REVIVAL LOOMS

After a few jogging laps around the mall, I returned home with a weird drive to pray for my Church, revival particularly. The whole time I was jogging all I could think of was why for some reason, GCF is experiencing what may be described as a dry spell. While membership and giving are strangely increasing, worship attendance has been decreasing. It is, however, important to note that not only GCF is experiencing such but many churches in our area. Worship halls that used to teem with attendees are seeing more empty chairs Sunday after Sunday in the last several months. I was just jogging earlier with two guys from two other megachurches in our city who said they too are having a dry spell.

And so, I felt an invitation to lay flat on my face and pray. Just as I did my cell beeped with a text message from a pastor asking that I email him a document. I did so before praying. Just as I was about to sign out, I saw this quote in my one open email:

“If revival is being withheld from us it is because some idol remains still enthroned; because we still insist in placing our reliance in human schemes; because we still refuse to face

the unchangeable truth that “It is not by might, but by My Spirit.”

- Jonathan Goforth (1859–1936),

the first Canadian Presbyterian missionary to China

It came just in time when I was about to pray.

The alarming drop in attendance in many churches, not just in ours is a result of the increasing loss of spirituality among Christians and more importantly, the leaders of the church. Couple that with the pride in our hearts as churches that have grown so big and financially rich! We have become self-reliant. We have become complacent. We have become comfortable inside our large, cool, high-tech worship centers and pre-occupied with much programs. We have become more concerned with the breadth of our ministries over the depth of our spirituality.

Self-sufficiency is one of the greatest hindrances to spirituality and revival, because we would never have really understood the limitations of our own powers and subsequently how to truly and for real rely on a power much greater than our own. And we must be profoundly grateful and utterly changed as a result. Let's face it, we dabbled in the outer rings of faith-- most of the time, relying on our own strength to accomplish thing. But God breaks us so we might know what it means to die in order to live. The heart of the Christian message transformed from a flat two dimensions into three, or maybe even four.

What I can tell you is that at some point along the way something will happen, something we don’t expect, something that would come at us sideways from out of nowhere– and we have the choice to make about whether or not to let go and fall into the arms of God.

E. M. Bounds wrote, "Revivals are among the charter rights of the Church . . . A revival means a heartbroken pastor. A revival means a church on its knees confessing its sins - the sins of the individual and of the Church - confessing the sins of the times and of the community."

Jesus asserts, “Whoever serves me must follow me and where I am, there will my servant be also…When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself…”

And the mystery looms large and the mystery sounds like thunder, sometimes rattling and resonating our cellular membranes, the essence of our material and spiritual selves. Though we hadn’t thought of it like this before, its almost as if the seed is being put on alert that the time is near for its transformation. Time for the life God has intended for us all along. And if we listen, the voice says, “Watch Jesus. Listen to what he says. Let him move and see what can happen.."

This afternoon at our Pastoral Staff Meeting, each one in the staff has been having that same urge to pray for revival. At the end of our meeting, there was a palpable sense of wanting to pray! I'm not alone in my desire to see genuine spiritual revival take place. But like any other revivals, it must begin with individuals who are willing to be see God for Who He is and be smashed to pieces in order that God could reform us! Revival looms. We are all expectant!

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Readings:

• Revival & Awakening, http://www.liftupusa.com/revival.html
• Stephen Bauman, The Heart of the Gospel, Christ Church New York City, 032909
• Awake and Go, www.watchoword.org

EARTH HOUR AND STEWARDSHIP

The Earth surface is getting warmer, so scientists say. The Ozone layer is thinning substantially-- it has been since the beginning of the Industrial Era when people discovered the use of fossil fuel to speed up everything, apparently! Now, my generation as well as the future ones are reaping the consequences. Despite our efforts to make ourselves and everything we use environment-friendly there seems to be little change.

This afternoon, upon returning from a speaking engagement, I dropped by the mall to get a light bulb for my study desk lamp at home. I went straight to the "Lights" section and found a bunch of cheap incandescent bulbs -- 13.00 Pesos each (a little more than 25 cents [US]), as I picked up one, a sales clerk approached me and said, "Sir, if you want to be more earth-friendly, buy one of these (pointing to a stack of Compact Flourescent Lamps at 135.00 Pesos each, just a little less than US$3)."

