Rejoice IN SPITE of our circumstance

News of today's tragic events in Samoa has brought great sorrow and sadness. They affect us all, to a varying degree. This tragedy touched an entire country. Regardless of our own optimistic tendencies, sorrow visits all of us. But there's another side to this. No matter how tragic our lives may be, no matter if we are given to depression and despair rather than happiness and joy, we are never left hopeless.

I am reminded of one of my favorite scriptures, Habakkuk 3:17-18

17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior

Even though everything was going against him, he never lost his joy in the Lord. After today's event, it's hard to find any joy if you were affected by the tsunami. Especially if you lost a loved one. But Habakkuk offers a powerful reminder that we should rejoice IN SPITE of our circumstances. If we only rejoiced when our circumstances warranted it, we wouldn't be a joyful bunch.

But we rejoice because we know we are not hopeless. That's because life is not a string of accidental circumstances. Life has a spiritual dimension that can always be buoyed by God's love, mercy, and grace. It's remarkable! No matter what we might be suffering, we can be sure that God will never leave us hopeless. No one is hopeless whose hope is in God. May our merciful God shine His light upon Samoa and her people. May His healing touch be upon all those that were affected by this tragedy. Be blessed.

Grace undeserved

The problem with trying to earn our salvation is that we can never be ahead on the tally sheet. If life were a zero sum game, then there's no way we can make it into heaven. If we were to add up all our sins against all of our good acts, we would not come close to salvation. No matter how many good works we do, we can never overcome the sin category. That's why God looked down and saw that an atonement was needed in order for us to have our slates wiped clean.

Christ left His glory in heaven to die on the cross so that we could be forgiven through faith in Him. He didn't have to come to earth and suffer as He did. But God offered His one and only Son to be an atonement for the sins of the world. Sometimes I am overwhelmed by that sacrifice. That He would think that much of ME. Like the words of one of my favorite song goes, "Who am I that the Lord of all the earth, would dare to know my name?" I am humbled being words by that knowledge. That God would love me so much that He would do that for me.

His sacrifice was based on His love, not on our merit. Nothing I did deserved this act. The only thing that explains it is God's love, His grace. Grace is an unearned blessing to unworthy sinners. Now that I have been saved by this awesome love, I work FROM the cross, knowing that all of my actions are a response to that sacrifice done for me on Calvary all those years ago. And even then, I know that there's nothing, absolutely nothing I could do to repay that love. I guess that's why they call it grace.

A long walk

When I was in high school I had an aunt that had a long battle with cancer. She came to live with us in Hawaii, so I saw firsthand the devastation the disease was having on her body. She was one of the strongest persons of faith that I have known in my life. She ranks right along side of my grandmother, mother and aunts as far as faithful women that I have known. My faith system was shaken. Here was a strong believer in Christ, yet she was suffering so much. It made no sense to me.

Our family offered up countless prayers for God to heal her. We would have morning prayers, evening prayers. We would take turns sleeping with her at the hospital. Our church would visit her every Sunday and have more prayers. Even after her doctor told us she was terminal the prayers didn't stop. In fact, they had only intensified. It was as if her belief in God's healing touch and the power of our prayers was going to heal her cancer. But at the same time, she was diminishing rapidly before our eyes. My dad had told her perhaps it's time to tidy up her affairs, to speak to her children and to her siblings about any of her final wishes. This enraged her. She said basically that how can a man of God have so little faith as to tell her to prepare to die. Her faith was that strong.

She returned to Samoa to be with her family. The doctors had told her that wasn't anything more they could do. A few months later, she died. To me, it was as if God had ignored our prayers. This was a watershed moment in my relationship with God. How can a loving God allow such an unloving things to happen to an angel of His? How can he ignore the prayers of His children? It was all so unfair. Here she was, on fire for Him and His kingdom, and yet she dies. She was a nutritionist, who lived healthily and yet smokers and drinkers were living into their 80s. It took a long time for me to reconcile with the Lord. But thankfully, He was waiting when I finally made my way back.

