sethskim.com

Recently, in some of my reflections and meditations, I have been thinking a lot about the relationship between God’s glory and faith. I have been trying to wrestle with the idea that somehow God receives a lot of glory and praise when His people live a life of faith.

Faith is a crazy thing.

When my kids have faith that I (their daddy) will catch them and therefore, they are willing to jump from an elevated place, it honors me. The sense of honor comes from the fact that they put that much trust in me and followed through on my command (to jump). What does it say about the kids? Well, it shows that they have a high view of dad – that dad is strong… that dad is not going to hurt them… that dad is trustworthy to put their life at risk.

Therefore, when we, as children of God place our faith in Him and live our lives knowing that God is Good, Strong, Trustworthy, Compassionate, Great, Loving, and etc., then what does it communicate to people about our Dad? Does our Heavenly Father find joy in our trust and obedience?

So if we say that God is honored by the way we live by faith, then the faith that we display will show the world what we view about God and possibly help people to see the nature of God.

Now…

Can we say that God is passionate about His honor?

In many ways, we can say that the above statement is true.

In Numbers 25:11, God speaks to Moses about Phinehas who was passionate about God’s honor. God says, “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites; for he was as zealous as I am for my honor among them.” God praises Phinehas for his zeal for God’s honor, which God Himself is zealous about.

Even in Numbers 20:12, God speaks to Moses and Aaron about how honor is connected to trusting in Him. God says, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”

If God is passionate about His honor and glory, then wouldn’t God want to develop our faith so that He might be honored through us?

Hmm… then, how does God develop faith in a person?

This is when I reflected on my life. The times when my faith in God was increased was when I went through trials and difficulties. It testifies to the truthfulness of what some of the early followers of Christ wrote.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4).

“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:6-7).

Wow! When our faith is tested by the fire, then it will “result” in “honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

Therefore, next time we face a trial or a difficulty in our lives… maybe God is wanting to strengthen our faith so that He will ultimately be honored.

But it is always easier said than done.

No wonder the prophet Isaiah said, “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Isaiah 29:13).

I am praying that God will give us the grace to honor Him.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 06:13 PM | Permalink

I am always inspired by kids who seem to have a natural talent or gift for something. It is incredible to see how they can use their gifts at that particular age. In fact, someone forwarded me one of Oprah’s shows on the World’s Smartest Kids on the internet. It is truly fascinating.

So this got me thinking after seeing the latest child protégé on ESPN. His name is Marquise Walker who became a YouTube sensation. One of the big reasons why he became a hit was because of a marketing strategy used by his father, who wants his son to go to college to play basketball and eventually end up in the NBA.

The thought was – “how much of it is natural talent and how much of it is a parent’s training of the child?” Maybe it is both.

This made me think about discipleship. Every Christ’s follower has received a gift (Eph 2:8) and this gift begins to grow. In fact it needs to be developed (Php 2:12; Jas 2:14-26). But like with all things, if we try to push too hard on our own timetable then there are a lot of negative consequences that will follow.

How many child protégé turned out to be a bust?

I am wondering if the child protégé with the right combination of love, encouragement, and support, they might be able to go far.

Isn’t this the case with many young believers who are now growing towards maturity?

Check out ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” Special on Marquise.
 
 
 
Here is a compilation of some of Marquise’s games on YouTube.
 
 

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 01:49 PM | Permalink

Bob Alexander in his article, “Why People Procrastinate,” shares his insights on why people procrastinate. He starts off by giving “A Procrastinator’s Creed.” Alexander shares that it might be one or all of the following:

He continues and writes, “There are many reasons people choose to procrastinate. The perfectionist gets caught up in the inconsequential details of his project and loses sight of the end result. Passive-aggressive people don’t feel competent and in control of their lives, so they constantly arrive late to work, miss project deadlines, or are late for dinner or social gatherings so they can get the attention of and irritate others. The depressed procrastinate by talking themselves into waiting to start a project until they ‘feel like it.’ The escape artist finds creative ways of avoiding unpleasant tasks, and the ‘rebel without a cause’ likes to put things off because it frustrates his co-workers and boss. The list is endless.”

The list is truly endless. We all find ourselves procrastinating from time to time, but there are some people who struggle with this in a way that it is debilitating and it renders them ineffective. Procrastination is not entirely rooted in laziness. Sometimes it is caused more by fear – fear of failure.

The fear of failure has a way of paralyzing us and it stops us from achieving our goal and reaching our destiny. Therefore, a procrastinator will do everything possible to avoid taking action. The logic behind this is that when we procrastinate, we avoid the pain and difficulty that comes with taking responsibility and action.

I am wondering if procrastinators give us insight to the human heart.

We have raised up a generation of people who will avoid pain and difficulty at all cost. Rather than seeing the difficulties as the price we pay for getting to the next level, we see it as more of an obstacle. But maybe this is where we have to start.

This article hit me pretty hard because there are a few things that I am pushing off on and I realized that I need to change. I am guilty of being a perfectionist at times and it hinders me from doing things a little at a time.

Sometimes the best wisdom comes from my wife – “Just do it! And do it NOW!”

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 07:05 PM | Permalink

The other day I saw a huge spider in the Transformation Center office window. As I looked more closely, I realized that this spider caught a fly in its web. It was interesting to just watch this spider spin its victim around and around making a cocoon.

