By Emi Iwanaga

“Every time we think of you, we thank God for you. Day and night 

you’re in our prayers as we call to mind your work of faith, your labor of love, 

and your patience of hope in following our Master, Jesus Christ, before God our Father… 

By Jerrica KF Ching

A role model is someone that we can look up to, who possesses traits and qualities that we ourselves wish to embody.  This person gives us the feelings of, “I hope I can be like them someday” and we become inspired.  I believe for those of us born before the age of social media, role models were people who we knew in our everyday lives.  My role model as a child was my fifth-grade teacher.  She wasn’t related to me, but she also existed in the space before my very eyes.  I could observe her and all her qualities; how she was strict but fair, patient but accountable, and instilled a feeling in me that I could do a lot of things, with perseverance.

By Melanie Mar Chow

Though we have just finished Thanksgiving, there is still much to be thankful. We still have leftovers. After the 24 hours of non-stop eating and meeting for Thanksgiving, we need to address our physical health immediately to counteract the day of food blessings. 

By April Yamasaki

Before last week, I had never heard of an “atmospheric river.” It’s a column of water vapour that moves through the atmosphere, like a river in the sky. An atmospheric river can bring much needed water to an area, but it can also grow so large that it becomes dangerous, resulting in torrential rainfall and flooding.

By Ajung Sojwal

My first coming-of-age story had to be the realization that truthfulness involves more than speech. “Be true to yourself,” was/is meant to acknowledge and affirm the one true self. Yet, the complexity of my inner life tells a story of multiple truths within and the idea of a one true self seems such a farce. Many encounters and experiences in life have challenged my notion of truths leading to recalibrate what being true to myself even means. Things embraced as timeless truths yesterday turn out to be obsolete today.

By Angela Ryo

Recently, I heard a story of a 13-year-old boy named Steve that really struck me. He attended church every week with his parents, and one particular Sunday, he stayed behind to ask his pastor this pressing question: “Pastor, if I raise my finger, will God know which one I’m going to raise even before I raise it?” The pastor replied, “Yes, Steve. God knows everything.” Steve then pulled out a Life magazine that showed two starving children in Africa. He asked his pastor, “Well, does God know about this, and what’s gonna to happen to these kids?” The pastor gave a similar response: “Steve, I know you don’t understand, but yes, God knows about that too.”  After hearing that answer, Steve walked out of the church that day never to worship at a Christian church again.

By Sarah D. Park

I still cannot believe that I ended up on a boat. I was bobbing on the water, sitting there with multiple layers on and a life jacket, chomping on a cold fried chicken sandwich while holding a can of makkoli in between my knees, listening to a crank radio broadcast on a baseball game that I could care less about, when I found myself thinking, “How did this happen?”

By Diana Kim

I was gifted an orchid plant at the beginning of the year. I thought that I would be able to easily take care of the orchid, but it didn’t go as planned. It lasted about six months, which is pretty good for me. Perhaps I overwatered it. Perhaps I placed it in a space where it got too much direct sunlight. One by one, the flowers started to wilt and fall off. Even the big leaves started to turn brown. I thought that the orchid was dead and so I was ready to throw it away.

By Wendy Choy-Chan

As I circled back to Genesis in my Bible reading, I realized that the vision of John in Revelation 21 and 22 is not just some imaginary pie in the sky that God was drawing up for John. The city of God, the river of life, the tree of life – they were all God’s original design from the very beginning, as in Genesis 1 and 2. 

By Tina Teng-Henson

I gave notice at my church on Sunday, towards the end of a message about following Jesus through the crowd that initially loved him then opposed him in his hometown. In a message that was about leaving the 99 to go after the one lost lamb. In a message about focusing, like him, on those who were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.