Today, as I was studying at Panera Bread I glanced out the window and notice a funeral procession. I don’t know how many cars were part of the procession but I counted at least 30 cars. This got me thinking. I have always told our church members that you know how a person lived their […]
Faith and God’s Honor
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 […]
A Rare Treat
I was able to spend the whole evening with the family on a Friday night! This is one of the few times in the 12 year history of our church. Normally, I would have to be at our Friday night gathering, but we had the LIFE Groups hang out together. This freed me up and […]
Reflections in a Cemetery
Today, I decided to stop by a cemetery. Sometimes I get these weird inspirations to do something out of the ordinary. I realized that over the years in my journey with Christ, I have always found cemeteries to be sobering and fascinating. I think cemeteries are some of the most peaceful places to reflect and […]
My Little Girl’s 5th B-Day
It is hard to believe that KiKi is 5 years old today. It has been 5 years of pure joy that she has brought into my life, as well as in our family’s life. She has added an awesome dimension to the interaction in the home. She is really a gift from the Lord. Due […]
Patriot Day
Today marks the 7th Anniversary of the September 11th attack on the United States. It is also known as the Patriot Day. By a vote of 407-0, the House of Representatives approved a bill which designated September 11th as a day to remember the nearly 3,000 people that died in the terrorists attacks. It is […]
Spontaneous Date
It is still a bit surreal for Christina and me to think that all our kids are at school for the whole day. Gone are the days where we had to pick up the kids in the middle of the day, which usually broke the rhythm and the flow of the day – especially when […]
Training Camp for Churches
There are so many sports illustrations that help highlight a biblical truth. I love how the imagery of a team in sports gives us insight to the life of the Church. Dave Burchett, who wrote, When Bad Christians Happen to Good People, uses the football imagery to talk about how we assemble our church team. […]
Finding the Hard Balance
This past weekend, the family and I went to Josiah’s soccer game, which was about an hour away from Ann Arbor. The team’s tournament started on Saturday, but due to the TEAM Community Prayer Summit I was not able to go. But on Sunday after our Sunday Celebration I was able to catch the last […]
KiKi Donates Her Hair
It first started off as just an idea and a suggestion. Christina asked Karissa if she was opened to donating her hair to Locks of Love, an organization that provides hairpieces to disadvantaged children suffering from hair loss due to various diseases. Their mission is “to return a sense of self, confidence and normalcy to […]
Chinky-Eyed Mistake
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 […]
Not Pretty Enough for the Olympics
There was an interesting fact that surfaced right after the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The little Chinese 9 year old girl, Lin Miaoke that sang the Chinese patriotic song for the ceremonies really did not sing the song! She was lip-syncing to the voice of another 7 year old Chinese girl, Yang […]
Hanging Out with the Boys
Today Christina spent some personal time with Karissa, while I took the boys out. As the kids are getting older, I am seeing the importance of having the girls’ day out and the boys’ day out. It allows the children to observe and learn various manhood and womanhood principles from the parents. In the future, […]
Ice Cream with Family
The family and I went to our favorite ice cream store yesterday and just hung out. The Oberweis ice cream chain finally came to Michigan. This was one of our Top 10 highlights of 2008 – yes, we really love this ice cream. Sometimes life if made up simple things. Small investments with ice cream […]