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Archive for the ‘reflections’ Category

Good Temper: To Love Deeply

Posted in reflections, Uncategorized on August 27, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Photo by netzanette

By Liz Chang

My cat Benny likes to wake me up in the early hours of the morning by biting me or wailing meows like he hasn’t eaten in days. Sometimes, my mom tries to get a hold of me by calling ten times in a row, assuming that I might be able to pick up if she calls enough times within a 30-minute window. When arriving home after a long day from work, I have tripped over my husband’s shoes in the entry hallway. And, when doing laundry, I have forgotten to remove items that would shrink if thrown in the dryer machine. (more…)

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Good Temper: Try as I Might

Posted in reflections on August 20, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Photo by ►►haley

By Joy Wong

Once upon a time, I was good-tempered. Rarely angry, giving others the benefit of the doubt, I had an almost constant, perhaps uncanny, calm exterior. Even in the most tense of situations, people always said they could never tell if I was upset or riled up. What I showed on the outside wasn’t always what was going on inside of me, but I always withheld showing any anger until I had time to process it on my own. (more…)

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Pride: Of Your Hometown

Posted in reflections on June 18, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Photo by `*•.¸Whimsy¸.•*´

By Sarah D. Park

I’ve never really understood what it meant to be proud of your hometown.

At church, I remember how my parents would always ask their peers where their hometown was in Korea, and with that knowledge, they could deduce certain conclusions about that person’s education, temperament, and even cooking skill. (What’s up, Jeolla-do.) (more…)

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Magnificence: Next Level

Posted in reflections on May 21, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Photo taken at Yosemite National Park

By Liz Chang

I can’t remember the last time I’ve ever used that word, MAGNIFICENCE. When I think about the word, it assumes a next-level quality. It’s not like the words “awesome” or “great” that get tossed about in day-to-day use. Could you imagine someone confirming plans with you and saying, “Magnificent!”? I can’t.

Magnificent feels more like a word that is reserved for extravagance, royalty, and supreme significance. There’s a glorious quality about magnificence. When something is magnificent, it is beyond average, beyond typical, beyond meeting expectations. It is above and beyond. It is abounding, grand, awe-inspiring, and divine. (more…)

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Magnificence: The Light of the World

Posted in reflections on May 7, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Photo by Michael Kanstrup

By Sharon Lee Song

In their book, unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity…and Why It Matters, David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons found, based on their poll results, that non-Christians think that Christians are judgmental, hypocritical, homophobic, too political, insensitive, and boring. (more…)

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Liberality: A Lived Example

Posted in reflections, tagged on April 9, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Photo by rick

By April Yamasaki

When I completed my pastoral ministry last fall, our Vietnamese church-within-a-church planned a special farewell service on Thanksgiving Sunday. I had been part of the ministry support team when the church was first planted, part of the visioning for the church to develop in the context of the main congregation where I served as lead pastor. (more…)

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Temperance: Finding the Balance Between Restraint & Assertiveness

Posted in reflections on March 5, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Photo by Wendy Darling

By Diana Kim

“Sin is not ended by multiplying words, but the prudent hold their tongues.”
-Proverbs 10:19
“Those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity.” -Proverbs 21:23

“Why are you so abrasive?” “You should present yourself in a calmer demeanor.” (more…)

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Courage: Coming Down from the Mountain

Posted in reflections on February 19, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Photo by daveynin

By Tina Teng-Henson

I never set out to be a pastor. It has simply been the next step of obedience in my following after Christ. My motherhood has felt similar. It was the general hope but the specific plan was not hashed out in great detail. Buying a house last month also happened with that same blend of hope, intentionality, openness yet epistemological uncertainty about how, when, if, why and whether it would actually occur. (more…)

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Courage: Fear and Faith

Posted in reflections on February 12, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Photo by Liz Chang

By Liz Chang

I can’t be courageous without a deep knowledge of what I fear, what I grieve, what I am pained by or what I am scared of. And, to see and acknowledge those aspects of myself takes just as much courage as it takes to be and act in confrontation of them. (more…)

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Courage: To Boldly Go

Posted in reflections on February 5, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Photo by The Wandering Angel

By Melanie Mar Chow

I am usually not thought to be a person who employs courage in my daily life. Or maybe I just do not acknowledge that it gets lived out in my life. I do find myself not wanting to miss any new opportunity that God brings, and that requires courage, but to recently be called courageous was foreign to my ears. (more…)

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