Devotional #1

GOD IS GREATER
By KPM   “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them;
because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” – 1 John 4:4   When I was five or six years old, there was something I was afraid of. I was afraid of being locked in a store after closing. Many times, my family would be in National Book Store until closing time. The gates would come crashing down and the lights would be slowly turned off. And I remember being so afraid.

“I am afraid.”

How many times have we said that in our hearts? It doesn’t seem to matter how old we get, there is always something that we are afraid of. It might be confronting a friend about a sin issue. It might be sharing a struggle with your discipler. It might even be just the fear of sharing your faith. We stare at the problem and feel overwhelmed. “I don’t think I can do it,” we may say.

What do we look to? Who do we look to? I remember every time the National Book Store would close, I would grab on to my parents and stay beside them. I knew, even as scared as I was, that everything would be okay as long as I was with them. I always turned to them.

In the same way, when we face a difficult situation in life, we must remind ourselves who is with us. We are not alone. God is with us because we are His children. We should stop looking at the problem and start looking at our Lord. For Jesus has already overcome the world. He is greater than any problem or any struggle or any person in the world. Jesus has already overcome sin and death. Our Messiah is greater than anything the devil can throw at you. We must remember that God is with us all the time and all we have to do is follow Him and trust Him. The LORD will fight for us, He will protect us. Even in the storm, we know that He is stronger and that we can have peace when we know we are walking with Him.

So take heart, for greater is our Lord who is in you than he who is in the world. God is your refuge. May you find peace in Him as you obey His will in your life.

Fell asleep

Had such a great birthday weekend. I ended up falling asleep on the couch. Sleeping on the couch is a beautiful thing.

Sent from my Windows Phone

Walking on water or entering the promised land?

Sink or swim?  Maybe it might be time to walk on water.

Giants?  Our God is bigger than the giants in the promised land. 

This may be it already.  Definitely going to be writing a blog a day this week.  Have to.  Have to do it.  I wonder how many people actually read this blog?

Reminder

I KNOW I POSTED SOMETHING LIKE THIS BEFORE, BUT IT'S A REMINDER TO ME AND HOPEFULLY TO SOME OTHERS OUT THERE...

"There are bigger things happening here than me and you." - Peter Parker

Got reminded today that as many things that are going on in my life right now that I have to work on or focus on, they pale in comparison to all the things that my friends and sisters and brothers are going through. There are people who are hurting. Sometimes we need to be there for them and pray for them rather than worrying about what we are going through.

"Once again, you think it's all about you." - Magneto

Love God. Love others. It's not about numbers. How do you measure a year? In sunsets? In minutes? In cups of coffee? By episodes of a TV shows? By heart aches? Maybe it would be nice for a change to measure the year by the victories we experience in Christ, by remembering how He has overcome and that we can overcome through Him. But that means living for Jesus alone and following Christ completely. Even at cost.

(paraphrase cause I want to try to do it from memory)
Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?"

We live for Jesus. And we show people we are living for Christ by how we treat others around us.

(paraphrase again cause I want to do this from memory)
Jesus also said that, "A new command I give to you, that you love one another, just as I have loved you, so you should love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples - if you have love for one another."

Being Loyal...

So I just spend way too much money today on a haircut. You see, over the past several months, I've been trying out different barbershops because the barber we normally go to is all the way in Megamall.  So I've been trying these other places in Robinsons so it will save me time.  I honestly don't know why I saw my hair quality as a worthy exchange for not having to walk the 15min to Megamall.  Every time I try these other shops, I always end up having a less than favorable haircut.

Today, I really wanted to get a nice haircut because it's going to be my birthday and it's important that I look good.  I already have what I'm going to wear all laid out (yes, I actually have done that), and I just need the hair.  So I decided to treat myself to a haircut at a well known "salon for men".  And they told me the haircut I wanted wouldn't work, so they suggested another one.  I said, sure, they should know what they are doing after all, they are the experts.  Then they cut my hair.  It looked...okay. But the more I looked in the mirror after I paid a big amount for the haircut, the more I realized that it wasn't....working.  It was the "messy" look, which I didn't want. 

Where did I turn?  To the barber who has cut my hair since Spider-man 2 came out.  Yes.  Spider-man 2.  That's how long June has been my barber...until recently.  I went to him in Megamall and showed him my hair and he frowned seeing the mess that was made.  "June, I need you, please fix my hair."  And then he fixed it up and made it nice.  While he was cutting my hair and fixing it up, I was thinking to myself, why do I go to other guys?  Why do I try other barbers when this barber that I trust has NEVER given me a bad haircut. Ever.

In the same way, we do this with God so many times.  We grow tired of always walking the Christian life, thinking it is more exciting somewhere else.  They are having fun over there, we think, why am I still here?  God hasn't given me that exciting thing that I wanted, so I'll go there where I can get it.  Just like me thinking I could get a more exciting hair cut elsewhere.  So we leave God and stop trusting in Him because we think that we know better and someone else or something else can provide better. 

And then when the other thing fails, we don't run back to God, we keep going to other things.  When we are at our worst, paying the price of living a life apart from God (to which Lewis said that God cannot give you any goodness apart from him because it doesn't exist), that's when we run to Him again and say, "God, save me, I need you, please fix my life."  And God just shakes his head lovingly and fixes us up.  And then we wonder why we ever wandered in the first place.

Hopefully, I stay loyal to my barber now and stop going to other places, and more importantly, trust in God rather than in other things.

