"When Will the Sun Stop Hiding?"

Desiree Wong, our Pastoral Intern for Children's Ministry, was inspired by a preschooler's question to write this devotional:

"Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds..." - Genesis 9:14

Today I had one of my preschoolers asked me "Mrs. Desiree', is the sun ok?" I didn't understand..."Hmm...what do you mean 'is the sun ok'?"...His response was "Well, I just wondered if it was ok..." It occured to me that it was cloudy and gray outside and he wondered if the sun was "okay" because he couldn't really see it. "Yes, the sun is ok, it's just hiding behind the clouds today." He was quite concerned with the sun and when it would stop hiding. I love that...It makes me think...Life brings plenty of clouds, plenty of rain, but am I still shining even through the clouds and the rain? Have I not "built my house on solid rock"? I've heard rains and storms used as metaphors a million times, but today as my student asked me if the sun was okay I paused to think how life is just like that. We hide behind the clouds, we hide behind the rain, we try to stand firm on our rocks and when the rain stops and the sun comes back out to shine what do we see? Beautiful rainbows...I know it sounds cheesy, but it's so true...Yet, how many times have I faced something cloudy or stormy only to end up forgetting to look for the rainbow? Beauty can be missed so easily by focusing on the wrong things. Take time today to remember your storms and revisit or even search for your rainbows

And just to make you smile, here's one of my students versions of Luke 1:37-"For nothing is impossible with guns." Hahahaha...you gotta love the three year olds! :)

Praying For Our New President

Hello friends,

With the inauguration of a new president, let us not forget to lift our leaders up in prayer regularly. Let us intercede in the same spirit as this thoughtful prayer, written on behalf of President Obama.

A Prayer for President Obama

God bless,
Pastor Albert

Life-Saving Prayer

Brad Yeung shared this amazing story a little while back. It still gives me goose bumps:

Yesterday in mid-morning, while returning home after visiting their younger sister Winnie in Las Vegas, my wife Karen and her older sister Colleen experienced brake failure while going downhill. Colleen tried pumping the brakes and changing gears (it's an automatic) but to no avail. Although this whole incident lasted only a few minutes, at the time it seemed to stretch for miles and miles with no end in sight except for the prospect of a really bad crash.

With an increasing speed (last noticed at 110 mph) and even driving on the shoulder to avoid hitting other cars, they became desperate. Discussions of how to crash the car to maximize their chances of survival were punctuated with several cries of "God help us!" Karen said to herself that the next time she would see me would be from a hospital bed. Then a thought flashed in her head about a discussion I once had with her about using the parking brake in an emergency. Colleen pulled on it and the car started to slow down and gradually stopped. God had answered their prayer! There were no injuries - just a lot of rattled nerves.

They were eventually towed to the near-by city of Victorville where the Honda dealer replaced the master brake cylinder, and the remainder of their trip went without incident.

Deliberate Time With God

Michael Au writes on prayer:

Over the past few weeks I realized that prayer is really a discipline that God wants us to practice on a continual daily basis. The word discipline has some negative connotations to it but as we know the word disciple comes from the word discipline. Jesus said in Luke 9:23, ""If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." This command from Jesus reminds us how important it is to make that daily commitment to follow him. I believe it's very difficult to follow him when we don't spend our time in prayer with him. Days without prayer can be make us feel very lifeless. A mantra that I like to keep in my heart is "hard to easy, or easy to hard." I find that when I spend that morning time, no matter how hard it is to wake up a little earlier or how much I don't feel like praying, I always find my day is so much easier when I set apart some time just for Him. On the other hand it's much easier for me to snooze my alarm to get more sleep but the sacrifice is precious morning time with Him. I then wake up and am late to whatever I need to do causing me to be in a rush during the morning. And due to not praying my day is so much harder because I'm not in tune with the Spirit. Some of you may be saying well can't you just pray throughout the day, and not do the quiet times? I'm sure that you can, but I guarantee that your spiritual life will not be the full measure of what God has in store for you. This is because God has given time for us to give back unto him. Not just in service and love to others, but in service and love to Him in prayer! There are also days where I do pray passionately and my day is still not the best, but the chances of that happening are very rare. I encourage you all to make a habit of regular quiet time to experience more of God's sustaining and mighty power.

I'm also sure God doesn't mind what time of the day we pray to him. Jesus prayed in the morning and in the night. The most important thing is that God wants us to make that time for him. We always say, "seek first his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Mt 6:33), and we can show God that we truly do seek Him by making that deliberate time in prayer with him.

God as the Potter

Bonnie Lee sends in this inspiring story:

As many of you know, ceramics is a great passion for me. In 2000, I took a ceramics/clay class series as part of my transition into retirement. Working with clay is so relaxing, timeless and fulfilling. Like a good friend, clay is nonjudgmental, goes along with whatever I want to do and is always there regardless of how I treat it! Like key lime pie, I love clay. I now realize that it was God’s plan for me that this ceramic/clay experience would be continually used to soften my heart and to spur a deeper relationship with Him.

For Christmas 2008, I decided to make 12 ceramic plaques (e.g., peace dove with an olive branch and the Bible verse about God calling us to live in peace) as Christmas gifts. It took about 3 weeks of careful planning, detailing, burnishing and preparation for the first kiln firing. When I opened the kiln after the first firing, I saw that every plaque was broken – into small pieces and dust! I was so disappointed and cried that all my effort became crumbled clay. What happened? I later realized I had not properly stacked and supported the 12 plaques in the kiln. Well, instead of 12 beautiful plaques, I baked 12 pumpkin breads for Christmas gifts.