What caught my attention was the fly. I could tell that he was still alive but due to the spider’s web that was made into a cocoon, the fly was struggling to set itself free. But it was in the bondage of the spider's web.

This is when I started to think about the parallels to the Christian life. God has created us to live in freedom – freedom to love God and to obey His commands. On a side note, the world’s view of freedom is just the opposite. People think that freedom is the absence of rules or laws, but the fact of the matter is that people are in bondage to their wills.

This is why when you tell a person to stop doing something, they are not able to exercise self-control. Just think about the use of drug, porn, alcohol, sex, and etc. Many people cannot stop. Even though they are free to do these things, are they truly “free” if they are addicted and cannot stop?

Often times, Christians end up in a spiritual headlock by Satan. This is one of the reasons why we lose our joy and effectiveness. Spiritual warfare is always heightened when God is about to do some great things because Satan knows that God’s purposes will be accomplished.

It is my prayer that every person in our churches will be living in the freedom that Christ has purchased for us on the cross.

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (Jn 8:36).
 
 
 

 
The fly was struggling to set itself free
 
 
 

 
I tried to get a close up but my camera did not have the ability to get a clear shot

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 04:23 PM | Permalink

The United States has always prided itself in being a “melting pot.” Now, with the latest predictions by the U.S. Census, it is estimated that by 2042 (in about 34 years) the “Whites” in America will become the minority.

It will be pretty interesting to see how things will play out in terms of prejudice and race relations at that point in history.

But one thing I have been noticing more in various sectors of society is the increase of “minorities” in visible positions. I have noticed that there were more Asian news anchors in the last 5 years. There are already a lot of Latinos in sports and the Asian are slowly penetrating the sports barrier. We have an African-American as the presumptive Democratic nominee. Who would have imagined?

I have also heard more languages spoken over the intercom at airports. Even when I was in Austin and Los Angeles, I realized how dumb I was in taking French in high school (I was trying to be romantic). I should have taken Spanish. There are so many opportunities to have conversations with people who speak Spanish.

The Census has also estimated that there are four states that have a higher “minority” population than the “majority” White population (Hawaii, New Mexico, California, and Texas).

These kinds of statistics are a constant reminder for the Church to not only be multi-ethnic but to develop people who are transcultural." This is how we are going to reach a whole new generation of people in the United States.

You can read the story here.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 01:47 PM | Permalink

Praise God for the Olympics. There are so many illustrations to choose from, it is truly a preacher’s banquet to feast upon.
 
 

 
 
 
If you look at this picture carefully, you will realize that the Spain’s Olympic basketball team is posing by making slit-eyes with their fingers. Wow! And this is the year 2008.

Obviously, this has upset the Chinese host in Beijing, but more than that it has offended a lot of Asian people. This picture, along with the women’s basketball team (making the same gestures) were in the full page sports section of Spain’s best-selling newspaper.

In the Guardian newspaper’s report, it states, “No one involved in the advert appears to have considered it inappropriate nor contemplated the manner in which it could be interpreted in China and elsewhere. No offence was intended by the advert, but whether the Chinese see it that way is a different matter and it is likely to provoke more criticism at a delicate time for Spanish sport. The failure to recognise [sic] the potential consequences is striking in the light of the problems Spain has had with issues of race and the Spanish Olympic committee's continued desire to host the Games in Madrid in 2016 or 2020.”

Wait a minute.

Of course those involved in the advertisement didn’t “considered it inappropriate nor contemplated the manner in which it could be interpreted in China and elsewhere.” The reason is because they are focused on themselves and did not consider what an Asian person would have felt if they saw the picture.

This is the problem with race relations and even prejudice. A lot of times, we are not able to see beyond our own culture and our own comforts. This is why at HMCC, we are trying to teach the principle of “transculturalism.” Being transcultural simply means that it is “a decision to go through discomforts and difficulties in order to develop understanding and delight in people from a different culture.” It is not just a race issue but it even goes down to things like differences in personality and preferences. It is really learning how to think ourselves less and love people more.

Only a true understanding of the Gospel can bring this kind of transformation of the heart.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 08:47 AM | Permalink

As many of you know, I was not brought up in the church; therefore when I would hear about some of the crazy stories about elders and deacons fighting with each other with knives on the church lawn, it was unfathomable and made me more cynical about the Church. When I heard about people criticizing other churches about various doctrinal issues, it just didn’t make sense to me.

It wasn’t until I was in the thick of “the church life” when I started to feel the pain of the criticisms and even the hurtful things that people would say about me, as a pastor. It is not pleasant to hear from people (both anonymously and identifiable people) that you are a cult leader, too charismatic in theology, overly blunt, too goal-oriented, and etc. I guess God has graciously developed in me a thick skin. Therefore, when it comes to criticisms, I just allow it to bounce off me as much as possible. But of course, it is important to be humble enough to listen to the criticism.

Usually when people criticize me then I am fine with it because I do not play for their applause but when people criticize the church, it was a different story.

I read an article that gave a good perspective on this issue.

If Christ is our Bridegroom and the Church is His Bride, then whenever people criticize the Church, then they are criticizing Christ.

