FiC Letters

prologue.  Life threw me for a loop. It’s an uncomfortable experience, to say the least. When things happen around you that you can’t understand, that make you question everything that you’ve known, even the fundamental foundation of what you built parts of your life upon. That’s how I’ve been feeling recently, and over the past week there’s a  few things that caught my attention.

act 1. our horizon.As I was driving home from church today, my ipod happened to play Rachael Yamagata’s Horizon, which is meloncholy emo, yet beautiful song about falling in love with someone, but how the relationship gets confusing and lost. Somewhere along the line, we lost our horizon. I’ve been looking around, up and down, to no avail.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuWcNKsgOPM&w=640&h=360]

Life gets especially confusing when I’m trying to ground my life in anything else other than Christ himself. I mean, how is security possible otherwise? But to lose sight of the horizon will either mean you’re going to crash or you’re going to be at the wrong altitude. You’ll completely be at a loss.

And I wonder why I feel so confused and so lost and so defeated when I know I haven’t been looking to Christ himself. Everything makes sense with him, nothing make sense without him.

On Christ the solid rock I stand
all other ground is sinking sand.

act 2. surviving an avalanche. I happened to come across this article in the LAtimes about how to survive if you’re caught in an avalanche. When the avalanche is upon you, the idea is to pretty much start flailing your arms as if you’re swimming so you can somehow end up above the snow. If you’re getting submerged, then keep one arm up toward the sky, 1) so that if it sticks out of the snow, someone can see and pull you out, and/or 2) so that you know which way up is.  Supposedly you’re thrown around so much that you can’t tell where up is, so that you might end up digging the wrong direction to get out of the snow. Really sad.

And finally,3)  if you’re just stuck in there. Spit into the snow in front of you mouth, move around your head, do whatever you can so you’ll have as much breathing room as possible.

Extreme measures for extreme times. And again it’s a reminder for me to try to swim this through as well as I can, to keep my arm up to remember where I need to be looking (up to Christ), and finally, spit if I have to, or literally to cry out for help. Let the Spirit move in me in any way possible.

act 3. living upside down. I just finished reading G.K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy (free on google books!), which I must say was a bit meandering, but there’s just some great thoughts and quotes in there. One such argument he makes is this:

The sceptic may truly be said to be topsy-turvy; for his feet are dancing upwards in idle ecstasies, while his brain is in the abyss. To the modern man the heavens are actually below the earth. The explanation is simple; he is standing on his head; which is a very weak pedestal to stand on. But when he has found his feet again he knows it. Christianity satisfies suddenly and perfectly man’s ancestral instinct for being the right way up; satisfies it supremely in this; that by its creed joy becomes something gigantic and sadness something special and small.

In short, he’s saying that Christianity makes the confusing world make sense.  Christianity itself might seem completely confusing in the short run and the logic of the world might seem reasonable, but in the long run only a seemingly complex Christianity makes true sense out of a truly confusing world. Any other explanation is half witted and not carried out to its final and full conclusion. In short, everything else is obvious foolishness.

It’s hard to think like a Christian. There’s too much around me that argues and states otherwise. But like Elijah in the cave, not in the great and powerful wind, not in the earthquake, not in the fire, but in the gentle whisper. The gentle whisper of the Word. Can anything good come out of Nazareth?  The child in a manger, the wanderer without a home, the humiliating death of a naked man on a cross.

The Word made flesh is only but a whisper in this life and to the perishing a passing foolishness.  But to those being saved, the resounding fanfare of majesty into all of his glorious eternity.

-D. Martin

What is “LOVE” to you?

To each and every one of us, love means something different.

As the bible states, to many, love is patient.

Love also can be transformative, for it makes people change their actions and thoughts, based upon who or what that love is for.

Love can be unconditional. No calculations, no hesitations. No flaws or strengths of one will phase the love the other will have for that someone. 

Love is a gift from God to us.  

1 John 4:19 

We love because He first loved us. 

He sent His one and only Son to die for us. 

Let’s praise the Lord for this gift.

1 Corinthians 13:3

If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

So again I ask you, what is “LOVE” to you?

Because once you know, you will be hungry to share love!

-Janice Oh

Happy New Year FiCB!

Since it’s a brand new year, I wanted to share something I’ve been feeling lately. But if you bring this up in person, I will surely deny it.

At 11 pm on new years eve, I walked in half-asleep (I sleep early when I’m home…) to my mom’s church for the usual NYE service. She started going to this church after I left for Cal, so everything was foreign to me. Before I came to Berkeley, I didn’t have the greatest experience with churches (you can ask me more in person if you’d like, but this post isn’t about that so moving on!)… so I don’t really have a place I can call my home-church.

