250cc Ninja Disassembled

This morning I was looking through the 250cc Ninja forum to see how the new owner had handled my bike- 2003 Ninja. I learned that the new owner had actually disassembled it completely until it was naked. He also gave out a lot of details about the bike with his friends, there are approximately 150 blogs about it. It's almost as if there's a book written about it. Of course, I skimmed through everything. This guy is crazy. I couldn't do it like he did. He has this gift and dedication.

Now the new owner had assembled it with new parts such as adding the rail to it, repaired the frame, and adding the covering to the handlebars to keep his hands warm. This bike is not my own, it's being transformed into his own.

In the same way, God wanted us to be His own.

"Do not be conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve of what God's will is- His good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2

Church and Parachurch

What is the difference between the church and the parachurch? It had been on my mind for few weeks as I struggled with this concept. I googled for some wonderful article about it, but I couldn't find any. It was until I found this article, "Church and Parachurch: Like families and soccer teams". Let me summarize what I just learned:


Church- It's where the families would come together to do many things such as caring for the elders, caring for the children, to give and receive family love. This ministry will continue a year around long and applies to everyone.
Ex: small church or mega-church
Parachurch- It's where the team would select the genders and ages to do the work for a specific time- just like a season of a soccer team. This ministry may cease for the summer and the winter season.
Ex: Campus Crusade for Christ, Chi Alpha, Youth for Christ, Athlete In Action and etc.

Thus this article strongly encourage the parachurch workers (PCW) to:

(1) Be active and deeply invested members of a LOCAL church, in fact most of the PCW's HR handbook required PCW to be member of a church, which most of us may have overlooked. It also may authorize you the ordinances just as Jesus first gave it to the church. Stay accountable.

(2) Share the vision with the church to help them broaden and enrich the church's vision, yet it will help them to pray for PCW's work. Yet the church may be the place and the support where PCW could locally fall upon whenever the parachurch organization fell apart. Be the influencer and encourager.

(3) Give the opportunity to the people at church to volunteer. Provide the training such as a small group or a Bible study that a PCW may have learned from the parachurch organization, which may bless them and help them to advance the kingdom of God. Be invested in the Family of God.

(4) Set the example by working with the body of Christ, the church. The others will be watching you in how you set the model. Unity.

(5) Maintain the organizational humility- being able to fight against the temptation that you are different than other Christians. Knowing that you are part of the Body not the better. Humility.

Those are the few of main point which I found significant in my searching for the accountability part of developing the strong Deaf Campus Ministries Connection team.

Any thoughts? Comment it below or email me at kari.olney@theaterchurch.com.

Tithing

What does the Bible says about tithing? Could we tithe to the poor, to the non-profit organization, to the specific person, or to the church? What's the difference between tithing and donating? Could I "donate" my tithing?

Let us explore the definition for those terms:

Donation- An act or instance of presenting something as a gift, grant, or contribution.
Tithe- The tenth part of agricultural produce or personal income set apart as an offering to God or for works of mercy, or the same amount regarded as an obilgation or tax for the support of the church, priesthood, or the like. (dictionary.com)

The dictionary shows that our donation is our act of presenting gifts and our tithe is our income set apart as a holy offering to God or to the church. Our donation is based on our preferences, we can donate any amount to whoever we like. Our tithe is based on our committment to set the tenth of our incomes apart for God, which is our act of sacrifice. Okay, so how do we know that we are properly setting our incomes apart for God? That's a good question! Let us look into the verses and discern.

What does the Bible says about tithe:

In the beginning (the individual):

Abraham gave Melchizedek a tenth (it was the first tithe mentioned in the Bible) of everything. Melchizedek was priest of God Most High who came to bless Abram with wine and bread because God had delivered his enemies into his hand. -Gen 14:18-20

Abraham's grandson, Jacob, made a vow to God, "If You will give me what I need and keep me safe until I return to my father's house, then I will give a full tenth to You." Jacob simply trusted God and vowed that whatever God gives him, he will give them back to God in tenth. -Gen 28:20-22

Under Mosiac laws (the group):

Abraham's offsprings, Israel, was commanded by God to give every tithe to the Levites for the first time when they came out of Egypt. The tithe was directed to the Levites for their service in the tent of meeting from age 25 til their retirement at age 50. Yet God warned the Levites, "But you shall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, lest you die." -Numbers 18:21; 32

The Levites, the sojourner (staying temporarily), the fatherless (orphans), and the widow within your towns shall receive the portion of tithe in the third year, which is the year of tithing, so that they shall be filled. -Deut 14:28-29; 26:12-14

Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me. But you say, "How have we robbed You?" In your tithes and contributions. -Malachi 3:8

Conclusion:

Hebrews 7 tricked us by pointing the tithe back to Abraham's first tithe to the priest of the Most High God who is not of Abraham's descendant and to the descendants of Levi who received the priestly office tithe from their own brothers. Then it suggested that Levi who received tithes had also paid their tithe through Abraham who paid his tithe to Melchizedek.

Okay, God works in mysterious ways. What I have seen here is that the body of Christ are paying tithe to their own brothers, the Levites, who did nothing but to minister the Lord and the people. And then the Levites somehow had paid their tithe to the people living out of their towns through Abraham. Sort through this cycle if you like.

Anyhow, I would point it back toward to what Jesus said about the widow. Jesus had set his eyes upon the temple treasury to see the rich putting in thier gifts and the widow putting in her two small coins. Then he said, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she have to live on."

Jesus didn't commented about where the poor widow decided to put her money into, the trustworthy temple treasurery or untrustworthy temple treasurery, but he commented that she was trusting and willing.

Access (ASL) Ministry

Ever visited a church with ASL ministry without any Deaf attender for few years? If you do, then this church definitely has a well-prepared shepherd without his own sheep. I have visited one like this last week right after 9AM service at my church. And this ministry is called Access (ASL) Ministry, which meets at the Chinatown Gallery-PI theatre under Grace Covenant Church.

Long time ago, I attended a church called Metro Morning Star with a deaf friend and an interpreter-friend. It was the first church I have ever committed to as a student at Gallaudet University and it had no ASL ministry at that time. That was five-six years ago. It was until I've found Ebenezers Coffeehouse that I've heard of from Evotional that I began to transfer my commitment to National Community Church. After a long time, my deaf friend and I thought of Metro Morning Star and we couldn't find the church. We were disappointed that our interpreter-friend had disappeared and that Metro Morning Star had also disappeared. Well it appears to be at that time!

On August 3rd, I attended the first National Community Church concert ever- The God Anthology. A lady who's learning ASL met me after the concert and we swapped our emails. We later scheduled our ASL meet-up at Ebenezers' pre-service worship practice. We practiced our ASL worship and then she would either escape before the service begins or stay throughout the service to learn more ASL. She later explained me about Grace Covenant Church's Access (ASL) Ministry and the Deaf ministry leaders. I explained her about my vision for the Washington Metropolian Area Deaf ministry. She was excited about the vision and so she introduced me to her Deaf ministry leaders. We connected and hanged out.

"Our church is at Chinatown Gallery-PI," they said. "Oh I used to attend Metro Morning Star there, but that church somehow disappeared," I exclaimed. They shared this, "Yeah Grace Covenant Church was once called Metro Morning Star!" My eyes widened, "What's the name of the pastor?" "Pastor Donnell." I laughed, "Whoa! I know him and that was my first church!"

I later learned that this ministry started right after we, deaf friend, interpreter-friend, and I, changed our churches. My heart melted for this church. They didn't give up. And so I had the chance to greet and talk with some leaders there last weekend with Juanita. She laughed afterward, "Whoa, you didn't warned me. I'm black and now I know that I don't go to black (majority) church like this one!" I laughed at her spunkiness. AWESOME!

Attitude Reflects Leadership

"Attitude reflects leadership, captain" is a famous quote from the movie Remember the Titans. Its the sentiment that the bad or good attitude comes from top to down. This true story occured in 1971 in Virginia where everyone had to deal with racial diversity in the school, specifically at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, and on the football field.

