Spoken Word

James 1:27 ^27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Let us stop with the rules. Let us stop with the judging. Let us bring back Christ's face to the broken and hurting. Church is not school, nor a courthouse of judges. Church is a hospital to give sinners crutches. So they can continue to walk and to run- following Christ's footsteps and reflecting His son.

We must LOVE.

This is so powerful. You can say you don't serve a god- but everyone serves someone. Who do you live for? What would you die for? And what can't you let go of? Because if you can't let go of it, it's holding on to you, and you are captive.  *selfishness *lust *boyfriend * beauty * money *fame * sports * career *success * friendships * pornography * greed * music *video games *theology ... You are serving someone- even if it is yourself.

If you can't give it up, it owns you.

Exodus 20:4 You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

James 4:3-4   You don't get what you want because you don't ask God for it. And when you do ask he doesn't give it to you, for you ask in quite the wrong spirit--you only want to satisfy your own desires. You are like unfaithful wives, never realizing that to be the world's lover means becoming the enemy of God! Anyone who chooses to be the world's friend is thereby making himself God's enemy.

Col 3:5-6   That is why you must kill everything in you that belongs only to earthly life: fornication, impurity, guilty passion, evil desires and especially greed, which is the same thing as worshipping a false god. All this sort of behavior makes God angry.   Eze 6:8-9 ..How I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their detestable practices."

May we be honest with ourselves about what gods we are serving- and pray fervently to God for His deliverance. Because He is waiting to save you.

Annyeonghi gaseyo

Annyeonghi gaseyo means goodbye in Korean! kamsahamnida means thank you! It's time for more goodbyes AGAIN. I feel like that's all I ever do lately- "goodbye, thank you, have a good life." But that's ok! We are saying goodbye to all of the amazing teachers and friends we have been working with. Sometimes God brings people into your life for a short time to teach you something or to bring you temporary joy or comfort. These teachers have definitely been a blessing to me =)

We still have one more week in Korea before we fly back to the states on the 6th!

Forgiveness

Until you’ve been hurt bad enough- you don’t understand how hard forgiveness is. Forgiveness is done not just for the one who hurt you, but forgiveness gives God a chance to start healing your heart. Forgiveness is acknowledging that you are broken and choosing to let God put the pieces back together.

If you are hurt badly, you might not want to forgive because you feel if you forgive someone you are justifying their actions. You might believe that by forgiving someone you are giving up and saying what they did to you was ok, but that’s not what forgiveness is at all.

Whether we like it or not, it is not our job to decide what is right because we do not have a clue what true justice is. Life is not fair- it will never be. “Fairness” is an illusion because the universe is not run by “what people deserve” but by Christ’s mercy and justice that we will never understand. That is a blessing because if God chose “what people deserved” we would all perish in a fire.

Isaiah 43:25-26 "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.  Review the past for me, let us argue the matter together; state the case for your innocence.

Christ is the only true judge and since he has offered us forgiveness, we have a duty to forgive each other. We have slaughtered Christ- sending him to death on a cross: one of the most imaginably painful and terrible forms of death. We have committed murder of the worst kind, how much more should we be willing to forgive our brothers for small sins against us no matter how much they hurt us.

Matthew 6:14,15 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Here are 3 attitudes that help with forgiveness (taken from the book of “Inverted”)

1.       Be understanding. Seek to understand the offender and the reasoning behind what they did.

2.       Be obedient. Do not rely on feelings to help you forgive. Forgive because you know that Christ is calling you to forgive and that as a Christian you must forgive if you want forgiveness.

3.       Be prayerful. Realize that you cannot completely forgive someone on your own- but only with Christ’s help.

Korean Camp's Ending Fast!

We only have 2 more days of English teaching class! I can't believe how fast the summer camp has gone by. Tomorrow we are testing the kids to see how much they have learned. Wednesday we will be throwing them a party.

I am really going to miss all the students and especially the kind teachers we are working with. The teachers that are working at the summer camp are amazing! We have really bonded by dinners and fun outings over the past 8 days. Even though most of the other teachers are in their twenties to early thirties, they have been so helpful and friendly to us young Americans.

Tonight we went to Lotte World which is similar to Disney World but a little smaller. It was a ton of fun and we rode on some pretty scary rides that went really high in the air.

After camp is done, we have about 5 days to tour Korea in Seoul and Busan. We are taking KTX the bullet train to Busan on the 4th to stay with a different family of friends. I can't believe how fast Korea is going by and how well I am adjusting. Oh yes, I have finally mastered the art of chopsticks =) Korean food is still difficult to swallow sometimes but normally there is a selection of rice or noodles which are the safest options.

