LifeChurch

I am sure you have noticed the same thing as I did if you do drive.  Often I notice CHP (California Highway Patrol) unit controls the flow of the traffic without having to turn on siren.

The other day I got on a freeway and picked up the speed to 65 mph (speed limit).  Soon I saw a CHP unit behind and he passed me by going about 70 mph.  There were many cars behind the CHP who passed me as well but none of them pass him.  For next 10 minutes or so, the CHP controlled the flow of traffic.  There was one car speeding and weaving in and out of lanes to pass everyone but as soon as he noticed the CHP, he slowed down with the rest of the traffic.  When the CHP slowed down, everyone slowed down with him and when he sped up, everyone kept with his speed.  But again no one passed the CHP.  No doubt the presence of CHP really affects how people drive.

I thought of how wonderful it would be if all of us would feel God’s presence like that: keeping up the pace with God as we slow down with Him and pick up the pace with Him but never going ahead of Him.  I pray that in the year 2015 will be like that for all of you and I hope whenever you see CHP, let it remind you of God’s presence in your life.

Happy New Year!

Pastor Loren

Back in 1891, Robert Louis Stevenson, author of such classics as DR. JEKYLL
AND MR. HYDE and KIDNAPPED, gave a rather odd gift to the daughter of a friend of his.  This friend, Henry Ide, once joked that Christmas was not the happiest day of the year in his household.  His fourteen-year-old daughter, Annie, had been born on Christmas, and she always complained that she got cheated out of a separate birthday party.  So Robert Louis Stevenson came up with the idea of giving away his birthday.  He drew up a legal document transferring all the “rights and privileges” of his birthday, which fell on November 13th, to Miss Annie H. Ide.  From that day forward, Annie celebrated her birthday on November 13th.

I don’t know about being “cheated” b/c one is born on Christmas.  Anyone (I know some people who were born on Christmas Day) can and should celebrate their birthday whether it is on Christmas, Easter, or Thanksgiving Day.  If we believe Christmas is Christ’s birthday, how was Annie being cheated?  Was she expecting a gift on Christ’s birthday, too?  I don’t suppose she expects a gift on “my” birthday or “your” birthday do you?  Exchanging gifts on Christmas should be a reminder of the “ultimate gift” given to us by God, Jesus Christ.

Robert Louis Stevenson was not the first to transfer all his “rights and privileges” to someone else.  In a sense Jesus transferred His rights over to us.  He became mortal that he might transfer some of his immortality to us.  Jesus became human that he might transfer the spark of divinity to us.  Jesus became a servant that he might transfer us to the status of sons and daughters.  John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (NIV).

Merry Christmas and happy birthday to you if your birthday falls on 25th!

Pastor Loren

Hal Brady mentioned in “Higher Ground,” about Linda Ellerbee, a noted television journalist, who wrote an article for McCall’s Magazine years back.  The article was titled “The Five Best Things I Know”.  The following are the five best things she knew:

   1. Do what you believe is right.
2. In this world, a good time to laugh is any time you can.
3. Always set a place in life for the unexpected guest.
4. If you don’t want to get old, don’t mellow.
5. The best things in life really aren’t things.

That’s a good list.  But what are the five best things you know?  You and I might list a number of things — honesty, integrity, truth, courage, commitment, grace, kindness, etc. But if Paul was asked what are the five best things he knew, he would list only one thing — “knowing Christ.”  Above everything else, Paul would say, I want to know “Christ”.

Sadly, I can help but to feel Christmas is becoming more and more Gifts-mas, Giveme-mas, or Greedy-mas.  It is my desire that I would think of ONE thing this Christmas, “knowing” Christ who came to save us from our sins.

Have a merry and blessed CHRIST-mas!

