Ignorance

I had quite a conversation with a woman in the hair salon the other day.  I do not even know her name - had never even seen her before in my life, actually.  But we were both captive audiences - I was getting my hair cut and she was waiting for me to finish, and so we started chatting.

We quickly got past the usual expected pleasantries.  But then I mentioned to her that I was living in South Korea for a year.  And that's when the questions started.  "Aren't you worried about getting kidnapped?"  "Have you ever had someone try to put drugs in your suitcases?"  "How could you travel to Asia all by yourself?"  "What if North Korea attacks South Korea?"  "How can you eat their food over there?  It's barely even edible!"  "Do they have houses over there?"

And so on it went.  Within 15 minutes, I was more than slightly annoyed.  The fact of the matter is that I was talking with pure ignorance....and honestly, it upset me.  The crime rate in Korea is far lower than in America, North and South Korea are not anywhere near on the brink of war, the majority of the food is wonderful (and all of it is incredibly healthy!), and South Korea is now a first-world nation - one of the largest economies in the world, in fact.  The fact that this woman could be so convinced of so much that was so wrong just blew me away.  It was quite upsetting.

But then my thoughts turned introspective, and I began to think of my own mode of thinking.  So often I am in danger of letting my pride get in my way, of convincing myself that my extensive traveling and other experiences during college and beyond have given me more wisdom, made me less ignorant, than those around me.  I put myself on a pedestal, assuring myself that in my worldly wisdom I'm such a better position than others.

But God's way are not ours.  His definitions of ignorance and wisdom are not the same as mine.  They may very easily, in fact, be the exact opposite of the definitions found in the world.  Something to think about the next time you let your pride convince you of your wisdom.

1 Corinthians 3:18-20

18 Do not deceive yourselves.  If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become "fools" so that you may become wise.  19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight.  As it is written: "He catches the wise in their craftiness"; 20 and again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile."

It can always get better

My Bible is old.  The pages are worn and wrinkled, the margins are scribbled in, and the passages are highlighted and underlined.  I've had it for years, and over those years it's seen quite a bit of use.  I've got sermon notes in there, personal Bible studies, cross-references, and anything else that you can think of.  It's become a great quick-stop resource for finding words of comfort - all I have to do is skim the pages, looking for places where I've made notes or other markings, and I'll most likely eventually find words of truth and comfort that apply to my situation.  It's quite convenient, really.

But my Bible has made me lazy.  I no longer open it looking for new truths, for fresh passages, for undiscovered depths of wisdom within its pages.  I open it, certainly....but I have gotten to the point where I simply look for the things that I have already found.

When I came to America for Christmas, however, I left my Bible in Korea.  It was too heavy to bring with me, so I figured my Kindle edition could suffice while I was in the states.  And not having my own Bible has forced me to really read the scriptures, to really look for the nuggets of truth that God has left for me in His word.  I'm no longer able to simply go back to what He's already teach me - I have to learn more, to learn new things.

God is an immeasurable depth of knowledge and understanding.  He can never be fully comprehended - which is why we can (and should!) spend an entire lifetime getting to know Him.  There is always something new to discover, something exciting to learn.  If we stop learning, we are selling ourselves short, cheapening our relationship with the most creative and profound Being in the universe.  No matter how good your relationship with Him has been so far, it can always get better.  Don't sell yourself - or God - short.  It can always get better.

Psalm 105:3-7
3 Glory in His holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
4 Look to the LORD and His strength; seek His face always.
5 Remember the wonders He has done,
His miracles, and the judgements He pronounced,
6 You His servants, the descendants of Abraham,
His chosen ones, the children of Jacob.
7 He is the LORD our God;
His judgements are in all the earth.

Our gift to Him

Well, Christmas is over.  The stockings have been delved into, the gifts unwrapped, the dinner devoured, the pictures taken, the games played, and the family and friends visited.  And once again, I can't seem to shake the feeling that there's got to be more to Christmas than this.

Now, you must understand, this is a very drastic statement for me.  I am one of the biggest gift-givers that you will ever meet in your entire life.  I think nothing of spending hundreds of dollars to purchase, or dozens of hours to make, that perfect gift.  To me, nothing is too lavish or extravagant, as long as it doesn't indebt me.  But even for me, Christmas just seems so empty this year.

I see my siblings yelling in excitement over some new gadget, and my mind takes me to the little Moroccan girl who gasps in utter delight when I give her a few pennies of my change.  I hear the pastor describing from the pulpet the happiness of his children at their stacks of gifts, and my thoughts turn to the chorus of gratefulness from the orphans in South Korea when I give them socks and mittens and a couple of snacks for Christmas.  My eyes wander over the mounds and mounds of discarded wrapping paper and excessive decorations, and my brains wanders to the memory of the happiness of the people in Costa Rica who don't exchange any presents at all, and who's homes are decorated by a single strand of old, flickering Christmas lights.

