Church

As some of you may know, my church is in the midst our long anticipated building project with a goal of not merely building a new building, but to help build the lives of the people around us.

Above is a picture our hundred-year building as it stands today. To look at this picture comes with mixed feelings; sadness for what was and excitement for what is to come.

It’s been a crazy process to see what was a landmark in the community come down so fast. When work started a couple weeks ago, it was exciting to see the crew systematically deconstruct the building. Then as the progress became more and more apparent, it became little sad.* Finally they started on the roofs and within a few days, even they were dismantled and taken away.

A few days later I drove to the church and I was shocked to see what was left of our building. It was as it is shown above…

Just the floor.

Wall less.

I’m not sure what I was expecting to feel like when it got to this point, but my first thought when I saw the building progress was:

“This is beautiful.”

It got me excited, not because our church is getting a brand new building, but as I looked our church building, the symbolism was clear. What I saw was glimpse of what our church could be…

A Church Without Walls.

A church that was open to the community. A church that believed and prayed that God would tear down the walls of our hearts and lives that so separated us from the community that needs God., just as the men deliberately tore down the walls of building.

If only we could live wall less.

All that was left was the floor and foundation. I hope and pray that God would be our foundation and that we as the church would strive to tear down our walls so that we can see and not ignore the brokenness of the world around us, and also so that the community might see the church for who we truly are, failures and all.

Hopefully all of us will see that sometimes the brokenness in our lives is a sign that God is trying to what it takes to build us up and make us new. Some times we have to break down our walls that seem to keep us safe, or remove that roofs that hold us in.

God is doing something new in Koloa, hopefully its not merely putting up a new building.

Grace and Peace

Ernie

* I have only been at the church for less than a year. I can’t imagine what it must feel like for those who have been there for 50 years!

Selfish Desires On My Part

Apple is releasing a new Bible program and giving away a bunch of stuff in the process. I want to win, so I wrote this blog.

So check it out. Here's hoping I win something awesome!

Logos Bible Software is giving away thousands of dollars of prizes to celebrate the launch of Logos Bible Software 4 Mac on October 1. Prizes include an iMac, a MacBook Pro, an iPad, an iPod Touch, and more than 100 other prizes!

They’re also having a special limited-time sale on their Mac and PC base packages and upgrades. Check it out!

More Posts coming soon!

Take It Back!

In my backyard I have these huge, thick, and unruly hedges that seem to grow a mile a month. It should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, growing up, I had to cut them down every month or two.

It was a sure way to ruin a weekend.

But like anything, I get used to it, grew up, and soon cutting hedges became business like. I had a system and it worked.

Anyway, about five months ago, it was one of those hedge-cutting days, and I was focused and ready. What’s more, I had a friend who volunteered to help, a friend with a chainsaw.*

Before I go further, let me tell you about this hedge’s trimming history…

Growing up, I always cut them shorter, never thinner. So while we never let them get too tall, we never really kept them at a certain width. At it’s thickest, these hedges went about 8 feet.

So back to the story, we got to the backyard and eyed the monster down. My friend, being the Filipino he is, got the saw roaring, and went right at it. But instead of cutting the hedges shorter, he started going for the width, cutting into it.

I stood there in shock! I didn’t know what to do, except just let him work.

Finally I stopped him and explained to him what we usually do, but he convincingly told me, the hedges were too thick, and pitched his idea:

Let’s take the yard back.

I was convinced and we continued.

The whole time it felt weird, like we were doing something wrong. I felt like I was going to get into trouble. There was too much change, too fast.

By the time we were done, the yard looked so different. All up we probably cut about 5 feet into the hedges, thinned it out, and it looked good. Even more so, the yard was so much bigger.

We took back the yard.

I couple weeks later, after the leaves grew back a bit, I looked back at the yard and couldn’t believe we hadn’t done this years ago.

