A wise, modern-day philosopher once said in a song “thirty is the new twenty”.  I’ve heard people say that our age is like wine, the older we get the “finer” we are.  I turned thirty a week ago and I hate these two statements.  Thirty is the new twenty?  Really?  I get tired, cold, angry, and gain weight a lot quicker now than a decade ago.  Fine wine?  Mm well, I have more wrinkles, white hairs, creaky bones, and more injury prone than I was a decade ago.  Wrong again.  All things point to the fact that things become worse as you age.  But at the end of the day, I am not depressed or hopeless, I promise!  In fact, despite the physical decay of my body, on my 30th birthday, there was an extra skip to my spiritual step and hopeful expectation as I thought of the near and far future.  Here is why.
A few months approaching my third decade of life, I found myself incredibly introspective.  I began to analyze (probably over-analyze) everything about me.  Self-awareness has always been my strength.  Ask my friends, I’d be the first to admit my weaknesses.  But something about this birthday made me delve even further to me studying me.  At first, it was admittedly depressing.  For the first time in a while, I could FEEL my age.  I also recalled my hopes/dreams as an 18 year old and realized that more than half the things I wanted to accomplish were still on my to-do list.   But one moment, or weekend, changed everything.
Last weekend, a few guys and I took a weekend trip to New York to celebrate my birthday.  During a dinner, eight of us sat around a table at a traditional Italian restaurant in West Village and caught up on married life (or lack thereof), sports, and everything in between.  As the appetizers were placed on our table, we asked the eldest of the table to bless the meal.  As he prayed, tears began to well in my eyes as I looked at the faces of the men around me.  These were my brothers, life-long friends whom I could call upon at any moment in times of need (as long as their kids were not sick or wives not angry with them=D).  These brothers would pray for me, speak truth in love, laugh, cry, be couch potatoes…. anything with me.  What I experienced at that moment was overwhelming gratitude and I knew it was the Holy Spirit.  What became tangibly real at that moment is something that I often talk and preach about; it’s all about relationships.  It really is, isn’t it?  I believe with my whole heart that God gave us brothers and sisters in Christ, wives, husbands, children, friends, co-workers, whatever relationship you have in your life, to point to a God who is always with us and will never leave us nor forsake us.  Sitting around that table, it didn’t matter how old I was or what I’ve accomplished in life.  It was a gentle-whisper reminder that my Father in heaven always has my back.  If these sinful man can lead me to this conclusion, how much more the promise of a perfect God to be with you and who will never fail.  I pray that you have people in your life that lead you to higher, wider, and deeper praise to the Lord who is worthy of it all.
It was an amazing time that filled me with joy and hope.  Just if you were wondering, I didn’t cry nor do I ever because I’m a thirty-year-old man.  Now stop reading and pay attention to my sermon.

From Pastor Keeyoung’s Heart
October 11, 2015

The news about the Kentucky county clerk who, despite the recent landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling permitting gay marriage,  refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples has garnered much attention across the entire political and religious spectrum.  I normally prefer to avoid the political/religious rhetoric but my Bible reading of 1 Peter this week touched upon this very topic of Christians submitting to every authority instituted among men whether king or governor, so I felt it was more than just coincidence. There is an important distinction between one’s personal religious beliefs and our government. The county clerk in Kentucky held fast to her deep Christian conviction against gay marriage despite being held in contempt of court for defying a federal court order to comply with the law of the land. She chose to go to jail rather than betray her conscience and she was praised in many Christian circles as a hero because of it (this Protestant even had a private meeting with the Pope last week!). For that she may very well be in good standing before God on that big Judgment Day. But from a legal standpoint her actions were misguided to have crossed over from the personal into the public political arena.
She has absolutely every right to her personal religious beliefs and the government cannot infringe upon that right whatsoever. However, as county clerk she took an oath of office to “ . . . faithfully execute the duties of my office without favor, affection or partiality so help me God.”And so therefore as a public servant she gave her word to follow the law of the land. If she no longer can do so her option is to resign from office rather than renege on her oath. There are many examples of public servants who forego their personal beliefs while serving in office. For example, capitol punishment is still carried out in some states despite the respective governors’ personal objection to death penalty laws. Indeed, the federal judge who ordered this county clerk to be jailed for defying his court order to issue marriage licenses  is apparently a devout Christian. But he even stated at her contempt hearing that his personal opinion is not relevant and to allow it to supersede his judicial authority would set a dangerous precedent.
Similarly, all of the U.S. Supreme Court members who rendered the gay marriage decision are either Christian or Jewish. My point about this is that Christians are constitutionally protected from government infringing upon their right to worship Christ Jesus and conversely they need not attempt to implement their freedom of religion within government with such short-sighted methods. I’m not sure what this county clerk thought she hoped to achieve ignoring proper channels and acting outside of the law. She certainly drew a lot of attention to herself but she won’t have succeeded in overturning the U.S. Supreme Court decision. No one would’ve imagined gay marriage even five or ten years ago and yet here we are in a secular world that not even the framers of our constitution would ever have contemplated. But personally I’m not threatened by a society and government or a hostile world in general no matter how turned around it appears.  No contemporary trending social mores will ever cause me to feel otherwise. Isn’t this what we’re warned about in Scripture to begin with?

From Pastor Mark’s Heart
October 4, 2015