Christmas is Over? Wait? What? Christmas is done… that is it? Well… actually, according to the Christian reformed calendar Christmas doesn’t necessarily end on the day after Christmas day. It will continue for the next couple of weeks. So, the most important question for me is… if Christmas is continuing in the reformed calendar, that means I do not have to put away any Christmas decorations until January 7th . And that is a relief. I love Christmas… and I love all the preparations for Christmas, like decorating the church and the house, buying gifts for family and friends. But what I do not like is taking down decorations, putting them away and now having to rearrange the house. It is just a pain in the butt. But eventually these decorations will have to come down… not now… but soon… maybe… I wonder how long I can keep the Christmas decorations up? I think the longest I ever had Christmas decorations up was right up to Easter when I was living in Long Island New York. And I think I had it up the whole time was because my neighbor across the street had his up that whole time. And my thought process was simple, “Well if he has his still up, then it is ok that I have mine up.” I started to take it down when I saw him taking his down. I knew I should have put it away sooner, but to be honest I was lazy and didn’t want to face the hassle of putting away decorations and find space once again to put them somewhere. But I do not think I will wait until April to take down the Christmas decorations. Even though I already see people taking their Christmas decorations and displays down, I think I still have several more weeks to do so, before the neighborhood starts questioning my mental state. To be honest…. Though... Another reason, other than laziness, that I don’t want to take down the Christmas decorations is because I love Christmas, and I feel that if I take down the decorations than Christmas ends and that Christmas spirit just dies. I don’t want Christmas to just go away. Christmas is the best thing about winter, isn’t it? I mean without Christmas it would be the darkest, most depressing month of the entire year! All December is cloudy, gets dark around 4:30pm, windy, cold, and dry. Christmas is the flavor of the month! Christmas gives us carols, lights, bright colors, celebration, and Christ. Christ is born on that day, which means that God is with us in the darkest, bleakest parts in our life. He brings light to the darkness, chases away the clouds, and restores our dry bones, and parched souls. So… can we wait to take down the decorations! It doesn’t have to be now. And even when you do decide to take down the decorations, remember that the spirit of Christmas, the Spirit of Christ is with you throughout the darkest, coldest, windiest winter nights. So may Christmas be with you for a few more days!
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Anyone watch the Lion King? I just recently revisited the movie and honestly the story is compelling to see the journey that a lion cub must take to be the king. That little cub Simba had to go through every kind of challenge to be the Lion King. And maybe this isn’t too far from reality, and a metaphor for encouragement for us. And it might not be so surprising to know that the chances that a lion cub would become the king of a lion pride is quite low, and possibly near impossible. Really only about 12% of lion cubs even make it into adult life, which is wild to think. When lions are born, they are born blind and deaf. You are completely helpless, and it isn’t only until one month lion babies are able to run. The mother of the cubs must leave the pride to give birth and have her full attention on the cubs to give them a possible chance of survival. Cubs will only have about 50% chance of surviving their first year and it doesn’t get easier after the first year. The chance of survival through the second year of birth decreases at about 20% and only then12% will make it to adulthood. Lions are born in an environment that is violent, harsh, and at any moment these lions can be expired before they can even become an apex predator. When you are a lion in its first couple of years born, you can get killed by hyenas, territorial elephants, eagles, and are more prone to getting diseases. But the number one threat to the survival of young lions are other lions. 25% of lions will get killed by other lions. So, once you make it past childhood and the awkward teenage years, you become a young adult. This is the time you must leave the protection and comfort of your pride. You must go on your own to make your own pride. And being born in a hostile environment that preys on the weak and solo, you have little chance of finding any kind of success. In these “alone” years young adult lions will find themselves in the wastelands of the wilderness. Living off a land that is undesirable to other apex predators. But these are the years that young lions hone in on their craft and skill, and the years that they have to learn and be smart. Young lions learn not to cross over to other territories and in this time the chance of survival increases when the young lions will meet a group of other roaming nomad lions like themselves. They find in each other protection, friendship, and cooperation in being more successful in the art of hunting. Young lions will be vulnerable on their own, but many times they just need only one companion to gain success. But if a young lion is able to navigate the loneliness, not cross into other predators territory and learned to survive in areas that aren’t too suitable to live, all those things that a young lion go through, can make them stronger. Sometimes to be the