Julius: "I'm supposed to wear myself out for the team, what team?"
Gary: "That's the worst attitude I have ever heard of"
Julius: "Attitude reflects leadership"

Julius isn't a captian, but he represented the black group of the team. Andy is a captain and he also represented the white group of the team. In this story, Andy blamed Julius for not wearing himself out for the team. Then Julius suddenly pointed out that the whites didn't treat the blacks like a team for they would tackle them dirty in practices, harming them. It finally dawned to Andy that ignoring the misdemeanors of the whites had defiled the attitudes of the blacks, causing the conflict. Afterward, he confronted his white teammates whenever they did some misdemeanors, which eventually created the unity between the two people groups within the team and led them to many victories.

Are the attitudes of the people within the team beautifully reflecting your leadership? There's no team without any kind of conflicts yet there are many other captians who are willingly to confront the conflicts if you aren't.

Occupy DC campsite

A 31 blocks walk to Georgetown Trader Joe's led me to meet the camp of Occupy DC protestors on McPherson Square- 15th and K St NW.




There's a large poster of "Occupy DC" at the camp site enterance. There's a giant "TAKEOVR" license plate banner. There's a guy sittin' on the bench underlining the Holy Bible verses. There's a mini red banner with black marker quoting, "Smash Your TV & HAVE ADVENTURE!!!" I took picture of them. I liked the outlook, but I was clueless about the purpose.

I left to draw a list of grocercy and my backpack was packed. I decided to venture another walking distance to check it out once again. I passed it to find them again marching in Chinatown 10 streets away, blocking the road. It formed a curiousity in me- What is Occupy DC about?

It says, "We are a grassroots movement empowering the 99% to have a say in returning the country to a just political and economic system." Okay. If you have got your say, feel free to go over there and voice it out. Afterall, they will be there, with the daily General Assembly meeting at 6PM, which will last as long as the nation's economic system changes for the better. Or you could even go over there to lie down beside the dung like Ezekiel did, that's if the Holy Spirit oddly compells you.

BUT I believe that God has a better way to make His voice heard through us. Few wrote books. Few lie beside the dungs. Few sits in the pit. Few climbed up the mountains. Few remain in the wilderness. Few fasted among the magicans and the wise. And you are one of the few!

Abiding In Peace

Psalm 122:7 says, "May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.” Psalm 29:11 says, "The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace." And Isaiah 54:10 says, "Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

I read few of my subscriptions that talked of peace. I looked up the verses they gave me. Then I somehow felt strengthened by those words. It hits me that some of us have the faith to step out in obedience, but it's up to us to abide in the peace. It's easy for us to continue to step out in faith and faith when we disciplined ourselves to know the Word- Romans 10:17. But it's hard for us to enjoy our journey as we wait for we are being stretched. We love to believe that God is going to do something BIG and SOON, our favorite terms. In this, our patience and controls are being tested.

Matthew Barnett shared his mistakes in the church planting. He once hurt himself by worrying too much about the instant success. Now he encourages us to worry less, focus on fewer things, have more fun, and pray more.

The Right Connection

Everything went wrong. Nothing really shine. We didn't really see ourselves useful.

Isaiah 60:1 says, "Arise, shine; for your light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you."

That burden feeling wasn't always true, for it could be another way around. We have to be cautious when we inspect our connection. For our connection is the only reason we shine. We may shine because we properly connected to the source and the source to us.

Our light blub may not function because it was broken or because it wasn't connected properly. We often assumed that the light blub was broken. We assumed that someone lacked the potential. We assumed that the person didn't try hard enough. In Acts 15, Paul thought that it's better not to bring John Mark with them because he "had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work", but Barnabas disagreed. So they both had to go his ways. Paul took Silas and Barnabas took John Mark. As the result, they shined. John Mark may not be the right connection for Paul, but he was the right connection for Barnabas. And Silas may be the right connection for Paul. So they shone!

Barnabas is a wise and patient guy. He took the broken Saul and discipled him into Paul. When Paul thought that John Mark is useless, Barnabas also took him away from Paul and discipled him. It wasn't that Paul was broken or that John Mark was broken, but that they weren't in the right connection.

Straight A's or F's

Straight Achievers may feel like a straight Failure whenever a day began with a zero and ends with a zero. We all needed to accomplish something tangible. Strength Finder 2.0 says, "No matter how much you may feel you deserve a day of rest, if the day passes without some form of achievement, no matter how small, you will feel dissatisfied." And it warned us that, "As an Achiever you must learn to live with this whisper of discontent. It does have its benefits. It brings you the energy you need to work long hours without burning out."

The book of Psalm (27:14) says, "Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord."

Achievers may whine, "Do I have to wait? Do I have to end my day with a zero? Do I have to literally fail?"

The Lord spoke with a BUT, casting out our questioning. He spoke to us in Isaiah 40:31, "BUT those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint."

It does have it's benefit- supernatural stamina increases.

10,000 Buried Attempts

Thomas Edison said, "I have not failed 10,000 times. I have successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work."

He tried many different ways to get a light blub to work. Some of them would light for few seconds and then they went dead. Some of them didn't work at all. It was until the very one light blub worked that he began to get it to public. He wouldn't sell the failed ones. He kept it a secret and waited. He documented every case. He continued.

I don't know what God has put into your heart. But I know that God had created Thomas Edison for this purpose. He was created to invent the light. He knew that there had to be a way. It probably took him few years of burying his attempts. He didn't know how to get to his goal, but he knew that he got to do it.

Jesus leaned down with millions of buried sins, yet he had to finish the crucification.

Untouched Doorknob

This distrubing thought may come to us like this:

There were few doorknobs within the room that lead to somewhere. We were in a meeting with few people. With our sisters and brothers. We felt disturbed by the difference. We feel that we were not agreeable. We couldn't stay in the room with them. They had it their own way and we had it our own way. There is no solution to this meeting. It's all pointless. We thought that we got to forget them and get on to somewhere else. As we approached the doorknob to open the door, the conscience came to us, "If you open this door, then you will never reach to your destination. For you are where I want you to be. Stay." We fought against it for the situation seemed impossible. We paced and circled the room with anguish, our mind were still on the doorknob. We paced. We circled. God patiently waited.

We finally get this- that we had only two choices:

(1) We may continue to pace and circle with the determination not to touch any doorknobs, yet our mind were on them. We didn't act in disobedience, but we dwell upon them. "In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God (Ps 10:4)."

(2) We could let go of them to live in obedience- to dwell upon the Living Word. "How precious to me are Your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them (Ps 139:7)!"

Let us pray 1 Chronicles 29:18 prayer, "Lord, the God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Israel, keep these desires and thoughts in the hearts of Your people forever, and keep their hearts loyal to You."

Live Poorer, Richer Perspective

Do you ever intentionally reduced your grocercy halfway down? Try Live 58. Do you ever walked shoeless toward the church and stood on the stage to lead the songs shoeless? Try Toms. Or do you ever trimmed down your lifestyle? Try Junky Car Club.

It's been a week since I started a $100 month committment of grocercy, which is a halfway down of my usual grocercy. It's set for October 7th to November 7th. It's a 31 days committment. So far I've spent $27.91 on grocercy. Keep it in mind that I have to spend only $25 weekly. This week I discovered some ways to use up all of my foods. I even used up my Forbidden Rice, which is expired two years ago, to make a delicious black rice pudding and a delicious sweet potato rice pudding with raw chocolate nibs. I felt spoiled when I enjoy eating my food more than ever. I'm richer with food creativity.

Last Wednesday night National Community Church hosted the special all churches prayer and worship night at Barracks Row. As I neared my flip flops broke apart. I fixed it. It broke apart again. I grabbed them and walked barefoot for few more blocks. I led ASL worshipping shoeless. Then I even cautiously walked thirty minutes toward home feeling the texture of the sidewalk and the road. One Day Without Shoes was totally interesting! Especially when I learned that the sidewalk of Stanton Park is the roughest and ouchy. Don't walk your dogs shoeless there! And don't call your dog the "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, who had to play a minor league game in his stockings due to blisters from the new pair of spikes, for we don't want to invent dog shoes. I'm richer with sidewalk textures.

