NOTE TO SELF: Stop the Hypocrisy!

Dear Greg,

I've been convicted regarding the issue of Hypocrisy. Well, fine. I've been convicted of hypocrisy.

But it just feels so good, doesn't it? I mean, who cares if you'll be counted last... you can worry about that later. But for now, you'll be first in everyone's eyes. All the glory, all the attention! It's all you boy.

So anyway, here's what you gotta keep doing to make people think you're all spiritual and stuff.

1. When praying in a group, make sure you recite what you're gonna say in your head first. Don't even listen to what other people are praying... how you say your prayer is more important. You want to make sure your prayer sounds all flowery and filled with Christianese jargon. Then people will say, "Wow, he's so holy! He must talk to God like that all the time!"

2. When you're worshiping, make it look like you're all into it even when you're not. If you're sleepy or distracted by random thoughts, you can always close your eyes and have that constipated look on your face. People will really think you're so in love with God!

3. If everyone's standing during worship, sit down. If everyone's sitting down, stand up. Trust me, it'll make you stand out.

4. When you know that there's gonna be some testimony time, like sharing around the campfire at retreats, make sure you do extra good deeds for people and act more holy than usual so that you'll get your name mentioned in front of everyone. The more people who mention you, the better.

5. When you're on a streak and doing more quiet times than usual, make it a point that people know about it. Be subtle. You can say things like "When I was reading my Bible early this morning...", or "You know, Jesus says in Matthew 8 that..." People will think you ALWAYS read the Bible!

6. Make sure everyone at church knows about all the ministry opportunities you get. It'll make you seem like you're in demand, and then MORE opportunities will be coming your way!

7. Keep yourself really busy with lots of ministry. Even though it's not true AT ALL, it'll make you feel like you're important because you're doing all these "important" things for God. Then you can complain and say to people "Man, I have SO much stuff I need to do- Small groups, bible study, so and so wants to talk to me about stuff..." and so on. People always think that the more you do, the holier you are. Actually, they don't. Keep thinking it though.

8. Exaggerate. Exaggerating a little bit won't hurt. In fact, it'll make you seem so much more than you are. If one person compliments you, you can say to other people, "A few people have told me that I..." And if a couple people compliment you, you can say things like, "All these people say" or "SO many people think I'm..." They'll never know how many people actually said those things.

So anyway, keep it up. Keep running for first. Sure Jesus says, the first will be last, and the last will be first. But what does that mean anyway?

Insincerely,

Greg

Wow... TOUCHING video

I found this video online. I can't believe I cried watching it!! I feel like a girl... Hope you guys will be moved watching this. I sure was.

Myth Busters: Accepting Christ will save you

I have seen many friends “accept Christ as their Lord and Savior”. What does that mean?!? Everyone in the U.S. accepts Obama as President... what does that mean? 5 bucks to anyone who can show me that the Bible says we're saved by "accepting Christ".

I have seen youth raise their hands at praise rallies. I have seen people go down onto the field at Gospel Crusades. I have seen friends come forward at retreats.

I have seen many of the same people walk away from faith and into the ways of the world.

In Joshua 24, the book closes with this intense scene where Joshua’s giving one last speech to the people before he passes on. The scene kind of reminds me of a rally or a some kind of revival meeting. After reminding them of all the crazy things God has done for them in their past, Joshua peforms an altar call: "Now choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve... as for me and my household we will serve the LORD."

4x the Israelites raise their hands and cry out: "We will serve the LORD! We choose God!"
Joshua, not too concerned about numbers, pushes back at them and says: 'You can't serve God. He's too holy!"
Yet they insist: "We will serve the LORD!"

One generation later, the Bible says that after Joshua died, "Israel did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals" (Judges 2:11).

It's tragic when we make Christianity merely about "praying the sinner's prayer" or coming forward at a gospel meeting. Seriously, thank God if you were one who made a decision to follow Christ in such a way... I hope you're still pursuing Christ faithfully . But it's a tragedy when we fatally mislead people by telling them that all you have to do is say a prayer and "accept Jesus into your heart", and Wha-La! You're saved!

Being a Christian isn't a one-time commitment. It's a FULL-TIME commitment. Some reading this right now want to stone me because "It's by faith we are saved, and faith alone!"

