It’s a Good Day in Korea

It’s was clearest day in the 6 1/2 months I have been in Korea.  The sun was shining, the smog was gone, and I could see the mountains without them looking fuzzy with dust.

I booked my trip to China, paid for the airfare, and sent my passport in to get my visitor’s visa.

Grand total cost for 4 nights in Shanghai, 4 nights in Beijing, 2-day tour in Beijing, and flight from Seoul to Shanghai/Shanghai to Beijing/Beijing to Seoul…

DRUM ROLL…………

1,153,500 won

……………

which translates to be……

$923.95 U.S.  (Thanks Dad for the money for the airfare.  That was awesome of you to gift me with.  I really appreciate it.)

All that is left for me to pay for is general costs like subways, taxis, and lunches/dinners.  My breakfasts are provided to me everyday that I am in China.  The meals in China are even cheaper than in Korea, so I can eat 2 meals for less than $10 a day if I really wanted to.

I think that $923.95 is a great price for a trip to another country for 9 days and 8 nights.  Especially when I will be seeing things like the Great Wall.

I will leave Seoul on October 3rd and stay in Shanghai by myself until October 7th.  Then, on October 7th, I am heading to Beijing to meet my friend Dan and take a tour.  Our tour lasts through the 9th, and the 10th will be a free day for us to see whatever we want that wasn’t on the tour.

As you can probably tell, I am ecstatic.  This will be the biggest vacation I probably go on in my entire life.  I couldn’t be more excited.

I will post my itinerary later on, along with my plans as to what I will see specifically while in Shanghai and then while I am in Beijing.

Prayer (For Someone Special)

Prayer (For Someone Special)
By Tim Young
8/29/09

A prayer
Simple and sincere
God knows my heart
And He knows my fear
I understand now
He is always here

Restore my soul, O Lord
May my thoughts require
The things of your accord
Please fulfill my desires

“Do not be afraid”
I pray
“Learn of the things I offer”
I pray

Here is the Church
I am a temple
Perform in me a search
And make of me an example

Is loneliness simply longing?
Is love a sense of belonging?
I am missing no spiritual thing
My faith is not built on feelings

I name my surroundings and they are good
I try hard to say and do the things I should
But something still seems to be missing
May this time in my life be a renewing

Put me to rest, O Lord
And when I wake, provide
A love and new life
At my side

In Him
There is no chance
There are no mistakes
Only teaching
And a Place
Full of Love
And Everlasting Grace

When I give Him everything
He gives me more
My soul sings
I am rich when I am poor

He is power
In every hour
When I am cold
He is a blanket
To cover and forget
Sin new and old

Believe Like a Porpoise Would

The Name Game

My mom was crackin’ me up yesterday with names she’s heard given to babies at the hospital she works at.

1) Xtal = Christal (like crystal)  -  Like the X in X-mas

2) L-a = Ladasha (L dash a)

3) Last name: Land      Middle name:  Wonder     First name:  Allison

And people say that television isn’t getting stupider.

P.S.  I am going to book a trip to China tomorrow.  I will be going on the 2nd and coming back on the 11th.  I’m hoping to go to both Beijing and Shanghai.  I will post more about this after I officially get things booked and get my visitor’s visa.

Reaction

The summer semester at Avalon ended.  After a month in which I was forced to work 10-hour days at a payrate for working 7-hour days and taught twice as many classes, I couldn’t be happier that the summer semester is over.  The weekend was a series of uppers and downers, or a typical rollercoaster ride of sad and happy.

On Saturday, I finished membership class at Onnuri church in Seobinggo, a village of Seoul.  It was a happy moment and mandatory if I wanted to be enrolled in the church choir.  It was somewhat exhausting as it began early in the morning and lasted for nearly 4 hours.  I was out of it and on the way home, got onto the wrong subway and rode twenty minutes in the wrong direction before realizing it.  During this twenty minute period of brain fart, a wack-attack lady started to talk to me about politics.  If she wasn’t on medication, maybe she should be as I had no idea who she was and she talked to me about American politics, books I should read, and kept talking about people by name that she knew from the States as if I knew exactly who they were and had possibly been close enough to them to be in bed with them at night.  It was pretty hilarious seeing Koreans on the subway walk to the other side of the subway car or move to a different subway car altogether.  When I realized I was on the wrong subway train, I decided to get off at the next station and this lady got off the subway station with me.  I was tempted to scream, “AWAY FROM ME LITTLE DOGGY!  GET AWAY, GET AWAY!”

After a nap and some food, my now ex-girlfriend, Na Yeong, broke things off with me via a text message, citing that I have “playfulness”.  When I asked her what that meant and why she all of a sudden was breaking things off with me, she replied, “sorry goodbye”.   This came as a complete surprise to me as just 24-hours prior to this, she said to me that she missed me a lot and made plans to spend Sunday on a walk in the park before going to church with me.  This is the second Korean girl to break up with me via text message.  Maybe someday, I will get married via text message.  Then divorced via text message.