It's all about getting richer with perspective.

Holy Suicidal

Jesus told his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow." He told us the same thing today.

Like the disciples, we eagerly joined the beginning of the journey. We lived radically for the Christ. We compared ourselves with the disciples. We thought that we understood what it means to take up the cross and follow him and we thought that we had reached the destination. We were ready!

Along in the way, we stopped in triumph. We thought that we have taken up the cross. But God reminded us, "a thousand years in your sight are like a day that had just gone by." God told us, "My timing is more accurate than your timing. My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." In His sight, we didn't reach our destination yet. There's much more to come. Yet we didn't understand. He asked us to pray for one more hour. Yet we slumbered.

When the time had come for the cruxification, our wee image of God shouted, "That's holy suicidal!" We ran and hid. We didn't understand that the triumph isn't here but near. We didn't understand that Jesus had to die. We didn't understand that at the Garden of Gethesemane we had to die to ourselves in order to enter the Garden of Eden bountifully naked.

As we came naked from our mother's womb, we shall return naked.

Deaf/ASL Ministry Website

I'm doing a bit of researching of Deaf ministry websites this morning. I decided to link few websites and link my thoughts here.

The Rock Church & World Outreach Center - San Bernardino, CA

I love this church! I attended this church with my family for 7 years, the longest ever! When we first attended this church, the usher was willingly to write us many pages of the sermon! My mom passed it to dad, then to my brother, and then to me. Pastor Cobrae later announced about the need of ASL interpreter, about whether anybody in the church knows some signing language. One hand raised. That was Jay. She only knew the basics. So my mom taught her as she interpreted. She picked it up through action! But it took few years before the Deaf ministry began to expand slowly with few committed Deaf members and few interpreters. And now the Deaf ministry continues. Reality.

Willow Creek Community Church - Chicago, IL

My current church, National Community Church (NCC), is strategically aligned with Willow Creek Assocation, which is part of this church. This associate had been providing a small group training for NCC members. I once tried to meet up with Deaf ministry leaders there on way to Wheaton, IL for IgniteASL project, but we were tight with our schedule. The connection cafe is where they will support the Deaf by providing interpreters by their request. Resourceful.

Creekside Ministries - Fishers, IN

I find it odd that this church isn't called a church nor a ministry, but ministries. It's a plural. If you look closer, you will learn that this church is a blend of 200 Deaf and hearing people, bridging the gap between two different people group, which resulted in a ministry where the people are willing to step out of comfort zones! This ministry is an unique ministry in nation wide. This ministry had been in my head for few years now. I will need to pay a visit! The weekend of Thanksgiving? Reconciliation.

It takes complexion to develop an integrated ministries. But it is possible with the Christ, Paul believed in this and he wrote, "neither jews nor gentiles, neither males nor females, neither slave nor free, but we are one through the Christ."

With our prayers and our actions, we could have an integrated ministries in DC of 200 Deafies and Hearies! Maybe with few churches involved. Reality. Resouceful. Reconciliation.

Self-Shepherding (Part 2)

Continued from Self-Shepherding.

"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned- every one- to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him [Jesus] the inquity of us all." -Isaiah 53:6

I once shepherd an one digit flock with my older brother in Big Island. We were 9 and 11 years old, holding a pointed 7-foot stick, who lived in the farm among the donkey, cows, chickens, and sheep for only six months. We were free to wander around and pick some nuts, avocado, blackberries, and some other fruits from the trees. Our mother, who grew up in farm, volunteered to skin the sheep that were shot for the dinner. So we watered the bleeding areas as we watched her skinning the sheep that was hooked up. An unforgettable experience!

That sheep should have been us, but Jesus Christ took the inquity of us all upon himself. He died for us so that we may have Christ in us that shall never sleep. To have Christ in us is to be the Anointed. Naturally we all shall experience the storms in our lives, but with Christ those storms will cease. It's just like how Jesus Christ went through the storm asleep on the boat. Jesus was sleeping, but Christ was aware of the situation. Thus, Jesus Christ woke up calmly and commanded the storm to cease.

Will Christ in me wake me up during the storm?

I certainly had several sleepless nights that had changed my life direction. I would toss and turn with a heaviness. I didn't understand yet I knew before waking that I was in the invisible storm. I just knew that I had to get up and do a prayerwalk around the house or grab some clothes and go out. I didn't know why I had to take a prayerwalk, but Christ in me knew. I often found the answer I was looking for through the prayerful night, which had ceased the invisible storm before I went back to sleep.

It doesn't end here. Those nights often led to those daytime decisions. Jesus continued his ministry. I immediately followed through my decisions. Like those sheep, we have gotten lost. But with Christ, we self-shepherd ourselves back to the flock.

Undercover- An Unwanted Package

"Many times God will send us what we need in a package we don't want." -Undercover

We, Christians, often thought that we will get what we want when we walk in obedience to God. Which isn't always true. Let us remember that two thousand years ago the religious teachers thought so! When Jesus first began his ministry, he went to Galilee and then to Nazareth where he was rejected due to their wrong mind-set. For he directly told them that God has not sent him to them. Likewise, God has sent Elijah to none of them, but to Zarephath the widow and He sent Elisha to none but Naaman. After hearing this, they threw him out in wrath! They didn't want that Jesus. The package was unfitting for them.

John Bevere stated that he once had a youth who had a wrong image of who a youth pastor should be. He was a youth pastor for nearly four months when Tim approached him:

He asked sincerely, "Pastor John, will you be my buddy? My last youth pastor was my buddy."

His question was not to be taken lightly, and I looked inside to hear how I should respond. The answer quickly came in the form of a question: "Tim, Jesus said, 'He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward' (Matt 10:41). Well, this applies to a youth pastor as well. If you receive a pastor in the name of a pastor, you'll receive a pastor's reward."

I continued, "Tim, you have a lot of buddies, don't you?"

He responded, "Yes, sir."

"But you have only one youth pastor, right?"

He responded, "Yes, sir."

I asked, "What do you want: a buddy's reward, or a youth pastor's reward? Because the way you receive me is what you get from God."

It was as though a light went on inside him. I saw his eyes register the revelation, and he quickly answered, "I want a youth pastor's reward. I see what you are saying." He flourished from that point forward. He moved a few years later, but he still sought me out whenever I came through his city.

What kind of package do you want within the Church? Do you want a buddy's reward or do you want a minister's reward? Then let us honor them as a minister.

Pre-Fast and Fasting

Our fathers had proclaimed a day of Pray-N-Fast hundred years ago. National Community Church had proclaimed a week of Pray-N-Fast few days ago. I proclaimed to myself, "Pray-N-Fast."

I've decided to fast from coffee and chocolate this week as I continue to explore for more options. Maybe I could skip a meal on a specific day. Maybe I could do a juice fast in the last few days. Or maybe I could eat cheaper. We don't have to limit ourselves with our pre-decisions, but to get deeper and deeper throughout the week. We could even increase our vows to Him throughout our calendar. Start with something small and then increase it according to your hunger for the depth. Let your vow be a vow and your refusal be a refusal, don't overdo yourself with big vows (Matt 5:37). Look into your heart and it will tell you of it's desires. Slow and steady win the race.

What may we replace our fasting with?
I love how Isaiah 58 reminds me that if I fast with greediness, then "fasting like yours this day will not make your voice be heard on high." God is saying that it is not the fasting that God had chosen for us. But God chose the fast that will enable us to give more. To loose the bonds. To break every yoke. To share your food with the hungry. To bring the house to the homeless. To clothe the naked. To be the light to those dwelling in the dark. To take away the pointing of the finger. And to be guided by the Lord in everything you do.