As a married man, who is in love with his wife, let me explain it this way. If someone criticizes Christina in front of me, then I would most like do something to them that will be very un-pastoral. It would fuel something in me that would make me want to protect Christina and even set that person straight because I love Christina.

I am wondering how many times Christ’s heart breaks because of the criticism that is launched against his Church (which is made up of many local churches). There is a saying that we mention during HMCC's Membership Class: “If you ever find a perfect church, then please don’t join it because you will end up ruining it.”

There is no perfect church. But church is made up of imperfect people. This is why we, as members need to learn how to help sanctify it, grow it, and protect it. I love that one Under Armour commercial where the athlete says, “I will protect this house!” I am wondering if this is something that we need to remind ourselves with when there is criticism launch towards the Bride of Christ.

You can read the full article here.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 11:04 AM | Permalink

As I am doing ministry, I am coming across more cynical people than ever before. But if people only knew the cynicism that is overtaking many pastors as well, they would be shocked. Some years ago, I had to guard my heart because I started to find myself getting cynical about one of the greatest moment of a pastor’s life – seeing a person coming to Christ. My heart was so harden (or beaten down by ministry) I started to think to myself – “OK, let’s see how long this person will walk faithfully with Christ… they will probably fall away after a week of this commitment.”

It was that point I knew something was wrong with me and my heart. Cynicism creeps up even to the best of us. Therefore, when I came across this article it really gave me greater insights to a cynical heart.

David Burchett, who is an Emmy Award winning television sports director, author, and Christian speaker, wrote an article entitled, “Cynicism is Not a Spiritual Gift?” It was a response to streams of correspondence he had with Christians who are fighting cynicism.

Burchett was confronted with a cynical Christian in this e-mail that was sent to him. It read:

In many ways, I think a lot of us can relate to this e-mail. It really does describe what is going on in our hearts.

Burchett humbly answers the person with this e-mail response:

As I have been giving this topic of cynicism some thought, I came up with a few plays that I need to implement in my life:

1) More Contemplation – a lack of reflection and contemplation hinder me from seeing things the way God sees them. I need more time to be introspective. This will help me to see where my heart is at and it will allow the Holy Spirit to speak to me.

2) More Confession – pride is the fuel for cynicism. Whenever I get proud or when I see proud people, cynicism is not far behind. As I spend more time in contemplation, then I realized how much more I need God in my life. It is easy to judge other people and question their motives but when was the last time I judged and questioned myself that rigorously.

3) More Community – the more I am around people, the more I see the need for God’s grace and mercy. When I am an island to myself, it is easy to think that everything is fine within my heart. But it is only as I interact with people that all the ugly stuff comes out. This helps me to be more humble. Also, community gives me an outlet to share with other people and receive prayer for my cynicism.

4) More of Christ – cynicism is often equated with our lack of faith. Hebrews 11:1-2 says, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” But cynicism is just the opposite – “not being sure of what we hope for and uncertain of what we DO SEE.” This road leads us to question people’s motives and even doubt the sincerity of people. Therefore, the more we focus on Christ rather than on people, we will be able to overcome cynicism one doubt at a time.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 04:41 PM | Permalink

I have a confession to make. The handful of episodes that I have watched of the Oprah Show in my lifetime was pretty moving. I think she has a way of connecting with people like no one else. It is truly like a worship experience for many people, as their hearts are tugged and moved with the testimonies of people and with heart-wrenching stories of pain and struggle, but of ultimate victory.

It is no wonder she is one of the most powerful person in the world. Who else can mention a book on their book club and the following week it is #1 on the New York Times best-seller list? Who else can get any Hollywood star to appear on their show? Who else can get people to rally together to make a reality television show about giving. She is truly influential.

In fact, I have heard from many Christians that they get inspired by her, which is understandable especially when she demonstrates tremendous generosity and love towards people. I have respect for her.

Recently, Oprah has been connected with author, Eckhart Tolle who wrote, “A New Earth.” In many ways, some of the excepts and reviews of the book appear to be “Christian” because of some of the messages of the human condition and how we have to find peace. But the problem is that even though the description of the human condition is correct, the prescription of solving it leaves out repentance and the redemptive work of Christ. Many people have mentioned that Tolle’s book is a New Age philosophy with a different packaging.

The real packaging came off when a flurry of YouTube videos came out talking about her views about Christianity. Honestly speaking, when I looked through some of the video, I thought the people who made them perpetuated a hated filled view that the secular people have of Christians who hold to exclusive claims of Christ.

But nonetheless, Oprah is influencing a lot of people with her message. This just reinforces the fact that Christians need to learn how to discern the truth and then speak the truth in love. We need to learn how to dialogue in a respectful way with people who had different views from us. More than arguments, may people see the truth lived out.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 09:18 AM | Permalink

As I was driving Josiah to soccer today, I saw something that really caught my attention. Our exit off the highway was quickly approaching therefore, I signaled and moved over to the right lane. Then all of a sudden there was chaos. There were about 6-7 cars pulled over on the side of the highway (did I mention that it was around 5PM in the height of rush hour).

A lady ran out of her car with her arms waving up in the air as to tell the cars to slow down. There were other people who started to get out of their car as well. In the confusion, I slowed down not knowing what was going on.

