Chuck Colson Finishes His Race

Here’s an inspring video of a man who ran his race and finished it well.   I am so thankful to have personally met Chuck Colson and to have had lunch with him, Pastor Ed, Kelly and several other Gracepoint Church leaders.  His books and broadcasts have helped my faith tremendously.  He is definitely one of my heroes, and with his passing I am more inspired to run my race and finish it well.

Thank you Chuck, for faithfully serving the Lord and for sharing your thoughts through your books and broadcasts!  Thank you also for endorsing Interhigh.  You have helped me to run my race and now you are in the cloud of witnesses cheering me on!

Greetings from Davis

Hi everyone,

I’m not sure if anyone’s reading my blog.  I haven’t regularly blogged in a while, and am not sure if I am.  I’m still settling down at Davis and getting adjusted to my new role here.  But I thought I’d write up a quick post and say, “It’s hot here!.”  But I’m not complaining because I know that in Austin my friend Manny Kim is enduring temperatures that’s 20 degrees hotter and humidity!

I started teaching and preaching at Davis.  On fridays we’re doing a series through Acts, and on Sundays it’s through Philippians.  I’ll try to post some thoughts up whenever I can as well as some DT sharing.

Anyway, hope you are all well!

Pastor William Kang

Gracepoint Davis Church

 

God is Turning Up the Heat on My Life.

I have a bit of exciting and sad news.  After 24 years in the San Francisco Bay Area (except one year in Tokyo), I am finally moving out of the Bay Area.  In a few weeks, Esther and I will be leading our church up in Davis.   We are both excited and challenged by what God is doing.  But we’re also sad because we will be leaving the students at Element.

Having said that, we were sent off by the most incredible farewell that I’ve ever seen.  The kinds of food that were at the potluck were amazing.  And I was overwhelmed by the hundreds of people who came out to say goodbye.  It was overwhelming because Esther and I don’t feel we deserve such love.  And in a a certain way our move is anti-climatic since we’re only moving an hour away (and we get to visit everyone in Berkeley regularly.

And having said that, I want to thank everyone at Gracepoint Berkeley for their love throughout the past two decades.  I am especially thankful to Pastor Ed and Kelly for their guidance and leadership as well.

God is turning the heat up on my life.  Davis is hot!  And leading Gracepoint Davis will be the greatest challenge I have faced in my life.

Pray for me!

Pastor William Kang

p.s.  Thank you for the farewell video.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Esther and I thank God for all that He has done in 2010.  We are also thankful for your presence, your prayers and your love.  Enriched, we pray that we will be faithful in the upcoming year, eagerly anticipating what God has in store for you and for us.

With Love,

William & Esther Kang, along with Caleb (12) and Danielle (7)

Happy Thanksgiving

I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. I want to thank everyone who has helped out at InterHigh. Thank you for making it what it is. I want to thank everyone who has prayed for me and my family. I praise God for his faithfulness in my life and in the lives of those around me.

I am really looking forward to this weekend. Snow. Sierra Lodge. Gracepoint Directors. Esther and the kids. The warm glow, having been at the Thanksgiving Retreat. Thank you, God!

Happy Veteran’s Day

Veteran’s Day is coming up.  It’s on November 11th.  To be honest, it was only after coming to Gracepoint over 20 years ago that I developed an appreciation for our veterans (I know, it’s pretty sad).  Over the years, I heard Pastor Ed Kang always talk about our war veterans and about how he’s come to appreciate them, especially the ones who fought in the Korean War. “If it weren’t for them,” Pastor Ed said, “I wouldn’t be here.”  It’s so true.  And you know, I wouldn’t be here either.

My appreciation for our veterans reached new heights as I travelled to Washington D.C. in 2009 with the Acts2Fellowship Blue Seniors.  We spent five days at our country’s capital, visiting the White House, the Capitol building, the Smithsonian, the Holocaust Museum and, or course, the War Memorials.  Even though this was my fourth visit to D.C., I had never gone to Arlington National Cemetery.  So, I made it a point to tell Judge Hensley, who organized our trip and who is now serving as a staff intern at Gracepoint Austin, to make sure we planned a visit to Arlington.  And we did.  And I was overwhelmed.

Arlington National Cemetery

I was overwhelmed as I walked with hundreds of others up the rolling hills that once used to belong to General Robert Lee.  First it was the sheer silence.  And then it was the sea of tombstones.  Walking up hill was difficult, as I tried to process the thought of how all of these men and women served our country, believing that the security of our country and our world were greater than their own lives.

