After the Trunk or Treat at our church, I recorded a song that I wrote a few weeks ago in reflection of the sermon series on God’s grace according to Wesleyan theology. God’s grace continues through our lives no matter where we are in our faith journey. All of us experience God’s grace, whether it is prevenient grace, justifying grace or sanctifying grace.

The Psalmist tells us in Psalm 139:7-10

Where can I go from your Spirit?
   Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
   if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
   if I settle on the far side of the sea,

even there your hand will guide me,
   your right hand will hold me fast.

Paul also tells us in Romans 8:38-39

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

No matter what, God’s grace goes with us, and we can grow in holiness of heart and life because the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are with us.

I pray that you experience victory in your life today because God’s grace goes with you this day!

Here are the lyrics to the song:

Grace
by Gloria Fowler

Where can I go, where can I hide
From the love of Jesus Christ

Where can I go, where can I hide
From the love our Lord

I go up to the heavens,
I go down to the depths the sea,
You are there, you are there

Amazing love
I surrender all

Amazing love
I am yours forever

So, guide me into your likeness
To grow in you day by day.

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It’s been a while since I have put an entry on my blog. As you can probably guess, the one thing that has been on my mind all this time is “Ordination”! I’ll probably be this way until the end of February. Not that things will be much different after the ordination, but it will fully confirm that I am able to do the work that I have been called to do. All my paperwork will be due on December 1st, and toward the end of February I will be interviewed by the board of ordained ministry, a committee of approximately 30 people, for about 3 hours. Currently I am working on a 30-40 page paper which consists of theology, practical ministry, and my calling, another 10 page paper on disciple making, another paper for an on-site visit, two sermons with manuscript and audio recording, and many forms to confirm that I am physically, mentally, and spiritually okay.

This whole process of being ordained will have taken me close to 10 years by the time I’m ordained. I remember the first time going through the charge conference and starting my process. I was just starting my junior year in college. Even before that time, since high school, I knew that God has called me to full-time ministry for him, yet I had no idea exactly what I could do to fulfill that calling. I thought to myself that as a woman, I could be a Christian counselor helping people with their problems by showing them Christ’s love. As I started to attend a United Methodist Church, I realized that there are more ways to serve God than just counseling. God calls both women and men to full time pastoral ministry. The summer after my junior year, I applied to an internship that helps young people experience pastoral ministry and see if this may be something to which they are called. That summer, I was a commissioned intern in Killeen, Texas, working with the youth at a Korean American church. I watched and observed my mentor pastor. This summer experience confirmed to me that this is what God has called me to do, and I dedicated my life to this. As soon as I came back from this internship, I applied to go to Perkins school of Theology at SMU, and my journey into ministry began. I served in two Korean American churches before coming to Grand Prairie: Korean Central UMC and Good Seed UMC, both fast-growing churches in the metropolis. With my language and cultural skills, I know that there are many things that I can do; however, I cannot imagine myself doing anything else but serving God through ordained ministry, doing the work of administering the Word, Sacrament, Service and Order.

I have to say that I am a much different person as a pastor than when I started at First Church. I have improved my skills significantly; and I am more confident of my calling and more effective in carrying it out. I know why this is so. It’s because of this church that has embraced me and encouraged me to grow in my calling and my skills, and work beside them. I have a great senior pastor that coaches me and guides me, and great staff with whom I can do ministry.

How grateful I am of the great opportunity that God has offered me through this church!

I have to confess that although I know I am capable. I am still afraid of going before the board to be interviewed and to answer any questions that they may ask me.

Please pray for me during this time, as I am working on my papers and preparing myself for the interview. I appreciate your great support, and the opportunity to be your pastor and serve with you.

Thanks be to God!

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Every summer that I have been at First UMC, I had to take some time off to visit with family for a wedding. Gifford would ask every time, “Someone getting married again?” Well, Abraham is the first of eight children, so that probably explains it. The first year we were at First UMC, my sister-in-law got married; last year, my one and only brother; and this time, my brother-in-law, the 4th in Abraham's family. The wedding was beautiful, and God’s grace and blessing was evident in the ceremony and in the couple! ^_^

Well, what a privilege it was to visit with my husband’s family up in Billings, Montana for this special occasion. More than that, since all of us were together from many different places, we were able to have a family reunion. We went up to the mountains and stayed at a place called “Judith Guard Station,” a cabin that was built in the early 1900s for the rangers. We camped for 2 nights and 3 days . There were 18 of us all together, all the siblings, spouses, children and my mom, who’s visiting from Korea. (By the way, I'm sorry she hasn’t shown up at the church yet. Due to the language barrier, she attends the Korean Fellowship that meets in the afternoon at our church.) When the newlywed couple joined us on the second day, we had 20 altogether. It’s amazing how family grows!