Amen to that.

But faith isn't demonstrated in an instance in time. It's demonstrated by a life-time of commitment.

Jesus says, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, pick up his cross DAILY, and follow me." (Luke 9:23). I don't seem to ever recall Jesus calling for passive acceptance... I hear Jesus calling for active obedience, intentional discipleship, and persistent committment driven by faith.

I like Hebrews 4:13. Check it out: “But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.”

In the same way, I want to challenge you, as long as it is called "Today", to face up to Joshua's challenge each day you wake up in the morning: "Choose this day whom you will serve."

Each day, choose him, and chase after him. Pursue Him, because he has pursued you. Then pick up your cross, and follow him... by faith.

The Final Four

I can't stop thinking about having a BABY BOY!!! Yeah Baby!!!

I also can't stop thinking about what to name him. This is killing me... we only have four months left. Time is running out!

So I finally got Monica to consider four names... and of course, we don't just want any name. We want something with real significance and meaning. Here are my top four:

1. Jedidiah- means "Loved By God"; nicknames: Jet, Jed, JD; Monica hates this idea, but I thought I'd include it here since it's quite amazing.

2. Evan- means "God's Grace; God's gracious gift"; I wanted to name him "Evangelist" (Messenger of Good News), with Evan as his nickname, but Monica WILL NOT HAVE IT. She likes Evan, only if it's Evan. This is fitting, since we agreed on Karis for a girl's name, which also means "Grace".

3. Bryce- ready for this? Means "Of Britain", or "Freckled". That's deep. It's a dope name, but the meaning kills it.

4. Kyle- means "Straight, narrow", as in a straight, narrow passage way. More narrow than it is deep, I guess. Nickname: Ky-Ky, Ky. Monica likes this too, but once again, not much meaning.

That ONE PERFECT person: Part II

I'll share my thoughts regarding the previous blog (Thanks for your responses!)

Me and Monica agreed to pray for a month (November of 2003) to see if God would speak to us regarding whether or not we were "meant for each other". We spent that time apart from each other until the Lord spoke to us.

It was the last day of November, and I still had not heard from the Lord at all. I remember laying in bed in San Francisco, praying to God, "Ok God, this is it. The last day, and I still haven't heard you speak regarding whether or not Monica is the one for me". I kept imagining God would be all dramatic and speak to me at the very last second.

I fell asleep.

I'm quite a deep sleeper... my roommates in college would wake up when my alarm went off, then they'd get up, and physically wake me up since I sleep like a bear. But oddly, that night I was woken up by a leak in the ceiling due to rain... IN ANOTHER ROOM! It was weird, I was wide awake and couldn't go back to sleep because the drip was so constant and so annoying. I remember being utterly frustrated as I laid their trying to fall back asleep.

Then God spoke to me. I had JUST read Proverbs 27:15:
"A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping on a rainy day".

The Lord spoketh! Not that Monica IS NOT THE ONE because she's like a constant dripping... she's anything but quarrelsome! But the Lord spoke to me by helping me realize from this Scripture that the Lord ISN'T going to speak to me regarding whether someone is the one for me or not. I have a freedom to choose.

Prov. 27:15 is a guideline regarding our spouse- it's better not to marry someone who is quarrelsome. It is not a command. The Bible is filled with guidelines for wisely choosing a spouse. For men, wives should be submissive, God-fearing, not quarrelsome, not ill-tempered, etc. For women, it's good if their husband is considerate, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, etc.

The only clear Biblical commands for knowing whether one is the one for us is:
1. He/She is a equally yoked
2. He/She is of the opposite gender.
Other than these two criteria, the Bible only provides guidelines, and allows us the freedom to choose whoever we would want to marry, as long as these two criteria are met. Once we marry, the responsibility is ours to be faithful to our spouse for the rest of our earthly life.

Biblically speaking, there is just no evidence of God having that perfect one for you. The argument is from silence. Of David's many wives, which one was the "right one"? Not that God condoned multiple wives, but even when David married on different occasions, God never condemned David, nor anyone else in the Bible, for marrying the wrong wife.