I want to be earth-friendly in my own way so I said, "Sure, I want to be earth-friendly. Please give me one of those." But I honestly couldn't help but state, "Miss, not to be rude, but if this store wants people to be earth-friendly then you should stop selling stuff that aren't." Good thing the Lord has allowed me to be able to afford a $3 light bulb for my desk lamp. But how about those who can't, which by the way outnumber my kind who can? They're stuck with using cheaper light bulbs which aren't energy-saving nor earth-friendly. I know a good number of folks who would not buy a 135.00-peso light bulb if they had a choice to bet something 90% cheaper!

Tonight, I joined the EARTH HOUR-- turned off all lights in my apartment- which reminded me of the Earth Day Energy Fast back in high school and college. Earth Day Energy Fast was folded in 2007 since the campaign's founder claimed it was "too late" for such a campaign to have meaningful impact.

Photos of the same area, but different angles and times-

above is the city observing Earth Hour. Quite cool!

Earth Hour is branded as tokenism in that it really wouldn't help the Earth any more that a using a worn out rubber shoes once a week so it won't wear out faster! But I see it as more than that. It is to create greater awareness that could lead humanity to "save" the earth by using other nature to generate electrity.

But what can we do, really? For Bible-believing Christians, we tend to be less concerned about the earth since the earth is going to be eventually destroyed by fire in the end anyway. Revelation 20:9 says, "...and the first earth had passed away." In another passage,(2 Peter 3:10) reads, "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up." But let's face it, beginning at the fall the earth began to rot. But it does not change the fact that we are still stewards of the earth.

In Genesis, God made Adam, together with his wife, a steward of the Garden. We find in Scripture that he did, even after the fall. I find this a simple, beautiful, and powerful image. Trusting ourselves, or trusting God. Pretty basic, I know. But then, as I often say, we often lose track of the basics, even those of us who have hung around on this earth longer. And yet, where else in our culture, where else in our daily and mundane affairs would this sort of wisdom be routinely accessed and affirmed? Do you hear that at work? On the street? In the media? At school? At Church?

The earth will pass away, but our role is NOT to hasten its passing but to be stewards of it as long as the Lord tarries His return!

UNSHAKEN, BUT MOVING.

This evening following Vespers I was approached in the lobby by a seven-year-old girl on her new pink kick scooter, she stopped right in front of me, waved and said "Hi, Pastor Jon!" while her dad, whose brother Rico was a famous matinee idol, walked up to me and said, "She'll be grade one when school starts in June...I can't believe how swift time flies!" "Oh yeah," I said, "you see those teens over there? They were your daughter's age when I first came to GCF."

I've been with GCF for nine years come May.

One of the things I most enjoy about my work at GCF, although I'm not directly involved in it, is our ministry to children. I love watching them grow up and see the church partnering with parents to provide programming that ensures their continual journey in faith. I see it as a great opportunity to lay a foundation upon which they can build their entire lives while we build a new generation of Christians who will continue the work we have begun wherever they find themselves in the world.

They remind me of my own spiritual roots where the earliest seeds of my Christian faith were planted. Like them, Sunday worship and Sunday School were regular and integral parts of my family life. It was there that I learned Bible stories and simple prayers and sang in the children’s choir. While my faith grew that way, I know that for others, you came to faith out of curiosity, some nudging or longing for truth and deeper meaning to life. God uses both. Others came out of necessity; following some tragedy like an illness or personal devastation. My guess is that our reasons and our longing for God are as varied as our individual personalities and needs. Some have been on the journey for a long time; others are just getting started. Either which way, you just found yourself yearning for the holy-- that's grace at work.

As I think about Christianity in light spiritual growth, the question I always ask is: How do we continue the process of maturing and advancing persons on their spiritual journey?

I think at the heart of it, spiritual growth has to do with one’s capacity to love him or her self in a way that inspires constant renewal and personal transformation coming to fruition by evident love for others as we love our selves all of which find their beginnings with the love and grace of God.

It also begs theese question for each of us:

What am I doing to nurture my soul? What am I reading? How am I praying; and what am I doing for self-care? Who am I listening to and where am I drawing strength? How am I being challenged to think, act, and be in a new way? Where is the tension? With whom am I sharing my story? How and where am I being useful within the entire kingdom?

Faith is not stagnant but ever moving and we are ever being stretched. What we try to do in the ministry of spiritual growth is provide opportunities for learning and transformation.

An appetite for spiritual growth is a mark of our commitment to one another so that the body can be built up so that we as a community can be God’s presence in the world. And sometimes this is the hard part. Sometimes it is easier to go off and help others than to do the inner work of one’s own self-reflection and personal engagement. It is difficult but it is necessary.

"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but id did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell and great was its fall!”