I've matured in my walk with the Lord, I've come to realize that prayer is not a way to get God to do whatever we want. Rather, prayer is an expression of our faith and trust in His power, wisdom and grace. I don't necessarily believe in the power of prayer, but I do believe in the power of God. And therefore, I pray. But I always end my prayers with the way Jesus ended His prayers...but Thy will be done. Be blessed.

Mortality

I just got back from the doctor and the good news is I don't have H1N1. The bad news is I have a bronchial virus so he has me on bed rest for the rest of the week. As I was sitting there awaiting the results of the H1N1 test, I asked myself, "What if it's positive?" Thousands of people have died from this disease.

Thankfully the results were negative, but every once in a while your own mortality stares you in the face. And the only comfort I could find at that time was that my relationship with God was solid and my families' relationship with Him is solid. We know where our final destination is. The timing is up to God, but it's up to us to get the ticket. And the best part... it's free. Just open your heart to Him and ask Him to come into your heart and to forgive your sins. He's waiting and He's anxious. These are uncertain times. Terrorists are still plotting against us, we heard in Denver and New York. Rogue nations are threatening to unleash nuclear weapons on us. The only certainty we have is that our God is a loving God and that when our time is up on Earth, He has a mansion waiting for us. Please pray for my recvery, as well as the of everyone else reading this.

Down with the flu

I find it ironic that my last post was about pain and its purpose. About how we ought to embrace challenges and trials and find the joy in them. Well, for the last several days, I have been in a lot of pain. I don't know if it's the swine flu, but I have been out of commission since Saturday. I couldn't make it through our Family Night at church. Didn't even make it to the service on Sunday. I was in a lot of pain. Thinking back to the last topic I blogged on, I quietly smiled to myself and asked the Lord what He was trying to teach me.

I had received a long text message from someone discussing the post last week. This person had told me that in essence, we shouldn't be out there looking for pain and that it's not a good thing to find joy in it. I told him that the Bible says that in order for us to mature spiritually, we must endure trials and look at them as opportunities for growth. Well, hopefully, I did a lot of growing this weekend. I'm still not feeling 100% normal, but I wanted to share my pain with y'all. LOL Actually, I wanted to ask that you keep me in your prayers. I hear that this is supposed to be one of the nastiest flu seasons we've had in a while. So pray for God's protection and healing power over all of us.

Pain and its purpose

We started up our Bible Study again tonight. We usually take the summer off but start up in the Fall and go through to the Spring. It's wonderful to be back and fellowship on the Word of God with our Youth group.

Our Bible Study tonight was on the first chapter of James. This epistle is so rich in life lessons that we could spend a semester in graduate school breaking it down and still not cover it all. The first chapter alone is mountain full of insights and advice that lasts a lifetime. What I love about the Bible is that I can read a chapter today and it points me in a different direction, and read it next month and another part of it jumps out to me. Last night, the opening part of the chapter really spoke to me.

It opens up with James telling us to consider our trials as pure joy. Trials are an inevitable part of life. They come in all shapes and sizes. They affect our careers, families and relationships. Jesus told us that in this world we will have trouble. Once we come to grips with that realization, we begin appreciating their value in our lives. It is against human nature to consider trials, or painful experiences as pure joy. But the joy James is talking about isn't in the presence of pain, but in the knowledge that God is using our pain to refine us and make us better, not bitter. Never let a trial go to waste. Always look for what God is trying to accomplish through our painful experiences.

Molokai

On the Hawaiian island of Molokai is a statue of Father Damien. He was the priest who spent his life helping lepers on the leper colony on island. No one wanted to be stationed there permanently. This was back when there was no cure for leprosy and people shunned them, to the point that they were exiled to their own island. When you were sent there, it might as well have been a death sentence. People here were just waiting to die.

But Father Damien brought hope to the residents. Just his being there was a powerful testimony. He was telling them that they mattered and that he would stay with them. What a powerful witness for the Lord. On the statue, these words are inscribed: From the heart of despair springs forth hope. He was so beloved by the Hawaiians that his statue is one of only two that represent the state in statutory hall in Congress.