King the young lions have to go through the struggle. Now, let’s look at Jesus, you know… the King of kings. Look at everything He had to go through. His birth, which we will celebrate soon, had its enormous challenges. His mother being a teenager, father nearly leaving them, traveling while pregnant, then coming to be born outside in an animal stable, and only to be celebrated with a few, alone and isolated. And the struggle for Jesus does not end there. Because after Jesus was born, his family and Him had to run away to Egypt to escape Herod’s wrath and insanity. Remember, Herod went nuts and ordered every child killed three years or younger. But Jesus, soon to be the King of kings, survived the purge and genocide, returned back to the land, and showed everyone what the true King shall do, and speak. The true King of king’s power is not on physical might, but on true love, confidence, mercy, and forgiveness. Jesus knew in order to be King, He had to go through the sickness of the world, and the suffering or being misunderstood. But Jesus also survived by finding allies in His disciples to carry out the Good News to all people. And to this day, the law and decree of the King of kings’ reigns with us, who are now welcomed in His Father’s arms. So, just remember, you may find yourself struggling. If you find yourself feeling blind and deaf, and feeling like taking steps forward is difficult, it is ok. Lions of the Savannah had to go through it. If you feel alone, scared, and having a hard time adapting to your surroundings, it is ok, because the soon to be king of the Savannah, the lion, had to go through it as well. As a lion takes are arduous path to be a king, just as Jesus the King of kings did the same, remember you may find yourself in that same path. But have hope, because the things you go through now, you will overcome and find victory over the obstacles. And your victories will only build you up to feel like a king. Just because it’s more expensive doesn’t mean it is better. Well…. sorta…. And what I just said doesn’t necessarily apply to all things. But I guess we need to ask ourselves is it worth the money? So… all my life there are two things in this world I always wanted. One is a very nice, top of the line baitcasting fishing reel and the other is a nice rice cooker. And I must say I am very fortunate enough to have both currently right now. I am a very lucky and blessed person. But… was it worth it? Were the things I bought worth the money? The truthful answer is that I am so happy I can get these two devices in my life, but it really wasn’t necessary. So, all my life since this technology has come out I always wanted one of these kinds of fishing reels. That is a Japanese digital chip baitcasting bass fishing reel. It’s a fishing reel that has a microchip in it that helps manage the speed of the spool on casts to the line coming off the fishing reel. Ok, that’s a complicated explanation. Basically, it helps the angler not get line tangles when you fish and make casts. And bonus, they make a cool noise every time you make a cast. Now these reels don’t really come cheap. But I have had one for over a year and has it helped me catch more fish? Nope. I don’t feel that I caught more fish with this expensive reel compared to my other more affordable fishing reels. But I found some advantages for this expensive reel. For buying this expensive reel I noticed that I could cast a little bit further than my other reels, using the same rod. Also, it is much easier to cast into the wind, creating less line tangles. It is also much easier to cast light fishing lures than my other reels, which is a big advantage for me. So, is spending more money on a more expensive reel worth it? Yes, because it might make your time fishing a little bit easier, but also if you expect to catch more fish than you do with cheaper reels, it isn’t worth it. But enough of that stuff, now probably the most important expensive item purchased because it is about the family/s wellbeing; that is our expensive rice cooker. And in our family, we do not go through a day without eating rice. A rice cooker is an absolute essential in our household. However, for a long time we have been using just a cheap cooker, and it does what it’s supposed to do… that is cook rice. However, the disadvantage is that we cannot cook as much rice because that cheaper rice cooker will make the rice dry and go bad if we don’t eat it within a couple of days. So, what if we get an expensive top of the line rice cooker. So, we did. Was it worth it? Once again… mixed reviews. It does what it is supposed to do, which is cook rice and nice that we can cook a ton of rice and it will keep it warm and ready to eat for the week. Not much waste of food, which is great. But the more expensive rice cooker has so many buttons and gadgets that sometimes gets in the way of just wanting to cook rice. It talks to us and has so many kinds of settings that if you press the wrong button, I don’t know what it will do. Sometimes, simple is just better. For example… I like this rice cooker, but now it is talking to us in Chinese, and I don’t understand what it is saying at all, and my wife and I have no idea how to change it back. It’s a bit annoying. I am afraid of fiddling around with the pother buttons in the case that is changes other settings which we got used to. So… we got an expensive rice cooker that is talking to us in Chinese, and it may be like that for some time. So, was it worth it? If you are just interested in cooking rice, anything will do, you don’t need the most expensive. However, if you want something that can talk to you in different languages and has a lot of bells and