Letters by Soo

Art Meditations

Published on June 17, 2019June 17, 2019 by lettersbysooLeave a comment

I wouldn’t mind living in a farm with books for the rest of my life:

Published on June 16, 2019June 16, 2019 by lettersbysooLeave a comment

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IMG-20190611-WA0006 — My friend’s parents allowed me to have this pig as my pet. After some thought, I decided to name it Rougene 🙂

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Sermon Notes Day of Pentacost: TGC Williamsburg, June 9, 2019_Tyler Staton_When the Advocate Comes Series & Personal Reflections

Published on June 10, 2019June 10, 2019 by lettersbysooLeave a comment

What does a pentacost filled community look like?

Spirit with the father

Spirit in the son

Spirit fills us

Spirit through us

Unity

Unity with God that could never be taken

Most of us feel based on our performance near or close to God (a problem)

The Holy Spirit assures us of our belovedness to God

Unity with One-another : seeing the worst in each other and continuing to love

The bible says power always serves love.

Mandate: Simply, humbly, intentionally love.

Suffering

“We must be careful not to pray ‘come holy spirit’ unless we are prepared to ‘go with the holy spirit’ – Simon Ponsonby

Passion:

root in latin: willing to suffer for

“We live in a city suffering for things with an expiration date.”

The path to glory comes by way of the cross

Joy

“Energy is cheap, joy is costly”

An experience: “Every single one of the kids so filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit carried a story that dragged” with the tragedies and sadness of their experiences (kids with trauma of some kind of sexual abuse)

“The holy spirit puts Jesus back at the center” always.

Joy when you know who you’re dealing with in Jesus.

“A dislike of enthusiasm is one of the greatest hindrances to revival”

Martyn Lloyd Jones

A reflection:

For a while, I wanted to end the pain I felt, the life I could not feel one semblance of joy in, a life I thought was beyond saving, a self I could no love. At the height of my depression in 2014, God met me in my dark, lonely place beyond hope and touched a scared & broken me that had cried out blindly in vitriolic hate and anger to a God that was supposed to exist.

He struck with me so much light and love– I had thought those two didn’t exist in my life anymore.

Yesterday, I walked into Trinity Grace Church with a heavy heart, worn by the cumulative emotional and mental weight of my experiences the past 3 months, but expectant and filled with a certain hope still that I’d praise and seek comfort in the counsel of my one great Father, my God. During worship, a song came up that I’m very familiar with, and these verses

And I will build my life upon your Love
It is a firm foundation
I will put my trust in You alone
And I will not be shaken

struck me and brought me back to a memory at a Bangkok church one Sunday morning in July 2014, where I made a promise to God to start living and to stop existing.

In TGC I feel God’s presence so tangibly, like I’ve never before.

I am grateful to be nearer to him. I am grateful to be alive. I am grateful to feel. I am grateful to have suffered. I am grateful to love. I am grateful to be alive right now to drink from the deepest wellsprings of happiness and to share in the joys and sorrows of my life and those around me. And for that all I feel joy this morning.

Prayer

Published on June 3, 2019June 3, 2019 by lettersbysooLeave a comment

6.3.2019_Monday_Paris

After reading Acts 8-9

Lord, sometimes we go on our ways thinking it is the right thing to pursue only to find that we’ve been working against you and your glorification.

We’re praying all along, but we’re not praying for the right things, asking to see the right things.

Help me God to better hear your voice. Teach me to pray and meditate so that I may be closer to your heart and your will.

On Wheat Allergies and Observing Reactions to the Same Foods in the US and France

Published on June 3, 2019June 3, 2019 by lettersbysooLeave a comment

My younger sister has a pretty severe wheat allergy and it’s been interesting to see her body not react negatively to any of the baguettes here and many of the other breads on offer.

She is allergic to a specific wheat protein which doesn’t preclude her from all wheat based foods, but she’s had a hard time in the US being able to just walk into any bakery or eat restaurant breads without getting some kind of reaction. Because of this, in the USA she cooks a lot or goes to very specific restaurants that she knows are safe and provide friendly options for her specific diet.

In France, she has been swallowing breads by the foot.

I wonder what kind of wheat the French are using and where it’s from that makes her react positively in such a way?

I’d have to figure out where businesses are getting the bulk of their wheat, and if it’s from France, the terroir must be very pleasing for the sis’s genes.