Proverbs 11:2“When pride comes, then comes disgrace,but with humility comes wisdom.”Pride will itch inside you telling you to debate every last thought. Pride will tell you your perspective is always justified. Pride will tell you you know what is best for everyone. It will push you away until you lose love pulling for you. It closes your ears and callouses your quietness. Pride will tell you to run away and tell you not to fight for unity. It will be your only teacher. Let it fester and see it turn to hate. But soften it and see peace resurface. You’ll start to see a whole new perspective, a wisdom of things pride has blinded you to.

I once read that you cannot truly love your Pastor and not love his wife.  I know it may be possible, but not practical.  Believe it or not, his wife is the extension of him, the one that supports him when no one does, the one that listens when the man behind the pulpit needs to vent, the one that takes care of his home while he’s tending the sheep.  You get what  I mean.  Similarly, I don’t get this mentality either: “I love God but hate my church because…” 10) the sermon is boring. This is a big thing with people when their pastors don’t retort like John Piper or challenge like Marc Driscoll. There’s a great debate as to whether or not a church can survive without a dynamic speaker.  I will tell you of an old testament leader who generations followed despite his absent penchant for oration, but God chose him.  We place little importance on integrity these days of our leaders who will speak the truth.  And let’s be honest, is it really the sermon that’s boring, so we can wait for God to dazzle us with whirlwind or the fire, as if the worship is […]

“We try to challenge them to look at every job in the church the way Christ says to look at them; everything we do for the kingdom needs to be done with a real zeal and passion. Some take this challenge, grow, and they begin to be real, mature leaders.  But for those who don’t, we realize they are kids in their early twenties who believe they know best. We pull back and let them attend only the things they think are real ministry, and those fade away pretty quickly. They get their way, but they iss out on things that would benefit them a great deal. We have come to realize that God has to teach them lessons that they refuse to learn from us.”  -Cheshire (How to Knock Over a 7-Eleven) In our church, I’ve really grown to understand that the kids/youth who look at you aren’t looking at what you can do, but how long you stay and how commited you are to what you’re preaching. Let me be honest and say how turned off I’ve grown to the copy & paste generation who talk with the “like” button, the “share” button, the “retweet” button on these […]

Today, I learned the Hebrew term “Qadosh.” Like the cross, it has ambivalent meanings. To be set apart is to be made holy. This is never painless. Like sacrifices placed at the altar, these things are changed and made holy.  They are sacrificed to bring glory to God. They are His. When we are to be set apart, or dedicated, it’s not just a blessing; it could also be seen as a curse, because it is God who sees fit on how to use us- sometimes in great circumstances, sometimes in less pleasant, and sometimes in very painful circumstances. Nevertheless, it is for His glory. “Qadosh” is not something to take lightly.  When you accept God into your life to be Savior, He also must be Lord.  You are then “set apart” for Him alone.  His will becomes your calling.  And sanctification means a lot of restructuring on your life, your heart.  It calls for a lot of chiseling of unnecessary things in your life, esp. the things that give you the most pleasure.  It calls for constant dying to yourself and things of this world. So what have you?  Are you still willing to be “qadosh?”  Don’t live it […]

“It’s nothing to cry about  ‘cause we’ll hold each other soon” The lyrics above are from Death Cab for a Cutie’s song “I’ll Follow You Into the Dark.” Death has been in my mind these days.  It all started during our yPros Bible Study from Crazy Love when we studied the shortness of life, the finality of our existence.  Not only did it teach me that our lives are meant to live for God’s purpose, but that death is just another inevitable step to glory and to glorify the main protagonist of this story- God. Then last Sunday, the message was about rapture, and somehow, coincidentally, the hymn “Face to Face” was chosen that day.  To make it more creepy, Perze and I both felt this strong urge to sing a special number with the lyrics, “I’ll fly away, oh glory, I’ll fly away. When I die, hallelujah, by and by, I’ll fly away.” I cannot absolutely say that I welcome death with a smile. Not just now. I think about my daughters and how much they will miss me. Questions will come up wondering if they’ll remember me, my messy hair, my dry lips, my hugs…I think about my […]