Happy Father’s Day from Calvin and Hobbes!

Fathers, contrary to popular belief, we actually do listen to the things you say=)!
There’s a story about my father that I will never forget – a story of his character and actions that speak to me about life and ministry.  This story was told to me in a leadership group by our previous senior pastor.  Many years ago when my father was an oikos leader, he and a leader in training were sitting under a seminar/teaching from our then senior pastor.  The topic was on care ministry and the role of the oikos leader and subjects as love, compassion, leadership structure were all being spoken on.  There came a point in the seminar, where the senior pastor wanted to use his life as a personal example and how the people sitting under his teaching can relate to him.  So he asked a simple question, “who is your pastor?”  Thinking that all would point to him, since he was the pastor, there was a brief moment of silence, and with a quiet but confident voice the leader in training pointed to my father and said, “he is my pastor and mentor.”  When I heard the story, I couldn’t help but beam with pride.  You see, my father is not a pastor by title.  In scripture, Paul talks repeatedly about gifts given to people from the Lord to admonish, encourage, and challenge the church.  Often times the role or gifts of “pastor” and “shepherd” are limited to that of the elders or capital “P” pastors of the church.  My father never told me this story, but what he taught me was that compassion, love, and care for the flock that the Lord (and no one else!) has placed under you is a serious responsibility and calling.  He showed me that though he was “only” an oikos leader by title, he went the extra mile to love and care for his people as any Pastor or Elder would and should. 
Friends, Jesus gave a new commandment (singular!) to his disciples during the last meal He would have with them – love God and love others.  He said do this simultaneously, not one after the other.  Fathers and future fathers, the greatest gift you can give to your children, wife, the people around you, the flock God has placed before you, is to love and care for them as Jesus loved and cared for us.  We look to you to lead but more than that, we look to you to love as Christ loved the church.  As Paul prayed over the church in Ephesus, I leave you with this prayer:
 “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
God bless you and keep you.  Amen.

From Pastor Keeyoung’s Heart
June 15, 2014

As many of you know, my family recently moved to a new place. The whole process of searching and moving into our new home has been a true testimony of how God provided and orchestrated everything so perfectly. My wife and I are filled with so much gratitude and awe of how God brought different people to help and support throughout the process. It was stressful at times not knowing where we were going to end up, but it certainly has been an amazing time of growth in our faith as well. Thank you for those who have been praying with us! 
We’ve been living with my parents and my sister for the last couple years but my wife and I decided that it was time for us to move out and have a new start to our family. We went from being a just married couple to having two more additions to the family in our previous house over the last 7 years that we lived there. Now that the kids have grown up, the house was getting a little too small for all of us to live together. There are so many good memories that our family will continue to cherish for the rest of our lives. Ryan is actually a little confused now that he’s sleeping at our new house at night and being watched by grandma during the day at our old house. I ask him every morning on our way to the grandparents’ house whether he knows where we are going, and Ryan just says “home!” Isn’t he adorable?! Other than Ryan, everyone else is enjoying the changes we are going through. My parents are very excited about their “new start” on their own. My sister will be moving out and starting her own family in a couple of months. And my older brother’s family is coming back to the States and is expecting a daughter to be born in July. It’s going to be a crazy summer with so many big family events.
Talking about craziness, our house has never been so messy since we got married. My wife always kept the house very clean (thanks to her OCD tendency) and nicely organized (yes, even with the kids). But now that we have just moved and have boxes everywhere, the house is a mess. We’ve got the rooms pretty much sorted out but the main living room area still needs to be painted and organized. Until a couple days ago, my kids were using one of the boxes as their table for their meals. And to add to the craziness, we actually had the gas and electricity service terminated because we forgot to call the utility companies to start the service when we moved in. You can probably imagine how crazy not having gas and electricity must have been with everything else that we had to take care of. Now that everything is back on track, we are slowly catching up on our laundry, cleaning and unpacking.
One thing I am NOT looking forward to is taking care of the house. I never had to worry about fixing and taking care of things around the house because I had my father, a handy man, who always took care of everything. And it worries me that now I am the one to fulfill that need. In fact, it took me a long time to install curtain rods for the kids’ rooms the other day. It’s not that I can’t get the job done; it’s just that having tools in my hand just doesn’t feel right quite yet. Please pray for me that I will overcome this fear of mine and become a handy man. Maybe I need to start watching more “Bob the Builder” or “Handy Manny” with the kids?! =)

From Pastor Brian’s Heart
June 8, 2014