Some of us are trapped in our own 'leper colonies'. We are feeling helplessness and despair. For some of us it could be a financial situation. Perhaps getting laid off or having a difficult time making ends meet. For others it could be a medical situation, with your health or the health of a loved one. For others it could be relational, trouble with relations with your family or a friend. Whatever it is, be encouraged that you are not walking through this alone. We all have our father Damien in Jesus our Lord who said He will never forsake us. Be encouraged by the words of the Apostle Paul who encouraged the Romans with these words: : May the God of hope fill you with peace, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Count your blessings

I remember when Arthur Ashe contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion. Many felt pity for him. People commented about how unfair it was that Ashe got the disease through no fault of his own. But he had a different outlook. He said "If I ask why me about my troubles, I should also ask why me about my blessings." What a remarkable perspective.

Very similar to the Old Testament character Job. He too had faced affliction through no fault of his own. He was a God-fearing man who did as God had wanted. But to prove a point to Satan, God allowed all sorts of maladies to be visited upon Job. His wife and friends told him to curse God. But Job would have none of it. Instead, he asked, "Shall we accept only good things from God? What about the bad things?" Eventually, God restored Job.

Even when we have trials, never forget the blessings God pours into our lives. Many times we are so consumed by the storms that we're in that we forget to thank God for the boat He gave us to ride out the storm in. Our house may have leaks in it, but at least we have a house. Our food may be all wet, but at least we have food to eat. Learn to count your blessings.

Much of what we receive is through the grace of God. If we start questioning the unfairness of life when we suffer, we should also question the undeserved blessing we get all the time. With unwanted burdens come undeserved blessings. Be blessed.

Lessons at karate class

Last school year, my daughter and I had a routine in the morning. After we drop off her mom, we would take her to her daycare/preschool. When we'd get to the stop sign in front of her school, I'd say it's time for prayer. She would pray first and I would pray second. At first, I'd have to prompt her as to what to say. We would always end our prayers with...I love you Iesu, Amene. The other night I was putting her to bed and we did the same routine of her praying first and me second. After our prayers, she asked me, "daddy, why do you love Iesu so much?" I was not ready for that question. I quickly blurted out, "because mama and papa taught us to love Him." She looked at me and said, "well I will love him too then."

It was a very proud moment for me as a dad. She is beginning her journey with Jesus and I played a role in that. I know that her love for Him will only grow as she goes through life, but I think she's off to a good start. I've shared with y'all before about my anxiety, along with my wife, at being first time parents. One of the things that make us most anxious is our daughter's spiritual life. We are her first teachers about Jesus and we hope that we are setting good examples for her. I know we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God, and I pray that my daughter doesn't pick up my bad habits.

Can I share one more story about her with you? As parents, we are given these gifts from God to mold and shape and teach. It's an awesome responsibility sometimes. Anyways, she didn't get a chance to go to school this year as we'd planned. So we are homeschooling her. But we're looking for ways to get her to interact with other kids outside of our church community. Well, she's been bugging us about going to karate school. Last week we finally got around to registering her for one. On her first day, her mom said she quit. She was doing well until the instructor called on her. I guess she was frightened and went into her little shell. Her mother couldn't coax her out of it. But her mom was able to find her another one and we had her first lesson yesterday. This time we both went.

We were probably more excited than she was. More nervous also. It was a taekwondo class. All the kids in there were older than she was. The youngest was 8 years old. She was the only one who was there for the first day. By the way, she looked so cute in her little uniform. It took us a while to get her to go on the mat. They began with simple exercises and were warming up. The teacher called on different students and eventually called on 'Rise. Oh oh. She looked at us not knowing what to do. We tried to tell her, but she didn't understand. Everyone was looking at her and I guess she sensed all the eyes on her. She ran to her mom and was close to tears. She's very shy...until she gets to know you. Then you can't stop her from talking to you. LOL

Anyways, I thought here's a teachable moment. Her mom and I had a little pep talk with her. We told she can't quit. I said, in life you can't run away every time you're scared. I know, I know, perhaps a little too deep to be telling a four year old at a vulnerable time for her. But I believed that lesson. It was taught to me by my dad, and I wanted to pass it down to her. After a couple of deep breaths, she slowly made her way out there. I was filled with pride. But a couple of minutes later, she came running back.

