Graduations of Spring 2014.

This weekend has been hectic with college graduations. Who knew it would be so tiring to walk, sit, clap, and cheer all day long. But regardless, I am so thankful and happy to see my fellow friends, brothers, and sisters in Christ finish another chapter of their life.

Everyone is separating. Each individual is going down a different path that is set before them. Some friends may not see each other for a while. Others may still be living together. I guess you can say it's a bitter-sweet moment.

But a strange thought entered my head last night. It was quiet at home, and I was sitting at home thinking. People were out celebrating with one another. Everyone was having a good time, and I'm so happy for those who were celebrating.

But, in the future, there will be nights where you'll be by yourself. You'll be home alone. I know it sounds kind of depressing, but it's true. During those times, you may not have anyone with you. You only have one guy there for you. God.

It got me thinking. If it comes down to everyone disappearing in my life, will I still be joyful? Can I still be thankful, glad, and happy that I still get to have a relationship with my Father in heaven? Is my relationship with Christ that strong?

In the end, all that matters is you and God. Do you have a relationship with Him? Can you be confident and sure that He is everything and all you need in your life?

Honestly, I don't know if I can say that with full assurance. I pray and hope that I can deny all things for Christ. Just some thoughts.

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What does Love mean to you?

About two weeks ago, I made a video. Originally, it was for a mini competition without my college fellowship. But the video project turned out to be much more than that. For my video, I interviewed random people across the UT campus on a Saturday. In addition, I interviewed some of my own friends. Everyone I asked had a similar response.

No one knew how to answer the question: "What does Love mean to you?"

The majority of these people were college students. The surprising thing was that no one knew how to answer the question. They didn't have a response. The idea or thought of love never crossed their mind. To me, that was sad. But nonetheless, I may have sparked that thought in their head after I left them.

It's sad how so many people don't know what love means to them. My personal experience made me understand how there are so many people without love and kindness within their lives. Just this past week, someone committed suicide on our campus. People are empty. They have a void in themselves and don't know how to fill it up. It breaks my heart.

If people could experience love, then they wouldn't be so depressed, sad, lonely, etc. Love is the theme of our life as human beings. Let me explain from a recent sermon that I listened to by Judah Smith.

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True Love.

The Gospel. 
Most us have heard it or are familiar with it. It's that one story where Jesus, who is God, comes down to die on a cross to save us from our sins. After 3 days, He comes back to life and returns to heaven.

So many "Christians" think of this as just a story. In their minds, it's just like a childhood story they read and hear from any novel. It never becomes a reality to them. However, this story is real.

I'll admit that I was once like this. As a kid, it was just a story to me. I memorized the facts. I knew all the information. Then, over time, it became very dull, boring, repetitive, or whatever to me. I had become desensitized to the story.

 
But then I read it for myself again and again and again... it slowly become more and more real. I read the Bible trying to imagine what it would be like if it happened today. This passage has always struck me in awe.

"Going a little farther, [Jesus] fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ' My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.'" -Matthew 26:39

"And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground." -Luke 22:44

The story of Jesus coming down to save us isn't a simple story. It's not about a happy, giggly, jubilant Jesus coming down to do a little saving here and there. It's not about Jesus telling the Father, "Hey dad, I'll be right back. I need to go save mankind real quick. I'll brb with this errand." No.

Let me try to put this into a different perspective. Imagine the moon coming down from space. And then imagine that moon crushing a porcelain cup. If the moon came crashing down onto a porcelain cup, there would be nothing left of that cup. Magnify this proportion by 10000000000000 billion (then add 10 billion more zeros to that number). That is the wrath of God that Jesus had to face to save us. You think it was easy for Jesus to face the FULL wrath of God?

Even Jesus asks the Father, "...if it is possible..." please take this cup from me. Jesus is asking, "IS THERE ANY OTHER WAY TO DO THIS?" He was terrified of facing God's wrath. He sweat drops of blood just thinking about it.

But nonetheless, Jesus obeys the Father. Why? Because He loves us that much.

Jesus could have easily backed out of this. He could have quit at ANY MOMENT. But He obeyed the Father's will because He loves us. That breaks my heart every time.


This song by Phil Wickham always reminds me of that story. It reminds of those details that I become desensitized to.

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Hatred

Parable of the Unforgiving Debtor (Matthew 18:23-35)

 “Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. ²⁴ In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars.^{[c] 25} He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt.
²⁶ “But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ ²⁷ Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.
²⁸ “But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars.^[d] He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.
²⁹ “His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. ³⁰ But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.
³¹ “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. ³² Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. ³³ Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ ³⁴ Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.
³⁵ “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters^[e] from your heart.”

