For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

Romans 11:29

On September 29, 2020, I celebrated my 29^thanniversary of ordination as a PC(USA) Minister of the Word and Sacrament.  It’s my golden anniversary.  I can hardly believe that I have been ordained for 29 years!  As someone wrote on my Facebook page, “This is the date that you got ordained, but you were in ministry even much longer than this date.” And he is absolutely right.  I think I am someone who has always had “The Call”.  A childhood friend reminded me once that as kids I made them play “Church” with me. 

I would give my few friends a “hymnal” and then collect the “offering”.  I seem to recall that I said a little prayer.  What’s interesting is that when I got older, I didn’t see “The Call” in me.  Everyone else could see it, but I could not. After I graduated from Sacramento State, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do next and suddenly so many people came out of the word-work telling me I should go to seminary. I was stunned. I remember telling my parents that I was thinking about going to seminary and my mom said to me, “I always knew you were going to go to seminary.”  I wanted to say to her, “If you knew, then why didn’t you tell me earlier?”  I had no idea that other people saw this potential in me, but I didn’t.  

So I listened to my community.  I applied to seminary and I got in.  I went through my first semester of school and I thought to myself…what am I doing here?  I don’t belong.  It was so tough.  But then the second semester came along and instead of all of the academic work, I was also put into a church setting.  I was assigned to work with Rev. Norman Fong in San Francisco’s Cameron House in Chinatown. It was when I was put in a church setting that suddenly…I felt called.  It finally clicked.  It felt right.  Most people have The Call and then go to seminary.  I went to seminary and then had The Call.  

What’s interesting is that I felt at home in an Asian American ministry setting.  It’s interesting to see 29 years later how life has come full circle and I am doing ministry, once again, in an Asian American setting and feel at home.  And in between all of those years I have had my ups and downs in ministry and there are definitely moments when I have contemplated leaving church ministry to serve in a different capacity. 

 Yet, I have still stayed in the ring.  I am still in ministry.  I am still Called.  Why? Because I have been bitten by the “Jesus Bug”.  If there was anything else in the world that I could do, I would do it in a heartbeat, but I truly cannot.  I have stayed in ministry all these years because of my love for Jesus, his ministry, his inspiring work and love to transform the world anew.  I am compelled to continue telling the Good News of Jesus’ transformative way of being and how we, too, can live into hope.  As the old hymn says:

I love to tell the story
‘Twill be my theme in glory
To tell the old, old story
Of Jesus and his love

I have officially been telling this story for 29 years…whew! I can hardly believe it! Let’s keep it going for another 29!