I realized that our church has become so comfortable in our new ministry center since it was inaugurated in 2006. While we do have programs that encourage individual growth, we have grown accustomed to growth being program-based. Discipleship has become a program, which shouldn't be, so has Children's education. Even worship and preaching have become somewhat programmatic. While the church calendar is filled with activities, we have reached a point of lull. The church has to rise just as Paul called, "O sleepers, awake!"

The Church must not be lulled into a sense of complacency at this point in her life. The church is a community of individuals who must stop warming pews. It is time to move. Now is the time go deeper and wider; to remember how we got here in the first place. What it was that drew us to commit our lives to God in the first place? Instead of thinking about what cannot be done; now is the time to be thinking about what can be done because of all that we have heard. And all that we have seen. And all that we know for sure. Now is the time to live out the power of our new identity and life, even as we remember the legacy upon which we stand.

We will do many wonderful things. Lives will be transformed as we are being transformed. There may be times when we as a congregation may be shaken by doubt and fear; differences of opinion and sheer fatigue. Attendance may decline or decline anytime, people's faith may be battered, storms will come. But those will be the times we need to remember that we are building a house on Rock.

Readings:

- Gilliard, Cathy, Vision 2020 Christ Church NYC 060108

- Evans, Tony, The Wise and the Fool, sermon preached at GCF April 21, 2008

THE LEGENDS OF THE FALL

It's not very often when I get to spend an entire day at home that's why I looked forward to today when my calendar doesn't have anything written on it for this day. I resolved to do a DVD marathon-- well, four movies in all, with time to reflect on every one of it. My final movie for the day- The Legends of the Fall.

It brought back memories.

I remember being told I was too young to watch the film The Legends of the Fall, a film that got an R rating in 1994. I hardly understood what the reasons why I couldn't watch it. I was sixteen as I watched my brother and his friends go into the theater where it played while I had to go with a classmate to watch Santa Clause!

Three months after I turned 18, I rented a VCD with a mixed group of friends! Following a time preparing for a report on Religion and Culture for Prof. Alcazar's Sociology 101 class we finally saw the flick for the very first time. With a bowl of microwave popcorn on my lap and a can of Coke on a coaster on a carpet, I sat on the floor intently watching, never wanting for any scene to pass me by.

As I watched, I found myself deciding on a few childish-sounding things: First, having the resolve to grow my hair like Brad Pitt's- coming from a tradition where men are discouraged to grow their hair too long, I felt like I was chucking tradition altogether- which I really wasn't, I just wanted to grow my hair! Second, I wanted to learn how to ride a horse. Third, I ambitioned owning a ranch in Alberta, Canada (where the movie was filmed) where I will have a nice brick and wood house built and on which I may be able to ride my horse around.

Over dinner following the almost two-and-a-half-hour movie, one classmate asked what fall meant in the movie when there was hardly a scene about the season. Immediately, I remembered the Biblical meaning of the word fall. That explanation led to a time of sharing the Gospel story that addresses the essential human condition. While the person who asked was interested, the others were not. I figured why.

It’s our natural human condition: fallenness. Theologicans call it depravity. The reasons some of my friends weren't interested is because, we, people in general, often really don’t want new information, especially new information that will force us to re-organize our understanding of how we are put together and our complexity in its less attractive aspects. Exploring our fallenness is a path not many want to take because it will definitely lead to a time to resolve whether to address the fallenness with God's solution or not.

At the least it would seem to include a willingness to become defenseless in God’s presence. To lay down the armor, lay down the self-righteousness, lay down our perceptions of how the world ought to be versus how it is, lay down our arrogance. After all, its only human arrogance that presumes we have any defenses in God’s presence anyway.

But now, here’s the remarkable thing: Jesus says this is the pathway to real life; the pathway to authentic love; even, the pathway to joy. It’s a paradox, I know. The point isn’t to wind up in a permanent state of gloomy self-preoccupation. The point is to find out how the world is really supposed to function, how each of us is supposed to function. The point is to clear away the debris so we can finally see what lies beneath, and in the finding discover our lives remade, restored, re-configured into something that is much closer to the original design specifications.

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Readings:

- Museum Wisdom, Rev. Stephen Bauman (CCNYC), March 26, 2006 NY

- The Legends of the Fall (wikipedia)

- What's So Amazing About Grace, Philip Yancey 1997, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI

THE "JOY" OF BEING ENGAGED

Like any other friend, I feel elated with the news that my good friend and pianist, Joy (who'd been a subject of a lot of my blog entries in the past) is now engaged! And like any "good friend" she never mentioned she got engaged last night. It wasn't until I logged into Facebook tonight that I learned about it!