Fifteen minutes into the walk, I stumbled upon the tombstone of Sgt.William Windrich.  William Windrich served in the Korean War and died in 1953, earning the Congressional Medal of Honor.  Not too many soldiers earned the medal of honor.  In fact, those who did didn’t live to tell about it.  And it was at this moment, that I completely lost it.

“Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend a country they never knew and a people they never met.”  That’s what it says at the Korean War Memorial.  William Windrich was one of those sons.  Not only did he go to defend people unknown to him, but when he got there he gave his life.  He gave it to defend a people unknown to him, for people like my parents, grandparents and my aunts and my uncles.  And if it weren’t for men and women like him, I, a Korean American, wouldn’t be here.

I stood there before his tombstone for what seemed like hours, wondering how he died and if he left behind a family.  I wondered if he struggled with his final decision or if it was a no brainer.  How on earth could any man choose to leave his world to defend a country he never knew?

When I got back home I googled William Windrich, and I found this entry on arlingtoncemetery.net.

William Windrich

“Late in the afternoon of 1 December 1950, because his company was surrounded by enemy aggressors at Yudam-ni, they were ordered to move toward Hagaru-ri. By the time they reached Hill 1520 (Hill number shows elevation in meters), three miles southeast of Yudam-ni, it was very dark and the temperature averaged a minus 40 degrees. The company relocated a few times, then back to the knoll, between two rugged mile high mountains where they were bombarded by grenades, machine gun and rifle fire. Staff Sergeant Windrich led a rifle squad of twelve men to meet the enemy head on, while armed with a M-2 carbine. Seven of his men were wounded or killed before they reached the forward position they were to defend. Windrich was also wounded in the head by a bursting grenade. As blood gushed down his shoulder and back he moved his remaining men into a tight fire group. Then he ran to the company command post, drafting a small group of volunteers, and led them to evacuate the dying and wounded. Assuming command of what was left of a platoon, Windrich once more took up defensive positions. Now he was shot in both legs, but kept fighting, always refusing medical attention. For a long time he crawled in the snow, back and forth between his men shouting words of encouragement, deploying his forces and helping to throw back the attackers. It was only after the communist had been beaten off did Staff Sergeant Windrich collapse and die due to the bitter cold, excessive loss of blood and severe pain.”

With his daughter, Bonnie

President Harry S. Truman posthumously awarded the Medal Honor to his widow and his seven year old daughter.  He had a family, and knowing this made my appreciation for him even greater.  I feel indebted–to him and to men and women like him.  And you know, by feeling indebted I feel rich, as a person and as a human being.  Why? Because their courage and sacrifice encourage me to do the same.  They encourage me to count the cost, to leave my comfort zone and to believe that the lives of others are more important than my own.  And when I do, I feel so alive.  And it’s during these moments that I understand why Jesus said that in order to find my life I must lose it.

William Windrich wasn’t the only one who served with valor and with sacrifice.  The tombstones around him were evidence of that.  And this Veteran’s day I will remember. I couldn’t help but think that the times–or rather the men and the women–were really different back then.  They devoted their lives to fight for a better world so that people like me can live with freedom.   I am indebted to them for giving me life and for helping me “find my life” when I am self absorbed or feeling sorry for myself.

I’m thankful for Veterans Day.  I’m thankful for all the men and women who served our country.  I want to remember their valor, their selflessness and their willingness to fulfill their call to duty.  And I want to honor them by living just as courageously and just as sacrificially as they did as I live my life for Christ and His Kingdom.

"To all the US Veterans and to those who have fallen...Thank You."

I Think I Got Owned (by Satan)

I picked up Screwtape Letters (C.S. Lewis) the other day, and when I stumbled upon chapter three it occurred to me that I got owned, or rather, I’ve been getting owned.  And perhaps by Satan himself.  In Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis presents, with great imagination, some of the many ways that Satan and his cohorts might possibly tempt humans.   Screwtape, a senior demon, advises his newbie nephew demon, Wormwood, on how to keep his “patient” (a human) from living an effective Christian life.  In chapter three, Screwtape encourages his nephew to put a wedge between his patient and his patient’s relationship with his mother.  How?  By getting his subject to focus on her frown and the tone of her voice.  Lewis, or rather Screwtape, writes,

“When two humans have lived together for many years, it usually happens that each has tones of voice and expressions of face which are almost unendurably irritating to the other.  Work on that.  Bring fully into the consciousness of your patient that particular lift of his mother’s eyebrows which he learned to dislike in the nursery, and let him think how much he dislikes it.  Let him assume that she knows how annoying it is and does it to annoy–if you know your job he will not notice the immense improbability of the assumption.  And, of course, never let him suspect that he has tones and looks which similarly annoy her.  As he cannot see or hear himself, this is easily managed.”