We once again began to encourage her and told her to just go have fun. I said, 'Rise you don't have to be perfect, just go have fun. Her mom was also encouraging her, whispering in her ear. Whatever she said must have worked because she slowly made her way back to the mat. This time, she didn't come back off until the end of the lesson. When the teacher gave her a sticker at the end for being a trooper on her first day, the smile on her face was as wide as the ocean. But probably not as wide as the smiles on her parents' faces. Afterwards her first words to us were..."I didn't quit daddy." It was enough to bring me to tears. But I didn't want to cry in her karate school.

Children will rise and fall. They'll make us proud and also make us want to choke them sometimes. But through it all, we must continue to encourage them. I know there are many more joys, pain, triumph and disappointments that parenthood has in store for us. But I'm loving every moment of it. Everyday is like being in a laboratory discovering new joys, new laughs and new pain.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to wish my partner in parenting and life, Tile, a happy birthday. I would say she's 21 but then I might go to jail. LOL I love you sweetheart. Thanks for being the best wife, mother and friend a person could ever hope for. May the Lord bless you with many more birthdays so we can see our white belt progress through the colors.

Moved by the Spirit

We had a Labor Day weekend fellowship with our sister churches from Arlington and San Antonio, Texas. It's always encouraging to get together with them because we encourage one another by showing each other that Samoan churches can survive far away from home. We give each other ideas about what works for each church.

The first night was dedicated to cultural performances. Each youth group did a great job with their performances. In fact, you can check them out at http://www.samoaitexas.org/. Sunday started with a prayer meeting and then our regular worship service at our chapel. Our choir had worked on a special hymn for the service. They spent two week learning it and I praise God that it went through without a problem.

But perhaps the part I was looking forward to the most was the final youth service. This is a service that our youth has had for several years now. It gives them the freedom to set up the entire Worship Service. It lets them participate in a meaningful way. And, perhaps, the most important part is that they get to choose the music. Sometimes it's traditional Samoan. Other times it's contemporary. Sometimes it's old Sunday School songs. But they choose.

Another important element of this service is that it gives people an opportunity to testify about the love of God. People share their joys and their burdens with each other so that we can pray for them and celebrate with them. People get up and testify to the love of God and share stories that will inspire someone going through the same thing you're going through. It's very similar to a charismatic service, but we've adjusted it to fit our needs. The purpose was to introduce the concept to our sister churches so they could take something from it.

Speaker after speaker got up and said they never planned on getting up there. But the Holy Spirit moved them to get up and thank God for this and for that. People were saying that they were changed by the mood in there. Some people who had strayed from the Lord got up and testified they wanted to get back on track. Some people who are dealing with major illnesses witnessed about the miracle that God has done to heal them, when the doctors gave them only months to live. Now one man is fourteen years past the time the doctors gave him. And on and on and on. At the end of the night, one of the pastors testified that he sees how worthwhile this service is and will try it at his church. My heart was so overfilled with joy. There's a lot of resistance in LMS churches to this kind of service. But I believe its a powerful vehicle to reach the youth. And the Holy Spirit moved everyone last night. Praise God.

I pray for you...you pray for me

One of my favorite stations that I listen to on the radio is K-LOVE. It's a national Christian radio station that also streams live on their website at klove.com. One of the things I love about this station is that it has no commercials. Instead of commercials, it provides encouraging messages and testimonials. They are a commerical free station.

Last month as I was driving home, I heard a young woman give a message of encouragement involving prayer. She said she had always been looking for ways to improve and add discipline to her prayer life. One day while flipping through her phone looking for someone's number, she realized that she had over two hundred numbers in her address book. And a lot of the people in there, she hasn't talked to in a long time. Sometimes years. But they were all in her phonebook. Then the idea struck her. Why not pray for these people. That was a steady system of prayer for people.

So she started doing that. Each day, she'd pray for five people in her phone book. She would pray for God's blessing on them. She would pray for God to heal any hurts they had. And she prayed that they would find contenment and joy in their lives. I thought to myself, she was actively standing in the gap for these people. I loved the idea and wanted to try it out for myself. So in the beginning of August, I tried it. Instead of five people, I pray for two people in my phonebook. It forced me to think of others' needs before my own. I fervently prayed for God to bless other people. Some of them I hadn't talked to in years. But here I was, communicating FOR them.