After a couple of years of being her breathing room whenever she felt down or emo about her forever-like heartbreak; after many, many occurances of us being seen together almost everywhere together and mistaken as a dating couple, after lots of dinners, lunches and coffee; after dozens of out of town trips with our other friend, Lennie; after the many close-to-midnight, after-midnight, early morning phones calls I got from her whenever she went emo; after buckets of tears and lots of praying together-- and oh, did I mention the hundreds of times we were mistaken as a couple? Yeah, I did-- she's finally engaged to (snap...brainfart, what's his name?...oooh, sorry...I hate times like this one...oh yeah) Mark, the man she loves, and who loves her even more, I guess.

Mid last year, Lennie, Joy and I saw a chick flick-- they'd been good at twisting my arm to convince to me watch a number of such-- MAID OF HONOR that starred Patrick Dempsey where he played the role of a good male friend to a female friend he met in college who eventually asked him to be his MADE OF HONOR. I remember jokingly telling both Lennie and Joy that given our circumstance being the only male in our three-member inner circle, I should be MADE OF HONOR to them in their weddings! In turn, they could both be my BEST (WO)MEN!

Guess what, I called her prior to writing this blog entry-- I woke her up to congratulate her and to make sure she won't renege on that agreement! Haha!

At the height of her rather prolonged ordeal with heartbreak I'd told her to take small steps-- baby steps. Small incremental steps that would nevertheless point her in the right direction, point her "home," point her toward trusting God’s love. It took all three of us-- Lennie, Joy and me, taking those steps together.

While it is true that I had become quite busy to hang out with them nowadays, I still am taking those steps with them. The better thing now is that someone new has decided to walk along with Joy in a way I never can. Hopefully, soon, Lennie will be joined by someone as well, just as I will be walking alongside someone else...(maybe in Canada?!)

Congratulations, Joy and Mark!

LOSING TO WIN

Just a quick note before I go to "work" (I just have to let this out)!

This morning, following my quiet time in the book of Romans chapter 10- for which I see three different facets to one reality it poses- I went and took a brief visit to a rather unique part of World War 2 history-- actually, post World War 2.

Twenty-year-old Hiroo was called up to join the army. At the time, he was far from home working at a branch of a trading company in Wuhan, China. After passing his physical, Hiroo quit his job and returned to his home in Wakayama, Japan to join the Japanese army.

In the Japanese army, Hiroo was trained as an officer and was then chosen to be trained at an Imperial Army intelligence school. Hiroo was taught how to gather intelligence and how to conduct guerrilla warfare.

In 1944, Lt. Hiroo Onoda was sent by the Japanese army to the remote Philippine island of Lubang, Mindoro. His mission was to conduct guerrilla warfare during World War II. Unfortunately, he was never officially told the war had ended two years after he was sent; so for 29 years, Onoda continued to live in the jungle, ready for when his country would again need his services and information. Eating coconuts and bananas and deftly evading searching parties he believed were enemy scouts, Onoda hid in the jungle until he finally emerged from the dark recesses of the island on March 19, 1972.

The first facet-- Like Hiroo Onoda, a lot of people go through life believing the war goes on. He was never officially told that the war has ended. There are millions who have not heard of Christ's victory at the cross and so they live daily in fear and in the deep recesses of sin simply because they haven't been officially told that the war is over.

The second facet-- there are people who are supposed to officially tell about the story of victory but fail to do so. That's why Paul posed a challenge in verses 14 & 15- "How can they believe in someone they have not heard of, how can they hear unless someone tells them, how can they tell unless they are sent? It is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things." The idea behind the person with beautiful feet who brings the good news of good things is an ancient war "hero" who runs back into the city to proclaim among his fellow countrymen that the war is won. That is our role as Christians. We tell others that the war is over and we have won!

The last facet which isn't so explicit in the passage-- there are those who have learned that the war is over, and yet, they go to some Japanese straggler like Hiroo Onoda and surrender to a loser.

March 19 marks the final "surrender" of Hiroo Onoda. His surrender is an acceptance that Japan had lost the fight. And yet, his surrender gained him greater freedom.

