July 2008 Archives

Thank God for Cookies

Published on July 21, 2008 by The Joe Koski

I'd like to write something deep. Something awesome.  Something amazing.  I just read a review of a novel that is about a werewolf in LA, or something, and immediately I could not help but think, “Man, I wish I had written that!  That sounds awesome!”

Maybe I'll write a story about a dinosaur…in…um, Paris.

No, no, that would be lame.

At this point, I don't have a goal of what to write about. I just write for fun, because it's fun. I'd like to find something, however. A project.  I think it would be fun to have something to dive into.

Maybe a bear who DJs in English pubs?
Maybe a robot who drives an ice cream truck?
Maybe a hit man with a killer moustache?

I don't know.  Nothing good comes to mind.

I'll tell you what, though; I did at one point recently change my view of it all. Before, I felt like I was going to do something that was just fun. It did not have to be about God or anything. I just didn't want to capitalize on being a Christian or a Pastor, and just wanted to write something for me. So I tried a few times to some genuinely horrible results.

Then, a month or two ago, I really realized something…namely that my way of thinking was dumb. Everything I do, artistic or otherwise, is about God.  Thus, everything I write, even if it is about a vampire frog that works the night shift at Wal-Mart, is going to be colored and shaped by God no matter what. Because He is a part of all I do. His Word shapes everything I believe. My end goal should be to glorify God in everything, overtly or otherwise.

So now I'm open to it. I have thought about writing a devotional, about short stories, some kind of comic book….but who knows? I may never write anything at all, and that is okay.

It's fun to pretend though, and to play around with it. And if God ever puts something on my heart to really dive into, well, I'm down for it. But I'll have to wait for Him; I don't want to run a head of His plans for me anymore.

A good verse about this whole thing is Eph. 2:10. God created me a certain way with the talents and gifts that I have, and He has planned out ways for me to do good works with them. I'm just going to follow Him and see what happens.

Here is the verse:
"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

P.S.  All that said-what talents and gifts has God blessed you with?  How are you willing to give them over to Him?  What can He do with your life once you do?

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Walk and Talk

Published on July 14, 2008 by Ryan Suzuki

    Like many of you, I’ve been trying to figure out how to put our Year of Prayer into practice every day.  I always thought that I prayed a lot, but this whole prayer focus thing has made me realize that I don’t do it nearly enough.  It seemed to me that my main problem was that I didn’t pray for others enough.  My prayers seemed to always focus on me and only on me and I felt convicted about that.  Over the last few months, I’ve tried to include more and more prayers about people who weren’t me.  I prayed for 20/20 students, for my family, for the lost, for missionaries, and many others.  Doing this has expanded the scope of my prayers and has also helped me think of others more in all areas of my life, not just in prayer.

Another aspect of my prayer life that I found lacking, was that I had no system for recording how God had answered my prayers.  I knew that He was working in my life and answering my prayers, but if you asked me, I could never give you an example.  So I started taking walks in the morning where I would bring my prayers before God and keep them in a little journal.  Every request that would come to mind, I would write down in the journal and pray about it as I walked.  As God answered them, I would write it down, and keep a record of all the amazing things that God was doing.  Let me tell you, praying for others and remembering how He answers prayers has changed my life.  It makes me excited about my time talking to God and it shows me again and again how much He is working through my prayers.  

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One of Those Days

Published on July 07, 2008 by Danny Strange

Have your ever heard someone say, “It was just one of those days?” I bet you have. Usually the person uttering this phrase has just recounted a series of insane events to you, like “This afternoon, after crashing my car, I was hit by a bicyclist while walking to the store. It was just one of those days.”

Based on this phrase, all of life can be put into one of two categories, (1) normal days and (2) those days. “Those days” are a special section of life where everything seems to be going wrong, like in Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

Wednesday was one of those days.

Life was so hectic for me on Wednesday that I started feeling very strongly that all I needed was to escape reality for an hour or two and spend some time with God. I made this decision at two o’clock in the afternoon and then spent the next two hours trying to get out the door with my Bible. As I finally found a way to sneak out of my office and head towards my car, the power went out.

Un-phased by the lack of electricity, I started my engine and headed down the Boulevard, looking to duck into the nearest Starbucks. I passed the café at the bottom of the hill and saw that they were closing down their bar due to the power outage. I decided instead to head towards the Village, resolved to hang out in Starbucks even if they couldn’t make me any drinks. When I got to the door, it was locked, adorned with a hand-written sign, “Closed due to lack of power.”

I jumped back into my car and drove towards Hayward. I was certain that even if the Boulevard’s power was gone, life would be different on the other side of the freeway. I was right! The streetlights began working again just as I drove under 580. Pleased with my ingenuity, I checked to make sure every building’s power was on as I turned left on Grove Way. Trader Joe’s—check! First Presbyterian—check! Rent-a-Space—check! McDonald’s—check! I made the U-Turn at Center Street and drove into the Starbucks parking lot, excited to finally escape reality into the text of Scripture.

It turns out that the only building on the west side of the freeway affected by the recent power outage was the Grove & Center Starbucks. Defeated again! Fed up, I drove deeper into Hayward, hoping to find solace on Foothill Blvd.

At this point, you may be asking yourself, “If he needed to get away so bad, why does he keep looking for Starbucks? Why couldn’t Danny just head to Lake Chabot and hang out outside for a while?” Good question. For the answer, you have to remember that Wednesday was one of those days. Due to this fact, it was about 100 degrees outside, which meant that (a) I needed an air-conditioned place to hang out and (b) I was hot, sweaty, and frustrated as I drove from Starbucks to Starbucks.

I pulled into the Foothill Starbucks hot, sweaty, and frustrated, and was pleased as punch when I was met at the unlocked door with a blast of refreshing, cold air. I ordered my drink, sat down at the counter, and opened my Bible, ready to learn.
Just then, two pre-teen boys emerged from the back of Starbucks and proceeded to drive me to the brink of insanity. During the 20 minutes that I sat and attempted to read, they screamed at each other, threw chairs around the store, wrestled at my feet, and bounced pennies at the wall next to my head. Once I realized that they were related to the barista and were leaving no time soon, I packed up my stuff and headed back to the church, finally defeated.

Pulling into the church parking lot, I saw that the power was still out (even though the rest of Castro Valley was back on). At this point, I made a decision in my mind to give up. I let go of my plans for the day, my plans for Omega, my plans for life, and submitted to God’s time schedule. I quickly became convinced that Omega would be very interesting that night, because God was obviously up to something.

For me as a Christian, there is something very freeing about being at wit’s end. When one of those days comes around and everything starts falling apart, it eventually becomes apparent that God was the only One holding everything together in the first place. Once I submit those days to God and His plans, everything falls back into perspective.

As seven o’clock rolled around and people started showing up for Omega, Neighborhood Church remained in the dark. I didn’t care. I hung out with students, talked about life, and decided to “go with the flow.” The amazing conversations that I had on Wednesday would have never happened if the power had been on and we started Omega “on time.”

As I stepped onto the stage to announce that our regular program and post-Omega movie night would be cancelled due to lack of electricity, the power came back. Honestly, why was I surprised? It was just one of those days.

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