I’m starting a new series on this blog about my life as a young married minister. I am hoping it will encourage anyone who is considering ministry, especially those who want to serve overseas. The purpose of this series is help demystify the life of a missionary and help you to see how God can call you the same way he has called me.

Arguing over Values

One of the most frustrating moments of being engaged was trying to plan a wedding on a missionary’s budget. We wanted to keep the costs low so we could pay off my seminary debt and we both agreed on all the areas where we would try to save money. There was one area though where we argued a lot. The wedding invitations in my opinion should cost less than a dollar each. Carmen wanted to spend more than a dollar each. It was an increase of more than 50%! I remember we had huge fights over it because I thought it reflected a core weakness of Carmen. She didn’t want to save money!

It was funny that in the end it all worked out because I realized the difference in price was really negligible in the grand scheme of things. I realized that in the end Carmen shared my values of saving money but we had different ideas of what that meant in this instance.

It was through pre-marital counseling that we learned how dumb our fight was. The counseling turned out to be one of the best parts of being engaged. Me and Carmen did our pre-marital counseling with Pastor Steven at CEC and it really helped us to identify some of our core values as individuals and the ways we preferred to communicate. After being married more than a year now I can see that I have changed in the ways I relate with my wife; I think for the better.

A little over a year ago, I felt led to simplify my life in order to bless other people and put myself in a position to give more.

I set a goal that once Jan 1, 2011 rolled around, I would only own 100 things. At the time, I did not think I could do it…but I tried. I gave away more than a hundred tshirts, over thirty hoodies, sold my nice couches for $20/piece, gave away furniture to friends who wanted free desks, tables, lamps, rugs, plates, artwork, and much more. Then I felt the need to move out of my condo that I purchased earlier that year because it was a constant reminder of the materialistic nature of our society. I was constantly thinking of things to buy to fill an empty section of the house or what would be an upgrade to what I already had. The urge to spend was constantly bombarding my thoughts and I realized that the habit of spending was slowly consuming me.

As 2011 neared, I did not think I could get under the 100 item limit. But somehow I did.

When Jan 1, 2011 rolled around…I had given away or sold off most of my belongings and only owned 100 things. I felt somewhat liberated but at the same time very anxious. Could I make it through the year with only 100 items? It was very difficult at first because those old spending habits still lingered. My eyes still looked around for deals or ways to upgrade things that I already had. But my mentality slowly changed as the year went on. Here’s a quick summary.

Some Struggles:

- Old Spending Habits. I would browse deals websites and window shop or stay updated on tech gear that I ever so love doing. This made it completely difficult as I would tell myself that I was only looking without the intent of buying. After a couple months of struggling with this, I stopped and it was easier to not want things when you don’t really know what’s out there to want.

- Upgrade To Better Things. So one thing I really wanted to upgrade was my camera (and I did). I justified that by saying, well if I only have one camera it might as well be a really good camera. Even with this way of thinking I missed the point of being happy with what I already have. I realized this after I upgraded my camera but then made a commitment to stop buying new lenses and to just finish the year with what I had.

- Desire To Quit. There were times that I wanted to quit the challenge. I tried to justify the fact that I had already cut down to 100 items was good enough. I think the only things that kept me moving forward was my own pride of never quitting on anything I start on and the fear that I would have to make a blog post titled, “Why I Quit My 100 Thing Challenge.” Yea, that would not have been a good post!

It was definitely tough.

But after a while, I did not care for buying new things. I did not care for upgrading things that I had… but instead found myself to be content with the items that I already had. So what if my shirt had a little hole on the side of the seam…I’ll just wear a hoodie over it or put another tshirt on underneath. I found it easier to give and bless others. I started asking people if they were free to grab a meal and would surprise them by paying for the meal. I got to spend time with friends that I had not seen in a long time and at the same time bless them with food. I tried making “care packages” (I found out that this is extremely hard as a guy) for people who were starting a new phase in life…going to university, going on a mission trip, or starting seminary. I made a huge effort to drive long distances to hang out with friends for an evening, even if it meant only a couple of hours. Whether or not they knew that it was a huge sacrifice for me at times was not important. What mattered most to me was the fact that I had an opportunity to give and I took advantage of it.

