Where Will You Be When the Spirit Moves?

I had the opportunity to share with my church congregation this past Sunday about the ministries that I have been involved with locally.  I received an email with bold letters reminding me the importance of sticking to the 5 minutes allotted to me.

My first thought was, "How can I say what I want to say in just 5 minutes??"

There were so many points and exhortations that I wanted to make.  Originally my pastor wanted me to simply share what I've done and how others can get involved.

Of course I decided that those things would not be the main focus of my sharing, but rather I would share about why I go out and do the things I've done.

What I came up with was this statement:
The Spirit is going to move, where will you be when this happens?
I shared a few reasons and outcomes of going out and sharing Jesus

1. Showing love is one of the only things that cannot fail

• Programs and strategies will constantly fail and need to be rethought, but if at the end of the day you someone was able to experience Christ's love through something you did, then you were successful

2. When you give away Jesus, you get more of Him in return

• When we give Jesus away we begin to see and understand a side of Him that can only be seen by giving.  Through this God becomes bigger in our eyes.  

3. Loving people makes life simple

• When you try to think about what career you should pursue or what things to invest in, life becomes stressful and complicated.  In Micah 6:8, God makes our lives simple.  He tells us to act justly, love mercy and to walk humbly.  

I then listed various things I have been involved with the past 2 years

• Helped open a school in Watts
  
• Music workshop in South Central Los Angeles and Fullerton
  
• Spending time with teens at a teen center in LA
  
• Leading worship in Spanish for inner city church plants
  
• Taught computer class once a week for a semester in an inner city middle school
  
• Chaperoned an outdoor ed trip for inner city 7th graders
  
• Helped wrap Christmas presents for an affordable Christmas store in Los Angeles
  
• Prepared and distributed food for people in need
  
• Worked with teens during a summer program in Fullerton

I closed with this word
"The Spirit is going to move.  Where will you be when it happens?  Will you be safe in the walls of this church or will you be out there ready to catch the train of His robe and a glimpse of His glory?"

The Power of Compassion to Those Who Are Watching

I’d like to share a small story that I experienced this year that also ties into a way that God has been growing me this year. To start off this story I have to go all the way back to my childhood and the experiences that molded me into who I’ve become.  I have many memories of my mom and when I think back I can see how her actions have shaped how I view others. 

As far back as I can remember my mom has always been someone who is generous and giving. Even as three boys we were never in want or in shortage of any GI Joe toys, video game consoles , comic books or sports equipment.  If there was something we wanted, at the appropriate time she would buy it for us. But, this wasn’t the only generous side of my mom. The years before I was a teen my mom worked in the heart of San Francisco. She would take BART into “The City” and then walk a number of blocks to her office. It was always an exciting trip whenever I got to visit her at the office. There was one tradition of that journey that I will never forget. Along our path from point A to point B there lived a homeless family. There was a man, a woman and a dog. I remember every time I visited my mom, I got to observe her providing food to these people on the street and giving them money.

Fast forward to the week of Christmas. Christmas is always a time of good eating and spending time with family. Needless to say my family is good at cooking up a great meal. This particular day I was heading down to the supermarket with my mom to pickup produce for Christmas dinner.  As we drove into the parking lot we passed by a family on a corner with a simple cardboard sign that shared about the struggles they were going through and gave opportunity for people to help. We passed by, parked and walked into the grocery store to pickup our ingredients. As we were walking out, my mom paused and pulled something out of her pocket.

“Go give this to that family over there”, she said to me.

I looked down and in her hand was a twenty-dollar bill. I took it from her hand and walked over to the mother, placed it into her hands and gave her a simple blessing.

My mom was not only generous, but she empowered me to be generous by letting me do the giving.  At that moment it suddenly struck me of where I had been trained to have compassion. It had all started during those moments in San Francisco visiting my mom at work where she would place items in my hands to give away. Those actions were instrumental in any justice ministry I have participated in.

Not only has my mom been a model of compassion, but also a model of generosity in my life. She is a woman to loves to give and empower those who are giving.  She is always quick to donate during a natural disaster to empower those who are on the ground helping. Through her I’ve learned the joy of giving and using the resources that God has given to me to empower others to be a blessing.

I would like to now introduce to a friend of mine named Lorraina.

Lorraina is a friend of mine was born to spend a life of giving. She is one of the kindest and most compassionate people I know. She is the kind of person who will go into the post office for stamps and end up spending an hour helping a complete stranger (in a second language) fill out paper work to send a package to their family across the world.  She is the kind of person who after a week of constantly being on the move will have the neighborhood kids over for fun and games. I have heard stories of neighborhood kids ringing the doorbell just to ask, “Is she here??”.  She somehow never runs out of the ability to give.