"Deep calls to deep," the 42nd psalmist reminded us. "Yes sire," we said.

Repentance = Rechanneling

"Who can I blame?" Job debated against himself. Should he blame himself? Should he blame his friends? Or should he blame God? Morever, his friends added some ingredients to his confused-mind. Nothing came right to him from his own mind.

Suddenly God came out of the whirlwind to remind him, "Of course, nothing right may come from your own mind!" He went on to say that Job cannot take His place to bring the sun up, to pour down the snow, to cast the thunders or to observe the living things. Then God went on to tell him to quiet down and listen.

I love how Job responded, "Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth." (40:4)

Job's Confession & Repentance (42:2-6):
"I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I didn't know. 'Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.' I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

In his repentance, he decided to let his mind lose the battle and allow God to take over the rest.

Final Solution

If you wandered into South Africa in the early 1900s, you may simply enjoy your tour. That's until you go into the innermost part of South Africa. You may see the violence between whites and blacks. It's cruel. It's messy. But in "Final Solution" two persons in this story made their decisions. The white ex-persecution made his decision to seek reconciliation between the races. As a result, the black guy who was once violently attacked by this very peacemaker decided to forgive him. He chose peace over the bloodshed. Through this action, they've teamed up for the reconciliation. They both finally understood that they are both one in Christ Jesus. This story is still being passed on to us, making the impact upon us today.

"There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." -Galatians 3:28

The ministry of reconciliation takes battle. It's the harsh reality.

At An Impasse

We all at some point in our lives found ourselves at an impasse. There was no way out. No way around. No reasoning escape. No possibilities in the situation. Our whole life cannot be perfectly expressed with our limited choice of words. We are at the point of giving up the knowingly-confused unavoidable calling. We tried to step out to find it cancelled. We tried to move and we fall down flat. We stretched to be squeezed. We are powerless. We are tempted to give up and leave the Jezebel-like environment to cry like Elijah.

When we are caught in impasse, we may choose to escape or to be persistence. Either ways, God will faithfully continue to redirect our path. God restored the escaping Elijah to his calling after His angels fed him water and food and his 40 days journey. God answered the persistent widow by softened the unjust judge's hard-headed that he finally gave the justice. God is merciful.

While nothing seems possible, let us respond with full consciousness of one's unavoidable calling yet boldly believe that new possibilities beyond our imagination can be given. As we faced this impasse, let us find a way to express, identify, face, and live with this impasse until the Answer.

"Energy and persistence conquers all things." -Benjamin Franklin

Leading Peers

Last night I received a direct feedback from a valuable person. She warned me that she will be direct with me. I told her to bring it on. When we ended our conversation, I told her that it doesn't harm me a bit, but it lifted me up instead. It gave me a hope of an improvement. Well, I won't bite. But I will bite those people who won't respect those people I respected the most by harassing them with reasonings when they said no- back off!

I pondered about many changes in my life this morning. I realized that I am surrounded by the people I respect the most this year. I respect those people because they are the ones:
-who would simply said, "No."
-who would say, "You need to do this because it is your turn to do so."
-who would say, "This habit had to change, here is what you could do..."

Those people are willingly to take risks. They would hesistate before they could be direct with me. They would strive to say it out due to their experiences. They are correct in what they are doing. They earned my respect. They led me when I am leading them. Or the other way around. That's what I call leading peers.

Are you leading your leaders? Or are you leaving your leaders standing alone by not being direct with them? Do you ask your followers to lead you by being direct with you? Do they know that you won't bite?

Deceiving Necessaries

Last night I got up in the middle of night to pray. I prayed about whether what I am doing is right. I felt something oddly heavy that it was hard for me to sleep or to pray. I decided to grab a jacket and a pant to take a walk at 2AM. It was a nice prayerwalk. I feel lightened. I slept.

This morning I tried to look for something about what I'm discerning. My eyes fell upon Under Cover by John Bevere. It's one of my top ten books, which had helped me throughout my homeless months in my senior high school year. It's precious.

"Adam and Eve were no exception. They didn't have physical covering or clothing; rather, they were 'crowned' with glory (Ps. 8:5). The word crowned means 'to circle or surround.' They were covered by it. The very glory that God placed on them was so overwhelming that, in their eyes, it concealed their physical nakedness. For this reason Scripture says, 'They were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed' (Gen. 2:25). They were not ruled by self-consciousness; rather their lives were before God. The thought of wanting clothing didn't cross their minds because it wasn't necessary.
That changed the moment they disobeyed. Prior to their disobedience, their spirits completely dominated, whereas afterward their flesh would dominate. The first words recorded in Scripture after they ate were, 'Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked.' (Gen. 3:7). The key words are they knew. They had knowledge they did not have before.
The principle of the knowledge of good and evil is to live life according to what is right and wrong. Before the Fall, their actions were governed not by the knowledge of good and evil, or by right and wrong, but by the knowledge of God."

Here is the questions that I asked myself:
1) Did anything unnecessary become necessary to me now? What caused them to become necessary to me? Was it of God?
2) Was my action governed by my logical thinking or by my spiritual hunger? Could I decieve myself by combining them both into my own direction?

It's time for us to rediscover the true inner peace. To get above the clouds. To see God's path outlayed for us.

Why Bethel Seminary?

I just got accepted into Bethel Seminary of the East. I applied for this seminary two weeks ago with only one day deadline to apply. It's amazing how the people replied quickly about it to help me in my completion, especially the Bethel recruiter.

Now the question lies- Why did I apply for M.Div program at Bethel Seminary? How did it comes into my head to do so?

Three weeks ago, I was in Olathe, Kansas with the IgniteASL team finishing a filming project for Deaf youth. One member of the team challenged me to apply to seminary to see if God was leading me to enroll in a Master of Divinity program. She saw that I was passionate and smart, skills that should not go to waste. For this reason, I took her advice into consideration. After returning to District of Columbia, I reviewed one of our draft films called “God’s Gift”. It talked of how we may possess confidence and humility at the same time. It made me realize that I was partly resisting a higher Christian education in my yearn to stay humble, like those uneducated fishermen in the Bible, when I did not need to resist. For few days after the trip, I began to get restless and so I applied after learning that I have a chance to do so.

Books surely fill my learning mind, but they don’t challenge my opinions as my classmates and teachers would. Thus I seek to re-immerse myself into the wolf pack.

"I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name." - Rev 3:8

The Greatest Life Lesson

I believe that the greatest life lesson occured within the Church whether it is in a building or not. The great life lessons are to be learned from our brothers and sisters. Although their criticism may be correct or incorrect. Those criticism may come from person with wrong attitude or person with right attitude. It all had to come with some filtration, not of our own, but with the help of the Holy Spirit. For our err, for both the person and the self, often left our Church to stray. There is no such thing as a perfect Church. The greatest life lesson will come to us when we stay within the Church to wait upon the Lord. The Church may be our roommates, our family, or our co-workers who believed in the Christ.

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds." Hebrews 10:24

When we stayed, we may find ourselves getting more and more frustrated with our errs. We began to get off our "nicey" masks. We showed our true color. We pointed. The great thing about pointing is that we get to see our true color.

"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" Matthew 7:3

I once found myself pointing toward a person rather than toward God when things get heavier. I couldn't point to God longer in my own effort not to blame, probably out of love. I began to lower my painful arm to point at the speck of sawdust in my own brother/sister's eye. As you know, when you are pointing your finger (index finger) at someone, you are also pointing three more fingers (middle, ring, and pinky fingers) toward yourself. And that's your plank within your own eye. When you finally pointed, you finally learned. Boy, I hate that!

Some of us avoided blaming one another, but we forgot to spur one another with respect. Some of us blamed one another, but we forgot how to love. Those lines are fine. When we spur correctly, we learned healthly.

The Scars of our Solo Achievements

I pondered about when my bad habits had begun. What were the roots of those struggles? When did they began to take an ugly shape?

