blog blog blog

so.. i officially suck at keeping a blog, or doing anything consistently.
Eh, my fault.
Today is my dad's birthday!
happy birthday dad!!
Age is just a number :D
and most of all, you know how much I love you right? <3

Run to You

Run to you by DJ DOC is one of my favorite songs... 90's songs are so awesome.
I recently heard a remake of it which wasn't as good as the original but I still liked it. haha
1TYM, DJ DOC, JTL, Cool, S.E.S., Clon, Jinusean, Sechskies, RooRa, Seo Taiji, g.o.d., Lee Moon Sae, Kim Gun Mo, Shin Seung Hoon, and countless other artists that I liked and still like.

Today I was helping my mom with homework for a class that she is taking a willow creek on relationships between parents and teenagers. I realized how lacking my vocabulary is... I should study more korean words. connotation: 함축. somthing new i learned today :D

A Good Friend

soo.. i've been really lazy and i haven't posted anything for a while, but i'll try to post more often now :P

Lately I've been thinking about what a good friend is. The word 'friend' is so banal it seems to have lost its meaning. At out winter retreat, Pastor Frank talked about how a good friend is someone who can speak the truth. Whether it'd be speaking the Truth as in the Word or just being honest, I think he's correct. As we go through life, we encounter many friends, many relationships. However, there are very few that last a long time, and even fewer last a lifetime. We call so many people our 'good friends' but what does it mean to you personally? Is it someone who shows benevolence to you? Is it someone who's willing to listen to you? Someone who's willing to do you a favor? Will those 'good friends' tell you the truth in times of suffering and hardship? I have a few friends around me who can speak the truth to me, and I am so grateful for that. I think being a good friend also connects with accountability. Keeping someone accountable is a hard thing, but it is even harder to ask someone else to keep you accountable. Therefore the truth is needed in accountability, and you need to walk in the light to have true fellowship. Do you have someone who can keep you accountable? Do you have a good friend? But most of all, are YOU a good friend?

Happy New Year

It's 2009!
I'm off to a fresh start and all ready to shine my light : D

Hanmee Youth Ministry Winter Retreat '08: SHINE

SHINE.

1 John 1: 5-7

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

I am so thankful for this retreat. I will write down thoughts later because... I'm dead tired. Good night : )

바다여행

바다여행 - 이선균

아주 머언 어느 날 이 햇살은 아름다운
너에게로 떠났던 내 여행을 기억해줘

아주 머언 바닷가 저 하늘가 어딘가에
너와 나의 소중한 추억들을 간직해줘

눈부시게 푸르른 너는 내게 바다인걸
손 내밀면 하얗게 부서지던 너의 꿈들..

여행을 떠나려 해 아주 깊은 바다여행
부드런 은빛 물결 몸을 싣고 너에게로

눈부시게 푸르른 너는 내게 바다인걸
손 내밀면 하얗게 부서지던 너의 미소

너도 알아 내가 넌 아주 많이 사랑하는

포근하게 감싸줘..
나에게...

doubt

I've been meaning to type this up from a while back but just never got to it. Another one of Pastor Frank Mesina's blessing sermons.

Servants 12/02/08 Re*flect
Pastor Frank Mesina

Passage, Numbers 13-14
In a college campus how can we not just survive but thrive as Christians?

Doubt: lack of confidence that God will keep our promises.

God promises us three main things.
- Promises to provide our needs
- Promises to protect
- Promises well being.

However, despite these promises, we tend to limit God to our abilities.
Oh, God can't possibly do this, possibly do that.

1. God places regular tests of faith to his children.

Israelites: they had no faith to do what the Lord told them to do. They doubted, they didn't trust. All they needed to go up and take possession of the land. It was there, and God had promised it to them. Yet because of their fears and doubts, they did not see the chance and opportunity. Because of their foolish doubts, God gave them two chances. He sent people up to the city to spy on the land and what it held. Even as they heard the description of the land and what God had prepared for them, they did not believe. This was their test. What is yours?

A lifetime of doubt = lifetime in the desert. In order to see our perspective and our faith, He gives us regular tests. When difficulties come, we see what we are made of.

2. The circumstances of your life will shrink or strengthen your faith.
Through fire, things are refined and made pure.
Crisis in Chinese are the characters danger and opportunity put together

Danger/dangerous - 危险 (wēi xiǎn )
Opportunity/chance - 机会 (jī huì )

Take the first character of Danger and the first character of Opportunity and you get:

Crisis - 危机 (wēi jī)

In a Crisis, there is both Danger and Opportunity. It is up to us which side we see.
Spiritual growth does not occur through Bible study, sermons, or even Quiet Times. It happens through crisis. He refines our faith through circumstances, so by avoiding trials, you do yourself harm. God finishes His work in you through these things - then you will be matured and be able to progress. Having faith is not about having blinders on. It is about seeing the world through all perspectives. 12 people in the passage went to see the same thing, the land that God had prepared for them. They all came back with different accounts. God was interested in their perspective. Some saw giants, some saw the milk and honey. Do you want miracles in your life? Then Don't avoid trials. The choice is up to you.

3. Doubt sees obstacles. Faith sees opportunities.

There was a situation where there were two rooms.

One room was full of toys, all unwrapped . A little boy was placed in the room and he happily played with the newfound toys. However, after a while, the boy stopped playing with them and seemed upset. When asked, why are you upset? He answered, “These toys aren’t mine. I won’t be able to take them home with me later. I’ll have to leave them here when I go home.”

In the next room, there was a little girl, and the room was filled with horse manure. Skipping around the room, she shouted, “Pony, pony, there MUST be a pony!”

The little girl was an opportunist, the little boy could see no further than his own unhappiness. Like the little boy, the Israelites could not see past the walls, into the land of flowing milk and honey, even when Caleb steps up and speaks through faith. “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” However, one of the men who went up with him says, “We can’t attack those people, they are stronger than we are.” Even with God’s promises and miracles they had seen, they lacked in faith and only complained to the lord.

What do you blame your problems on? What do you whine and complain about? Are you afraid? Do you have anxiety? Do you have anger? Do you take things into your own hands? Why do people pull back? They have doubts. “Maybe God won’t answer my doubts”

People of faith are those who see opportunities. 10% is what happens to you. 90% is how you respond to it. Faith is a pattern of thinking. Doubt is too. When surrounded by doubters, doubting comes easy.

They could easily have been jumping and rejoicing as they had been doubting. Is it any surprise that faith isn’t there?

When we do things that cause doubt, it can only affect us negatively. Friends, TV, music. Do you have a friend who can speak the truth to you? Are you a friend like that to others?

“If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken and plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt? We should choose a leader and go back.”

Fall by the sword? What? Whoever said so? God only promised them good things. They wish to go back? Who will provide the manna? Who will bring them back? Go back to Egypt where they suffered when they have the flowing milk and honey right in front of their eyes? Unbelievable.

We worry about things that never happened. You’ve got no time to doubt. Are you a doubting person?