New Year 2015

Still with one foot hanging onto Christmas and the other being dragged towards the New Year, it's time to reflect on this last year and look forward to what God will be doing in the next.

I've decided that I will go ahead with the focus of  "Telling of His Wonderful Deeds" reflecting Psalm 40:5 "O LORD my God, you have performed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them."   It will stretch me; but more importantly, it will hopefully bring glory to God for all that He has done.

So, what better way to start than to reflect on what He has done this year.  As I look back on the year, there are a few things that stand out:

• In some ways, my friendships have been shaken and put through the fire, and I have learned from the LORD what true friendship should look like.  What started as painful and feeding my fear of rejection, turned out to be life-changing growth and knowledge.   Praise God for the mysterious ways in which He works.  Best of all, I can appreciate "what a friend we have in Jesus"!
• I can't think of this past year and not have the work "remodel" pop into mind.   I was finally able to get started on what I have been planning for pretty much the last seven years.   The time was finally right; and I thank God for helping me through it all so far.   It didn't go perfectly; there were quite a few challenges, and I had to learn and grow a lot through this as well.  But, it's all part of life, and I'm pleased with the progress that has been made.   I thank God for His protection and His guidance.
• While things at work and church, and with family have not really changed in any dramatic ways; I will not take for granted what He is doing in those areas either.   He has blessed me, given me the privilege of serving Him; and I believe that He is using me.   
• I did try to live out my area of focus on "Loving Others".    My hope is that others were able to see God's reflection through my life, as I tried to love them as He has loved me.  Amen.

2-Jan:  For New Years, I once again watched "Facing the Giants".  It really is an inspirational and motivating movie.  This time, I made note of some of the stand out lines from the movie:

• We should "prepare the fields" to receive the rains that we are praying for God to send, whenever He may send them in His Time
• Our actions always follow our beliefs
• It's not about us, God put is here to honor Him with our actions and attitudes; so we are to give God our best and all we have and leave the results to Him
• Stay humble but confident
• God can do whatever He wants however He wants

I also watched a movie on Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  I respect him for his sacrifice and martyrdom; but, while I expected to be inspired by the story of his life and actions, his being the author of "The Cost of Discipleship", the movie may have recounted most of the facts, but it didn't seem to capture the heart.   Though, it was interesting that while I expected a strict and rigid theologian, it was nice to see the movie depict Bonhoeffer as a charismatic fun happy person.  Off hand, I probably wouldn't be able to quote anything he said; but, overall, to me, he would represent someone who stood firm in his convictions to the end.

That is something I would do well to follow.   I must admit that I ended the year badly in 2014; and I felt that in the New Year, I had to ask God to pull me out of the dark pit I had stumbled into.  I feel like I'm back on the right path, and have new resolution to not be knocked down and pulled off the path again; but, I was reminded in devotions last night from 1 Timothy 4:8, that it's not so much discipline that should be our focus, but rather godliness.   Laboring and striving are not end goals in themselves; it is for the purpose of being holy just has He is Holy.  That is my hope, goal, and desire - to be like Christ.

4-Jan:  The sermon today was so apropo.  We were reminded that David was not doing what he was supposed to be doing at the time he fell into sin with Bathsheba; and that in this story, it is Uriah who exemplifies what it means to be a "man after God's own heart" and who stands firm.  Pastor Rory encouraged us to repent of our past failures and to lay all our brokenness literally at the foot of the cross.  I do commit to walk in His Ways and to seek purity and holiness in my life.
My friend and her family came to visit today.   I must admit that she and her husband do much by way of helping me stay current on technology.   It was nice of her with her kids to pray for me right before she left.  That was special.   I also do see that with all her kids and the demands on her time, it is hard to have "quality" time with her.   I will just keep her in prayer and utilize what time we do have and to continue to share through whatever interactions we can.

5-Jan:  So, what are some changes planned for this year?   Well, I will get back into reading more Christian books.  And, I will make it a goal to play more piano and memorize at least one more piece of music.  I also plan to finish as much remodeling inside as possible, which would include kitchen, bathroom, painting, and carpet.  Hopefully, by the end of the year, the only thing left will be the backyard.  And then, I can use my home as a place to invite others over and to practice hospitality.

