Are We There Yet?

No.

Boom chika boom boom boom boom.

Follow along.

Dove

I am updating in a very unconventional way. I am quite excited for what is ahead of me - hopeful for what is yet unseen.

We shall see or we shall sow the seed. Regardless, God is so good. Our God is an awesome God. Our God is LOVE. love. love.

Boom!

You don't walk in someone else's shoes. You walk in God's presence and anointing. Walk with Jesus.

You can't live off someone else's passion. You live only because of Jesus' passion. Suffer for Jesus.

If you truly realize the Joy that is set before you, all of that won't matter. It will all be worth it because He says, "You are worth it!"

So keep on.

God starts the fire. It's up to you to keep it burning bright.

Hot

On my way to church one Sunday morning

I thought about how good God's been to me

Then I tried to number and count my blessings

They were too numerous you see!

Gospel choir was so fun. Will we be singing like that in heaven?

I am still recovering from food poisoning. You know your stomach is weak when you have two FP stories on one blog page... It's time to train - little by little.

So I'm watching my diet and being cautious of what I eat (i.e. resisting all my cravings) and in comes Danny back from Ralphs with temptation in his hands.... omg. I now present:

BAM!

Cheetos® Giant Puffs Flamin' Hot Cheese Flavored Snacks!

The picture is big for a reason. I only got to try one, but once I finally got one Giant Puff in my mouth I had to wrestle it down to submission. The sensation was something between eating fire and rock, which seems to melt away like ice cream, but treacherously has just enough corn syrup solids to keep its form in tact in an effort to cover up the presence of autolyzed yeast extract and to tease the mouth to bite into the ball of monosodium glutamate. I'm starting to feel battle scars in my mouth, not to mention the actual drooling it causes. This is what Fire Mario's fireballs probably look like.

Eat this!

mmhmm. just as I imagined.

Why. Whydoyoudoit.

I remember growing up I used to be addicted to hot cheetos. So addicted, in fact, that mom had to hide bags (yes plural) from me before dinner. Those were some tough times, but what can you expect from a School of Hard Knock graduate. Now even away from the shadow of mom's wings I realize how precious it is... college you've been good to me.

Less than one more quarter. It's bittersweet. More sweet though because now I'm diving into big waters. I can start saying things like, "This will be the last bag of hot cheetos I eat on the last Thursday of the the last 3rd week of the last quarter of my last year in college."

Catch me world!

Will I splash or will I crash? Okay that was a little cheesy. (been waiting for that all post long).

Regardless, my only aim is to spit hot fire for the

'true One

want to make you new One

the only begotten Son.'

Fire fall down.

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

It Blowed Up

I got food poisoning again. What the pho. Something tells me I won't be eating pho for a long time. Vomiting was extremely painful especially the 5th time in a row. It got to a point where I knew I had to relieve myself but didn't want to because I was so exhausted. "Please, no more." So I just sat in front of the toilet in the middle of the night praying that God will take this cup (of pho) away from me.

And then just barfed it all out. Man, talk about instant 6 packs... again (6+6?), inside and out.

All this got me thinking...

Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.

Proverbs 26:11

Dayumm~ not yummy at all. That's like ouch in my heartache (pronounced heart-'H').

... thinking about the pain involved for correction (in this case, for my body to correct itself) - instant satisfaction is never ever worth anything.

'We are all diagnosed with a terminal illness called sin and it has a 100% success rate that leads to death.' Whatchu gonna do about it? (Actually Pastor Paul's quote was something like "We are all diagnosed with a terminal illness called life and has a 100% success rate and our only cure is death.") But for the sake of saking the sake of... we'll let it be.

Here are the first words of Jesus in the gospel of Mark:

"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."

Mark 1:15

The system kicks out the sin as you vomit it out. Now imagine eating that crap all over again... every... single... time. (fyi: majority of food poisoning is due to intake of fecal matter - yuck.) Consequences peoples. Consequences.

But

There is peace like a river.

There is joy like a fountain.

There is love like an ocean.

There is blood that was shed for our sins.

Let's keep swimming.

ABC to XYZ

If you are living for yourself, you've lost your mind.

Live for God. Live for others.