I needed someone to talk to, as I had just been dumped.  I had only been dating Na Yeong for less than a month, but break ups always suck.  I called my friend Chris and as always, his phone was dead.  You see, Chris has it stuck in his head that by not charging his phone, his phone will last longer.  It does however defeat the purpose of having a phone when it dies twice every week, especially on Sundays when people are trying to contact him the most.  Due to illogical thinking, I moved on to calling my friend Dan.  Dan was on a date of his own and could not talk.  I was 0 for 2 and it was 5:30am back in the States, too early for me to call anyone there.  So, I prayed.  I prayed for someone to talk to that I knew here in Korea.  No more than 30 seconds later, my friend Dahye messaged me on Facebook, “How are you and your gf doing?”  A-freaking-mazing!  I talked to her for over 4-hours and it was wonderful.

On Sunday, I went to have lunch with some friends because one of the members from the church choir, Anna, who is a government diplomat from Germany is being sent to Kazahkstan for four years.  Every four years, she must move to a new location.  Then, choir practice, church service, and small group study.  The day was a wonderful day in the Lord and I found myself not unhappy or sad about being broken up with by Na Yeong, but smiling the entire day and full of “playfulness”.

I thought that I would stay up late and try to get back into the swing of a PM shift sleep pattern.  I was talking to Dahye at about 2am, when Dan messaged me and asked, “Are you still awake.”  I replied that I sure was to get Dan’s second message, “I am having trouble breathing.”  So, I literally rushed to put clothes on and ran to Dan’s room, not knowing how serious the situation actually might be.

I arrived at Dan’s room out of breath, as I ran up to the 11th floor via the stairwell only to remember that a week prior, Dan had moved to a different room on floor 8.  I ran down to the 8th floor to his room and rang the door buzzer.  He opened the door and had me look into his mouth to see if I could see if his tongue was swelling, which it happened to be doing.  He also had a skin rash all over his arms that was very itchy.  He was having an allergic reaction to something.  I suggested the ER, so that’s where we headed.

This is when things get super hilarious and I basically couldn’t stop laughing.  If only I had my camera, I would have ended making copies of the events in the hospital and used them as practical on Dan on a very regular basis.  Dan couldn’t find his insurance card, so there was a little hold up at the emergency window.  That, and no one spoke English.  Dan had to sign everything that was wrong with him, speaking slowly as if to someone with a brain injury and pointing his index finger into his mouth and trying to talk at the same time.  Then Dan had to express scratching himself.  This was only the beginning.

Three different individuals came to help Dan.  First, a nurse took his blood pressure and temperature.  Then she came back and took his blood pressure twice more.  Two doctors came and asked him about family history with heart failure and allergies.  More signing ensued.  None of the doctors seemed to believe Dan and looked at him in a way that sent the message, “You are a huge baby.”  Yet, I saw for myself that his tongue was swelling, but by the time we arrived at the hospital, his tongue had ceased swelling.  It was like a hypochondriac trying to explain phantom symptoms.

After the first half hour of blood pressure taking and signing, Dan was brought to a bed and laid down.  He was hooked up to a heart monitor and then given a nebulizer.  Soon, a nurse came and hooked Dan up to an EKG machine.  Next, an IV was attached to Dan’s bed and he realized he would be receiving shots and have a needles stuck into his hand.  His reaction to each shot and needle was classic.  Wincing and shouts of “OUCH!”  I couldn’t stop laughing.  If you didn’t know me, you’d think I was high on something.

Before hooking up the IV drip, three vials of blood were drawn by the nurse, who strapped Dan’s arm with a tourniquet and pressed the area just above the needle in Dan’s hand to have blood drip into the vials.  The entire time, Dan was saying things like, “Oh come on!  Is this really necessary?  I just want to go home.”  I kept laughing and laughing cause it was like watching a 5 year old boy get his vaccination shots.

Dan received a shot in his left arm, 3 shots into his IV, a shot into his hip, and then came the chest X-Rays.  He had cords and machines hooked up all over him.  You’d think he was dying.

Not only was Dan’s experience hilarious, directly across from his bed was an older Korean lady that was nude from her waste up in bed having her stomach pumped into a big blue receptacle.  She had X-Rays taken of her backside, so I think she was having digestive system failure.  She had some weird greenish-brownish liquid being pumped into her by an IV tube.  She kept puking and it smelled like death.  The smell of someone who’s insides are dying.  On top of that, there were two very sick babies in the ER screaming at the top of their mighty little lungs.  One of the babies had a cough that sounded like a chihuahua dog.  Then, in a room around the corner laid another sick women who kept yelling at the doctors and sounded like if she was able, she would rip someone’s throat out.  None of this was pleasant, but I couldn’t stop laughing at the situation.  The whole thing was of the blackest of humor.