Pastor Loren

Back during the dark days of 1929, a group of ministers in the Northeast, all graduates of the Boston School of Theology, gathered to discuss how they should conduct their Thanksgiving Sunday services.   Things were about as bad as they could get, with no sign of relief.  The bread lines were depressingly long, the stock market had plummeted, and the term Great Depression seemed an apt description for the mood of the country.   The ministers thought they should only lightly touch upon the subject Thanksgiving in deference to the human misery all around them.   After all, there weren’t much to be thankful for.  But it was Dr. William L. Stiger, pastor of a large congregation in the city that rallied the group.  This was not the time, he suggested, to give mere passing mention to Thanksgiving, just the opposite.  This was the time for the nation to get matters in perspective and thank God for blessings always present, but perhaps suppressed due to intense hardship:

I urge you to remember the most intense moments of thankfulness are not found in times of plenty, but when difficulties abound.  Think of the Pilgrims that first Thanksgiving.  Half their number dead, men without a country, but still there was thanksgiving to God.  Their gratitude was not FOR something but IN something.  It was that same sense of gratitude that lead Abraham Lincoln to formally establish the first Thanksgiving Day in the midst of national civil war, when the butcher’s list of casualties seemed to have no end and the very nation struggled for survival.

In this Thanksgiving month and Sunday, let’s celebrate and give thanks more for IN than FOR something.  Let it be the day of Thanks-GIVING and not another day of blessing-RECEIVING.  1 Thess. 5:18 says, “give thanks IN all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (NIV).

May the Good Lord remind you of many reasons to give thanks and especially the salvation in Christ.  Have a blessed and thankful week!

A pastor was asked to call on a woman in a psychiatric hospital and pray for her.   After his visit, he thought how good it would be for somebody to go there regularly and pray for the residents.   The “somebody” turned out to be him.   On a table in one of the wards, he put up a sign saying “Free Prayer.”  Later he recalled, “Suddenly I had 15 people standing in line to get prayed for.”

Prayer is ministry everyone can and should be involved.   Yes, there are some who are gifted in intercessory prayer, but all of us can pray for each other, for our family, for our church, for our friends, co-workers, and neighbor, and for our nation.   You can pray while you are driving, showering, walking, exercising, and even as you fall asleep.

I pray for my church people by name.  I would like to offer to you “FREE PRAYER”.  Request on our website or post it on our facebook wall.  Again, it is FREE and there is no strings attached!  No hidden agenda and no fees!  Absolutely, positively FREE!!!

To those who read, would you lift me up in your prayer, too?  I am a bit under the weather right now.

Have a blessed week!

Last week, I took my son for a quick lunch since he had a half-day at school.  We went to Togo’s where he likes a certain kind of sandwich.  So we ordered 6″ and 9″ sandwich (this was for my growing son) to go at Togo’s.

If you ever been to Togo’s, you know that generally you pay after they made your sandwich.  However, they had to wait for the meat to heat up, and the line behind was getting longer, we went ahead and paid.  I normally don’t check the receipt but since we were waiting for our sandwich, I glanced at the receipt I got.  .

I’ve noticed that the receipt showed two 6″ sandwiches instead of one 6″ and one 9″.  So I called the lady who took our order and told her of this.  The lady checked and asked for $2 for the difference and said, “Thank you!”

As my son and I were walking out, my son made a simple statement, “Dad, you are my role model” and this made my day deep inside of me.

This incident reminded of how kids are watching us even if we don’t think they do.  I hope what I do well would serve my children as an example to follow after and the mistakes I make would serve them as also examples of what to watch out for.  Deut. 6:7 says, “Impress them on your children” (NIV).  I pray that I am “impressing” on my children how to love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, strength and mind.

Have a blessed week!

Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor, considered one of the great of the early 20th century.  When he was young, he studied cello to become a cellist.  However, due to his poor eye sight, he memorized the music to not take any chance during the performance. He even memorized other parts to make sure he will play his part perfectly.

It was at Rio de Janeiro when Arturo was 19 years old that he was asked to fill in for the conductor who couldn’t make it at the last minute.  He performed Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida from memory with great success.  This is was the beginning of his his great career as a conductor.  Later in his life Arturo Toscanini said that it was his poor eye sight that made him the conductor he became.

