Sunshine and Phil Wickham

Today is a beautiful day. Despite my failure to be a morning person, I definitely appreciate other people who are—like my roommate. For the last couple of weeks, we’ve been waking up early on Friday mornings to go to breakfast before chapel. It’s nice to wake up, to feel the newness of the day. Most of the time that Ariel and I spend together involves sitting in our room or laying across the living room couches reading, stopping only to read an amusing quote out loud or ask a question about literary theory. Honestly, other than our 20 minute Super Smash Brother study breaks, our only other activities together are homework and eating meals. We even went to the library in between chapel and lunch.

Not that I’m complaining. Nonetheless, Friday mornings are always really nice. We even got a special treat this week. For today’s chapel, Dr. Corey got up on stage and introduced Biola’s Board of Directors, who were all in town for a special meeting together. Ariel and I were just settling down when a particular head caught my attention. I squinted and tried to recognize the face, when suddenly, it dawned on me.

“That’s Michael Chang!” I squealed excitedly. “Or, at least I think so,” I said, not quite as confident as I thought.

“Are you sure? He looks…well…”

“Yeah, I think that’s him, " I interrupted, "I’m pretty sure.”
“OK,” Ariel said, not quite sure if she should believe me, but willing to entertain me.

Sure enough, my childhood legend was there. I remember watching him as I was growing up, thinking how great he was for being one of the first successful Asian-American athletes, and a Christian to boot. What’s more, he was just inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame, so we all got to celebrate and cheer for him. It was so neat to hear him give all of the glory to God, and to see how he is using his celebrity status (he’s at least a celebrity in China) to boldly spread the Gospel.

Then, Dr. Corey gave the floor to CJ, who in turn, introduced us to Phil Wickham. It stuck me as really funny that we would have him come to the one chapel we had with the entire Board of Directors—most of whom are older and gray, with a few exceptions—sitting in the bleachers. I hope they enjoyed it as much as we did.

Today was most crowded Friday chapel we’ve had in a while, mainly because of Phil Wickham coming, and because they closed off the balcony seating, forcing people to find a seat on the bleachers or stand on the gym floor. Either way, it was awesome to be able to worship with an entire gym full of Biolans, all singing praise to God for his greatness.

I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect with Phil Wickham leading worship, but he and his team are very gospel-oriented when they lead. And even though they’re one of the louder bands we’ve had in chapel, they’re really good at portraying that sense of holy majesty that belongs to God alone. I appreciated that his songs are not focused solely on how we feel, though that is a part of worship, but it was our response to the greatness of God’s grace and who He is.

On the same note, I was thinking about the difference between having Phil Wickham lead worship for us, and the Getty’s (they’re part of the team that wrote “In Christ Alone” and “The Power of the Cross,”) from a week or two ago. They’re so different in terms of style and atmosphere, and yet they worship and glorify the same God. I love hymns; the Getty’s music has such powerful richness and doctrine, it was so amazing. And Kristyn Getty’s voice is absolutely angelic. She’s way better in person than on their album (she sounds great either way).

Back to Phil Wickham—I thought it was interesting that a lot of his songs talked about how creation reveals God’s power and majesty and holiness. After singing those, and then walking outside, I was apt to agree. Today’s weather is wonderfully warm and springy. It’s almost warm enough to feel like summer (right now weather.com says it’s 80 degrees in La Mirada). Anyways, I’m still trying to think of a way to enjoy the sun and still get my work done today.