Christian Maturity…

I recently taught a Bible study on discipleship and explained how our Christian development is actually quite similar to the development of a child into an adult.  Here is a chart of the character, needs, and offerings of each developmental stage for humans…

Usually when people first accept Christ and are new in the faith, they can be very inwardly focused.  They want to receive as much as they can.  They also usually require a fair amount of attention.  As they develop, they are able to serve in small ways.  Soon they learn to feed themselves and grow stronger.  The development at the teenager stage is critical.  This is when the Christian begins to serve and step out in faith.  They need responsibility and a degree of trust, but also need mentors to watch in the background and guide and encourage them.  If they are able to succeed and keep humble, they develop into a mature adult Christian.  Now, like a responsible adult, they are able to aid those younger in faith and aid their development. 

Sadly, too many Christians remain in the baby and child stages.  They rely on their pastor or Bible study leader to nurture them.  And if their pastor or Bible study leader leaves, they usually fall away because they are too weak to fight the enemy.  A critical step needed to mature is learning to feed oneself in prayer and in the Word.  And a critical mindset is desiring not just to receive simply for oneself, but to receive in order to bless others.  With this mindset, a Christian can quickly mature in the faith.  Our desire is for His will to be done and our desire is for His kingdom to come.  Our ability to mature greatly escalates when we align our prayers in that way.

God bless!

Our Director’s 70th Birthday!

While Pastor Chae was the original founder of the home, it is his wife Mrs. Chae who actually directs everything.  Last week we celebrated her 70th birthday.  Different rooms of kids did little dances or presentations and then we had a big meal.  I didn’t take too many pictures, but here are a few…

The babies were lined up waiting for her

Sun Ah looking at the camera, Hyun Woo is the closer one (cute chubby cheeks)

Se Min… I love his expression… I’m guessing it was gas…

The babies had “Happy Birthday” spelled out on their backs… here Pastor Chae and Mrs. Chae are entering

Along with celebrating Mrs. Chae’s birthday, we also celebrated all the April birthdays of the kids

Together they cut the birthday cake

Soo Yun performing on the violin for Mrs. Chae

The younger girls from Love Room doing a little song/dance… the girl in the front on the right is wearing her kindergarten uniform… cute stuff

Some of the dorm parents and office workers singing a song for her

Peace room doing a goofy dance

I’ll post video clips from this event next week… one of them is classic…

And as for my last post on relationships… I just posted it to stir things up a little.    It was fun to read the different feedback.  I believe with every Godly relationship, whether there was pursuing or it was arranged, we can see God’s providential hand in all of them.  It was really Him bringing the people together.  For the relationships that were done outside of the will of God (Abraham and Hagar, Esau and his Ishmaelite wives, Samson and Delilah) we can clearly see they were not blessed.  I believe that if two people are following God’s will and trusting in the Lord, He will make it happen.  He may prompt one or the other to pursue a little or drop some hints, but nonetheless it will happen.  Its when we are walking outside the will of God (like David not going to war like he should and then seeing Bathsheba) where regret and confusion can come in. 

God bless!

Godly Relationships…

The other day a female friend of mine brought up to me Genesis 24 and how Rebekah went to Isaac. She also shared with me how Adam’s eyes were closed when Eve was given to him (in other words, Eve also came to Adam).

I thought it was random how she felt led to share that with me and I thought about other Biblical relationships. Abigail and Ruth are other examples of upright women going to the men. For all four relationships, they seemed from the Lord. The women had to risk rejection and were quite vulnerable. The Godly men embraced them. Esther is more of a stretch. Her pursuit of the king resulted in the deliverance of the Jews, but i don’t think that was a particularly beautiful relationship.

I then thought about relationships in the Bible where the man pursued the woman. Jacob and Rachel. David and Michal/Bathsheba. Hosea and his adulteress wife. The Levite and his concubine (end of Judges). Samson and Delillah (and other women). I really don’t like how Jacob approached Rachel (sobbing and such), but he did serve her and sacrificed 14 years of his life for her. David, the Levite, and Samson are bad examples. Hosea was able to redeem his wife, but the whole relationship was meant more as a prophecy than a “Godly relationship.” Compared to the girls going to the guys, these relationships aren’t nearly as good.