Then all of a sudden out of nowhere, there was a dog (kind of like the Alaskan dog) roaming around the side of the highway. The dog was dodging the people who were frantically trying to divert him away from the on-coming cars. As the dog approached head-on towards our car, I brought the car to a slow stop. As I got a closer look, I realized that he jumped out of a pick-up truck as the driver was pull off the exit. Crazy!

It was a sight to see. There were about four people running around the side of the highway trying to “rescue” this dog. One lady literally put her life on the line as she ran towards the on-coming traffic to tell cars to slow down.

I am just amazed at how many people have a love and a strong bond with their pets. I was wondering and thinking what would happen if people were this passion and concerned about human beings. Hmm… the world might be a better place.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 11:13 PM | Permalink

Many Christians wonder – “How in the world can a Muslim convert to Christianity? What would cause a professing Muslims to turn to Christ?” These are not easy questions. But one clear way is through a revelation of who God is, whether it is through a dream or a vision. There are some powerful testimonies of Muslims coming to Christ in this manner.

Chuck Colson continues with his broadcast titled, “Drawn to the Light.” Read the following transcription,
 

If there is anything we want to work on as a church it is simply to improve in our commitment to Jesus Christ, our consistency in our character and our demonstration of biblical community. Even though it seems so simple, it is sometimes so hard to do. This is why we need more of God’s grace in our lives. We also need more anointing so that we will be able to live out what we believe in. May people be drawn to the Light.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 09:14 AM | Permalink

As Islam is growing in various parts of the world, the role of Christians in the debate will have to be addressed. Christians have been caricaturized in so many negative ways when it comes to trying to dialogue or interact with the topic of Islam and/or Muslims. But God is raising up people who are engaging in the dialogue and even challenging some of the claims of Islam. Through it, God is causing some Muslims to soberly think about what they believe in.

Not too long ago, Chuck Colson talked about some of the questions that Islam has to answer in his Breakpoint Radio Broadcast. Read the following transcript of the broadcast titled, “Tough Questions for Islam.”
 

When people are able to see the uniqueness of Christ, then they are confronted with a decision – whether to choose the way of life or the way of death.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 11:21 PM | Permalink

Whenever I meet up with people, one question that comes up time and time again is: “So, Pastor Seth, what is your life like outside of Sundays?” I always look at them and ask them if they want the abridged version or the long version :-)

Being a lead pastor is not for everybody; and I have said that people really do need a calling for it, due to the various demands of the vocation. Recently, I was reading an article by Dan Reiland who works with John Maxwell at Injoy and also serves as an executive pastor at 12 Stones Church. Reiland gave some interesting insights as well as a good description of what a lead pastor goes through.

Here is his article from “The Pastor’s Coach,”

This is just a glimpse. There are other things that he did not mention. But in general, pastors, especially lead pastors need a lot of prayer coverage. I pray that you will join other people in praying for me and the other pastoral staff… we really need it.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 03:02 PM | Permalink

As I talk with other pastors and church leaders, I am finding out that one of the things that we struggle with is comparison. I guess it is pretty obvious. Sometimes it is easy to look at someone else’s ministry and wonder why God is “using them” or “blessing them” more than my ministry.

The natural thing to do is to start mimicking them or even implementing things that have worked for the other ministry. The scary thing about this is that we can do more damage than good.

When I look at my journey, I realized that there were many times when I wanted to be like someone else. On one part, it is understandable because I was still trying to find my identity and discover more of how God wired me up. Then on the other hand, I found myself with the need of repentance because it was just my desire for fame and glory that fueled the comparison.

Now, I am slowly realizing that the best “sweet spot” in ministry is when we are able to know who we are and then flow out of that security. It is amazing to see how “different” so many pastors and leaders are from one another. In fact, this adds to the mosaic of the Body of Christ. If we were all grey in color, how dull would that be? We need some neon blue and hot pink.

I came across a video that Ed Young, pastor from Fellowship Church made that included Joel Osteen, pastor from Lakewood Church. It was emphasizing the important point of being who God created you to be. It is very clear that Ed Young cannot be Joel Osteen and Joel Osteen cannot be Ed Young. They are from the opposite ends of the spectrum but they both have high respect for one another.

Check out this video. Ed does a hilarious impersonation of Joel.
 
 

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 09:01 AM | Permalink

 

 
 
 
There were shouts of joy in Columbus and shouts of anger in Ann Arbor when Terrelle Pryor, the nation’s number one ranked high school recruit from Jeannette High School in Pennsylvania decided to go to Ohio State University. The University of Michigan was one of his top choices and Rich Rodriguez, the new UM football coach was trying to recruit him heavily.

It was interesting watching some of the video clips of his reasons and explanations for going to OSU. I think overall he will do well at OSU and we, at Michigan will have face him for at least several years – it might be painful.

But there are some lessons to be learned from this situation:

For every high school student who will be coming to University of Michigan, Northwestern University, University of Texas and University of Illinois-Chicago take note. No matter how well you did spiritually in high school, in the next level (college), you will quickly realize that you will have to step it up.

It is imperative that you do not depend on your past spirituality to carry you through college. You have to keep on growing and not be comfortable with your past experiences.

