I forgot how to write

But talks with +Brian Han always get me thinking though. +Samuel Yang knows that I tend not to write on the blog when things in life are going decently and I have friends around to pass the time (which is why I write more at school).

So in this respite I have before engaging in more fun friend&family stuff, I thought to synthesize main winterbreak takeaways just as a chronicle.

1) Humility brings life into relationships.
The fact that I love talking to my dad and him to me is too novel. Gone are the days where I think my family and friends are an obstacle to my agenda, and instead they now are the agenda. Notice the difference in thinking a) I must preach the gospel to my parents so that I can convert them, versus b) God will give me the words to say and he will soften their hearts. Second prayer has been more effective, and the first will naturally manifest itself in love should I continue to personally cling to the power of the gospel (Romans 1:16). I am nothing without the gospel.

Do any of these ministry activities surprise you? Watching TV, learning Chinese, gambling, drinking, karaoke-ing, gchatting, bboying. I've been humbled to learn these activities are not a waste of time if I aim to build relationship. Engaging these things with prayer make the episodic apologetics (yes, should and always will be there) more meaningful. Though the episodes have been less frequent, they have been more powerful because of the built relationship.

2) God is pleased by Christ, so he is pleased with me.
No reason to be, however. I exaggerate, I continually wake up with hopelessness, I fail to consistently feast on Christ. But in the moments when I submit to the first commandment, my soul rests in divine freedom (Galatians 5:1). How can I fear what tomorrow will bring if God has, is, and always will be for me (Matthew 6:34, Romans 8:31)?

Kingdom work is tiring but it is freeing (Galatians 6:9). We are free to do what we were made to do and so our souls, as well as the heart of God, brims with joy. But the moment we take any credit is when we stand condemned, existentially and eternally. So we now view Matthew 25:31-46 in light of the gospel, whereby the benefits afforded to us by Christ's death can only give us sheep God-praising attitudes in the midst of our work as opposed to self-praising.

Can you believe it? Everyday your heavenly Father says, "Well done, good and faithful servant (Matthew 25:23)." The little everyday affirmations I receive from church leave me completely speechless. I can't see how God's working in my life, but you can? Yet even these are just a sweet but shallow foretaste of the commendation to come (1 Corinthians 4:5).

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So Willis, where do we go from here????
STAY HUMBLE.
KEEP REACHING OUT AND RELATING.
CONFRONT IF YOU HAVE TO.
PRAY HARD.

Penn, after all these years, your mountain of expectations still scares the crap out of me. But on team Jesus, I'll stay on the offensive til the very end (Matthew 16:18).