TECOW EM Cell Group 1

http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/

although there are many daily devotional (qt) sites out there on the world wide web, this the one i have been subscribing to. it’s free. you can either visit the site daily and click on the daily devo. that interests you or you can subscribe to a specific one and get them emailed to you.

so…as you will see..they are catergorized into certain area such as ‘for women’ or ’spiritual growth’..etc.

if you want any emailed to you just click on the link that says ‘Want Crosswalk Devotional Newsletters delivered to your inbox?’

okee…hope you guys find some good devotionals and hope it aids in your relationship with the Lord and with your spiritual growth.

-jen!

I am so lazy. Sometimes, I say it like I’m proud of it. Sometimes, I like being lazy; other times, I hate myself for being lazy.

The summer is already a month over, and I still have yet to find a job to help fund grad school. I guess I’m just praying a lot that my scholarships will come through, but I still do need to pay for rent on top tuition. Does relying on God make me lazy?

Yesterday my co-worker asked me what I do with my time, besides working at the pool. I couldn’t answer him – I feel as though I’m always busy, but I don’t think I do anything productive. I spend a lot of time commuting, working out, sleeping, and playing Restaurant City on Facebook (which oddly eats up a lot of my time), but those are not very productive things.

I know I shouldn’t be lazy – instead, I should be working hard at making the best of the opportunities given to me. So I’m going to apply to jobs today (hold me accountable, please!) and start looking for apartments in Montreal.

Why are people so lazy?

-jimin

since we were talking about parents and all last week… and unfortunately, i had a lot of time to think… this is what you get.

i have to make some things clear before i start, it kinda comes with being a writer (or wannabe writer, take your pick). i’ve been going to church ever since i could remember, and i always sort of took it for granted that He existed, and that christianity was true, you know, a normal mentality fora kid born into christianity. i’m not sure when the exact point was when i started questioning things and started being generally cynical (of course the two are highly related), but one memory stands out, and i’m not sure if it relates or not, but here it is:

one time, my brother, my father, and myself were sitting at the dinner table, probably when i was about twelve or thirteen. when i started eating, my father admonished me for not praying before the meal. i responded by asking him why he didn’t pray. he said, somewhat emphatically, “i’m not christian!” i remember being shocked – not like, drop-spoon-go-to-corner-and-cry shocked – but shocked nonetheless. and that may be the first time that my religious landscape started to change. or maybe not. like i said, i don’t quite remember.

that kinda got me thinking about the weight behind the meaing, “God the Father.” it’s one of those things where, it’s always in front of you, but you’re surprised when you realize it’s there. i wondered, why would God want to be known as a father? for a lot of my early childhood, i spent the bulk of it being afraid of the volatility of my father. he’s not like a raging alcoholic or anything, and he never was. let’s just say he was… traditional. but then, i realized, for me, God was just like my father. kinda like a space-God, ruling from millions of lightyears away. distant. and my prayers slowly drifting through saturn’s rings… … … i wonder if he’s received my prayers yet? my father always provided for me what i need and a lot of what i want. i can talk about food and shelter, but that’s really boring. but he did give me those things. him giving me the things i wanted is a lot more interesting. i loved sports ever since i was young. call it “being a boy,” but for me, it was far beyond that. hockey night in canada meant that i could stay up til 11, or even 12. sports commitments after school saved me from violin practice. more impoortantly, it was (is?) the one bond that my father and i shared. he enrolled me into tennis camp, although i only took it because they took us swimming at the end of every day. he hired me a private tennis tutor, which i enjoyed, but in the end, i didn’t show a lot of promise in the sport. but even as a kid, these gestures were more important than lego. the silent man who barely grunted at us, wore sunglasses in the house (they were his prescription, but still…), and busyed himself doing housework most of the time, became animate. we would engage in lively discussions about who was the better player? mats sundin or daniel alfredsson? he took me ice skating during winter break. he drove me to hockey games on saturdays and then to practice on mondays. i’m not gonna say something cheesy like, “sports was the key to the locket of my father’s heart,” but i will say this: i talked about sports, my father responded with more than a word.

there is a point to all this banter. space-God was just like my father. at least until… i discovered that sports wasn’t something me and space-God had in common. he provided me with life and everything that goes with it, the very mind to write this, but aside from the necessities, i felt i was mostly left to my own devices… no, this is a mistake. I still feel this way, to be quite honest. space-God. space-father. emotionally unavailable. space. for me, God does not have the fire-in-your-loins kind of closeness that many christians seem to have. the intimate God, i suppose. but initmacy is something i have come to be deathly afraid of. and there is no sports for me to disguise it with.

i’m not looking for advice, nor am i looking for someone to tell me that God does like sports. this is the God that i know. space-God. one of the many, many things that shape my views on christianity, and religion in general. maybe one day i’ll make sense of it all.

wl.

i’m kidding.. there’s nothing interesting about my work place. But thought i`d write something before the week ends and before i lose sanity.

Theres nothing so interesting or mind-blowing i have to say, but, here`s my weekly post. Um., i`ve been trying to work on two essays these days and slowly but surely, its getting done. At times, i`m just so brain-dead that for what seems like 2 minutes (staring at the screen) happens to be 4 hours.. then comes panic mode and yeah, thats pretty much what my days are and have been besides school.

Although all my friends are done, back in town and endlessly bragging about how free they feel, i`m kinda glad i`m in school. when the weather`s great and everyone is wearing practically nothing, we all just sit in front of the school and enjoy the sun while a few of my friends waste  it doing nothing or at work.  although this moment wont be so jolly in about a few weeks, im grateful.