Dan was charged 123,000 won (about $100) for all of the care.  This surprised both of us because he was given so much unneeded care.  Korea apparently doesn’t mess around.  If someone says, “My tongue was swelling and I was having trouble breathing” then apparently you are strapped to machines and medicated in excess.  Dan now must straighten things out with his insurance company through Avalon schools, which will probably take half of eternity, which in itself is still mathematically eternity.

I didn’t get to bed until after 4:30am, so I am tired today.  But, I am glad I could be a good friend and watch Dan’s experience and laugh at him.  It’s something I won’t soon forget.

Faith

I will begin where I will end. Faith trumps science. Faith is bigger than politics. It trumps inaction. Faith is action. Live it out.

Random fact: At the speed of light, it would take 6,706,171,572 years to travel outside of the our galaxy, the Milky Way. Did chance make something so big? How many “big bangs” and accidents have to happen to make something so big? Just throwing that out there.

To move on, I have a lot of stuff going through my head and I am going to attempt to put it all down and make it as coherent as possible. This may be impossible, but I will do my best. This will be an extremely long post, but please try to stay with me. Take the time to read it. Give it some thought. I hope it bumps around in your mind for awhile as it did in mine.

I am not talking down to anyone. I am not starting an argument. You can reply to this message if you will, but please read it all and do so thoroughly if you want to reply. You are not obligated to say anything in response to what I have to say. These are just ruminations. Do not get me wrong: I am not apologizing for my beliefs or my faith.

Nothing I have to say is new. There are thousands of books written about the topics that I am ruminating about, most of which go into greater depth with more information.

I rely on the wisdom and grace and mercy of my Lord Jesus Christ. If I didn’t have it, how could I possibly go on living? Things are so screwed up in this world, how can anyone go on ignoring that an end must and will come? I simply cannot fathom a life without KNOWING.

I despise the term “nice person” because it is such an insincere term and illogical. Simply put: What is “nice” in reference to? Who is deciding what “nice” means exactly? Who gauges the word “nice”? The term is rendered irrelevant when there is nothing to live by or when there is no code of conduct. The word “nice” is a relative term with nothing to relate to but the individual ideas of each person. Therefore, people like Charles Manson could think they are “nice”.

It is inherent in all of us that there is good and there is evil. No one can deny it. People try, but as soon as evil seeps into an individual’s life, they throw their arms up in bewilderment and demand justice. So many people say that “it will never happen to me” or “it doesn’t effect me”, but these forms of thought are sheer lunacy. The unpredictability of life will disturb each one of us at some point.

Atheists have no faith in God, believing there is no such thing as a God. Yet, many of these same individuals express faith in worldly things like television or food. Examples include individuals that will shout until they are red in the face that Jesus is a sham, yet have faith that everyone should never eat a piece of meat because they are destroying life. Not eating meat becomes their religion. Or people that swear by their favorite half hour sitcoms or hour-long dramas, blogging about them or discussing them (or in some cases, arguing about them) with people at work or their friends. They have faith in the places that a televisions shows may or may not take them.

Read over some examples of people having faith in things they can’t see: You can’t see the air you breath, but you believe it is there. You can’t see the other side of the Earth, but you believe it is there. You can’t see your loved ones when they are in the next room, but you believe they are there. You can’t see electrons, but you believe that they are there. You can’t see the millions of electrical reactions happening inside your body right now, but you believe they are there and happening.

So, why not believe in a God that you cannot see or try to refute the claims of the most established religion in the world, the only religion in fact that offends people, is talked down at on the news and television and other forms of media, has been studied for 2,000 years but never proven false, etc.? Why not at least seek and find out for yourself?

Ok, maybe you don’t care. Things are going fine for you right now. You have the things you need. But, you don’t know what will happen even one second from now. You will die in less than a century. Where to then?

Then there is the fact that people put so much stock in evolution. No factual evidence to prove that there is a missing link has ever been proven. In fact, science has time and again proven creationism. Statistically speaking, to think it is factual that we all came from some primordial ooze and formed into the beings we are is far more minute and impossible than their being a God. That’s a scientific fact. The human cell could not evolve to what it is now. It’s so complex that all the technology in the world can’t figure it out or map it.

I could continue about evolution, but I find that people like to read about it and blindly believe in it because simply put, they are lazy. Yet, they won’t even read one book that logically disproves all of their thought processes.

From a Christian perspective or any perspective for that matter, science does not take faith into account because faith cannot be measured or quantified. Yet, scientists speak of a missing link they have not found and even go as far as to build hoaxes out of plaster. They speak of dark matter, but no technology exists to prove exactly what dark matter actually is.

In all of it’s glorious pride built on theories and “laws”, science still can’t even explain things like why and how an eye turns images that are upside down right-side up in our brain.

Why then would such a pompous art take into account a god, let alone THE GOD from a religion whose holy book had the furthest advances in science during the time of Moses if science can’t measure such a thing in a cup, see it quantified and put into numbers on a computer screen, or study it under a lens?