Off the top of my head I can’t think of any other relationships in the Bible where one went to the other.  Am I missing one?  The other relationships all seemed either arranged or we just don’t know how they came together.  For almost all the “Godly relationships” (even Jacob and Rachel) the woman is found working/serving.  For the un-Godly relationships the women are either purchased, hiding, or seducing.  Let me know if there are any exceptions that come to mind.

I don’t have a conclusion to give you all, but I thought I’d go ahead and post this and see what type of responses it gets.  Oh, and I love this Misty Edwards song.  Take a listen. 

God bless!

Easter Baptisms!

Last Sunday five kids from my home, a dorm mom, and a few kids from the community were baptized at the church that is inside our children’s home.  I usually attend an English speaking church in another part of Seoul, but I left early to be able to cheer my kids on.  After the baptisms the pastors invited up family members or close ones to hug and bless the kids.  I was blessed to be able to go up and hold a couple of my boys and bless them.  I sense for most of them their faith is has yet to fully bloom, but I’m blessed that they are interested and are seeking God.  Enjoy the pics!

The group beforehand

Eun Ji giving a confession of faith

Il Ho’s confession of faith

Pastor Chae baptizing Yoo Mi dorm mother

The congregation watching (most of them are kids from the home, a few staff, and some families from the community)

Yoo Jin’s turn

Byung Chul

Young Oong

Il Ho

Il Ho after the dunk

Pastor Chae blessing the congregation with Pastor Lee on the side…

Young Oong and Il Ho afterwards

Eun Ji, Yoo Mi dorm mom (the two girls’ dorm mom), and Yoo Jin

Byung Chul and the others were able to participate in their first communion

With Eun Ji

With Byung Chul

Our kids got plastic Easter eggs with candy in them as a treat

A closer shot… the sun was bright that day… heehee…

God bless!

Nobody Likes a Mess…

Proverbs 14:4 (ESV) - Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.

I wish I could be perfect.  I wish that everything in ministry would work out exactly like I would want to and that there would be no conflict or misunderstandings or let downs.  But in order for that to happen, I would have to avoid taking any risks.  I would have to conform completely to what the world approves of.  I would have to be passive and make sure not to step on anyone’s toes.  I would have to lower expectations.  I would have to diffuse the power of God because that power is dangerous. 

As the proverb says… without powerful work, everything is clean.  But if you want results, you need the power.  It simply has to be understood that there will be messes.  There will be mistakes made.  Things aren’t going to look perfect.  But I know the Lord would rather us step out in faith and fight and take risks than hide in the shadows and be passive.  His power is made perfect in weakness.  He will grant us the grace we need.

Just a simple thought.  Good night. 

Making Cookies…

My friend Semy is a sponsor for one of the girls at my home, Se Bin.  Semy visits now and then and in the month of March she visited two weeks in a row to make cookies with Se Bin and other girls at my apartment.  I have an oven, which is rare in Korea (most Koreans have never used one).  Its been fun having kids from my home now and then to make cookies or brownies together.  All of these pics were from Semy’s camera and most of them were taken by her.  Enjoy!

Taking the elevator in my apartment with Se Bin (covering her face), Semy (with the camera), and Hae Ji

Hae Ji and Se Bin with the initial ingredients

Mixing the dough next to Hae Ji (no mixer over here, its all manual)

I drew Se Bin’s name for her in Korean… I did Hae Ji’s as well, but it didn’t come out as well

In the oven… we used my older sister’s chocolate chip cookie recipe… good stuff!

Playing Hae Ji on my Wii (given as a gift to me by my friend Tae, thank you Tae!)… Hae Ji would beat me twice at Wii boxing… I was going easier on her the first time but then my character wouldn’t get up and she got a knockout… I vowed revenge for the second bout, but Hae Ji is so wild and frantic when she plays that she took me out again… it really hurt a lot… my pride, that is

Afterwards, we headed to the children’s home to share the cookies with the kids.  Hae Ji and Se Bin are moving a car parked in neutral out of the way in my parking lot.  Yay for overcrowded Korea!

