Graduating from law school in May was an important milestone and such a clear reminder of God's goodness and faithfulness in my life. I remembered coming to Hastings and SF Campus 4 years ago, how scared and insecure I felt back then, and how many countless people loved, guided, encouraged and took care of me during those stressful years.

As soon as I walked out of the auditorium after the ceremony, I was bombarded with flowers, hugs, congratulations; people went out of their way to talk to my parents and make them feel welcome; some left early to set up the AV equipment at the restaurant, and Mike Ho had made a picture slideshow of all the graduates. At the graduation banquet, I saw the faces of so many leaders who had reached out to me ever since freshman year of college, my peers with whom I shared so much history together, and the brothers and sisters at SF Campus. I was overwhelmed by the goodness of God, that He brought me into this church and loving community that I did not deserve or earn in any way. Were it not for this church, I would have lived a miserable, stressed out and self-centered life, only caring about my GPA, what my classmates and professors though of me, and whether I could land a good job. I would have pushed out everyone else so that I could advance my career. But God had provided a church where I was constantly reminded that law school was not the ultimate reality of my life, and that when law school was over, only the treasures in heaven would last.

Taking the bar exam was also a clear reminder of how much I am loved. It was a time that would normally have been an intensely stressful, fearful, and isolating experience. That was the case. But during the whole process, so many people went out of their way to let us know that they cared and we were not alone. Many people told us they were praying for us, many cooked us food throughout the summer so that we wouldn't have to. Once I got sick right before the bar, and Irene drove all the way out to the Tower and brought me food, two days in a row. When my laptop got stolen during the summer, Lillian Chung immediately gave me her laptop for a month. Several people gave me Starbucks gift cards, even Phil Su who I barely knew. During the bar exam, my Home Group sister staff prepared a huge ice chest full of food, snacks and drinks so that we could eat lunch in our hotel room and not have to worry about lunch. My peers in Alameda came all the way out to our hotel in Oakland to bring us dinner every day of the bar exam, even though we had not asked or expected them to do it in any way. Annie Song brought us lunch on the last day of the bar exam and was such a cheerful and encouraging presence, even though we later found out that she had just heard discouraging news about her cancer. The sisters took us out to dinner at Tony Roma's to celebrate with us after the bar exam was over. Finally, I was supposed to move out of the Tower two days after the bar exam, but I was too stressed out to think about it. But to my surprise, some of the brothers had already planned out the move, rented a U-Haul for us, and had already assigned people to help that Saturday morning.

This was not even a complete list of all the love and prayers I received during this summer. Looking back, it's just astounding at how much love God poured out on me through this church, even in this one snapshot. It's not because I deserve it or I contribute so much to this church, but just because I happen to be part of this community.

It hasn't even been one month that our group, Kairos 4, has begun officially as a campus group in Berkeley, but to our joy and excitement, God has brought us about 10 students who have been regularly joining us for our Bible studies and fun activities. This past weekend was our first extended time together with a subset of those students, and it was a wonderful opportunity to "struggle" together through an uphill battle against nature (pun fully intended). In the midst of LOTR-like fog drifting through towering redwoods, we shared stories, fears, close-encounters with monster banana slugs from another planet, and a delicious picnic lunch together (okay, it was just a sandwich, but man does ANYTHING taste incredible after a 4-mile walk/hike!). I most enjoyed just getting to know each other, taking those first steps in what we hope to be God-given, life-long relationships.

As this is a semester of some new beginnings for all of us in Kairos, staff and students alike, it's been appropriate that we've begun our Bible studies in John 1, "In the beginning was the Word." It's only been a month, but I look forward to sharing not only in these kinds of Muir Woods memory-makers, but really growing closer to each other and taking steps closer to God in His Word.

Catching 18 rainbow trout, devouring mounds of food around a campfire, taking four college grads to set up makeshift tents around two trees, kayaking and intense water fights at two lakes, staying up to watch the Olympics, playing mind-stretching group games, travailing the rugged terrain to enjoy the view at Faucherie Lake, and hiking near the scenic Island Lake. Our Praxis home group did a lot over this past weekend's Sierra Trip, but despite the flurry of activity, one of the most unforgettable parts of the trip was not so much in all the commotion, but it was in just spending time together and getting close to people in our home group.

