Superhua

Flight Attendant doing raps!! (complete ed.)

What if every sermon was rapped?!

This weekend I had the privilege of serving at the Tallahassee Chinese Christian Church.  What a warm and hospitable community!

Four reflections:

1. The unique bond of Christians is powerful: Although not knowing any of them beforehand (besides my uncle and aunt), the common Christian confession made meeting them very natural.  Perhaps akin to meeting family you didn’t know you had?
2. It is nice when people introduce themselves to you.  Next time you have a special speaker, introduce yourself to him/her; s/he’ll appreciate it.
3. I felt very at home at TCCCFL: TCCCFL is much like CCCI in that both are intermediate-sized Chinese churches in North America.  My heart beats for these “minor league” contexts (cf. my chapter in Asian American Youth Ministry).
4. I have an amazing wife: Grace was true to her name and so gracious in parenting solo this weekend (special thanks to my parents as well!).

I love cake, originally uploaded by superhua.

I get pumped by examples of commitment; here are two:

1. A friend of mine swims at the local high school.  The swim team practices from 5:15 – 7:00 am each morning and 3:15 to 6:00 pm each afternoon.  In addition, on Saturdays they have practice at 7:00 am.  They can one week off during April.  They practice year round.  My friend said he calculated that he spends 1/7th of his life practicing for swimming.
2. Check out this blurb about an interview with Ben Patterson: “He has memorized several NT books (Romans, Mark, Colossians, etc.). His current goal is to memorize all of the Psalms (he has about 45 of them down, including, most recently, Psalm 119). His time with the Lord begins at 4 AM and he usually spends 4 hours with the Lord.” [source]

Don’t be depressed or unrighteously jealous; be spurred on to faithfulness!

Last night when I couldn’t sleep I found myself meditating on hell.  Not a very pleasant topic to say the least.

Hell is the state and place of eternal conscious suffering.

What struck me was not the quality of suffering, but the duration of suffering: eternal.  Devoid of hope must be the most painful reality of all.

Three thoughts came as a result:

1. While the Gospel is more than “fire insurance”, it is certainly not less than that.  Meditating on hell only serves to heighten the joy in the Gospel.
2. While the sweetness and beauty of God is more winsome than “turn or burn” rhetoric, evangelism still ought to contain a sense of what we are saved from in addition to what we are saved for.
3. I can understand why people refuse to believe in or water down hell.