whistles that you might understand down the road… then go for it. So, the point in this article I am writing to you all is simply to say, sometimes the most expensive thing to buy isn’t always going to be the best. We should be happy with living simply and being simple. We do not necessarily need all the added bells and whistles in our life. Be happy with what you have and don’t envy the stuff you don’t have. It’s the same way that we should view our relationship with God. God is with you and loves you the same as all other people. God blesses you as He does with other people too. However, sometimes that blessing looks different. You may notice that some people may have more expensive stuff than you do, but it doesn’t make it better or worse! God knows what you need in your life and even sprinkles in the stuff you might want. God wants you to be satisfied with what you have and what you can do for others. What is essential is that you have the stuff that you already need anyways. Suzie is disappointed in me. And I do not blame her. She refuses to come down and hang out with me while I do work because I didn’t spend enough time with her the past several days to take her outside and play in the creek or backyard. The weather has just been too wet and icky to really do anything. And I just don’t have the time to give her a bath afterwards. So, she has spent the whole morning upstairs in our bedroom, just pouting and huffing and puffing. According to Suzie her play times in the past several days are not enough. And it really isn’t. I should do better, and I promised her on Friday and Saturday it would be better, and my life will hopefully be more balanced soon. But in the meantime… what I am doing for her is not enough. Now you all might have felt like Suzie or maybe feeling like Suzie right now. Suzie is a good dog, always has been, does everything right, listens well, obeys every command, does everything we tell her to do. And her reward should be to get outside and play, but regardless of how well she behaves and everything she has done to please us, her play time never arrives, making her feel like she isn’t doing enough. Breaks my heart that she might feel this way and it breaks my heart that people feel this way as well. Because sometimes no matter how hard we try, no matter how much effort we put into our workplace, social lives, and extracurricular activities, no matter how much passion we put in… the outcomes seems like it is never enough. When you feel like the world is telling you what you do, who you are, and all your passion and ability is never enough it makes you feel unappreciated. Even if you do the right thing, even when you did a little bit extra, and have performed your duty to the highest of levels and yet it feels as if it was all for nothing. In honesty we have all felt experienced what it feels like to be unappreciated. Sometimes talking about it can make you a pariah to others and they shut the door in your face or chose to downplay your feelings. But other times you actually run into sympathetic people how actually care about the way you feel. Hopefully we can all surround ourselves more with those sympathetic people. If you are reading this and feel like you are unappreciated, feel like a pariah in your social, work, school, or community setting, I pray for better days. No one should treat anyone less than anyone else. No one should feel that they are unappreciated. In God’s eyes, you are necessary, important, useful, worthwhile to be cared about and loved. And I encourage anyone who feels like the world is pointing the finger at you, you are feeling unappreciated, you are feeling worthless, talk to someone, anyone. Sometimes just talking to someone that truly cares can help a lot. I know what you might be going through is rough, but I know that it won’t last forever. Sure, it is painful feeling this way now, but I promise you it is temporary, even if your situation and feeling has been going on for a while. You will find freedom; you will find what it means to be loved. Just hang on, keep grinding, talk to supportive people, and pay attention to what God might be giving you so that you can find your rightful place in this world. Gosh darn it… Now after writing this, I better take Suzie out to play so she feels appreciated. God bless you all. After gaining a bit of pounds from Halloween celebrations and candy, quickly had to get ready for Thanksgiving and after gaining more pounds, suddenly we move right into Christmas! Already? Wow, that’s fast, isn’t it? This time of the year moves so darn fast. And for some of us it is exciting, stressful (not in a bad way), busy, and festive! This time of the year from October with Halloween all the way to Christmas and New Years is a time that we surround ourselves with our family. Fun. But this is not the reality for some people. Some people that you see in church, run into while shopping, or in the gym. For some people, this isn’t fun, and this time of the year can be hard… very hard. Because these are people who may not have family around. In our midst we have people who have lost their spouse, and this time of the year can be rough. Now I am not trying to kill your joy and ruin your holiday spirits. But sometimes a reminder and an awareness about the people around us can be part of the holiday spirit. And right now, we are just in the beginning of celebrating Christmas. Some of us have already decorated the house and some of us have already done some holiday shopping or started baking some yummy treats. And again, some of you may be just waiting for this time of the year to pass on by as quickly as possible. But for all of us, this time of the beginning of