Some Successes:

- Give More. I was able to give more financially to my church, to friends in need, to help fund mission trips, to take friends out to meals. But I also tried to take it one step further by giving more of my time as well to Fill-A-Belly, helping people move or run errands, supporting them at an event they were part of (directing a school play, playing in a show) and other things. It was great to see how appreciative people were.

- Taking Friends to Meals. I love getting together with friends and pleasantly surprising them by paying for the entire meal. It’s something I really enjoy doing and I’m sure it’s something my friends enjoy too. This act of generosity is pretty contagious too. We’d eat as a group and another friend would jump in and pick up the tab for everybody or for my portion and say something like, “well Johnny you paid for it last time, I’d love to pay for you this time!”

- Encouragement For Others. I’ve had quite a few people who said that I inspired them. How? I don’t know. I’ve also had friends tell me that they were going to do a self assessment of the things they own and try to simplify as well. Whether or not they did…I have no idea. The important thing is to realize that living with things that you need instead of living with things that you want are two completely different things. And I think it is becoming increasingly difficult to be content with the things you have because of the world we live in. Consumerism and materialism seems to give a false sense of security and social status among the people you know. It seems as if we’re so concerned with our reputation that we fail on the individual and corporate levels to improve our own character. What I mean is…

Reputation – What others perceive you to be.
Character – Who you really are when nobody is looking.

We are so concerned with self-improving that we fail to look after other people in need, we fail to be content with things we have right now in life, and we fail to give ourselves but instead give to ourselves.

At the same time I am not saying that you should feel guilty for enjoying the blessings you have in your own life or if you have a good paying job that you should feel compelled to give away your salary. I believe these are a gift that you should enjoy yourself and more enjoyable when you can share those moments with family and friends.

Ecclesiastes 5:18-19
18 Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. 19 Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God.

It’s not bad to be rich and enjoy your blessings either.

I am by no means claiming to have a laudable character. All I feel like I did was recognize things that needed to be changed within and these changes definitely made me somewhat of a better person in 2011. Therefore I am very happy that I did this 100 Thing Challenge.

And I leave you with a quote from one of my favorite authors.

Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours. – CS Lewis

One of the greatest challenges for a missionary is cross cultural interaction. What is that food? How do I show respect? Why do people act that way?

The immigrant church is a training ground for missions because it forces you to wrestle with these issues. I know there are a lot of people who struggle with attending a church where the senior pastor preaches in a different language but I believe that it can be a huge blessing. Missionaries have to learn what it means to raise up indigenous churches that might look very different than the western churches they grew up attending.

Jesus came into a world that had values very different than his own. He also attended a church where the people were not always speaking his language. Jesus transformed the church and worked patiently with people who did not always understand him. I hope we would do the same. It makes us better servants.

So 2011 is over and I have not done an items update in a long time. I figured that people did not really give a crap every time I bought a new shirt or got rid of one so I just stopped doing updates to the point where… I completely forgot to do any updates at all.

Because 2011 has already passed us, I figured to go ahead and do a final update now that my 100 Thing Challenge has comes to an end.

Here are the items that I got rid of:

Item 5: Blackberry
Item 11: Canon 5D2 + 50mm/1.8
Item 12: 24-70mm/2.8
Item 13: Domke F3x
Item 40: Backup SLR

Item 34: Hat – I lost it…
Item 78: Polo Shirt
Item 89: Pants (1)
Item 100: Fisheye Lens

Here are some things I gained:

Item 5: HTC Titan
Item 11: Nikon D700 + 50mm/1.4
Item 12: 14-24mm/2.8
Item 13: Tenba Messenger
Item 34: Down Vest (gift)

Item 40: T Shirt
Item 49: T Shirt
Item 61: T Shirt
Item 73: T Shirt

Total Item Count: 93

Interesting Items:

- Mp3 Player – I lost the charger and stopped using it since the end of September. I haven’t really missed it.
- Kindle – App on the HTC Phone replaces it…so maybe I can get rid of it?
- Blurays – Never even watched one in 2011
- PS3 – Minimal use in past few months. I mostly use it only for Netflix which I watch mostly through my computer
- Nalgene – Can’t find it
- Shorts – wore each one maybe once in 2011…and only to justify keeping the items on the list.
- Neck Buff – Did not even use it this year

My next post will be my summary and conclusion of the 100 Thing Challenge and the beginning of my 10,000 Thing Challenge. Just kidding.

