What Are We Living For?

Hi friends! I have not blogged in AGES. I started making videos and podcasts instead. But today I don’t feel like being in front of a camera, so I decided to just show up for you all in a different space, my blog. I look pretty worn out this week as we have been grieving the loss of a dear friend and mentor, Pastor Fred Hsu. I wanted to share some thoughts here about our beloved Pastor Hsu.

Pastor Hsu was my Senior pastor for the majority of my 20’s. He and his wife (Molica) were a wonderful, godly, and loving couple. I worked as an intern at our church for one year and after Chris and I got married, Chris was an associate pastor in this church for 7 years. So much of my walk with God was formed in this church. At this church I learned about God, family, healing, and the power of the Holy Spirit. I also learned and saw how a husband and wife can lead a church together, like a family. The relationships, teachings, and encounters I had with God in these years have literally shaped my walk with God and I was able to carry this with my family to every state and nation that we have lived in since. I know that this isn’t just my story though. Most of us who attended this church were also profoundly impacted by the teachings and Holy Spirit encounters here.

2 Timothy 4:7-8 says, “ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge will award me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

Will we be able to say this at the end of our lives?

Are we living each day knowing eternity is coming, with longing in our hearts for His appearing?

Pastor Hsu lived this way. He fought the good fight. He finished the race. He kept the faith.

In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14, 16-18 it says,

“Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him…For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.”

I love that these words are in the Bible for various reasons, but today I am thankful for HOPE and ENCOURAGEMENT. Isn’t it amazing that even in death, we can still have hope in God, hope in His return, hope that we can see our loved ones again in eternity? Isn’t it also comforting to know that even though discouragement will come, we can “encourage each other with these words”?

As much as I hate it, death is an inevitable part of life. I was believing, praying, and fasting for a miracle for our dear friend along with his loved ones, but that didn’t happen. As a spiritual daughter, I grieve. But thankfully in Christ, I can grieve with HOPE.

Pastor Hsu’s legacy will live on in our hearts and will be passed down to the future generations. He deposited so much in his natural family, but he was also a spiritual father to so many of us around the world. The lessons he and his wife Molica demonstrated and taught us about loving God with everything, loving our families well, seeking out every gift of the Holy Spirit, and hungering to learn more about God in every season and decade of our lives, have forever marked my life.

We love you Pastor Hsu. Thank you for showing me and so many how to truly run the race well. Until we meet again…