The Bible itself claims that God exists outside of time. Therefore, why couldn’t God speed time up? Questions unanswerable by science. Yet, it takes more faith to believe in non-belief (atheism) or in evolution than it does in God.

There are agnostics who think there is a God, maybe? Question mark. Who knows. People take leaps at work. They take leaps in relationships with significant others. They wish good on other people. Yet, they can’t bring themselves to believe. This is nothing but pride. People thinking that maybe, just maybe they can do all things on their own. Like, positive thinking will get them somewhere. If they think things will happen, they will happen. Last I checked, positive thinking was a load of crap and these individuals should get kicked in the pants. I’ve never heard of people having magical powers to think things into existence like Harry Potter. No one has one ring to rule them all. We all seek the same basic answers to the same big questions.

I couldn’t dislike “Christians” more than nearly anything else. By “Christians”, I mean individuals who call themselves Christian, but live life however they damn well feel like it. They have zero faith or walk the proverbial fence all their lives. This is not to maintain or claim that I am a perfect man, as I am far from it. I find myself going in cycles at times and thinking, “Why in the world am I putting myself through this mess yet again?” Yet, I cry out to God each time and repent. There is a huge difference between true repentance and feeling sorry for yourself.

Recently, I have had individuals say that they are Christians, yet they don’t think that the Bible is inerrant or infallible.

“All Scripture is inspired by God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” 2 Timothy 3:16

Therefore, to call the Bible errant and fallible is to call God errant and fallible. That’s a tall order to make against an entire faith based on a book that historically has never been proved wrong. In fact, the only book in history to be as such.

The worst part of the whole debate with individuals who claim to be Christian, but do not live by faith but by feelings (which will always lead you down the wrong path) is that they always say things like, “I don’t feel God” or “God hasn’t spoken to me lately.” These are ridiculous statements. Think about it in a logical manner: You would not be friends with someone who you don’t talk to or listen to. So, if you don’t read the Bible (listen to God) or pray (talk to God), then you won’t likely be close to God unless he chose to perform a mighty miracle in your life, ala Paul on the Road to Damascus. You have to seek out any friend or relationship to find one and deepen it, so why wouldn’t you have to do with the same with God who wants to be your father and your friend. He even offers you something that no friend can give you, eternal life. Who in their right mind wouldn’t want to live forever in a perfect place, feasting and receiving a perfect body?

Now, in my life recently, I have struggled with individuals that claim they are Christians and others that I believe are true Christians, yet do not understand the importance of leadership. They think that they can live their lives how they want and others can do the same. This renders evangelism null and void and goes against the very nature of God, who commands us to spread His word to all the corners of the world.

I heard it said once that life is like a path you take everyday. The path is always the same and there is a hole in the path. The hole is never in the same place, but no matter where it is on the path on that particular day, you can see it ahead and have a choice to make. You can choose to to go around the hole or even have the supernatural power to jump over the hole, which is deep enough to cover your entire body and seemingly far too wide to jump over. Instead, most individuals on most days will walk right into the hole and fall into it, then have to dig themselves out. However, there are no tools for digging and the only way out is to cry out for help. Help arrives and a hand lifts you from the hole. Only, you can’t see who lifted you from the pit you just fell into. The question then arises as to when will the day come that you fall and get too hurt to cry out for help?

I don’t pretend to be a Bible scholar. I understand that my words will never be as good as God’s words. That my words are not alive like his. They won’t sit inside someone’s heart and take root in the minds of men. I hope that I can grow ever more humble as to gain His wisdom, rather to try and gain wisdom through earthly means.

I understand that I am nothing but a peon, but a peon with God on my side nonetheless. Even if I am the last believing peon on Earth, I am bigger and stronger even than a billion man army with God at my side. I aspire to have the faith of Jonathan in the book of I Samuel, who defeated an entire Palestinian army with only his faith and the young man who attended to his armor.

Here is where I get political. As sometimes the line is blurred between politics and religion because they are the two biggest parts of everyone’s lives, even if they do not understand this as being a true statement or not.

I first ask, what is the difference between forcing people by law to cohere to a moral code or standard and trying to force people to accept everyone’s code or standard of morals as being equal? Which seems more logical? Would it not benefit all men to prevent injustice, death, saving life, and promoting health? Instead, what is being promoted is that sex is alright as long as you “love” someone. That killing a baby is alright, as long as it’s someone else making that choice because they are an adult giving consent to a doctor to perform the horrific act. Is it not an injustice to put our grandchildren into debt in the name of “we are already in debt because of the last guy”, the very form of thinking that the American government has taken on in the last six months?