Logically, it just doesn't work. Considering the past, once someone married the wrong person (which the divorce statistics tell me that's likely the case, and probably happens all the time), EVERYONE ELSE marries the wrong person. For example, if I married the wrong person, I took someone's perfect person, and that someone will end up marrying another wrong person, who was supposed to be someone else's perfect person... and so on and so on. Everyone gets jacked.

There are things we can find in God's Word as things that God values in his people. If we value those same things and look for them in our spouse, then I think we'll be pleased. And during the times when we aren't very pleased, we need the mercy and grace of God to be faithful and committed to love the one we chose for life.

That one PERFECT person

My friend Matt asks a question that, surprisingly, different Christians disagree on:

"Does God have that one person for you?"

Monica and I actually spent a month apart from each other before dating to seek God and listen to His voice. We decided to pray and ask him whether or not we were meant for each other. He spoke to me loud and clear on the 30th day.

What do you think? Does everyone who's meant to be married have one perfect person out there for them? Interestingly, Monica and I disagreed over this before we got married. It actually grieved me that we felt so differently. I think we might even still disagree about this!

I have my thoughts.What are yours?

The Baby Results are in....

So we found out the baby's gender today. CRAZY. It's nice to finally know how to refer to our baby. I no longer have to call the baby "Baby" in order not to have to call "Baby", "It". :)

I have no idea what we're looking at in this ultrasound picture. See if you can guess. Can you see the peepee... or lack thereof? 5 bucks if you can guess Baby's gender before watching the video.



Watch this to see if you got skills.



So there you have it!

Some people have mentioned to me how they were encouraged by my "Reflections on 30" to start praying for their future partner. DO IT! Just a brief background, I started praying for my spouse in college, years before I started dating. I didn't know who she'd be, but I started praying that God would prepare me for her, and prepare her for me.

In 2001, I was convicted to start praying specifically for the possibility of a future with Monica. CRAZY THING IS, I didn't even like her then! After a conversation with one of my best friends, Mike, I told him that I was going to start praying about her. A year later, God worked in a way where we both began to find interest in each other. Now, we're having a baby. :)

But it's never too early to start praying for God to prepare us for the road ahead. I started praying for this baby even before we were pregnant! As soon as we got married, though we planned to wait 2-3 years to have a child, I began praying for the possibility of a future child- that God would give us children who loved Him and devoted their life to him. I prayed that God would prepare us as parents, to know how to raise the child in the Lord, and that God would prepare the child for us.

I pray for our baby everyday. I hope you would pray for him too.

I hope that you will pray for your future partner, whoever that may be. That God would mold you and make you ready for that person, and that person for you. I hope that you too would start praying even now for your future kids, if God decides to give you them.

Easter Sermon: "To Fall In Love with Jesus"

Thank you guys for praying for the Easter Sermon! He is Risen Indeed! I've received some encouraging emails about how God was speaking to people through the Hope of the Resurrection. Some of you have asked for a copy of the sermon. You can listen to it HERE.

The Gift of Pain

If you were going through pain, would you ask God to take it away?

We were talking about leprosy in my “Life of Christ” class that I’m taking at Talbot. We were talking about what it looks like, and how many lepers these days have fingers, hands, arms, and feet looking like they’re being eaten away at. I’ve heard before that leprosy was believed to be an infectous disease where the body deteriorates and eats away at itself, causing lepers to look the way they do.



I also heard an explanation that the body really isn’t eating away itself at all… modern leprosy involves damage to the nerves and the lost sense of touch. And the reason why the body looks as if it’s being eaten away at is simply because there’s no pain acting as warning signals to harm and danger. Naturally, the parts of the body are being burned, rubbed away at, cut off, and damaged because nothing is telling the body that it’s in harms way. Nothing is telling the body to turn away or flee.

I always thought this was a cute urban legend, but was pleasantly surprised when my professor was able to have this validated by a veteran pain specialist at UCLA Medical Center. This doctor confirmed that it is very positively the case among modern day lepers!

If you were experiencing pain in your life, would you ask God to take it away?
To pray for a leper and ask for his healing is to ask God to give the leper the gift of pain. To pray for a leper is to ask God to restore unto him a sensitivity to harm and danger.

If you were going through pain, would you ask God to take it away?