A few months after the hedge experience, I had a similar experience with my youth room at the church I work for. We have this room that was just filled with clutter. The room itself is decently sized, but over years, it began to be used more and more as a storage area. We just never wanted to throw anything away. We literally lost half of the room to boxes of junk, useless materials, and other things we might maybe (but probably not) use in the future.

Not long after I started working there, the idea was planted in my head.

I want to take back the youth room.

So we did. We threw away truckloads of junk, sold what we could at a garage sale, and donated the rest of it. Then we took everything away from the walls, bought a few gallons of paint, got to work, and after about five days, we had a brand new youth room we could hangout in, feel comfortable, and be proud of.

We took back the youth room.

This past Saturday, we had church workday and a bunch of people came to help out. We had a lot of projects we wanted to get done that day including more hedges and an overly cluttered garage.

We did some major work and got them both done that morning. It was amazing to watch both the garage get cleaned and made useful again and the hedges being cut back down to size.

We took the garage back.

Then, while through away a load of branches and watching the garage get cleaned, these three stories came to mind and an idea came to mind.

I want to take the church back.

It just seems like the way we do church sometimes is so cluttered. It’s not that it’s filled with bad things. In fact, most of the time it’s filled with good things, things we’ve done for years and years, traditions. We do things just because we do them. What if god wants something different?

Would we have room for that?

But just like over grown hedges or an overly cluttered youth room or garage, over time, things just pile up. Cluttered with things we don’t use anymore, things that don’t quite work anymore. Things that hinder us from making use of the space we have.

Here at our church we are going through a similar transition. God is calling us back to his heart and causing us to open our eyes to what is and what could be.

It is hard, it is awkward, and it can be sad.

But it’s going to be worth it.

My hedges are still there, the youth room is still sunshine hall, and the garage is the garage, but they’re better versions of itself. I am convinced that God is doing a similar work at Koloa Missionary Church.

He’s pruning us and cleaning us out. Bringing us closer to His heart, and setting us up for His plans and His purposes.

We are taking back the church.

What God doing in your life? What are the hedges in your life that are overgrown? Where is the youth room of your life that exists but could be so much more? How can the garage of your life be brought back to its purpose?

Is your life too cluttered, too full?

Go do some work.

Take back your life.

Grace and Peace

Ernie

*That friend was Josh Tamaoka. I love and appreciate him. He’s the kind of guy that is there when you need him.

Broken and Beautiful

I’d like to start to start this post by saying I’m not exactly sure where this one is going. So let’s find out!

So I work at this rad church full of good people, great people, and I get to spend a lot of time there. The backdrop is straight out of a movie. Tropical perfection, consistent and refreshing cool breezes, huge trees that are decades old, and just down the road, not just one, but many world class beaches… There are worse places to live. J

Anyways, in the back of the church, where all the trees are, we have this old beat up basketball court. A long time ago, the roots of these trees got under the cement and cracked its once smooth surface, making a proper game of ball ridiculous at best. What’s more, these trees like to shed their leaves all over the surface, leaving it not only broken, but messy and dirty too.

In short, the court is a mess and no one really uses for anything. Until just recently…

As of late, two little blond girls about eight or nine years old have been visiting this broken dirty court, playing and pretending. For example, I walked past them the other day, one of them pretended to be a photographer, snapping pictures of the other little girl pretending to be America’s next top model, walking a line like a catwalk, full of confidence and strength.

It was amazing! They love that court! So I let them do their thing and keep walking.

I guess what I want to say is that on one hand, I’m surrounded by beauty: beautiful scenery, beautiful weather, and beautiful people. But on the other hand, I’m surrounded by brokenness: the broken court, broken families, broken people, etc.

Last night, some friends and I went camping out at Polihale (which if you don’t know, is one of the most epic beaches in the world). It’s located on the Westside of the island; so naturally, it boasts some pretty extraordinary and often very moving sunsets.

The weather all day was perfect. No clouds. Then about the time the sun was going to set, the wind picked big, and blew in a lot of clouds. I was bummed!

