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I’m proud to officially announce my new devotional book, EXPRESSO. It’s been a work of “devotion” for the past few months. I began writing it the day after we received our adoption referral for Jaida on December 23rd. As a tribute to my dad, I made the official publishing date of EXPRESSO for March 20th, 2010, my dads 77th birthday!

When it comes to following Jesus, there are so many things that can overwhelm us and keep us from moving forward in our faith. For the new believer as well as the seasoned follower, the business of life can demand a pace that leaves little room for God. Even when space is created for spiritual development, it can be difficult to find a trustworthy grip on how to express faith in a meaningful way.

Sometimes all we need is a new opportunity, like being given a devotional book to refocus our attention on God and get our lives back on track. The passion behind EXPRESSO is to help stir a fresh desire for God’s Word in the heart of the spiritually thirsty and help them discover simple, yet practical opportunities to put their faith into practice.

My prayer is that EXPRESSO will truly energize the faith of those who read it. My hope is that it will create encouraging conversation between those who chose to read it together.

Copies of EXPRESSO can be purchased from my personal publishing site: http://openskypublishing.com. Thanks to all who have already purchased the book. I would love to hear about your experiences as you read it.

Blessings!

Jason

Jaida Li

December 23, 2009 started off as an ordinary day but little did we know Christmas was coming early and we would be receiving the greatest Christmas present ever.

It was a typical winter day with light snow showers which I always enjoy. With not much to do and, like everyone else, not much money to spend, Jenny and I would venture out to spend the day together for some window shopping at the mall after an early lunch.

The mall parking lot was packed because of all the Christmas shoppers. I dropped Jenny off near entrance of the mall so she could go ahead and put our names on the list at our beloved Cheesecake Factory.

I had to drive out to the south forty where I still had to wait for a parking spot. I hustled back to meet Jenny in the busy restaurant where we were seated in a small booth after a short wait.

Opposite of those around us, we were in no great hurry and just wanted to enjoy being together and enjoying the food. After being accosted by grinches at the table across from us, our waitress came over and greeted us with a smile. Wanting to be totally opposite of the “mean” table, we tried to put our waitress at ease, letting her know we were in no hurry.

Normally, when we dine out, we eat more than any human should be allowed to consume. Wanteing to watch our spending and our waists, we intentionally ordered slowly and ordered less. A couple of appetizers and some potato soup would hit the spot on this cold, snowy day.

Our waitress brought out the soup and our conversation turned to the consuming, yet repetitive topics around our long-awaited adoption. Over this four-year long process, we’ve waded through so many emotions, from feeling hopeful to feeling discouraged like it would never happen. After the second year, we actually had the hard conversation to determine whether we were going to quit or keep going through the international adoption process. We were in too deep to quit and too stubborn to give up. So, circling back in our conversation to the girl we longed for was a normal part of our lives. The adoption referral could come at anytime but we were still feeling like it was still so far out of reach.

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I received a phone call yesterday from my mentor, Steve Smothers concerning a friend of mine from high school. He called to inform me that my friends husband had committed suicide and that he would be doing the funeral the next day. Steve had been our youth pastor and we all deeply enjoyed those days together. I could tell that Steve was feeling the impact of the situation and could hear his concern for our friend in his voice. This was a tragedy beyond one person taking his life. The impact has yet to be realized.

Many people contemplate taking their own life yet never follow through. I would be one of them. But God used the circumstances surrounding my life at that time to bring me to faith in Christ. It’s hard for me to fathom the depths of pain that someone must feel and the hopelessness that stirs in a person’s soul that would influence them to follow through with such a life altering decision. But the truth remains that there is still healing and hope available to every person, no matter how dark things may seem.

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve last written. The busyness of life, ministry and writing has been exhaustive to say the least. Other priorities have taken a front seat and pushed their way forward, though uninvited. But this situation has stirred my heart and I felt that I had to write about it. Things concerning life and death seem to take the drivers seat when they arise. Everything else suddenly takes a back seat and the priority of people makes us step on the brake, rightly bringing our active life to a halt. The eternal interrupts the temporal and the search for meaning and significance reemerges from our soul once again.

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