May 3, 2025

After swimming, I went to the locker room to grab my shampoo to take a shower. While I was unlocking the combination to my locker, I heard two men on the other side talking to each other. Apparently, they didn’t know each other too well, but one common theme brought them together in a passionate dialogue, basketball. One was a young Afro-American in his 20s and the other was a Caucasian American in his 60s. They started talking about the Bucks playoff game from the night before where the Bucks lost to the Pacers. They were trying to analyze the game to see why they lost. They were getting excited and their voices got louder (not in an argument, just passionate). 

I went to go take a shower, and when I came back, they were still talking about basketball. In fact, another older man joined in the conversation. This man grew up watching Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Talk about the generational difference and the cultural difference! As I heard these men passionately talking to each other about basketball, I wondered to myself, what if that passionate conversation was about Jesus or the Bible, that would have been really cool.

It would be an amazing intergenerational experience for us to see different generations and cultures come together and talk about Jesus and ministry in church. Maybe talk about the Bible verses they read this past week, or talk about the people they prayed for this week, or brainstorm for ministry ideas they can do for the community. Paul said in Colossians 3:2, “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” We tend to talk about what occupies our mind. If our mind is set on godly things, that is what will draw our conversations. I pray that we will always think about God and His Word and that becomes the center of our interactions with one another in church and in the community. 

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April 26, 2025

Hyemi and I were driving around one day, and there was a dump truck ahead of us. I am always afraid of dump trucks, thinking that a rock would fly off and hit our windshield (which has happened to us in the past on a highway). So we went around the truck and came to a stop at the light. Soon, the truck caught up to us and shifted to the left turn lane and stopped right next to us. Its passenger side window was half open, and there was loud music coming out of it. It was opera music being sung by a male soloist. Hyemi and I looked at each other, and I told her, “I wasn’t expecting to hear opera music from that dump truck!” Yes, it was a stereotype, and I made a judgment according to its looks. Too often, we fall into that trap of judging the book by its covers.

Even the great prophet Samuel had a stereotype and judged by the looks when the Lord told him to anoint the next king of Israel. The Lord told Samuel, “For the Lord does not see as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7. As we remind ourselves that we should make judgments on other before actually getting to know them, we should also consider what God would see in our hearts. Consider the encouragement Apostle Paul gives us, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:1-3. I hope that when we encounter others, that they will see us in a worthy manner of who we are as followers of Jesus. 

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April 19, 2025

With spam calls flooding our phones today, we have a tendency not to answer phone numbers that we are not familiar with. For instance when I get a phone call and the numbers do not start with area codes 262 or 414, I would hesitate for a moment and just let it go to voicemails. If my phone suggests that it’s ‘likely spam’ then I don’t even bother with it. 

On the other hand, since I have a Maryland area code, many people do not answer me when I call people around our area. Then, I would have to leave a voicemail or text that person to get a response. 

There are also times when I get a call and it’s a number that I haven’t saved, but the numbers are very familiar. Those are likely numbers that I have received before but forgot to save them in my contacts list. So I would answer them and sure enough, they are people that I know. The key is familiarity. 

You probably had experienced where someone would tell you about Bible facts and you wonder if that is really true? The Devil does that really well. He spams us all the time. He would fabricate Bible truths with small bits of falsehood and make it look real. Also, he is very capable of copying the truth and creating counterfeit truths. It’s very easy for us to fall into his spam messages. Once again, the key is familiarity. When we stay close to God’s Words and study them carefully, we can know the difference between the truth vs spam. “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’” John 8:31,32.

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