Goodbye Dong Chan…

Dong Chan is a 7th grader who has been at our home for a long time.  He has an older brother who just finished his two year army stint and is now able to take care of him, so Dong Chan moved out of our home this past week.  The first picture is of Dong Chan, a dorm mom Mi Jin, and me the morning that Dong Chan left.  The next few are of when Dong Chan and three other boys spent the night at my place.  The last three pictures are when I had some of the kids over for a movie.  Enjoy…

Mi Jin dorm mom, Dong Chan, and me

The boys playing video games at my place… notice Min Shik’s expression (on couch next to Dong Chan)

Another pic taken a few moments later… again notice Min Shik’s expression

Dong Chan

Dong Yoon

Dong Yoon playing while I’m watching

Jae was losing when this picture was taken

Dong Yoon

The boys sleeping at night… I finally got them to settle down and sleep around 1:30am, not bad

Kids watching a movie at my place

From behind… Kung Fu Panda!

Last group pic

I love that movie!  Especially during the last fighting scene when the Panda does a gorilla kung fu move on the Tiger.  Hilarious!  We rewinded and watched that little part over and over maybe 10 or 15 times.  I love laughing with the kids. 

God bless!

Toxic Fumes/Fresh Air

Usually when people get frustrated about someone, they like to vent about it with a friend or anyone who will listen.  They consider venting, “letting out some steam,” and they think its a healthy way to feel better.  But to be honest, I’ve never witnessed a single “venting session” where anything ended up positive.  The truth is, venting usually is done just to make a person feel justified for their dislike/bitterness/anger towards another.  And if they feel justified, then their dislike/bitterness/anger only intensifies.  And I’ve noticed that often those who allow others to vent will begin showing the same symptoms.  The venting has only served to pollute the air and make things worse. 

Venting destroys family, friendship, churches, and fellowships.  It is immature, selfish, and loaded with pride.  It needs to be cut off immediately.

I find the opposite of venting is praise and thanks.  The Lord calls us to bless our enemies.  He calls us to love others just as He loved us.  He loved us by enduring our insults, torture, and sin by dying for us and covering us with His grace.  I’ve found that praise and thanks actually purifies the air and grants people the right perspective.  When we remember who we are before God and when we remember that none of us are perfect yet God still accepts us, the ability to forgive and show grace to others increases.  So the next time frustration kicks in and you want to let some steam out, let it out by giving praise to God and choosing to surrender it all to the Lord. 

Colossians 3:15 – Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.  And be thankful. 

White Day

Friends of my sister Katie made little bags of candy/chocolate for the kids at my home and they sent the packages with my sister when she visited me two weeks ago.  I chose to pass out the goodie bags to the kids on White Day, Korea’s Valentine’s Day when guys are supposed to give to the girls.  Its held on March 14.  In the past I’ve only given treats to the girls but have felt somewhat bad for the boys getting nothing, so I was happy to pass the bags out to everyone this time.  I passed them out during dinner…

Sun Jae (dorm moms next to me)

Ji Won and new boy Young Hoon behind him (in white)

Sun Hee and Hae Ji excited about the treats

Looking inside… the boy Do Kyoon looks like he is sleeping as he is waiting for his soup

Little Jung Hyun

Yoo Jin

Little ones lined up to receive

Hae Ran

The kids during dinner

Jung Hwan and Dal Woo

Girls showing off their candy bags

Min Seung wanted to show off her bag too

Ji Woo and Kee Baek outside enjoying some of the candy

God bless!

Missions Urgency

I love watching short mission teams prepare to go on their trip.  They meet more often, pray together, prepare skits, practice evangelism, and focus on getting their personal lives in order.  Excitement increases and the bonding is powerful.  Then they return and the reports are always encouraging and for nearly each of them there are unforgettable memories from the trip…

But then it is back to the old life… the old routines.  The urgency isn’t there.  There are no revival services, no orphans to serve, no poor people to care for, no unreached people to evangelise.  Right?  ………

What a lie of Satan.  The truth is our community, no matter what country you live in, is in dire need of God.  And for each of us, there is a strong call on our lives, no matter how old we are.  The Lord has a promised land for each of us, but we have to pursue it!  God is looking for those who are faithful, who want His glory revealed not just one or two weeks out of the year but everyday of their lives.  The truth is, our whole life on this earth is a “short term mission.”  Short term in light of eternity.  Very short term.  We can’t be complacent.  In just a little while it will all be over.  The good news is that His grace is sufficient and He will meet all our needs according to His riches, as long as we come to Him.  God is good!

Proverbs 1:32 – For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.

Joshua 18:3 – How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you? 

Family Visit!

For one week my family (Dad, Mom, older sister Katie, younger sister Laura, their husbands couldn’t come though) came out to visit me for the first time here in Korea.  We had a wonderful time together.  God is so good!  Here are some pics from the week…

My family eating out (Korean BBQ)… we just happened to go to the same restaurant some of my kids and dorm moms were eating at… so those girls in the background are actually girls from my home!  Cool stuff.

My mom with little Hee Sung from my home

Katie with Sung Joon

Laura with Hyun Bin

During dinner time at the home, Katie gave out rice krispy treats that she had made in America and brought over

Talking with some kids over dinner… they were curious about my family

Katie giving out the remaining treats

The next day we went to my church and my Dad shared his testimony (three people accepted Christ!).  Later in the evening we ate out with a number of my church members…

Pastor Christian and his wife Erin

My sisters with some friends from church

Walking with Mom and Dad in Seoul

My parents were able to get a hotel suite thanks to all their credit card points.  We played games each evening after all the touring/visiting.  Can you tell I’m losing?  =)

One day we did a long DMZ tour (the border of North Korea and South Korea)… here my family is with a soldier at a lookout point where you can clearly see a North Korean town

In the United Nations meeting room, where the border between North Korea and South Korea literally goes through the middle of the room.  We are literally on North Korean soil in this picture with a South Korean soldier.

The North Korean building on the other side of the border, just past the meeting place we were in (which is the small building on your left)

A couple American soldiers and our tour guide at a checkpoint along the North Korea border.  The whole background of the picture is North Korea

With Pastor Chae, the founder of the children’s home

The last night… eating a small Korean dinner at my apartment…

God is good!!!

A friend of mine e-mailed this to me and it blessed me…

From Missionary Jim Elliot’s Biography…

For most of his high school and college Jim did not date, and people thought he didn’t like women.  He felt that dating would distract him from God’s call.  But eventually he met a girl in college whom he falls in love with.  To describe this period of waiting for the right one to show up (for a time he thought there may never be a wife in his future) Jim used the analogy of Adam & Eve.  Adam was alone, and no one was found for him.  So God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam.  And after the sleep, God presented Eve to him.
 
The message of this analogy was that  this period of ‘deep sleep’ (or waiting) is a normal process we should allow to play out — to wait upon God.  Jim said ‘we need more ‘deep sleep’ (true waiting upon God).