Today, Dr. Josephine Kim shared with us a message – “Healing from the Inside Out: Confronting Inner Struggles that Bind Asian Americans.”  (Link has been removed for the sake of privacy.)

The response was just as I suspected – powerful, emotional, introspective, and widespread.  Thank you Jo!!!

We have started a counseling referral initiative at our ministry.  I gave a vision-casting talk on it today, and Dr. Josephine Kim will be speaking on this issue next Sunday.

To hear the vision-casting talk, click here.

Over the years, I’ve noticed there is an intriguing form of hypocrisy among the members of the second generation Korean-American community.  Many of these folks pride themsleves for being progressive about mental health issues.  They’ll recommend their friends, colleagues, and congregants to seek professional counseling or psychiatric help.  However, when it comes down to it, they’ll never seek out such help themselves.

It seems the shame is still entrenched.  “Those ‘other’ people could use it, but not me.”

Until the self falls within the set of “others,” the shame will never be eradicated.

Found this interesting quote in Philip Yancey’s Reaching for the Invisible God.

In an unusually revealing letter to his friend Father John Calabria [Lewis explains.]  In his fiftieth year, he could sense his writing talent slipping away.  He was spending his time caring for a friend’s infirm mother, in a chaotic house devestated by quarrels.  “How long, O Lord?” Lewis writes.  He explains the distractions to Calabria, asks for prayer, says that disruptions are keeping him from work on many books.  He adds, “If it shall please God that I write more books, blessed be He.  If it shall not please Him, again, blessed be He.  Perhaps it will be the most wholesome thing for my soul that I lose both fame and skill lest I were to fall into that evil disease, vainglory.”

It’s after this that he wrote the Narnia series.  I’m thankful God was not pleased to suck the talent out of C. S. Lewis.  It’s probably because of this surrender that God was able to use him further.  Good times.

“…when you don’t post?”

I was rebuked the other day by one of my congregants for not posting.  I have repented of my sin, and I offer this entry.

I’m disappointed the Mets vs. Yanks game got rained out.  I think the Mets would have spanked them, especially with Santana on the mound.  But who knows?  With the way they’ve been playing, especially after losing a series to the Nationals (possibly the worst team in baseball), even if Santana were to pitch a gem, the Mets would probably still have found a way to lose.  Reyes, Beltran, Delgado, Wright…how is it that this team is not 7 games in front of everyone else?  That middle bullpen is quite an achilles heel, but with everyone else, they should still be able to generate a winning percentage far above .500.  Willie needs some killer instinct.  (Though, I am very pleased with Church, Pagan, and Schneider.  Delgado and Beltran should be ashamed.)

Tomorrow I get to go the LPGA tournament in Upper Montclair.  Hopefully, I will get the sermon done in time.

And Peyton is the love of my life.

–

And there we have it.  Mets spank the yanks twice!  Good times .

So I’ve been watching the Australian Open, and it’s been interesting.  Federer is truly amazing.  But my heart still swoons for Sampras.

I long with all of my heart to see the Sampras from the 90s play Federer in the present.  But, alas, this is a dream that will never come true.  *sigh*

Indeed, Federer beat Sampras at Wimbledon, but that was when Sampras was on his way out.  And I’ve seen the exhibition matches, but those are just a tease.

My personal, biased prediction: Sampras would win.  But we will never know.

As I was driving the other day, it struck me that I have never once seen a billboard in the process of being changed.  Considering that I’ve driven at all hours of the day, evening, and morning, you would figure I would have seen at least one.  But I haven’t.  Just an observation.

Also, have you ever noticed when Jesus teaches the disciples to pray, he places repentance/confession after supplication, which is contrary to what most evangelical Christians are taught via the ACTS method of prayer?  I have actually found this order to be far more effective in my prayers at producing genuine, heartfelt, life-changing repentence.  “God’s kindness leads you toward repentance.”  -Romans 2:4

So, I wrote a blog last night concerning this tragedy.  In it I railed against Democrats, Republicans, and various other groups.  But after rereading it, I think it might have been too much, so I privatized it.

I do want to make public, however, that our prayers are with those who have lost loved ones and those who are suffering through the aftermath of this tragedy.

I hate the mall.  And I hate shopping.  But I love Costco.  When I feel depressed, I go to Costco and I walk around.  I don’t know why it’s so soothing, but it is.  I feel at home in Costco.

In fact, I love Costco so much that a couple times during the week, I go to Costco for my lunch breaks.  During these breaks, typically, I’ll spend $2.72 for a large slice of pizza and a drink.  Every once in a while I’ll get the hotdog combo for a buck fifty.  But, neither of those usually fill me up, so afterwards, I’ll walk around the floor sampling some of the free goodies.  (They have some really tasty stuff!)  And while I’m munching on these treats wandering from station to station, I also get to look at some books, DVDs, games, clothes, and various other “necessities.”  This is actually a lot of fun because they always have interesting stuff.  (Not to mention all of their products are almost always competitively priced.)

By the end of my Costco lunch break, I’m always stuffed and fully refreshed.  All for less than three bucks.  Good times.  No wonder sermon prep goes so well on these days.

I’ve always believed C. S. Lewis was a far superior story teller than J. R. R. Tolkien. But for the longest time, I couldn’t place my finger on why. That day of clarity has come.

The genuis of Lewis, in my opinion, is that he uses far fewer words yet is able to elicit much more mileage from them. He truly is a master of words. Tolkien is good, but Lewis is on a different playing field altogether.

Tolkien describes his world down to every last speck. Lewis, on the other hand, describes just enough of the world for the imagination to grab onto. He knows once the imagination is hooked, it can do a far better job of creating the world than any of his words. Now, this is where his genius comes in. Lewis sets up his words in such a way that even though a million different people may vary as to how they construct the worlds beyond his words, the worlds still end up being remarkably and surprisingly similar, moreso than one would expect. (If you want to see for yourself, just ask other readers how they imagined certain characters and story elements.) The way he combines his words allow the imagination to be free, yet leads it down a very specific path. And he does it with so few. Never is there a stray word. Never is there a maybe-I-need-to-put-this-word-in-there-to-make-sure-they-know-what-I’m-talking-about word. Each word is planned. And the combinations are precise.

Now, some may argue that the above is basically a description of storytelling in general. However, when you read Lewis, you see that his story telling is special. It’s sure brilliance! The books are short, but the worlds are lush, vast, and biblically profound. He embodies and gives new meaning to the proverbial phrase, “Brevity is the mark of a master.” Tolkien is good. Lewis is breathtaking.

Of course, when you talk about the logorrhea phenomenon, you cannot forget to mention Karl Barth. Logically, of course, he has nothing to do with the previous paragraphs since he is not a fiction writer…but you gotta mention him anyway. Barth is verbose beyond redemption. He is not this way without purpose, however. His accomplishment is that in restating similar truths differently in a dizzying number of ways, he is able to squeeze out truths about truths that could not be seen otherwise. It’s quite remarkable actually.

There is, of course, another reason he writes this way – he wants to prevent being misunderstood. But the irony is that he’s been misunderstood just as much as any other theologian, if not more. (Side note: I’m personally not very fond of Barth’s writings or theology in general, though I appreciate them. I do, however, applaud his faithfulness to the centrality of Christ. Also, the structure of some of his insights have helped me clarify my Reformed Faith, though the actual content of those same insights I would contest.)

Lovers of Tolkien and Barth, please don’t hate me. Love the both of them still, I do.

(By the way, if you haven’t already read them, I highly recommend the first two books of Lewis’ space trilogy.)