We forget Majesty

Praise the LORD, O my soul.

O LORD my God, you are very great;

you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

He wraps himself in light as with a garment;

he stretches out the heavens like a tent

and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.

He makes the clouds his chariot

and rides on the wings of the wind. - Psalm 104:1-3

Today on the Radio I heard that we are planning another walk in space. It didn't phase me at all. I wasn't impressed. Just another walk on the Moon or walking around in a big ole space suit fixing some telescope. Then I started to think about it, how probably in the 1960's when John F. Kennedy proclaimed that within the decade U.S. would walk on the Moon. How everyone mustve prayed for it and when it actually happened everyone would sit in front of their Radios or their TV's listening to it. The Majesty of it, the idea of Man being able to walk in Space, for the first time ever.

I realize we do this with everything. The first time we ride a roller coaster. The first time you ride down black diamond on a snowboard. The first time you hit over 100mph in your car. The first time you hold a girls hand. The first time you kiss. The first time you go all in 10k in an investment with borrowed money (haha). Then it all fades away. Roller coasters don't seem that exciting anymore. Black diamond becomes the norm. Holding a girls hand becomes natural and a kiss becomes easy and not nerve racking at all, no more sweaty palms, no more thoughts racing through your mind, "its just a kiss...".

I think we do this with God too. In Psalms, David Praises God and says how great He is and that he is clothed in splendor and majesty, but we forget Majesty. God doesn't seem as WOW to us anymore. Our hearts become jaded and we become comfortable. We forget the He's the Creator of all the earth even the tiny tiny organism in the ocean that just floats around aimlessly. Even that He's designed and created for a specific purpose. We forget that He has no beginning and no end. That He has no evil in Him at all only love. That He is the Avenger, and will come with a mighty sword when He needs to. We ultimately forget that He has sent His only Son Jesus Christ to die on the Cross for us, to bear our shame and our sins until His heart exploded in His own chest.

We forget too much and we forget our Majestic God. I, for one am tired of myself. I want to be like the people in the '60s watching intently for the man to walk on the Moon. I want feel that thrill of the rollercoaster. I want my mind to race at the thought of reaching out to hold a girls hand. I want my palms to get sweaty and cold sweats to go down my back when I think about kissing a girl. I want to be naive and innocent again, like a child for God. That is just marveled at God Majesty. 

Dear God, create in me a clean heart. Take away my past, take away my worldly knowledge and experience, take away my jaded heart. Make everything new again and fresh again, innocent again. Make me like a child in your eyes so that I am able to experience daily how great you are and how much you have sacrificied.  

Endurance through Hope

 1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. - 1 John 5:1-4

In life we learn that nothing is for free. Everything has a cost and something must be given for another thing to be received. However, many of us always try to take the easy way out or find the short cut. We lack the desire to endure hardship. We want whats in front of us and we want it now. Our patience is of a lab rat lookin for cheese and our vision lacks to see that if we endured only if we went through the hardship there is freedom just beyond the mountain we must climb.

The devil I think does a great job of putting the world in our faces and we forget that everything takes work. The devil just hands us the cheap gift and because its so easy for us to obtain we snatch it straight from his hand in utter happiness not knowing that we just sold our freedom for the cost of the devils cheap gift. When I was in China I was at one of the top 3 hotels in all of Shang Hai. As soon as I walked in 15 beautiful chinese girls lined up one took my bags and the rest bowed and welcomed me. Everywhere I went they called me Sir and opened all the doors and pressed all the buttons for me to get to my room. Then my room was on the 15th floor and my sheets were made out of gold fabric with a beautiful dark mahagony bed post. I looked outside into Pudong district of Shang Hai and I felt like Jesus when he was tempted 3 times by the Devil and one of the temptations was of the world. Devil shows Jesus the world and says everything you see all the glimers and the riches I will make it yours.

That night I laid in bed and I felt God ask me, David would you give this all up for me? The paycheck, the house, the comfort, and all the riches that I can bless you with would you give it all up and go into the mountains of Africa with one bottle of water and live in a tent again? Can you do it? I hope and pray that my answer will always be a resounding "YES". That I would never lose the idea of what treasure endurance will bring. That I would never become so blinded and so weak that I can not endure hardships.

I am able to endure through hope, hope in Christ, that He has already won this race for me and I just follow his footsteps. God many times shows us two things. He shows us where we are and where we must go, but everything else in between the endurance that needs to be lived out it is obedience and faith. But I believe because we know, that our God is Good and He is in control of all things we can put a smile on our face and live out the hardship in peace because His yoke is light.

My grad school, my relationships, my ministry, my work, and all things God has put into my life I will endure because He who went before me has endured.

Misery...

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. 2Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 5You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.[a] 6You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you. James 5:1-6 

Dictionary.com defines the word Misery as: 
1.     wretchedness of condition or circumstances.
2.     distress or suffering caused by need, privation, or poverty.
3.     great mental or emotional distress; extreme unhappiness.
4.     a cause or source of distress.