In losing our lives in God, we don’t lose at all. We gain our true selves. Individually we become the person God sees and formed, no longer enslaved as the person we publicly project. Losing our lives in God frees us to shed pretense, to cast-off falsehood, to abandon bigotry rooted in our insecurity, and to break cycles of being and relating that no longer make sense. To the degree we succeed, losing our lesser selves enlarges our humanity. Do you see? Losing our lives in God is really gaining what God wanted for us in the first place – an authentic self.

The real challenge in all of this is learning to live authentically. It doesn’t seem to come easily. Since we’ve been so busy living another life instead of the one we were given to live, we have to learn anew how to make our way in the world, in our relationships, in our work, and in our faith.

LOVING EVIL?

Who was Fred Winters and why does he deserve getting a full blog entry from me?

This morning (Sunday) during the 8:15 worship service at his 1200-member church, First Baptist Church of Maryville, IL, Fred Winters, the well-loved pastor stood to preach when a 27-year-old gunman armed with a .45 calibre pistol burst into the church sanctuary and shot five times, three of which the pastor was able to deflect with his Bible shattering into the air like confetti, but his leather-bound Bible didn't work well as a shield, he stumbled and fell. The gunman's pistol jammed so he took a knife from his pocket and ran towards the platform but two members of the church tackled. Illinois Police is still trying to investigate the motive for the shooting.

Pastor Fred Winters died leaving behind a wife and two young daughters.

Some weeks ago, a gunman came and open fired in a Unitarian Church in Tennessee. While just last month I think, a man shot himself in front of the cross inside the world-renown Crystal Cathedral.

Evil seems to have made a bit of a comeback; into the common parlance of pundits discussing events like 9/11, the Oklahoma City bombing and the Columbine school massacre.

Through much of the 20th century, western culture tended towards a scientific hypothesis of human behavior, relying on biological, sociological and medical models to describe the human moral situation. But a few things have seemed to defy sterile scientific categories, like the holocaust, for instance. Evil could still be used in reference to that horror, but most other sorts of human fallenness were assigned to social or medical categories.

Do you believe in evil? is a question directed to me from time to time. My answer goes something like this: “Well, if by ‘believing in’ you mean, ‘believe it exists, that it is a something’, my answer is, yes.” It was C. S. Lewis, writing at the time of the Second World War, who said the first agenda of Satan is to convince us he does not exist. We demur about the personification of some sort of demonic essence, but the larger issue, that of the reality of evil, which was Lewis’ fundamental point, is actually not up for debate from the normative Christian perspective.

When Jesus began his public ministry he’s challenged by this noisy man who says, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?” Its an initiation of sorts; Jesus is set to contend with the world’s corrupting powers and principalities. Jesus will stand over and against all that opposes God’s graceful intentions. Love will be his counterintuitive means of engagement.

Friends, here’s what I’ve been thinking about this week. I want to be part of a church in which the family members are on a journey of discovering the real stakes in living moral, grace-filled lives. People who have made a sincere claim to work against the evil powers of this world, humbly starting with the content of their own lives. Loving the evil powers within and around with the strength of the Lord, and until it loses it power and control over myself and yours and change it by His grace.

We live in serious times that require a serious response from people who are yearning to grow up regardless of their age. I want to continue to evolve spiritually and personally, gaining in my capacity to stand firm with Christ confronting the powers and principalities aligned against life and love, powers that coercively work on my soul and blind my eyes from seeing the actual truth of my situation.

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Readings:

- Yahoonews

- CNN News

- Stephen Bauman, Deliver us from Evil, CCUMC-NYC

- M. Scott Peck, People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil, Simon and Schuster, 1983, p. 11.

THINGS CHANGE, SOME SHOULDN'T

A couple of years ago, D. James Kennedy, Senior Pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale died.

After a long and tedious search for a new Senior Pastor, a couple of weeks ago the church voted to call the Rev. Tullian Tchividjian (cha-vid-yan), the thirty-six-year-old grandson of famed evangelist, the Rev Billy Graham. Tchividjian initially did not want to leave his thriving 5-year-old 700-strong, New City Church and become pastor of 50-year-old Coral Ridge's 3000 members- which on its 80's heyday reached more than 10,000 members. But Coral Ridge wanted him so badly that it suggested the Gen-X pastor to look into a possible merger.

Tchividjian, preaching.

the Coral Ridge sanctuary which was dedicated in 1974 by the Rev. Billy Graham

Tchividjian's leadership now brings the two churches of different "worlds" to a time of confluence. Traditional/Contemporary, Ancient/Modern, old and new.

