Wow. It's been a long time since I last updated. I miss the xanga days. It's nice to be back. How bout them Lakers huh?!? I was listening to the game on KLAC570 with Mychal Thomsen and Spiro something. I realized I miss Chick Hearn a lot. I mean the Lakers announcers are great but Chicky is missed. And i'm very happy that spring training has started. Hope springs eternal! Go Blue. And Richfield and I are trying to go that Dodger game against the Red Sox at the LA Coliseum. They say close to 115,000 people will be there. Man. That would be so fun. We just ended our 8th week at Fuller. I had one of those days today at Fuller where it reaffirmed why seminary is so good. Often times I'm struggling to keep up with the reading or writing them stinking papers and even just getting to class on time and navigating the 605 and 210 freeways. I also struggle with feelings of inadequacy and feeling overwhelmed and that i'm out of my leagues. I also struggle with wondering if i should get 1 or 2 carne asada tacos from King Taco along with the combination carne asada burrito but that's another update for another day. But today was a good day (and i didn't even have to use my A-K). I'm taking a class called Worship Ministry on the Lord's Day and right now we're studying about the communion or eucharist. It really makes it come alive for me because at Faith Community we celebrate communion every first Sunday of the month. I get the awesome privilege of serving the elements (sounds like a hip hop concert) and even once in awhile praying for the bread or the wine or most often Welch's Grape Juice. I love communion service. And I love it even more after our studies on it. We celebrate the eternal Jesus Christ though the symbolic litugry of the bread and wine. It is a celebration reminding us how we were once lost, and now we are found. It is a reminder for us of God's sweet mercy. "Oh Taste and see that the Lord is good." It is a reminder of how we all deserved the bitter cup of wrath and death and now we drink from the living water. And i love it how our church serves Hawaiian bread. I love hawaiian bread. And I also love it, when i'm serving the bread, i can see each person coming up and i like to encourage them and speak to each person personally..."Hyun this is the body of CHrist... Allan this is the body of Christ... Alex Won this is the body of Christ... even for you." And in our Worship class, each student, gets to join a group and lead a 15-minute prayer devotional. Today was awesome. The group took us to the prayer garden and it was actually my first time there. You realize also how much place and space affect worship. It was so nice to be in there. And we did this exercise where we confessed our sins and placed it in a bag that was underneath a cross. This is a type of activity that we usually do in our youth ministry. But it was so nice doing it today. Sharing this space with my fellow classmates who before I would see them simply as classmates. But today we were worshipping together in Jesus Christ. It was a blessing to say the least. We get to lead the class on March 11 and i'm looking forward to that. Then we had our foundations class. Normally this class feels like a waste of time for me but today it spoke to me very clearly. Our guest lecturers were Kara Powerll and a guy named Curt Gibson, which sounded a lot like Kirk Gibson of Los Angeles Dodgers lore. Kara Powell is a youth ministry guru. Her and Chap Clark are doing amazing things in Youth Ministry. Interestingly enough, i bought her book at the Core Youth Conference this past Saturday. Anyway they were both sharing how important it was to be a mentor and to surround kids with positive people in their lives. Curt shared about his experiences mentoring at-risk kids in the Pasadena area. It immediately got my attention to my time spent at Green Pastures. If i could sum up his 30min lecture I would simply say this: Build relationships. These kids can spot you a mile away if you have your own agenda. You can't fake the funk. "Game recognize game." It was no wonder that the friends I brought from OKC/FAith Community had a positive impact on the kids. We didn't have any crazy gang background but we were real and they saw that we came to help and to serve. We weren't trying to serve our own needs. Just simply there to help. You know what's crazy? My GP kids probably met Pastor Jae twice in their lives and they didn't really talk to him that long or even at all. But whenever they ask about our church, they almost always ask about Pastor Jae. They saw his heart a mile away and that his heart was there to love and serve. "Real recognize real." They often ask me about Dr. Mark Bai, or DJ, or Arnold, and they always ask me about Earl. Building trust and relationships. I was so proud of that. This topic was so pertinent because earlier in the week i called one of my former students, Edward, to meet up and eat dinner at Wako's in Ktown. Now I have been stood up a million times by my Ktown kids. Even to the point where i touch base with them every hour or so just to make sure their coming. I talked to Edward last at 3pm to confirm. He said he was down. I get out of class at 6 and head to Ktown. I call. No answer. I call and txt. No answer. I call again. No answer. After that I knew it wasn't going to happen. you can't fool a fool. I think since i left GP, this is at least the 10th time this has happened to me with the kids. But you know what... I will still call them and try and meet up with them. It's the least I can do. This kid Edward. Let's just say he's no wanna-be wangsta. He's the real deal holyfield. But I love him like my younger brother. And anytime I need someone to do some dirty work.. i can call him! Haha. J/k. But not really. In our class, they also talked about the challenges of working with suburban, churched kids. Kids who have a lot. Kids who are so busy with this and that. Kids who have been through the "machine of church." And they were saying this can be a harder ministry. I agree. But you know what... I will keep serving. Keep teaching and preaching. Keep training. Keep loving. Keep encouraging. Keep rebuking. I will keep meeting up with them at Amerige Starbucks and Back of Barnes and ALbertson's gas station. This is my vision from God. I realized also that everytime we take our kids to Mexico, what an amazing and privileged opportunity it is. Missions is not going to Mexico. Missions is life and it just happens its in Mexico this time. We went to Mexico two weeks ago. I know i say this all the time but it was stinking awesome! We learned about all this things at school: creating dialog; being holistic; cross-cultural ministry; contextualizing the gospel; and this all took place in the context of our time spent in Mexico. Shoot who needs seminary?!? I love going to Mexico. I love seeing the "serving light" turn on in the eyes of our students. I love ordering hundreds of tacos. I love driving all crazy in Mexico because you know... "do as the Romans do." I love watching the Mexican children and their parents when they are watching a drama for the first time and seeing them grasp and understand the message of the gospel and how truly good the news of His grace is. One of the last things we shared with our students upon leaving Mexico was that though our trip and time in Mexico was over, our mission in life is never done. The Mexico chapter may be closed for a bit, but there's a whole world out there that needs the Good News of Jesus Christ. Life is Missions. May we serve whereve He leads us. Man. I wrote a lot. Oh and my knee is getting better and better. I'm hoping to play ball by the end of March which means it'll be exactly a year since I last ran on a basketball court. I tore my ACL and meniscus on Sunday April 1 2007 (Palm Sunday as a matter of fact.. not that means anything liturgically). I got major reconstructive surgery on Friday August 31 2007. Today is February 28, 2008. It's exactly 6 months post surgery. I am itttttttttching to play ball like you would not believe. But I am scared to jump and cut. Good thing my game wasn't above the rim to begin with. More like above the padding of the backboard. But I will be super nervous to play again. Hope it's like riding a bike. I've actually been working out a bit. I've been going on the elliptical. Shooting for one hour on that thing. The most i've done so far is 45mins. At the end of March i'm going up to the Bay area to see my sister's family. Maddy will be two on March 17. Crazy. And Alicia is getting bigger and bigger. I can't wait to see them. Well I shall close this diatribe with this passage. It's a passage that I meditated a lot when I had my knee surgery and i had all the time in the world. I heard again today during our prayer devotional. 5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I put my hope. - Psalm 130:5 Life is waiting. While we wait, we remember what God has done and we walk humbly and faithfully with our God. The Lord is good and His steadfast love endures forever. Amen. | 