I made a list the other day of things that have happened in Washington in the last few months. I did so because I was questioned in my viewership of Fox News. I have, since last November’s election, been argued with countess times by people who voted for President Obama and supported those in the House and Senate that are liberal thinkers. Yet, now I am finding that these same individuals who still attack Fox News for covering the stories that none of the other four major news networks won’t cover because they worship President Obama (even having countdown tickers to his speeches and selling memorabilia, refrigerator magnets, and t-shirts on their websites), now are saying they aren’t happy or tend to agree with what I have said. They too are not happy with what is happening.

I want to say that it’s ironic that it took 4 years for people to swing the other way in their likeness of President Bush and only six months for the Obama administration. Sixty-three million Americans were duped or truly think “hope” and “change” were coming and that President Obama would send rain of lollipops there way, solving all their problems and the problems of the world. Yet, they refused to pay attention to his short record. They did not pay attention to what he stood for. They denied his connections. They pushed aside the fact he attended a racist church. They pushed aside his stance on abortion and homosexuality. They pushed aside his voting record.

These people fell into a hole. It was on their path. They could see it ahead, but they refused to see it was there.

I compiled a list of things that are now happening in America and can’t be refuted no matter any party affiliation:

1) John Edwards fathered a child with a woman in an adulteress relationship. He criminally paid her off with campaign money to keep quiet. The women has proven without a doubt via a DNA test that Edwards is the father and brought the child in front of a grand jury. Yet, there has been zero media coverage. Governor Sanford had an affair with an Argentinian woman and the media talked about him every day for over a month. I am not in any way condoning Sanford’s actions or saying they are not as bad as Edward’s actions, yet there is a difference here. The media covered the conservative’s affair, but not the liberal’s affair.

2) Cindy Sheehan, the woman who was covered by the media for months during Former President Bush’s second term protesting outside of his Texas home is now planning to protest President Obama in front of his Martha’s Vineyard vacation home next week. Again, the media covered this story when a conservative was president, but not when a liberal is president.

3) NBC has an entire website dedicated to President Obama. They are selling 29 different products about Obama, saying things on the site like “Yes We Did”. NBC never sold any Bush memorabilia. Again, liberal media bias.

4) The media has and still gets very personal about Sarah Palin and her family. They have called her on television “bitch” and “slut”. David Letterman made a joke about her underage daughter being raped at a Yankees baseball game. He “apologized” after 2 weeks of bad coverage, but then on his next show, talked poorly of Palin again.

5) As Obama’s numbers now stand, his disapproval rating is higher in the Rassmussen reports than his approval rating. His staunchest followers in the House and Senate, Pelosi and Reid, have 30% approval ratings.

6) The U.S. deficit has quadrupled in 4 months. The same deficit that President Obama keeps blaming on Bush, he has quadrupled and it will rise in the next 10 years to over 10 trillion dollars. It will be more if they pass this socialist, public option in the health care bill that is being proposed.

7) American is showing a disapproval of all things President Obama with a majority of citizens polling they do not want the health care bill.

8 ) According to another poll, 78% of people have now been polled as saying the government is not spending tax money correctly. Over 60% of people say they think that the “stimulus bill” has made no change or had a negative impact on the economy.

9) President Obama spoke 9,000 words at his “town hall” that people were picked by a “lottery” and bussed in. The people that were there spoke 1,000 words. He answered no questions and talked in circles. Nothing he said made any sense. He couldn’t give even 5 reasons why his health care plan is good for the country. In fact everyone, braise yourselves, HE HASN’T EVEN READ THE BILL.

10) Republicans are screwing up too. Republicans are doing a horrible job as Senators and House Representatives. They are arguing over things like the legitimacy of President Obama’s birth certificate instead of coming up with their own plans for the American people.

11) Out of 535 people in the House and Senate, only 62 people signed on to read the health care bill. The government can’t even run the cash for clunkers program correctly, failed with Social Security, Medicare, and with Welfare. Why would anyone trust them with their health? Those 62 people that actually read the bill out of the 535 people were all Republicans. Every single one of them.

12) The unemployment rate is 10%, even though it was promised by President Obama that it wouldn’t go over 8% even without the stimulus bill.

13) The unemployment rate went down .1% last month (even though hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost, so the numbers are skewed) and liberals claimed their plan worked. What people don’t get is that only 67.5 billion of the 787 billion dollars in the stimulus bill have been spent. If it made things so much better, why are housing prices going down and retail sales going down still? If it worked, why did we have to pass a 767 billion dollar bill instead of a 70 billion dollar bill?

14) President Obama thinks it’s his job to apologize for everything America does, bow to Islamic leaders, shake hands with Chavez, drink a beer with the same cop he called stupid as if a beer makes up for something like that, and last week he gave a medal to honor a woman from Ireland that is an anti-semite.

15) President Obama and other liberals are trying to add a provision in the health care bill that will use tax payer dollars to pay for abortions.

16) President Obama lied at his town hall meeting saying that AARP supports the health care bill. The president of AARP went on the record the next day saying that is completely untrue.