Tchividjian is cautious about discussing any changes he might make at the helm of Coral Ridge. However, he said the Coral Ridge leaders had asked him to bring the “vision” he instilled at New City Church, a vision of “revival and renewal for all of South Florida.” New City is also known for blending traditional beliefs with modern methods, mixing hymns and contemporary Christian songs.

The minister said he also values a collegial church culture, “where the elders, the staff and the deacons are all friends, not just fellow workers. They should all be pulling on the same side of the rope.”

Tchividjian said he shares Coral Ridge's longtime values of “passionate preaching” and “robust theological commitment.” But he added that his selection as pastor shows the larger, older church remains flexible.

This news now brings to mind a transition that's about to begin to bud! My church's Senior Pastor has been mentioning in his preaching since about three years ago that "the Lord willing" he will retire from his post as Senior Pastor of GCF in mid-2010. Between now and then, the Lord is preparing the man that will lead GCF to greater heights. When that man comes, things will change, yet there will always be things- mostly principles that should remain. Those principles are what keep the church the church.

The vision that has been set before is grand but that’s what visions are – they are always bigger than what our eyes can see or we can achieve on our own. The church will be a very different place in the years beyond. Some of us will be gone on for one reason or another. Others will be added. Babies will be born. Converts will be baptized. Staff will change. Life will happen.

The church will do many wonderful things through Christ's Spirit. Lives will be transformed as we are being transformed. There may be times when we as a congregation may be shaken by doubt and fear; differences of opinion and sheer fatigue. But those will be the times we need to remember that we are building a house on Rock.

On Christ the solid Rock we stand – all other ground is sinking sand.

BORN LOSER

Sometimes he opens the door for people every Sunday at the 9&11AM worship services. Sometimes he greets people at the foot of the escalator handing worship folders. He is a Swiss gentleman named, Markus Loser! When I first met him seven years ago, I nearly laughed at the sound of his last name, Loser! He comes to church with his family and some of his usher friends would say, "The Losers are here!"

I used to dislike my last name, Las since it does not make any sense. My classmates have better-sounding Spanish names like delos Reyes (of the kings), delos Santos (of the saints), delas Armas (of the weapons), etc. In addition to that, I grew up among missionaries families like the Bakers, the Merritts, the Wellses, the Hooges, the Lyons, the Schotts, and a more funny last name, the Kilpatricks. My dad used to say, "I'll be late for dinner, I'm going to Kilpatrick" and the whole family will burst into laughter! But my last name, even in Spanish does not make sense. Las as we know is the definite feminine article the in Spanish. So my name can be literally translated as Jonathan The. The what?

Family history has it that when my great, great grandfather of Chinese descent was asked to "buy" a name that would make him a Filipino citizen he bought the name las Armas from a trader of gunpowder and ammunition. He was a poor speller, he didn't know to write Armas so he got stuck with Las.

I have since college appreciated my name for its uniqueness-- feeling that I am the only boy in this world named Jonathan Las; until I found a couple of men on Facebook both named Jonathan Las-- one caucasian, the other black! At any rate, Las is still a unique surname. I always say, "I will never be first because I will always be Las."

Anyway, going back, I figured, it's better to be born a Las than be born a Loser. Then of course, who would forget the name of the late Archbishop of Manila, Jaime Cardinal Sin? Or one of the Philippines' great Senator whose legal name is Joker? My friend Heidi from Canada told me of a family in her home church, the Virgins. Sam, a friend from Pennsylvania knows a family named Hiney. And with that somewhat humorous play of words and names, I figured, in a more serious sense, the importance of one's name.

Over the weekend I watched the film, the Crucible.

John Proctor says: "...Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! ....How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!"

I'm actually reading through the Bible and now in the book of Numbers where some of the most difficult names to pronounce are found, and yet I couldn't help but think of how important these names are much less their amazing meanings. These are people, who in God's sovereignty, chosen for their names to appear in the Scriptures regardless of what they've done or who they were. This is something of astounding reality- the fact is, we will carry to eternity the name we have been given- upon which we have no choice. This means our lives are not the sum of all our choices, thank God. There are things in our lives that are beyond our choice or control.

Regardless of where you are in your life today, regardless of what decisions you face or what challenges or joys or questions or vulnerabilities or crises capture your heart and mind, be assured that whatever happens, God knows your name and you are held in His surpassing love. He continues to give us everything we need, grace and nourishment and strength to face every moment with love and without fear. The choice has been made on our behalf – God continues to prepare the feast and Jesus Christ is calling your name to join the celebration. The only decision left is whether you’ll really respond when He calls your name. And you'll officially remain a loser when you say "no."