At the risk of inviting homeland security to my office – would it be weird to ask for prayer for Kim Jong-Un?

I’ll admit, my knowledge on the internal working affairs of North Korea is between minimal and non-existent.  I have no idea how to categorize relations between North and South Korea as anything other than ‘intense’.  And the only lessons I’ve ever had on the effects of the Korean War came from watching ‘Taegukgi’ – a fictional film introducing me to the depth of war-torn family bonds, Korean cinematography, and Won Bin’s effect on 15-year-old Asian girls.  Oh, and I’m not Korean.  That probably doesn’t help.

Or maybe it does.  Maybe my ignorance is just what’s needed in all this knowledgeable banter and opinion that’s currently going on in the news.  It seems like with so much deep-seated hatred, fear and anger over Kim Jong Il and his horrendous crimes against humanity, the world has forgotten that it knows relatively little about his successor, or at least that’s the gist I’m getting from all these news reports.  It seems that the world is so focused on what he’ll do, and what this means for them, that they’ve forgotten about the person.   He’s a 27-year-old man tasked with leading 24 million people, with an almost universally hated father. And in a country where we pride ourselves in an ‘innocent until proven guilty’ mentality, aren’t we jumping the gun here?

OK, maybe I’m jumping the gun here a bit.  Regardless of whether he turns out to be better, worse, or exactly the same as his father, I’d still like to think that just as we pray for our own leaders to have spiritual wisdom and to be responsible leaders, so we can pray for other leaders as well.  God’s influence doesn’t influence only believers.  Our God is a God who brought light from heaven to transform a violent antagonist of the church into one of its greatest missionaries (Paul).  This is a God who galvanized a weak-willed and fleeing prophet into action via a fish (Jonah). And this is a God who took an unbelieving prostitute and gave her a place in His future  son’s blessed lineage (Rahab).  God’s certainly dealt with worse in the past.  And just because a man has an unsavory father for a past and untested waters as a future, should we automatically curtail any possible option of prayer? Is that our duty, and our right?  Obviously we wouldn’t  pray for North Korea’s regime success or that human rights would continue to be violated – but rather, prayers for salvation, wisdom in guiding a people, and an open heart towards governmental, and hopefully spiritual, change.  Aren’t those valid prayers as well?

I realize I may be opening the floodgates here by inviting over 60 years of pain and bitterness from an estimated 80 million people worldwide, in an almost unanimous animosity towards one man.  But I sincerely hope it doesn’t come off that way.  I don’t support the current North Korea government or its past actions.  I do condemn the actions that the former dictator performed, though, some with a fierceness bordering on disgust.  And should his son start WWIII tomorrow, this post may be universally impossible to take with a grain of salt. But my question is not whether Kim Jong Un is a good man or not.  My question is simply whether this man, or any man for that matter, is undeserving of prayer?

Please respond. I really want to know what people think about this – with civility and grace if possible.

For future information on North Korea, we highly recommend LiNK – Liberation in North Korea as both a source of current, up-to-date information and as a means of getting involved via spreading awareness about the situation in North Korea as well as providing aid and  relief for North Korean Refugees.

Please realize that these thoughts do not reflect any official opinion from INHERITANCE magazine, LiNK or any other organization.

“As more bodies are being recovered the official death toll has risen sharply to over 700. Hundreds remain missing and are feared dead. The worse hit areas are Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities, with whole villages being swept into the sea. However, there were also fatalities in Bukidnon, Compostela Valley, Zamboanga de Norte and the Dumagete in Negros Oriental due to flash floods and landslides. More than 35,000 are huddled in makeshift evacuation centers after losing everything in the flood.

The authorities and the red cross were quick to respond with aid. Thousands of soldiers have been deployed in the area to continue the search and rescue operations. Clean water is a major issue at this stage. Handling the huge number of dead has overwhelmed the services in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan. Many bodies remain unclaimed as whole families have been wiped out.