It all begins way back. When I was an eighth grader, I took the role as an assistant English teacher because I was ahead of all students in mathematics. I had no choice but to attend mainstreaming school for math class with interpreter or to attend high school class for math. I begged for high school. Obviously, I held my head up in pride of my older peers. I was a teenager!

In my attempt to catch up with the challenges I faced, I began to form a bad habit. I worked alone as an assistant teacher and I even got ahead of some high school students that I began to work independently in the high school class. Occassionally I would have a question in my head, but I realized that my teacher is too busy teaching that I cannot get a help. I learned how to push myself futher, I had to depend on myself only. I stressed. I started to pick on my face to get my focus sharp. It worked!

I am an achiever. Everyone around me knew it. I am persistent. I am steadfast.

Of course the ugly truth followed. Scars began to form on my face. The scars of my solo achievements.

It's not about me. It is not about you. But it is all about His kingdom. His kingdom requires every part of us. His kingdom requires us to come together in a pack.

My independent streak, as an achiever, left me with scars or newly reddish spots on my face as a reminder.

Does your independent streak leave you with some scars in your life?

Ad Fontes

The Reformation calls us to "ad fontes", which means "back to the sources". It is a movement back to the source. For us to follow the "ad fontes", we will have to know the Hebrew and Greek texts. That means we will swim back to the origin against the stream of status quo.

We mightn't notice the Christian fish symbol on Christians' car, pin, and etc. Those five Greek letter forms the word, "ixthus". Okay... So what. It's just a Christian fish symbol.

If we studied those letters, then we will cherish those fishes. The first letter represents the word Jesus, the second represents the word Christ, and the next two represent the words God's Son, and the last letter represents the word Savior. Thus those five letters stand for "Jesus - Christ, - God's - Son, - Savior". Amazing, isn't it?

Luther said, "In proportion then as we value the gospel, let us zealously hold to the languages. For it was not without purpose that God caused His scriptures to be set down in these two languages alone- the Old Testament in Hebrew and the New in Greek."

Do we love the Christ and the gospel? If we answer yes to those questions, then we may also love the original Hebrew and Greek texts in the Bible. 1 Corinthians 8:1 stated that "knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." I concluded that it may be necessary to study the original biblical texts for the love of learning not for the desire to politically know-it-all.

Billy Graham adviced us to "study more, preach less, avoid politics."

Deaf Dragonfly & Hearing Butterfly

Scientists have discovered and named about 6,500 species of dragonflies that exist today. And there are around 450 of them in North America, mostly surrounding the fresh water. They are usually, as with birds, colored more brightly as adults than juveniles. They are beautiful allright.

What's so special about the dragonflies?

They are deaf! They don't respond to sound. Therefore you don't need to whisper when you near them. But it doesn't end here. The scientists also assumed that they probably have a poor sense of smell due to the small and not clearly visible pair of antennae. Thus, they probably have a deaf nose.

God somehow had created them for a greater purpose.

All dragonflies have two large compound eyes, of about 26,000 lenses with individual sensors capable of 360 degree vision, and three small simple eyes. Unbelievable! They are able to see all colors that we could see, plus ultraviolet light and polarized light. They detect the flickering of light at twice the rate that we can! They also all used their camouflage differently. They create a kind of optical illusion, which is called motion camouflage, to trick their prey. Their prey may include 600 mosquitoes a day or even some small insects like moth, butterflies, and sometimes each other when no food are available.

They are unique! They are not like butterflies who mightn't know that they are hearing til they are buried underground. Well, it is a Deaf joke. For when we called ourselves Deaf while the hearing doesn't call themselves as hearing. It is until they have learned more about the Deaf culture that they might finally call themselves hearing. Thus, they finally acknowledge their ability to hear!

A friend of mine claimed that she became hearing when she was 14-18 years old when she was being immersed into the Deaf. This hearing butterfly told me of those deaf dragonflies.

God's Sky Pencil

A "Sky Pencil" Japanese Holly tree is being planted in the garden when God drew a line for the outpouring rain to come!

My friends and I felt the breeze and we knew that the rain will come soon. So we dug as fast as we could and put things into order before the rain comes. We were halfway through the project when we ceased, but before we left, our landlords pointed toward something. We looked. We were amazed when we saw the line, few hundred yards away, between the drought and the outpouring rain! I quickly grabbed my phone to capture this moment.

I couldn't help it but to connect those two illustrations, the Sky Pencil and the Rain Line, together. The rain came from the sky, forming a line as if God drew the line! I began to imagine about how Moses saw how God wrote on the 10 Commandments with His own finger.

After a while, the outpouring rain came into our way. Get ready for the 41. That is my definition of the outpouring blessings. Actually I am being taught by someone else whom I had never met. And even more, I don't remember why 41 is the number for it. Maybe a verse or a symbol. Anyway, let's get back to the point, the rain came!

And with a sentence through this blog, a 6.0 earthquake also came when I was in DCA airport! Shaking my head.

Baptism at the Bay

Nothing is better than experiencing something with someone. At the bay, I had the opportunity to walk beside someone who is ready for the new adventure. And I heard her story about her decision before we walked together, and then she shared her experience:

"When Pastor Mark and you shoved me into the water, I felt as if you both were throwing me down. It is as if I sank without anyone holding me. But I realized that you both pulled me out of the water instantly. I was amazed by the feeling, it symbolized that I am a new born Christian who is now so clean, being washed of the old sins." -Chani (baptized on July 10, 2011)

After hearing her saying this, I immediately looked at the pictures. I was amazed to see how deep she went into the water! I laughed. I was double-amazed after hearing her story. Then I shared my story with her:

I thought about applausing her among the audience with hands lifted high in Deaf's way to cheer for someone. I wanted all NCCers to cheer for her without clapping. But when I was asked to walk alongside them, I gave that thought up and hoped that they will do it in that way. I was amazed that all of them actually lifted their hands to cheer Chani after she came out of the water. It brings me a joy when I saw Chani cheering back to the audience. It's my favorite moment.

After this I began to ponder about what Pastor Mark shared, before the baptism. That I now could claim that I agreed:

"Not sure if anything rivals the joy of baptizing someone. That moment when someone goes under the water is so miraculous. It symbolizes death to self and new life in Christ."

Our Boundary: Stop Over-Helping

"What do you mean, 'boundaries'?" the father asked.

"Look at it this way. It is as if he is your neighbor, who never waters his lawn. But, whenever you turn on your sprinkler system, the water falls on his lawn. Your grass is turning brown and dying, but Bill looks down at his green grass and thinks to himself, 'My yard is doing fine.' That is how your son's life is. He doesn't study, or plan, or work, yet he has a nice place to live, plenty of money, and all the rights of a family member who is doing his part.
"If you would define the property lines a little better, if you would fix the sprinkler system so that the water would fall on your lawn, and if he didn't water his own lawn, he would have to live in dirt. He might not like that after a while.
"As it stands now, he is irresponsible and happy, and you are responsible and miserable. A little boundary clarification would do the trick. You need some fences to keep his problems out of your yard and in his, where they belong."

"Isn't that a bit cruel, just to stop helping like that?" the father asked.

"Has helping him helped?" I asked.

His look told me that he was beginning to understand.

-Boundaries, Dr. Henry Cloud & Dr. John Townsend

Braided Crown Hairdo

I played with my hair this morning after I saw a friend at Ebenezers Coffeehouse last Saturday, before the 5pm service, with a braided half-crown hairdo. We talked about trying a full one. She learned about a braided quarter-crown from me, then I was challenged by her half-crown. Today I accomplished a full one!

I started with my left side above my ear and the braided upward across the forehead and then down under to finish a full circle. Ta-Da!