That day happened to be White Day, Korea’s Valentines Day when guys are supposed to give girls candy.  Here is Eun Ji with quite a bounty. 

The next week Semy took Se Bin and another girl, Soo Ah, out to visit me.  They first rode the subway to a baking supply store.  The girls played a lot during the long ride…

This time they made sugar cookies and decorated them with icing.  I helped with the mixing.

Se Bin rolling out the dough

Soo Ah making shapes out of the dough

Se Bin and Semy with their creations

Soo Ah

Some of the other cookies… Semy and Se Bin’s carcatures included

The girls made cookies for each of the rest of the girls at the children’s home.  Here is Se Bin setting the cookies into plastic bags before taking them over.

God bless!

Red Stew or Eternity?

Genesis 25:29-34 tells a story of two brothers, Jacob and Esau.  Esau is the firstborn, so he has the blessed identity of being the favored son… he has a great inheritance, he is looked to as the chosen, he is adored by his father.  He has an identity that cannot be taken from him and can only be given away.  But in this story, Esau is hungry.  So hungry that he demands Jacob share some of the red stew he is cooking with him.  Jacob makes a simple offer… give me your birthright, the symbol of your blessed identity and the rights of your inheritance, and I will give you the stew.  Esau agrees.  So he trades something invaluable (the birthright) for a quick, lousy meal (red stew???).  What a dummy.  Right?

As a Christian, I have the blessed identity of being a favored son.  I have a great inheritance awaiting me.  I am chosen by God and adored by my Father.  I have an identity that cannot be taken from me and can only be given away.  But in this life, at times, I’m hungry.  And simple areas of compromise and sin offer to satisfy the hunger.  All I have to do is despise my identity.  All I have to do is throw away some of my treasures in heaven and my blessed identity in God for the quick pleasures that don’t last and usually bring more regret in the long run.  Should this even be something I consider doing?  Red stew or eternity?

Praise the Lord for grace!  In Esau’s case, he could never get the birthright back.  For us, although we sin and make much dumber decisions than Esau so many times, there is God’s grace that allows us to return to the identity and promises He has for us.  But, for every time we sin we are making it harder on ourselves to grasp the identity and receive the promises.  Sin clouds our judgment and brings regret.  The more we cling to our identity in God and turn away from sin, the more the revelation we are able to receive of who we are in God.  And the Lord is able to satisfy us in much greater ways than the red stews of this world.  So next time this world offers you some red stew, choose eternity instead!

Psalm 145:15-16 – The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time.  You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

Baby Room!

New baby Tae Woo

Sung Joon

Sun Ah

Hee Sung

Hyun Woo

Kyung Min (you don’t see one of my hands going to tickle him… I like Sun Ah’s smile in the background)

Myung Soo

Hyun Woo and Hee Sung… once again the hand is about to go and tickle

One more shot

God bless!

Accountability Tactic…

One of the big steps in taking your relationship with God to another level is finding one or two people who you can be accountable with.  Everyone has something they struggle with.  For most people they have a secret sin that they are either too proud or too ashamed to share.  They feel if they share with anyone they will be scorned, judged, and rejected.  That is a straight lie of Satan.  Ecclesiastes 1:9 says, “There is nothing new under the sun.”  Romans 3:23 says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  Finding accountability enables you to confess your sins and pray with someone who can challenge you and pray for you in your battle against sin (James 5:16).  If you do accountability, here is a suggested tactic against addictive sins…

If you mess up during the week then on the day that you meet with your accountability partner(s) you fast solid foods and only drink juice/water.  The purpose of your fast is to confess your sin to the Lord and pray for strength against it.  You’re showing the Lord how much you want the victory He promises.  James 4:8 says, “Draw near to me and I will draw near to you.”  If you mess up three weeks in a row, then on the third week you do a complete fast the day you meet (only drinking water).  How much do you want purity?  How much do you want to surrender to God?  Give him everything.  Believe me, its more than worth it!