It was so wonderful to be with family. I didn’t realize how much I have missed out being with family and getting to know them and seeing how big all the little ones have grown. The amazing thing about family is that even though you are far away, you are still part of the family and love each other no matter what. One thing that I was so grateful for was that God’s grace is evident in each individual family unit. Though we are all far away from each other, all of us serve God and receive His grace and worship Him. It is my prayer that all of our families will honor and serve God wherever we are.

It was also good to be refreshed and recharged after some time off from the work load. I’m grateful to be able to return to the work that glorifies God and lets me serve and be in fellowship with our brothers and sisters of First UMC and this community of Grand Prairie. TX.

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I have to say that God is so gracious. Since December, Abraham has been out of job, searching for a job. For months, he has tirelessly updated and fixed his resume for each different company and had interview after interview.

I truly appreciate the support of my church family who have prayed for us, who have reminded us that we are not alone in our journey, those who have referred us to job openings, and bought our kids gifts for Christmas to make sure they would have a wonderful Christmas. If I haven't said it yet, please know that I thank you so much from the bottom of my heart.

Since so many of you have been asking about Abraham's job, I want to let you know through the blog that he has now been employed for more than a month. Thanks to our good Lord. ^_^ He is working with a start-up company in California, who are letting him telecommute. Praise God! It is not a completely stable situation yet, as with most start-ups, but it is still something.

Because we have gone through almost a half a year of job loss, I know what some of our church members are going through with job losses and early retirements. My prayers are with you who are struggling in this economic down time.

One thing that amazes me, though, is that we still got by with little and are still satisfied. Many times, we realized that we were even closer to each other than before, because we needed to be there for each other through this time.

There is an old Chinese fable that I cherish. It is about a farmer who owned a fabulous horse. The people of the village all said that this farmer was blessed to have this horse.

One day, the horse ran away. The people of the village all said the farmer must be cursed. Weeks later, the horse returned bringing with it a herd of wild mustangs. The people of the village all said the farmer was blessed.

A few days after this, the farmer's only son fell from one of the wild mustangs, badly breaking his leg. The people of the village all said the farmer must be cursed.

The next week the Imperial Army rode into the village and took all the able-bodied young men to fight in a war with a neighboring country. The farmer's son was left behind. All the men taken from the village were killed in a terrible battle.

Sometimes, what seems to be a blessing is really a curse, and sometimes what seems to be a curse is really a blessing.

Isn't that true with our material situation sometimes?

Thanks for all your prayers and support! And those of you who are going through tough times, please know that my prayers are with you and that you are richer than anyone because God is your Father, who is the richest in the world.

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Here is a video clip from 2006 of our son nodding off at the table, all the while adamantly denying that he is tired:

How often in our daily lives do we deny the need for Christ in our lives?

Many times I struggle to lay down everything before the cross and say "Lord, I need you!" I find myself wanting to be in control and get a handle on the situation by myself, rather than asking the Lord to intervene in my situation and help. We know what happens when we do that. We will soon realize our limitations and struggle and suffer. The Lord continues to ask us "Do you need me?" What's your answer to God's question? Is your answer like my son in the video saying, "I'm okay. I'm fine. I don't need your help. I'm not tired"? Or will you lay your burdens before the Lord and ask him to carry your burdens and give you peace? The Lord promises us that when we let him in our lives, he will give us rest. Why don't you lay everything down before the Lord!

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)

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Tuesday evening, I had the privilege of sitting in with the PPR committee to hear about God's calling on Shea's life to go into ministry. I remember about 10 years ago when I was a sophomore in college, how I sat before my PPR committee and shared my call to ministry. God has led me so far into ministry since then, and now I am finally at the last stage of this process: writing my final papers and interviewing to become a full member and an elder in the United Methodist Church. There are so many paths that I could have chosen, but I chose this path because God has placed a passion in my heart to serve God and I cannot think of anything better for me than to serve God as a full-time vocation. Knowing the talents and intelligence Shea has, he could possibly have chosen a different career path, but I know that he presented himself before the committee because God is the one that is calling him and he is willing to explore that call and mold his life into becoming what God has called him to be.

It pleases me to see a young person like Shea willing to accept God's call and wanting to serve God for the rest of his life, knowing that life in ministry will be a challenge and a great task. I really thank this congregation for supporting me in my call to ministry and affirming my calling. I know you will also be a good support as Shea goes through his process and fully claims the call and the authority God gives him. I am really excited to see where God will lead Shea and myself as we accept this high calling and go through the process of ordination.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" (Isaiah 6:8)

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