Starting from early last year, I wrote approximately 80 poems, 220 stories, 70 letters. Over half of the close to 650 pages of personal writjng I’ve collected since my mid 20s. 

I’ve never written this much before.

Just for context, I wrote the other half of the rest over 10 years. The 5 from the end of law school till the end of my first PhD year and the 5 with the NYPD. 

These are my psalms.

I lived most if not every line out. 

This is still about the presence and faithfulness of God. 

Was talking to my DA Chief last night and I told him how I would pray before I taught or went to court. I don’t think these words are mine. 

A gift – likely the right one for this period. Like U2, I allow Him into the writing. 

It shows. 

I also don’t normally talk about these two events but they are memorable for His guidance and more. 

The first occurred in Seoul when I went with the UN. My supervisor, a senior State Department diplomat seconded to the UN, and I were having a fancy dinner with these senior prosecutors. They started to discuss developments in their legal system and mentioned that they were either considering or implementing plea bargaining in Korea. 

Almost immediately, I mentioned that development would make them the most powerful prosecutors in the world. American prosecutors are powerful and a significant amount of that power is derived from the plea bargaining process when the government can negotiate with defendants to reduce penalties or charges in exchange for a guilty plea. For so many reasons, this process can be manhandled and abused. 

Korean prosecutors on the other hand derive their power from their ability to investigate violations of the law. In the US, prosecutors cannot do that – the police do the investigating. Comparatively, Korean ones are substantially more powerful than American ones. Their conviction rate is off the charts, rising to the level of near certainty. Giving them both powers would make them virtually invincible and unbeatable, which I’m not sure is such a good idea. 

But when I made that comment, those in attendance had a look like wow that’s correctly insightful and started to nod their heads in unison and agreement. You could tell they were impressed. So was my supervisor. 

That insight came from God. I’m not that smart or quick on my feet. Although I am proud of my time as a prosecutor, I knew after my second year that it was neither my full passion nor destiny. I did not truly enjoy going after people, I did it for victims. As such, I really wasn’t into the full concept like others. I told my friend that I felt God tell me what to say and he said he felt chills. 

The second story is about the management course I designed and taught, the one where a portion was dedicated to defending against the dark arts. I included a practical hands-on component to the course. I divided the class into groups of 5-7 people and told then they had to choose a cause and implement 3 projects to further that cause. 

The results were incredible. 

The students chose causes that included poverty, homelessness, wounded veterans, animal welfare, and even a people group. The projects were quite creative and effective – raising money, awareness, conducting service projects, and such. The students felt justifiably that they had done something good and felt proud about it. 

Perhaps the most remarkable group over the approximately 10 times I taught it raised around $50,000 to purchase a property equipped van for a disabled person. The group partnered with several organizations and manages to do this all in the span of a semester, which if I remember correctly was the summer one. 

I’ve told you this before but I was always nervous and anxious before each class. I really don’t like public speaking. Sometimes, I would lose my train of thought and stutter, stammer. But at others, it was nagic. I think God was always in my classroom but sometimes He made His presence known. 

And this is how God works in the seams, cracks, and gaps of our lives.  

I wasn’t originally supposed to go on that trip to Korea – only did because the original staff supposed to go had to drop out because his mother was ill. On that trip, I meet up with former students by both design and accident. Even randomly meet a college of one of the church students I taught. 

The management course was also an unexpected gift. 

One day, I casually mentioned to my dean that I was interested in leadership and management literature and said I was thinking of either exploring incorporating these into my current teaching or developing a course. To my surprise, he said the material could fit into one of the department’s current courses and the rest is history. 

And so it goes with God. 

There are surprises that are not only gifts but planned. 

That is the magic.