sabbath delivered

This was a weekend of some deep rest for me. I had some time reflecting on faith, love and intimacy. I have been reading a lot C.S. Lewis and traveling with Donald Miller and exploring worlds and words with Frederick Buechner. It was much needed pause and interruption for me to listen, to feed my soul and to seek His face.

I am working on a reflection on Asian American ministry called "Exit Wounds" that will discuss some of my thoughts regarding the apparent splits that are happening in the Asian American Church. I would appreciate any insights that you may have to me at peter@palmny.org.

I just finished my Chinese midterms today and enjoying the opportunity to learn and glad to know that despite my age I am able to do reasonable job in learning the language. I am hoping that this will help in my future work in overseas or immigrant ministry.

If you have time join the blog-based discussion hosted by DJ Chuang on the book Growing Healthy Asian American Ministries by Peter Cha.

I am preparing for my trip to New Y ork City in two weeks for the long-awaited CD release of Jinny Kim's "Finding Ophelia" which reached #1 on Independent Band's Website! Here was my last year's reflection I had about musicians and their role in expressing the gospel.

During my time in New York City, I hope to connect with some pastors at the Pastoral and Laity Minsitries Monthly fellowship. I am hoping to meet with some leaders for the Campus Crusades for Christ EPIC movement. I will also spend some time with parents before they head out to East Asia to be with my uncle who suffered a stroke. Please pray for my sister as she is still undergoing some pretty rough patches in her divorce.

The Chinese Christian Herald Crusades English website template is completed and it looks great. Now we need to put in some of that content and we are ready to go. I am excited to launch this website in the upcoming weeks. Pray that this online ministry will help a larger body of believers to be inspired by what God is doing through this minsitry.

I am procrastinating on getting those prayer letters out. Spending too much time planning it and praying about it that I am really not looking forward to this part. Pray for a deeper faith for provision and understanding the importance of this call. I promise to have them out this week.

Jamie and I are leading an "Experiencing God" Study by Henry Blackaby and Claude King study. I remember meeting and getting to know Claude King as he was moving toward the New Hope, New York Prayer movement. It was a book that was very close to my heart in my early years of discipleship and my subsequent years of ministry. I pray that we can use this to impact the members of Syracuse Alliance Church's adult fellowship called Grace in Motion. Pray for us as we are leading a guys and gals group with another couple Dan and Yu-Ting.

I have been invited to speak at Overseas Chinese Mission Church's Hosanna Fellowship, the adult's career group for a Friends Night on June 19th. The theme will be "Are We There Yet?" to communicate hope to the driven focused people.

I have also been invited to speak at the Summer Conference for Grace Alliance Church in Brooklyn. I spoke there a few years ago for their Summer Conference, they are asking me to speak on July 4th Weekend which is the week before the New York Summer Conference. So pray for wisdom to decide.

I booked myself for a one-day retreat to Stella Maris Retreat and Renewal Center this Thursday, I am looking forward to a day of just basking in the beauty of God's creation and just reading and refreshing.

Thank you again and I miss you guys. Hope to see you in a few weeks! We might have another friend's gathering. Look forward to it. Be well!

So as I think of you, I leave you a quote from Mr. Buechner:

"Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else's skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too. "

May God's peace that surpasses all understanding be with you.