Sex-ed and Thanksgiving

Didn’t think you’d ever see those two things grouped together, did you?  Recently I taught sex-ed in Korean to the 7th – 9th grade boys at my children’s home.  Wild, right?  Thankfully I didn’t have to teach about biology or how “those things” work.  Instead I mainly hit on the topics of sex before marriage, porn, and masturbation and explained the dangers of each and the wisdom behind purity/waiting.  The boys were attentive and respectful, despite my awkward Korean (I didn’t learn the proper word for “sex” in Korean until that day… it basically translates as, “Adult Relations”). 

After the few sex ed pics you’ll see Thanksgiving pictures.  Some volunteers from the US military brought some turkey and sides for the kids to be able to eat.  It was the first time a lot of my kids got to eat turkey.  They were all puzzled by the stuffing and didn’t know how to eat the food.  I had to explain things to them and most of them ended up enjoying it.

The boys awaiting the sex ed class

We had it right after basketball practice, hence my amazing pants

These pictures were actually all staged… taken before the class by a dorm dad who needed to take them for the home’s records that we had the class…

Some boys putting on a mini dance performance for the soldiers before lunch

Soldiers and kids watching

Soldiers ready to serve up Thanksgiving happiness

Kids in line

Soo Ah

Sisters Eun Suh and Eun Ji

Group shot1

Group shot2 with Joon Hyuk

Saying goodbye

Myung Soo

New boy Kang Woo

God bless!  =)

NK Defector’s Testimony (and thoughts on NK’s recent attack on South Korea)

A friend shared this with me a few days ago. There are many other testimonies like this girl’s out there. Despite the madness happening amidst the leadership of North Korea, God’s Spirit is continuing to stir dramatically along the Chinese border and in through North Korea.

I hope no one has been hit by fear from the recent shellings by North Korea. Even if war were to break out and tragedy were to temporarily strike South Korea, God would continue to be in control. I don’t desire war or more shellings against civilians, but I do desire for North Korea to quickly fold and for the nation to open up. Millions have already died and millions continue to starve. The sooner NK’s leadership steps down and the country opens the better, even if it means harder times for South Korea.

As I preached about last Saturday night at a joint prayer meeting, God is God over the darkness (sermon can be found here). Even if more extreme things were to happen here in Korea and the peninsula were to grow darker, we can know that we will actually see God even more clearly and trust that He will provide and His glory will prevail. My kids at my children’s home keep asking me that if war breaks out if I will go back to America. I’ve told them I’m not going anywhere. God has a mighty plan for Korea!

God bless!

Sleep Pictures

It’s been a while.  Here are some pictures of my kids knocked out from the past few months.  Something cute about kids completely worn out and in dreamland…

Eun Suh and Eun Ji (sisters)… Eun Suh had chicken pox and was in the guest room where I used to live.  Her sister was with her (she already had chicken pox) to keep her company.  I took this picture after Tuesday night basketball practice when I went to turn off the guest room’s outside lights we used.  I was going to greet and pray for the girls too, but they were already gone (still prayed for them). 

Yong Shin… in a common position right after school (t-shirt look familiar New Philly people?)

Soo Jin knocked out right after English class… she was doing the head nod during class, which isn’t good when there are only three students in the class…

Soo Hoon and Chae Hyun… lazy Saturdays…

The following pics were taken while driving boys home from the soccer camp… the boys would chatter excitedly about the day for the first 20 minutes before completely wiping out from exhaustion… they loved the camp =)  This is Ye Rang on the right and if I remember correctly Ji Hoon on the left…

Myung Bae

Again

Do Kyoon

Won Bin

Jung Hwan

God bless!  =)

No Blog.  Instead Video.

I’m a bit worn out so rather than write a blog today I thought I’d post this video on North Korea.  It’s title is “Escaping North Korea.”  In order to watch the full video you will have to download the veoh player.  It’s an excellent video that shows the struggles of the defectors and the extent of the brainwashing within North Korea.  Minutes 5 – 20 are especially powerful.  It’s not as graphic in footage compared to other documentaries (“Children of the Secret State” is much more in your face with its footage and I feel still the best documentary on NK, despite being 10 years old). 

Watch Escaping North Korea in Faith & Lifestyle  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Please pray for North Korea!  God bless!

Birthday Celebration at Geon Christian Children’s Home

One day a month we all gather together to celebrate the birthdays of kids who had a birthday that month.  The staff like to have a little presentation or two before we sing happy birthday and our director gives the kids gifts… so this time around we had a dance off.  Pretty goofy.  Kids crack me up!

Little Se Min receiving his gift… he is now two years old

Hyun Woo with his gift… also two years old now

Hyun Woo and me

Se Min with Eun Ji

Director Chae giving out snacks to the kids

Kyung Hwan

With Seung Hwan

God bless!  =)

How Heaven Sees You

Judges 6:11b-12 – Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites.  When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

Gideon was a farmer who feared the nation of the Midianites so much that he hid in a winepress when he threshed his grain.  He had an inferiority complex to the point that he believed he wasn’t just the weakest of his family, but that he was the weakest of his entire tribe.  And yet when the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, hiding in the winepress, the angel greeted him with, “The Lord is with you mighty warrior.”