The Bible says about debt:

8 “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.” Romans 13:8

21 “The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously…” Psalm 37:27

The Bible says about lying:

Prov 14:5
5 A faithful witness will not lie, But a false witness speaks lies.

Prov 19:5
5 A false witness will not go unpunished, And he who tells lies will not escape.

The Bible says about abortion:

5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you…” Jeremiah 1:5

13 For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me

were written in your book

before one of them came to be. ” — Psalm 139:13-16

22 “If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurelyc but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. 23 But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.” — Exodus 21:22-25

The Bible says about slander:

Psalm 54 the psalmist implores God to have “evil recoil on those who slander” and that God “destroy them in his faithfulness”

Now, let us remember that elected officials are public officials. They work for the people, the people do not work for them.

I say these things because too often lately people have told me that it doesn’t matter to them or they don’t care cause it doesn’t directly affect them. How can these things not affect people? They are so big that it’s hard to comprehend them sometimes. Ignorance and pride have reached new heights in America and in this world.

Think about things like if the government didn’t give the go ahead on abortions, how many millions of abortions would not have happened. It’s now treated like a form of birth control. If lawyers didn’t try to find ways to outdo the law and judges didn’t write laws from the bench, how many problems would not exist in the crumbling justice department. I mean, we just had a new Chief Justice appointed that was quoted saying racist things and on tape talking about writing laws from the bench.

People have given up on praying for our leaders and having an evangelicals voice that is loud and clear telling the government when it has steered the country into sin, a place of debt, red-tape inaction, and deceit.

Faith trumps science. Faith is bigger than politics. It trumps inaction. Faith is action. Live it out.

“I am the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6  — Jesus

Church Retreat

Goby

This weekend, I went on a retreat with the Onnuri Church Choir.  Three weeks ago, I joined the choir at church as a way to be a part of a small group and because I miss singing in a choir.  It just so happens that the choir is the only group that I can be a part of at church because of my work schedule.  They have their practices and Bible study on Sundays before and after church, which makes for a long day but is the only day of the week that I can go to practices.

The retreat was on Ganghwa Island, which is on the west coast, nestled between South Korea and China.  The northern part of Ganghwa Island is part of the demilitarized zone because it borders North Korea.

I had insomnia for the two nights before going on the retreat, getting 2 hours of sleep one of those nights and about 4 the other.  I almost didn’t go on the retreat because I felt physically incapable of functioning, but I decided I didn’t want to miss out on the fun and God’s blessings.

The trip to the island was a two hour bus ride, which I prepared for by not drinking any liquids since the night before.  I had a horrible experience the last time I visited the island in which I had to ask the bus driver to pull over because I had drank a bottle of apple juice before leaving.  The bus driver ended up dropping me off with Dan and Justin in the month of March (or maybe April) at an obscure bus stop located about 100 yards away from the demilitarized zone wall, of which I ended up urinating next to in a relatively deep ditch.  Either way, it was still cold and we had to wait for the next bus to come.  True story:  I had to pee a second time before the next bus came by.

Anyways, back to the story about the church retreat.  The trip itself is kind of a hike, as from my apartment I had to travel a little over an hour to the bus stop via subway then take a 2 hour bus stop.  But, the trip was most definitely worth the tiredness and long hauls.

The choir group met at 8:15am and arrived at Ganghwa at about noon.  From there, a bus came from the prayer house we were to stay at, which was nestled in the mountains with a view of a muddy ocean beach.  First thing I did upon arriving was use the facilities only to discover a cockroach.  I thought, “Oh, delightful.  What did I get myself into?”  After the cockroach experience, we put all of our stuff in our rooms and then had a spicy, curry lunch.  As anyone who knows me understands, I am not a man who enjoys spicy foods.  I have had acid reflux disorder since I was 16 years old and the spice is near deadly for me.  But, I was very hungry, as the entire choir was fasting and had not eaten breakfast.  So, I ate a plateful of the spicy food and luckily, it had very little affect on me.

After lunch, the group prepared themselves to go to the mud beach.  By “mud beach”, I mean that the beach itself is comprised of nothing but mud.  Mud up to mid-shin or to your knees.  The mud is said to have medicinal effects on a person’s skin and Koreans rub it on their bodies.  The choir had a mud fight and we chased each other trying to get it in each other’s faces and hair.  I upset my new friend Dahye by chucking a pile of mud at her and hitting her boob.  I couldn’t help but laugh as I ran away.

The mud continued for about a mile out into the sea before we reached the ocean waters and could swim.  The water near the shore was surprisingly warm and the guys had fun playing water tag.  The only girl to venture into the waters was my friend Anna.  She is from Germany and is a government official who is now being shipped to Kazakhstan in a little over a week.