Ruth vs Jonah

Tonight I studied the books of Ruth and Jonah. To me both stories contrast to demonstrate that God's will is always perfect and will be done no matter what. If you run away and don't follow God, you will miss out on many of God's blessings- but still His will be done. If you obey even when situations seem ridiculous, unfair, or impossible- God will bless and His will be done.

Jonah tries to run away from God's calling to Him. He hears God's voice clearly- He knows what Christ wants from His life- but He does everything He can to avoid God, trying to escape on a boat to a far away land. It doesn't work. God does crazy things- and has a whale swallow him and eventually he ends up in Nineveh- the same place God was calling him from the very beginning.

Ruth has to be a devout Christ- follower to demonstrate such love and faith in God. She goes where Christ is calling her- to a foreign land to comfort Naomi. It does not make sense for her to go because she does not have a boyfriend or husband to be or money or family where she is going. Yet despite what seems stupid and horrible conditions, God provides a man for her life and safety, food, and comfort.

Both stories do not make a lot of sense and seem ridiculous if we really think about it. I mean Jonah- for one who runs away across the country just to escape "religion" or God's calling for their life? Does he really think going on vacation around the world is going to satisfy his conscience or the Holy Spirit? Second of all, a whale?? Why would God use a whale- why not just a thunderstorm or a flash of lightening? But maybe sometimes God does crazy things just to show us He is God and He can do whatever He likes. Maybe He wants to show us that not every story revolves around us and our own lives are not to be lived for our selfish ambitions- but His glory.

As for Ruth, even Naomi told her to go home. Naomi had NOTHING to provide for her and Ruth had no protection for herself. The possibilities of Ruth finding a guy in the foreign land were very small, and it was very dangerous for Ruth to go picking wheat in strange fields. She could get raped very easily. It would be illogical for Ruth to go with Naomi- it wasn't her duty- wasn't her mother and wasn't her problem.

What is Christ calling us to do that seems illogical, impossible, or uncomfortable?
What problems are God asking us to help with that aren't our problems??

David fighting a giant, Balaam talking to a donkey, Hosea married an unfaithful woman, Noah builds an ark when he'd never seen rain, Shadrach lived through fire- God called the people in the Bible to do crazy things all the time! The difference is: they did them! If we aren't feeling called by God to things we are uncomfortable doing, we have to ask ourselves if we are really listening to God at all?

If we are asking God for His will about something and earnestly praying about it- God will reveal His will to us.
Sometimes it may not be the thing we want or like, but His will be done not ours. We are just going to have to accept that life doesn't revolve around us, it revolves around God.

So will we be like Ruth and obey even when things don't seem to make sense? Or will we make things difficult and run like Jonah?

Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[a] have been called according to his purpose.

Squirt guns and Christian dancing

Every day that you live-- is a chance to jump around, a chance to spin until you fall, and a chance to proclaim the love and joy of God to everyone you come in contact with. Some days will not seem beautiful, but every day is a gift.

I don't want to waste my life. We never know how many days we have- but God does.

Yesterday, on Saturday night, my Korean teacher friends and I went to a really pretty park and just sprayed each other with squirt guns. It was simple- but really fun! We ran around yelling like little kids and Tj actually got pushed in the pond.

Today at school, I was exhausted. I am so tired. But I smiled because today I got to teach six classes of adorable Korean kids how to juggle, and teaching juggling just feels like home to me. It reminds me of Gym Masters and everything I did all the time last year. Then at mission school, we got to sing and dance to these super fun Christian songs that just make me laugh and come on- they have to make you smile.

I love group Australia and all the kids I have been teaching! I've been having so much fun in Korea =)

The Great Commission

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:18-20

"I've lived my life a little too calmly. Don't let the Great Commission die within you"- Matthew
Ahn

Do we realize the responsibility that we have to preach to everyone we come in contact with that Christ is coming soon? Do we take our calling seriously?

My grandmother used to tell me never to forget to bow my head and close my eyes when I prayed before meals because it gave attention to Jesus. Honestly as a kid, and even sometimes now, that's the last thing I want to do. Am I embarrassed of Jesus or being a Christian? Not exactly. But then again, sometimes the last thing I want to do is make myself stand out from everyone else and be different. Yet like it or not, sometimes that's the exact thing Christ calls us to do: to stand up boldly from Him and set ourselves apart from the world.

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.