by Frank Cosylion

I have been at Evergreen SGV for about 4 ½ years now. The first 18 months were very difficult for me. Because I found that over time, even though I was in the company of church members, I didn’t know them anymore than when I first came here. You see people on Sunday mornings, we worship God, hear a sermon, say hello and shake hands with people but that’s never enough to develop relationships.

I began struggling with negative thinking:

            I don’t belong here.

            I’m not part of this body.

            I don’t have any connection with people.

            I feel isolated from others.

These negative thoughts from my perspective were wrong but from God’s perspective they were necessary in order to bring about a result, since God causes all things to work together for the good.

The internal pressure I was experiencing was necessary for me to not cop-out in what I had been doing in those first 18 months, which was not developing relationships. I know now this situation was a revealer of what was in my heart and I don’t believe I’m alone in thinking this way.

If I acted on these negative thoughts I would either have to leave or build relationships. I found myself in the middle of 2 choices, which is lukewarmness, like the church of Laodicea “neither hot nor cold but lukewarm:” Leaving the church which is cold or getting involved which is hot. I believe there is a danger in a Christian’s life to prefer a state of lukewarmness. God says, “I wish you were either hot or cold”. Lukewarmness causes God to spew us out of His mouth meaning it’s unacceptable to remain indecisive.

Let me say here as a side note, that I don’t believe that when people leave the church it is not God’s will or it is God’s will, but in MY situation I had to examine my heart and this is what he was speaking to me. I knew something had to change – and it was me! 

One Sunday morning when the food bank was being announced as an opportunity to serve, I believed this was the solution. We had to get involved in this ministry if things were going to change.

So I went to the food bank and have been going there for about 3 years now. Since that day I have been experiencing the joy of working with the church in giving food to the community. The food bank provided the atmosphere for building friendships with the Evergreen SGV family and encouraged me to get involved in a branch and attend church school.

I don’t feel like a stranger anymore. I feel like a part of the body and the benefits of knowing people has been so rewarding.

Hi Folks!  

It has come to my attention that a number of you have seen my face, whether it would be on random Sundays where I might read the announcements, or pray a commissioning prayer over some of Evergreen’s STM teams, or whether you’ve noticed that I wear a similarly styled black shirt as many of the pastors at Evergreen. Yet at the same time, most of you probably do not know too much about me. So within this entire page, that is all about me, I will try to help you get to know me a bit better. Starting with my birth.

I was born and raised in SGV my entire life. I remember growing up and I did not think anything existed beyond the world of the 10 freeway between exits Atlantic and Rosemead. My parents owned and continue to own a donut shop in the city of Rosemead, where I was given the opportunity to work as a child laborer for much of my childhood (an opportunity I will try to extend to any future children I might have). In general, my life was pretty simple as a kid growing up. Went to school, went to the donut shop, did my homework, watched some Spiderman, played Final Fantasy games, and so on. Still, I was nowhere close to being a perfect child. In fact, I will often refer to myself as a demon-child growing up (which seems Biblically appropriate since John makes some distinctions between the children of God and children of Satan). Those were my pre-Christ days.

I came to know and follow the Lord during my freshman year of college at UCLA. Through various circumstances, I found myself attending a girl’s bible study where I was intrigued by the Word of God and was a recipient of the love of Christians. Eventually, by His grace, God convicted me of the truth and reality of Christ, and I came to believe and follow Christ at the end of that year. Since then I have never looked back.

From there, I completed my undergrad and graduate studies at UCLA and UCI in engineering. After which I decided to return home to SGV. I didn’t have a home church in SGV so my friend, Leo Jeng, invited me to attend Evergreen SGV (beginning of 2011). My first impression was not a great one. Big and impersonal I thought. Nevertheless, I knew that I should not just judge based upon my personal experience and so I decided to check out a small group bible study. I was led to the Refuge, where I met many fine brothers and sisters. One particular fine brother by the name of Ian was leading the Refuge and I enjoyed sitting under his leading and teaching. God was put on the forefront and His word was being taught. As a result I decided to stay at Evergreen.

Since then, many things have changed. I got a job as an engineer. I entered into seminary. I even now have the privilege of interning at Evergreen. In fact, I get to do all three at the moment, which I love. Regarding my place at Evergreen, I am currently tasked with helping out Pastor Victor with outreach ministries. I also get to teach an adult Sunday school class (on almost anything I want, sort of not really). In relation to all this, my desire as one who attends seminary and hopes to eventually enter into occupational ministry, is that I would be able to do two main things: one is to open the word of God in such a way that puts God on full display, so that all people would respond in fuller, truer, and deeper worship, knowing God for who He is; and the other is to equip the saints for the work of ministry, thus empowering all believers to be mature Christians eating solids, not depending on any pastor or leader, but rather on God alone to live out his/her life fully for the sake of Christ. There is so much more I could say about myself but I will end with saying that I am thankful to have the opportunity to participate in worship with this church family.

By Deborah Cosylion

Isaiah 58: 11 – 14
The Lord will guide you always; you will be a well-watered garden like a spring whose waters never fail, then you will find your Joy in the Lord. (The Lord will satisfy your desires even in scorched places)

We often hear promises like Isaiah 58 and others and wonder how we can balance these verses during all the struggles and sufferings we are experiencing.

To find answers let’s look at the best example, The Garden of Gethsemane. I call this the Garden of Agony. In order to experience the blessings of a garden we must all experience the Garden of Agony repeatedly in our life until we go to be with the Lord. Here, Jesus experienced great agony, distress, anguish. Yet in the Garden of Agony (Gethsemane), Jesus learned submission to His Father’s will. There was no conflict between His Father and Himself. Jesus asked His Father, “If it be possible take this cup from me and if it’s not possible for this to be taken from me, may your will be done.”

