop it—stop this, stop my feet
Jenny Boudon
This is a title
For the amazing haiku That is below this: Knock, knock? Who’s there? God. Will you let him in your life? Let go and let God.
Teddy Du
Being
The other day, one of my favorite teachers Dr. Lorey told our class that Martin Heidegger had been a member of the Nazi party for more than a decade. We were stunned. We had just finished listening to a lecture about Being and Time, a book by one of the greatest, most influential philosophers of the 20th century. How could he have done something for so many years, something so against all of his teachings? And the worst thing was he never publically repented, only mentioning later in private that it was one of the “stupidest” things that he had ever done. Dr. Lorey said that even he himself couldn’t understand why Heidegger had done it. My teacher paced around the room in his usual energetic gait, but I could tell that he was saddened.
He explained that this was a recurring pattern among many of the most respected philosophers, to turn to forms of government that did not reflect their beliefs. The great Jean-Paul Sartre had once wholly embraced fascism, Lorey told us grimly. “I just don’t get it,” he said. “I want badly to know their thought processes.” People offered up their explanations, but Dr. Lorey countered them all. I think one of the reasons he accepted mine was because he is a Christian and he understands what grace is. I said that philosophy teaches people how to live, its standards so impossibly high that even the philosopher cannot live up to it. It must drive him crazy, being surrounded by people who constantly fail his expectations, so much that he clings to anything radical or original in a moment of desperate rashness, because it is different. He doesn’t have the foresight, or hindsight in our case, to know that that government or movement would be a mistake. He is almost blinded by all this complacency and apathy around him; he is so thirsty for people who think for themselves that he can’t see. Dr. Lorey thought about it, and hammered it home the next day: Religion gives people a way out. It also sets impossibly high standards, but it allows for redemption of sin, for forgiveness. That is what keeps people sane. That is what keeps those wiser than the rest of us sane. And that is why Martin Heidegger’s philosophy is applicable to religion—something we should strive for and not an ideal to be tortured over. That is why Kierkegaard says that the ultimate stage of human existence is the ability to make the leap of faith. Man is nothing without God. “God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.” — C.S. Lewis Man is nothing without his
Sophia Chen
grace.
A Series of Thoughts On the way to regionals, one of my friends was telling us a story about how he thought Hal-
loween was too satanic (he was in elementary school), so he dressed up as Jesus, and as he trick-ortreated he also went around trying to dispel demons. Needless to say, nothing really happened. I also read a post on tumblr the other day about how people took Halloween too seriously. Halloween’s not actually satanic, even though it has some history with the occult. It’s like saying Easter and Christmas are bad just because they have pagan backgrounds. Halloween’s fun—and some of the costumes I’ve seen or heard about are terrific (like Parker’s Wii remote costume and the kid on my cross country team who dressed up as a s’more). Go ahead, dress up and go trick-or-treating— besides, it’s the one night of the year where it’s perfectly acceptable to take candy from strangers. ———— A lot of Christian culture is focused on the mindset that we don’t try hard enough, so we should do stuff like wake up early for devotions, pray all the time, always be talking about God, et cetera, et cetera. And those are good things, and if I saw someone like that, I would be like, “Wow, I really respect this person and I want to be like him/her.” But then we get into this mindset where we can’t have fun, and I don’t think that’s really what Christianity is about, either. I’m not saying, oh let’s have fun and party all the time because God doesn’t want us to be boring losers; there’s a balance between the two—God created the world in six days (yeah, that’s a lot of work), and on the seventh day, He rested. Do we rest? Not really, at least judging by a small group discussion on how sleeping at 1 was early. Even I get a ridiculous amount of sleep compared to everyone else (like, 7 hours) and I’m still exhausted by the end of the day by all the things that I try to shove into my schedule. A lot of us are trying to be good Christians and good students and good athletes and good musicians and good everything, and we forget to be good at resting. Not just rest as in sleep, but also rest as in spending time resting in God’s presence. Only when we do that are we truly filled and restored. ————
A lot of people have this really weird idea that Christians are uptight and annoying people. Which…okay, there are those people in the world. But Christianity isn’t about being uptight and annoying. We’re (hopefully) not trying to be legalistic and pretentious about how well we can follow rules, because, let’s face it: we can’t. We have these weird Christian assumptions about what we’re supposed to act like and how we’re supposed to do the “right” thing. And, personally, I think that’s a very inefficient way to think. What I love so much about following Christ is that we’ve been set free. We don’t have to do exactly what other people tell us to do just so that we can go to heaven. The Pharisees were all legalistic, and look where that got them. I don’t like when other people say you have to be passionate and openly show how much you love God, because how can you command someone to do that at will? No one just does that when someone else tells them to. We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). Love does not have rules, especially not God’s love. Seek God, and all these things will be given to you (Matthew 6:33). When we first love God, all the other aspects of our relationship with Him will fall into place. So don’t worry about being the best Christian. Just love God.
