By Anonymous

Recently God has been using two books, Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend and Soul Care by Dr. Rob Reimer, to teach me that I am still a work in progress. Some days I succeed and some days I fail. Through the Holy Spirit, my goal is to bring God glory in all that I do, say and think.

In Boundaries, there are illustrations on how living with boundaries is necessary to protect one’s good and keep out the bad. Remember the parable of the Good Samaritan? Yes, he bandaged the injured victim of a robbery, found a safe lodging for him, and found a caring person to help the injured person recover. Let’s imagine a little…but what if the injured person insisted that the Good Samaritan stay and take care of him until he recovered? Maybe the Good Samaritan was on the road traveling to a business appointment to broker a camel trade? Read more →

By Abby J.

These past 5 days I feel that God really wanted to overcome me with his presence. In every worship session I felt an overwhelming sense of joy that I know can only be from God. When i worshipped him, suddenly all of my problems and all the worries I had coming here seemed so insignificant. In his presence, nothing else mattered.

“No one is greater than him,” now carries so much weight. Before I would hear these things without taking it to heart, but when I was in his presence and heard these simple phrases, I was brought to tears because all of the love he has poured out on me now felt so real. For all the times when God has revealed images, words, promises to me in the past, I felt that this week he has been reminding me of his goodness. Read more →

By Joe C.

This week, I had a lot of breakthroughs in my life. I’ve always struggled with my identity, and felt awkward around others because I wasn’t confident in who I was, There was a hole inside me, a brokenness that couldn’t be sealed, I through that if people praised my name and I got a lot of compliments the hole would be filled. But I was Wrong, in fact, it made me feel even worse and the hole increased. On Thursday, during Freedom in Worship, Angus led a time where we tore off our fake “skin” of lies, from the enemy. During that time, God spoke to me and it was such a powerful moment. I’ve med to get rid of my sickness and false identity before, but this time I really felt that God was tearing off all the lies I was believing in. When the steament ended, I felt free and was ready to be the person God made me to be. But there still was a hole inside me, and even after that prophetic moment I still struggled with hows about what others think. I was really disappointed because I thought I broke through one of my biggest problems. But God had different plans for my breakthrough. Read more →

By Henry Leung

The light is red. Elderly gentleman on your right. Soccer mom with van full of kids to your left. “Vroom… vroom…” the Red dims and Green illuminates. Suddenly, you grow a lead foot and you channel your inner Speed Racer, going from 0 to 60 in 5.6 seconds. Only… that same lead foot smashes the brakes because the next light turns red. And slowly, the same Cadillac pulls up to your right. Soccer mom pulls up to your left.

I live approximately 10 miles from church. On a Sunday morning when I’m running just a tad late… instead of the Speed Limit… (which is a regulation, not a recommendation), I’ll lightly lean in on the gas pedal in hopes of getting there faster! Well, here’s some farmer’s math for you…

At a rate of 60 mph, it takes me 10 minutes to travel 10 miles.
At a rate of 65 mph, it takes me 9.2 minutes to go 10 miles.
At a rate of 70 mph, it takes me 8.6 minutes to go the same 10 miles.
And just for giggles… going an average of 75 mph earns me 8 minutes. It might even earn me a speeding ticket, all for shaving 2 minutes off the commute time. Read more →

By Benjamin Shih

The Mexicali short term missions trip was great! We did a lot of work and I learned a lot. We were once again partnered with the Oasis Church, so much of our work was with them. The first morning, my group did construction at the church. We plastered inside the same room we helped frame last year, so we were lucky, due to the fact that we plastered an air conditioned room, as opposed to working outside in the heat, like we did last year. At night, we led a summer camp at a local park. Many of the kids from the church came, along with some other kids who were hanging out at the park. We had worship, games, skits, crafts, and a Bible lesson. We ran one of these 4 out of the 5 nights we were there…Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday (Thursday, we lead a worship service at the church). I was on the worship team playing the cajon, which I really enjoyed. The next day, our group did street ministry, cleaning up a park and handing food and drink out to those living there. My Dad did a short teaching before we handed out the food. The next 2 mornings, I did construction again, this time working outside, building trusses for a roof the first morning, and installing them on the second morning. The final morning, we did chores at the church. That night, after the camp, we went to a night market. My experience in Mexicali has taught me 2 things: that prayer is powerful and to trust fully in God.    Read more →