January 2016: A Word from Pastor Sun Hee

Happy New Year! I can’t believe it’s 2016!

I don’t know about you, but I have some mixed feelings about the New Year these days. As much as I like the feeling of newness and witnessing my son, Kevin, grow up and flourish, I am not sure if I am so fond of the idea of getting one year older. These days, I wake up with some aches here and there reminding me of the reality that I am certainly not getting any younger. And though I sometimes feel like I am still twenty years old inside, my body does not necessarily agree!

In all seriousness, I do know that I have a really blessed life. I should have no complaints. At the same time, however, I worry that life is less filled with newness and less opportunities for new doors. When I was actually twenty, I lived pretty optimistically and believed that “anything is possible with God.” That attitude has brought me to where I am today, and for the most part, I still believe that to be true. But living as a forty-something person, I realize that many of the major elements of my life are now determined – my vocation, my family, children and so on. I wonder if there are fewer doors available in my life now.

Recently, I was reminded of some words from Pastor John Ortberg who makes an argument that no matter where you are in life, there are no shortages of new doors and new opportunities. This is what he writes in his book, All the Places to Go…How Will You Know?:

Every morning is an open door; every moment can become one. Some of us see the doors and seize them, and so life becomes a divine adventure. Some of us shrink back or fail to see. A room with no door is a prison. To fail to embrace the open door is to miss the work God has made for us to do. If we want to experience more of the Spirit of God in our lives, we need to train ourselves to look for and respond to moments of divine opportunity.

Indeed, every morning is an open door. Every day is a new day and a new gift. This is what I forgot in my moment of sadness. No matter what, no matter who, no matter when, each of us are given each day freely and equally. I was so struck with that notion in Ortberg’s book: “A room with no door is a prison.” It takes training for us to look for and respond to moments of divine opportunity. Granted, I now have some things under my belt, so now I can potentially tackle other divine opportunities that God is calling me to. If I fail to recognize this, I can actually become a prisoner (something that my twenty year old self vowed that I would never become!).

There is a quote that says, “To find out what’s on the other side of an open door, you’ll have to go through it.” This is so true. This is what I’m committing my new year for, and I hope and pray that you will also be able to discover those open doors and boldly and courageously walk through them. God is setting before us new adventures, and certainly God will be calling us to experience the best year of our lives yet! Say yes to that call and welcome in 2016 with incredibly faith and eagerness!

Praying for all those amazing doors,

Pastor Sun Hee