Ryan finally turned three and my wife and I are looking forward to sending him to FCS soon. However, things are not going as planned because Ryan is not yet fully potty trained. It feels like we have been trying for the entire year to get him to be ready for school. Maybe we had it too easy with Reina that we never saw this coming. I don’t know if any parents pray for their kids to be potty trained, but it’s certainly on the very top of our list. We have tried many different approaches and methods to make the whole process less stressful for Ryan but it has been a stressful time for everyone in our household. I even bought him his favorite Thomas train toilet, which helped so many other boys, but is now being used as a stool in the bathroom.
I actually went into the FCS office this morning to ask some questions and ended up asking the office staff to pray for Ryan to be potty trained before summer school starts. Mrs. May jokingly asked me whether it would be harder to evangelize to Ryan or to have him be potty trained. I replied without any hesitation, both will be about equally hard…but I feel like potty training will be harder. I know I should be more optimistic and have faith that God will bring about a good result but it’s not so easy. It’s funny how I have so much faith in bigger things in life and can’t trust God for such little thing.
Honestly, I have no idea how God is going to answer our prayer. My wife and I have our fingers crossed hoping that something will click in Ryan’s mind and be potty trained miraculously. I never imagined that I would consider potty training a “miracle.” I guess miracles do happen in and around us all the time since we all are potty trained, lol! I’m sure God wants us to learn to deal with both positive and negative outcomes. Maybe there are no positive or negative outcomes since God makes all things work for good for those who love Him. Whatever the outcome, I need to learn to accept and consider it joy. 
One of the hardest parts of this process was figuring out how to respond to Ryan’s mistakes. At times, I showed my patience and on different occasions I tried to teach him a lesson by giving him time outs and punishments. Sometimes, I feel as if he is looking to see how I will react to his mistakes. He makes me wonder whether I have what it takes to be a good parent. God is definitely using Ryan to humble me and to teach me godly wisdom and endurance. This may just be the beginning of years of stress and agony that I will have to endure as I raise up the kids but I am excited for the challenges that lie ahead. Please pray for me and don’t forget to pray for Ryan that he would be potty trained by mid-June so he can attend summer school. 

From Pastor Brian’s Heart
May 4, 2014

The tragedy of the South Korean ferry disaster has gripped the hearts of many people ever since the news broke out.  This tragedy seems especially painful because more than two-thirds of the passengers were high school students on a field trip to the island of Jeju.   What was supposed to be an once-in-a-lifetime trip for the 300+ students turned out to be a nightmare.  The ferry became a mass grave as so many students were trapped inside.  At the time of this writing, the death toll has reached more than 150, and what was once a search and rescue operation has officially turned into a recovery mission.  My heart broke when I read one article about the divers finding many students with broken fingers because they were trying so desperately to escape. 
Though I did not faithfully follow the news, I’ve heard enough through many articles shared via various social-networking services. There is a lot of anger and frustration lashed out, and rightfully so, against the utterly irresponsible and incompetent captain and his crew who abandoned the ship, against the shipping company that neglected its crew’s training for emergency evacuation procedures, and against government authorities that do not take public safety seriously.  Everyone has an opinion as to who or what is to blame for this heart-wrenching disaster.   It is in our nature to want to punish the bad guys quickly and move on with our lives.    Yes, we must talk about what went wrong so this kind of tragedy will never reoccur, but I feel like that task should be left to the experts, and that takes time and patience. 
I couldn’t help but ask myself, “what if I were one of the parents whose child was trapped inside?” How would I have responded?  Fast and pray?  Declare in the name of Jesus that God will miraculously save my child?  Protest in anger what kind of a loving God would let such a wicked thing to happen to innocent children?”   Probably a combination of all of these...that’s why I was so moved and challenged when I read a prayer titled “But even if He does not,” by the father of one of the students, then still missing:
“I’d be thankful if my son, Jung Min, returns home just as Jonah repented inside the fish and came out. But even if not, I am grateful that my beloved son has salvation, that he is a child of God.  Through this incident, I pray that all God’s people confess that God is sovereign over the life and death, blessings and curses of all things. I pray that we realize we are not permanent residents, but travelers passing through this short life. While we still have breath, we should live as witnesses of Christ.  Thank you all for praying for us.”
His prayer reminded me of Daniel’s three friends in the Bible, who declared, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it… But even if He does not, we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold. . .”  Now that’s genuine faith – an unshakeable confidence and assurance in God’s goodness, sovereignty, authority, and justice no matter what the outcome may be. Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith, it’s impossible to please God.”  I believe the faith of Jung Min’s father is indeed pleasing to God.   We often proclaim “God is good all the time!  All the time God is good!”  But the real test of our faith - whether our faith is in God, the Giver, or in His gifts - comes through tragic times this.  When we face various kinds of trials that shake our faith to the core, I pray we remain anchored in the love of God the Father.  He did not lose His Son to a freak accident, but willed and carried out Jesus’ cruel execution for our salvation.  “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8:38-39)

From Pastor Sara’s Heart
April 27, 2014