Pray that more people will be found alive despite the odds and that those needing medical attention will receive the help they need. ”

Please continue to pray

I was inspired to write this post in light of a great article I read on Christianity Today.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/currenttrendscolumns/leadershipweekly/silentradiant.html

1. Being a leader means you’re better than others.

Jesus did not choose his disciples for a glamorous life. He called them to suffer and display the sufferings of Christ. That is not quite the same definition of accomplishment that the world uses, but it is what Christians are called to.

1. Being a leader means you have to always look strong.

Vulnerability and honesty are some of the greatest attributes to have as a leader. No one wants to follow someone who is fake. Be open and honest with how you feel. Being a human being with real emotions doesn’t make you weak.

Turkey week, Turkey day, Turkey Bowl, Turkey Run … turkey, turkey, turkey.

We sure have a lot of turkey to be thankful for when it comes to this Thanksgiving holiday – but aside from the myriad of tasty foods, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and general merry-making for those of us attending large Thanksgiving feast gatherings, is there any significance to this yearly holiday?

History teaches us that Thanksgiving in America came from the relationship between pilgrims and Native Americans in which the Natives taught the pilgrims essential survival skills, such as growing seeds and fishing. The Native Americans took it on themselves to show the pilgrims the way of the land and how to survive in foreign conditions to a group of people who weren’t accustomed to the harsh winters in the colonies, its climate, and how to work the land in order to survive. The pilgrims, in turn, held a large feast with the Native Americans, celebrating what became a good harvest through their somewhat collective partnership.

Apart from this holiday anecdote that we all learned in our 4th grade social studies classes, however, are examples of other “thanksgiving” feasts and festivals that either the Europeans or Colonists held both prior to and after this historical Plymouth event. The leaders of the colony apparently held a “thanksgiving” feast 2 years prior to the Plymouth feast in order to celebrate the settlement of the colonies. Europeans periodically celebrated “thanksgiving” feasts and festivals before and after harvest periods to give thanks for the harvest and all the hard work that was put into it. All in all, it seemed that the communal sentiment of giving thanks through feasts and festivals was not a novel event that started with the Plymouth feast.

In zeroing back in to our lives in the present century, what are some of the ways in which this communal sentiment continues to be expressed? Is it just that there’s a day set aside on our busy calendars each year that we have the opportunity to come together to give thanks, or is there more to “thanksgiving” than just eating and gathering?

Perhaps the most important thing that stood out to me among conversations about Thanksgiving and the historical stories on its origins is the example of the celebration of living. Life itself is celebrated through thanksgiving events; and with these events, another year of hard work, fruitfulness, failure, and the camaraderie interweaved in these processes throughout the past year (or harvest), become fully shared, fully realized, and fully brought into perspective as another season beckons.

It’s not just an opportunity to assess the progress or regress from the past year. It’s not only for the purpose of compiling a list of blessings that you received or hope to receive. It’s about the process of stepping back, re-adjusting the lens of how you perceived the last year in your life, and realizing that, in the midst of the changes that have taken place, you have life to be thankful for.

I hope this year, in giving thanks for whatever you are thankful for, you will also be blessed with the reminder that, because of God’s gracious gift of life, we have lists of things to be thankful for in the first place.

And that, I believe, is pretty significant.

In two days, it will be Thanksgiving — a time when families get together, turkeys are eaten (or hot-pot if your family likes to make this American holiday more Asian), prices on electronics are slashed, and the cue for Christmas music to begin playing strikes. And of course, it’s an annual reminder for us to take a step back and be thankful for the many blessings God has bestowed upon us. Whether through success, sickness, happiness, devastation, or grief, we all have reason to thank God for always and forever being so good.

Today, a professor reminded us of this passage from Luke 14:12-14:

12 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

It was a somber reminder to all of us in class that we are very good at being thankful — to the point that we often get caught up in our own blessings. How often do we bless those who are unable to bless us in return? Remembering all the things we have to be thankful for should compel us to notice and to help those who have less.

As I was driving home and pondering over this passage, I remembered that this is exactly how Jesus demonstrates His love for us as well. He has put together this massive feast of grace, and we are the poor, crippled, lame and blind, completely unable to ever repay Him for his graciousness.

So this Thanksgiving, as you’re celebrating with family and friends, forget not those who are less fortunate, and remember to thank our heavenly Father, who has blessed us with far more than friendships and material possessions. Thank You for grace!