A New Idea

Yesterday I was in class and we did this Bible reflection thing called "Lectio Divina." After relaxing ourselves and our minds, our teacher read a paraphrased version of Genesis 1:1-6, then paused, then read it again. After the second reading we were to write what stuck out, or was special to us, or really anything. I am ADHD, which means I don't sit still, I have a hard time paying attention to a speaker, and the "H" stands for hyperactive which speaks for itself. For me to calm my brain down and meditate is border line impossible. But I gave it my best, because I know the importance of slowing everything down and just focusing on God. I did ok, but I think I would have needed a much longer amount of time.

One thing that blew me away was my classmate's reflections. A Korean classmate humbled me with an amazing insight and beautiful poem. I am actually going to try and post it here because it was so wonderful. But after listening, suddenly I had an idea to write a series of reflections on the glory of God. I want to take some of my favorite passages and write about how it displays the glory of God. Sometimes we can get lost in the Bible, and without some important insights, we can be misguided, so I hope to take some not-so-common verses as well and maybe even try some of the challenging passages and expand them and show how glorious God is.

So here we go, I hope you can join me in constantly being stunned and in awe and wonder of God, and how truly wonderful He is:

His Glory Reflection Series - Part 1

"Look! The Lord is coming! He leaves His throne in heaven and tramples the heights of the earth. The mountains melt beneath His feet and flow into the valleys like wax in a fire, like water pouring down a hill." Micah 1:3-4

Maybe you have tried to read the books of the prophets and read a passage like this and wondered what on earth God was doing? I would call this a stereotypical view of God, He is off in heaven holding His lightning bolts waiting for us to sin, and then fry our butts when we sin. Now, when I read this it makes me excited, and I begin to grasp a little more of the seemingly endless torrent of His glory.

What's important is to know why the author used this metaphor. At this time the Israelites were in a wonderful time of blessing. They were living it up, and people were getting rich, and in turn more were getting poor. If you read the book of Micah you can't miss the theme of justice. Micah's words are powerful, I like to call him the "drop kick prophet," because every time he spoke it was like a drop kick in the chest for the people he was talking to! Here is an example:

"Should you no know justice, you who hate good and love evil; who tear the skin from my people and the flesh from their bones; who eat my people's flesh, strip off their skin and break their bones in pieces; who chop them up like meat for the pan, like flesh for the pot?" Micah 3:1-3

Wow, imagine if you are the one he was saying that to. But Micah was burning from the inside out because of the injustice his nation was committing. They were in a wonderful time of blessing, but instead of living virtuous lives, they were like dogs fighting for all they could get. They cheated the poor, forgot the laws God had set before them, and choose to worship other Gods.

I get excited about God when I read the first verse I wrote because God was angry about the injustice. Imagine what it means for the poor to hear that God cares and sees injustice? Think of the picture that Micah is painting - a giant god coming down from heaven and smashing through the mountains and making them crumble like nothing. Micah was disgusted, and God had had enough! The chosen people of God had forgotten their purpose, they were to be the priestly nation, demonstrating the ways of God to the world, but instead they got entitlement mixed up with responsibility and lost sight of it all.

God's glory jumps off the pages because the one who made everything, I mean think about it - everything you have ever seen, person ever talked to, thing ever touched was spoken into existence by Him, and He cares and is even angered over the injustice He sees? Wow!!!!

Tonight I was speaking with a 9 year old boy in a squatter area. His dad pulled up in a pedicab(a bike with a side car on it used to take passengers around) extremely drunk. He hobbled over to me, sat down, looked at his son, the boy I was talking to and said the boy was bad. I wanted to drop kick him right then and there. I know him, and he has been a drunk for a long time, beat his wife till she left him, and he embarrasses his family waddling around drunk everyday and never provides for them. Go to any squatter area in the Philippines and he is a dime a dozen - but why? The easy thing to do would be to drop kick him, but the reality there is a lot more to this story. But the bottom line is injustice. It's having a life time of dignity stripped away from you, every chance to lead to an endless road of turns that will never get a person anywhere. It's a government who has got entitlement mixed up with responsibility. It's leaders who forget justice and love personal gain. Seems though Micah penned this down about 2700 years ago, but still the same thing is going on.

I celebrate God because He did not forget the people at the bottom! Those whose voices went unheard, were heard and God cared then, and He cares today, and the same way He burned with anger then He burns today! But where are the Micah's to call out the mutilators of flesh and declare that justice be upheld? Where are the intelligent, educated, and connected Issiah's elegantly rebuking a nation and guiding back to God? Where are the men and women who like Micah are seemingly burning from the inside with disgust? Where are the Amos' coming from the farms but willing to call out all those above him for their injustice?

I celebrate God because He uses people like these incredible men, to fearlessly preach to the nation what no one wanted to hear! Gods glory becomes tangible in these verses because He cares and when I see the poorest of the poor I know that even if no one looks twice my God sees them sitting there and has not forgotten. I see Gods glory in these verses because every time you have to look into the eyes of a child who has no hope, I know the one who breathed life into them truly cares about them!

