If you haven’t read my last xanga entry (12-23-05), READ IT.  It is encouraging. 

 

I’m leaving tomorrow.  It is unknown how long my commitment to the orphanage will be.  Its all up to God.  My dad and I sense that this is not completely permanent, but another chapter in my life. 

 

Chapter 1 = Childhood – High school and accepting Christ.  Taking baby steps with Him.

Chapter 2 = College, internship, mission trips, study abroad, college fellowship and a lot of growth with God. 

Chapter 3 = The orphanage in Korea. 

 

So, maybe I’ll be there five or six years?  Only God knows.  I’ll likely be coming back to the USA to visit in August, September, or October.  Somewhere in there. 

 

My vision is that one person will join me in Seoul serving at an orphanage after I visit next Fall.  And then the following year two or three people will come join us… and so forth.  Then, after five or six years, we will have a strong team in Korea, ready to go somewhere else and start a new orphanage.  If you don’t know what your future holds, pray for the orphanage and lay the option of going at God’s feet.  And be in touch with me.

 

CONTACT INFORMATION…

 

My address in Korea is…

 

325-11 Kehwa-dong

Gangsuh-gu

SEOUL, KOREA  157-230

 

My mailing address is… (this may change)…

 

John-Michael Becker

CPO BOX 1728

SEOUL, KOREA  100-699

 

My ministry’s home address in the USA is…

 

Mail to:

Come Quickly Ministry

C/o Central Christian Church

6427 Franconia Road

Springfield, VA  22150

 

Make checks payable to:

Come Quickly Ministry

 

My regular e-mail will still be jobecker@vt.edu.  If you would like to be a prayer supporter, e-mail me at comequickly@gmail.com.  Lastly, I’ll hopefully be getting a cell phone after I get in Korea. 

 

God bless you all!!!

Jars of Clay – Waiting For The World To Fall

A couple weeks ago my dad had another beautiful dream… but this time it was not about the orphanage in Korea, it was instead a vision of heaven… let me share it with you…

 

In his dream he told me that heaven opened before him like a curtain.  Then a strong young man ran up to my dad looking so happy and radiant.  The young man was a blend of my brother-in-law Todd’s brother Chad and of me.  My dad then realized the boy was Clayton, the baby my sister miscarried a month ago.  He had died at six months in her womb.  My dad then saw two other children playing with Clayton.  One was a girl, and as my dad looked he realized she was his grandmother.  The other boy was my grandfather Vic.  My dad could see them as both young and old… all of their ages… their entire span of time could be seen when you looked at them… but mostly as radiant and strong youth.  They were each so happy.  My dad noticed a special glow and radiance about Clayton that was more noticeable than with his grandmother and my grandfather… and he realized it was because Clayton was never stained by this world.  Clayton smiled and said, “It is wonderful.”  Then my dad awoke…

 

A couple days later my dad received an unexpected call from my grandfather Vic’s last wife, she was so concerned for my sister Katie and in their conversation she told my dad, “I just know that Vic and Clayton are playing together in heaven.”

 

God is a beautiful God.  Katie and Todd are both doing well.  I’m so deeply touched by how much God loves us.  I love Katie and Todd so much, but my love does not come near how deep and wide God’s love is for them.  And for you too!  His love is wonderful!

 

Merry Christmas everyone!

 

Delirious? – What a Friend I’ve Found… a good Christmas song, if you ask me =)

Now and then I have to do entries like this one.  Don’t let it discourage you, rather let it spur you on in prayer.  We live for a greater hope than anything this world has to offer…

 

 

An excerpt from a past newsletter that Pastor Chae wrote from the orphanage…

 

     “Not all our children are orphans.  A third of them have one parent.  Some of the parents are critically ill or terminally sick of incurable disease (such as leprosy); for some of them, no one knows where their parents are, and some are in prisons.  Once in a while when they are discharged from the prison, they come to get their children.  In that case, we will eventually have to release the child according to governmental regulations, but we have to be very careful, because the child, particularly when she is a girl, is often used as a house maid, or even sexually molested.  At first, the child is happy to live with the kinsman, but I am afraid that at least a half of such cases end up unhappy.

