Running Over.

"Give and it will be given to you.

A good measure,

Pressed down,

Shaken together

and running over,

will be poured in your lap."

Six years ago this very day, I sat looking out the window pictured above in the Translation Room at the Korean Church of Knoxville. I was thinking about names like Joseph. Kiman. Selee. DJo. Andrew. DRho. Heejin. Michelle. John. Song. I was then serving as the English Ministry Pastor at the Korean Church of Knoxville and I was thinking about these college students and some of their leaders as they prepared to leave the University of Tennessee and head back to their homes or South Korea for the summer months. I was trying to think about a way that I could maintain some kind of weekly contact with them as they dispersed all over the world for the three months of summer. Six years ago this morning I wrote the very first Buy The Field as the simple way that I would seek to stay connected with a few weekly words to my college friends while they were away.

I miss them.

I drove to sit in the Translation Room at KCK to write this morning. My brother, Pastor Ilsun Kim is sitting just across the hallway this morning just like he was 6 years ago.

The learning that I did while living life with the precious lives that I wanted to stay connected with that summer involved a lot of humble learning for Lea and I and Trey. It is tender to sit here this morning and remember the gift of growth that God created for us here. I am a relationally rich man. Truly rich.

And so on the May morning in 2016, I wrote.

" Buy the field. Buy the field. Silent pause. God has lodged this in my heart over the last month or so. It has been really quiet. And I have been really aware of it. These word's home is in the midst of a time when Jesus was simply sharing stories with crowds of people while they hung out at the lake. He just talked to people while they were together about things that were organically valuable for Him to say and for them to hear. He knew both of those things. Maybe the people knew neither. That's ok. Jesus knows. That's the good thing. The people were learning whether they realized it or not. An unpressured learning environment. I like that. Jesus is creative like that.

So this is one of the stories that Jesus told while they were hanging out. “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field." (Matthew 13:44) Buy the field. I don't fully know why these words have lingered with me over the past days, but I am not rushing away. Some initial hints are surfacing. I want to be desperate for God. Silent pause. Yep. I want this a lot. I just really want to want God. And fellow pilgrim....there is all hell battle over it. Sell it all and buy the field. The treasure is THAT good. As I sit with these Jesus words I am aware that in the guts of being honest with myself, I have wondered through most all of my life if it really is THAT good. Can't I create better treasure for myself in the long run?

There is invitation here. "It will not, it will never be enough just to know about you Jesus and never call you my own. For my heart was made for love, I can't live without you Jesus." I want to receive His words. The treasure really is THAT good. Go after the treasure desperately."

Six years later I sit here aware that I have meandered around in the trying to create better treasure for myself in the long run. I suck at it. The treasure of God is crazy rich, hard, beautiful, allusive, palpable, mysterious, intoxicating and humbling. There is nothing like it. Nothing. And I want it. And the simple offering of these weekly words for these six years has been so richly forming in the fabric of my heart in considering it with you.

WITH you.

I have no clue who all reads these words. But on this particular morning I am thinking about you. And I want to say thank you. Thank you for investing unseen minutes in taking these words into your heart eyes over these days, months and years. I am literally looking at the microphone that is used to translate the Korean service at KCK into English. The sacrificial offering of taking words from one language and speaking them out into another language so that another might hear and understand is a truly remarkable thing. I can still remember the very first Sunday at KCK hearing Young Rock translating Pastor Kim's words for us. It still affects me as I look at the microphone right now. In moments of wondering what the value of a weekly Buy The Field really is, I remember that the Spirit is translating for each of us, moment by moment, and the Helper is helping us. Meeting here with you for all these weeks has been a part of that process for me.

Thank you dear pilgrim.

Thank you dear reader.

Thank you dear friend....

for sharing this space with me over these years. It has truly been a life forming place in my days. My gratitude feels like that pressed down, shaken together, running over, poured in your lap type. Poured in your lap is unmistakeable. You're just wet. Altered. Not the same as you were even 10 minutes ago. Not tidy. Not even convenient, but for sure definite. This is a poured in my lap place for me WITH YOU.

Thank you Joseph, Kiman, Selee, DJo, Andrew, DRho, Heejin, Michelle, John, Song. And the list goes on. God used knowing you to spark a six year journey that has deeply impacted my life.

I have been listening to instrumental, soaking music by William Augusto while I have been writing and weeping this morning in the Translation Room. The track is entitled, "The Living Word".

The Living Word.

In your joy,

Buy The Field.

The Treasure is THAT good.

There's more.