Lorraina is the kind of person that I want to encourage and empower. I find joy in being able to financially support her so that she can continue touching the lives of countless people.

I know that this is not a typical prayer letter, and I know most of you don’t know who Lorraina is (which can and should change) but if you are encouraged to empower her, I’d like to extend an opportunity to you to support her. She is now working in a neighborhood filled with families of extremely low income. Her goal is to help these families know and understand the love of God.

I would like to challenge some of your to join her team and be a monthly supporter. For others I encourage you to send her a note of encouragement. And for others to follow her stories and keep her lifted up in prayer.

http://www.worldimpactla.org/missionaries/results.php?NameID=68

A Broken Surprise

I ran into something very strange last week as I was making a normal trip to Downtown Fullerton.  Having a few hours of work to accomplish, I decided to take my work home so I would not have to spend twelve hours in the same seat.  Sometimes I need a change of scenery.  I grabbed my bags and headed down to one of my favorite cafe's.  I had always wanted to do a bit of an Instagram photoshoot of the Downtown Fullerton area as well.  My friends had just announced that they were moving into an old apartment building in downtown, so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to take a few shots and go explore the building.

I parked close to the cafe and began my walk.  Luckily for me the downtown area is only a few blocks long.  As I was walking past the boba shop there was a young guy who asked me for a dollar.  I thought nothing of it, told him I didn't have any change and kept walking.  I found my friends' new apartment building and took a few shots.  As I was walking around and shooting pictures, something kept eating away at me.  Something in my gut did not seem right. 

I've walked passed a number of people asking for money.  Some of them I try to help out, and some I don't.  There's really no formula.  I try my best to not give money, so those that I help out I'll buy them a meal.  This gives me the opportunity to start conversation with them and hear their story. 

"Who was that kid", I kept asking myself "And why is he out here begging for money".  After about 20 minutes I finished up shooting and thought that it was about time to head down to grab a drink and finish my work.  Just a block away from my destination I saw this kid again.  Our eyes met very briefly and then we both looked away.  I knew that he recognized me from half an hour ago as the guy who walked right past him.  I originally thought he was just looking for money for a bus ride home, but as I was able to examine him closer I could tell that he obviously had not been home for a long time.  It was at that point that I decided that I need to hear his story.

"Why are you asking for money?", I asked.  "Why are you living on the streets?"

My examination had amazed me because here stood before me a young Asian American male.  Though I don't have an exhaustive amount of experience in a compassion ministry, I've been in several different contexts and have met a number of homeless people of all situations.  This was the first time in my 32 years of life that I had come across a young, homeless Asian American.  One of my thoughts was, this guy must be doing some sort of social experiment.  But God kept nudging my heart to do something. 

He shared with me that his mom had kicked him out and he was on the streets because he did not apply himself and didn't work hard enough, so that's why he was homeless.  These words empathetically penetrated my heart.  I told him that I would not give him money, but I would buy him a meal if he'd like.  He took me up on my offer.

My goal, as is whenever I come across situations like these was to understand his story, show him love and compassion, and let him know that this love came from God.

He told me how he was studying graphic arts at a trade school in West LA, but his mom had kicked him out because she was a single mom looking for a new relationship and did not want to deal with him.  His family was around, but also did not want to help him.  He had been living on the streets for 3 or 4 months now and has not been able to receive any help.  He pulled out and showed me his GED certificate, birth certificate and Social Security card.  I asked him if he believed in God and if so, what did that mean to him.  His response was that God has a plan for everything.  I went on and shared how I've struggled in life in finding belonging, and have only been able to find it in God and in Jesus.  I shared that what I was doing for him was God reminding him that He loved him. 

As we walked back to my car so I could give him a ride to where he was sleeping, every word that came out of his mouth was full of cynicism.  At the end of the conversation before he got out of my car I told him that, yes, there are people in this world who only care about themselves.  I was sorry that it consumed and enslaved him.  I asked him if he thought I was "evil".  He said, "Of course not.". In response I encouraged him to not believe that everyone is evil.  What he needs to do is find people out there who care about more thank themselves and let those people be his role models.

As he left my car I couldn't help but feel broken and helpless.  A lot of our joy and success, I think, has to do with our perspective on the world.  Those of us that can only see the negatives of this world will never be able to find comfort and happiness.  Yet, those of us who understand that there are a lot of bad things in this world, but have a sense of hope and know that there are people out there that are different and that care about more than themselves, those are the people who will be able to find contentment.  I hope that my act of love and words to this young man told him a different story than what he currently knows to be true.