I see us as those broken crumbled pieces of clay – not worth repairing, discarded clay and not good for any purpose. It would have taken me more than a lifetime to try and repair those plaques so they would be ‘perfect’ gifts. It wasn’t worth the thought to make such as effort. I trashed them.

But I've learned that God, the real ‘Potter’, sees us differently. God deeply cares about our brokenness. He senses our pain and hopelessness in our brokenness. But, thanks be to God!! God repairs our brokenness and makes us new and perfect in his image and for his purposes. His love and his investment in each one of us are steadfast and full of intent.

When I see the Potter’s love activated in each of you, how can I not see God’s passionate desire to want us to eternally fellowship with Him? Jesus made it possible for this relationship to happen.

God, indeed, is our Potter. The potter is in total control of his clay – from his very first image of our total being – to molding, glazing, firing and then – to the final complete product and presentation. God seeks joy and delight in his creations. It is very good.

A few years ago, I made a very personalized ceramic planter for my hairstylist. She commented to me that when she sees this specific ceramic piece that is displayed in her kitchen, she does not see the design on the pot but remembers and reflects thoughts of me (the one who created it). Thus, it is the same that we should remember God as our Potter.

Godly Legacy

Eenar Lee wrote this great devotional:

“God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' "Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man's design and skill.” ~ Acts 17:27-29

As we approach the end of the year, I often reflect on my "accomplishments" for the year. The following is my list for 2008:
1. My daughter started school
2. I became a co-life group leader.
(The End)

This year's list seems surprisingly short....previous years, there are big events such as graduations, new job, child birth, wedding, move, or even divorce, sickness/death in the family, etc. As years pass, I have fewer and fewer "accomplishments" I can show for.

Here are my stats: I'm working, renting and single parenting. I rush between work, daycare/school and home everyday. On good days, my daughter will have a home made dinner (and leftovers for lunch), most days, it's PB&J for Breakfast and lunch and something store bought for dinner. On weekends, we juggle between family, church and errands. My excuse to myself and my daughter always has been, I'm sorry, I don't have time, if only I didn't have to work. I'm sorry, you can't buy that, if only I made more money. I'm sorry; we can't go, if only we had more energy. I'm sorry we can't..., if only...
It dawned on me.. that's my legacy this year "I'm sorry, we can't...., if only...."
This is NOT what I want my daughter to learn from me. This is not how I want my friends to think of me. This is not how I want my family to see me - as someone who's always finding excuse for her circumstances.

Then I wonder: What kind of legacy will I be leaving for my daughter? How much have I grown? Is there anything I have done this year that people or my daughter to remember me as me?

As a Christian, I try to live my motto as I'm here for a purpose. God sent me here to be a blessing to those around me. I'm not here to be popular, I'm not here to conquer the universe, I'm not here to discover the unknown, but I am here to be the light of the world. I want my daughter, friends and family to say, Eenar was a good mother, a good daughter, a good aunt, a good friend and most of all a good Christian. I want my behavior to reflect that. I want people to remember me as "Eenar cared about me, made my life brighter, or better, or more blessed, or more joyful."

I think that I can achieve that by appreciating my surroundings, my family, and my friends. Instead of rushing the very minute I wake up. I can be thankful for a peaceful night. I can be thankful for my daughter (who is still sound asleep)- for her health and her bright smile. For a blessed day to look forward to. Before I hit the road, I should think about all the other drivers who are also on the road fighting to get themselves to school or work. Think that some patience and consideration would make my drive and their drive so much more pleasant. While dropping my daughter off at school, instead of running in and out, I can stay and make sure my daughter is comfortable, smile at one of her care-takers, say hi to another parent or their child. At work, rather than complaining about the workload, gossips with other employees, I am thankful that I have a job that pays for bills and expenses. I focus on my work and think of how lives my work can affect. At night, I can spend more time with my daughter going through her day at school, our plans, read some stories, and sing off-tune veggie-tale tunes in the shower. Before bedtime, we can pray and be thankful for an eventful, fun, exciting day and thank God for being with us every step of the way. And pray that others will also experience God as we have. Love God as we do. And thank God for who He is.

Whether you're 15 or 85, through our actions, temperament, words, behavior, we leave a legacy. I pray that our legacy is one which reflects God's image and whom God has created us to be.

Dad's Greatest Treasure

George Wong sent in this moving testimony:

"One blessing of growing old is that you can look back and see how God has worked in your life. One of my favorite verses is Rom. 8:28. My dad became ill with cancer in the early 1970s. He was not a church going person. One Sunday the Chinese speaking service had a pastor from Indonesia who spoke at their service. May Fong invited him and they came over to the house where dad was in the last stages of his fight with cancer. Pastor Iman presented the Gospel in my father's dialect to him and prayed the sinner's prayer with him. My dad was always very hard of hearing and the cancer was in his nasal area which by then had impacted his vision, swallowing, and probably even his brain. Yet because of his having cancer, God used this as an avenue for my dad to hear the Gospel and respond positively to it. This probably would never have happened if he had been healthy. This story reflects the power of the Gospel and how God uses people for kingdom purposes. Dad worked hard all his life but the greatest treasure he received was in the last few days of his life, and that was the only thing he took with him into eternity."