A natural garden takes a lot of work, tilling the ground, adding soil supplements, taking out the weeds in order to make it healthy for plants to grow healthy. If we don’t till the ground we create a fallow ground - what we plant may grow but it doesn’t mature or bear healthy results. The maintenance of a garden must be done over and over in order to continually bear healthy mature fruit. It’s work!

Likewise, in the spiritual realm, we must maintain the ground of our heart! Weeding out our sins and attitudes that keep us from bearing fruit and suffocate the fullness of joy God has for us. Our problems, struggles and life hurts put us in the garden of agony. It’s our reflections during this agony that helps us look at it as a blessing.

I wonder why God chose The Garden of Gethsemane. It was north of Jerusalem in the Kidron Valley and all the cities would send their trash to the Garden. It was filled 70 – 80 feet high with trash.  Jesus was off in some corner with a few Olive trees and flowers praying. Could it be it’s a reminder that we can come to the Father in prayer anytime with all our “garbage” issues, struggles, pains, hurts, etc.? What ultimately happened was Jesus learned the will of the Father and he entrusted himself to His Father’s plan for his life, a surrendered life, a fruitful life. All His pain was not as significant as learning His Father’s plan and will.

In the midst of our Garden of Agony we can experience the blessings of a garden by entrusting ourselves to the Father and learn the sweetness, the sovereignty, the love and greatness of who God is in the midst of our struggles. Our pain becomes less significant compared to the greatness of knowing God. It is there we experience the blessings of a garden.

 by Janet Hall

“Where can I go from you Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” Psalm 139:7

Several years ago, a good friend gave me the book Invitation to Solitude and Silence: Experiencing God’s Transforming Grace by Ruth Haley Barton. As much as I would like to experience God’s transforming grace in my life, accepting an invitation to solitude and silence was not really on my “things to do” list! I didn’t give it much more thought and set the book aside.

Fast forward to October 2015, a young woman at Evergreen SGV approached me for mentorship. After some prayerful consideration, I decided to accept that invitation. She wanted to study a book together; and of all the books that were suggested and all the books that she could have chosen, she selected Invitation to Solitude and Silence: Experiencing God’s Transforming Grace by Ruth Haley Barton!

At that point, I knew I had to read the book; but on a positive note, since I already had it, I would not need to purchase it. However, I looked all over my house for several days, and I absolutely could not find it. I made a decision several years ago not to accumulate so many books. So I have been borrowing from the library or just buying gently used books and passing them along after I finished reading. I proceeded to purchase a used book online, but when it arrived, the book was heavily marked – almost every sentence was underlined or highlighted. For someone who rarely marks her book, that is quite a shock for me to behold. It would be impossible for me to read that book. I worked it out with the seller and promptly returned it. I then reluctantly purchased another used book and eagerly waited for its arrival (my mentee and I already started meeting). I was so happy when the book arrived, and it was in pristine condition. Then the irony dawned on me: the book that I so carelessly set aside turned out to be a book that I spent hours pursuing! My loving Father, whose invitation I rather mindlessly disregarded, gave me a second chance to experience His transforming grace – but this time, I had to work on being invited to practice solitude.

As much as I was reluctant to read this book, God has really spoken to me through it. I have to admit that even though I know it is important to be silent before Him, I struggle to be still and just rest in His presence. I’m taking small steps to practice solitude and silence including signing up for “A Day with Jesus” – and I am actually looking forward to this invitation!

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”  Psalm 139:23-2

By Kay Carey

May is my favorite month of the year. Not only it is the height of the year for colorful flowers blooming everywhere, it’s my birth month and my anniversary of “cancer-free”. This May marks the 10th year since completing the last round of chemo in 2006. 

As I reminisce on the last 10 years, my heart overflows with gratitude and joy for the many blessings I’ve received through what the Lord has allowed me to learn and experience. I could have died long ago from the silently growing cancer cells in my body if my sovereign God didn’t provide wise counsel to my doctor who ordered a special sonogram which detected a malignant cyst during a seemingly normal routine checkup.

God did not waste my cancer and other chronic health challenges in my life in the last decade. I have experienced a journey of becoming more like a “Mary”. I am forever grateful that I now can enjoy just sitting at the feet of Jesus and receive from Him without feeling guilty, “useless or “lazy”.

My innate tendency is to initiate and be involved easily. I used to give more of my attention to what I was “doing” rather than focusing on the “being” of myself or on others.  Until I was in my early 40s, I didn’t know about the concept of “ministry flows from being”. I was more “task and goal oriented” than “process oriented”. 

Often I felt guilty when I read the passage of Luke 10:38-42 because I could relate with Martha. I noticed in the passage… instead of Jesus rebuking Mary for not serving her guests along with her sister, Jesus admonished Martha. He said to her: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.  Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

 Mary chose to sit still at the feet of Jesus while Martha was fretting with non-essential matters. This reminded me of one of the most valuable teaching moments in my “Martha” era. Many years ago during a mentoring session, I was sharing about my involvement in all kinds of ministerial life with my mentor. More specifically, I was concerned with what I should serve our frequent guests at home. My wise mentor asked me to read Galatians 1:10 out loud. I read, “Am I now trying to win the approval of men or of God? Or am I trying to please men?  If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Since then, I often ask myself about my motive for serving others before getting involved in any new ministry opportunity.

In closing, through this journey, God’s transforming power by the work of the Holy Spirit has freed me from leading a “hyperactive” and “people-pleasing” life style.

“What a journey it has been with you! Thank you, Lord for extending my life and giving me a second chance of choosing what’s better, like Mary.”