Author Archives: Tim Chen

About Tim Chen

Timothy (or Boba, as most people in VOICE know him) lives in Taipei and works in the IBLP Taiwan Office. He is also incredibly passionate about musicals, and how God can be glorified in the process of musical writing, practicing, and performing.

Mission Possible: Musical Deadline

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At each post VOICE staff discussion time, I can count on someone giving me the same criticism that I receive every year. Each time, I nod my head wearily in agreement, and try to keep from rolling my eyes in frustration.

“Next year, you need to finish the musical BEFORE VOICE starts.”

Writing last year’s musical while on an outing

Yes, I could imagine the great advantages of finishing the musical before VOICE started, and no one knew better than me how brutal the process of scrambling to finish the musical is on my mind and body. During VOICE last year, I only slept an average of 2 to 4 hours in order to get everything finished in time for rehearsal each day.

At the same time, no one understood how impossible it is to write a scene when the ideas aren’t clear in your head. I can’t write blindly, hoping something good will come out. I need to know where the scene takes place, what people are in the scene, who they really are, what needs to happen in the scene, how it fits in with the rest of the musical…

I became resigned to my fate, rationalizing that it was just the way I worked. Besides, wasn’t it always exciting to see how God would work it out so that we would still be able to practice and learn everything on time?

However, after barely managing to survive the pressure cooker of the musical last year, I finally took time to really think through my writing process, and I suddenly had an epiphany: I had never seriously prayed for God to help me finish writing the musical before VOICE started. Why? For some reason, I felt like the task of finishing the musical on time was ultimately my responsibility. If I failed, it wasn’t God’s fault, it was my own. In that case, why should I bother God by praying for something that was my own responsibility?

My writing workspace for this year’s musical

By identifying this underlying attitude, I realized how arrogant I was. Did I really think that the LORD God who created heaven and earth in six days wasn’t able to help me create a musical before VOICE started?

Right now, I’m in the middle of trying to get Act I finished. I currently have about 2.5 scenes out of ten left to write, but since I’m currently stuck on a point, I decided my time could be better spent writing this blog post instead. Even though I don’t know how to write the scene I’m working on, I know that my great Creator knows, and that He is able to work through me to actually finish the musical on time this year.

Pray for me!

 

Who am I?

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I hate revealing personal information about myself online. Look at my Facebook profile, and you’ll see no interests, no favorite books, no movies.

VOICE Team 1 throughout the years.

The problem was a couple months ago, Karen asked us writers and translators of this blog to write a bio to introduce ourselves. We were given the following criteria:

  • A brief bio (can include where you’re from, what you’re doing now, interests…)
  • What years you were involved in VOICE
  • Favorite VOICE memory

I didn’t know what to write.

Why am I like this? Maybe it’s because being the youngest person in my family, I’m used to just going along with what the older people in my family want to do. Maybe it’s because I’m fickle, so my favorites are constantly changing. Maybe it’s because I like to be mysterious. 🙂

One big reason, however, is that I’ve grown up with two months of every year taken up by both the CI (Children’s Institute) and VOICE. During that time, I don’t listen to music, I wear “VOICE clothes”, and I don’t have any time for my own “interests”. Without me realizing it, a big part of my identity and interests has become VOICE. I also may be subconsciously afraid that by stating my interests, people will think my views also represent VOICE.

The truth is, I have been doing VOICE for a LONG time. On the one hand, it’s easy for me to get tired of doing the same thing year after year. On the other hand, I have to wonder if I would face an identity crisis if I stopped doing VOICE.

This past weekend at the VOICE retreat, we’ve talked a lot about our identity: how the way we view ourselves, the people around us, and most importantly, God, will affect the way we live our life. While VOICE is an important way that God has worked in my life, at the same time, it’s still just a program. I will serve in VOICE as long as God has me here, and at the same time remember that I am here to serve God, not the program.

 

R.I.P.?!?

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Two legendary leaders died this year.

Both had incredible charisma, with fanatical followers leaping to their every bidding. Both demanded the utmost from themselves and those beneath them, the ones falling short forced to face their wrath. Both engineered the impossible, shaking the world with their accomplishments. The way the world responded to their deaths couldn’t be more different.