Love God. Love people.

-

Harbor Retreat was very cool beans!

Here are some thoughts:

Many people say it's not about what you believe. It's about what you do and how you live that matters. What they forget is that YOU DO WHAT YOU BELIEVE. FAITH proceeds ACTIONS. What you believe makes you who you are. "Christian attributes" don't save you. Your faith in Jesus Christ is salvation. FAITH and LOVE. How?

Organized religion? Far from it. It's called faith in action. How do you expect to obey an invisible God if you can barely get along with people right next to you? The church is and should be the greatest tangible example to the world.

So then why do you take the easy way out? At the first sign of trouble, you run away. The amount of difficulties has now become proportional to the amount of empty seats.

But we don't want to look bad so we justify ourselves and say, "What does it matter? That's just how it is. I don't know. Whatever goes. It's bad, but not that bad. What can you do about it?" We forcibly make short ends meet and we don't realize that the wires have disconnected from the socket.

But Grace extends where we fall short. It's time to realize that God will never 'disconnect' you. It's time to realize that the power is already there. It's the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. That power lives in us by the Holy Spirit. He says YOU CAN. He says YOU ARE. Free to love. Free to live abundantly. This is life folks. Unity in diversity - spelled out in church community. FAITH and LOVE.

"Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit."

First step. Gospel. Last step. Gospel.

Odyssey with God

There are times when I search fervently and chase after the supernatural. These are times when I am disappointed. I look for things in the physical and neglect the things in the spiritual. These are also times of hope and encouragement when God reminds me of who I am in His love. He gives me the strength to keep moving forward.

This morning I received my allowance in an unusually small envelope.

He says to me, "You're not even trying to find a job are you?"

To that I reply, "God provides!"

And we both smile.

Dad goes back to the his room to consult with mom in choosing his tie. I check the contents of the recycled envelope and I begin to calculate the tithe. It takes a while for me realize that I just need to cross out the zeros. Math and I had a falling out of some sort, but I digress. I turn the envelope over and I see messy scribbles in Korean. It reads "Child Evangelism Fellowship" and on the bottom in light pencil - "Pastor's car."

-

It's easy to for me to forget that the life I have is supernatural. The breath I breathe is a miracle. In my good times and bad times, my attitude should never be one of apathy or discontentment. There should never be a time when I simply shrug my shoulders and say "whatever" because that would be to reject and neglect who I am in Jesus Christ and what I have received from Him. When I say God is my provider I say it sitting with the family around the dining table with empty bowls watching a father's tear fall on empty plates in place of where the food should be. When I say money comes last and doesn't even place in God's kingdom I say it with a roof over my head and a bed to lay my head. When I say live only for God I say it holding the hand of a man in a ragged suit with one ragged bible in his other hand and a family by his side who is filled with love, joy, and peace. When I say only Jesus I say it with visions of grandeur so steadfast that I know I'll set a Gospel fire with this torch from heaven and change the world.

And I remind myself,

Why wouldn't a supernatural God work in a supernatural way? I want to be intimate with a God who is LOVE. Sins are meant to be dealt with, so deal with them quick. Jesus breath. Jesus blood. Jesus resurrection. Jesus revival. Social construct and unity is meaningless without Spirit and truth and without God's purpose at heart. Be careful what I see and touch. Don't let the wrong kind of fire suffocate my dreams. I want to pray for the sick and see them healed. I want to reap the harvest and live for God's glory. I want my words to speak of Love and point all hearts to Jesus. I want to see His peace and restoration in broken lives. I want my experiences grounded in God's Word. I want my spiritual eyes to open wide. I want the power of God to flow though me. I want God's love to overflow. Stop the talking. Show me what you got with your actions. See me fall off the ledge and see if I'm still alive. Offensive. Defensive. Mindful of others, yet only mindful of God. LOVE. It's time to press on.

-

I hear dad coming out of the room. The tie has been chosen. I don't like it, but that's because I have no fashion sense at all. I turn over the envelope one last time and I give all my thanks and praise to my Heavenly Dad. I say bye to my earthly dad. Kisses and hugs to mom and me.

Then he leaves for work in his brand new Odyssey.