12-Jan:  Something that God seems to have been simmering in mind lately is starting to boil.  Various conversations I've had with the single women in my class have touched my heart with the idea that they may need a special ministering to.   As God has taught me so much and brought me so far in not only being content in my singleness, but actually being able to say that I can rejoice in the benefits of being single; it may be something that I can share with these other women or at least to be an example to them.  Most of my current areas of ministry are things that I have being serving in for awhile now; so, maybe it is time to "stretch" into new areas.   After I finish remodeling, I may be able to have these "singles" over more often, like near holidays (e.g. day after Thanksgiving, New Years, etc) or just for movie night or even just tea.  This is definitely something that I will be praying about.
Some additional thoughts are maybe to start a community group for singles.  We can get-together with a focus on fellowship with a lighter emphasis on teaching.   We could watch a movie with a Christian theme and discuss it afterwards; have a dinner with a topic for conversation (e.g. apologetics question); have a lesson on an interesting topic (e.g singleness, solitude); or go visit a place with a spiritual reference we can discuss afterwards (e.g. Reagan Library, Art Museum and then pull paintings from Bible from internet and discuss, etc)

John 4

The story of the Samaritan woman, or the woman at the well is a very familiar one.  She found the Living Water, never to thirst again.  Jesus "had" to go through Samaria because He had a divine appointment with her.

It was interesting that right after studying the passage in the previous chapter of Jesus's conversation with Nicodemus, we actually see some parallels with this conversation with the Samaritan woman.   Whether it was about being "born again" or the "living water", both did not fully understand the spiritual reference, thinking only about the physical "birth" or "water".   And both are examples of ways to evangelize.  There is a moment when confronted with her sin of having had five husbands and now living with someone who is not her husband, the woman tried to evade by turning to a controversial topic of where to worship.  But, even then, Jesus just pointed her to true worship of the Father in spirit and truth.

And then, He clearly tells her that He is the Messiah, using reference to "I AM".    While John clearly shows Jesus as GOD throughout his Gospel, but, in this passage, he also showed that Jesus was fully man "tired from the journey".  Jesus was fully God and fully Man.

31-Dec: The Samaritan woman effectively gives testimony to those in town, and they come out to see for themselves and believe that He is the "Savior of the World".  This is in contrast to Galilee where Jesus said "a prophet has no honor in his own country".
Jesus had used the analogy of birth and water for spiritual life, and now uses food as an analogy for doing the will and work of God.  In particular, the example given was sowing, reaping, and harvesting souls for eternal life.  In these analogies, we see that the essentials of our spiritual life are regeneration, worship, and doing the work of God.

Christmas'14

Christmas is here, and it's God's Hand at work that helps me to actually be ready for it.  With all that is going on in my life, I can see that it is God who enables me to handle everything that comes my way.   My Christmas decorations up, gifts are wrapped, my house is in as much order as it can be in light of upcoming remodel plans, I'm keeping up with work, church, etc, and I've still been able to put into practice "Loving Others".   Even a problem that I was facing with flies has now been explained by the farming at the nearby Base, which should now go away.  God is Good!

My theme this Christmas is JOY because of all that God has taught me this year about JOY.   Since it is directly related to our awareness of God's Presence in our lives, it makes sense that Christmas is a time of JOY because we celebrate Emmanuel, GOD WITH US!

9-Dec:  Went to the FISH Christmas concert last night.  I really enjoyed it; and it was even better than last year.  A theme that I heard through the sharing and songs was that of HOPE; that no matter what we are going through, we have HOPE that God will carry us through beyond it.

• The AFTERS - They were the ones most focused on getting the audience involved in singing in worship.   "Lift Me Up" and "Broken Hallelujahs" stood out
• Danny Gokey - He was very impressive, both with his singing in his very strong raspy voice, and his powerful delivery of songs.  His pianist was also really good.  I really enjoyed his heartfelt story-telling style, especially on "Tell Your Heart to Beat Again" which brought me to tears.  And his rendition of "Mary Did You Know" was really great.  He shared about losing his first wife, and the touching power of his music shows how pain and loss can really help us to grow and be used of God
• Aaron Shust - He seemed like "thinker" of the group.   He shared some of his thoughts and analysis, read from associated Scripture, etc.   And, I could tell that he was a classically trained pianist, not just playing chords.   Some of his piano arrangements were really beautiful and impressive, especially with "Unto Us", especially where he interspersed some other themes like from Handel's "For Unto Us a Child is Born".  I like how he shared that he started piano lessons at age seven and wanted to quit by eight; but his mom said "no" and look at what he is doing now.

11-Dec:  My message this Christmas is that our joy comes through the presence of Christ, Emmanuel - God with Us.