Remember that you will need to be a part of community because this Christian life cannot be journeyed alone. You will quickly realize that you will excel when you are part of a team. There are people who will sharpen you and help you.

Lastly, remember to get discipled. There are seasoned “veterans” who will be able to guide you through the ups and downs during college life. The more you learn from those that have gone before you, the more you will shine. In fact, God might open up doors for transformation like never before.

It is going to be a great year.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 12:21 AM | Permalink

There is a phrase that I am fond of saying. I think I say it more intensely and in frequency right around this time of the year when so many people have to make decisions. The phrase? “Your decisions determine your destiny.”

I am firm believer of this. As I look at my life, I realized I am where I am because of the decisions and choices that I have made. Of course, there are some decisions that were not as wise and some decisions that I wish I could have prayed about some more. But nonetheless, these choices have shaped who I am today (for better or for worst).

Over the years, I have come to understand that decisions and choices are fueled by various motivations. This is what I am always trying to examine when it comes to the decisions that I have to make. Also, this is what I try to help people to examine when it comes to the decisions that they have to make.

It is amazing to see how many choices are made because of fear, insecurity, lack of faith, desire to please people, selfishness, pride, and the list goes on and on. Decisions are never easy – even the simple ones of what to eat or what to wear. But decisions must be made and it is these decisions that make us who we are. Therefore, we have to honestly ask ourselves, “Are our decisions going to glorify God or glorify ourselves?” “Is it going to build God's Kingdom or build my kingdom?”

I love what C. S. Lewis said in his book, Mere Christianity, about decisions. Lewis writes, “Every time you make a choice, you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And, taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a Heaven creature or into a hellish creature – either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures and with itself. To be the one kind of creature is Heaven: that is, it is joy, and peace, and knowledge, and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other.”

Where are we turning the central part of who we are?

The more I look into the Bible, the more I see that decisions that turn the central part of us toward heaven are difficult decisions. It requires death to self – death to our selfishness, our pride, our insecurities, our impure motives, our fears and etc.

Maybe the reason why some of us are having a hard time deciding is because we are not willing to die to ourselves. I think the call of Christ to every disciple is clear – “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:34-37)

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 09:14 AM | Permalink

As a kid I remember loving the snow days when school was canceled. But now as a parent, I have some different thoughts on it.

Early this morning the kids’ schools called and left messages on the answering machine that school will be closed. After I came back from morning prayer, I was a bit shock because the weather was not that bad. In fact, by 6:30AM a lot of the streets were plowed.

I was thinking, “what is going on in our generation?” I remember going to school when the weather and the roads were worst, but we still had school. Have we gotten too wimpy and now we are pampering the children too much?

Even though snow days do not really affect our family too much, but I was thinking about all the families where they have both parents working or even some of the single parent homes. Whenever there is a snow day, they usually have to take a day off work because they have to watch their kids.

There is something about suffering or hardships that develop character in a unique way. When we make things too comfortable, we produce character traits that will not be able to go through the difficulties of life. Maybe I am just an old school guy that believes in the school of hardknocks.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 10:08 PM | Permalink

I am waiting for my flight here at Logan Airport to go back to Ann Arbor. As I am looking at people walking by (a weird habit of mine), my mind was going back to the fateful September 11th morning in 2001. It was right here at this airport where the terrorist entered and hijacked United Airlines Flight #175 and American Airlines Flight #11.

Even thought it has been about 6.5 years since the incident, it is chilling to think that it happened at this airport.

How quickly our memory fades about this incident? The sad fact is that the longer time passes the more distant people feel from the tragedy. To illustrate my point, just think about December 7, 1941.

But the families and friends of those who perished will never forget that day of September 11th.

This is why we have to learn how to retell stories and also to have things, such as a memorial to trigger our memories so that we will never forget and the future generations will never forget.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 02:40 PM | Permalink

I have been going to Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary’s library this whole week. It has been interesting to see some of the younger seminary students. It brought back a lot of memories of my seminary years at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

I couldn’t help but to think about the excitement, enthusiasm and the energy that I had when I first started. It seemed like everything was new. But over a period of time, it was easy to lose the focus, the freshness and the fervor.

Now that I am at another stage of graduate studies, I have noticed that the focus and fervor is back. The difference? I think there are a lot of things that have happened to me from the seminary years until now. All the various experiences have affected my perspective on things. My perspective now compared to my seminary days is deeper and wider, which I am thankful to have even though there were a lot of bumps along the way.

Before, I was studying as a means to get somewhere. But now, my studies are a reflection of a journey that I have been on. It just has a different feel which is something hard to describe. I am just praying that what I am writing about will somehow contribute a little bit to the Kingdom work here on earth.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 10:09 PM | Permalink

 

 
 
 
With New York Philharmonic going to Pyongyang, North Korea recently, it made me think once again about the importance of the Arts and Media in the whole Transformasphere Movement.

I am a believer that music and the arts are universal languages. Whenever I travel, I am constantly struck with how music and arts are able to speak to the heart of the human being, regardless of what color, creed or country. Maybe God purposely designed it this way.

The New York Philharmonic (NYP) made history as it played for a packed audience in the East Pyongyang Grand Theater. The NYP is considered the first American cultural group to perform in the country. They were also the largest delegation from the United States to visit North Korea. The national anthems of both North Korea and the United States were played as the audience stood and withheld their applause until the end (incredible).