 
Today was a beautiful day outside in Austin, Texas. Imagine the perfect day: clear blue sky, bright sun, light breeze in the air, etc. It couldn't have been a more beautiful day that I was blessed to be alive in.

With this beautiful day, I spent some time with my sophomore class and freshman class. We headed over to get some frozen yogurt together. As we were walking on the sidewalk, a car passed by us. An African American male began to make racial slurs and gestures toward us.

For a good minute, I was very confused. 

Why did he make such hatred gestures and slurs? What was his reason? Why do I feel like he ruined my entire day? What's wrong with him? I didn't understand.

It reminded me of the moments in elementary school when we did dumb things for no reason. For example...

Teacher: Now Johnny, why did you hit Jim?

Johnny: I don't know. I just did.

As I thought about this, I began to think about how that person will never get a job. I began to hope that his immaturity will cause him to completely fail at life. I hoped he would suffer the consequences and live a life of constant suffering/pain/stress/etc.

Then it hit me. Why am I thinking these things? What am I doing? Why is my natural response hatred? I prayed. I prayed for forgiveness of my thoughts of hatred. I prayed for that individual as well.... I prayed for a heart of compassion.

I was reminded of the parable of the unforgiving debt collector. Funny thing is that my friend mentioned this parable to me a few hours after this incident.

Look, it doesn't mater what he did to me. What I did to Christ is far worse than what anyone will do to me. Just as Christ forgave me. I must forgive anyone and everyone. It doesn't matter what they do. If they don't know any better, then we should pray for that person. We should pray that God will soon work in his/her life.

Pray that others, who don't know better, will come to understand the love of Christ. Pray that the Story of Love and truth will be revealed to them.

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Don't waste your life.

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."                        - 1 Corinthians 10:9

I guess you can say that this has been my motto ever since I've started college. We all wonder the same thing. What are we supposed to do with our life? And to find that answer, we look to society's answer.

Go to college. Get a degree. Get a job. Make and save up money. Raise a family. Use your money on your family. Save up more money for retirement. Retire. Do whatever you want until you die.

This is the "American Dream"... Chase your own ambition and then hope that you're satisfied at the end of your life.  
I don't know about you, but that sounds like a terrible life. If you follow this trend, you're risking your entire life hoping that you'll be satisfied at the end of your life. It's a gamble.

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Clever.

Clever Lee. A church friend of mine passed away yesterday. 
I received the news as I was returning home from a spring retreat in Austin. It is unbelievable how it happened suddenly.

I never got to really understand him on a personal level, but his cheerfulness and willingness to initiate conversations struck me as a gift from God. He wasn't "normal" by the standards of this world because he had autism. However, I know God gifted him with the ability to talk to anyone and everyone without the fear of being rejected or judged. That is a gift.

This may sound like one of those posts where a person feels obligated to write a sentimental testimony of one who passed away. However, I see it in a different way. I am happy to see that he has gone to the Father and has done his part in bringing: joy and happiness to many of us, and glory and honor to Him.

But of course, he will be dearly missed by his family and friends. I can only pray that his family will be comforted by the Father who is in charge of all things. It is no use by asking God, "Why did you do this". It wouldn't feel any better if He gave us the reason. Instead, we can only pursue Him for more comfort.

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Full of Grace and Truth.

So I thought I'd share another sermon I recently heard from Judah Smith. Again, I did not come up with any of this. I just want to summarize and share this amazing message.

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." --John 1:14

We learn to be respectful and courteous to guests right? We give strangers the benefit of the doubt. Think about it, and let me give you a scenario...
You're walking down a sidewalk and accidentally bump into someone. That stranger begins to flip out, starts yelling at you, and continues to walk. Your reaction is either: "what's wrong with him/her" or "they're just probably having a bad day, I'll forgive them".
You usually give a stranger the benefit of the doubt. Now let's look at the other side.

What happens when you personally know someone? You probably won't be as forgiving because you know what he/she is doing. Here's the scenario...
Your sibling is acting all cute and nice in public. Everyone loves your sibling and thinks that he/she is just the most precious, adorable, innocent person. They tell you: "isn't your sister/brother just the most precious person?" or "why can't you be more like your sister/brother, they are so wonderful!"
BUT YOU KNOW THE TRUTH. You know that your sibling is a manipulative, sweet talking, con artist. Unfortunately, no one believes you because they haven't seen the truth.

So as you can see, the more truth we know about someone, the less gracious we are to them. We can easily forgive strangers, but can't forgive our friends and relatives because WE KNOW how MEAN, CONDESCENDING, and MANIPULATIVE they can be (just trying to give a little humor... it's hard to show it when you write...).

We try and play this balancing game. To be a "good person" I need to balance my grace and truth. 50% Grace. 50% Truth. Now let's look at how Jesus would behave in our society.

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