Now to Him

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory... for ever and ever!  -Ephesians 3:20-21

The Faith Test results are in:  God's sovereignty knows no bounds. He is so good and so personal, and no detail is too small or insignificant to Him.

Coach

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.  -John Wooden

Very few individuals are able to induce admiration in people from nearly any background or walk of life. Coach Wooden was one. I've been tearing up while reading his obituary because the world has lost a truly humble man and inspiring leader. 

I had the fortune of meeting Coach Wooden back in the late 1990s at a basketball game. He even signed my program. I remember getting misty-eyed as we briefly spoke, acutely aware that there are so few like him. Obviously he wasn't my coach, but in a sense, he was America's coach. His pearls of wisdom, and Pyramid of Success, are so frequently referenced, and rightly so.

It's tempting to put people we respect up on a pedestal, but Coach wouldn't want that. Throughout his life, his words and actions pointed to Someone else.

Faith Test

I'm in the midst of a real test of faith.  

Facing circumstances that require prompt action, I resisted a reflexive impulse to forge ahead today -as in Friday, June 4th. A difficult decision indeed as there are several factors which favor moving forward without delay. However, a gentle but firm voice has pervaded my thoughts as I've been evaluating things and, coupled with another weighty factor, ultimately prompted me to be still and wait.

I think this is a meaningful opportunity for me to experience, and later testify to, God's continual, supernatural engineering of events in our individual lives in ways that often defy human reasoning. It's all too easy for me to verbalize God's in control, so I don't need to worry, yet when it comes down to it, so often I try to take over and manoeuver away. And really, my efforts are more like muddling than manoeuvering. Inevitably I botch things up, and still I'm always tempted to take matters into my own hands. You'd think I'd have learned long ago.

So, this choice I made today feels very significant -like maybe I'm starting to actually put into more consistent practice the belief that I'm definitely not the one in charge.   

Old Friend

This morning I finally got around to downloading some of Tim Keller's sermons. I've missed his teaching tremendously since leaving NYC in 2007, so it was a real treat to be in my apartment in Seoul, listening to the friendly voice and wise words of such an amazing preacher. By sheer coincidence, the sermon I listened to was one I'd actually heard him deliver back in 2006. I had to laugh as I thought about the fact that when I'd originally heard it, I could never have imagined I'd listen to it again four years later while living in Korea!

To celebrate 20 years of its sermon recording ministry, Redeemer has posted 150 sermons and lectures which are completely free and available for download. Here's a link:

http://sermons2.redeemer.com/

Election Eve

Tomorrow is Election Day, and I'd be remiss if I failed to mention it. You see, the last few weeks have been tinged with pervasive campaigning. You cannot escape it. Banners, campaigners, fliers galore. Fair enough. But one campaign element is truly unlike any I've ever encountered.  

It's the movable, musical billboard featuring dancers trying desperately to stay coordinated as they move to horrendous music blasted at ear-piercing decibels. Or, as I like to refer to it:  an ice cream truck gone terribly awry (imagine an ice cream truck which gave out no icy treats but instead played shrill tunes, a la "This Land Is Your Land" -electronic recorder style, as a prelude to the driver yelling at you to vote for him... anyway, it made sense in my head). These campaign-billboard trucks have been plaguing the city for weeks, and they seem to be everywhere. This morning I heard one driving down the alley outside my window, and then later at work another was parked directly across from my school.

I wasn't joking about the awful music. I personally have heard "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "This Land Is Your Land", and I've read of others who have experienced "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Jingle Bells." What I cannot grasp is how any of this inspires confidence in the candidates or encourages people to get out and vote. Maybe it's a matter of whose trucks are least annoying...?