Christmas season marks to beginning of the Christian theme of Hope. We have begun the advent year and this upcoming Sunday we start week one, which is to embody hope. Hope is about the anticipation of Jesus Christ coming to be born, Emmanuel, Christ with us, Christ to bring the message of God’s love to us all. Hope. Hope is coming to be with us. Hope is embodied not because of the Christmas decorations, the buying of gifts, but it is about wishing that the days to come will give us a sense of freedom. Hope is about freedom. Freedom from stress, hardship, and heartache. Hope is that whatever is causing you stress, hardship, or heartache will somehow find peace in these things, not necessarily the abolishment of these things. Basically, in anything that happens in life, good or bad, we hope to find peace, we hope that our tomorrows are better than our yesterdays. So put your hope in God. What causes you stress, hardship, and heartache will not just disappear, but it will be always with you, and that is not always a bad thing… it is just a reality. So, in those things that make our life difficult we give is to God and find our freedom. We trust in God to be our anchor and guide is our messy lives. Life is never going to be perfect, but if we trust in God, put our hope in God, then we do not have to worry about anything, or dread that unknown, stress, hardship, or heartache. If we truly believe that God will always take care of us, then we have nothing to worry about, nothing to fear. Hope is in God, who gives us freedom and peace. Notice anything different? Look closely and there is something on the pews that we never had before! That is right! The pew cushions have finally arrived! Now your bottoms can find comfort and peace in our new addition tour beautiful church! These cushions are beautiful! They match our sanctuary well and really do feel nice. They are a little stiff and you might notice that it doesn’t quite lay in the grooves of the pews well, but I was told that through time and use they will fit perfectly. I am so happy that we got these pew cushions I am also told that they are very easy to clean and maintain. The company came on Monday evening around 6:15pm to deliver and install all the pew cushions. So, I encourage all people to come to worship and see for yourself, and much needed upgrade to God’s house! I want to say special thank you to all the deacons and elders putting this all together. Also special thanks to Rob and Judy Halbritter for researching and finding the right company for the church. It feels nice to get something for the church, especially as we are getting ready to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Also everyone…. Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone’s Thanksgiving was peaceful and that we all found something we can be thankful for. God bless you all! Well, it’s not a completely empty nest. I mean Norah, Ben, Eunkyung, and Suzie are still here, but now the house is just quiet. My life is quiet, and still…. Which isn’t a bad thing… it’s peaceful, but just feels empty now. Eunkyung’s sister’s family just moved away to San Jose, CA to settle down. Which is amazing and I am so proud of them! But for the last 2 months, they were living with us as Eunwoo (the husband) was frantically finding a decent job. For two months they stayed with us, in this nice home in Altoona, PA. We wondered when they arrived if the living space in our home was going to be cramped, stressful, and hard to manage. But we were wrong. The space was cozy, but not crammed, the living was filled but not stressful, and the house was more than enough for all of us. As a matter of fact, the house felt alive for 2 months like a never-ending joyous party. Noise filled the rooms, kids playing, the dog running up and down the stairs, activities, games, and great cherished moments. For 2 months they stayed with us and every day there was work to be done. In this short amount of time, they got their social security cards, got their two boys into the Altoona Area School District, got the boys settled in their studies, got their drivers licenses, and bought their first car. We went to Gettysburg for veteran’s day, traveled to State College, Pittsburgh, ate at amazing local eateries such as Tom and Joes and other fine places. We celebrated Suzie turning 1 years old. They celebrate Halloween for the first time buy going Trick or Treating and an early Thanksgiving with the proper sides and big juicy Turkey. Did cabin shenanigans at Canoe Creek State Park, went fishing at Glendale. A lot of things got done and accomplished in these shorty 2 months and there was never a dull moment. While they stayed with us, they made an impact on church life as well. Eunwoo sang in the choir, the boys (Juhyeong and Sihyeong) went to Sunday School faithfully. Eunwoo also fixed up many things around the church property as well. The whole family also participated in all the church fellowship events. They just gave the church just a little bit of flavor, reminding us of all that as Christians we are the salt of the world, and they were the salt in the church and in our lives. But now they have left to go to San Jose, CA. They will be missed and now, I feel empty, but also delighted. I know that God will bless Eunwoo, Jieun, Juhyeong, and Sihyeong. I know that God will be with them to watch over them and guide them. Now they will make their American Dream happen on their own! Once again, we miss you and love you guys a ton! Godspeed! “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” -Joshua 1:9 The past three days I have been in Bedford for a Synod Assembly meeting. It was incredible, encouraging, and thoughtful. In the