Seoul Land Part 2… my friend Semy’s Pictures (she was with some of the girls in the morning and then our groups came together in the afternoon)

Eun Ji and Hae Ji… and me… while riding the trolley into the park

Se Bin and Ah Reum

Semy got a little sick from the rides in the morning… I think it was from taking pictures like this one

Se Bin and Semy (Semy prayer sponsors Se Bin)

Bumper carring with Soo Hoon

Soo Hoon in the plastic ball on the water

Min Shik and Hyun Bin playing

Il Ho and Se Bin 

Semy and some of the kids behind a little waterfall

With some of the kids

Se Bin nearly pushing Il Ho in…

New boy Min Ho… he is a cutie!

God bless!

Lord of the Dance

I was walking in Seoul the other day listening to this song on my iPod, and as I got to the middle of the song I began to think about how Native Americans would dance for the rain.  Then I thought about how witchcraft doctors and other false religions also encourage dancing, along with the beating of drums and fervent intercession.  Why would they do this if there was no power in it?  Satan takes every aspect of worship and counterfeits it.  You might be surprised that members of the church of Satan pray and fast fervently.  The sad thing is, the church of Satan knows a lot more about the power of worship than many Christians do.  As I reflected on this, I felt the Lord telling me that dance will be released again in the church.  Dancing of joy and freedom from shame.  I began to have daydreams of being in North Korea and the children gathering and being prayed for and consumed by God’s presence.  And as they awake from this, there will be such a freedom that these children will dance.  And as they dance invisible strongholds are going to crumble.  I’ve seen some of the toddlers at my home dance while holding hands and going around in a circle.  It is one of the purest, most beautiful things you could ever see.  I sense God wants this for His church… that He wants us to come to Him with the faith of a child… not fearing what others think about us and dancing in freedom and in joy.  Let it rain Lord!

Jeremiah 31:4, 13 – “I will build you up again and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel.  Again you will take up your tambourines and go out to dance with the joyful… Then maidens will dance and be glad, young men and old as well.  I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.” 

Psalm 150:4 – “Praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute.”

Ecclesiastes 3:4 – “A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.”

God bless!

Seoul Land… Part 1

This past Saturday my children’s home made our annual trip to the amusement park “Seoul Land.”  My objective every year is to get kids to ride roller coasters for the first time (most Korean kids are scared of them).  This year I spent most of my time with some of the 5th – 7th grade boys and I got almost all of them to ride for the first time.  We had a blast!  Here are my pics from the day… I’ll be posting my friend Semy’s pics next Saturday…

Before riding the coaster for the first time, the kids were watching it closely while in line and were amazed/frightened by the height of it… this is Min Shik… he would hold my hand tightly during the ride… all of them ended up loving it and would ride again

Four of the boys before riding for the first time (and “becoming men” as I joked with them)

We ran into some of the girls and dorm moms while waiting at another coaster… with Chae Bin and Jin Seul…

With my boys… wow am I white!

Mi Jin dorm mom and Sun Ran up front, Jang Mi dorm mom and Yoo Mi dorm mom in the back… this would be Jang Mi’s first time riding a coaster

 Chae Bin, Young Eun, and Yoo Jin (can’t see Jin Seul)

Min Shik, Young Oong, and Yo Han demonstrating how they plan to pose for the camera while riding the log flume

Il Ho, Soo Hoon, and Chae Hyun with their poses… Chae Hyun was too cool for school

Riding with brothers Ha Hyun and Hyun Bin

Hyun Bin during the bumper cars… I hadn’t ridden one of these in decades…

Young Oong, after I smashed him

This was one of my favorite attractions at the park… “Water Works.”  Each kid would get in a plastic tube that would be blown up and then they would roll around on a shallow pool of water.  Madness!  Here is Young Oong getting filled up…

Almost there

Soo Hoon jumping in

The kids playing in the water

Young Oong

Soo Hoon posing as a knight with Chae Hyun in the background

Kids about to ride the “Drop Shot” tower ride

Min Shik taking pictures with my camera… this of Ha Hyun…

Hae Ran on the bus afterwards… she got her face painted…

There are plenty of more pics that will be posted next weekend.  God bless!

Hillsong United – Tear Down the Walls (written by Joel Houston)

Tear down the walls see the world
Is there something we have missed
Turn from ourselves
Look beyond
There is so much more than this

And I dont need to see it to believe it
I dont need to see it to believe it
Cause I cant shake this
Fire deep inside my heart

Look to the skies hope arise
See His majesty revealed
More than this life there is love
There is hope and this is real

Cause I dont need to see it to believe it
I dont need to see it to believe it
Cause I cant shake this fire burning
Deep inside my heart

This life is Yours and hope is rising
As Your glory floods our hearts
Let love tear down these walls
That all creation would
Come back to You
Its all for You

Your Name is glorious, glorious
Your love is changing us, calling us
To worship in spirit and in truth
As all creation returns to You

Oh for all the sons and daughters
Who are walking in the darkness
You are calling us to lead them back to You
We will see Your spirit rising
As the lost come out of hiding
Every heart will see this hope we have in You

(You can purchase this cd at www.goldusa.com)

Children’s Day!

May 5th is a holiday in Korea and is meant for the kids.  As we do every year, we had games in the morning and early afternoon for the kids of the home.  It was good times.  Enjoy the pics!

