Howie Ju – Art Book

voice by: Howie

I once had a bunny named Butchie. He was big, white, a bit of brown, and very cute. He also had beautiful blue lavender colored eyes. In the morning, I would to say hi to him. I would greet him saying, “YO Butchie San!” In Japanese, “San” is equivalent to what English uses “Mister”. When I was 3 or 4 years old when I used to live in Japan, my mom taught me a song about Mt. Fuji. People of Japan called Mt. Fuji, “Yama Fuji San”. One morning when I call “YO Butchie!”, it reminded me of the song my mom and I used to sing. After I remembered the song, I started to greet my bunny by “YO Yama Buchi San!”

voice by: Tim Yen

Revelations 1:12~16

12I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13and among the lampstands was someone “like a son of man,” dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

voice by: Howie

I look very plain and simple, but I am on fire!

I have the ability to regenerate:

limbs
eyes
spinal cords
hearts
intestines
and upper/lower jaws.

FIRE!!! C’MON!!!!! Shababalaka~!!!

—

Common Name: Axolotl
Scientific Name: Ambystoma Mexicanum
Mythological Background Story: Numerous legends have developed around the salamander over the centuries, many related to fire. This connection likely originates from the tendency of many salamanders to dwell inside rotting logs. When placed into a fire, the salamander would attempt to escape from the log, lending to the belief that salamanders were created from flames – a belief that gave the creature its name.

voice by: Tim Yen

“I know what I’m talking about, but I don’t.”
“Life is confusing and I understand why.”
“The world is very simple, but it’s complicated.”
“I feel bittersweet.”
“I like waking up in the morning, but I like sleeping in.”
“I love the entertainment industry, but I hate it.”
“I am young, yet I am old.”
“I am here, but my mind is there.”
“We are weak, but we are strong.”
“Passive Aggressive.”
“I am happy, but sad.”
“I’m in the best stage of my life, but I want better.”
“Lion and Lamb.”
“Love Hate relationship.”
“In the world, but not of the world.”
“Perfect but not perfect.”
” To be balanced and imbalanced at the same time.”
“I’m lost but I feel like that I know where I’m at.”
“I want to be strong, but I might need to suffer first. I don’t want to suffer.”
“1000 miles away is where I want to be, but I don’t want to move.”
“I know many people, but I have no one.”
“Love is all I need, but I want more.”
“Liking to dislike.”
“I don’t like killing animals, but I love eating them.”
“Life and death.”
“Wasting time is not a waste.”
“There’s meaning in everything, but everything is meaningless.”
“Beginning and the End.”
“A holy war.”
“Killing in the act of self defense is justified.”
“We live in a beautiful world.”
“Freedom needs boundaries.”
“Blessed are the poor in spirit.”
“Being radical and practical.”
“I want to travel the world, but I just want to stay home.”
“I have many identities, but I am one person.”
“Absolute Truth and relative truth co-exists.”
“Looking alive on the outside, but dead in the inside.”
“The answer is ‘yes’ and ‘no’.”
“Go, but wait.”
“I love to be alone, but I hate it.”
“To die is to gain.”
“Do the impossible.”
“See the invisible.”
“Robin Hood is a hero, but to the rich, he’s the villain.”
“Jack is the hero for killing the giant, but no one called him a murderer.”
“King David killing Goliath made him a hero. King David killing Bathsheba’s husband made him a murderer.”
“My artwork is not black and white, it’s full of color.”

voice by: Tim Yen

Sometimes we look so far ahead into the future or plan so detailed to consider what’s up far ahead that we forget to look at the things which are right in front of us. We are so obsessed with predicting the next move of the world that we become like a robot going on a rampage. We’re so enticed by the next big trend, next cutting-edge technology, next star to be born, next fortune company to invest, the next child prodigy, the next big money maker. We’re so captivated by these things that we forget so enjoy the simple things in life like.. flowers.. toys.. clouds.. seashells.. feathers.. and bread. If we continue to obsessively indulge our mind on the things far away, we’ll eventually crush all the enjoyable things that are nearby right in front of us. The future can never be caught, it’ll never let you catch it. We’ll crush everything that are truly enjoyable and have nothing left but fragments and brokenness.

voice by: Howie

Back in 2008, Albert Jin had to make a tough decision of either going to Japan or China for his summer mission trip. In my heart, Jesus told me to tell him to flip a coin. He thought that it was absurd, but realized that there is no harm and that it’s actually pretty interesting. We gathered 4 of his roomates: Brandon, Theo, Daniel, and Wilson and told them the plan of how we will find out where Albert will go for his next mission trip. Albert actually wanted to go to China because he thought that being able to speak Chinese would an great asset for the team. On the contrary, Chinese wouldn’t be as a valuable asset if he went to Japan so He assumed, but God’s ways are far beyond our ways. The Bible verse that popped into my mind was from Act 1 when the original disciples had to choose a replacement for Judas. We read the story and we decided that it was time to flip the coin. All six of us held hands together and prayed that God would bless it and reveal his thoughts for Albert.