I celebrate God in all His glory!

Cut to the Heart

I have always enjoyed writing, but since I started seminary and got some help developing my writing, my interest was reborn. After I did an intro to philosophy course I also developed my thinking patterns and now can go deeper into ideas then ever before. Now I have a place to get down what I am thinking, and I hope it will be a blessing, as well as a challenge to go deeper into contemplation, especially with the Bible.

Peter, Jesus' right hand man finishes one powerful sermon and the crowds are left with a dagger in their hearts. He has shone light on the reality of what has just happened, they finally grasped the significance of their situation. And in what was probably utter shock they asked Peter and his friends, "Brothers, what shall we do?"

This moment of pure agony, the time when they actually "got it" was a moment I did not have growing up. Peter shares to the crowds of people, a number somewhere around 3000, that it was them who killed the Messiah, the one they had been waiting for, Emmanuel "God with us."
Though I was raised in the church, had a wonderful family setting incredible examples for me in holy living, I never grasped, or at least never fully grasped the significance of Jesus, sin, and everything. I had never "got it."

I find it so interesting that the people where "cut to the heart." Did your walk with Christ begin with a dramatic experience like this? I think I was 5 and in my parents bed room, and I don't know anyone who had this experience. Yet on the day of Peter's speech to the crowd, 3000 were "cut to the heart," in realization of their actions. It was them who stood in the courts of Pilate and shouted for a murderer to be released in the place of Jesus, it was them who spat and laughed at Jesus as He carried the cross through the streets. I don't know about you, but this is where I start pointing my finger, and saying "Those hard headed Jews, how could they be so foolish?"

Maybe the idea of being cut to the heart does not seem applicable to today, since none of us were in those crowds. But this realization, the dagger going all the way in, is when we open our eyes to the fact though we were not their on the day an innocent man was unjustly murdered, but our shouts were heard amongst that crowd. Our shouts were our weakness and shame, failures and shortcomings. Simply, it was because of my sin, your sin, that the final offering had to be made - Jesus.

I can honestly say that I have been cut to the heart now. Fell to my knees in the realization that I had been in that crowd shouting for the execution of the one that breathed life into me. The people that stood and heard Peter speak had been waiting their whole lives, the Jewish people as a whole had been waiting more then 700 years for the Messiah. The people stood in the crowd and finally wrapped their heads around the fact of what they had just done, and they were broken, cut to the heart.

The people in that crowd would have had an intricate knowledge of Jesus and His significance, and with out the knowledge the power of the sacrifice of Jesus will never really be grasped. I challenge you to study and learn, in the hopes that you can grasp the significance of the One who created it all, giving it all up.

This is not an idea to dwell on, simply a step in the long path of discipleship. The more we grasp the more we celebrate for who the Son sets free is free indeed!

Waiting again for a visa!

It has been awhile since our last update because I wanted to wait to see the results of Grace's visa application. We were surprised to see that Grace was denied a tourist visa this afternoon. This is very frustrating since the whole application process is a real pain, and now we are going to have to do it again, as well as get more documents. We hoped that what we provided the right information but apparently it was not good enough, so we will try again. That means at the earliest we will know by early July if she can get a visa. All our plans are delayed again, so please pray with us the second time we will get the visa.

The church has been going well, and we had an excited service last Sunday, with lots of new faces! A few of the mothers from the church were able to go to a woman's retreat last week and they had a wonderful time. I had to drive since another driver could not make it, so I had the time off and enjoyed the lovely scenery. Grace sat in on the sessions and joined in the activities which was nice for her, as well as the opportunity to spend time with the mothers in a special place. There were many encouraging testimonies, and I could see how much each of the mothers enjoyed the time, for sure it was the first time in their lives they had a chance to get away with just the girls! I also spent a lot of time talking with one of the volunteers, Henry, who is professional counselor. He really encouraged me about what we are doing with our church, and opened my eyes to some of the beauties that I was not seeing right in front of me.

Sometimes whether I like it or not, I tend to gauge success on numbers, and bigger is better. Though I don't try it's almost natural, and having a small church does not give the same personal fulfillment as a big one. It's a bad mindset, but I think most people, especially westerns can agree this is our common thinking. Henry reminded me the beauty in small things, and that I have been very blessed to see genuine change and walked through the good and bad times with many young people and mothers. Think about how many times we actually see people genuine change around us, let alone being part of that change. I realized again that small is beautiful, and was very encouraged from my talks with Henry and his great incites about the church and ministering in the Philippines. Grace and I met with him and his wife on Tuesday to see if they could partner with us and help out our church. We had a great talk, and now him and his wife will continue mentoring us! We are both very excited because they are both doctors, and have a counseling clinic and help with small churches. The timing is definitely perfect since we are newlyweds and are both in ministry.

I will make sure to keep everyone posted with new developments in regards to Grace's visa. I was hoping to be able to send a very happy email about coming home with Grace, but if not now that it is not the right time, and in the right time we will be their. In my next update I will make an important announcement about a change in my role here. The details are still being worked out, but it is a very exciting development so please pray with us.