I encourage you to try it. It's such an awesome feeling and it adds discipline to your prayer life. During my quiet times, this has become a regular part of them. I praise God for this opportunity. And it was all due to me listening to K-LOVE. On that note, K-LOVE is a listener supported station. As I said, they don't take any advertisers, but depend on their listerners donations to operate. So it you have any tithing that has not benn allocated, I encourage you to send it to them. It's an extremely important ministry that is free of charge. If there's no K-LOVE station in your area, you can always listen to them online.

A plug

A lot of you that read this blog are Samoan. I just wanted to take a second and put in a plug for a wonderful website that's recently come online. It's called http://www.tusitalasamoa.com/ I am a big proponent of Samoan culture. I believe that it goes hand in hand with my Christian faith. When the missionaries first arrived in Samoa, they were welcomed with open arms. The Samoans simply removed their ancient religion and replaced it with Christianity.

They have been hand in hand ever since. The culture encouraging and protecting the faith, and the faith doing the same to the culture. Some people disagree with this, but I believe that they make beautiful music.

The website I mentioned has to do with Samoan sayings, or proverbial expressions. It's done by an uncle of mine, Fofo Sunia. He is a real authority on Samoan culture. He's written several books on the subject. In fact, he just released a Samoan history textbook. The website details stories, customs and proverbs that Samoans use in everyday life. The only drawback for some is that it's in the Samoan language. But perhaps its a good place to practice your Samoan. I encourage you to pass it on to your elders or to people that you know would benefit from reading it. It's a goldmine of resources for the Samoan culture.

Unexpected turns

One of my brothers recently spent a night in jail. Nothing serious, he was pulled over for a speeding ticket and didn't have his license with him. I was still worried about him though. So I spoke to him when he was released. I asked him how he was feeling. Thinking he would tell me what a horrible ordeal it was, he gave me the exact opposite. He said he was grateful for the experience because he believed that God had allowed that situation to happen.

He said the cop that took him in was very apologetic. He said that he had no choice but to take him in. On their drive to the station, he talked with the cop about life in general. Then talk turned to God. The cop was telling him about his journey with God and how he has begun to stray. Can you imagine that? A cop kind of confessing to a prisoner. When they got to the jail, my brother said the cop thanked him. I guess he encouraged the cop to get back on track with the Lord.

In the jail, he met two inmates who had been there for a while. As they talked, they found out they had a lot in common. Eventually, their talk turned spiritual. It was then that my brother shared his testimony with them, about how he believed God allowed him to be pulled over so that their paths could cross. He told them about Jesus and the sacrifice He did for us. The inmates looked at him as though they were hearing this story for the first time. As they parted in the morning, my other brother was kind enough to go bail him out, my brother who was in jail prayed with the prisoners.

He has no idea whether they've changed their paths, but he believes that God used his situation to reach those prisoners and the cop. We throw around the verse 'God works in mysterious ways.' But he really does. He takes what looks like a dark valley today and can turn it into a road that leads to the mountaintop tomorrow. What may look like a detour in our journey in life may actually be a new road God has put there that can lead to blessings.

Make time

Sometimes in the busyness of life, we forget to seek God's counsel on things. In other words, we forget to spend quality, quiet time with God. I usually do this in the mornings when I first arrive at work. But this school year is the first year I have first period as my conference period or my off period. That means another teacher is in there during first period. I have lost my quiet time because they are in there setting up for class. And I notice it during the day. I'm kind of sluggish and by the end of the day I'm kind of warn out. So I changed my routine and decided to have my quiet time at night when my family goes to sleep. I've found it to be refreshing.

I've noticed that I was relying on myself more when I wasn't having my quiet time with the Lord. I was making decisions without committing them to God in prayer. I fell into the trap of thinking I knew best. It's so easy to be taken down that road. But always remember that we must trust in the Lord. Find that time during the day to set aside for God. It would be like me going through the whole day without talking to wife or daughter. I don't feel whole. That should be how it is when you don't spend quality time with God. We're all busy. But we mus MAKE time.