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TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3,5)

Thank God for blessing West Loop abundantly in 2015.  Last year, Dr. Ben Toh preached on the first 28 of 66 chapters in Isaiah, and we learned many life lessons from this study.  Especially, Isaiah balances the message of judgment for sin and the mercy of God.  Isaiah’s message is for both the individual and the national scale.  Isaiah is one of the most commonly quoted Old Testament books in the New Testament.  Isaiah shows many glimpses of the coming Messiah, Jesus, including his virgin birth, the Wonderful Counselor…, and the Suffering Servant.  Isaiah also shows God’s guidance during a time of national crisis if only his people can have faith rather than putting too much reliance on the things of the world, such as international politics.  In November and December, Dr. Ben and Christy Toh visited Philippines UBF and Malaysia UBF.  While Dr. Ben was in the Philippines, several men at West Loop shared life testimonial messages called 'BC/AD'. It was inspiring to see how God worked in the men of our ministry. In the latter part of the year, our elders preached on a series from the book, How People Change by Timothy Lane and Paul Tripp.  This included special topics on sanctification and the Christian community.  At Thanksgiving, we enjoyed a joint worship service with IIT.

At our worship services this past year, I organized an additional weekly Bible reading from the historic Christian lectionary.  Each Sunday Becky Lomahan read meaningfully and dramatically from the Psalms over the summer and from Luke’s gospel during the Christmas season.  The purpose of the lectionary is to “declare the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27) through public reading of verses covering most of the Bible every three years, and focusing on the high points of Jesus’ incarnation at Christmas and Jesus’ death and resurrection at Easter.  It is not intended to be a legalistic system, but is a meaningful complement to our Sunday messages and introduces a connection to Christian history and ecumenism.

West Loop’s college group organized the Easter Conference, which featured a lock-in for students on Saturday night, a Passover meal on Easter Sunday, and a fun skit game based on the Easter Bible passages.  At the beginning of the summer, we celebrated a send-off for Sarah Lomahan, who graduated from UIC in public health and went to Zambia to serve the Peace Corps.  We also celebrated a send-off for Jessica Sun, who graduated from the Master’s Program in Music at DePaul, and returned to her home in North Carolina to begin a job in music education.   Over the summer, the college students went on a camping retreat in Wisconsin hosted by Len and Liliana Austria.  They studied the fruits of the spirit from Gal 5:22.  We also had a delightful visit with Pastor Abraham and Dr. Liz Lincoln’s family from Boston.

My family led the HBF Bible class and followed Dr. Ben Toh’s lessons on Isaiah; one of our favorite key verses is “Come let us reason together” (Is 1:18a), which reminds us that Jesus always opens the way for us to restore fellowship with God and others with meaningful and edifying communication.  Later in the year, the HBF class studied Christian apologetics, following a book titled, “When God Goes to Starbucks”, which generated practical discussion on a variety of cultural, ethical, and intellectual questions that are commonly asked by their peers.   Daniel Cook graduated from Lincoln Park High School this year and began his first semester at Grinnell College in Iowa studying mathematics.  Lizzy Henkins has been leading and organizing a Bible club at Jones High School.  Timmy Fitch has been the audio-visual technician for the West Loop worship services and events throughout the past several years.  Both Lizzy and Timmy will graduate from high school this coming spring and are praying about entering college next fall.  Mary Cook is a sophomore at Walter Payton High School and has been playing the piano for the West Loop praise band at Sunday services.  Noah Fitch began his freshman year of high school at Jones and is a fast runner on the track team; Noah has a vision to excel in business and pursue charitable endeavors through his studies.

This summer my family went to eastern Michigan to bless the wedding of Jenny’s Bible students, Tiffany and Meng.   We also blessed the wedding of Albert and Kelsey Sohn in Chicago.  It is a great encouragement to see the beginning of a new generation of young families in Christ.

My key verse for 2016 is Proverbs 3:5, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”  I learned from Isaiah study the importance of trusting God rather than the things of the world.  However, I found that I still have many fears.  I worry about my children’s college education, my parent’s health, and many other things.  I need to trust in God and know his love and guidance for the new year.  West Loop ministry celebrates its 8th year anniversary in 2016.  This gives us a mood of remembrance of God’s grace in the past and also vision for the future.  Our motto at West Loop is “Living out the gospel in life and community.” 

Prayer for 2016

1. Be present for others and nurture friendships. (1 Peter 4:10). Specifically, our elders are praying to be more pastoral. We want to open our hearts and provide a listening ear to each of our members. 

2. Give more to the community (Acts 20:35).

3. Each of our members may find our gifts and use them for the glory of God (Romans 12:6-8). Our elders may support members to cultivate and sharpen their gifts.

4. God may bless our Isaiah sermons and book studies in 2016.