Pastor's Corner

by Kenton Sefcik

I didn’t grow up going to church.

I did, however, begin a spiritual journey of sorts as a teenager that set me on a path…

At the age of 14, I witnessed a television commercial where an elderly white-haired

gentleman successfully defended himself against ninjas on a bridge. This was the mid-

90’s and Kung-Fu was still enjoying its hey-day thanks to many martial arts films getting

dubbed and subbed into English. After a poorly choreographed fight scene, the elderly

gentleman said something to the effect of, “If you can master your body, you can master your mind.” I was hooked.

The thing about those Kung-Fu movies is that the plot is almost always the same: a down-trodden protagonist gets beat up by a bully but redeems himself by learning Kung-Fu from some recluse in the woods. However, the master of Kung-Fu wouldn’t just teach the young sapling how to kick butt and take names. The master would also

teach a sense of morality through Taoism and Buddhism. I wanted my Kung-Fu to be

as good as those I saw on the screen, so I began to study Chinese philosophy, which

eventually led me to study Chinese medicine.

If anyone was going to find a sense of peace or a feeling of flow in life, it should have

been me, right? Nope. Despite me having some sort of trifecta of Chinese martial arts,

Chinese Taoism, and Chinese medicine, I was still working, so hard to be effortless.

That is until, after 15 years of searching, I stepped into a Christian church, and

everything changed.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

”Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest,” says Jesus in Matthew 11:28. Jesus was giving the Jewish people of His time a chance to shed their religious baggage, and He gave me a chance to shed mine. In Romans 10:9, Paul tells us that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Could it be so simple to just start with that? Well, in short: I found that peace I was looking for. I found that flow.

My anxieties were lifted when I stopped believing that everything depended on myself: my doing, and my striving. My burdens were lifted because I entrusted myself to someone else, and received peace as a gift.

Jesus didn’t simply teach me a better way to live — He gave me Himself, and with Him came a peace I could never produce on my own. My prayer is that you, too, would

come to know the peace that only Christ can give. Amen!

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and

your minds in Christ Jesus.

— Philippians 4:7