I was watching some news clips and videos about the earth quake in Haiti the other day. One of CNN news reporters who has gone back and forth from Haiti since the 2nd day of the tragedy used the word "Misery", "The horror is gone but now they are in Misery", or something of that sort. For some reason that word just caught my attention. I started to ask myself have I ever truly been miserable? I can't really say that I have. I can say that I've been uncomfortable, that I've been upset or in pain, but I can't ever say that I was completely miserable.

I think a lot of times we take the words way too lightly, but thats a whole blog in itself. But I wonder what its really like to be miserable. In James the word misery is used as well in a description of the wrath that is going to come on the corrupt wealthy people. In this description of what misery is to come to them James describes the loss of all their wealth, loss of their fine clothes, and the corrosion of all their fine metals. I wonder if this is true misery. To have lost all.

But then what does misery mean for Christians? Can we ever be miserable? Wealth and physical loss should be considered struggles and discipline rather than misery. Then what is misery for us? I think for us misery is the loss of just one thing, the most important thing. Misery is the loss of Jesus Christ. The moment when we run so far from Christ and we rebel so much from Christ that he is so distant, he even turns his back on us. We can ask "How can God turn his back on his?!?!" but don't we realize? Our God cannot tolerate sin in our lives. Their are many times in the Bible when the Israelites or God's people rebel so harshly and sin so blatantly that it says God has turned his back on them.

I think this is misery. This is where there is no hope for us. This is where our blessings are cut short. This is where salvation doesn't seem tangible. That the source of our peace. The source of our love. The source of our happiness is gone because of our sin.

I hope and pray for the people of Haiti. That yes they may have lost everything physical and worldly but that they still have God. That they would in this miserable situation would meet God and rest in Him. I hope that for all of us we see how great we have it and how much blessings we received and that in all things we are gracious and thankful before God really shows us what misery is about. 

How heavy is your cross?

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. - Luke 14:26-27 

God always questions me. He asks me,"Will you still love me?", "Would you give this up for me?", "Am I better than this?". A few days ago while driving God showed me myself in a wheelchair. I was paralyzed. I was in front of the church and I was there to give a testimony of some kind. God asked me, "What would you say? Would you still love me? Is my grace sufficient?". I think its probably the first time in my life, deep in my gut, I thought..."I'd rather kill myself. I'd rather that however you made me paralyzed you killed me instead and finished the job". Then the question came to my head..."How heavy is my cross?".

It's too easy to "know" God. It's way too easy to write blogs and say the right things. But to actually execute our faith intentionally and to carry the cross. It's a whole new world of effort. To know it in our heads. To feel it in our hearts. It comes but for that thought and feeling to manifest itself into this world so that we can be the light to it...that's sometimes something of a miracle. When everything in the world is good. When we have our strength and when we have our hands and feet to move. Its easy to say that we believe in God and that God is good and sufficient. But about when it sucks. When we're paralyzed maybe not even physically but mentally, emotionally, spiritually paralyzed. When we pray and pray and there is no answer. When we cry and cry and there is no restoration. What about then, Is your God still Good? 

I thought about really being paralyzed, stuck in a wheel chair. I thought of never being able to pursue a girl, in fear of burdening her. Never being able to have children, always needing someone to push me and go out of their way for me. But i decided. I would live for God. Even if for years and years I have to be by myself and endure the deep deep sadness I would feel all those years, I would still live, just to show the world "Yes, God. God is sufficient for me. His grace is sufficient". I'm not saying this to put myself on a high horse. It's really what in my heart I decided I would do but I still pray that it would never come to that. But I hope that we as Christians can really ask ourselves questions like this. 

How heavy is our cross? How much are we willing to carry? Through deaths of our loved ones, brokenness of our children, through financial bankruptcies, and all ugliness this world can bring to us. Is God sufficient for us? It's really scary and depressing but...yeh I don't know why God makes me envision and answer to these situations and questions. 

Be Still

"Be still and know that I am God" - Psalms 46:10

I absolutely love this verse. Its so simple but it shows God's confidence and His power so much. "Just calm down and Be still!", thats how I feel that God is saying that to me like a true father would say to his child, a loving rebuke. This verse is so hard for me to follow though because inside me there is this longing to be a "self-made" man. I want to do everything with my own two hands. When I was younger and my parents used to nag me I used to tell them, "For one year, don't nag me about anything, and I'll show you what I can do". That year I worked my self into some Honor classes from all the "extra needs" classes that I was in, just to prove to them that if I wanted I can do it (after that year I dropped my honor classes and went back into reg. HAHA). I don't think being a designer or an artist helps either. We're taught to make things. To plan, to create, to visualize, to convince people with our words that our ideas are the best and in the end to come up with something tangible, something we can hold in our hands and show the world that WE are the ones who created it and designed it. We are the potter.