Esther Yan
Fading Ties A wooden house, dusty roads, and an old couple. All in the hustle of the city. Roaring engines pollute the streets. Scrambling pedestrians trek to their destinations. Yet, there is a peculiar quietness in the presence of my grandparents. It was the last day before our return to America from China. The taxi arrives at the entrance. “Szha szha”, thanks my parents. We walk through the narrow alleys. Green foliage creep up the wooden planks that support the houses. Forward, left, right, left, and we arrive. Above three steps, a tarnished gate greets us as we enter the code. The gate opens with a click and we enter. A flight of narrow and steep steps lead us to our destination. Upon entering the familiar century old apartment that my father was raised in, we are welcomed by my grandmother. My sister and I answer, addressing our grandmother ahnyan and our grandfather ahya in our relatives' native dialect. The housemaid brings out a sweet fungi soup. A familiar sight is before me. An ancient wooden house that has provided shelter for my relatives for years. We sit at the table and I begin picking at my soup; it is difficult to make out the liquid from the mysterious fungi under the blue fluorescent lighting. My parents begin conversing with my grandmother. "Nong hoh. Nong yow che sa meh szih, xiou zow?" My sister and I sit as still as our grandfather. He has dementia. During the first couple days of our visit, our grandparents visited us at our temporary apartment. It was the first time in four years since we had seen our grandparents. A seemingly healthy man slouched in front of me. Every wrinkle on his face expressed wisdom and experience, but within fifteen minutes, the women were crying and the males were sitting in solemn silence. Why can’t he remember our names? My grandfather isn’t able to tell me stories. I am not able to hear his voice anymore. It has been almost six years since my grandfather has last talked with me. I am jealous of my peers when they speak of their grandparents. “My grandpa is so funny!” “My grandpa bought me an iPod for my birthday.” “My grandpa fought in the war.”
I cannot say any of those things. Not with a grandfather halfway around the world who does not show signs of recognizing his own grandson. My grandmother goes to her room to grab a shoebox. The contents peak my curiosity. She takes out a file containing packets of paper. My parents flip through them with a reminiscent look on their faces. They explain, “these papers document our family history.” “Nong weh da du va?” asks my grandmother. “Wu weh de du eh di di,” I can read a little, I answer with difficulty. My father turns to a page and tells me and my sister, “This is the list of middle names for every generation, past and future.” He points to my sister and my middle name. “This one is yours.” His finger moves down a character to 善. “This is the middle name of your children, shan. It means kind.” “Hey Kenneth,” says my sister, “How are you going to pass this book on without knowing Chinese?” My stomach drops. How do I continue our family line without knowing Chinese? I must carry on the family name, but I cannot uphold this burden. Generations of relatives should be honored, yet I cannot read a single one of their names. Hundreds of years will be forgotten because of me. Where is my honor? There are so many things I don’t understand about my family, my culture. Why was my grandmother given to her aunt? Why is meeting my great uncle so awkward? What would my grandfather have told me if he could talk to me? Where do I fit in? Both grandparents escort us to a taxi. It is a bitter exit from a complicated past. My grandmother begins sobbing. My mother begins crying. My sister begins to tear up. Even my father’s eyes are red. Why am I not crying? I look from the back seat window. My grandfather
Kenneth Wang
waves emptily to me, almost as if saying it is going to be okay.
Being Intentional ALUM ARTI-
Hi!!!! My college life is boring :’( That’s why I want to hear about all of your exciting lives so write for the Vine okay?!?!?! I know you guys don’t want to hear from the same people every single issue (e.g. me…) and I also know that there are some extremely talented writers/artists (and even if you’re not that’s okay because I’m not either) here so speak up okies. Love, and on behalf of many generations of (sad) Vine editors (made elated by your submissions! You can make a difference). [Editor’s note: My sister gets very excited (hence the extra exclamation marks and punctuation in general) and tends to write in texting language/lame catchphrases. Sorry. —Michelle] Anyway. The most stressful/difficult part about coming to college was not the adjustment to being away from home, the crazy sleep schedule, trying in vain not to eat ice cream 24/7, or making new friends (attempting to, at least… yay introverts…). The first month and a half of school consisted of constantly searching for a new community, and feeling completely lost while doing so. Oasis is wonderful. I mean, we hear it all the time: you don’t know what you have until you don’t have it anymore. But it’s really hard to understand that concept until you experience it. Having practically grown up in DCAC, I never had to seek out a fellowship to be a part of. On the other hand, here on campus there are so many different Christian organizations and churches to choose from. I attended four different fellowships and six different churches before I finally decided on staying with Asian InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, which is a para-church (aka… not a church, but more like a campus ministry), and thus I also decided to continue going to Knox Presbyterian Church on Sunday mornings. Honestly, my decision was one of the most difficult ones I’ve ever had to make. (I guess that doesn’t say much because I’m indecisive and I try to avoid making decisions, period, but that’s besides the point.) Coming from the most sheltered girl ever, I acknowledge that I have a lot of blind faith. But clinging to this thread of faith, however small, got me through the first chunk of school. When you don’t have a solid Christian community to fellowship with, it’s easy to feel unmotivated or unwilling to do devos or have quiet times with God. My only solace after week after week of meeting faces but not making any real connections was meeting with God and crying out for guidance and discernment. Some mornings I would wake up not ready to face the day, but journaling about these roadblocks in my walk with Jesus often softened my heart to delve into the Word and prayer again. High school is so hard. I know. But I cannot stress enough how crucial it is to: 1) seek God all the time, and 2) build community and relationships centered around glorifying God together.
