fsholo on Revelife

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Tuesday, 23 September 2008

PURPOSE IN LIFE

     I've been wondering for a while now on why I do what I do. Currently I'm a Biblical Studies student at Biola University who loves to teach music and is an Intern Pastor for Fullerton Presbyterian Churches Aletheia (10th-12th Grade) Ministry. But... why? There are a lot of things in life that I love and things in life that I don't. But I always find this need to have a purpose. I've been thinking about it a lot and realized that with each stage of life, a different purpose emerges. But no matter how much change there seems to be, it all ends up at the same place. I want God to be glorified by all means.

    I've decided to record this here as a note for any future revelations that I might have. Now, why do I want God to be glorified? I wanted a real answer aside from the obvious answers most people give. I wanted an answer that only I could have not for any selfish reasons but to get to the very core of my heart. Why do I, Solomon Lee, want God to be glorified? And the following is my honest answer.

    I don't care for acknowledgment. This is probably why I do bad with graduations, birthdays, and Christmas (especially when it comes to gift giving/receiving). I don't like being recognized or singled out. I don't like being congratulated or lifted up higher than everybody else. But I know that in todays world, if you don't stand out in a remarkable way... you're doing something wrong. I don't consider this to be a general rule but when it comes to Christianity, it's true. I know it sounds horrible but let's face the facts. There's a reason why we adore men like John MacArthur, John Piper, Lee Strobel, J. Oswald, J.P. Moreland, Max Lucado, Hank Hanegraff, Martin Luther, Walt Russell, Jon Rittenhouse and so on. These individuals stand out as great men of God because what they do are extraordinary.

    The only way to truly get to a point where what they do are normal is for the whole world to literally fall on their faces in recognition of the Supremacy of God. I often find myself not feeling joy in seeing a Christian soldier fighting in the front lines because there are so few soldiers fighting in the front lines... me included. Oh how I look forward to the day when the trumpet sounds and Christ comes down in the fullness of His Glory. Cause then and only then will we truly see that the only extraordinary thing on earth is Christ and that what the great men and women of God are doing today should have been the norm all this time.

     However, I would be a fool to sit back and just wait for that day because there's so much to be done. I don't care if I don't get ordained. I don't care honesty if I never graduate. I don't care if I'm looked at as the shame of the Korean Culture as long as I get to experience the daily freedom of doing my part in worshiping God in every aspect of life possible. The struggle will be hard. The trials will be excruciating. But I would love to see God glorified. I think this is why I love leading worship so much. I love to worship. I love to see others worship. I love worshiping with others. Even if I never own a home or make a 6-figure income. Even if I never drive a benz or be up on the latest trend I think I would be content for life with what I'm doing now. Being allowed to express the freedom in Christ in equipping the next generation of worshipers, can it really get any better?

     My accomplishments mean nothing compared to the saving power of Christ. Ladies and Gentlemen, let's brush off the passive-Christianity that our world have unfortunately come to love. All recognition belongs to the Father. May it be one day when an extraordinary believer gets lost in a sea of other extraordinary believers where the only thing extraordinary about all of them is the fact that they follow and love God. Let's raise the standard. Not that I've met that standard in any way. It's possible to believe in something and struggle to live up to it. I'm struggling but it's a beautiful struggle for my God is with me. I'm not special, I'm just His.

    Why do you do what you do? What is your purpose? What is your purpose behind that purpose? Seriously, I'm curious =).

     God Bless and Gud9ite.

Wednesday, 28 May 2008

WEDNESDAY - SHORT TERM MISSIONS "OPERATION MEXICO"

     A team of 10 soldiers got together to take a little mission trip to Tecate, Mexico. Our goal was simple, build a playground. But like any mission trip the reward far outweighed the goal. Many go to missions to help and aid those who need it in some way or another but instead we get rocked by God's work with His people in unfortunate places. In this case, our location was a trash dump. I'm not just describing the place, it's an actual trash dump. There were several hundred families living there in houses made of scrap pieces of wood and metal. We found out about the place through Elder Shim who knew Pastor Diego. Pastor Diego is a great man of God. People with great faith intrigues me. This man drives to Tecate, Mexico every single Thursday from Orange County to help them out. He loves God, he loves people, and he loves helping people to love God.

     Here in the U.S., we can get a hamburger anytime we want. A hamburger is about a dollar... dollar fifty? Well, in Tecate, Mexico, they have to gamble their options to have one hamburger a year. Pastor Diego knowing this goes every Thursday to cook over 200 hamburgers for those families living at the trash dump. Pastor Diego had another Pastor with him that serves with him. I serve at a church called Fullerton Presbyterian Church (FPC). So the soldiers that went were Pastor Diego, Pastor (I forgot his name), Elder Shim, Mr. Chung, Pastor Chung, Doos Teacher, Gene, Tim, Richard, and myself. Before going to the trash dump, we stopped by the Mission Center to meet up with Pastor Salvador. Pastor Salvador oversees the trash dump as well as several other poverty-stricken locations.