One was Steve Jobs, the other was Osama Bin Laden.

© flicker.com/photos/thisisbossi

When Osama Bin Laden died, Americans took to the streets to celebrate. Joyous demonstrations spontaneously sprouted at every major city and university. The man who had masterminded the attack killing thousands of Americans was dead.

When Steve Jobs died, Apple users around the world congregated at Apple stores, holding up iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch candles. Mournful posts on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ slowed the internet to a crawl. The man who had coordinated the production of the world’s most beloved technology devices was dead.

I happen to be both an American and an Apple user. My life was greatly affected by 9/11, and I also have a Macbook Pro and an iPhone. Most importantly, however, I am a Christian. If we looked at these events from that perspective, then what would we see?

Regardless of the terrible or wonderful things these men have done, we must not forget a very important fact: to the best of my knowledge, both died without ever accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.

That leaves us with one sobering conclusion: They are both eternally separated from God, and must suffer the judgment of hell.

Christians, do we let ourselves get so caught up in temporal things that we lose sight of the eternal fate of the people around us?

As an American, it is true I am grateful for the soldiers that protect my country, and the patience and determination required to finally bring Bin Laden to justice (though I have some misgivings whether or not an assassination was the best way to handle it).

As an Apple user, I am grateful for the amazing devices that I use daily for work, pleasure, documenting important events of my life, and to write blogposts like this one.

As a Christian, I grieve that neither man ever accepted Christ’s wonderful work of redemption, and that they never used their incredible gifts to invest treasure in heaven. May I daily remember both God’s mercy AND justice, and may I share His gospel to everyone that He brings to my path.

White or Wrong?

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© http://www.flickr.com/photos/clintonjeff/ 

There it was: white, gleaming and beautiful, lying on the counter.

I wanted it.

I got the original metal iPhone for a great price, but after two years of faithful service, it was showing its age. It couldn’t record video, a gigantic grey blob was growing across the middle of the screen, and newer, more complicated apps wouldn’t even install. It was finally time to upgrade to the iPhone 4.

There was one problem: EVERYONE was buying an iPhone 4, and I didn’t want to be like everyone else! I decided to just tolerate my broken phone and wait patiently for the WHITE iPhone 4.

I didn’t think it would take 9 months for Apple to make it.

The day it was finally released, I was so excited, I almost danced to my local cellphone store—

—Only to find that they were sold out. “That’s ok,” I thought. “I’m not going to the States for VOICE for another six weeks, so I’ll put my name on the waiting list. I’ve waited this long, a few more weeks won’t hurt.”

The problem was the store didn’t get any more white iPhones.

I called other store, but they were sold out too. I started to give up, but three days before I returned to the States, I found one store that had one iPhone 4 to sell the next morning. YES!!!! God was rewarding my patience! I got up early the next morning to wait in line for the phone–

–Only to find that someone else was ALREADY waiting in line–and had been waiting since 4:00 in the morning!

At first I was frustrated and disappointed, but then I stopped to ask myself some questions.

  1. Why did I want a white iPhone 4?
    Answer: To be cool. To have something that NO ONE ELSE had.
  2. Would the color of the iPhone affect the way I used it?
    Answer: Ummm… probably not.
  3. Should a first world problem like the color of my phone be taking so much of my time?
    Answer: …No.
  4. Was God using this to teach me a lesson?
    Answer: Yes. I wanted people to see my phone and think I was cool and special. God wanted me to remember that my phone is only a tool. If used properly, it would bring glory to God, not myself.

I ended up with a black iPhone 4.

The Persecution Problem

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“Why have I not experienced more persecution?”

This is a recent question I’ve had when reading the Bible. We are clearly told in John 16:33, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” At the same time, persecution is not something Christians should be afraid of: it’s something we should welcome. “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10).

Compared to Christians currently living in Muslim or Communist countries, I think you can agree with me we’ve got it pretty easy. In fact, if we took the time to think about the persecution we have experienced, we’d probably realize we were just suffering the consequences of our own wrong decisions.

That leads me to an expansion of my initial question: “Does a lack of persecution in my life mean I am doing something wrong?”

I know God hasn’t commanded us to actively look for opportunities to be persecuted, but then what would the correct response be? If we examined ourselves, would we be able to say yes to the following questions?

