I love picking out my word for the year. In reality, I’ve only done it once, but I got pretty excited about that one time back in 2011. My word for that year was COURAGE.

In 2012 (also known as the year of my blogging incompetence), I didn’t choose a word. But as I look back on the year, I would choose UNDERSTANDING. In retrospect, more than learning new things, I actually gained a deeper understanding of things I thought I already knew (I’ll save that post for another time).

Since this morning, I’ve been praying for a word for 2013. Guess what? I don’t have one–at least, not yet. It’s a little frustrating if you ask me.

But then I remember a story in the Bible where King Jehoshaphat is faced with a whole barrage of Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites out to wage war against him. It says in 2 Chronicles 20:3:

“Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord…” (this sounds familiar)

He proclaims a fast for all the people of Judah, and in front of everyone, he prays this prayer where he starts off with remembering who God is–that He is powerful and mighty, and that He hears and saves.

It’s a long prayer which you can read here, but the part I love the most is the end of the prayer where this King–the man who people looked up to when it came to ruling over them and making decisions–addressed God and declared in front of all the people:

“We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” (2 Chronicles 20:12)

That’s one of my favorite excerpts from the Bible.

There are times when I don’t know what to do, what to think, or even what to pray for, but I take comfort in the fact that not knowing the answers I seek doesn’t have to mean death. Whew!

I think the fact that Jehoshaphat spent some time remembering who God is made a huge difference. Because when you’re caught between a rock and a hard place, it’s tough to fix your eyes on a God you can’t see (or sometimes you can’t even feel). The only thing you can do is to dig through your brain and remember who He is.

Which begs the question…who do you know God to be?

Something to think about as we start 2013! ;-) Happy new year, friends!

1. Blue Like Jazz – I’ve always loved this book by Donald Miller and now I love the movie. Rarely ever do I love a movie as much as I love the book it was based on because I can be such a critic like that (don’t even ask me about The Hunger Games). But I thought this movie was awesome. The story is great because it’s real and relatable, and it’s told in such an authentic, fun, and beautiful way. Here’s the trailer:

2. The Power of Vulnerability by Brené Brown – I know this TED talk isn’t that new, but thanks to my friend, Laura, who recommended it, I finally got around to watching it. Perfect timing.

3. Listening to Shame by Brené Brown – Of course, I had to listen to the follow-up.

4. Real Security and the Call of God – This was a message preached by Timothy Keller in the church he leads in New York about the story of Abraham, which is one of my all-time favorite stories. How can I not be captivated by the journey of a man who stepped out of his comfort zone without knowing where he was going?

5. What I Learned About To-Do Lists from My Eight-Year-Old Son by Barry Hill, Jr. – This is a simple story with a powerful lesson. Great read.

6. Discover Your Dream: Kenton Beshore and Bob Goff – This was an event done at our church a couple of weeks ago. I loved the energy, and I took down notes like crazy. I always love the wisdom and conviction that our senior pastor, Kenton, brings to the table, and Bob Goff…what can I say. One of my favorite people, ever. If you’ve read Donald Miller‘s book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, you’ll get a picture of how captivating and fun Bob Goff is. He’s an awesome storyteller.

Have you come across any great stories lately? Do share!

In the midst of doing what needed to be done, I was surprised that I actually felt calm and at peace. But as soon as I finished what I needed to do, I found myself nervous and anxious. I started second-guessing myself and I wondered if I should regret what I did.

Forty long minutes, 30 troubled thoughts, and 20 deep breaths later, here’s what I realized:

Whenever I do something different or new, I find courage by my side. But for me, courage is like an acquaintance. I don’t know how to deal with courage because I’m not very familiar with it. How do I keep courage around? What do we talk about? How do we move forward?

Fear, on the other hand, is like an old friend. I know fear so well. Fear has been with me for so long, I can hear its voice in my sleep. I know fear better than I know myself. I hear the voice of fear all the time and I always know what it would say in every situation. This is why fear so often rules my life.

But fear has been a terrible friend. It’s done nothing but keep me worried, anxious, and stressed. It has caused me to be silent when I needed to speak up and it has caused me to hide when I needed to step out of the shadows. Fear has kept me stuck. It has deprived me of possibilities and stolen my joy, over and over again.

I need courage. It may not be familiar, but that can change. Just like any friendship, we need to hang out more if I want to get to know courage better. And as much as I want courage to take the lead, sometimes I have to take the first move. It means I have to step out of my comfort zone and take a risk. Sometimes it means I have to be vulnerable as I wait for courage to come around.

Why does courage have to be so difficult? I guess it’s because courage is special. Just a dose of courage can change what seems unchangeable and make everything possible.

Today, I choose courage, and I’ll probably have to choose it over and over again. It could be awkward and things could get ugly…but I have a feeling it’s worth it.

©iStockphoto.com/DNY59

I know I’m not the only one with this problem. Why do we let ourselves stay stuck? Maybe it’s because once upon a time, we made a move and we got hurt. Maybe we’re just paralyzed by the fear of making a big mistake. Maybe we’re just too numb, too overwhelmed, or too tired. Maybe it’s all of the above.

“One thing that is self-evident about God is that He is not into stagnation.”
-Michael Dye, The Genesis Process

This weekend, I found myself faced with two choices: I could start blogging again, even though it’s been so long since I last blogged and I had no idea what I was going to write…or I could continue to let myself be stopped by the multiple excuses swirling around in my head. The truth is that these past few months, I’ve been wanting to blog, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

So I figured that I could continue to think about blogging and feel bad about not doing anything about it, or I could just keep on typing–hoping and believing that as I put my thoughts down, they’ll somehow make sense.