Kids getting organized in the morning (3 dorm rooms vs. 3 dorm rooms)

Kids learning a dance

Kids having to copy the learned dance in a competition

Sa Rang dorm father (that would be a “wig”)

Da Heen dancing

Director Chae (Pastor Chae’s wife) dancing

Jump rope competition

The other team

The kids had to do a relay race where they had to run one by one to a plate with pieces of candy on it, only the place was covered with flour (or powdered sugar?)… the kids could only use their mouth to pick up the candy and then would run back… here is Dal Woo

Ha Hyun… I love this pic

Ye Rang, Ji Hoon, and Young Oong

Jung Hyun

Dong Yoon and Han Bin in the bag race

Soo Jin dorm mom had her own fun

All in all it was a good day.  Hope you enjoyed the pics! 

Faithfulness…

Jesus shares a parable about different servants receiving 3 months wages of money and are told to put the money to work (Luke 19:11-27).  3 months wages of work is a fair chunk of change, but nothing to write home about.  But after the master returns, his rewarding to each servant’s faithfulness is mind boggling.  One servant is able to invest his money to the point of earning 10 times the amount.  The master gives him authority over 10 CITIES.  The next guy earns 5 times the amount.  He gets 5 CITIES.  Another guy makes no investment and hands his 3 months wages of money back to the master.  He is immediately fired and his money is given to the servant who has already received 10 cities. 

It wouldn’t surprise me if his servants had no idea what the reward system would be for their faithfulness.  They were called to do a simple task… take some money, not a lot of money, and invest it.  I feel like this is for nearly all Christians.  We are living lives that seem simple at times… today I was teaching some of my kids basic English phrases during class at the children’s home and I thought to myself, “Is this it, Lord?”  Its okay if it is, but I truly desire for and believe God for so much more.  Everytime I ask God that question, He responds something to this extent: “Keep faithful.”  Just like those servants, I can only dream of what to expect from God.  They received great pieces of the kingdom.  I sense the Lord has the same today for those who are faithful in the little things.

2Chronicles 16:9 - “The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” 

Random Pics…

Recently I went to Faith Room and made Korean style fried rice with a couple of the boys there.  We used some summer sausage that I had received in a care package.  The fried rice was de-licious.  Here are a few pics from the room… all of the pics in Faith Room were taken by the boys there…

Cooking the rice…

With Byung Chul

End result

Do Kyoon

Yoo Min

The two boys wrestling in one of the bedrooms

Sa Rang dorm father with little Eun Ho at his feet

Later that night we had our weekly basketball practice… because of test week for some of my boys, only a few were able to make it out…

Sang Hoon going for a lay up

Ye Rang dribbling while watching the older boys

Yo Han

Going for the rebound… the boys still have a ways to go but they have improved a lot in just a few months… I’m excited to see how they will do at the tournament later this year

Most of the kids had a big meeting that night to discuss activities schedules at the home… here they are all packed into one of the boy rooms

God bless!

Partial Obedience = Delay and Barrenness

I’ve been reading through Genesis lately and I’ve enjoyed reading about Abraham again.  In Genesis 12 God tells Abraham to leave his family and go to the land of Canaan.  Abraham chooses to take his father Terah (Acts 7:2-4, Genesis 11:31-32) and his nephew Lot anyway.  Terah dies in Haran.  Its not until Terah dies that God calls Abraham out farther (Acts 7:4).  Interestingly, Terah’s name means “delay” and Haran means “barrenness.”

Abraham goes to Canaan, but because of a famine he decides to find refuge in Egypt rather than wait on the Lord.  He also tells a white lie to Pharoah while in Egypt.  He leaves seemingly better off, but has a new Egyptian maidservant with him named Hagar who will come into play later.  That story won’t turn out well

In Genesis 13 Abraham and Lot eventually have to part because of infighting among their people.  Subsequently, as soon as Lot is gone, God appears to Abraham.  It was clear God was waiting for Abraham to fully obey.  Abraham will later have to rescue Lot in Genesis 14… Abraham might have thought having an extra relative would provide support in his quest to obey God, but we can see that if he left Lot behind like God told him to that things would have gone much better.

I see parallels in my own walk with God.  Sometimes there is a desire to hold on to some of the things of the past that give me a sense of security or comfort… but in truth these things can cause a delay in God’s plan for me and even compromise blessings God desires to share with me.  God can only give us the full blessing if we are fully obedient, otherwise its like trying to push a circle block through a triangle opening… we just can’t receive it and He has to hold it back until we conform to Him.  So, if we don’t want barrenness or delay in the blessings of God, we need to let go of what we are holding on to and learn to fully rely on/obey the Lord. 

God bless!

Director Mrs. Chae’s 70th Birthday Presentations

This first one is classic!  Its a little long, but fun to watch.  On Mrs. Chae’s birthday each room put on a little presentation for her.  Most of the rooms did dances or songs, but here Meek Room (a boys room) tried something different… I love these boys…

Here is a clip of Faith Room doing a dance for her… poor boys.  Mimi dorm mother is leading them.  These dances are so Korean… if you go to almost any school performance they will do dance routines like this…

Here is a clip of the staff (dorm moms, office workers, and Sa Rang dorm father) singing a Christian song for Mrs. Chae.  Well done.

God bless!