Starting Over in a Difficult Land

"You have sown much, and bring in little; You eat, but do not have enough" -Haggai 1:6

I love how my NKJV Chronological Study Bible expanded upon this verse about how Israel returned to difficult land after their years in Babylon. It claimed that, "achaeological surveys suggest that Judah lost 90% of its population during these years". Thus Judean society in the land of Judah had collapsed, but that is not the whole picture. If we zoomed out to zoom into the land of Jerusalem, we will see that the land was neglected for approximately 50 years. I don't know what that means for I am not an agricultural guru. I could say that the land of Jerusalem may have been covered by debris from the collapsed buildings, wild animals' manure, dirt, and weeds. The exercept in NKJV added, "Land would have grown hard and become overgrown with brush. It must have taken intensive manual labor and a lengthy time to get the fields to return to productivity again." Despite the difficulties, Israel continued. They moved back to this land and strived. They sowed much and reaped a little. They knew that they had to start somewhere; they sow.

Two days ago, I began to work on the city garden at my place. It had been abandoned for years. The problem was that I don't have any history of this garden. Let say that it was neglected for 50 years. Well if an American decided to adopt a foreign kid without a birth certificate, then the doctor had to estimate the age to create an estimated birth certification for the kid. And so I think I have the right to say so until someone interfere. It was covered with some 5 feet tall weeds! Few weeks after the weeds had been trimmed down, they sprung back up to approximately 3 feet tall. The soil was in a heap above the ground level. I decided to dump the heap of the soil to turn the garden into a ground level garden. It wasn't easy as I thought it would be. When I dug it up, I found some hidden debris. It looked much worse than the start for it looked like a dirty road now... Oh only if I had kept my motorcycle! I could park my motorcycle upon the garden as a garden, it would be an easy way out. Anyway I bought a beautiful "Sky Pencil Japenese Holly" for this garden to learn that it shall die or grow brown in this garden; I held it back.

You see, if you had no choice, then you had to sow. It is between famine or toil. Obviously the toil is the best choice. Israel had to work hard over their crops. They had compose the soil, mixing human hair, horse manure, ground coffee, vegetables leftovers and peels and more. But they mightn't effect the soil til few years later. The soil was malnutrition. But they sow anyway.

Moreover, as they began to struggle to settle down in their land, God send the prophet to warn them about their establishment. "Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 'Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?' Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: 'Consider your ways!'"

We began to warm our comfortable seats, but before we warm our butt, God butted in to tell us to keep moving. It is either a spiritual famine or a spiritual toil.

Made of Steel

As I read the book of Job, I began to create an analogy between Job and Asahel. Let me start with Job:

Though the storms, Job told God, "Only two things do not do to me... Withdraw Your hand far from me, and let not dread of You make me afraid." Job didn't want to lose his focus. He didn't want to get off the path God has destined for him. He also thought of something tough to guard his thoughts, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there." Job toughens his thoughts in the battlefield to keep blessing the Lord's name through it all.

When Asahel was in the pursuit of Abner. He chased him with the full focus, ignoring Abner's urging voice. Abner told him to take a shelter for he doesn't want to make Abner's brothers mad by killing him. But Asahel didn't even turn aside to the left nor to the right. Thus Asahel died by Abner's spear. And this story was written.

Job's thoughts were toughened through the voices of his three friends. He knew that he may lost everything, including his life, but he believed that God may respond. And so the Lord did! He answered Job out of the whirlwind and He restored Job twice as much as he had before. Job didn't die like Asahel, but he sure ran like him in the battlefield of thoughts.

Instead of letting the Satan defeat us by throwing us down, let us stand firm in our blessings. Let us remember that we are blessed to have clothes to wear, food to eat and the Body of Christ. Let us tell the Satan, "If we are sick, so what. If we are homeless, so what. If we are lonely, so what. If we are incapable of something, so what. For we came naked and we shall go back naked." That will keep the Satan away when he learned that you are made of steel.

God is Jesus' Mean Father

Imagine Jesus saying, "Our Father is mean!" C'mon, I am sure that Jesus would say that if he hasn't understood his Father's will. Do you know what his Father did to him? His Father literally forced him to suffer on the earth to test his loyalty to the Father. He wanted us, the people, to see how Jesus suffered for His sake. What kind of Father is He?

A lot of us once had to submit to the mean parents, the mean coach, the mean boss, or even the mean spouse. I don't think any of us ever gleefully submit to anybody's will. That is until we finally understood God's will behind those mean parents, mean coach, mean boss, or even mean spouse, that we will gleefully submit to them. Or maybe we never did. Well, why should we?!

How did Jesus gleefully submit to his Father?

The answer lies in Luke 2:40, "And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the FAVOR of God was upon him." What is the other word for receiving the favor from God? It is grace. According to the definition, grace is a special undeserving favor coming from God in assistance for a special purpose. So if we replace the word "favor" with "grace", we will see that God's grace was upon Jesus. It sounds ironically doesn't it? Jesus' Father strengthens him for His meanness. Jesus even temporarily cried to his Father, "Please take my cup away!" It was the most greivous time for Jesus, the evidence came from his bloody sweat. The science indicated that we also have a small ounce of blood in our sweat whenever we grieved, but a very few of us ever experienced a hematidrosis. But it also sounds like Jesus experienced a silent therapy from his Father for Jesus once cried, "Father, why had you abandoned me!" Oh how much more does Jesus have to suffer? Then he died. Thus the ministry of reconciliation came into the picture!

If Jesus didn't undergo those past sufferings, then he shall suffer in the eternity as he grieves for each one of us. He is now gleefully watching us in the heaven above and walk among us on the earth as we learn His ways. He prays that each one of us will also takes up his cross and finish the race. We are called to be persons of influential.

How can we gleefully submit to our mean someone?

The answer lies in John 1:16, "And from his [Jesus] fullness we have all received, grace upon grace." Luke says that Jesus began to do and teach so that you all may continue to do and teach. In the same way, Jesus received the grace from God so that His grace may be upon you and you. By His favor, we will learn more and more about His will, His mysteries, which shall strengthens us to takes up Jesus' cross.

To be an influential person: "A dead seed produces many."

John 12:24, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."

Prepping for the lesson of "Grace" in IgniteASL.com

Persistent Prayer in Action

One of National Community Church's core values is, "Pray like it depends on God and work like it depends on you". I love trying to combine both pray and work into one element. I believe that this one element is a persistent prayer in action.

A persistent prayer can be learned from the persistent widow in the parable. Luke 18, Jesus said, "they ought always to pray and not lose heart." Then he tells us a story about her, "there was a widow in that certain city, where a judge fears neither God nor respectful man, who came to the judge, 'Give me justice against my adversary.' Yet because she keep bothering the same judge, he gave her justice." If the unjustice judge gave her justice, then how much more will our God give justice to His elected? And how much more will a justice judge gives you justice?

In reality, getting the justice may not be that easy. Even though some of us may be persistent in asking. Only few of us would stay in one place, asking the same person the same request like the persistent widow. Most of us would ask different persons with the same request or ask the same person with different requests.

This persistence widow walked like it depends on her and asked like it depends on the Judge.

Position Your Sheep for Blessings

Jacob asked for the speckled and spotted sheep from his father-in-law, Laban. I love it when he didn't ask for the unblemished white sheep. But he chose the secondary. It is just as how the faithful Abraham allowed his nephew Lot to pick the best part of the land, leaving Abraham with the secondary, the least.

But Jacob somehow knew that he will receive the blessings through those blemished sheep. He reposition them in faith. He takes the rods and stripped the browns until the whites appeared on the rods. Then he put the stripped rods among the strongest blemished sheep as they breed so that they may breed more.

"Whenever the stronger livestock conceived  that Jacob placed the rods before the eyes of the livestock in the gutters, that they might concieve among the rods... so the feebler were Laban's and the stronger Jacob's." -Gen 30:41-42

Was Jacob clever? Does he thinks so? In Genesis 31:9, Jacob responded to this question, "[No,] God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me." Jacob simply knew that God will bless him as He had done. He took the blemished so that God's name may be glorified through this.

Jacob positioned the least, God poured the blessings.

Self-Shepherding

We often find it easy to shepherd the others and have the others to shepherd us. But we often find it hard to be a self-shepherd.