Here in the kingdom of earth you are called a mighty warrior after you’ve fought and won many battles.  But in the kingdom of heaven you are called a mighty warrior before you’ve done anything.  We have to understand that the true reality is heaven.  God is eternal.  Our lives here are momentary.  Nations and people come and go here on earth, but heaven continues forever.  God knew you before time.  He knows you now.  And He knows you forever.  He knows your past.  He knows your future.  He knows who you truly are.  If I knew Michael Jordan when Michael Jordan was seven years old and told him, “You are a basketball champion.  You are the greatest player to play the game,” people would have laughed at me.  But we now know who Michael Jordan is and that he truly is a basketball champion.  His high school coach cut him from the varsity level team.  His high school coach didn’t see a basketball champion in Michael Jordan then.  But now he does.  The world has yet to see the real you.  Only God and those led by the Spirit can see.  We have to trust that God knows better.

We can’t form our identity around what we are doing right now.  We have to form our identity by who heaven says we are.  Gideon was a farmer.  He formed his identity around being a farmer and being just another person in the crowd.  But heaven saw a mighty warrior, a judge for the nation of Israel.  You likely see yourself right now as a student, a teacher, an office worker, or whatever job you might have.  But how does heaven see you?

Worshipping With the Angels…

The following is a video of Elias Arguello worshipping God in Spanish while recording a cd in a studio.  His wife Daiana is in the recording booth with him.  They are only 21 and 20 years old and live in Argentina.  They had decided to just go after God with all the time that they had and worship Him and worship Him.  They did this hours each day to the point that angels began to sing with them and they could hear them.  They have over 90 hours of recorded music with the sounds of angels and other sounds of heaven.  About three minutes into this song you will hear the angels begin to join in with him.

Interestingly, when they recorded in the studio the angels would never show up when it was just one of them in the recording booth.  But when they were both in the booth, even if it was just one of them singing, the angels would begin to show up.  As you listen to him sing you’ll notice there are moments he pauses in the singing to listen if angels join with him. 

At 4:48 is when the angels begin to join in (you’ll hear chime like music)… he says in Spanish, “That’s what I was waiting for… please play loud (to the angels).”  The angels begin to sing at 6:05.  To be honest, I love the song even without hearing the angels sing, but it’s cool to hear heaven joining in the worship. 

Above is a song by Jason Upton (Fly) where you can also hear angels sing (beginning at 5:22).  I wrote a blog entry on that song on October 1, 2008.  It is another one of my favorites. 

Song:  Mi Amor (my love)

The lyrics (translated)…

You’re my love, my love, my great love
You’ve captivated me
You’ve caught me

You’re a love, a love that no one can resist
It’s no longer even a decision
You’re too far within me
And I’m desperate for you

Worthy (dino)
Worthy, worthy, worthy

In your dimension
Is where I long to live
In your dimension, Lord
Is where I long to live

You’re the only worthy one
We will not fear you Lord

Entering God’s Presence

Even the disciples of Jesus didn’t really know how to pray or enter God’s presence, so they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray.  Jesus modeled a prayer for them and it’s beginning is crucial: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name” (Luke 11:2).  In other words, “Our Father in heaven, your name is holy and wonderful!”  Basically Jesus teaches them that to effectively pray we need to start our prayers we need to start with praise for who God is… 

Psalm 100:4 (NKJV) – Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.  Be thankful to Him and bless His name.

Hebrews 13:15 (NKJV) – Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

Both of these verses allude to the power of praise allowing us to enter into the presence of God.  In the Old Testament they had the tabernacle that was basically a large tent with gates that represented God’s sanctuary, or where God dwelled.  The people had to bring an offering in order to enter in.  After they sacrificed the offering they could enter and eat the offering in the presence of God, in fellowship with Him.  In the New Testament the author of Hebrews says that our sacrifice is no longer animal or grain offerings but praise to God.  So when we sing out, clap, dance, or even shout, we are bringing a sacrifice of praise to God.  This is especially powerful when we choose to praise in these ways despite not feeling a desire to.  That is what makes it a sacrifice.  God doesn’t require these things for us to be with Him (it is truly by grace), but rather our praise instead awakens ourselves to who God is (Psalm 57:8) and all the troubles/worries of the world around us begin to fade as we focus on Him (Philippians 4:6-7).

Praise and thanksgiving help us remember God and get our focus back upon His goodness and His love.  As this happens our attitude soon turns from praise/thanks into worship.  We begin to behold the glory of God and so we bow down to Him, sing anthems of worship, and sometimes just remain still before Him. This is when prayer becomes easy because we are right in His presence.  No longer are we just monotonously repeating our needs, but we are right in front of a great, awesome, and loving Father who we know hears our prayers and is able to act.  Our faith explodes in His presence.  Give Him praise and thanks for He is good! 

God bless!