 

     When they say “good bye,” I usually tell them to write to me regularly.  One child said, “I do not know how to write letters,” so I bought her a bunch of postcards with our address written on them.  I said, “If you do not know what to write, just draw a circle on it if you are alright.”  The first card came back the following week with a big circle.  “She must be happy,” I thought.  But gradually the circles were getting smaller and eventually stopped coming.  After a year, I was so concerned that I could not wait any longer.  I traveled four hours to go see her.  She was dirty and sick.  She was laying on the cement floor wrapped with a dirty blanket and had a head full of lice.  When she saw me, she started to cry.  I could not leave her there anymore, no matter what the government said.  In our home, a big clear circle is the symbol of happiness.”

 

 

Wake up church!  This world is loaded with stories like that young orphan girl.  This world has been broken ever since sin entered it.  We were never meant to live in this mess.  It can be fixed though.  There is hope…

 

Pray for His return.  Pray that God may show you the role that He has for you in bringing His kingdom… so that the hurting may stop and we may be fully with Him. 

 

God will lead you.  God will use you.  Do not fear being used by Him.  Offer your body as a living sacrifice; He loves you and has blessed plans for you.  Pray that you may know them and fulfill them, that He may come. 

 

 

Hebrews 11:13-16 says of those who lived by faith…

 

    “All these people were still living by faith when they died.  They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.  And they admitted they were aliens and strangers on earth.  People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.  If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.  Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.  Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

 

 

Revelation 21:4

 

     “He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

 

 

Come, Lord Jesus.

Before I start this entry, one of my hopes is that I will be able to meet up once a day with a person who can tutor me in Korean and also with someone who can help me prepare to teach the children.  If you could help me one day with either of these (preparing to teach or learning Korean) one day before I leave, please let me know.  Thanks!

 

I’m going to try and make this shorter then my last entry… I’ll probably fail…

 

In twenty-six days I will be on a plane headed to Korea.  My t-bird will hopefully be sold.  All my stuff except a couple books, a laptop, and some clothes will be left behind.  It is gradually sinking in…

 

One fear that I constantly have to wrestle with is that I will fail with the children.  I don’t know how to teach.  I don’t know Korean.  I don’t really even know English.  And aside from GEM, I have little experience with kids.  But this I know… it does not matter how much English I teach, how funny or likeable I am with the kids, or even how much I’m able to communicate.  All that matters is that I offer God’s love.  That is the only permanent thing.  That is all God asks.  

 

And then fear responds with… “How can I love them if I can’t relate to them well?  I don’t know them at all and won’t know how to act around them…”

 

I remember I faced a similar fear before while serving with CCF.  During my fourth year I put so much prayer, time, and energy into the freshmen class (F^3).  My love and heart for them grew so much.  Towards the end of that year I already knew that I would again be freshmen homegroup leader for the next class.  I felt like I had just successfully finished a marathon, but was facing yet another before me.  Doubt entered my mind… “My heart is with F^3, how can I offer the same heart for the new class with F^3 still there and still needing growth?  Will I end up just doing my responsibilities during the homegroup but nothing outside of it?”

 

And so I did all that I knew I could do… I prayed.  I must admit, I had doubts as I prayed, but I wouldn’t let them stop me from asking God for help.  

 

The results?  God blew me away.  The love in me and around me only grew stronger and more powerful.  All my doubts were swept away.  My heart for the freshmen grew so much and I was so blessed by them, just as I was with F^3.  F^3 continued to grow strong and now I see they fill most of the leadership positions in the fellowship… officers, homegroup leaders, praise team.  God is amazing.  He is our provider!  

 

Lately I’ve reflected on 1 John 4:19.  “We love because God first loved us.”  Whatever love that is in us is from God.  Apart from God, we cannot love.  But with God, love overflows.  So, how do we receive this love?  Fellowship (being around people who love God) and reading His Word are great helps.  But my favorite and I believe the most powerful… prayer.  Prayer is you and God.  How much closer does it get?  I’ve realized that it has been through my times in God’s presence that I have been able to love those around me.  I’ve learned that one hour of prayer with one minute of ministry is a million times more powerful than one minute of prayer with one hour of ministry.  I’ve seen just a few words of love set people free of the worst chains.  Love and prayer.  Prayer and love.  

 

God is so awesome.  His love is better then anything and everything!  Love never fails.  And so as I’m confronted with fears and doubts with Korea I must continue to pray, look to God, and let him pour out His love and strength into me.  I gotta trust in Him.  He has never let me down, why should I doubt Him now?  

 

Thank you for prayers and encouragement.  Thank you most of all for your love.  Christ in you, the hope of glory.

 

F^3 homegroup at my old apartment in 2003…

 

 

Alpha Omega at Servants 2004

 

 

Song:  True Surrender… performed by Martin Smith and the Soul Survivor kids choir