What does it mean to be a self-shepherd? And when will that role have to take place?

Of course, it takes place when there was no shepherd to watch over you in a pericular area. You are a lost lamb. But since we received Jesus into our heart, we earned the gift of self-shepherding as we allow Him to shepherd us within us. So we may either decide to be a lost lamb or to be a self-shepherd.

What does a shepherd do?

A shepherd shall abandon all 99 sheep to look for a lost sheep.

What does a self-shepherd do?

A self-shepherd shall walk back into the flock and say, "HEY! I am back!" Instead of remaining as a lost sheep, we walk right back in even if those 99 sheep keep leaving, we continue to shepherd self back in. It's "an ugly lost sheep in pursue of those beautiful 99 sheep" to please our Shepherd.

The Forgotten Interdependency

I just talked with my dad and done a lot of journaling for a lot of things had come and go. One thing in our conversation had striked me about many Christians in America. It is that we are too independent that we forgot how to be interdependent.

He shared with me about a missionary at Thailand who was a former wrestler and who used to live in Maryland before he became a missionary at Thailand. He shared his frustrations with the Christians at Thailand and the people for they are too independent. Thus their communication was being misunderstood many times, which fractured the harmony within the Body of Christ. He claims that the spirit realm was influenced by Thailand's hundreds years of being a self-govern country. For other countries in Asia had been captured and/or ruled by other country or so. Thus the interdependency was forgotten.

I don't know if the story is very accurate, but it came from dad's memory. But the point is that we all were raised in a culture where we had to be independent in order to survive. We all need to relearn how to be interdependent like the kids. To repair the fractured harmony, we had to be interdependent once again.

"All ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ." -1 Cor. 10:3-4

It's amazing how Israel ate and drank the same spirit through the leadership of Moses. Which came from Jesus.

The Path to Coffee

I poured the boiled water over the ground coffee in the half-broken white dripper. Two mugs were filled. I am drinking one as I type this blog, and the other mug was topped with the silicone cover. It came to me that I have been drinking a coffee or two almost daily. I guess I am a coffeeholic now. How can it be?

Two years ago, I came into the offices of National Community Church in the second floor of Ebenezers Coffeehouse as a Protege. I found gallons of coffee available on every Tuesday mornings, so I drank one. Later it became two or three. Once a while, one staff would make coffee for herself or himself and I would ask them to make an extra for me. I depended upon them to make coffee for me because I didn't know how to make a mugful of coffee!

One day, for some reason, I decided to ask Kurtis Park about the amount of ground coffee I will need to make a coffee or two. He said two tablespoons (or is it spoonful?), so I made my own coffee, beside the instant coffee, for the first time. Or was it the only time that I remembered. But it certainly set the foundation for my life.

It all started with the taste and observance. It then led me to question. With the answer, I finally set the foundation for my life.

Try replacing my coffee story with the story of the path to salvation.

Seek the Will of God

There's nothing better than pursuing the will of God. If we aren't pursuing His will, then we are pursuing our own. We may think that we are doing the right thing, but it's actually us who are assuming. Seek Him in everything you do.

'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.' -Jeremiah 33:3

This morning I read my subscription email that reads, "Remember Kathryn Kuhlman?" in its paragraph. It talks about her choice that turned out to have a devastating effect in her life, call and ministry. It was until she decided to repent by divorcing her husband after eight long years of being trapped. God totally restored her after this and increased the anointing on her life. Why did that happen? I recalled that her husband divorced his wife for her. I was befuddled when I learned about this, I couldn't believe that Kathryn Kuhlman would do that.

Today it seared deeply into my heart and I decided to look it up again. I learned that Kathryn Kuhlman didn't know. Although she sensed that God's will wasn't with her through it all. It reminded me of Bathesheba, I questioned about whether Bathsheba knew about the murder of her husband or not. Here's the answer to Kathryn Kuhlman's life:

Burroughs and Kathryn decided to wed. While discussing the matter with some friends, Kathryn had said that she could not "find the will of God in the matter."These and other friends encouraged her not to go through with the marriage, but Kathryn justified it to herself and others by believing that Waltrip's wife had left him, not the other way around. On October 18th, 1938, Kathryn secretly married "Mister," as she liked to call Waltrip, in Mason city. The wedding did not give her new peace about their union, however. After they checked into the hotel that night, Kathryn left and drove over to the hotel where Helen was staying with another friend. She sat with them weeping and admitted that the marriage was a mistake. She decided to get an annulment.
The three women left Iowa for Denver in hopes of explaining what had happened to the congregation of Denver Revival Tabneracle. The congregation, however, was so furious with her for the secrecy of the marriage that they drove Kathryn "back into Waltrip's arms."

It doesn't matter if the story is accurate or not, but this story taught us something. That we cannot expect God to clearly warn us about the dangers ahead of us, but us discerning whether we are in the will of God.

It sadden me to learn that the congregation drove her to remain a failure for eight long years rather than remain a failure for only a night. It's not in our saying, about anybody's situation, but God's.

Watch Over Our Seeds

"Behold the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel [bigger garden] and the house of Judah [smaller garden] with the seed of man [the plants] and the seed of beast [the weeds]. And it shall come to pass, that as I [the gardener] have watched over them to pluck up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy, and to afflict, so I [the gardener] will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord [the gardener]." Jer31.27-28

If I want to be like Him, then I probably have to build up garden, and then let them be destroyed. And then build them up again. But I will have to look at them even if they are ugly and full of tall weeds or if they are bare. The Lord kept His watch over us even when our forms are hidden under those tall ugly weeds, being an eyesore to our neighborhood. He watched over us and cared for us who are being trapped below. He watched us daily. I love that! I want to watch over the garden daily and spot every sprout of weeds and leave them be when needed and pluck them when needed. Summer will come and go. Winter will come and go. And so will the weeds.

There is one thing that I won't do to my garden is to sow the seed of weeds! I know that I am unwillingly. What should I do? Repent?

Be A Foolhardy

I love Ecclesiastes for it presents the pure philosophical approach to reality. The reality is that we are all fools. Everything we had done in the earth is in vain. Hold on! Don't feel discouraged yet. Read on.

"I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end." -Ecc. 3:10-11

We will always grasp for the wind in vain. But when we align our aims with His aim and labor for His causes, God puts our labors into eternity. God has different purposes for each of our work from birth to time. Amazing! We don't understand why we have to do certain things, but we have to obey His leading and do them. Be the foolhardy.

Trash Cans

How do you set your trash cans? In District of Columbia, we set our trash cans in several different ways. Some are hidden behind bushes or stairs. Some are being fenced or railed. Some are left out in the open by the stairs, by the door, or on the garden lawn.

We are looking at different options to set our trash cans in the best possible ways. For the beauty's sake, I might head over to Home Depot sometime today to learn more about many things before settling down with something. I once head over there to ask the workers about the bunk bed and even their unaccurate instruction helped my mathematican brain to get started.

Does Bathsheba Know?

I read about David's adultery and murder few days ago and this question popped up: does Bathsheba know about the murder? I googled up for any discussion for this topic. I found none.

The Bible indicated that Bathsheba went through the usual days of mourning before David sent for her. David repented of his murder and laid postrate for 7 days before the baby died. All I know is that he probably didn't tell anybody except Joab for David wrote, "set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, so that he may be struck down and die."

That was until God told the prophet Nathan all about it that he confronted David and so he repented. He laid all night on the ground until the baby died, then he went in to Bathsheba and comforted her.

I know a guy who refused to tell his wife of the rumors because he wanted to protect her. I believe that David wanted to protect Bathsheba from his error. But when the baby died, Bathsheba probably blamed herself for the consequence of adultery. I think that David had to confess to his wife in this moment to comfort her, "this consequence was mine for I murdered Uriah..."

This error was David's not Bathsheba. Yet both of them suffered the consequence of his action, BUT Bathsheba later conceived a promised son, Solomon. Here I think God took care of the equation. Bathsheba suffered for her husband's action, but she received a blessing above other wives. Thus her son was promised the kingship.