But what can we do to make Christmas seem more "real?"  How can we give it more depth, make it more meaningful than the traditional useless knick-knacks, excessive stress, and empty bank accounts?  Perhaps we would best start by giving a gift to God.  Regardless of whether they truly need it or not, all of us are good at giving people random gifts just to mark the occasion.  But what do you give to the One who literally has everything?  How do you show your love to the Maker of it all?

God doesn't  want our stuff.  He doesn't want our lip-service.  He doesn't really even want our money, although He does ask us to tithe a portion of what we make back to Him.  What He really wants is our love.  Our admiration, adoration, and appreciation.  Our gift to God is how we respond to the gifts that He has given us.  So what is your gift to Him?  How will you respond to His blessings in your life?  Will you squander them on silly, useless trash that will disappear or lose its value within a few weeks or months?  Or will you invest it in people, in God, in something eternal?  The choice is yours.  But choose wisely - whatever your gift is, it will have an eternal impact.

Galatians 2:19-21

19"For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.  20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.  21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"

The greatest story ever told

Well it's Christmas eve tonight.  The stockings have been hung, the letter and plate of cookies left out for Santa, the presents put under the tree, and the little ones tucked in bed.  It should be the most magical evening of the year.  But this year, for me, my usual excitement and anticipation of the season and the "big day" tomorrow is missing.

I don't know why, but this year everything just seems so...so hollow.  I find myself noticing less and less the stockings hanging from the mantle, and more and more the exhaustion of my parents who have worked so hard to make everything just right.  The beautiful Christmas decorations seem to have faded, and the people spending Christmas alone have become much more apparent.  The presents under the tree are not nearly so important now, but the people who have nothing are infinitely more so. 

Perhaps we have all been focusing on the wrong story.  Most people focus simply on the presents and food and family that everyone associates with Christmas.  If we focus on Jesus at all, it is on the baby Jesus, the little helpless child who was laid in a manger in Bethlehem so many years ago.  But the story that we should be focusing on is not Jesus the baby, but Jesus the conqueror, Jesus the savior, who came to rescue a world sorely in need of His help.

Perhaps if we remembered the right story, the story of Jesus' triumph, we wouldn't focus on the silly things of Christmas, but rather the things that matter.  It is, after all, the greatest story ever told.

John 21:25

 ²⁵ Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

Details

I'm back in America, on my "home turf" as it were, for the first time in 6 months.  And it's so very different than Korea.  But it's not the big differences that are really getting to me.  Sure, there are obvious changes, like the fact that people don't all look the same, or that I can understand everything that goes on around me. 

But it's the little things that are really affecting me.  Like eating with a fork instead of chopsticks.  Or saying "hello" instead of "annyeonghaseyo."  Or walking outside in shorts and a t-shirt instead of bundling up in 4 or 5 different layers.  Or knowing where all of the plates and silverware in the kitchen are.  Those are what is really striking me, what is really throwing me for a loop, what is sticking out to me as the most outstanding differences between these so very different cultures.

It seems that God puts more stock into the little details, too.  He does not want grand expressions of sacrifice from us on occasion, while we ignore Him the rest of the time.  What he desires is that we give our lives to Him in the little things - that we give our hearts to Him, not just our actions.  If He has our hearts, if we are willing to let Him handle the little details, you can be sure that the big things will follow. 

Psalm 40:6-8

⁶ Sacrifice and offering you did not desire—
   but my ears you have opened—
   burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require.
⁷ Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—
   it is written about me in the scroll.
⁸ I desire to do your will, my God;
   your law is within my heart.”

Timing

So often Christians quote verses talking about God's provision, His kindness, His propensity to always act on our behalf.  And it's true, He always DOES act on our behalf.  But what so many Christians so easily forget is that what we THINK is best for us isn't always so.

Timing is so crucial in this life of ours.  It affects things that range on the scale of importance from life-changing, to completely innocuous.  Timing is what may be the deciding factor between if she says yes to that first date or not.  It's timing that determines whether or not he hits a home run or strikes out.  Poor timing can kill, and perfect timing can save a life.

I don't think any of us would really try to argue the importance of timing.  Nor would we try to argue that all times are equal - some times are simply better than others for certain things to happen.  So why is it that, when it comes to God's timing, we always want to rush things?  We wait 5 days for the weekend, 4 years to finish college, and nine months for a baby to be born simply because that's how it has to be.  But when God asks us to wait on His timing we jump the gun and insist on getting things our way, and now.

Perhaps it's because we don't know how long we will have to wait that we are so impatient.  Perhaps it's a product of our "instant gratification" society.  Perhaps it's because, deep down, we honestly feel that we can do God's job better than He can.  Whatever the reason....it's wrong.  Plain and simple.  If you are waiting on God to answer a prayer in your life, I promise you there's a reason.  There are factors in the background that you cannot see, but that will reveal themselves when He is ready.  When He is ready, not when you are.  Do you trust Him enough to wait on His timing?

