So there are certain things people have said to me in my life that they've said casually or not too seriously that have seriously impacted me and changed my life. I still remember them. So, here are some of them.

• "A victorious life over sin." - John Yoon - I'm going to say this happened junior year, which was a pretty tough year for me. I was going through something or other and John came over for lunch at Yost. Anyway, I think it was during the prayer for the meal but John prayed that during the prayer, a reminder that on the cross Jesus died for our sins and rose again victoriously, and that through him I might also live a victorious life over sin.

  Anyway, that comment changed my life. I think for some reason at that point I was thinking of the Christian life as struggle. Which is in some ways true. But that was it for me. Just, struggle against sin, struggle against the world, struggle against myself, struggle against complacency, just all struggle. Christian life was hard. Anyway, John's prayer just reminded me that it's not all that - the Christian life is marked by victory. That's what the resurrection means to us. Victory.

  I guess it's a subtle thing, but yeah, it completely changed my outlook and changed my life. I'd say nowadays it's the most enduring theme of my prayers and the thing I most often pray for people. John never understood this, because it wasn't something he intended to say as deep or momentous, and he dosn't understand why it impacted me so much. I guess God uses random things sometimes.

• "Authenticity means being true to your beliefs, not your feelings." - Adrian Pei - So, this came up during small group. I've written about this before. But yeah, a lot of people want to keep it real, and that means being true to their emotions. But I dunno, Adrian challenged us with this and I think it's absolutely true. Sometimes our emotions and beliefs conflict. Like say with turning the other cheek. That's what I believe. But when someone wrongs me, I don't often want to. So I have to choose what to be true to, how to act. And to choose your beliefs over your feelings is no less authentic. I dunno, that was deep. Changed my life.

• "You can't just leave a church when a pastor is bad." - Lisa Tahk - I dunno, those weren't her exact words, but yeah, something like that. We were just talking about church and how sometimes it's bad and why do we stay and she said this. Basically, it's like, what are you going to do? Pastors come and go... are you just going to leave a church everytime the pastor is bad?

  I dunno, it just made me think a lot about church and what church is and our generation and a host of other things. I dunno, I just think our generation has a super consumer attitude, including, but not limited to, church. So yeah, as soon as a church doesn't do it for them, they just take off. But like, is that what church is? What about the people? And can you just come and go forever? When does that merry-go-round end?

  So yeah, that comment just made me think a lot about church and when is and isn't the right time to leave a church.

• "My prayer life has been sloppy" - Albert Shim - He said this during some sharing time once. I dunno, Albert could be a page onto himself but I just chose this one. I honestly have no idea what this means. Which is the whole point - it made me totally rethink prayer. I dunno, for a long time, prayer to me was binary - existent and non-existent. Well, maybe it was a little more complex than that. But what on earth does it mean to have a "sloppy" prayer life? I'm still meditating on this one.