We can be discouraged or be depressed by challenges we face but I hope and pray that your will give your best as Arturo Toscanini did without giving up.  Consider a surfer… if a surfer wants to ride the wave, he needs be in the wave.  He can’t avoid wave and enjoy the ride.

Do keep Proverbs 24: 16 in mind, “for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again” (NIV) and have a blessed week!

A lady came to see a marriage counselor.

“Doctor, I can’t live with my husband for he abuses me verbally and his criticism never ends.”

The counselor thought for a moment and suggested a solution.  “There is mystical spring water around the corner from here.  Please take a gallon of that water.     Now when your husband comes home and starts criticizing you, do take a mouthful of that spring water in your mouth.  However, don’t drink the water but just keep in your mouth as if you are gargling.”

That night her husband returned home late from work and he started criticizing and abusing her verbally as usual.  Instead of arguing this time, the wife remembered what the counselor said and took a sip of that spring water in her mouth.   She was careful not to swallow and also kept her mouth shut tight so the water won’t leak.  She kept it until her husband’s verbal abuse stopped.

She did this every day for a while and soon she noticed the change in her husband’s behavior.  His anger and verbal abuse became less frequent and eventually stopped.

To her surprise, she went to see the counselor and told him about the change in her husband and said, “Thank you!  That really is mystical water.  My husband is a new person now.”

The doctor smiled and replied, “It wasn’t the water that changed your husband but it is your silence.”

Proverbs 17:28 says, “Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent” (ESV).  The power of silence!

I could talk more but this is a good time for me to “gargle”.

Have a blessed weekend!

Our Daily Bread had this story:

A social worker told her colleagues about a young boy in an urban ghetto who appeared to be little more than a bit of twisted human flesh.  He had been struck by a car several months before and had not received proper medical attention.

Although not part of her caseload, the social worker took the boy to an orthopedist, who performed surgery on his legs.  Two years later the boy walked into her office without crutches.  His recovery was complete.  The two embraced.  The social worker said to herself, “If I accomplish nothing else in my life, I have made a real difference with at least this one!”

She paused, then said to her colleagues, “This was all several years ago now.  Where do you think that boy is today?”  Some suggested that he might be a school teacher, others a physician or a social worker.  With deep emotion, the woman responded, “No, he’s in the penitentiary for one of the foulest crimes a human can commit.  I was instrumental in teaching him how to walk again, but there was no one to teach him where to walk.”

What a sobering story this is.  We, as a church, need to teach both how to walk as well as where to walk.  Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your path straight” (NIV).  Let’s completely surrender ourselves to the Holy Spirit as he directs, empowers, and instructs us.

Have a blessed week!

There is a Korean saying, “개만도 못한 사람” (worthless than a dog) used as an insult.  However, I am sure you have heard many heart warming canine stories.   Honestly, sometimes “개만도 못한 사람” is an insult to dogs.  Here is the story about seven-year-old German shepherd named Tommy.

Tommy was a stray dog and a woman named Maria Margherita Lochi who lived in San Donaci, Italy, found him near to her home.  She has adopted other stray dogs before and Tommy was loved by her.  Maria took Tommy for walk to and from church each day as Maria participated in mass.  The priest would even allow Tommy to sit near her feet during the service.

Maria died on November, 2012 and Tommy followed Maria’s coffin as it was carried by her community members to the church.  During Maria’s funeral service, Tommy sat by the steps of the altar.  Since Maria’s funeral, Tommy continued to attend mass every day when the church bell rings and sat by the steps of the altar until he died on February 12, 2013.  People believe Tommy passed away from a broken heart.  He finally realized that she wasn’t going to return to him so that it was his time to go to her.

As I heard of this story, I asked myself if I passionately wait for my Lord Jesus Christ as Tommy did for his owner.  What a sobering story.  In fact, Jesus has promised of His return in Matt. 16:27, “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done” (NIV).  I pray that I would wait on the Lord faithfully, diligently, and excitedly until I die (or He returns).

Have a blessed week!