15-Dec:  My small group Christmas get-together last night was nice.  It was a little more subdued than in previous years, and it may be because of the different mix of people.  I brought a "grey elephant" but it didn't get picked till the end, maybe because people are afraid of large wrapped packages.  Oh well, at least it went to my small group leaders.  I picked up a candle holder and soap dish - at least it's better than glitter tattoo or the aflac duck and monkey stuffed animals.  For the potluck, I made a fruit green salad with spinach, arugala, kiwi, raspberries, blackberries, red onion, walnuts, and dried cranberries, served with a raspberry vinagrette.   The arugala may have been a little too bitter; and the vinagrette with the fruit may have been a little to acidic.  But, the walnuts and cranberries were good.
It was a really busy day yesterday with church, class, and then made lunch for a friend I gave a ride to.  I made a marinated chicken with asian marinade and green onions, which turned out pretty well, served with coucous which soaked up the flavors well, corn, and a mandarin orange spinach salad which was really good with ponzu sauce.
I also picked up our church Bluegrass Gospel concert CD.   It was okay; but probably would've been more fun and had a bigger effect in person.

18-Dec:  I sent my last eCards today, and all my regular cards are done, I think.  Gifts are all done also, except that there are a couple of AV guys that I want to get some small gifts as a token of my appreciation for what they do throughout the year.  So, I have a week to really ponder on and appreciate the true reason for the season.

22-Dec:  I was able to get some Paris Baguette bakery items for the AV guys along with cards.  They actually ate it right away that evening we were running AV, so it worked out well.   For the person who doesn't like sweets, he seemed to like the Garlic Frenchtoast.  Next year, with more time, I think I can give more gifts  to the rest of the worship ministry team; and I can gear it towards the area they serve in (e.g. I have a drum ornament I can give to the drummer)
A person at church I don't know very well gave me a gift box with some individually wrapped cookies.  It was unexpected, which made it even more appreciated.  And a couple people in class gave me gift certificates/cards which made me feel appreciated.  So, I can see how gifts can be special.
And our family was able to take my mom out for her birthday.  We went to the Cantonese noodle place we saw last time.   The food was a little bland, and it was funny that the best dish was a vietnamese vermicelli with grilled pork, which we don't usually order.

27-Dec:  Christmas has come and gone.  We spend so much time and energy preparing for it and looking forward to it; and it seemed to fly by so quickly.  I may not have spent as much time reflecting quietly as maybe I should have; but, from my class study of John, I was instilled clearly with the true meaning of Christmas,  that Christ came as our Savior, to give us the gift of salvation.
Overall, I'm glad that I was able to put up decorations.   I even hooked up some of my lights outside.  I went to my small group get-together, "worked" on AV Team pretty much all day Christmas Eve for services, after working about half day at my actual workplace, and spent Christmas with family.   This year for Christmas dinner, the menu consisted of:

•  Lamb Stew - it turned out well with the radish, carrot, rosemary, garlic, ginger, and lemon
• Breaded Coconut Shrimp - I only baked it and it was actually quite popular, the first dish to be finished
• Marinated Chicken - It was pretty tasty but probably would've been better served together with a vegetable
• Kale w/Fried Onions - I think it was a healthy dish and the buttery taste came out
• Broccolli and Cauliflower - Did a simple roast vegetables with olive oil, salt, and pepper
• Mashed Broccoli and Califlower - It was actually not a bad substitute for mashed potatoes
• CousCous - This was not very popular though I thought it would go better with the lamb than rice
• Bread - Just baked a La Brea Bakery multigrain loaf
• Yams - Just used up leftovers from Thanksgiving; seems like an easy go-to holiday dish that everyone likes

Served with Hot Apple Cider, and then a raspberry creamcheese coffee cake for dessert.

After Christmas, did a little shopping, but didn't really find a lot sales.

28-Dec:  Had my class Christmas-New Years get-together today.  It almost feels like it marks the end of Christmas; but, I do have to still get together with a couple of friends before the end of the year.
My pastor said something today that stood out.... He said that we often don't know how strong our anchor is until we are in the midst of the storm.   My anchor in Christ is the strongest!

Life

LIFE - that's a philosophical topic if ever there was one.  A couple of incidents this week reminded me of the fragility of life.

The wife of a person at church passed away suddenly and unexpectedly.  They had only been married for a few years.  I can only imagine what her daughter is going through, however, I can see how God is watching over her by having provided a step-father to take care of her.

Last night, I once again accidentally locked myself out when I took out the trash.  I was even trying to be careful not to lock myself out; but, it happened anyway.  And to top it off, it was cold and rainy.  It pointed out to me, that sometimes, no matter how hard we try, we can still fail; and so, we always need God in our lives.  I also had to once again remind myself not to "beat myself up too much", and hope that incidents like this just help me to be more compassionate towards others when they "make mistakes".   Also, I wonder if I was meant to go through this to learn about my neighbor's stroke.  When I went over to my other neighbor to make a phone call, they told me our other neighbor had a stroke over Thanksgiving.   Having learned this puts her on my heart to be praying for her.