Happy Thanksgiving!

“By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God.” 1 John 4:2,3.

Did everyone have a great Thanksgiving Day? All day long on Thursday, I saw my friends on social media posting pictures of great food, making comments on how much thankful they are, and pictures of them with their big families. When it comes to holidays, I see that it’s about being with the family again.

It’s no different in Korea. During big holiday season, the whole country is on the move. Highways will become heavy with traffic. I mean real heavy. These highways are 4-lane width on each side. A drive from Seoul to Busan usually takes about 5 hours. But during this time the drive will take up to about 17 hours. You will see cars parked on the road because due to heavy traffic.

Why go through all this mess? There is only one answer: to go see their families. It’s as simple as that. Jesus has prepared for us a home in heaven. That is our journey and goal in our lives. As our verse states above, Jesus made it possible for us to be His family again. The only thing we need to do is to confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh for us. Accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and we are His. That makes us His family and would offer us the right to go back home to where we belong. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Pray without ceasing 2

“Pray without ceasing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17

When you go door-to-door knocking/visitations, you get rejected most of the times. As soon as you identify yourself people will say, “not interested” and just shut the door. But from time to time, we get to meet friendly people who are willing to give their time for you, even though they are not Christians. At the end of the visit, I would ask, “Is there anything we can pray for you? Do you have any prayer requests?” Many times people will say, “Oh that is very nice of you. Please pray for ‘so and so.’ He/she is sick.” Another answer I get the most is simply, “I don’t know,” or “It’s ok.”

Why don’t these people know what to pray for? Aren’t there plenty of things you can think about? Is your life so prosperous that there is nothing to pray for? Well, that’s not it. It is because people don’t know what it means to pray. It’s because people don’t know what it’s like to be in a relationship with God. I wouldn’t expect to start a deep conversation with a mailman when he comes by to drop off the mail. I don’t think I’d share the things going in my life to him. I haven’t set up that relationship with my mailman.

Couple years back, I got to meet my high school friend for the first time in years. We were good friends back then, but when he moved we lost contact until we reconnected via social media. We finally got to meet. We hadn’t seen each other in years but we had so much to talk about and catch up with. What makes him different from the mailman? I believe it’s the same thing with us and God. Many times we don’t know how to pray. It’s time that we define our relationship with God. It’s time to acknowledge that God is our Father, that no one else can come between us. When the relationship is defined, we’ll know what to pray about.

Pray without ceasing

“Pray without ceasing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Sebin takes her nap at around 11 o’clock in the morning and she does it involuntarily. I mean, she hates going to sleep. But as parents we know that if she doesn’t take that nap she will give us a hard time for the rest of the day. So the task is to put her to sleep at that time. When she goes to sleep, she just doesn’t sleep. Sebin insists that I sleep with her. Now that is a problem for me because: 1) I don’t feel sleepy at all and 2) I have things to do. If I say no, she’ll start crying and refuse to sleep until I come upstairs.

At last I give in and come upstairs. I can’t sit in the room to watch her sleep, because she won’t sleep. I have to tuck myself into the bed and only then Sebin lies down next to me. I close my eyes, pretending to sleep because if I don’t, Sebin won’t either (eventually I fall asleep for about 10 minutes). Sebin will play on her own, and she would soon fall asleep, too. Once I know that she is sleeping, I quietly get up so that I can sneak out of the room. The key is to be quiet, otherwise Sebin would get up, too! Mission accomplished. Does this experience sound familiar to some of you?

When you listen to this, you might think that I must be the happiest dad in the world since Sebin wants me when she takes a nap! The truth is that Sebin looks for me only when she wants/needs something. Such as taking a nap, wanting snacks, going potty, etc. The rest of the times it’s a no-no. When I ask for a hug or a kiss, she says, “No!” I don’t know where she learn to say that but I get rejected most of the times unless she needs me.

Do we do that when we pray? Do we only pray when we are in need? Is prayer our emergency exit? When God asks us to pray without ceasing, it tells us that God really wants to be with us all the time, not only when we need Him. You know that it’s a joy to be with your family all the time. Remember that God is your Father and He looks forward to being with you all the time.

the Word became flesh

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

When I first came to the United States, I was in second grade. It was truly a big transition for me. Everything was different. Environment, cars, people, food, language, and many more. When I first started going to school, I obviously could not speak a word in English. I remember it wasn't easy for me and I think I had a few episodes regarding my language barrier. 

One time, my dad was asked to come to school. As you know, the homeroom teacher would take attendance by calling everyone's name when we first come to school in the morning. However, the teacher was telling dad that I would never respond whenever she'd call my name! Later dad had realized that the teacher had not been calling my name wrong. As for me, I never recognized my name and I wasn’t able to ask why she had never called my name because I simply couldn’t speak the language.

Another trouble I had was, I didn’t know how to raise my hand and say, “May I go to the restroom, please?” The only time I could go to the bathroom was during recess time or when I got back home after school. Those times weren’t easy for me but eventually I learned to speak the language and here I am today. The transitioning period was not easy and I had to go through a lot in order to adjust to a new culture.

I think about what Jesus had to go through to be a human being like us. Deity putting on weak humanness. He came down from the heavenly throne to be like us. It wasn’t just a matter of a cultural transition! God became like one of us! Almighty God who is infinite limited to be like us. It’s just amazing to think of the sacrifice Jesus had to go through as He down to the earth to be like us. But because He made it possible, we can be saved. Without this transition for Jesus, there would be no cross. Without the cross, there would be no salvation for us. We live because of Him.