We continued to watch the sunset, and then everything just went epic. The rays of the sun penetrated the clouds and out came SO much different shades of different colors! It was so beautiful! So much better then just a normal sunset. So much better then what I was hoping for.

I guess God knew what he was doing. He definitely knew better then me.

God not only uses the epic beautiful things, but also, and mostly I think, He uses the broken things for His glory. He makes foolish the wise and the wise foolish. He gives grace to the humble, but stands against the proud. He says the greatest must be last and the servant of all. He is close to the broken hearted and sets the captives free. He is.

When you truly love, then anything is beautiful.

God knows what He is doing. I hope we are wise enough to be want to be a part of it.

He knows better then us.

Grace and peace

Ernie

ALIVE?

"To have the Spirit of God dwelling within the heart of someone who chooses a domesticated faith is like having a tiger trapped within a cage. You are not intended to be a spiritual zoo where people can look at God in you from a safe distance. You are a jungle where the Spirit roams wild and free in your life. You are the recipient of the God who cannot be tamed and of a faith that must not be tamed. You are no longer a prisoner of time and space, but a citizen of the kingdom of God - a resident of the barbarian tribe. God is not a sedative that keeps you calm and under control by dulling your senses. He does quite the opposite. He awakens your spirit to be truly alive."

- Erwin McManus, The Barbarian Way

2 WEEKS AND COUNTING

Just saying...

WE ARE PENN STATE

-A loyal fan

p.s. God is SO much more epic and fulfilling then this... and coming from me that's a big deal.

Though I kind of wish had a video of this many young adults, screaming, and believing with all their hearts, "We are the Church."

Then lived it out.

Take the Plunge!

Have you ever felt like you were on the verge of doing something big? You ever stood at the edge of a cliff psyching yourself to jump or like the kid in the picture, contemplated the sheer awesomeness of what could be?

I know I have.

In my neighborhood we have a hill that was pretty big and pretty steep, maybe not quite so steep as the wild child above, but big, steep, and curvy. Growing up, we used to fly down this hill with our bikes and skateboards.

One day, cruising at the top of the hill with our bikes, someone said, “What if someone went down that hill with no hands and just conquered it?” Everyone was stoked, but no one really wanted to do it.

No one but me.

I eyed that hill, volunteered, and before anyone could call me out, started to peddle. Once the hill’s arc, momentum overtook me, I let go of the handlebars and was coasting! I felt home free. That is until I hit the first turn.

I leaned into the turn, felt the speed wobbles, lost control, and hit the road hard! As I lay there hurting, my friends rode down to me laughing!

So just to prove I wasn’t scared and wasn't defeated, I got up, walked my bike back to the top of the hill, eyed that hill, fully committed, and went for it again!

I hit that first turn perfectly and started to pick up speed. I was pretty much at the bottom and was stoked. Everything was fine, until I started to get cocky, lost my concentration, and went down. I scraped my face pretty bad that second time. But I didn’t care.

I didn’t even care that I didn’t make all the way down. I conquered that sucker. Even my friends were pumped.

With fall comes a new season for many of us. Some of us have graduated high school and are going to college, while others may still be in college but are now older and wiser, ready for something new. Still others of us might be entering into a new job or are quietly looking for the next big adventure. Whatever part of life you may be in, consider your situation, and dare to jump into something big! I know some of us feel like we are on the verge of something BIG. What are you looking at?

The Bible says if that we have faith as big as a mustard seed, we can move mountains! Some of us just need to step up, commit, and jump! And if you mess up or fail, it’s okay! You can get back up!

Woody Allen said, “If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign your not doing anything very innovative.”

Life is for LIVING. Jesus wants us to have life to the FULLEST. Life ABUNDANTLY. Take a risk. Rise up and challenge yourself. Find a dream and reach for it. Be deliberate and don’t let life make your life decisions for you.

Sometimes you try something and you fail. But at least you tried.

Other times, you step out and by grace, you find you’re not made out of glass, you’re stronger then you give yourself credit for, you rise out of your failures, and you conquer.