If you stayed still in the water, little fish would nibble at your feet and toes.  It was an interesting feeling, but pretty amazing that nature literally was surrounding me in such a fearless way.  I soon became interested in the fisherman nearby as they stood up to their waste in the water with cane poles and straw hats.  I was curious as to what they were fishing for as I noticed that all around me, the water was literally shimmering silver and fish were jumping out of the water.  So, I asked one of my Korean choir buddies to translate for me and ask the fishermen what they were fishing for and instead of answering my question, the fisherman handed me his fishing pole and showed me how to use it.

The pole was about a 6 foot long bamboo pole with about 5 feet of line tied to the end of the end of it.  A round sinker was placed about 6 inches above two hooks that were baited with sea snails that the fisherman had cut in half.  Over the fisherman’s shoulder was a net bag that was filled with 6 inch long fish that apparently would be smoked later and eaten.

I was super excited to go fishing because I miss fishing so much.  It is my favorite hobby and I haven’t been fishing since last October.  After about five minutes of fishing, I caught a fish!  The kind of fish I caught was a acanthogobius flavimanus, or oriental goby.  In Korean, it is called Mangdungeo.  More information can be found at:  http://nas.er.usg.gov/queries/FactSheet.asp?speciesID=707

The memory of catching a fish in the ocean with a traditional Korean pole is one of my favorite memories that I have made in Korea yet and it lasted all of five minutes.

Field of chili peppers.

The walk back to solid ground was almost too much as we all started to realize just how far we had walked in the mud in the first place, but it was still awesome to see the millions of crabs on the mud.  Literally, there were millions upon millions of crabs the size of small spiders crawling on the mud in and out of tiny holes.  Amongst them was sea slugs and tiny fish zooming in all directions.  Sometimes, a small jellyfish could be spotted chilling in one of the small pools of water left behind by the receding tide.

After dinner, which was super spicy pork that I couldn’t handle, we had an awesome time of worship and God’s word.  Our voices filled the room as we called upon our Lord.  We celebrated Anna and her commitment to the choir, as she is leaving in a week and ate some snacks which including a delightful watermelon.

After snacks, we played a game using Bible verses in which there was a pile of verses written on bookmarks in the center of a circle that the choir formed.  Someone would chose a verse and read it out loud from their Bible with their backs turned to the rest of the group.  Everyone in the group would then rush to try and find the Bible verse that was read first.  Whoever found the most verses won the game.

As the sun went down, I went out to take pictures.  Sunsets over the ocean are always the most beautiful.  This sunset was a hazy one, but it made the sun look like it was made of blood.

Bed time could not come too soon, but before sleep came more prayer time and discussion about what we felt about the choir.  I passed out at about midnight.  It was at 6:30am that I was awoken by some of the choir members who were way too chipper for not getting much sleep.  We had some prayer time and breakfast then another worship time before heading back to the bus stop.

The last thing that I saw before walking to the nearest road from the prayer house was a toddler boy peeing in the prayer house’s pool.  Hysterical thing to see.  He simply just pulled down his swim trunks and let it flow as if the pool was one big toilet bowl.

On the walk to the road, I stopped to look at a farm.  In Korea, instead of corn and soybeans, they farm rice, sweet potatoes, and lots and lots of chili peppers.

In the mud

To get to the bus stop, we hitchhiked.  I have never felt compelled to hitchhike before, but South Korea basically has no crime, so I wasn’t afraid to do so.  The Koreans that drove me and some of the other members to the bus stop were excited to hear people speaking English.  Their son and daughter sat in the back of the car and spoke as much English as they knew to us as they possibly could.

We missed the 10am bus, so we waited for an hour for the 11am bus to leave.  During that time, we went and bought some ice cream.  The older Korean women who sold us the ice cream had a puppy.  The puppy was a breed of dog that I have seen in Korea a lot and they eat.  It was the first puppy of this breed that I have seen in Korea and it was extremely cute.  I played with it and batted it around as it playfully growled and chewed on my shoes and fingers.  I gave it some of my ice cream in a little cup and instead of licking the ice cream, it chewed on the cup.  Then it acted like it had peanut butter stuck to the roof of its mouth.

Nearby the bus terminal was a century old church, so some of the choir and I decided to go and check it out.  A church service was being held, so I didn’t get to see the sanctuary, but the bricks of the building were so old and rustic looking.

On the ride home, I thought I would die of exhaustion.  The seats on the bus were made for short people, as I am a head taller than most Koreans.  Therefore, my neck was killing me the entire time.  I never thought that I would pray for the subway ride, but I was.  I finally made it back to my apartment at 2pm, only to have to shower, start a load of laundry, eat a bowl of oatmeal, and leave for church.

But, I had things to look forward to because Na Yeong (my Korean girlfriend) went to church with me.  She has shown such great interest in the Word of God and interest in learning what Christianity is, so I have been excited lately.  It’s too bad that I have failed in sinful ways lately because I could have been a greater witness to her in the last few weeks and down the road.  I pray that God uses my mistakes in a positive way and for His ultimate glory and instead of my words, His Words sink into Na Yeong’s heart and she becomes a Christian soon.

