Year: 2004

Thought to Ponder

Yesterday as I stood singing in the choir, I was discouraged. I was watching the people in the congregation as they watched my fellow choir members and me. They probably didn’t even realize that they were being watched. I’m not on a television set; I can see you too, and today was really sad.

As I looked out over the faces of our church, I saw mouths moving but I heard no song. I can understand being sleepy from late nights or even simply being weary and fed up with life. For goodness sake, I am a college student and I also just get tuckered out and don’t want to do anything a lot of the time.

But you know what? GOD’S BIGGER THAN YOU, ALL YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES, AND HE IS SUPPOSED TO BE YOUR SOURCE. Where is the spark of HIS life, which you claim is part of you as a Christian, in your face when you’re supposed to be connecting and singing to Him?

Did you ever see the movie Chicago? Do you remember the puppet song? If you have not seen the movie, it’s the scene where the lawyer holds his defendant like a marionette and speaks the words he wants her to say for the press to hear. He even pulls the strings of the press themselves so that they agree with his lies. He pulled them according to his desires in the motions that he wanted them to do. That’s kinda what it felt like this morning as I watched from the choir loft. Our church was full of motion but there was no sound or life. Where is your spark of life?

We are ambassadors of Christ and are citizens of heaven; that’s a precious gift. Do you honestly believe that when ambassadors of the same country come together and praise their country and king that they don’t smile and feel good about talking about where they’re from and their fellow natives? We speak more fondly about our childhood home than the place we’re going to spend eternity! How could we get so out of kilter and prefer the temporary over the eternal? God LOVES us! Why do we ignore it?

The choir anthem this morning was “Days of Elijah” and my heart wept as I sang the words to the second verse:

These are the days of Ezekiel, the dry bones becoming as flesh. And these are the days of Your servant, David, rebuilding a temple of praise. And these are the days of the harvest, oh, the fields are as white in Your world. And we are the laborers in Your vineyard, declaring the work of the Lord!

Lord! We’re still dry bones! Our strings are being plucked and we’re just going through the motions without life! We say and declare with our mouths’ but it never reaches past our noses let alone to our eyes, hands or feet. There is no way we can be part of the laborers in the field or rebuilders of the temple of praise if we let something pull our strings. Not everyone who says “Lord, Lord,” will get into heaven. You can declare the work of the Lord 24/7 but until it becomes true to you, you’re just going through the motions.

Did you realize how fickle our emotions really are? Here’s an example to try…Next time you feel grumpy and don’t want to do anything (especially smiling), try smiling as big as you can for as long as you can and see just our long it takes for you mood to change. In fact, I challenge you to try it next time. That includes when you come to church sleepy, weary, or grumpy because of stress. I’ve tried it and it works.

We are Christians, imitators of Christ. So let’s do that. Jesus got frustrated and tired and even angry just like us but every time he looked towards the Father for restoration, hope and peace. God loves us so much and he wants to take our worries, sadness, stress, and anxiety onto his capable shoulders so we won’t have to carry the burden and be crushed by it. Life is not easy, but we have hope, strength, and love just a whisper or a thought away. Are you tapping into it? We are the light, hope and life of the world. “Shine. Make them wonder what you’ve got. Make them wish that they were not on the outside looking in.” If we do not shine together when we are with others like us (i.e. church, home group, etc.), how can we expect to fulfill our calling to be his ambassadors and spread the boundaries of the kingdom?

Smile even if you don’t feel happy. Shine even if it’s just a soft, tiny flicker. Let God work the miracles and bring true peace, joy, love and hope for tomorrow into your life.

A New Voice

KB and I are in the process of combining our websites and he’s been encouraging me to post something. I was hoping to wait until I finished the new banner, but I don’t think it will be done before I go on Christmas break. Mostly what I tend to write leans towards what’s going on in my life (i.e. sr. year of college, med school applications, annoying car repairs and the like) because it’s the best way for my family to keep in touch with me. Sometimes I do, however, post things that I like to call “Thoughts to Ponder” on the site I am currently running, which range from something cool I read in one of my daily studies to the scientific importance of salt in the body and its relationship to being the salt of the earth.

Yesterday at church, I sat down and started writing. Yeah I know, I should have been listening to the sermon but something that I saw disturbed me and I completely zoned out and just started writing for about an hour or so. So without further ado, here’s what I was writing.

Continue reading “A New Voice”

John Ashcroft Resigns

I’m sure you all knew that, didn’t you?

This man has had some pretty nasty things said about him, some of which, for all I know, may be true. It’s interesting, though, to read his letter of resignation, and see the insight it gives into the Bush administration.

Despite the appearance of being secretive and stonewalling, the air I get from the people who are actually involved (as opposed to bitter journalists) is not one of conspiracy, but of respect. I have not heard one person speak, who worked directly with the president, who did not give him the utmost of honor, far exceeding what is nominally due the head of the US government.

Ashcroft’s letter is no exception. It is clearly not a forced resignation. I thought it was especially thoughtful that he wrote the letter by hand *so that* there wouldn’t be any leak. Secretive? Yes. But not for the sake of being secretive, but for the sake of a smooth transition. Ashcroft’s resignation was coordinated with the announcement of his replacement.

Of course, for certain parties, the new guy is worse than the old, minority status or othewise. But for all the whining, he seems like a good man. And if Ashcroft’s horrid countenance produced the statistics cited in his letter, may the terrible visage of Alberto Gonzales bring more of the same.

Ouch

Went to the dentist today. That’s not what the ouch is about. It’s been 10 years. **That’s** what the ouch is about. I’d been putting it off until I had money, or barring that, insurance. Well, I don’t got money, but I got this here dental card when I started working full-time. I figured it was time for a visit. The co-pays are going up in January, so I’m trying to get my visits in ahead.

The news is bad, but not so bad as it might have been. Continue reading “Ouch”

Revival

Our devotions speaker spoke on revival this morning–a subject dear to my heart. One of the things he did was to read some articles on the Welsh revival (1904-05) and a similar one I had never heard of in Korea (around 1907).

The Welsh revival is one of my favorite stories, just because of the dramatic change that occurred there in such a short time. In 2 months, over 70,000 people were converted. Factories shut down and major sports events were cancelled so people could attend church services until 2:00 in the morning. The horses in the coal mines had to be retrained because they didn’t understand commands sans cursing.

One of my (many) dreams is to write historical novels that tackle these kinds of revivals. I’d like to write an epic centering around John Alexander Dowie. For the Welsh revival, a teen romance might be a more gripping story, since 90% of the leaders of the revival were under the age of 22. Probably some kind of long-term saga would be best to cover the Pentecostal movements that swept through the United States around that same time.

The thing that always frustrates me about these things, though, is how little time they last. Continue reading “Revival”

One Down,

3 to go.

Finished my first exam. I’ve got a final and two 10-page papers left. I think I did pretty good: somewhere between an 85 and a 95, I’d say. In the long essay section, I wrote a real zinger of an essay, followed by a ho-hum attempt, so we’ll see where “acceptable” hangs out.