Quote For the Week

Am traveling with my family, and Internet access may be sparse.
But just wanted to leave you with a quote that I saw at my friend’s church.

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”    Antoine De Saint-Exupery

I Have Decided…

Something is wrong with me (besides the obvious). And I can safely say that many probably will struggle with this too.
In Sunday School, we used to sing this song. It was easy, short and simple.
It’s just two phrases.
I have decided to follow Jesus 3 times and then it ends with “no turning back, no turning back.”

And at times when I am able to step back and reflect on everything that is life, I realize that I have failed in both accounts.
There are plenty of times when I am turning back and trying to retrace my steps and yearning for a distant part in my life, when knowing that God is leading me to a certain direction.
And “I have decided to follow Jesus?”
More often than not, I believe that it’s me making Jesus follow me.
I loved playing follow the leader as a kid. But even as a kid, I wasn’t good at that game, unless I was the leader. That’s sort of reflected in my faith. It’s easier to have Jesus follow me than me actually following Jesus.

But I am reminded everyday, through family, through friends, through strangers, through church members, through nature that God is always within me, and that God’s grace continues to change and transform me.
And each day, I remind myself to the commitment that I have joyfully, fearfully, and with all that I am and have decided to follow Jesus, because that’s the only way to live life.

Going With the Flow

I found a little Mead Composition notebook in my office. It’s a bit under a year old. I don’t know what I was thinking or doing when writing in the book. It’s not a journal and it’s not my sermon ideas. I honestly think I was writing down ideas for a book. And apparently, I had a lot to write. And also apparent, I have a bad memory, since this is about a year old…

Anyway, as I go through this book for future sermon ideas, I figured I would elaborate on the ideas in this notebook on my blog.

I had this shirt when I was in high school. It had the Christian fish facing one way, and a bunch of other fishes facing the opposite direction and big ‘cool’ letters it said “Go Against the Flow.”
I actually kinda liked the shirt, but I never wore it in public, unless I was playing football or basketball, because I was embarrassed to wear anything Christian, or anything that would out me as a Christian. I remember being a Christian was embarrassing enough as a teen, but also to be a pastor’s kid? Eeesh.
The shirt was basically saying Romans 12, that we shouldn’t really conform to the worldly standards and that we should not be of this world. (On a side note, I don’t think I really like all those NOTW bumper stickers [Not of this World]. It makes us and Jesus sound like aliens. On second that, Alien Jesus is kinda cool… )
The shirt was telling anyone who would read it to be counter cultural.
I guess that’s a good message to try to live by.
However, being in California for a year, listening to pastors talk about their ministry, hearing struggles of my friends and viewing the struggles of my own, I realized something. This “Go Against the Flow” slogan is supposed to be applied to our secular world, I’m assuming. But more and more, I think we also apply this slogan in our spiritual lives, even if we don’t intend to.
One evening, I was having a conversation with my dad as he was about to head out to the East Coast to be a keynote speaker at a seminar for other Korean pastors. He said that his message was this: Ministry is very easy.
Ministry, easy?  Not only that, but he added “very.” I began to wonder what the reception of his thesis would be in a room full of Korean pastors of immigrant churches.
But he continued on.
Ministry is easy, but it’s us that make it very complicated and very difficult. We complicate things. We overthink things. We underthink things. We make it difficult and complicated.

I kind of got what my dad meant, because I do it all the time. Instead of following God’s will, I choose the other path that makes more sense to me. Instead of going with the flow of God’s love, grace, mercy and will, I often spend time digging another irrigation route because it seems easier that way. Instead focusing on doing God’s will, I find myself, often, focusing on how to please certain persons. Instead of going to Nineveh, I find myself on the boat to Tarshish. I often make my own will and my own way and sit and pray that God will bless my decisions, instead of praying for ‘thy will be done.’
Then I find myself lamenting and asking God why things are so difficult and why I am struggling so much.
Within these past few months, I have really been discovering the meaning of seeking God’s kingdom first when it comes to ministry. I am learning once I do that, everything else will fall into place. The hardest part is, of course, trusting in God and trusting that God’s got all of this.

I am learning to let myself go, and going with the flow when it comes to God.

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

Triple D is one of my favorite shows on TV. It has made my DVR list and Guy Fieri is one of my favorite personalities on the Food Network (followed by Bobby Flay).

I always feel like I gain a couple of pounds just by watching that show. The food looks great, and I hope that one of these days, there’ll be a restaurant featured near my area so that we can go visit.

But there’s always one thing that comes to mind when I watch DDD. Well, two. The first one is: Guy always only takes a couple of bites of the food. And he has different plates. What happens to the rest? I hope they don’t waste.

The second thought that runs through my mind is that these restaurants are the dream and vision of the owners. In a couple of BBQ places Guy visited, he asked questions like, how do you when it’s done? And the owner replied, “Oh, I just know.”
So then, what happens to the owner when s/he passes away?
Would the food quality be consistently great? Will there be a difference between the taste of the food in transition of old owner to new? Will the new owner know all the secrets of the former?
Will the restaurant still be able to survive?

