I have sacrificed so much for Bodybuilding. In college, I rarely ever stayed out late because I didn’t want to be setback in my training. When Carmen and I were dating, she knew my workout schedule and we would plan around it. My co-workers have accepted that I have special needs whenever I go to a conference. I ask myself all the time if all this was worth it. Is this all about chasing vanity? I might be one of the only Christian ministers who spends hours a week solely focused on his looks. Part of why I wrote this book is to think about my journey through this sport. The book is ready to ship! Would you like a copy? I have digital PDF and print. There’s a download link for the digital version at the end of the form. https://goo.gl/forms/Sg6t24ZaDYqW52Bs1 #biography #INBAGlobal #NaturalOlympia #PNBA #INBA @inbaglobal_official @gainsinbulk #teamusa #bodybuilding #weightloss #fitness #curls #arms #shredding #legs #contestprep #bodybuilding #worldchampionships #inbaglobal #naturalbodybuilding #muscleshow #musclecontest
I don’t want to lead every single team. We need a more diverse group of leaders in ministry. We need more women, we need more Chinese nationals and we need more orphans. I was so excited on Easter morning when I saw Mary post pictures of her recent trip to an orphanage in Nanjing. I never told her to go, she went because she wanted to. She spent her own money, get on public transit and traveled hours to Nanjing, BY HERSELF! I talked with her afterwards and found out that she brought food and prayed for all the orphans. She sees herself as a minister. I cried after I heard her testimony. The work of missions is so hard. As a mobilizer, I see so many great candidates pursue other things because ministry does ask you to give up so much. I am so amazed by Mary because she didn’t do this as part of a program that someone in America organized. She had the courage to do this by herself. She took on all the burden of planning and and traveled alone. I am even more proud because she posted this on social media which I’ve been trying to get every minister to use more. Please pray that we can continue to help Mary Chen on her journey. She is unique because she is an orphan serving orphans. She feels their stories on a level that the rest of us will never understand because we didn’t grow up in that world.
I have no pictures with my mom from when I was seven until I was fifteen. That’s because after my parents’ divorce, my mom drove us to Los Angeles and she had a really hard time providing for us. We never took vacations and she was always too tired to take me out. My mom was a nurse in China and then ran our restaurant in Arizona. She never went to college and had no job experience in the US. She desperately wanted for me to be in a good school district and she waitressed at two restaurants to provide us a small apartment in Arcadia. Carmen works with low income immigrant families and it hurts me to think of what they are going through because it reminds me of my family. I think about my son who will be born soon and I hope he is compassionate. I don’t have the same challenges that my parents faced. For my son, I hope he learns to love those who are poor. I pray that we can teach him to love migrants. He’s going to be a third generation Chinese American but I hope he can still identify with the immigrant experience. I hope that my book will connect him with his family and that he will be sensitive to the struggles of others. Order the book! All donations for the book will be a huge help to our family because I’ll be taking two months of unpaid  paternity leave when the baby comes. Order link in bio
Order the book! Link in bio. I named this book “A Love Story” because it is made up of stories of how I felt loved by God and how I am learning to love others. My journey is not about a set of goals that I set out to accomplish. What I’ve learned along the way is that the greatest prize is to live a life of love. These are stories of the love that I am chasing, the love I never experienced and the love that I want to share with others. My hope is that my story can encourage others who are on their journey of self discovery. I’ve always wished there were more Asian American voices in literature and I hope I can encourage those who might have an immigrant story like my own. As I’m getting older, I’m realizing more how my parents journey to America has changed my life and my own sense of identity. I also hope to encourage anyone out there who might feel that the calling of God is impossible. I tell the stories of how it was the grace of God and the support of my community that kept me going. God carried me through a church split and a long road of feeling lost in my bodybuilding career. Throughout the book I also write about how Carmen and I are called to be on this journey together. I’ve seen so many families torn apart by careers in the military, ministry and sports. These are our stories of how we endured the hardships together. This is a love story. (This will also be on Amazon Kindle. I’ll let you know when it is ready if you prefer the Kindle version.)
Thanks @thatmeta for doing the book’s back cover. I like this design because it shows how these life stories are a part of my heart. These stories have shaped what I have learned about love and family. My ideas of family have been challenged by serving adult orphans and my experience of my own family has grown over time. I’ve learned that Missions and Bodybuilding is more than just a profession but it’s also a way of sharing my heart with others. Book excerpt – We are going to print in a few hours! If you want a copy, please help me figure out how many physical copies to print by pre-ordering! Link in bio
This was the hardest section for me to write and Carmen Pat is helping me edit this before we go to print this week. I know I’m not done discovering what my identity is but this story has been a huge step on my journey. “For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel self conscious about being Chinese American. We were at the World Championships and every ethnicity was represented. No one thought it was weird that the Captain for the US team was Chinese American. Many of countries were being represented by ethnic minorities. God has used my bodybuilding journey to help me understand myself and to understand others. I was amazed to hear stories of guys like Meetei who has lived in different Asian countries and sees his identity as a mix. I met Mahdi and Melody who are not what you might expect a couple from New Zealand to look like.On the world stage, I felt like my own story made sense. I didn’t feel different anymore. I started to feel love for my own journey. I am Chinese American. I cannot separate out the different cultures inside me and I don’t have to. This is who I am. Book excerpt – We are going to print this week! If you want a copy, please help me figure out how many physical copies to print by pre-ordering! Link in bio
On #HolySaturday we wait to see if the promises of God are true. The world wants to know if Jesus is merely a good teacher or God himself. I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord ’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” Lamentations 3:19‭-‬24
(2008) I heard that the pastor laughed when he found out that I was a bodybuilder. He was doing some research on me before he invited me to speak at his church. He saw videos of me working out and posing on bodybuilding stages. People laugh a lot at the idea of me doing bodybuilding and it can be discouraging. I know that some of it is out of respect but also out of  fear for what people might think of a guy whose Google Image Search is filled with half naked pictures. I’m trying to start my career as a minister but I worry people don’t take me seriously. I feel like people have issues with me being a bodybuilder and a minister. I first got this impression when I started doing youth ministry and the parents asked what my qualifications were. I was a UCSD student, just like all the other volunteers, but I felt that being an athlete gave people the impression that fitness was the only thing I was good at. I understand there is a stereotype that athletes don’t take education seriously and I believe that this hurt me when I was trying to start my career in ministry. I feel frustrated when people can’t see me as more than an athlete. I wear glasses partially because I feel it makes me look smarter. Going to seminary is also a huge expense, but it will be worth it if it means that people will take me seriously. I know that people want a certain mold for their ministers. Ministry is a high calling and responsibility. People’s souls are at stake, and churches want to screen every potential minister carefully to ensure that they are choosing the right person. But this process has often made me feel unwelcome. I don’t want to change who I am, and I hope that the church would want people to be who they are. Book excerpt – if you want a copy, please help me figure out how many physical copies to print by pre-ordering! Link in bio