Story behind the Cover Photo

Facebook has become such a part of our ever day lives.  Most of us check our facebook more often than we check our email.  This is because Facebook is our representation of ourselves to others.  It may not be for prideful or selfish reasons - it just happens to be designed to be our face in the online community.  Our timeline shows people what we have been doing, our posts let people know how we feel, and other people's comments are a reflection of our relationships in the "real world".  Still, there is something deeper going on also: what does your profile picture and cover photo say about you?

See, these are two things that we think about often.  Even those who change it quite frequently still put thought into "not putting thought" into it.  I remember back in the day when you would try to hide your identity from the online world.  You would not post any picture of yourself, you would have a screenname, you would have an email address that had nothing to do with your identity in the "real world".  Yet, isn't the online community part of the real world?  Even more so than many aspects of your life?  See, the online realm is not a replacement for the "real world", it is another aspect of the real world.  But I digress.  Let's go back to what I was saying: what does your cover photo say about you?

Unlike your profile picture, your cover photo on facebook has nothing to do with identifying you.  It is not your profile picture.  Your cover photo is the thing that gives your facebook page a certain tone.  You let the world know about an aspect of who you are by your cover photo.  Will it be a Bible verse? Will it be about your faith in God?  Will it be a random shot of nature?  Sometimes it is a picture of you and your friends, as an extension profile picture. 

For me, I always try to make my cover photo specifically talk about one aspect of who I am.  It usually is an older photo to remind me where I've been.  Why?  Because you can't know where you are going if you don't know where you came from.  Right now, my cover photo is a picture I took 7 years ago.  It is from the Breakfast Club Experiment that we did in college in my dorm.  We would invite people who had nothing to do with each other and have them over for dinner.  It's college dorm life: everyone wants food.  So people would always come over.  My roommates got in on it too, helping me come up with invite lists.

I think one reason I put up this particular cover photo was to remind me that I was reaching out to others way back when it wasn't a ministry.  It's who I am.  Reaching out to others, encouraging them, that's who I am.  That's what makes Mark me.  I don't need to be assigned to do this, I don't need to be paid to do this - should just do it.  Because I love doing it.  It shouldn't be based on this notion of "I want certain people to be there".  It is just fun bringing people together who don't normally hang out and watching them get closer together.

There is such joy to that. Seeing Christians mix when they have nothing in common.  And yet the early church is described as a people who had EVERYTHING in common.  They were like minded.  They loved the same things.  They loved God, they loved each other.  Yet they did not have anything in common. Some were slaves, some were masters, some were Greek, some were Jew.  The early church was a bowl of random ingredients thrown together.  But God made it work. 

In the same way I want to see that happen today too - especially with my friends.  I don't want them to just be my friends, I want them to be friends with each other.  I don't want to be the only connector between all of them.  There is a joy in seeing people I care about caring about each other.  Sometimes there are those times that you feel that should be the connector, this feeling of like "why am I not invited anymore to be with you guys?". But that is rather selfish, isn't it?  For there is a reason why they can't hang out with you also.  And you have to realize that God has a purpose to this too.  That this is their time to grow closer together, this is their time to know each other more.  You already know them.  You already are friends with them.  In a weird way, the less you hang out with a close friend is a sign that you are indeed close to each other because you don't need to "maintain" it so much.  And then you won't be clingy.

Friendships aren't meant to be over-analyzed.  Friendships are meant to be enjoyed.  Every moment there, even if you don't get to have deep conversations wtih them, is fine.  Because every moment is a memory.  And don't you want to have great memories with people?  It's not always about the deep conversations.  It is about the times you laugh, the times you cry, the times you just SIT with each other. 

I am Mark.  And I am blessed by so many friends.  Gotta keep reminding yourself of that.

Getting back into the habit of writing

Hi, blog.
Hi, Mark.
Long time, no write.
Yeah, you really have a way of abandoning me just when you come by and start hanging out again.
I'm sorry.
Whatever, Mark.  Just try to commit this time, okay?  Sometimes, friendships can be like that too.
What do you mean?
What I mean is this: sometimes we feel bad that we don't have time for our friends.  In response to this, we call them up or text them and offer to hang out.  After hanging out for a bit, we feel better about ourselves and move on and stop communicating with them again.  Yet, we complain so much when this happens to us.  We say, "How come you never have time for me?  Why do you always have time for other people?"  Yet, do you not do the same thing?  Do we not do the same thing?

Sometimes, I think that the best way to keep yourself from depression is to do what Edmund Chan said we should do - have gratitude towards God for everything that goes on in our life.  God provides so much for us, and yet I still complain so often. Why do I keep being filled with discontentment?  Shouldn't I be content?  God gives all good things to those who love Him, and I know that everything I do can only be done because of God and through His strength.  I know that the things I don't have are not lacking, but rather are not what I need right now.  I know that God has a purpose and a timing.  It's just hard waiting sometimes. It is just difficult when you feel that you need to be happy today, right now.  Why can't things be like before?

But I know that God is loving, that God is good.  Therefore there is a reason why things are going the way they are right now.  Sometimes I think the reason God is allowing me to go through this is because He wants me to really grow and learn this truth: that He knows best...and I don't. 

God is wise and our wisdom is merely foolishness to Him.  So why is it so hard to trust Him?  If we can trust God with our eternal salvation and say Jesus, I give my life to you, then why is it so hard to trust Him for these "smaller" things?  I remember something Dr. Charles Stanley said before.  He said that if God keeps telling you the same thing over and over again, it may be because you have yet to obey Him in that area that He keeps telling you about.