For those of you whose parents don’t allow you to come to Oasis, take heart. Be patient, and continue to pray and follow Jesus. Believe that He is with you always, and immerse yourself in Scripture, which I find gives me so much hope and strength no matter what. Seek out one friend at school you trust and pray regularly with him or her. And for all of you, wherever you are in your walk with God, and whatever your perspective on Oasis, I’m obviously encouraging your investment in the ministry. It is well beyond worth it. But I know it’s not for everyone, so first of all, find a fellowship that’s right for you. There are a couple in our area. But once you’ve decided, be present in the community. Whether that means just attentively listening to sermons and participating in small group, or taking on a leadership role, be bold and loving in your actions. And most importantly, be intentional!!!! Here are two ways you can do so: 1) Friendships. Challenge each other: iron sharpens iron, right? Check up on each other, ask how devos are going (and actually talk... try not to just say “they’re good”). Pray for each other. Help each other grow. Be intentional in community!! Ask yourself how your friendships and relationships are glorifying God, and how as one body you can all seek Him together. 2) Be intentional and disciplined in your quiet times! A great way that has worked for me is reading an epistle in the morning (100% guaranteed to make your entire day infinitely better). For example, I’m reading Ephesians right now, just a small section before I go to class. I pray after each verse, and in these couple of minutes, God can speak volumes to you. Then later in the day, whenever you have more time, need a break from schoolwork, whatever floats your boat, reading another passage is great for mainly learning purposes. I’ll read the Old Testament later in the day and although at times it is harder to feel like you’re getting something out of it, trust that God is always molding us to be His image bearers when we spend time with Him. Oh, and memorize Scripture! Legit. Just do it. Verses will come back to you just when you need them to. “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” —Ephesians 4:1 It’s your choice. God is and will always be faithful. Will you? Honor God by being intentional in everything you do!
Sharon Shen
Sorry for the long article, thanks for reading (if you made it), and peace out girl scouts!!
Get Involved
ALUM ARTI-
Hi everyone!
So right now, I’m attending the University of Michigan and I go to Harvest Mission Commu-
nity Church. At one of the first church services I attended in college, the pastor told us this really nice story. Well, it was actually a sad story, but it was a true story and it contained a good life lesson. So what happened was, a few weeks before school started, the son of one of the pastor’s friends died. He was driving at night and got hit by a drunk driver, and died instantly. Now, this son was a senior in high school and he was a really good kid (all A’s, varsity sports, nice guy). So at the funeral, the pastor went up to the parents and tried to comfort them. He said, “It’s okay guys, it wasn’t your fault. You did all that you could and you raised him right.” But his parents said, “No, that’s not true. We did raise him right, but we did not do all that we could. We didn’t raise up our community.” Guys, get involved in your high school community! It’s a really great four years and they pass by so quickly and, I mean, I’m not going to lie, college is better, but high school is still really great and you can’t just let it pass by and wait until college to start making a difference! I’m telling you all this because a few days ago, I was talking to one of my friends at IA East (International Academy East, best school ever, not really). We were talking and I started asking her how things were going at school and I asked her if anything interesting had been going down at IA and you know what she told me? She told me she actually had no clue what was going on at school because she was just busy studying… guys (and girls), don’t be that person. Don’t spend high school studying to get into a good college. Studying is important and it’s great, but in most cases, it really doesn’t matter. Unless you desperately want to get into an Ivy League (which really isn’t that great) (because Michigan is the best state ever so UMich is the best college ever), studying that much isn’t going to do anything. So study one or two hours a day, get your homework done, make sure you know the material, but don’t overdo it. Get involved in what high school has to offer and build up your school!!! My favorite year of high school was, by far, senior year and it was because I stopped studying or caring about grades and I actually got involved in our school’s student leadership. It was really great and our class got very united and it was just so great. Trust me, it was great. WHOOO GET INVOLVED!!!! Love you all, go Blue, go Red Hawks, go IA!!!
Iris Su
My History is His Story ALUM ARTIHey Oasis,
Ever thought about writing your own testimony? Not like the short and sweet one you give
before baptism, but an actual life story about you—a life story where you can talk about your struggles, your deepest, darkest secrets, and ultimately your walk with the God who died for you and loves you dearly. I just want to give you an opportunity where you can just reflect on your whole life. The twists and turns, the good and the bad in your life. I’ll be happy to share mine with anyone who messages me on Facebook! (This will be private between me and you.) I want to challenge you guys to write it out. So if you ever do, can you send me yours so I know what I can pray about for you? I’m also doing this project where I’m collecting testimonies, so in one to two years you can update your life story and see just how God is powerfully working in each of your lives!
tl;dr
Jason Qin
Message me if you want to read my testimony. My challenge to you: write yours!
Love your Editors,
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