Lorin Maazel, the music director of the NYP said some interesting things. He alluded to the fact that the orchestra was a “force for change in the past” as he referred to its 1959 performance in the Soviet Union and how that allowed the outside world to come in which resulted to the end of Communism many years later.

When Maazel was asked if there are some parallels with this visit he said, “To draw a parallel would be to do a disservice to the people who live here and who are trying through their art and through their culture to reach out to other human beings, to make a better world for themselves and for all of us. We are very humbled. We are here to make music.”

And music they made.

This is the reason why we need to cultivate and raise up more artists in our church. Can you imagine one day some of the people in our churches will be able to “prepare the way” for the Gospel to be preached in some of the most difficult places around the world?

You can watch some CNN videos here.

You can look at some of the NYP pictures here
 
 
 
Here is a Associated Press video summarizing what happened at this historical event
 

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 03:13 PM | Permalink

Last Friday morning I read about the tragedy that happened on the campus of Northern Illinois University. I had some time to reflect on the incident and there were some lessons and reminders for me:

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 03:52 PM | Permalink

Tonight over the dinner table, Karissa asked us a question. “Is one minute a very long time?” she asked with an inquisitive heart. I could have given her a technical answer by having the whole family count 60 seconds and then tell her that we just went through one minute. But I decided to respond by saying, “It all depends on the context.”

I then proceeded to give her various scenarios to think through.

One minute of playing with your toys is not very long. But one minute of holding your breath underwater will be very long.

One minute of spending time with your friends is not very long. But standing outside in this cold weather will be very long.

I don’t know if she fully grasped the concept but as I was sharing some of these things with her and the boys, it made me think about the importance of perspective and context. It is so easy to look at situations in our lives as if it is a long period of time, but in reality it is not long at all.

Why is it that we can spend time doing something and not notice how much time has passed by and then on that same note, spend time doing something else and it feels like eternity? Is it an issue of passion or purpose? Maybe it is more of the issue of perspective?

There are a lot of things that we will be called to do that we might not really enjoy, but can we still do it faithfully knowing that the time will pass and then God will call us to do something else. Then I was thinking about the importance of the meaning of being “faithful.”

I have shared this many times before but “being faithful” requires a lot of faith (being full of faith). When we know that there are some things that we need to be faithful to but it is hard to follow through on it, then we need to pray for greater faith. When our “faith” is “full” then we will be able to obediently do what God is calling us to do even though we do not know how long it will take for us to fulfill it.

So, how long is a minute? Well, I guess it all depends.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 10:11 PM | Permalink

It is amazing to see the difference between the worldviews of the Islamic world and the Western world. In fact, this is one of the reasons why some people in the Islamic world hate the West so much. All the “junk” in the media (T.V. shows, pornography, Hollywood, etc) epitomizes the wanton and licentious lifestyle of this generation. All these things are repulsive to a devout Muslim who willingly consecrates themselves in complete submission to Allah.

How about a Christ-follower?

The Apostle Paul speaks to the believers in Ephesus and clearly states, “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving” (Eph 5:3-4).

I am wondering if a Muslim came into the church and saw how we deal with issues of purity and opposite sex relationships, what they would say.

Today, I came across an article about how a 37-year-old American businesswoman was jailed in Saudi Arabia. Do you know what for?

This married woman who is a mother of three children was jailed because she was sitting with a male co-worker at a Starbucks.

My first reaction was, “What the…?! This is a little too much.” But then I caught myself looking through the lens of my Western worldview. In the Islamic world (depending on where you are), it is frowned upon if a man and woman are caught interacting alone, even though it is a public place. For many of us, this kind mindset is a bit “archaic” and “old-fashioned” and even a bit “legalistic” or “oppressive.” But to the Islamic world this is the norm.

This is when I realized how many Western Christ-followers would not fair very well in the Islamic world. In our cry for “independence” and wanting to do whatever we want to do or feel like doing, we would do more damage in our witness than anything else.

In Saudi Arabia, they have a police force called, “The Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” in which they enforce dress codes, sex segregation and the observance of prayers. HA! Try having something like this in the States. People would be up in arms.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying we need something like this in the States or in the church. But I want to challenge some of us who have a passion or a burden for the Islamic world. In order for us to even get a hearing from Muslims or even have them respect us, there is some major worldview alteration that needs to happen.

In my humble opinion, if we are serious about doing missions in the Islamic world, then we have to do some serious examination of our lives and our views towards the opposite sex relationships. I have been a believer that if we want to do something in the future, then we have to start preparing ourselves now. When I was younger, I was amazed at how many of my views on opposite sex relationships had been shaped by the media and the society’s norms rather than the Word of God.

It is my prayer that God would raise up a new generation of people who will keep themselves holy and pure in the area of opposite sex relationships so that they will be able to say what Apostle Paul said to reach people with the Gospel – “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings” (1 Co 9:22-23).

You can read the news story here

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 01:25 PM | Permalink

The big day is finally here. There are some interesting articles floating around on the world wide web about who is going to win the Super Bowl. But the ESPN article on Tom Brady is quite interesting.

