God doesn’t want us to live monotonous days that blur into one but rather distinct days marked by experiencing, remembering or anticipating something new.
We went to Wilson’s Prom for the first time last week and I fell in love. Squeaky Beach was delightfully pristine, beautiful, and squeaky. The sand was perfect for the boys, and the view was spectacular.
by: Jinha Kim
"But those who drink the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:14
Christmas is a season of gifts – not just toys and presents to our loved ones, but gifts of service, forgiveness, and generosity towards those who aren’t on our “nice” list. It’s also a great time to remember those who are in need. Here’s a list from ADRA in Victoria that may inspire you to get into the holiday spirit:
by: Jinha Kim
"But those who drink the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:14
From Day 31 of “Forty Days Wild” by Pastor Troy Fitzgerald:
“Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “the Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is ful lled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:14-21)
by: Jinha Kim
"But those who drink the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:14
From “Forty Days Wild” by Pr Troy Fitzgerald:
“When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and led both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” (Luke 5:3-8)
Waterskiing didn’t look complicated. “How hard can it really be?” I thought to myself as the group of girls asked me if I knew how to waterski and whether I would like to go.
by: Jinha Kim
"But those who drink the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:14
If you’ve joined our 40 days with Jesus challenge, then you might have read Day 11: Mirroring the Mind of Christ from Pastor Troy Fitzgerald’s book, “Forty Days Wild.” Here is an excerpt from Day 11 that really touched me:
by: Jinha Kim
"But those who drink the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:14
It’s November. In just a few months, 2017 will be history. Christmas is just around the corner and there are still too much to do, but I’m running out of steam.
I’m treading water, but just.
by: Jinha Kim
"But those who drink the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:14
I’m reading a book called “You Are What You Think” by Dr. David Stoop. In his chapter on self-talk and anger, he writes:
Whenever we become angry, we have initial feelings of hurt, frustration, or implied threat that we need to pay attention to. But when we get over those initial feelings, and still feel angry, it is because we are making demands on another person, or a situation.
He gives an example of a a wife who spends all afternoon preparing a very special dinner, but when the husband comes home, he goes straight to the TV and hides in his lounger-chair. It’s been a bad day at work. The wife is angry, thinking “He should know how hard I worked this afternoon! He should make more effort to come home in a better mood!” Dr. Stoop writes:
There’s an ‘obscene’ word in some of those statements, which ties in to the basic cause of anger. That word is ‘should’ [or shouldn’t]. Every time you feel frustration or hurt that leads to anger, you can connect your anger to the ‘should’ in your Self-Talk… [or] words like must, gotta, ought to, and so forth. They all do the same thing – they trigger anger. And they do this because we are making a demand on a situation or person – a demand that we cannot effectively guarantee will be met. And that’s the source of our anger… when we set up these demands within our Self-Talk, we create an emotional tension within that takes the form of anger.
So the key to defusing our anger is to identify the demands we make and to change them into statements of desires. For example, the wife can change her Self-Talk to say “I wish he’d notice all the work I’ve done. I don’t like the way he acts when he comes home. Perhaps I can talk with him about that.” Expressing the feelings in this way does not mean we get what we want, but it reduces the tension and gives us emotional energy to find creative ways to deal with the situation.
By changing our attitude from one of demand to one of desire, we can focus on how we can achieve our wishes rather than fuming in our unmet expectations. We can pray for wisdom and guidance as we examine our desires and recalibrate our expectations. We can take time to listen, understand and empathise before passing judgment on others.
“ Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil… Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:26-32
by: Jinha Kim
"But those who drink the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:14
I don’t like being cold.
So when we went to Mt. Buller a few weeks ago on a mini-getaway, while Roy taught Micah how to ski I was pretty miserable.
The wind blew the snow into our faces and Joshua and I decided to find shelter indoors.
Even though it’s September the weather in Melbourne is still dismally cold and rainy. It’s enough to make optimists wonder, “Will spring come again?”