Throughout this past weekend, we did a lot together, but more importantly, we got a chance to "let our hair down a little" as it were, and get to know each other better through shared meals, shared games, and in short, shared memories, away from the hustle and bustle of daily life. It was, as we often say in our church, a memory-making moment, when we caught 18 rainbow trout at the Jackson Meadow Reservoir, or when four kayaks full of sisters tried to instigate a water fight against just two brothers, yet still ended drenched when they arrived back on shore, or when one sister ran away from a water snake faster than Usain Bolt ran the 100 meter dash. (OK, she wasn't as fast, but she was just as exciting to watch.) The trip was less about accomplishing a particular agenda, or who caught more fish, or who won the group games, but more about simply doing life together.

Some people who come to our church for the first time might feel overwhelmed by the sea of faces on a typical Sunday Worship Service, but this trip with our home group brought us together. It was perhaps reminiscent of the Acts 2 church—being together, breaking bread, and eating together with glad and sincere hearts, but this time, instead of breaking bread, it was banana boats, s'mores, rainbow trout and relational barriers, so that together, we could marvel at God's masterpiece in nature and praise Him for the bountiful blessings of Christ-centered relationships in our lives.

For those who I've talked with, no one told me that preparing for their wedding was stress-free. They always talk about how stressful it was. And for us, this was no exception. What I do find as the exception, though, is the amount of help we received from people and how much more stressful it could have been. Someone was in charge to set up the reception, another to decorate the church, another person had to gather the heavy sound equipment, and the list goes on and on. The amount of people coming together to help us joyfully when we simply don't deserve it represents how much we've been loved at this church ever since the very beginning when we both started coming to this youth group (Yumi since her junior year in high school and myself since the 7th grade). Yumi and I were flooded by gratitude as we saw all the people God has blessed us with. From our parents to our family and friends, each face reminded us of what kinds of paths they walked through with us in the past, from spiritually dark times to moments of triumph. If it weren't for them, we would not be in love with God as we are now, and our hearts would not be as spacious for others. But through words of truths, encouragements, and exhortations, through sharing downtimes together, through the tears and laughter, and in short, through spending life together, we were able to just give all glory to God. And as we have been loved by many married couples at our church through their open lives and homes, we also committed to do the same, to love God more together, and to remember our wedding so that we may always be grateful.

As Annie, my wife, just finished her first week of chemotherapy last Friday, I had a chance to reflect on how this experience of her battle with cancer, while frightening, also enabled me to experience God’s blessing of love and encouragement from many people at our church. The entire week that Annie was going to the hospital for her chemotherapy shots, there was someone who drove her there and waited with her there as she received her shots. Throughout the week, we received innumerable visitors, bringing bright words of cheer and encouragement, bouquets of flowers, and dinners so that she wouldn’t have to cook. Additionally, we received dozens of emails and phone calls of encouragement. Here is a basic summary of the people who came over on Thursday night:

• Kevan and Jenny Ho (with baby Abigail in tow) came over with Caroline Ogasawara (just back from Taiwan missions). Jenny and Caroline started cutting up fruit so that Annie could it eat it later.
• Suzanne Suh was in the kitchen putting away dishes in an organized fashion.
• Ben and (a very pregnant) Helen Park brought dinner from Seoul Gomtang.
• Carol Kim brought over her small group girls Sophia, Difan, Grace, and Sally.
• Jiseon Choi brought over little Sophie.
• Daemin and Ahmi from our San Francisco campus brought flowers and prayed for Annie and me.
• Yumi and Joanna brought over their home group: Azusa, Kathy, Vivian, Jing, Victoria, Robin, and Tina. They brought over a big box of Specialties cookies (the best cookies in the world).

This is just a snapshot of ONE night last week. (In fact, I think there were more people who came over while I stepped out for a bit!) It’s such a vivid picture of the loving community and church we are part of. Although cancer is not a situation that we want to be in, I am grateful for the opportunity we have had to experience so much love and support through it. Through this, I’ve been able to appreciate God’s rich blessings in my life more. This is truly the church. This is how we are supposed to live life. I can’t imagine how someone would be able to go through a trial like this on his own. Through our connection together in this faith community called Gracepoint, knowing that others are praying for us and providing for our needs -- and seeing that God, ultimately, is behind it all and loving us through them -- we have been able to face even a trial like cancer with good cheer and great hope.