Sometimes when a person is on top, it is easy for people to forget that they did not just get there by smooth sailing. In fact, history will tell us that it is through failures, hard work and determination. It was interesting to read his journey to the top.

In many ways, I couldn’t help but to make the correlation with the spiritual life. We do not get to a certain spiritual level without failures, faithfulness and devotion.

Even though I am always rooting for the underdogs, we will have to represent the tradition and pride of University of Michigan football by cheering on Tom Brady. It is going to be fun.
 
 
 
      
 
Years of training has Brady poised for a perfect history making 19-0 record

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 08:22 AM | Permalink

There has been something brewing in my mind and heart recently. I was thinking about what it meant to be completely surrendered to God. I think in some of our honest moments, we will have to say that we are not fully and completely surrendered to God, as we would like to think or believe.

I look at some of the things that I do not want to give up. I see my heart desiring things that can easily lead to idolatry. As I get older, there is a greater longing for comfort and security. Sometimes it is so discouraging to see how far we have strayed from the earlier stages of our Christian journey. There was a time when we were willing to lay down everything for Christ and the Gospel.

It is easy to rationalize and excuse ourselves by saying that back then we were immature, young and idealistic when we made those kinds of commitments of surrender. But is it really about immaturity or being too idealistic?

Maybe the reality is that our hearts have grown old; and we are not as pure in our love and devotion to God as before. Yes, life gets more complicated. Yes, life gets harder. Yes, life gets busier. But have we have put our selfishness, security and significance ahead of Christ and the call that God has given us to take up our cross and follow Him.

The more I was pondering upon these things, the more I was convicted about a simple test to see where we are when it comes to the topic of surrender. It is easy to “think” we are surrendered or willing to be surrendered, but we are able to find out exactly where we are by answering four simple questions. The way we answer these questions will truly reveal our hearts.

I have decided to call them the “Four-Evers” (pun intended). This is a sermon in the making. The four “ever” – 1) WhatEVER, 2) WherEVER, 3) WhenEVER, 4) WhichEVER

How did you do on this test?

These are the four “evers” that I will have to constantly ask myself when it comes to the issue of surrender. For some reason, as I am getting older these questions have greater weight. The decisions I make now have greater consequence because it affects more people. But ultimately, I want to be able to answer all these questions with an affirmative “yes” not because it is good for me but it brings glory and honor to God.

C. S. Lewis in his book, Beyond Personality describes the exchange between the self-will and God’s will – in essence the art of surrendering. He writes, “Christ says, ‘Give me all. I don’t want so much of your money and so much of your work – I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self instead. In fact I will give you myself, my own will shall become yours.”

Andrew Murray in his book, Absolute Surrender writes, “The condition for obtaining God’s full blessing is absolute surrender to Him. You know that everything has to be given up to its special, definite object and service. I have a pen in my pocket, and that pen is absolutely surrendered to the one work of writing, and that pen must be absolutely surrendered to my hand if I am to write properly with it. If another holds it partly, I cannot write properly.”

God is writing the story of our lives. When we are absolutely surrendered to Him, it is going to be a masterpiece and we are going to be left amazed.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 10:05 AM | Permalink

 

 
 
 
I have stated many time before that the reason why so many movies, which cause us to cry and move us emotionally, inspire us is because they somehow reflect some aspect of the Gospel message.

It is not only in the movies but in real life, when we are able to see characteristic traits of the Gospel, it inspired us. I was reading a news story the other day and it almost brought me to tears. It is a story of a mother who gave up her own life so that her premature baby would survive.

Lorraine Allard found out four months into her pregnancy that she had advance stages of cancer. All her doctors advised her to terminate the fetus (by the way, I know that this is the “official” medical terminology but it gives more dignity to human life if we use the term “unborn baby”) that was 23 weeks old so that she can start chemotherapy immediately.

She was in a dilemma. She could not have both. She had to either choose to abort this baby growing in the womb, so she can start treatment for her cancer or she delays the treatment in order to give the baby an opportunity to survive.

Lorraine made a choice.

She decided to hold off on the chemotherapy long enough to give her unborn son an opportunity to survive. She finally had a C-section and delivered Liam who weighed in at 1 pound and 11 ounces.

Then two weeks after the delivery, Lorraine went through chemotherapy, but she could not fight the cancer and ended up passing away three weeks after giving birth.

Afterwards Lorraine’s husband, Martyn shared about how she told him before the birth of Liam, “If I am going to die, my baby is going to live.” Now Martyn is left with his three daughters and little Liam. He added by saying, “When Liam is old enough, I won't tell him that Lorraine gave her life for him but I will say she made sure he had a good chance of life. She told me she didn’t want him to feel bad about it.”

Sacrifice. Selflessness. Steadfast.

Where do we find these kinds of people? How are these character traits developed in a person? It is so humbling to think that someone would do this for another person. It moves us and cause us to be amazed.

Isn’t this the Gospel message?

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Ro 5:6-8).

Can you imagine what God can do if we develop and see more of these types of people in our HMCC community?

You can read the story here.
 
 
 

 
One of the last times Lorraine got to hold Liam

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 09:15 AM | Permalink

This week, after the retreat, I had some time to think and reflect.

I was thinking, “What do we need to do now in light of the blessings that we have received from the Lord?” Especially, with only 3 months left in this semester.

