After shopping for some groceries from COSTCO, in the evening I went to visit their monthly worship service for the first time. I didn't see pastor Jofri there but Beneil Dariush was speaking! Pastor Jofri was in Japan on short term mission. "I just came back from a trip to Japan with my brother!" I told Beneil.
He preached a message titled "The Gospel According to Jacob" from Genesis 28:10-22 with an introduction about the character of Jacob, how when he first came to read about him that he didn't like him much but he came to recognize that in fact, he was seeing Jacob mirrored in his own soul. It was a good text for me and very fitting to my own season in life and ministry.
Afterwards they had served a wonderful BBQ dinner so I sat with them briefly, and got to also meet Sam Hwang, a Korean American young man who just went pro last year in the MMA. It turns out that he attends the EM of God's Family Church! "I know pastor Yoo," I told him.
I had been meaning to post an entry about this but while "Christ plus something" is not what I am advocating here, there are people who do something like fight MMA, while their devotion to Jesus is very real and inspiring. The way of the warrior believe it or not, is largely a spiritual territory. It is about discipline and sacrifice.
I did make a suggestion to my previous senior pastor about doing a joint church praise night with Beneil as speaker back in February of this year. It was discouraged because it could inspire MMA pipe dreams in the youth and rouse controversy from parents. Admittedly in my own estimation it was a half-baked idea but tonight confirms the fact that my best ideas are half-baked. Faith is definitely not a game, but if it was, it is an "against the odds" game. And MMA is an arena that is not short of some of that faith.
It could have been a wonderful outreach event that could have drawn in some young people and I could have invited some people I know to be devotees, who may need someone visible to stand up and point to Jesus in ways that many pastors are not able to. Through such events, it is the steady, daily faithfulness that we want to instill, not the fanfare or the fame or some fascination with the pugilistic.
Beneil is 34 this year, and he may have a fight coming up this December. He has expressed a desire to get more involved in ministry after he retires from fighting. That will not be too far in the future, within this decade, for sure. I pray that he he will last long and that he finishes strong. No injuries, no accidents, in Jesus' name!