After we prayed, we decided that if majority of the toss is TAILS Albert would go to Japan and HEADS would be for China. I told Albert that I feel God telling me that he’s supposed to go to Japan. Albert was like… “No way! It’s going to be China!” I told him… “We’ll see.” So we flipped our coins one by one.

Brandon flips TAILS… Albert was like… “-_-”
Theo flips TAILS..
Daniel flips TAILS!
Wilson flips TAILS!!! (by this time we were freaking out!)
Albert flips TAILS!!!!!
and finally I flip TAILS!!!!!!!! (by this time it was obvious lol)

We were so tripped out!!! The UCI students busted out a calculator and the calculated the percentage of getting 6 consecutive TAILS was 1.5625%. We tried to duplicate 6 consecutive TAILS again but it didn’t happen. In the end, it was obvious that Albert was supposed to go to Japan for the summer. Even though Albert knew where God was thinking, a part of Albert still wanted to go to China. I told him it’s human nature to rebel against God. The story of Jonah came up and I told him to not be like Jonah. You’ll be blessed everywhere you go, but there’s definitely a best choice.

Albert became close friends with two people on the mission trip that completely changed his life. Soon after the mission trip, Albert got filled with the Holy Spirit and received many gifts from God through these two people.

voice by: Howie

Back in the last seasons of college, I got an image of tetris blocks at my house of prayer meeting in my spirit. I saw various tetris blocks fall down. I prayed and described the image to the others. I didn’t know what it meant, but as soon as I asked God what it was He told me the interpretation. Here’s the translation:

“There are different type blocks in the game of tetris. Some blocks are less liked than others. We all like the long stick because that can give us instant boost of points, whereas the “S” and “Z” shaped blocks can be a pain sometimes and not as satisfying. Just like people, there are some people who are easier to love and get along with,while some people are more difficult to get along with. But just because the shape isn’t as easy to use, it does not mean it isn’t important. If you play tetris long enough, you’ll know how to use the shapes you don’t typically like. It might not be your favorite, but you’ll learn to appreciate it.”

voice by: Howie

My best friend’s name is Tim and this is an abstract art of our relationship. We’ve been best friends since we were 5 years old and we have had many common interests since we were young. Some of our common childhood interests were gathering a lot of snails into one spot from the back of church and crushing it by stomping on it. In junior high, we were obsessed with collecting Dragonball cards. We both had an organized folder of cards and we would trade every time we saw each other. In high school, we played in the same worship band so music was what brought us together. But starting in high school, we started to have a lot of disagreements because of our opposite personalities.

Tim was very structured while I was very free spirited, and that caused a lot of frictions. I thought I was always a good friend but always listening to all his crap, but I got fed up but didn’t know how to verbalize it. Tim was always the talker and I was the listener. After a long time, my identity became a listener, and I felt like that I got locked into a box. There were a lot of conflicted feelings that built up from life that got bottled up with it.

But after high school, we departed from each other. I went to college and Tim went to the army. While we were apart, I had my chance to search, realize, and develop my own character. My whole life, I thought that Tim was normal. I thought that everyone is a talker and had a strong personality like him. My world view for people was that everyone must be like Tim. I realized that that was not true. I realized that Tim is a very special case. So in my own mind, I thought that everyone was like Tim. I went to college, met thousands of people and came to a truth that not everyone is like Tim. Out of thousands people that I met, only one other reminded me of Tim.

It was in college when I started to really miss Tim in my life and really appreciated him. I drew this piece when I was in Seattle visiting Tim when he was stationed at Fort Lewis for his Army while studying his undergrad at UW. I’m super grateful for Tim because he was always committed to our friendship even when I felt like giving it up back in high school. Over the course of college, I became more structured and Tim became more free spirited. We kinda flip flopped. We learned to balance and adjust ourselves to adapt to whatever environment we get tossed into. His friendship formed the foundation of my life on how I make friends now. Currently we live separate lives but yet very parallel, that functions with a deep mutual respect for one another in true love that compliments deliciously in the spirit realm. O_O