Relocate

I decided to relocate my blog. I'm not very good with creating a design for a blog to appease my audiences senses; maybe I just don't have enough patience for design. I most definitely don't have the skillset. Maybe what it is, is that I don't have enough patience to achieve the skillset. Either way, I'm relocating to tumblr just because I've enjoyed the various background layouts it has offered me.

And maybe it just seems appropriate because it is most certainly a new season of life.

If you'd like to continue to follow my blog, here is the link:

www.ahumblemusing.tumblr.com

Blessings!

how my father sort of had one thing right

I think I'm about to go off on a "my father" series for the next two blog posts. It might happen. So be prepared. And be excited; because my father is certainly a respectable man.

Growing up, he didn't have much. And for those who were able to put poverty into perspective; they always grew up as the best kinds of people. In Guangzhou, China was where he was raised. In one broad sweep, the word that can define most people living in China, especially during the 20th century until the very primordial ages is confucian. One could think of many things when this word comes to mind. It can mean, simply, the person, with the story, with its history. It can mean traditional Chinese robes. It can mean fu-manchus. [And yes, I had to look that up for spelling accuracy.] 

It can start moving from the outward to the inward -- appropriately so -- and mean philosophical. Or it can mean virtue. It can mean family. It can mean spiritual. It certainly has been tampered with to mean religious, even though the only religiosity of confucianism is the belief in the god of disbelief or the god of human hands. It reminds me of a resounding exchange between the man, Elijah, with king Ahaziah. The man whose name means Yahweh is God says, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Is it because the God of life could not save that you are going to the god of death, for life? But anyways, this message is for another time.

Basically put, he can be described as confucian. And this is why he is so respectable among many. Devout, confucian men, whether or not they know they are, are respectable. They are men of integrity. They are consistent. They have follow-through. The eyes of men do not dictate the values they uphold. The approval of men is not higher than the belief within. And that is more than I can say even about some Christians who I know. 

My father, like any chinese man, head of the household, raised in poverty; was a stubborn man. He even is an ox within the chinese zodiac. Which speaks volumes. 

Growing up, my dad guided his children with the same kind of stubbornness. And who could blame him? He was raised knowing how to cook, clean, and take care not only of himself but of his entire family as early as 11 or 12 years of age. He went out to find work before some late-bloomers even hit puberty. He knew the life of #strugglebus times a million compared to most people I know. He came out successful. He was a businessman to some and salesperson to others by the age of 20. Others may even consider him an innovative entrepreneur. One thing he did not get right was that money was the keys to the kingdom. And, to some extent, that would have been right; if kingdoms were to end on this earth. Some might argue whether power be that key or money. Others would say money would lead to power. But I would say scrap the entire conversation because Jesus already had it. My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world. In fact, even clearer, he says, but take heart; I have overcome the world. So money and power? If we knew Jesus -- you and I -- we're above that.

The one thing he did get right though was this. As I was stressing over college finances my last year of college; as I was working at the local chipotle in the west suburbs of Illinois, trying to come up with the rent money month after month; as I was thinking about a trip to the east coast to visit seminaries and friends; he said something that made absolutely no sense to me at the time. See, my father knew how to make money and decided to love his children by spoiling them with material provisions. His love language was "acts of service" but sometimes I thought it also to be "gifts." He made a proposition that had been all too familiar to me. He wanted to buy me a new car. I could enumerate a myriad of reasons why I was against purchasing a new car, but basically, my response was a no. I remember asking him how much he actually made per year because I never believed that he told me the truth when I've asked him before. And because he also, like I am, believed that every moment can be a teaching moment; he popped the phrase. I quickly brushed it off as foolishness. And it wasn't until just last week that it was yet again impressed into my mind.

Son. A person will not know how to make money unless that same person would know how to spend money.

Practically speaking, that is the most foolish thing I've ever heard. And yet why did I not remember that Jesus was a practical fool when standing before those who laid their foundations for earthly kingdoms? A practical fool, but an eternal  sage.

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. (Galatians 6:7)

The world will speak practical wisdom, saying that you won't know how to spend money until you learn how to make money. Of course. Because how could you know the weight of money without knowing how cumbersome and toiling a process money-making requires? Those dollar bills, at some point in my childhood, literally demanded from my father his blood, sweat, and tears. And if I knew that, which I did not back in my younger years, I would have reconsidered when buying my pokemon booster packs with those glistening holographic cards week after week. I would have thought about my investments. I would have been wiser. Practically speaking, you're outtake has everything to do with your intake. So I knew that I would know how to spend money once I understood every drop of blood, sweat, and tear that came with making money. The opposite of what my father said.

But when I began to read the scriptures, and as I began to tithe, Jesus opened my eyes. I will reap what I sow. I will only gain as far as my giving allows me. I will only receive as much as what I've let go has paved the road for. The practice of opening our hands is one that needs also to be unlocked with the keys of the kingdom. When we open up our hands, we are so often ready to receive without being prepared to give. And isn't it so much like our american consumerism to just consume? Isn't it so much like our church attitude to think about receiving at least a certain amount before actually beginning to give even an inkling back? Where do we think the prosperity gospel came from? The heart of the prosperity gospel was our misunderstanding of the practice of opening our hands. 

I cannot receive unless my hands become unclenched; but once they are unclenched, what I am saying is, God, you cannot fill my hands with your spiritual riches unless you take from my hands, the riches with which I have first filled it. And so the lyric should actually not be, you give and take away. Because the taking away comes first. And the receiving will never come until the taking comes first. The gift will never come until the giving comes first. The blessing of good preaching and an all-embracing community is vain unless we offer up our hands and knees for the fulfillment of the great commission. Because it was never intended to be done in that order. 

Although, the lyric rephrased to you take away and give me your blessings after is not your ideal lyric. Oh well. 

So with those reflections in mind, let our prayer be this Lord. You have given us all things, Lord. We do not want to rob you. As if you did not know we were withholding our investments, ha. Thank you for being gracious to us. You said: "and thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need."
 

Let the floodgates pour God.