Na Yeong was very surprised by the church service.  I don’t know if she knew what to think about it.  For one, it’s hard for her to understand English if it is spoken quickly.  So, I am hoping that she will get comfortable enough around my Christian Korean friends that she can learn more from them in her native language.  I’ve asked her to consider having regular meetings with my friend Iris, who leads the choir, and study the Bible with her.  She says she might start doing that next week if she feels comfortable.  I’ve always been an impatient person and went overboard with asking her repeatedly to talk to Iris, so I ended up apologizing to her and will try to back off the pressure that I have put on her to involve herself in a Christian life.  I have to let God work his stuff.

Pee pool

After church was over, the choir group went and had some Chinese food for dinner then walked to the Han River and had a picnic and worship time.  I somehow made it through both of this things before heading home on the subway and passing out.

The weekend was extremely full of events, but was ultimately and awesome time.  I could go into so much more detail, but this overview has taken me well over an hour to type.  So, I will leave it here.

I pray that everyone back home is doing alright and thanks to everyone that was a part of this retreat here in Korea.  Both of these groups of people are blessings in my life.

Check out more photos on my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=2286435&id=30807922

Fleef Fluton

What if my name was Fleef Fluton?  That is a pretty awesome name.  Kinda like Lief Eriksson, but cooler.  I can only imagine what high school would have been like…

(Teacher) “Jeff Erikson?”

“Here.”

“Fleef Fluton?”

“S.S. Fluton here, sir!”

I’d say things like I was more catchy than the flu.

“I’m so awesome, I am catchier than the flu.  I’m the Fluton.  Like the flu, but on a molecular level.”

All you all collectively sigh, “Huh?”

Right now I am feeling like I took something and it’s been in my system since my alarm went off at 8am this morning.  I had a case of insomnia last night and didn’t fall asleep until 4:30am, then promptly woke up again at 6:30am.  I basically feel like someone stomped on my will to move today and then forced me to walk through a blender.

But, at least things are going well (sans lack of sleep and craptastic employer).  I am dating a Korean cutie.  Her name is Na Yeong and she is about as big as one of my thighs.  Last night, we went and had Thai noodles, went to my apartment and studied the book of John together for an hour and a half, then went and saw the movie Public Enemies at 11pm.  The decision to see that movie at such a late time was simply moronic, but I’d been waiting to see it for some time now.  It bored Na Yeong, but there is just something about sitting next to your significant other in a theater, holding hands and stealing glances at them during the movie.

Tomorrow, I have to wake up before the sun wakes itself up and head to a bus terminal to go on a church retreat.  It should be fun, as we are going to Ganwha Island and going swimming, etc.  This time, I will not drink apple juice before the 2 and a half hour bus trip there.

On Sunday, Na Yeong is going to visit Onnuri Church for the first time and I am going to introduce her to the choir that I have joined there.  By the way, it is weird reading music for the first time in six years.  I started remember musical terminology and theory.  Brings me all the way back to high school when I was acting a fool and ignoring every last thing that Mrs. Fox or Ms. Hackbarth (my choir and band teachers) ever told me.  I still regret not continuing on learning how to play more instruments, as I played percussion, trumpet, tuba, and baritone and sang in two choirs in high school.  Not to sound like I am full of myself (or maybe not), but I was kind of a musical prodigy.  Six years later, I play no instrument at all.

Fleef Fluton out.

Mr. Basil Glaze

Today came with a surpise.  A sugar-coated surprise.

Donuts.  Never liked ‘em, but they are uber popular in Korea.  One might, like myself, find themselves longing for sweets when in Korea cause they make everything as spicy as satan’s stomach acid.  They’d cover M&Ms in red pepper paste and shout praises to the spice gods.  Me, not so much.

So, a donut every once in awhile is like a little piece of heaven.  When my Korean boss brought in a box of Dunkin Donuts, I was one of the first to arise from their seats like a wave to wash over shores full of sugary sands.

I picked out a glazed roll and took a larger than normal bite with a reaction of, “BLECH!  What is this taste?”  I take a closer look to discover specks of the cooking spice basil.

BASIL.

Why would anyone put basil on a sugar-glazed donut?

I will explain by saying that Koreans think spicy red pepper is “sweet”.  To them, ice cream and donuts are “too sweet” and must be unsweetened with added oddities unknown to unsuspecting foreigners.

Hence, basil.

I introduced Mr. Basil Glaze to Ms. Garbage Pale.  They’ll have a nice time talking until the cleaning lady shows up later tonight and empties the trash cans.

Holy Crap

This movie is going to be the greatest movie of all time.  All I can say is Spike Jonze (director), Dave Eggers (screenplay), and Karen O (movie score).

Watching this trailer gave me goosebumps.

On a sad note:  This movie is not getting a South Korean cinema release.