Would you pray for leprosy?

Hebrews 12:11
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10
"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

Christians are like Atheists... sometimes

I recently read a blog of an atheist. It reads:

"To claim there is a God who can cure cancer, but doesn’t, raises the huge question, “Why?” The fact the Christian cannot answer this very basic fact about God demonstrates why I reiterate any claim about God is unenforceable, because God is unobservable and unverifiable.

If you don’t know enough about your God-concept to explain why such a God wouldn’t cure cancer in a five-year-old, don’t tell me how it writes books, or provides you a parking space, or gave your child the winning shot in the J.V. basketball game."

I think the author of this comment has a confused understanding of God, as does the Christian who thinks that God will always give us that parking spot or help my favorite team win. God doesn't exist so that we can get what we want... in fact, we exist so that God will get what he wants, in particular, glory and praise.

It might sound quite lame- a God who creates us to be worshipped? What kind of God is that? But the truth is, truth isn't determined by its lame-factor (how lame it is or isn't). I think it's lame that if i fall off a 400 foot cliff, my bones will quite likely fracture, or perhaps even explode and shatter all over the place. I may even die. As lame as it is that I have to suffer from falling off cliff, it doesn't take away from the truth that gravity exists, and rocks at the bottom of a cliff are usually hard. (By the way, I've come to experience that giving all to glorify God isn't lame at all. It's actually quite satisfying when I'm living according to my intended design).

I pray this would make sense to you someday: From a biblical perspective, Praying to God isn't about getting what we want. Prayer is about wanting what we get.

God is Sovereign. God's will is the goal of every believer, to align our desires with his, rather than trying to allign his desires with ours.

We need to start living according to God's words, and stop trying to get Him to live according to ours.

P.S. Stay tuned for Baby update! Gender revelation in a few weeks!

Christians Smoking Weed

So my friend Mike asked for some interesting advice: Why is smoking weed wrong for a Christian?

I'm interested in what you would say. Is it even wrong for Christians to smoke marijuana?

Can't Tell Time

Thank you everyone for your emails and messages regarding our pregnancy! Many of you have asked me, "Were you guys planning to have a baby?!"

Yes and no. Yes we wanted a baby. No, not now. But I guess I realized something- I can't tell time. Not God's time at least.

Many of the Bread of Life youth have been memorizing Scripture as a response to the retreat we just had. So I recently memorized Proverbs 16:9.

"In his heart a man plan's his course, but the LORD determines his steps."

Just looking at my relationship with Monica, I've had all my plans in line, my course mapped out. But geez, my clock does NOT seem to be in sync with God's clock, and my steps are NOT His steps! Here's how I've come to realize that God runs on a different schedule than mine.

- I wanted to date Monica immediately, He had us pray for 2 years.
- I wanted to date for 2 years and then get married, He had us go 5 years.
- I wanted to be married for 2 years and then have a baby, he had us go 5 MONTHS!

I GIVE UP. It seems like my 2's are his 5's, his 5's are my 2's. My years are his months, my months are his years!

I remember having memorized Isaiah 55:8-9 in the past:

8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.
9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts."

I think the Word of God got it right. WORD.

D.I.P., Ian Ullstrom

Dance In Praise, Ian.

When I was working a few years back, I tried to share Jesus with this coworker I had. Man, Ian, I seriously tried to share with her everything I could- my personal testimony, biblical evidence, what Jesus could do for you. EVERYTHING. Nothing moved her.

But she said something to me that I never forgot. Ian, check this out. She goes, "There is one thing I admire about you Christians. I noticed that when loved ones die, you guys are happy! You guys have this peace and comfort when your loved one dies. I wish I could have that."

When we found out a month ago that your sickness was terminal, I remember, I was driving, and Monica read me the email from her phone. I just started weeping there in the car as I was driving. Monica sat there as I drove and sobbed.

There's nothing good in death, Ian. Nothing at all. There's nothing to rejoice in. Death was the scheme of Satan. Death is the power of evil one. There's nothing to be happy about.

But it's because of the resurrection that we can get up and DANCE! It's because He is Risen that I know you are alive! It's because of the resurrection that we can say "Praise the Lord!" And it's because He is Risen that you don't have to just "rest in peace", but that you can rise up and D.ance I.n P.raise! It actually made me smile when we got the email two weeks ago that you had passed on to be with the King!