What we do in these next 3 months will lay a foundation for the summer and even the new year coming up in September. As I spent some time in prayer, the Lord reminded me of some basic principles in the Christian journey that will never change regardless of the place or time. They include such things are growing our relationship with God, sharing our faith, getting discipled and building one another up.

If we engage in some of these basic things, then we will see a strong church that is ready to make a splash for God’s Kingdom. I, then put these components into an acronym the EDGE… like in “cutting edge.” The American Heritage Dictionary defines “cutting edge” as, “the position of greatest advancement or importance; the forefront.” As we live out these principles we will be in the forefront and ready to advance forward for God.

Once again, if we want to be on the “cutting EDGE” for the Lord for the rest of this year, then we need to focus on:

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 06:11 AM | Permalink

Yesterday I spent the whole day with the women in our family (Christina and KiKi). Christina and I picked up KiKi from school and to see the joy on KiKi’s face was worth it all. After getting her buckled in, I asked her how school was and she would not stop talking!

This got me thinking because whenever I ask the boys about their school days, I get one word answers.

The conversations go something like this:

The conversation with Karissa yesterday went something like this:

Oh the joys of having a girl in the family! Researchers are saying that women speak roughly 25,000 words per day while men speak about 10,000 words per day. From my car rides with the kids, I believe it! Maybe this is one gender difference we just need to accept.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 10:56 AM | Permalink

 

 
 
 
Whenever Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday celebration comes around, I am always reminded about 3 things – the dream, the determination and the destiny.

The infamous speech that was delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963 encapsulated a dream for the future. What would happen if God’s people would dream more of God's dreams?

It is hard to imagine the adversity that MLK faced as he was trying to bring change to a nation. No like really likes change. Sometimes people will do anything to stop change. But it never stopped him from being focused on the dream.

The dictionary defines “destiny” as, “the predetermined, usually inevitable or irresistible, course of events.” It is humbling to know that MLK’s dream, which was the dream of so many people, was not fully realized while he was alive. But this is where we have to believe that he was chosen for that time (kairos moment).

Here are some of his quotes,

“A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live.

“A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.”

One of my favorites is the one that Martin Luther King, Jr. gave in his letter from a Birmingham jail to pastors in the area in April 16, 1963:

 
 
 
    
 
MLK giving his famous "I Have A Dream" speech
 
 
 

 
I love this picture because you can feel the intensity and the focus

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 01:55 PM | Permalink

For the last week and a half, the various small groups have been taking turns in fasting for the Winter Congregational Retreat. There is something about prayer and fasting that brings a church together.

Today is our married couples small group’s turn.

I am always encouraged to see people who are married (especially those who have children) and who are still willing to practice the spiritual discipline of fasting. From my experience, the older a person gets, the harder it is to practice this spiritual discipline.

In some of my past conversation with people, some have mentioned that they fasted in college because they were young and idealistic. Hmm… then the inverse would be… old and pragmatic?

I don’t think fasting should be left for the younger people to practice. In fact, as we get older we should be more humble and realize our greater need and dependence upon God. I am praying that in our church we will never lose our hearts and make excuses for our neglect of the spiritual disciplines of fasting and prayer.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 01:21 PM | Permalink

 

 
 
 
Today, Christina and I went out for our breakfast date and chit-chatted about various things. It is good that we keep on touching base. I realized that in the midst of all our busyness with church and raising kids, it is tempting to make this a lower priority. But by the end of the day, it is these times that strengthen our marriage so that we can give more to our kids and to the Lord’s work. As we were talking, she brought up the fact that since the 11+ years of marriage that we have kept our dates every week (minus the times I was traveling). I am praying that we keep this up until our 50th anniversary.

After breakfast we went into the polling booth to vote in the Michigan Primary. Even though it is just a primary, I really felt it was important for us to vote and fulfill our civil duty. Several weeks ago, I was reminded that there have been many people throughout the U.S. history that died for the freedoms that we have in this country. Also, there was a time when certain minorities were not able to vote, but now we have the freedom and the ability therefore I wanted to make the most of it.

Overall, if we are going to seriously engage the various spheres of society, then we cannot ignore the “G” (Government and politics) in the Transformasphere Movement. This coming presidential election is going to be unique. I pray that we will look at all the issues and make an informed and wise choice for who will be leading out country.

Posted by Seth S. Kim at 10:40 AM | Permalink

I have always been an advocate for drawing illustrations from the sports world. In fact, the Apostle Paul uses many sports illustrations to make a biblical point (1 Co 9:24-27; Gal 2:2; 5:7; Php 2:16; 2 Ti 2:5; 4:7). Thank God for ESPN!

The other day there was an interesting article in the Michigan Daily. There was an announcement about some top players from the Michigan football team who planned on leaving the program. Adrian Arrington, Mario Manningham and Ryan Mallett – they all failed to show up for an important team meeting.

Do you think Rich Rodriguez, the new coach was upset?

Well, maybe not so much about them not coming back, but the fact that they missed the team meeting and that they did it without honor and integrity (Arrington sent a text message, Mario did not say anything, and Mallet just did not show up… did I mention that Mallet is a freshman… ha!).

In fact, we learn a handful of lessons from this incident: