A few months ago, while sitting in church listening to the sermon, there was a kid in the pew behind me who was struggling to pay attention. He was fidgety, kicking the pew in front of him, drawing on the bulletin, and whispering constantly to his parents. I recall trying to listen to the sermon, but my focus was constantly torn away by the movements and noises of this young child. And as I was trying...
The last two months have been some of the most difficult since we moved to Scotland. It is difficult to articulate exactly how frustrating these times have been in a blog post without sounding as if I am depressed or complaining. Neither of these is the case, yet times have been difficult all the same. It started in November, a month I had specifically set aside to finish a vital part of my PhD project....
Confession: I really like HGTV (the Home and Garden cable TV network, for the uninitiated). I adore the Gaineses on Fixer Upper. The Property Brothers and House Hunters are quite wonderful as well. I’ve spent a good amount of my winter break time drinking in these home renovation fantasies, and I’m starting to notice a trend: I can’t watch these shows without playing the comparison game. I’m either lamenting the fact that we have chosen...
“Your F(f)ather loves you very much.” These words have been ringing in my heart for the past week. The last few days I attended a Chinese Missions Convention in San Diego, where there were over 3,000 people ready to hear about the different ways God is working throughout the world. Although I’m Filipino (and actually 1/32nd Chinese, since my great-great-grandmother was Chinese), I was recruited by a friend to play keyboard for the worship team...
Dear whoever you are church member, This past week you probably felt somewhat confused and hurt when I told you in no uncertain terms that I would not be able to commit to praying for you after you shared your struggles with me. Now, I did pray with you after we talked about your situation and that seemed to encourage you but I didn’t close our conversation by saying, “I’ll be praying for you this...
Recently, I heard about a young man interested in planting a church. He was from a large evangelical church in Orange County, CA. He asked to meet with the pastor of a medium size church in a nearby city that was already full of solid evangelical churches. This young man shared with the humble pastor of 45 years that he hoped to plant another evangelical church close by. This young man wondered about the demographics...
A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of attending our church’s Global Church Conference, which was an opportunity for us to hear from the majority world. We had speakers from Egypt (Anne Zaki), Guatemala (Pablo Villeda), and the Philippines (Athena Gorospe). One session of the conference was a “question and answer” segment, where attendees had the opportunity to ask each speaker personal questions as well as follow up on things they had said throughout...
When you’re learning how to knit, you need to learn to read a whole new language: K1, m1, p2, CO, k2tog. You learn to decipher charts and take something that looks good on paper and bring it to life. And you learn, through experience, that knitting takes time and requires a good deal of patience if you’re going to see a project to completion. A few weeks ago, my husband and I opened our home...
In preparation for a spiritual retreat I, well, am currently taking as I write this, I read Discovering Lectio Divina: Bringing Scripture into Ordinary Life by James C. Wilhoit and Evan B. Howard (2012, Kindle edition). As I have been on this half-day retreat, praying and thinking back over my spiritual autobiography, I can see how the book I chose (with the prompting of the Holy Spirit, I believe) is a necessary and logical next step...
This past weekend I went on a women’s retreat to Lake Arrowhead with my church, Redeemer Church in La Mirada. I have to admit, that I was a bit wary about writing this post on a women’s retreat, since my past few posts have been a series on Ruth, my last post was about Hello Kitty, and I don’t want to get pegged as the girl who writes about women’s issues. I’m also not one...
© 2024 — Highend Theme
Created with in London, UK.
Recent Comments