While we were reflecting on this past year, spending time in prayer, and listening to the sermon… I couldn’t help but check continuously to make sure 2012 hasn’t already come, since it seems most Korean services forget to count-down at the right time. As the minutes drew nearer to midnight, I looked around the small room, and felt a great sense of emptiness and loneliness. How awesome it would have been to welcome in the new year, in God’s presence, with my close brothers and sisters! God’s kingdom is very large and beautiful in its own way - but he is delighted when we share an intimate fellowship with Him and with one another. And on this very lonely New Years Eve, I missed you all so much. And thanked God for this often overlooked blessing of having people with whom we can delight in God’s presence in unity.

I cannot wait for this next semester to start… for us to praise God together, sit in church services together, study the same word together, and share life together.

Philippians 2:1-2

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

Stay healthy, rest lots, enjoy time with family and friends, and keep loving God!

In Him,

Minji

New Year’s Resolution

Bring in the New Year!! Only couple more hours til we reach 2012.

What’s your New Year Resolution?

Natural Activities

C.S. Lewis, in his book The Weight of Glory states:

All our merely natural activities will be accepted, if they are offered to God, even the humblest, and all of them, not even the noblest, will be sinful if they are not.

and he continues

Christianity does not simply replace our natural life and substitute a new one; it is rather a new organisation which exploits, in its own supernatural ends, these natural materials.

Just struck a chord within me. Praising and glorifying God does not necessarily mandate selling all your possessions and dropping all you have to administer to the poor and the orphans, although some are called to do so.

Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

http://ficletters.wordpress.com/2011/06/18/natural-activities/

“christianity”

I had the opportunity to talk to a Muslim man the other day as I was helping out with an outreach event sponsored by the church. and he said something along the lines of:

I think it’s really great that you guys believe in God. You know, all religions have the same goal, just different paths… and by if we believe in God, we don’t sin anymore and walk these different paths of righteousness. Just like you guys here doing good works for the community.

Hearing him say that made me realize, we as Christians are different. Christianity isn’t a “religion” like this man characterized. It’s a relationship. (cliché? I know, but bear with me) We’re not defined by these “works” that we do b.c we know that no matter how much or how hard we try, we can’t atone for our past sins and we know that its impossible to sin no more – that only through his infinite and unconditional grace were we chosen. And in response that grace and love, we cant help but to bless others through the blessings that he poured out on us. All we HAVE to do is believe.  We don’t HAVE to work, we want to.

Believe that he loves you; that he’s chosen you; that he’s taken it all for you; that he’s poured out HIS heavenly blessings upon you. and what more can we ask?

His love. Its amazing. and that doesn’t even scratch the surface.

http://ficletters.wordpress.com/2011/06/10/christianity/

Fellowship in Christ

Yesterday, I had the most awesome/spiritual/ intellectually
stimulating small group to date. And I wanted to commemorate that
moment here in this blog. YAY me. -_-

But yea seriously, I never realized how sometimes as a small group we
can get so caught up in the technicalities of scripture that we never
stop and ask each other how the word applies to our lives right now,
in the moment. What I mean is that yeah FiCB stresses the scripture
and fellowship. Which is really really awesome. And I agree those are
the most important things, but talking to my fellow small group guys,
we realized that small groups often tend to miss a certain side of
fellowship. Which is the emotional side of fellowship. We often
overlook not checking up on how we’re feeling, and what the scriptures
makes us feel personally because often times we are going through a
lot of hardships and what we read in the bible has the ability to
apply to us in different ways. basically, it’s hard for us guys to be
on the same page sometimes. Fellowship represents a dichotomy. There
must be an certain level of understanding into WHY we are
fellowshipping, but at the same time it’s hard to stem out of that
understanding and FEEL the love (especially with guys) in fellowship.

And basically, to achieve this, we realized we had to become more
vulnerable with each other.

It was really encouraging to see guys open up about their struggles
and hardships, and at the same time open up about how they were able
to cope with these struggles to eventually realize God’s steadfast,
consistent, persistent, undying love. We never realized that our very
own Christian brothers were going through so much crap, and to the
outside, it seemed like they were happy, and doing just fine. But on
the inside, they were going through things that we can’t even imagine,
things that we’ve never ever even experienced before.

This led to prayer, and a time of more personal testimonies.

So basically, I was really blessed.

TUSG (TED’s ULTIMATE SG!)ftw. 