  1. Am I any different from the world?
  2. Am I living for Jesus in every situation?
  3. Am I ready to rejoice when I experience persecution for Jesus’ sake?

In many ways, this is a question I am still asking myself: “If I’m really living like God is real, shouldn’t I be experiencing more persecution?”

What are your thoughts?

A Musical Disaster

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Everything was going wrong.

I was part of a recent workshop for the pianists in my church. My assignment was simple. I just had to play a hymn, everyone would sing along, and then discuss the song together. I mean, I played the piano for worship at VOICE for years. I wrote musicals. I would of course come up with something profound for the other pianists to learn from.

But it was absolutely awful.

I sat down at the piano, and I suddenly felt my vision narrowing. I couldn’t think. I didn’t know what my fingers were doing. My rhythm was nonexistent. My introduction didn’t make any sense. I played way too fast.

I was so embarrassed.

I began to analyze my failure. I thought back to my first ever recital when I was seven years old. That was also a flop–I completely forgot my memorized piece, and I burst into tears while on stage. Was I forever doomed to bad nerves? I didn’t think I was nervous, I was confident in my abilities. So what happened?

Simple. I was focused on myself.

I wasn’t focused on learning how to better worship the Lord, I was focused on showing my own skills. I wanted everyone to see how special I was, surprise them with my musical genius. Deep down inside, I was also afraid of ruining my reputation as a pianist in front of all the other pianists in the church.

If I really believed that God was real, then should I be making music for my own glory or for His?

The right answer is pretty obvious, and yet this is a lesson I still struggle with. So often I am more concerned about what others think, forgetting what really matters to God.

Lord, please do not let me use my talents for myself, but to serve you, and to bring all honor to you.

Joy in Sorrow

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Tears crept down my face, sobs shook my shoulders. I tried to concentrate on conducting the song, but to no avail. Every note, every chord, brought to mind my grandfather, who was the inspiration for the song; my grandfather, who I would never see again on earth.

I was in the middle of directing our final dress rehearsal for this year’s VOICE musical. In a little over an hour, it would be time to wrap up and get ready for our Chinese New Year dinner, followed by the performance later that night. In every VOICE, the day of the Chinese New Year dinner has always been crazily busy with last minute preparations and practicing. This year, it was compounded by the fact that my grandfather, my roommate for the past ten years, passed away in Taiwan that morning.

Was God real, even in this situation?

Yes, He was.

I saw Him bless the peaceful rehearsal that day. Things went so smoothly, everyone worked together so well to get everything done in the short amount of time we had.

I saw Him as I burst into tears listening to fifty people pour their hearts into rehearsing a song, one that I began writing the day after my birthday, the last day I had seen my grandfather. I saw Him in the fact that for the first time in four years, I had enough time to relax and enjoy my Chinese New Year dinner with my coworkers before the performance. I saw Him work in the actual performance, as everyone’s hard work came to completion. Instead of bursting into tears as I thought I would, I found myself grinning with joy. I knew that God was real. And I knew that He loved me.

Note: The song I mentioned is the one my sister Karen has posted in the previous blog entry.

The Joys of Servanthood

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If anybody told me that one day I would be my grandfather’s “nurse”, I would first laugh at such an unlikely scenario, and then shudder at how horrible that would be.

My grandfather used to be a confident and capable man. He was an engineer who helped build the impossible during World War II in China and in the early days of Taiwan’s developing economy, a man who once he set his mind on something, woe to you if you tried to change it.

At first I hated it when my father forced me to be my grandfather’s roommate: he slept on the bottom of a bunk bed, I on the top. It was always too hot, and my grandfather would wake me up early in the morning to exercise with him.

As the years have taken a toll on his health, and my role has grown ever more demanding, to my surprise, my joy has been slowly growing. True, I have to wake up multiple times during the night to take my grandfather to the bathroom, I help change his diaper, I help feed him, but God has never made the task more than I can bear.

Jesus told us, “…He that is greatest among you shall be your servant” (Matthew 23:11). I am by no means an example of a perfect servant, but I thank God that because of my grandfather, I have become a much better one.

I will treasure this time with him for the rest of my life.