Blessings for Water - My Charity:Water Campaign Story

It was earlier this year that my path began to branch into something different. Through a few rough patches this summer  and needing to keep my mind occupied, I began to watch a lot of Ted talks and read a tons of blogs. Most of the talks that I enjoy watching have to so with how to change the world. One of the ones that caught my eye was the one by Simon Sinek on the Golden Circle and the ideas that people don't buy what we do, but why we do it. I then went on to discover Gary Vaynerchuck where I learned the importance in adding value to your audience before asking them anything.  From T4T and Brene Brown I learned about the power of being vulnerable in sharing your story. 

All this information was being poured over me and I wanted to figure out how to put it all to use. I went around evangelizing how this could relate to customer service, or to marketing, or to sharing Jesus. The idea was that by doing a few of these ideas you could make a bigger impact in the world. I've always been about doing good and inspiring others to do the same. 

I began meeting with my friend, Martin Yan. Martin and I began to encourage each other with these grand ideas that we had been learning. We both began to do things in our company that could add value to our customers that had not been there already. For me it is customer service and blogging about how our customers could better serve their customers. As we spent time tossing inspiring blog posts and videos to each other during the week, one that he sent to me was a keynote from a marketing conference that he had attended. It was about this guy who had, in his life, been convicted to help provide clean water to everyone in the world. He created an organization called Charity:Water.

So, I immediately went out and donated thousands of dollars to his cause? Absolutely not. My first thought was, "There are plenty of people doing this. I don't need to."  Martin told me that he would be participating in the Giving Up Your Birthday campaign and asking his friends to donate his age in dollars to Charity Water.  I was pretty sure that I wouldn't give up mine because there was no way an introverted guy like me could raise much money.

As I thought about it more, I came to the realization that this would be the perfect way for me to tell my story. Charity Water could provide me the opportunity to share what God has done in my life as well as invite others to help make a difference. 

It was then decided that I would start my campaign. 

My goals were twofold. The first was to work hard to tell my story to as many people as possible. The second was to invite everyone to join me in making a difference for good in this world. 

Here are the steps I took to attempt to achieve this goal:

1. Create a campaign where I shared my story, my purpose, our (my friends, my family and myself) purpose, and an invitation. The invitation was literally a tiny part of everything else.

2. Set a high goal that I probably could not meet.

3. Create a good note to send to all of my friends of how they have impacted my life and invite to view my story

4. Personalize each message that I sent to each person of how they have personally touched my life

5. For my birthday I bought 108 donuts for my coworkers and invited them to read my story

6. Every person that asked about my birthday, I used that opportunity to share about charity water.

7. I normally turn off my wall for my birthday because I think it's an impersonal way of saying "Happy Birthday".  This time, every person that wrote 'Happy Birthday' on my wall got a personal message of how they have been a blessing to my life and then an invitation to check out my story or to thank them for donating and encourage them to pledge their birthdays.  I received over 70 wall posts, so I spent most of my birthday evening responding to them.

In every interaction I had,  rarely asked for them to donate, I only asked them to read my story.  My hope was that them knowing the value that they added to my life with the value that I hopefully added to their life would cause a kind of engagement that would not only encourage them to give, but would exhort them to join into having the same desire to change the world. 

In 8 days I was able to raise $3,330 from 71 different friends and family members

All this, for what?  Raising money is never the end goal. I believe that true value is if I can inspire others to do good. I believe that it is more valuable for me to inspire 10 people to give up their birthdays for clean water. They would not only raise more money than I could, but they could also inspire others to do the same and a cascade movement can happen. 

In the end I’m not about raising money, I’m about inspiring the masses to care.

This is my Charity:Water story. 

Your Trophy Case

When I purchased my house a few rooms had built in shelves.  The room that I decided to inhabit had one shelf that spans about half the length of the room.  I ended up using that shelf to throw up things that I would want to occasionally look at from time to time.  As I began doing different physical events, all of the medals I got after crossing that finish line would end up hanging from that shelf.  Through the 6 years that I've lived there, this shelf has become pretty full.  I looked at it the other day and realized that it has basically become my trophy shelf.  There are medals hanging down from it that remind me of different events that I've done how I had accomplished something difficult physically.  Though these "trophies" are from me crossing the finish line, they are not the most valuable trophies on my shelf.  A majority of this shelf is filled with cards and letters from people who have been in my life.  Most of them are testimonies of what kind of impact I have been in their lives or encouragements to me to continue pursuing greatness.

When you think about your trophy case, what do you have displayed?  Is it your job or career, your kids’ accomplishments, your stock portfolio or bank account, your grades, your major, your status in different social groups?  Or is your trophy case full of lives that you have impacted for good.  It should be full of ways that you have tried to make a difference in this world and to be a positive force of change.