I guess it’s not that much different from a church that solely is based on the pastor’s vision.
What happens to the church when the pastor leaves?
What can we as ministers and lay people in the UMC do to make transitions between one pastor and  another as smooth as possible?

I’m Baaack!

We came back from our work team to Florida.
I have lots of hopes and more prayers for our wonderful group of youth.
I also get to take the next 2 weeks of the regather, regroup, renew and refresh myself.
I’m looking forward to time away from the daily flow of ministry, and really look back at my first year here at Mesa Verde.

My posts probably will not be as often, but it will not be as sparse as it has been.

It’s just good to be back at home.

One More Day…

On Sunday, 13 youth and 5 adults (including my wife and me) are leaving for Florida for our summer work team. 
I have a lot of things running through my mind.
I have no idea what to expect but am praying for everything and anything. 
I’m more anxious than nervous.

I just checked weather.com and it’s going to be stupidly hot during that week.

I’m sure that a good time will be had by all, but I don’t want them to just have a good time.
That’s not the point or the purpose.
I just pray that God’s presence will be in their hearts as we serve the people we come in contact with.

David or Absalom?

A little while ago, I was reflecting on team ministry, the issues that come up within a team, and how jealousy and envy tears apart a team.
Jealousy can make us do crazy stuff.
I can argue that the Pharisees were jealous of Jesus and that’s what drove them to kill him.
I can argue that jealousy had a part in destroying the (always overrated) Lakers with Shaq and Kobe.
And I blogged about Saul and what jealousy did to him with David.

But what if we found ourselves in the position of David?
Doing no wrong, but seemingly attacked in everything we do?
I think it’s safe to say that many of us have found ourselves in that situation.
I know I have. I’m doing everything right. I’m doing everything I’m told to do. I’m getting a positive feedback, but the powers to be, they’re just not happy with me.

I knew an associate pastor who had a miserable time working with the senior. She was a great speaker and the church really liked her, but she always clashed with the senior. Maybe it was a difference of personalities.
Slowly, all her ideas are being shot down, and her responsibilities are either being taken away or the senior pastor was micromanaging them.

At this point, I feel that we have two options. We can react like David or we can react like Absalom.
The friend unfortunately took the Absalom route.

When Absalom was planning his coup d’état, he would stand outside of the city gates and talk to people who wanted to see the king. Absalom would respond: “hey, man. (Okay obviously this is an interpretation.) What you’re saying, that’s a legit problem. You need to have your voice heard. But, the king won’t be able to hear you. You know, if I were a judge, I’d make sure that you and everyone else would have their voices heard, and not only that, get the justice that you deserve!”
Eventually Absalom “stole the hearts of men of Israel.”

Have you ever met with a parishioner and their sole purpose of meeting you was to complain about another staff member?
When there’s tension between you and that staff member, I’d like to think that there is enormous temptation to bite on the bait and start agreeing with parishioner or offering up your own complaints.

I know of another associate pastor who went around visiting church members and agreeing with their negative comments about the senior pastor, and even offering up his own and having complaint sessions about the pastor. Eventually, the associate left the church and took half of the church with him to plant a new one. 

I remember Paul’s charge for to ‘keep unity’ and I think that’s something we should always keep in mind. 

 

David on the other hand, he refused to lay a hand on Saul. There are two incidents where David could have very easily killed Saul, but David said that he will never lay a finger on God’s anointed. 
Maybe this is an old school way of looking at this, or even a fundamentalist way… but no matter how incompetent a senior pastor may be, I think it’s wise to remember that it was God who placed him/her there.
Even though David never laid a hand on Saul, things eventually played out and David still got what was given to him.

I think it’s the wiser choice to follow David’s path.
There’s no need to add gasoline to the fire by voicing out your displeasure just to feel vindicated.
And believe you me, that last sentence was meant for me more than anyone else.

American Values

Getting information together for a future sermon series, perhaps. 
Any comments would be welcomed and appreciated.

 

What characteristics/ideals/ideas do you think we as Americans value?

Is It Wrong

is it wrong to not look forward to Annual Conference?
Or worse, dread it?

The Cal-Pac

I don’t think it’s been a secret that I’ve been frustrated with the whole United Methodism and Cal-Pac.
And a bit overly critical of it at times here and there.
I think it’s easy to look at the entire system and see the huge flaws that exist.

But this past week, I’ve met with a couple of pastors here and there, all from the Santa Ana District.
And I left each meetings with a sense of hope and even a sense of pride, that it’s not as bad as the overall picture may lend itself to be.

There’s a small group of pastors who are not settling for less and who really are rethinking the whole church concept. There are a group of pastors who want to teach people to be the church and not just do church.
And it’s always a small group of people that change the overall group.

Let’s just make a splash in the name of God without worrying about the outcome or the success rate.