| Reflections:
On prohibiting the
unbreaking of the broken record…
On suffering…
On unlocking ancient tribal
powers…
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On prohibiting the
unbreaking of the broken record…
“For by grace you have been saved through
faith. And this is not of your own doing;
it is the gift of God” (Ephesians
2.8).
Anyone love Popeyes? I love me some Popeyes! But, I can’t get enough of that GOSPEL! MAN oh man, I don’t think my ears can ever
get tired of hearing this GOOD NEWS – news that I’ve been saved by grace! Christ’s blood is sufficient to wipe away ALL
MY SINS! Like the leper who’s been
healed I yell with all my soul, “I’m clean!
I’m clean! I can’t believe it! I’m clean!”
Til the day that I die, this message will play as a broken record and
it’ll be the sweetest music to ever touch these ears. No dream, no success, no thing and no one, absolutely
nothing can compare to this News! This
Song! THIS LIFE! OH Shnappittypippitypappers! ------- my
version of Paul’s doxology. Can you dig
it? Can YOU dig it?? After 5 years I am still in absolute
wonder! It’ll take me Infinity Eternities
for me to search and find and learn and know and grasp ‘how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ' (Ephesians 3.18). How
sweet is that?? ‘You put a new song in
my mouth….Jesus you are the reason I live’!
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On suffering…
“After they had preached the gospel to that
city and had made many disciples…strengthening their souls, encouraging them to
continue in the faith, and saying, “Through many tribulations we must enter the
kingdom of God” Acts
14.21-22.
“‘Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used
to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will
stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do
not want to go.’ (This he said to show by what kind of death he (Peter) was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, ‘Follow
me’” John 21.18-19.
This is something most
people don’t like hearing – God doesn’t grow his kingdom without his people
suffering. The road of suffering was the
road Jesus chose as he hung on the cross.
He endured the shame of the cross to establish his kingdom on earth, and
so must we to extend his kingdom ‘til we see him face to face.
“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after
me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me’” Matthew 16.24.
Is not the reason God saved
you by grace, in order to make much of his mercies and kindness? When the music fades, and time dissipates,
and you and I cease to be, one thing will remain, only One – the glory of God! How much glory will he receive from your
life?
Paul says to the Christians
in Colosse, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my
flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of
his body, that is, the church…Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching
everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For to this I toil, struggling with all his
energy that he powerfully works within me” Colossians 1.24-28.
The lost will only be
reached through people willing to “fill up what is lacking in Christ’s
afflictions”, and the Church will only be presented mature in Christ through people
willing to follow Jesus. Knowledge,
wisdom, experience, money, degrees are all good, but these are not enough. Will you live for a purpose so great as the
glory of our risen Lord Jesus, that you will follow him wherever he may
lead…even if? I hope to see you on The
Otha Side, brothas n sistas…and I long for both you and I to hear Jesus tell us
with a great big ol’ smile on that Glorious Day, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”
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On unlocking ancient tribal
powers…
Last night was [hands down]
the most random night of my life, ever.
It was a fun night, but a random one.
So the story goes something like this.
One cold February night, Jimmy
Kim, praiseleader/teacher/discipler/MainManMania invites a bunch of his friends
to watch the Capitals/Panthers game (Caps got torn up, like a lion chows
down a TV gazelle dinner, with apple cobbler dessert…woo). The group of 9 post-college-somewhere-around-mid-twenties
meet up in DC and are hungry. They
want DIMSUM, but they don’t know the difference between NW and SE D.C. - SE being Tupac, NW being Too-Pretty. So the band of Koreans start heading out, and
literally 3 steps later find themselves looking up at a sign for an overly-priced-but-we-got-$6.95-dinner-SPECIAL
Chinese restaurant. They hurry in. They enjoy their meal but they know that game
time starts in half an hour, so they don’t joke around, too much; soon after,
they head to the glorious MCI center, where they anticipate their Capitols will
show them Florida Pansies how DC does what it does (but the Caps got torn up,
like a lion eats a TV gazelle dinner, with apple cobbler dessert…woo). They scurry up all of MCI’s 4 flights of
stairs (like hamsters aimlessly running up through obstacles for cheese) as
they’re already late and find their seats.
Finally, hockey game. They settle
and can rest and enjoy. During the
middle of the first period, the game stops for a short intermission. The crowd-Cam scans the stadium looking for a
Crazy-Cam-Shot, with front row seats being the prize. Everyone in the MCI center has their gazed
fixed on the big screen, watching close-ups of individuals with their weak-willed
attempts of Crazy-Cam-Shot footage. The
camera scans across people waving their hello’s, making silly little faces, and
even across a group of 8 half-naked crazy hooligans. It continues to brush throughout the stadium
until the camera passes over one Korean male not looking for any trouble (guess
who). As soon as the male sees himself
on the big screen, he knows what he’s gotta do.
Immediately possessed, he jumps up from his seat and starts doing the Double
Point with a huge smile on his face yelling, “YEAH BOY!” (Double Point: Pointing with both hands, index finger only,
with arms fully extended going in the same motion of shooting an imaginary gun with
the hand but with wider range of motion).
As the camera passes him, it halts and returns back to settle on this
Double-Pointing machine with friend Jimmy dying of hysterical laughter. The male repeatedly Double Points, and just
when everyone thought the escapade would be over, he does a Double Point
Mod! (Double
Point Mod: any alteration of the Double Point,
practically unheard of in the present known world). The Double Point starts looking like a dance
move as the male starts following an ancient tribal beat, still seeing himself
on the big screen, as he pumps his arms back and forth. Knowing this exhausting labor couldn’t
continue much longer, he breaks the trance with the Egyptian Groove. As he returns to full consciousness during
the Egyptian, he realizes that he’s probably made one bigscreen-sized-fool of
himself in front of many thousands of people, and confusingly takes his seat….
Lesson: Kids don’t try this at home.
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“By this we shall know that we are of the truth and
reassure our heart before him; for whenever our hearts condemn us, God is
greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we
have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we
keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son
Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in him,
and he in them. And by this we know that
he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us” 1 John 3.19-24. |
