The Albuquerque Redemption

One of my favorite movies of all time is The Shawshank Redemption. I know just about everyone has seen it, but for my parents benefit, it is the story about a man named Andy Dufresne who was unjustly incarcerated for the murder of his wife. As you can imagine, he struggled to survive the miseries of prison life until a combination of providence, moxie and smart thinking, his life in the Shawshank Federal Penitentiary turned around. He was able to use his life in prison for much good to the benefit of many until he offended the powers that be and their grip on power and control. The prison commissioner tried to snuff out any possible independent thinking in Dufresne with tortuous power plays, but in a startling turn of events, Dufresne turned the tables completely, exposing the commissioner as the true criminal of the prison and at the same time, achieving freedom and deliverance for himself. I still remember watching this movie in the theater almost 20 years ago and being stunned by the turn of events. What a great movie!

My life is hardly at all like this movie. But any Shawshank reference is worth using! 2 years ago, I came to Albuquerque with great hopes of what God would do through the exaltation of His glorious greatness, the faithful preaching of His Word and the shepherding of His flock in love. It required some sacrifice just to get there, but in my mind, it was worth it. Unfortunately, things didn't work out so well. In the blink of an eye, I was unemployed with 3 little mouths to feed. Here I was, my hopes dashed; my dreams in dust and ashes; no job, no income and no future. What could I do? How were we going to survive?

I applied for every job I could imagine. Pastoral jobs, ministry related jobs and jobs related to my old secular career.  Whatever I could find, I applied for. I considered youth ministry, even though I am the furthest thing from a youth pastor. I considered church planting, even though I am the second furthest thing from a church planter. I considered everything because the pressure of providing was HUGE. My children were shaken by it all. My wife was broken. And I was a wreck. Nothing was working out, and we were preparing to all move into 1 BR and live with family and starting over - going back to school for me, taking out loans and trying to rebuild our lives.

But one of the paradox's of the Christian life is that in the darkest of nights, the light shines the brightest. Christ proved Himself sovereignly good and gracious and kind over and over again. First, God brought so many people to encourage us. So many old friends encouraged us specifically to stand firm in the faith and affirmed us in the love of Christ. But God also physically brought alongside of us people who truly became our family in Christ here in ABQ. They encouraged us, guided us, served us and provided for us in the kindest of ways for months and months in our greatest moment of need that we will forever remember and rejoice in.

Secondly, God delivered me from this precarious situation with a job (not in pastoral ministry). But God didn't just give me a job, He gave me a great job that has a great career path. Somehow I received the favor of men out of the blue from people I never met. And in a whirlwind of events, I got a job, got an offer on our house and moved to CA, all in about a month. It's been a crazy time - packing, starting a new job, finding a place to live, finding a new church, unpacking - so much hasn't settled in for me yet. I can't really fathom the gracious, yet startling turn of events. And while I am still haunted by cruel memories, I am hopeful that one day, I will be like Joseph and able to say that "God has caused me to forget my troubles" in this new start on life.

2 Corinthians 5:21 and 1 John 2:15-16

Isn't this verse just amazing? Not only does Christ take our sin, but we become the righteousness of God in Christ. We become righteous, perfect, holy. There is no mention of being better, trying harder, doing good or anything about us. It's all Christ's righteousness.

It is my prayer and hope that the boys and girl see themselves as perfectly righteous, not pretty good, not better than him or her, not so bad, but perfectly righteous...in Christ and only in Christ.

Isn't this such the challenge? Do not love the world nor the things in the world. It is such a challenge to teach our children and even more of a challenge to be an example. Thank God we are righteous in Christ.

Day 2

So in just 2 days, the boys and girl have worn out Gabe. He is wiped out!

The peppy little puppy (or just older than a puppy, teenager?) is spent every night. I take him on 2 walks a day - morning and evening. We also run for some of that walking. But why is he so tired out? We've only worked on 1 command so far - Sit. It always works when I have a treat in my hands. He's just like a kid.

Gabe

Guess what the cat dragged in to the house yesterday? No, we don't have a cat. But now we have a dog.

After years of begging, we thought the boys and girl are now ready for a dog. They might be ready, but I don't think Sandy is! Poor mom is constantly worried about what the dog might do - does he need to go outside?! Is he going to make a mess?! What's he doing?!

We don't officially own him but are fostering him for now. If all goes well, we might decide to keep him or he might get adopted by someone else. Who knows? But for the first 28 hours together, he's the perfect dog for us.

He doesn't bark. He has small bursts of energy and then is very mellow. He doesn't shed much at all. He barely eats. And he takes care of his business outside. The boys and girl can't get enough of him! They want to play with him, walk him, feed him and just generally be with him all day long. When we left the house for just a little bit, Matt said, "I MISS Gabe!"

School's in session

The 2013-2014 school year has begun in the Lee household. My diligent wife has started up yesterday, and the boys and girl are locked in!

Andrew is starting 6th grade and the academic rigor is going to increase greatly this year. We've got to get him ready for HS, and the Ivy League! Ha! Spoken like a true Korean American.

Our subjects are partly computer based, partly audio and even some video which include Bible, Math, English, Art, Anatomy, World History and Korean. Matt's in 3rd grade and his favorite subject is Korean. I asked him how Sandy is doing as his teacher. His reply? "She's strict!"

Emery is in 2nd grade and loves Korean too. Andrew loves history still. I am really glad that we are homeschooling this year. Sandy is doing and will do a fabulous job teaching them. The boys and girl grow closer together being in school together. As I write, they have been singing and playing air instruments to praise music and Christmas carols for the last 2 hours! And I want to cherish all the time we have together while they are young. Everyone tells me that this time flies by, and I want to enjoy it as a family as much as possible before it's gone.

Happy birthday Emery!

I am super late on posting this. Emery's birthday was July 11. Again, I forgot to go to 7-11 on her birthday. But at least we celebrated her birthday on time.

This was the first time that we celebrated her birthday with her grandparents and her cousins since she was 1! So it was a very fun and special birthday for her.

We decided to go for it and celebrate in the pool.

Even Auntie Mary joined in the fun - fully clothed!

There was lots of wrestling, you know, regular girl stuff.

Well, there was tons of Princess Sofia gifts. We're doing our best to keep you employed Carole!

And all her favorite food - CA rolls and white kimchee! It doesn't get any better than this, this side of heaven for a 7 year-old girl. Happy birthday to my beautiful Emery!

Summer basketball

The boys both played summer basketball for the first time ever. We finished up the season in style. Andrew had an excellent season and was looking like a real basketball player! I think he's ready for competitive play. In the last game, he was finally matched up with someone his height and who was fairly athletic. Yet he managed to score 12 points with plenty of good defense and other solid play too. His team went 6-0 on the season. I think this season did a lot for his confidence. This was probably the first time that he was one of the best players in the league.

In Matt's first season, he started to get the hang of things by the end. He was less intimidated and more comfortable. He managed to score 4 points today, but I missed filming both shots! I recorded every other shot he attempted. Oh well.

Imagine this shot going in, that's what it looked like when he scored.

Or this shot.

Or this one. Do you get the idea?

Just in case you don't think Matt can score, here he is making a lay-up before the game. He really can score points.

But this is Matt's calling card - tenacious D. Here he is shutting down the other team's best player. Well, at least he forced him into a double dribble turnover by sheer force of will. Don't you love his focused look? :)