Portraits of Grace: Jordan
Portraits of Grace is a snapshot into the lives of the people at King’s Cross Church. As “kingdom minded, kingdom people,” we recognize God’s work in every detail of our lives. We invite you to meet the people of our church.
My all time and perhaps only favorite song is: I hope you dance by Leanne Womack. One of the lines in lyrics that really resonates with me goes: “When you get the choice, to sit it out or dance… I hope you dance. To me, life is a series of crossroad, and at every junction, there is the decision to either “sit it out” –meaning allow the fear of failure, and the judgement of others confine you to “play it safe”; or do you decide to dance –take a risk, trust in God’s plan and peruse and learn from new life experiences.
Growing up, the message I received has always been to sit it out, avoid risk, don’t rock the boat, and if you absolutely have to, just sway back and forth where you are, don’t dance! As an adult, I realize how liberating it can be to dance both figuratively and literally. As the father of 3 kids, I try to raise them to understand that being inhibited for fear of failure is often worse than failure itself. Now when I am faced with major decisions, I ask myself, what does sitting it out look like? And what does dancing look like? I must choose to dance.
Portraits of Grace: Xiu Mei
Portraits of Grace is a snapshot into the lives of the people at King’s Cross Church. As “kingdom minded, kingdom people,” we recognize God’s work in every detail of our lives. We invite you to meet the people of our church.
Five years ago I missed my shift at a restaurant because I was in a traffic accident. I was rushed to the hospital for surgery. I have experienced a lot of pain and suffering especially after the traffic accident, but I’m thankful that I was able to conquer through it. I feel that God has given me strength. I am grateful that God has helped me survive the accident and given me a second chance at life. My husband is very accommodating and caring. He helps me with chores around the house, because I can’t do as much housework due to my injuries.
Portraits of Grace: Liu (2 of 2)
Portraits of Grace is a snapshot into the lives of the people at King’s Cross Church. As “kingdom minded, kingdom people,” we recognize God’s work in every detail of our lives. We invite you to meet the people of our church.
Against all odds, God brought me back to Flushing. I felt as if God was pulling me to some forsaken land. It took me a couple of years to understand why I had to come back. I needed to reconcile the anger and hostility I had for my father. Even though I became a Christian in college and knew the Bible said to honor my parents, I couldn’t do it. Jesus died so I can reconcile my relationship with God. All the years of suffering, Christ has sustained me. Without Jesus, I am nothing. Knowing that, I had to let go of the past and forgive. I realized I had to make the first move. I had to sacrifice my pride, my stubbornness, my high and lofty thinking that I’m better then him. The reality is, no, I’m not. We are all human, we all make mistakes and we all sin.
Living with my father is a continuous daily struggle, but I hope that one day I can share the gospel with him. Even though I can easily move out right now, I have chose to stay the course God has mapped. Christ brought me back to Flushing not only to reconcile with my father but to serve God in ways I’ve never done before. It has stretched me beyond my limits, it has softened this hard soul, it has shown me how fragile we are, and how we all need a lot of love and hope no matter our past, present or future. Because in the end, nothing matters, my assurance is with Christ. I can forgive and love because He first forgave and loved me. That grace is immeasurable. (2/2)
Portraits of Grace: Liu (1 of 2)
Portraits of Grace is a snapshot into the lives of the people at King’s Cross Church. As “kingdom minded, kingdom people,” we recognize God’s work in every detail of our lives. We invite you to meet the people of our church.
I moved back to my family home in Flushing around 2008. It was not by choice but out of financial hardship. I was once again in between jobs and couldn’t afford to live by myself anymore. I really don’t like Flushing and at times hate it with a passion. It’s too crowded, too dirty, too noisy and holds many traumatic memories. When I started high school, my parents purchased our first home and we moved into Flushing. My parents were immigrants full of pride, ignorant, stubborn, didn’t know anything about financial planning and trusted the wrong people. After a year or two, our home went into foreclosure by the bank. Flushing was my hell on earth. It was the bane of my existence and to this day I still struggle deeply with it. I come from a broken home where peace was nowhere to be found. I was desperate to leave and hoped to never come back. I left as soon as I found steady employment with my second job. (1/2)