assembly on Tuesday morning, Maureen Wright the Executive Presbyter of West Virginia, gave the devotional and she used Joshua 1:6-9 as the inspiration. It was very well done and helped me really get motivated to do ministry. Don’t you think this is something we should remind ourselves of every day? We should! Such a great bible verse that fills us with hope, peace, strength, and self-assurance! This is what we need to live by! Because no matter what, we are reminded that God is with us wherever we go. Honestly, this is a verse that I tell my children all the time. I do not know how much they understand this, but I hope that maybe one day, it will enlighten them and then they can do their best to live as the bible verse suggests. Be strong and courageous. I think too often we allow other people, other entities like the media, internet, criticism, skepticism, cynicism control how we feel and tell us who we are. I think there is just way too many voices telling us our value and that our dependence on value is based on people of these entities’ voices. These voices can be discouraging to hear and can devastate our self-esteem. But we must be reminded what is said in Joshua 1:9 “Be strong and courageous.” Do not be terrified or discouraged. Do not let anyone destroy your happiness, your dream, your ideas. Do not be afraid of criticism or mean hearted people. Always remember your value is not dependent on these voices (entities) that we may encounter. They do not have a hold over us. Remember that God is with you wherever you go. The future is unknown and to be honest we cannot predict what tomorrow will bring. We do not know what will happen. But whether does happen and wherever we need to go or do, have confidence because God is with you always. This week and the days that follow into next week…. Remind yourself this bible verse in Joshua 1:9. When you feel like the day is too much to handle, think about God’s word in Joshua. When you feel overwhelmed by life. God is with you and read Joshua 1:9 and find peace. I haven’t posted anything on the church blog website in quite a while. I will try to be more consistent, but I know that may be hopeful thinking. And there are many reasons why I haven’t been posting consistently. There is a lot going on in my personal life. Nothing bad, however, nothing great either, nothing too stressful, but a bit annoying, but just a lot going on in my life. And honestly, usually when there is alto going on in my life it gives me a tonof material to write in the blogs. But the problem is because there is just a bunch of little things going on piling up on top of each other, I do not have to the time to reflect on my bits of ongoing life circumstances. I do have time to write, that’s not the problem, but it’s all about not having the time to reflect and be thoughtful. Because of this, I just haven’t been writing. But I hope to give some clarity to my situation for you all. So what has been going on! Firstly, my wife’s sister’s family just immigrated to the USA at the end of August. That is probably the last time we had any kind of consistent uploads on the blog. They are currently living with us! SO that is a family of four living in our house in the time being. Which is honestly…. A HUGE BLESSING! I thought that life would be hard and that everyone would find themselves to get space, peace, and rest. But that is not the case. It is totally a full house! Ben, Norah and their cousins, Sihyeong and Juhyeong are some good mates together. And Eunwoo and Jieun do so much to help around the house by doing cleaning, cooking, and everything in between and behind the scenes. I cannot be more grateful for their presence. But there is a lot of work to be done. Eunwoo is busy doing a ton of interviews, traveling, and posting more resumes. And since September they needed help adjusting to the USA and Altoona. Buying a car, getting a drivers license, social security card, bank account, registering their kids, and getting the kids adjusted to school, and learning English every day. Despite all the work that is done and continues to be done, we have so much joy in our life. We feel that our house has a ton of space for all of us. Other than the food cabinets, refrigerator, and freezer… those are always being filled. A lot of grocery shopping, a lot. SO that’s a big change in our life. The other stuff is as my kids are growing up, they are getting busier. Norah is very social at school and since September she had a ton of birthday parties she’s been going, as well as Ben with his friends. Norah also celebrated her birthday, now 9 years old. And both Ben and Norah have a lot of school activities going on. Also needing to get ready for all holidays coming up… for Ben and Norah to enjoy. And speaking of holidays, I have to start thinking about Thanksgiving. And expect my sister’s family and my mom and dad coming over. Im wondering if our house can handle more people! But I feel confident that everything is just going to be very nice, it’s just a lot of work to be done. But it is exciting. And also in work at church I find myself doing more and more visitation than expected. Which is never a problem, but something I enjoy doing. My working hours are getting longer, but again, I enjoy every moment of working in this church and doing everything I can to always serve God first. But not everything is all roses and sunny days. I am also dealing with my son constantly getting sick and missing school and also apparently battling with the schools evaluation of my son needing to attend ESL classes. Which is funny, because English is his first language. Not this situation is messy. It is messy because I think the way the ESL