And that’s when my jaw dropped.  That’s when the gates of heaven opened.   And that’s when I realized that maybe I’ve been getting owned by Satan, or perhaps, one of his cohorts, trying to frustrate my Christian life and my ministry.  Like the poor patient, I too have grown to dislike the lifting of the eyebrows and the tone of the voice–those not of my mother but of my dear wife.  Up until this serendipitous moment I had always thought that my wife was too much (with the tone and the facial expressions).  I could not understand why she had to look and talk that way and why she looked and talked that way only to me.  And whenever I got this treatment, I either walked way or ignored her.  And whatever we were working on (usually a meeting where we are discussing and talking about ministry) came to a screeching halt.  And then it was cold war.

C.S. Lewis opened my eyes.  Esther is not the problem.  And I’m not sure I’m the problem either.  And I can’t really even prove that Satan, or his cohorts, is really behind these moments of strife.  Perhaps he is or perhaps he isn’t.  But what I do know is that all it takes is a simple frown or a tone of voice, even unintentional, for me to get frustrated.  All it takes is the lifting of the eyebrows for ministry planning to come to a grinding halt.  And now knowing this, I realize that a regular battle for me–and perhaps a spiritual battle at that–is not in some dangerous mission field or behind the pulpit, but in not allowing these features of my wife from keeping me from doing what is right.  In addition, it is not allowing pet peeves or my laziness from keeping me from loving those close to me.  And it’s not allowing my prejudices or the comfort of my comfort zone from keeping me from loving everyone else around me.  The battle is not in a mission field in the distant future.  (I wish it were; Oh how I wish it were that noble. ) No.  The battle field is during meetings with my wife.  It’s when  I’m working on a message and someone asks me to help them with the copy machine.  It’s when I’m hanging out with the youth and they want to play King Kong shower (and I just want to go to sleep).  It’s when I’m walking around the dining commons at a college campus looking for someone to reach out to.  And now, having read Screwtape Letters, I can picture Satan laughing when I say “No” during these battles.   I can picture him reclining in his chair, with his feet on the table, when I think that the battle is out there, in the future, in something extraordinary. Because when I do think this way, I’m losing the real battle.  And what’s worse is I am still thinking that I’m a pretty good Christian (because, remember, one day I’ll be fighting that awesome battle that I’ve been playing out in my head).

 

Karen Eleanor Wight and Max McLean get demonic in The Screwtape Letters. Photos by Gerry Goodstein.

 

I think I been owned.  And I’m pretty sure it’s by Satan. It might be hard to believe but  Ephesians 6:12 says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers , against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”   Now that I see the fight I must fight, I will fight it with all my heart, with all my soul and with all my strength.  And so, the next time I meet with my wife and, instead of Esther, Saruman (Lord of the Rings) shows up, I’ve got to see that it’s Satan trying to own me.  And I’ve got to win the fight because a lot is at stake if I lose.

 

Saruman (LOTR). On second thought, maybe I'm being too much.

 

Oh, and by the way, I hope you don’t think that Esther is a foul-looking, mean toned person.  For those of you that know her, you know that she’s really sweet.  And for those of who don’t know her you can check out the video below.

Facebook and Old Flames: Better to Play it Safe Than Sorry

Here’s an article in boundless.org.  Facebook is reuniting old people (like me) who lost touch with friends from “back in the day.”  But are all such reunions good?  Read what the Suzanne Gosselin has to say in Boundless. She writes…

Jenell Williams Paris asks if one should avoid friending “old flames” on Facebook, particularly if one is married. She answers the question with a dose of “better safe than sorry,” with which I agree…As Paris notes: “Facebook presents me with nicely worded options: ‘Confirm this request for friendship, or quietly ignore it.’ I’ve made my choice. Old flame, consider yourself quietly ignored.”

Better than safe than sorry.  Or as Andy Stanley at Northpoint would put it: “We need guardrails in our lives.”

Beautiful Day at the Park

I’m sitting on a nice park bench in Alameda with my son. He’s sipping on a slurpee and reading Fellowship of the Rings. It’s a beautiful, relaxing day. Quiet, at least until my 7 year old daughter gets out from swimming lessons. Maybe I can bend a few like Beckham before she gets out.

Best $25 I Ever Spent

I just got this in the mail. It’s a picture of Edison, one of my Compassion Children. I sent him twenty five bucks for his birthday and look what he bought! He has some things he needs for school and a new soccer ball (I have a feeling he likes the soccer ball the most). I am thankful for Compassion’s Ministry and I am thankful that my small donation could bring joy to a little boy in Ecuador. This picture just made my day.