In his devotional, Victorious Living, E. Stanley Jones quotes the words of someone who said that in the field of music, “pauses are music in the making.” We know that songs have pauses; we can’t sing from beginning to end without pauses. But pauses are not only for us to take a breath; it is [...

These past several weeks have been difficult for us as a church. We have lost three dear members: Tante Gwie, Tante Agnes, and Tante Daisy. We know that they are now in their True Home, but we still miss them. You see, death is always personal because each person is always somebody’s mother or fat...

One day a young football coach came to visit John Wooden, UCLA’s basketball coach, whose team won 10 national championships in a 12-year period. Seeing his downcast face, Coach Wooden asked him, what’s troubling him. This young coach, then, shared that he had just lost two of his good players to...

One of the men that God has used to bless me through their books is Bill Johnson, pastor of Bethel Church, Redding.  You may not know him, but you may have sung songs that came out of Bethel Music, one of them is Goodness of God.  Bill just lost his beloved wife, Beni, co-pastor of […]...

A seminary student once asked Eugene Peterson what he liked best about being a pastor.  He replied, “The mess.”  Personally, I would use the word, “The unpredictability.” We will never know what will happen tomorrow.  Somebody, who is healthy today, may get sick tomorrow and s...

Being reduced to a smaller scale—especially to nothing— is not easy to adjust and to accept.  When I asked a friend in ministry who is now retired how he was doing, he thought for a moment before giving me his answer, “I keep reminding myself that I am retired.”  I knew what he mea...

The other day when I went to the mortuary in New Hall to make arrangement for Tante Agnes’ funeral, I was reminded of how far it is from Monrovia to Santa Clarita, where Tante Agnes used to reside in—almost an hour-drive! I thought about her consistency—she was never late in showing up early f...

On Monday morning Our Lord Jesus came and took Tante Agnes home.  And on Thursday in the wee morning hour, He also came to take Tante Gwie, beloved wife of Oom Kiat, home.  In the words of Paul, in 2 Timothy 4:7-8, they both have fought the good fight; both have finished the race, and [&he...

“God’s time is not our time.”  That is what one of you reminded me of upon finding out that our latest test results were still positive. Thank you, Brother! Yes, God’s time is not our time. We thought we would recover from Covid infection in a week, but we are now in our third week. [&h...

I wonder what I would be thinking about when I, if God’s willing, turn 90! Perhaps I’d be thinking about how grateful I am for the life God has given me and how I look forward to finishing it well.  The last thing in my mind would be about starting another project.  I’d simply be [&h...