Posts from June 2025
An Empty House after 22 years!
I am the youngest child of three boys that my parents have. My oldest brother is 4 ½ years old, and my middle brother is 2 ½ years older. I remember vividly when one by one my two older brothers left home for college, and the house got quieter and quieter. My first night at home when my middle brother left was a bit odd – honestly weird, and I remember it well to this day. But for my parents,…
Biblical Grandparenting
Do you know how many percent of the adult US population are grandparents? Take a guess. If you answered one-third, you get a lollipop! Up to one third of all adults are grandparents. That means that if we were to walk about in our cities of Federal Way or Northeast Tacoma, one out of every three adults we see are grandparents. In 1900, there were only 3.1 million people 65 years and older. By 1999, one hundred years later, that…
The Prophet Who Didn’t Die (Part III)
Read Part I Read Part II So, in what way or ways may we say that John the Baptist was Elijah? How is John the Baptist in the New Testament an “Elijah” from the Old Testament? One obvious and fun observation is that they both dressed very similarly. The Bible said in 2 Kings 1.8 that Elijah wore a garment of hair, and a leather belt. Matthew 3.4 said John the Baptist wore a garment of camel’s hair and also…
A Trowel in one hand, and a Sword in the other
I love visual illustrations! Tim (one of our church piano players) has a real gift of being a cartoon style artists. During that long, drawn-out season of Covid a few short years back, many of my sermons were in front of a camera and the only audience was online (I sure hope to never go back to that again!). But one of the funny things that emerged out of that time was that after every sermon that I delivered, Tim,…
The Prophet Who Didn’t Die (Part II)
Read Part I Okay, we know Elijah appeared at Jesus’ transfiguration in the New Testament. Where else did he appear? Check this out. Matthew 16.14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” Matthew 27.47–49 And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, “This man is calling for Elijah.” But the rest of them said, “Let us see whether Elijah will come…
Tim Kim’s Acceptance
As you all know our Church family and our Church leadership has been in conversation with Tim Kim for months now about the possibility of Tim coming as our next Sr Pastor. After months of visits via video conversations and much prayer we had Tim & Cassie and daughter JoJo come in person and spend a week with us in mid-May. Following their visit in person, we had several prayer meetings and discussion times with our LifeWay family asking God…
The Prophet Who Didn’t Die (Part I)
I don’t remember very much what things I did in children’s Sunday School as a little boy. But very bizarrely, I do remember one thing. I remember coloring a drawing one Sunday what looked to me like an old man feeding birds. (Keep in mind this is years before I became a reader of the Old Testament.) I had no clue what was the story behind the picture. I didn’t know why there was a drawing of an old man…
“As for me and my house we will serve the Lord!”
This is a common phrase used on wall hangings for many of us at the front door or in the kitchen. Some of you may have it in your home. It is found in the Old Testament book of Joshua, chapter 24:15. Many of us might be familiar with the quote, but we often don’t know the context of when and why it was written, and we might miss the deeper meaning. Let me give you a simple background to…