I just realized the year’s coming to a close now. and i gotta bust my
ass for finals. But seriously, I will never forget those group of
guys, since most of them are seniors leaving :’(

Another really important observation we realized was the basic
dynamics of guys small groups. There are gonna be those times when
everything starts to become repetitive, and for guys, it’s hard to
connect on an ‘emotional,’ loving’ manner always. haha.
But it’s those times, that happen only once in a while, that come
around when we’re least expecting it, that really really make small
group meaningful and worth it. Besides all the fun fellowship and
stupid/fun stuff that guys do of course haha.

Man.. i just realized.. how much.. i suck at writing…

Good thing im a bio major 

I remember we also talked about the reasons behind everything in the
fellowship. I’ll admit i kinda knocked out in the beginning of small
group (we had salad, and i learned first hand that leafy greens make
you sleepy. so embarrasing. never having salad at smallgroup again.
not to mention i’ve been averaging 5 hours of sleep a night, thats not
bad for a college student actually.. but it still sucks for me
personally. i should be more grateful. w/e) But i woke up to this
heated discussion (which i’m pretty sure was the reason why we as a
small group began to open up). (too. many. parenthesis).

We realized that not everyone in this fellowship is here for the same
reasons. to bluntly put it, not everyone in FiCB is there for God.
There are many other factors that tie in, like social reasons, to hang
out and have fun.. etc..

But then we concluded that we could have that kind of fun in different
organizations at Cal as well. Yes, there are groups out there at Cal
that do have more fun than FiCB… O_O. haha.

But the most distinguishing factor for this fellowship has to be God,
more specifically, God’s love, which should be pouring out  through
the members, through the leaders, and then eventually through the
newcomers. But apparently, this was a big problem for some of the guys
in the sg. Because honestly, they did not feel welcome, or they did
not feel this kind of love extending to them, but they felt like FiCB
was too exclusive and something that had to be earned, something that
they had to work for. To them Christianity and FiCB began to mean not
being able to hang out with their own friends outside of the
fellowship anymore, and being part of every inside joke that FiCB had
to offer.

But it shouldn’t be like that.

As part of a fellowship, we should personally take it upon ourselves
to show that we care, not out of obligation, or because we are part of
an ‘organization,’ but out of the genuineness of our hearts, because
God loves us so much that we can not contain this love that He has
given us. Ask a brother or sister that we normally don’t talk to in
FiCB about how they’re doing if they don’t look too spiffy. Let
yourself be made vulnerable during prayer meeting, large groups, and
small groups if you’re having difficulty with something. We need to
take ownership of this fellowship, and make it our own. But in
reality, that’s not always the case. Time limits us. Academics limits
us. Our very own personalities limit us.

That is why we need to ask ourselves, why are we in FiCB? What is the
purpose of us being here? Is it just to have fun? Or is it because we
are God’s chosen people, ready and willing to show each other what
true love is all about (which is through fellowship in Christ). OUR
VERY NAME reflects what we should be doing. and it’s hard sometimes i
know..

http://ficletters.wordpress.com/2011/04/25/fellowship-in-christ/

Go to Him

You know the times that you feel remorseful, in pain, a touch suicidal… I’m so feeling that right now. But what’s going to get me through it is knowing that although I can’t ever stop suffering in this world, I can lean on Jesus for love and support. He knows what we’re going through and more. I just gotta keep telling myself to go to him.

http://ficletters.wordpress.com/2011/04/25/go-to-him/

Today is the Day

I was listening to a song today called “Today is the Day” by Lincoln Brewster, and the Verse and Bridge goes something like this:

“I’m putting my fears aside
I’m leaving my doubts behind
I’m giving all my hopes and dreams to you, Jesus
I’m reaching my hands to yours
Believing there’s so much more
Knowing that all you have in store for me is good, is good

Today is the day that you have made
I will rejoice and be glad in it
And I won’t worry about tomorrow
I’m giving you my fears and sorrows
Where you lead me I will follow
I’m trusting I what You say
Today is the day”

My last few days have truly been nothing short of a rollercoaster. Filled with joy, stress, anxiety, encouragement, peace, hope, frustration etc. and as I opened up the Word today, God spoke to me and reminded me of 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 where Paul writes:

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in
difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

And I began to wonder: Why am I so stressed and frustrated? Why am I so filled with worries and concerned? We are called to delight in our weaknesses, failures, hardships, worries because it leads us back to the foot of the cross in full humility so that the Spirit can move and work within us in fullness and become our strength.

In Jeremiah 29:11, God says “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

So rejoice, be glad, and have full faith, trust, and confidence in the provisions that our LORD provides. Today is the day that our God has made for us and with us in mind. =)

http://ficletters.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/today-is-the-day/