…"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."…
New Beginnings
For those who are parents, do you remember the moment your child was born? Or those who graduated from college or high school taking your next step in life? Or those who are Christians and met Jesus for the first time?
These kairos times are new beginnings that altered your life, whether big or small. There were multiple decisions made in the process and risks that were involved all along the way. These last few months have been major kairos moments for me… Here are a few highlights:
Here is my new baby niece!
(Aren't Asian babies the cutest?) 🙂 All she really does is sleep, eat, sleep, poop, sleep and look cute in her sleep. It reminds me of how God calls us to rest and the importance of it…
Rest and Abiding in God
Here are some of my learnings on rest (with some help from other wise people):
1) In the American culture, we rest from work; yet, God intended us to work from rest. In the book of Genesis, God had created man on the sixth day and on the seventh day, He rested… that's actually man's FIRST day.
2) In John 15:1-17, Jesus talks about how we are the branches and He is the vine. In order to bear much fruit, we must remain in Him and He in us (in other translation the word "abide" is used). If you ever walk along a well maintained grape vineyard, you can notice that in order to get the best grapes, the branches must have been pruned extensively to truly abide with the vine. Only then with much abiding and resting in God, we can bear much fruit.
3) Sabbath is important. Yea, you can read what Jesus said about the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-28) or one of the ten commandments (Deuteronomy 5:12-15). When you put it into practice for real, you'll understand why.
So some of you may be wondering what I have been doing since I had left the company I had worked at to pursue this new beginning of working in international missions/humanitarian aid (and put a hold on my career, for a bit at least). Though I have been doing a whole bunch of random stuff – both adventurous and some just plain random (perhaps, I'll share more in another blog) – I will admit that it has been a good time of rest for me.
It was tough leaving my job and career (I mean, come on! who wouldn't love aircraft engines?), along with job/financial security and deep friendships. But God has called and soon will be a new beginning… World Race.
This time of rest was quite unsettling for me at first, but I can see the difficult work I will be doing and the fruit that will be produced (more on expectations at another blog)?… for now, God is preparing in me and I am abiding in Him during this time of rest. And I'll say… it's quite nice. 🙂
Encouragement
So I want to write these blogs not only to share about what's going on in my life, but also as an encouragement or challenge to you.
– Do you long for a new beginning? What decisions do you have to make along the way? Are you ready to take those tough risks?
– Is rest not in your vocabulary these days? Do you take pride in "being busy"? Where are some areas where you can let go off or there's too many distractions?
– Be honest, is your rest a good rest (i.e. abiding in God) or a bad rest (i.e. laziness/procrastination)? It can be in different forms for different people. Are there any adjustments you may need to make (i.e. feeling guilty about getting rest or removing procrastination)?
Final Stuff
Yay! My first post! I hope you enjoyed it and feel free to contact me and give me ideas of what to write, any comments, etc. I want to hear from you! 🙂
Lolita
Disclaimer: First, I apologize for apologizing. I need to write a disclaimer just to lay it all out there and might as well with my first post. Second, I do not like writing blogs, let alone writing in general (says the person who used to work for the newspaper). It really is difficult for me since I think I'm generally a private person and this practically opens up my heart… to the public… on the internet! (Oye! Ek!) So I hope you extend some grace to me. Third, I would also like to apologize to my English majored friends… please do not deduct points for poor grammar (remember, English is not my first language and majored in ENG = English no good… engineering for those who were wondering). Fourth, I'm sorry if there is a lot of "Christian jargon." I know not everyone who reads this is a Christian or even if they are, may not agree with things I say. Either way, I won't be offended or anything if there are comments or questions. I'm sure I'll have more disclaimers along the way (like non-professional photography or not even near a decent videographer), but I am always open to constructive criticism.