We Melbournians like to joke that there are four seasons in one day in Melbourne – but as far as I can tell these days, it’s just winter.
It’s amazing to me that someone looked at all the snow and cold and thought, “Hey, let’s make a game out of this!” and invented skis … and ice skates … and snowboards … and toboggans (my new favourite word – so much cooler than “sled”) – so that they could stay out in the cold even longer and enjoy the frigid temperatures.
I guess when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, and when life gives you winter, you make … winter sports.
It reminds me of a children’s rhyme:
Whether the weather be cold,
Or whether the weather be hot.
We’ll weather the weather,
Whatever the weather,
We’ll weather it,
Like it or not!
It also reminds me of Paul, the convert to Christianity who became its greatest advocate – he truly received every circumstance and made the most of it; he sang when he was imprisoned (Acts 16:25) and he gave thanks when he was weak, sick, insulted, distressed (2 Corinthians 12:10).
He said, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:11-13).
Not all of us are like Paul – some of us don’t want to speed downhill on treacherously slippery snow to our deaths strapped onto what look like torture devices and actually pay someone a lot of money to do so. Some of us don’t want to praise when we’re sick or hurting.
But perhaps we can toboggan on a gentle slope and actually enjoy it. Or pray through the difficulty and find peace. Or cry with a friend and actually feel better through the shared vulnerability and rawness.
So while I’d still like the weather to be continuously fine, at least there are ways to weather the seasons of life – through connecting with God and others, we may even learn to be content.
by: Jinha Kim
"But those who drink the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:14
On Saturday Sue introduced us to The Piano Guys’ mashup The Mission/How Great Thou Art featuring two of the Seven Wonders of the World: the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Brazil and the Iguana Falls in Argentina. It’s a stunning music video not only because of the amazing videography of the 30-metre statue of Jesus overlooking a 700-meter cliff as well as the 2.7 km stretch of 275 waterfalls, but also because of the message it emotes through sound and sight.
As the harmony of the cello and piano soar through the awesome space, one cannot help but feel and think: this is worship – to lift up one’s soul to the Creator and confess, “How great thou art” – because He created such beauty in nature, and because He created us to enjoy such beauty and to respond through music and other forms of expressions that we call praise.
But true worship is inspired by more than beauty or blessings.
Praise does not come merely from hearts full of gratitude; praise can flow from hearts full of pain and anguish.
Job was a man who lost everything in one day – all his wealth and the lives of all his children. After hearing the terrible news, the Bible records:
“Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.’ In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing” (Job 1:20-22 NIV).
Paul and Silas were beaten and imprisoned for preaching about Jesus; but the Bible says, “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them” (Acts 16:25 ESV).
Jesus was crucified; yet He quoted Psalm 22, which starts with “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” but ends in “It is finished” and is full of refrains like, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you” (Psalm 22:22 ESV).
Praise can come from pain when we cling to God in our suffering and acknowledge that we don’t know the end from the beginning and that we still believe in God’s goodness and mercy, despite the feelings and circumstances before our eyes.
As I re-watched the music video of the Piano Guys performing “How Great Thou Art,” a comment caught my eye that led me to discover that the pianist’s 21-year-old daughter had tragically died in a hiking accident in 2016. But Jon Schmidt, the pianist, continues to perform – no, praise: “I’m still grateful… we need to remember all the of the wonders, all the times that God did answer our prayers in the way we wanted to” (from “Frankly Faraci”).
It was an inspiring reminder that while we may be sick, broke, lonely, and hurt, we can still sing:
“And when I think of God, His Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing He bled and died to take way my sin.
Then sings my soul, my Saviour, God, to thee – how great thou art… how great thou art
Then sings my soul, my Saviour, God, to thee – how great thou art… how great thou art!
Jesus is always the reason we can still praise – even in our pain. For “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
by: Jinha Kim
"But those who drink the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:14