To the faults, don't worry about injustices you had caused the others to experience.
To the innocents, don't worry about the injustices that you had to bore for the sake of the others.
For our God is God of justice in the due season.

Our Rooms Inside-Out

I love the idea of authenticating our secrets within our room. Pastor Mark challenged us, in the God's Anthology series called "Jealous", to take a look into our hidden rooms. God's jealous for us because of how He loves us so. Maybe our hidden rooms and our innermost being had to be exposed: get some helps for our faulty ways or take a step to glorify Him by obeying the Great Commission.

More than two thousand years ago, the people worshipped the wooden images or idols made of stones. Today we worship the most elegant idols of commericals on the billboard, magazine, or even googling for them. Or maybe we worship our God in our hidden room and in our innermost being daily, which needed to be shown.

Take our rooms inside-out.

DC Public Library

Northeast Branch Library has several different activities for toddlers, teens, and even for American Sign Language users. It also included a free WiFi. So I thought why should we work at home when we could take a tour around the DC to those libraries. The cool thing about public libraries is that you don't have to buy a drink or so to use the area.

There are 25 public libraries in DC. I've been to two of them. Also we have Library of Congress, so we probably have 26 libraries in total, not including college/school libraries.

I might make a goal to touch all of those libraries in the summer.

Factors of Our Choosing

This morning I picked out the clothes to wear. I weaved my hair into the hairstyle I choose. I added the accessories to my hairdo and outfit.

What was the factors of my choosing?

You may say that it may be the weather, the light, the food, the colour, or even the exercise that affect my mood. Maybe. Environment certainly affect our mood.

Let's take a deeper look into the complex brain of mine. This morning I woke up with eagerness to dress up for all afternoon before my breakfast: movie theatre and then church service at Ebenezers Coffeehouse. I picked a shirt that I hasn't worn for few years due to the stain because it was bleached! Then I choose a unworn dress that someone had given to me because it was large, but I tightened it up to a tight fit! Then I recalled how my friend and I saw a lady roll her hair inwardly to turn it into a crown. I played with my hair to create a new hairstyle. I showed it all to my roommate whos already up before me. She loved it and make a comment about adding white flowers to my hairdo, which led me to add accessories.

So... What was the factors of my outfit?

-plans for the day (motivational)
-recently fixed items (preparation)
-exposure to a new style (creativity)
-roommate's comment (feedbacks)

Ta-Da!

How do you plan your day? What was the factors of your choosing?

Trimming Down

Today I used my netbook to post my blog once again! It had been running like a tortoise. I took it to the Geek Squad at Best Buy to run a diagnosis on it. I learned that it needed an additional RAM to run faster. Nah, I am not going to spend money on this cheap netbook. So I trimmed it down. I created a roomy hard drive in my computer by transferring all files to other hard drive disk. Then I clicked "run the System Restoration".

I once enjoyed having all my files ready to be used at my desktop, but the access to the internet and even the files are slower. It's better to trim down my files to be able to have an "all access".

In our lives, we had to trim down some of our errands to be able to have time with God. We all want to have a speedy access to Him, but we had to trim down our lives first. We choose to have an access to our files rather than an access to the internet. We choose to have an access to our errands rather than an access to God's errands.

If we want that access once again, then we had to click "run the System Restoration". We had to start all over again. We had to find our original love for God. We had to find our Primal.

Say "I cannot"

I've been talking with my former roommate as she stays at our house for few nights. We shared some great memories such as learning how to ride unicycle, sharing afternoon teas, the scary route 1 trip in California (I shouted at her when she nears the cliff, it is something that we will never forget), and huge sleepover at her house for Thanksgiving and Black Friday nights.

One best thing about her is that she will be direct with me. Of course, she has 9 siblings who lived in Pennsylvania. And I had about a total of 24 roommates and sublets within 6 years. We are those two strong girls who needed to be softened. Thus she told me that I had to surrender in that pericular area, I tossed my white flag. If I am wrong, then I am wrong. My ways of living had to be changed. Afterall it's all about God, not me.

I love it when I had to swallow a humble pie. For I often think, "I can, I can." Certainly, we may have overused this verse in our lives, "With God everything is possible".

In the same way, for many churches to come together, they all had to toss white flags and surrender their own ways for the sake of Church. Too many of us, like the Tower of Babel, think that we can do it for God through this or that out of faith. We forgot to accept the mess of saying, "I cannot". Thus God splitted the people into languages. God taught us how to say, "I cannot". Maybe one church can do it while other church cannot. I know that our coaches probably said to us that "I cannot" isn't in their dictionary. While other coaches might taught us to study our weaknesses so that we may increase our strengths. In studying, we had to create a bigger len to see the whole picture. Through the humble mess of saying, "I cannot," we will see the teamwork being formed.

"I Did It For You!" Wasted

Did we find ourselves telling our own friends, "I did it for you" when it actually benefits us only. I think we often found ourselves guilty in this thing. We may did it for our friends in expect for something in return or because they did it for us last time.

In the same way an Amalekite servant lied to David, "there was Saul, leaning on his spear... So I stood over him and killed him." It was partly true for Saul was leaning on his spear, but Saul killed himself by his own sword not Amalekite's. He intended to receive a reward from David in his "I did it for you", but he received a pentalty instead. Thus he was executed by one of David's young men.

This Amalekite obviously didn't know David's heart, thus he tricked himself. We may not know what's in our friends' hearts, thus we did everything out of vain, "we did it for you all!" When there is nothing that we can do.

If you want to do it for David or our Christian friends, then do it out of your passionate heart for God. Tell Him, "we did it for You and may You do it for them!"

Talking Funny Kills

Jephthah led the men against Ephraim. In this war the pronunciation of one word could keep a man alive. They asked, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If that man said no, then they asked him to pronounce, "Shibboleth!" If he pronounced, "Sibboleth!" Then that man is dead. About 42,000 men died for not pronouncing it right. Instead of pronouncing a "sh", those Ephramites would pronounce an "s". So would you say a "sh" for this word? Well I would simply sign, "I am deaf" and fingerspell "S-H-I-B-B-O-L-E-T-H!" And I shall remain alive after this big test even if I am an Ephraimite. Yeah, I know that I would not talk funny. Sorry folks if I easily got away.

There is one thing that I love about Jephthah beside his clever leadership- his background. He was the son of a harlot. He was rejected by his half-brothers. He went out raiding with the worthless men. Yet his brothers decided to ask this thug Jephthah to be their commander. Thus Jephthah earned his position over them. His disadvantage had turned into an advantage.

Now this Jephthah must have a big heart for God and his daughter. He loved God so that he pronounced his vow to give Him whatever comes out of the doors of his house to meet him. Big mistake! His only beloved daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and dancing. Jephthah was torn, but he allowed her to wander for two months of lamenting with her friends. What's so special about this? His daughter was willingly to die for his vow. She said to him, "Let this thing be done for me." She encouraged her father to keep his vow. How she must have loved her father. Thus she died two months later. She is one of few special daddy's girl. She felt fulfilled by her father that she wanted nothing else, but obedience to her father and his God.

Do you know anyone who is willingly to die for you? Maybe and maybe not. Follow those advices: be cautious with what you shall pronounce and be slow to speak.

I think many girls like me long to be like Jephthah's daughter. We all long to be Daddy's girl. And He is watching over us on His throne above us.

DCMC's Draft Logo

DCMC stands for Deaf Campus Ministries Connection. The campus ministries at Gallaudet strive to work together under one God and yet keep our unique ministries running on campus. How could we do that? We decided that we should work together for a bigger purposes such as hosting some cool events on campus, conference, even retreats.

In order to make this happen, we agreed that we needed a title and a logo. It shall symbolize our connection. Later on, we hope to include ministries out of DC.

Here is our draft logo. Let us know what you think. We will need your help to vote on those logo!