Lately I feel God telling me to be still. It really...it really kills me. I want to do something. Be active. Plan something. Convince someone. Or I don't know just be actively pursuing a goal. But I just can't get myself to. Sometimes I sit here and I feel so dap dap hae because I feel like I should be doing something but then I can't. I don't know if I'm explaining it right but its definitely not a feeling that I can explain fully. I feel like all of us try to do that. The world tells us "Take control of your life! If you want it pursue it! If you want it fight for it! If you want to make it happen!". But God sometimes just tells us..."Be still and know that I am God".

Today I've decided to be still. Whether it be work related, relationship related, family related, or future related...I'm going to just be still. I don't want to manipulate anything or taint anything with myself. Not that I want to sit here and be a bum but I want to know that everything was of God. I want to just be still and know that it was God and not me....

God...you better show yourself. HA!

There is a problem!

We all know that Korea and the US are the two biggest mission sending countries in the world. We pat ourselves on the back for this and think that this is enough. But did you know? Korean sends about 20,000 missionaries all over the world but in Korea itself our homeland, where some of us were born and some of us grew up there is an invasion going on but we are all blind to it. In the small country of Korea there is about 30,000 Muslim men sent by the muslim nations with the missions minded goal of marrying Korean woman and raising up muslim children in Korea. Think about it. Let's say each family has about 3-4 children that means that in Korea alone there will be about 90,000-120,000 native korean muslims in our country. 20,000 missionaries ALL OVER the world compared to 90-120,000 in one country! We need to refocus and stop letting the devil deceive us into thinking that we are doing enough!

Today in America about 43% of Christian Pastors believe that ALL religion can save your soul! UMC (United Methodist Church) and PCUSA (Presybertian Church of USA) have all allowed ordinations of gay and lesbian pastors. A large percentage of christians today believe that Evolution is true and that Genesis is just a bible story or that we can interpret the Word with our own presupposition. But don't you know? Without Genesis there is no Bible. If Genesis is wrong than the rest of the Bible is open for interpretation and can be fallible. The leading Evolutionist of our time do not even try to disprove the Bible anymore. Why? Because Christian leaders disprove it ourselves!

I want to beat my chest over and over again because I'm so dap dap hae. I don't know what to do and I don't see anything that I can do. The epidemic is so large and sin is so widespread. Then I remember. I remember how Big our world is. How complicated all livings things are and that Our God created it and said that it was good. I know I can't do much to impact every aspect of whats going wrong with our times but if I can be used a little. To impact one life at a time. Then I hope that I can be used. I end with lyrics from a song...

Send Revival, Start with Me

For I am one with Unclean Lips

And My Eyes have Seen the King

Your Glory I have Glimpsed

Send Revival, Start with Me

I hope that we can all look into ourselves today and repent. Repent for our laziness. Repent for our comforts. Repent for our ignorance. Repent for our selfishness. Because maybe we can't solve everything but we can repent so that God can revive us. Then together we can do it.

Hope

1We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: "The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me."[a] 4For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, 6so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ......May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. - Romans 15

I forget so many times that this is a broken world and that I'm apart of it. Coming from a solid family and having friends with families that are all together I forget that in the real world there is so much brokenness in family. Satan attacks and breaks up the family as much as possible because the scars and pains that a broken home leaves can stay with someone for their whole lives. Ever since Costa Rica i've been thinking a lot about families and this morning I read an article on DJ's blog about the rise in Korean suicides in the US.

Some experts trace the increase in the suicide rate, in part, to the nation’s rapid transformation from an impoverished agrarian society to a booming industrial power. Traditional family support systems have fractured, age-old value systems have dissolved and materialism has flourished, they say. And those changes continue to steer the lives of recent emigrants to America. - New York Times

 In this article parents of a 20 yr old daughter covered themselves in gasoline and burned themselves to death in their own apartment while their daughter went to a friends house, leaving a note saying “I love you, my daughter. I’m very sorry to leave you alone. It would’ve been much better if you had a wealthier father.”, and left her $40 dollars in the envelope. I spent the other night sleeping over and spending time with the orphans from Korea. I asked many of them, "What's your hope? What's your dream? What do you want to do when you grow up?" and sadly many of them didn't seem to have much hopes or dreams. Most were lonely. Even when in a big group they had a "I'm alone" mentality.

 We need to wake up and understand that there is a problem out there. That the devil is at work mightily to break God's people. To take away their Hope. Take away their joy. Take away their peace. But we turn our eyes from these things. The devil turns our gaze to the riches of this world and behind our backs destroys our families and crushes our foundations. I wish. I just wish that I can help people understand the hope that comes in Jesus Christ. That they are not alone. The Bible says, "We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves". This is my prayer today, that God would make me strong, strong enough to be the bringer of Hope to those who are broken.