     At the trash dump, there's a small space of cement that another church has laid down in order to make a basketball court but for one reason or another it never got completed. So, we decided to build a playground on top of the cement instead. Not only that, right next to is a ditch that is in danger of kids falling into so another goal was to build a fence. When we arrived at the trash dump, some of the men living there worked on the film and we worked on the playground. We started at 9:30 and we figured we would be done at 12 noon. Well... by the time 12 noon came about we only had the foundation of the playground done. This wasn't a playset that had huge plastic pieces that fit together but a whole bunch of pieces of wood. It was pretty crazy! Also, we only had one drill O_O. So how long did it take us to finish the whole playground? We started at 9:30 a.m.... and finished at 7:30 p.m.

     The kids there were pretty... well, well-behaved. There were some kids that waited the whole 10 hours for the playground to be finished. But man, their smiles were a mile wide when we finished it. They loved it so much that they broke one of them! It's not a big deal, it was just a metal bar on a teeter-totter set that can be easily fixed.

     One thing that I noticed while reflecting on the trip was how cool it was for God to allow FPC to exercise its identity as a church. we had members from high school to adulthood working together in one mind and one accord. It didn't matter on age, culture, social status, or language. We were all there unwilling to leave at 12 noon. We were all there looking at the unfinished project with a desire to finish before going back home to our comfortable lives. It was a really cool experience and I am forever grateful for God to use us in that way.

     This was our first time doing this so we asked only for strong men to go but thinking about it, I think females can go as well. While working, I saw things that didn't require heavy physical labor that could have gone on. I'm pretty sure that we will be going back. It's less than 4 hours away driving. What's stopping us! I mean, it was fun. Serving is fun. And it's just a great reminder of our identity in Christ. It doesn't cost thousands of dollars, it's not oversea. Opportunities for mission's all around us! It's across the street, around the corner, next city over, our neighbors, family members, etc.

"In a civilization like ours, I feel that everyone has to come to terms with the claims of Jesus Christ upon his life, or else be guilty of inattention or of evading the question."
-C.S. Lewis

     God Bless and Gud9ite (Pictures to come soon)

Friday, 16 May 2008

FRIDAY - EARLY IN THE MORNING

     Just a quick blog before I sleep. I've been looking at ministry a bit differently lately. I've been hearing of how our neighboring churches do their youth ministry. Not only ministry structure but worship as well. I think we all failed. I've been thinking for about a good 3 hours this week on who leads the most perfect worship and the conclusion that I came to was that nobody does worship worthy enough to glorify God for who He truly is. Also, it's wrong to say that one Church is doing it better than the next because if a Church was truly incorporating true biblical worship, that region around that Church should be crawling with believers! Looking at the Church more as a whole, I look at Fullerton and realize that we're failing.

     Some of the top dawgs in Fullerton... FPC... GKC... Sa-Rang... OKC... TKC's not that far... I mean, as big Churches go, these Churches are pretty big in Fullerton. But... something's not right. Something is itchin' where I"m just not satisfied. Somewhere along the line each of us as individuals, we put priority in all the wrong things. Why does the Church exist? Who is it really for? I mean, don't give yourself the basic sunday school answer but look at your Church closely and honestly answer, who is it really for? I realized that if each individual who call themselves saints don't sanctify themselves fully in the Grace of God, worship can NEVER happen. It just wouldn't be worship because worship is the overflow of our love for God. Worship is the overflow of our natural reaction to the presence of God. Worship is the natural response to daily walking with God. If missions exist because worship doesn't (John Piper), than... why do saints exist? Why do we exist?

     I came up with a very basic structure for the Church. Picture this. Our life individually is represented with a cup. As that cup overflows with our love for God, it overflows into a bowl called worship. As that bowl called worship overflows, it overflows into a bigger bowl called evangelism. As that bigger bowl called evangelism overflow, it overflows into the big picture called the Glory of God. It is not enough to have just enough God where it fills our cup. If that satisfies you, you're following the right God but for the wrong reason. If your cup does overflow into worship but your worship bowl never overflows... then you have the right reason, just the wrong god... Christianity is about following the right God for the right reason (Jon Rittenhouse).

     Could I be wrong in all of this? Maybe, I mean, I am a learning Pastor. But one thing is for sure ladies and gentlemen.... believers, we've got to do better than this. I"m going to try to live out that model I made. I'm not just going to try tomorrow or on Sunday but every single day. Every. Single. Day. I know that my worship on Friday Night and Sunday Morning is heavily dictated by my worship on all the other days that I am not at Church corporately worshiping God. Breathe In. Breathe Out. Time to try this.

     God Bless and Gud9ite