OK back to essay time for me, hip-hip-hooray (hoorah?) for school

-sj

(Sorry Daeshin if this post embarrasses you a little bit!)

This week, I had the chance to go see Leah JDSN and her new baby Timothy. I was just soooo AMAZED by how quiet and obedient he was! And of course, he is very, very cute.

Watching how Leah JDSN interacted with Timothy and how much pain and what an ordeal it was for her to give birth to him really helped me understand, just a little bit, how much our parents love us. What really amazed me though, was how Leah JDSN and Daeshin are already planning for Timothy’s future – they hope & pray that he will grow up to be a missionary like his parents, and that he will be able to serve God’s purpose with his life. That is really a huge indication of their love for little Timothy.

That made me really think about how everything we do in life should be to serve God. Even having babies should not be for our own selfish desires to raise a family, or to have cute babies around you (hehe, that would be my initial thought)!

In addition, seeing Timothy made me realize all the new babies God has blessed our church with. He is really helping our church grow and realize its vision. I am comforted by the fact that as I leave the church in September, I will have reassurance that God is still going to make sure that the church is growing steadily, and that there will always leaders (or, leaders-in-training)! I suppose that is also a lesson in trusting wholly in God.

That’s why I named this post “little (or big?) blessings”. Because the babies or such tiny little things, but what they represent for our church is such a HUGE blessing!! I can’t wait to see all of them grow up, hehe =)

-jimin

Guess it’s my turn to procrastinate.. -,.-  plus i cant seem to concentrate at the moment so yeah~ Anyways, jen suggested this first and i thought yeah, what the heck, i did after all put some effort to it. i left the testimony-preparation to the last minute, like err.. 1 am on Sunday? :S, and it was hard at first bc i thought wow if i’m not ready to write this, how will i be for the baptism? luckily, i felt God’s presence in me and i know this bc i dunno why but started crying while writing this testimony, perhaps it was the feeling of FINALLY being able to let go of…that…that…. something..  anways its hard to explain bc i dont even know what it was, but yeah i already feel a little renewed : D

when i first met God was when all things changed. a new life, hope, dreams and direction to become a good person through Christ was my intention.

because He loves and gives me everything i need, the more He gave, the more i wanted. the more i wanted the more “no” i heard, until my heart betrayed and became impure.

the world became darker with my hate-stained eyes, and i could feel the cold and bitterness deep within me. it grew and grew until my heart was affected, my life, was back to where it used to be.

time was not the answer to heal my complaining heart. “why not God?” and such questions only grew me apart.

without God, my hopes and dreams withdrew before me, life without a purpose became bleak. passion, desire, motive no longer existed, my christian stance was below weak.

i had forgotten all the greatness of God’s creation, i had forgotten what my life was before Christ, i had forgotten His kindness and patience, i forgot to pay my price.

my life oh so spiritless made me consider, that perhaps i may once again start anew, a life, a relationship, or even a step towards life with a holier view.

and with this prayer, a poem and a testimony, id like to confess not only to declare my beliefs, but to swear infront of you all that once again my life will be to serve God’s deeds.

thankyou. -sj

this past monday i was on the computer doing some homework (or procrastinating…same thing) and i decided to listen to some Christian music via youtube…songs that i didn’t have and was too lazy to download! as i was listening to one new and unfamiliar song i decided to scroll down at the comment section. there was one person who wrote something about the song and then wrote ‘i love you Jesus’. as i was listening to another song, scrolling down at the comments i read another entry that talked about the song, and they also wrote ’i love you Lord’.

a couple of songs later and a couple of comments later i realized how many people opening confess their love for Jesus in a little comment box. but it wasn’t their mere confession that struck me…what struck me was how unfamiliar i was to hearing people say those words – I LOVE YOU JESUS!! i hardly, if ever, say those words to people myself and to be honest i don’ t think i ever said ‘i love you Jesus’ to Jesus before. i know that i don’t have to say those words for him to know who i am or how i feel about him, i do love him and i know he knows it, but i find it strange that i’ve never actually said those words to him before.

i even tried to look up passages in the Bible that had people say ‘i love you (Jesus)’ and David did say it in Psalms 18:1 (” ..I love you, O LORD, my strength.”) and there was a part in John where Jesus asks Simon Peter three time if he loves him and Simon Peter does say so (“The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”- John 12:17), but there weren’t that many verses. what there was a lot of was His love for us;

- his unfailing love and enduring love (1 Chronicles and Psalms)

- ‘For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths of the grave.” – Psalm 86:13

- “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” -John 3:16

these are just some verses of many that illustrate how much we are loved.

but then as i kept on searching through the online Bible (hehe..made it easier than looking though the actual physical Bible), it came back to my initial thought that it doesn’t matter if i say the actual words, ‘i love you Lord’, what matters is that i acknowledge him, that i obey him, that i praise and worship him, that i am faithful to him, that i do his works and is used by him, that i know him, and that i love him the way i know how.

- ” “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.” -Psalms 91:14

- “Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.” – Psalms 63:6

again, obviously there are many other verses that i could have shared with you all, but as you can see i didn’t get past the book of Psalm (haha…no i did but love wasn’t expressed the same).

anyhoos…my point is, love the Lord your God with all you heart, and with all you soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind because He loves you with everything he has, and he has shown this to us by the physical life he has given us and the by spiritual life he has given us through his Son.

-jen

hey all if you didn’t hear yet, i am a dad as of tues. Baby Heesung was born tuesday, March 31, 2009 at 330pm and he was 8.14 lbs (BIG) anyhow all is well and i will see you sunday.

daeshin

1.God is good and loving God

2.God is Almighty

3.God knows my life

4.God control everything

5.God plans my life

6.God will save me when i was in anxiety