screening is done is wrong and really messes with self-esteem. Listen. PA state, I am sorry that my kindergarten son cannot spell “GRASS” correctly… he missed a letter. Sorry he couldn’t write a story…. He’s in kindergarten. I’m sorry that he couldn’t read the book by himself completely…. He’s in kindergarten, right? It’s funny because I know first graders that are just learning to read on their own…. But why my kid is getting screened for his English ability? Ahhh… that’s right… we speak two languages in our household…. And apparently that is a disadvantage. We are planning to change our household for English only, so our kids don’t feel that they are in a disadvantage from the rest of their classmates. Shoot I didn’t want to write this much concerning the subject of ESL…. But to be honest.; it weighs heavily on my mind. Eunkyung at work a few weeks ago got stabbed with a needle by a convict (not too sure if that is the politically correct work for prisoner). Luckily after taking a blood test from her and the “person in prison” everything is ok, but it was a worry that lasted for about a week. Ok… I think that is enough…. Yeah, a lot of things and stuff going on right now. Oh.. one last thing…. I found a tick on me that according to the internet has been attached to me for at least 72 hours… which makes sense because I went fishing 3 days ago. The bite area is red and swollen and I am told to keep an eye on it for the possibility of Lyme disease. Apparently, I have a 50% chance of getting Lyme disease. But I’m ok… I think that’s treatable… just have to wit to se if I get a rash, fever, muscle aches and whatever… But this I life isn’t it. Life is supposed to be busy, and with our busy schedules and life circumstances comes joy and annoyances. Life what the Bible says, rain falls on the righteous and unrighteous alike. So I accept everything this is going on and will continue to accept all the wonderful things that life throws at us. I always feel that when I make a list of all life situations, many times the good experiences always outweigh the bad, and many times the bad isn’t really bad, just hiccups. When life gets busy, we need God to be our guide and that faith in God be our foundation. When I think about my life being in God’s hands… I feel at total peace. It doesn’t change how busy I am. But it gives me the assurance that God is with me through it all. And that I am thankful. Suzie Mango, our 87lb yellow lab is now officially 1 year old. Man, she grows up fast. Really fast! And apparently according to the vet she is still going to be growing more! Makes me wonder whether she is going to be like Clifford the Big Red Dog size! Well we are happy that she is now 1 year old and we celebrated her birthday is some delicious food and a pinata that was filled with doggie treats, and even had a cake that is safe for dogs to consume. And I learned something. Just because the cake is dog safe, it does not mean that humans can also eat it. Well, I guess you can…but you will be surprised by the taste. It doesn’t taste good to the human tongue. I mean you could eat it, but you really don’t want to! It is definitely… for dogs only… maybe cats too… So… all that cake went to the neighbor dogs as well. According to Suzie, it was delicious. But we do have to realize that sometimes what is good for some people, or a person, is not always good for others. And that isn’t what people have preferences or choice over “things.” What I am talking about is about a person’s overall health. For example, pregnant women may need certain vitamins or nutrients, or healthcare compared to other people who are not pregnant. We all have different needs and I think this is why God has a very complex job when it comes to providing for all individual humans. Just as we all have different health needs, we all Also have different paths in life. And God knows this. We will all have different life situations, and we will all have different circumstances. Even though we may feel that we run into similar experiences, the outcome will vary. We may wonder why one person has a different result to similar life experiences… and sometimes one may have a “better” result than you, and we can feel that life is unfair. But this is not true. Life isn’t necessarily unfair; it is just really freaking hard! And every individual’s life has its own plan. Plan that we have no idea what will happen. What is important is several factors that make our life rewarding or make it a struggle. First is having a trust in God. Whatever, good or bad that happens in life, we must trust in God to be with us. God is with us when we struggle and is there is hold us in His loving arms and God is with us when we are in joy, celebrating with us when life is beautiful. Secondly, when life does give us lemons, our attitude, our self-esteem, our actions, our steadfastness, and resilience is going to matter. What we do when our backs are pushed against the wall is going to matter. It is so important that we stay strong, mature, and never give up. Life isn’t unfair, its hard, and that is why God must be our foundation. Our trust in God helps give us peace when life throws us curve balls. Remember never to compare your life with anyone else, because everyone is different and every life has isn’t own path to success. And it is God that is influencing and guiding us to our rightful path. |
AuthorHey this is Rev. Brian Choi's random thought throughout my week. Most of this stuff, will probably be about family, church, fishing, music, movies, food, whatever I think of, hopefully it will have some sort of theological reflection (maybe). Archives
April 2024
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