Lately, I’ve been learning (or more accurately, I’ve been “re-learning”) the importance of breaking out of my normal routines and comfort zones and taking steps of faith. It’s a new year, and if I want to experience new things, I need to take those little steps. I get too bogged down with thinking of what could possibly go wrong, but I can also get too obsessed with what could possibly go right. What I really need to do is take one step at a time, stop stressing over the possible results, see what happens next, and just have faith.

But it all starts with one little step. Here’s mine.

If there’s one step that you feel you need to take today, what would it be?

- Thomas H. Green, S.J., When the Well Runs Dry

Have you ever planned your own surprise party? It just doesn’t work that way, right? No one wants to plan their own surprise party. But oftentimes, that’s what we do. In our eagerness to experience blessings, we take matters into our own hands and try to work out all the details of our story. Can you relate to this? I know I’ve been guilty!

In recent years, I’ve been learning to let go of the details and leave them in God’s hands because I realized that He’s just way better at writing my story.

Several years ago, I lived in New York. I wanted to be in the middle of all the action, where I could experience something different every day. I dreamed of climbing the “ladder of success.”

But I didn’t stay there for long. Due to a variety of circumstances, I ended up going back home to Manila. It was heartbreaking for me back then because I really wanted to stay in New York.

But today I can say for certain that everything worked out better than I imagined. If my plan was followed–if I ended up staying in New York–I would have missed out on a lot of great experiences which I treasure today. I also would not have met a lot of the amazing people in my life right now.

I’m currently living in Southern California, and I have to say, as great as New York is, this is so much more me. I love driving around Orange County and I love being 10 to 15 minutes away from the beach. I love sitting by the water and watching the sunset. And to top it all off, the weather is pretty awesome too.

Detours can be disappointing, but the next time you encounter one, you can hold on to this promise:

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,
who have been called according to his purpose.” -Romans 8:28

Can you think of a detour in your life that turned out to be a blessing? Tell us about it!

©iStockphoto.com/CamiloTorres

I’ll be honest–I can answer “yes” to all of those questions. But a couple of months ago, I learned a valuable lesson from a fascinating leader named Bob Goff: being noticed isn’t really all that important. Your popularity doesn’t define your purpose, and becoming well-known isn’t a prerequisite for making an impact.

Of course, it’s possible to look at someone like Steve Jobs and think otherwise. Obviously, his life (and death) made a huge impact on the world. He did great things AND he was known worldwide–that’s incredible, right? But there are millions of other heroes in the world apart from the ones profiled in magazines and they’re no less incredible.

Goff wrote a great post about “secretly incredible leadership” on the Catalyst site a couple of months ago, and I still think about it often.

Here’s an excerpt:

Secretly Incredible Leadership
By Bob Goff

These days, it’s tempting to size your impact on the world by how many Twitter followers you have. Or unique hits to your blog. Or people in your pews. Or revenue targets achieved. Or whatever. It’s always been this way, I guess, though the metrics we use are always changing.

I believe we’re all hardwired pretty much the same way—to want recognition and praise, to be affirmed for the good work we’re doing. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it, but too often we make praise the point.

I think God operates in a totally different economy, one that’s not dependent on optimizing search engines, percentages, or any other feathers in our cap. Instead, I think God’s smile is the biggest when we are secretly incredible and when our leadership changes one life or a thousand lives without a lot of fanfare.

There is an old friend of mine, Don, who’s since gone home to be with God—he was secretly incredible.
Click here to read the rest of the post…

When you’re done reading the post, come back and let me know what you think! Were you inspired? Encouraged? Challenged? How did it make you feel?

Go ahead, fill in the blank!

Are you looking forward to something? I’ve got a number of things on my list. I can’t wait to..

• reunite with the rest of our Vanguard University cohort tomorrow (we only see each other one week/semester)
• watch Tony Bennett in concert on the 24th (I’m a fan, seriously.)
• see my family again (some of them are coming to visit, I can’t wait!)
• experience autumn in California (I don’t think I’ve ever been here during fall season)

…and the list goes on. These are just some of the things that come to mind. But one other thing that I’m really looking forward to is the Women of Faith event in Anaheim. I’ve never been to a Women of Faith conference, but I’ve heard such wonderful things.  My friend, Sam, went last year and she raved about it, so I’ve always wanted to go. Inspiring talks and great music (Mandisa and Amy Grant!) in one event? Count me in! Who’s with me???

If you’re in the area, you can still register for the Women of Faith event in Anaheim which is happening on September 9 and 10 at the Honda Center. Otherwise, they have events happening all over the US, so you can catch one if they come to a city near you.

Your turn…what are you looking forward to?

- Christopher J.H. Wright, The Mission of God’s People

Can’t see the video? View it here: Blue Like Jazz the Movie Official Trailer

This is the spot where I work on my papers, go through my books, pay my bills, write letters to my friends, and have Skype chats with my family.

I spend a lot of time at this desk, so it’s only fitting that I put some stuff in front of me that I want to remember: pictures of loved ones, encouraging notes, inspiring verses, and some other random things. Last week, I cut out this excerpt from the Catalyst Atlanta brochure and pasted it on the wall:

This is a challenge that faces me not just today but every single day (I even wrote about it a couple of weeks ago). Sometimes, I’m too consumed with things that are far ahead in the future that I forget to thoroughly appreciate, honor, and invest in what’s in front of me today.

Do you find yourself facing this challenge too? What do you do to stay focused on the present?