I heard that your memorial was AMAZING! Carmen sent us news today that almost every single person who shared that day talked about how you NEVER blamed God and never focused on your suffering, but you just looked forward to Jesus. That made me so proud of you. For a teenager, you had a better handle on Life than many mature Christians I know. You make me smile bro.

Go on Brother, let me see you Tootsie Roll. Now D.I.P, baby, D.I.P.!

Name that Baby!

Alright, so Monica is now in her 2nd trimester. Still early, but we figure we start getting some ideas. We're having a hard time figuring that one name we both like.

People are always asking, what are you going to name your baby?! Then naturally, everyone's got their own suggestion. We've been given some meaningful names, from "Elijah" to "Maleia", to some outrageous ones, from "Nebuchadnezzar" to "Enduro Shark".

Here's your chance. Leave me your suggestions (one boy and one girl name), and any, if any, meaning behind it. If we end up using your suggestion, we'll let you be the first to baby-sit. Pizza's on us.

Reflections on 30

So I turned 30 this year. I figured I spend some time reflecting on my first 30 years, and so I wrote down the first memory that came to mind for each year I lived. Here are reflections of my first 30 years:

1. Born in San Francisco Chinatown, Kaiser Permanente. Taken to our home in Daily City, CA (don't remember much of this)
2. Moved to South Torrance.
3. Had reoccurring dreams of a T-Rex that would chase me around the house, and I would have to jump over a pit in the middle of my hallway to survive.
4. Fell in love with a brunette named Amanda. I would repeatedly draw her the same picture of a hill, a four-door car, and a rainbow.
5. Asked Keiko to marry me. She said she would if I would marry her.
6. Started my 5-year career at Hickory Elementary School.
7. My second grade teaher, Mrs. Cousin, pulled my hair and called me a “fat” liar. Traumatized.
8. Had a fat crush on Ms. Yamamoto. Made her a clay cup that said “#1 Teacher”, but the handle broke off, and I couldn't give it to her.
9. Was baptized at South Bay Chinese Alliance Church. Gave my best friend, Jose Morales, my 1972 Reggie Jackson baseball card for Valentines day, because it meant so much to me, and he meant so much to me. Now I can't even find him on Facebook.
10. Won 2nd place in my entire Cub Scout troop for the annual school-wide derby car race. My dad spent DAYS building the car.
11. Realized how fat I was, so tried to lose it by riding the exercise bike we had at home for at least ½ hour.
12. Stepped on a power sander and sanded off the flesh of my second toe.
13. Cut my own hair for the first time ever. Just under 4 hours.
14. Moved to a new school, West High. Prayed fervently that God would cause all the girls to like me. No joke.
15. Made it to frosh/soph tennis for West High. 0-11 record.
16. Truck broke down while driving to PV, got out to check under the hood, and my truck started rolling down Hawthorne Blvd. because I forgot to put on the brakes. It rolled down hill until it was stopped by a van coming up Hawthorne.
17. Got my first pager ever. 4 years late. Bravo LX. Mods: burgundy case, red back light, badtz maru and dragon ball stickers. 4364, 8684!
18. Top 5 Homecoming Court. Greatest high school accomplishment.
19. UCI Anteater.
20. Joined Crossroads Campus Ministries.
21. First cell phone ever. 4 years late.
Started Praying about the possibility of a future with Monica on July 11, 2001.
22. Graduated UCI with a B.A. in International Studies. Preached for the first time ever for the youth group at church. Preached outside for the first time at the Long Beach Rescue Mission.
23. Started the Masters of Divinity program at Talbot School of Theology.
24. Started to date Monica officially on September 4.
25. Started AlphaOmega Learning Company with Mike Yim and Jeff Wu.
26. Started developing a women’s designer jeans company. J-Star. Rustic Jeans.
27. First retreat ever. FCBC Hikoi Fellowship. First mission trip to Taiwan with OMF.
28. Proposed.
29. Married my beautiful wife, Monica.
30. Baby daddy.



Conclusion after 30 years: God is GOOD.