Isaiah 64:1-5

¹ Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, 
   that the mountains would tremble before you! 
² As when fire sets twigs ablaze 
   and causes water to boil, 
come down to make your name known to your enemies 
   and cause the nations to quake before you! 
³ For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, 
   you came down, and the mountains trembled before you. 
⁴ Since ancient times no one has heard, 
   no ear has perceived, 
no eye has seen any God besides you, 
   who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. 
⁵ You come to the help of those who gladly do right, 
   who remember your ways. 

The icing on the cake

I had a rude awakening today.  Actually, it was more of a pleasant, gentle awakening, but it shook me, nonetheless.  I walked into my house today after a long day at school, and I was greeted by my host father holding traditional clothing for a little girl and boy.  He was just as pleased as he could be, and all I could think of was, "however will I fit this into my suitcase??"

So I spent about thirty minutes trying to cram it into my suitcase, at which point I had to leave the house for a few hours.  When I came back I was greeted by another gift - a traditional Korean hanbok for myself.  And I must admit, my first instinct was to react the same way I had before - with frustration at the last-minute additions to my suitcase that I already knew didn't have even the slightest chance of fitting into my already stuffed luggage. 

But then I caught myself.  What on earth was I thinking??  I have been blessed with a family who really, really cares about me, and bends over backwards to show it.  I have been coveting a hanbok since the day that I came to Korea, but had resigned myself to the fact that I would never own one because of the prohibitory price tag.  And then in one day I became the owner of not 1, not 2, but THREE hanboks!  And I have the nerve to complain that they won't fit in my suitcase??

No matter what is happening, most people could probably find negatives in the situation if they are looking for them.  But that works in reverse, too.  No matter how bleak it may look, there is always a positive side.  And sometimes, like in my case today, the positives far and above outweigh the negatives.  At the end of the day, what it comes down to is that God has redeemed us, He has saved us, He has forgiven us.  That's reason enough to praise the Lord.  But when you realize that every single situation has good things to it, examples of God's enduring love for you...well then, that's just the icing on the cake :).

Psalm 103:1-5

¹ Praise the LORD, my soul;
   all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
² Praise the LORD, my soul,
   and forget not all his benefits—
³ who forgives all your sins
   and heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit
   and crowns you with love and compassion,
⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things
   so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

No joy in death

Kim Jong Il, the despotic, evil president of North Korea, died today.  This man has enslaved and murdered his own people for many years, and many people consider his death a blessing.  All day long - in the office, on facebook, in emails and on the news - people have been celebrating his death as if it were a party, rejoicing as if his obituary better belonged in the wedding section. 

But I can't seem to find any joy in the news of Kim Jong Il's death.  I don't deny the fact that he was an evil, evil man.  But the prayer of my heart for many years has been that God would break my heart with the things that break His heart.  And I simply cannot believe that God was happy at the news that has been plastered all over the papers today. 

The death of Kim Jong Il means that he will spend an eternity in hell.  It means that he will never have another opportunity to know the grace, the love, the peace that comes with knowing and walking with the Lord.  Why is that something to rejoice about?

I am not denying or discounting the atrocities that he committed in life.  But I can't help but wonder...why does his death pardon pardon his atrocities?  Why is his demise cause for celebration?  God came as a ransom for all people - He is not one that any man should perish.  The death of someone who does not know the Lord should never be a cause for joy, no matter what they have done in life.

1 Timothy 2:1-7

 ¹ I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— ² for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ³ This is good, and pleases God our Savior, ⁴ who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. ⁵ For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. ⁷ And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles.

Singing off key

I've been singing an inordinate amount of times lately.  I have spent the vast majority of my life avoiding singing in public areas at any cost, and it seems that I'm making up for it now.  I went into town with some students yesterday and sand karaoke, sang with my host family while gathered around a piano today, sang a song at an open mic night last weekend, and have even been leading the worship service at my little church on Sundays. 

I've never liked my voice, which is why I always shied away from the microphone.  It's a source of self-consciousness for me, and I've always preferred to clap along in the background, and to let the "real" singers do their thing.  But I'm starting to realize that it doesn't really matter how well you sing.  Your friends don't care if you sing off-key, and it's certainly not important to God if you don't hit the right notes.

Psalm 100 says to "shout" for joy to the Lord.  I don't know about you, but the last time I heard a chorus of children shouting, it wasn't very melodious.  God doesn't care about our perfect pitch - or lack therefore.  What He cares about is our heart.  He cares that we worship Him with gladness; that we come before Him with joyful songs.  He wants us to enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.  At the end of the day, what really matters is that our songs are praising the Lord - not that they are on key.  That should be the least of our worries.

Psalm 100

¹ Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
 ² Worship the LORD with gladness;
   come before him with joyful songs.
³ Know that the LORD is God.
   It is he who made us, and we are his;
   we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

 ⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving
   and his courts with praise;
   give thanks to him and praise his name.
⁵ For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
   his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Fasting

I've been eating all day today.  Seriously, almost nonstop since I woke up.  I was eating breakfast within 3 minutes of getting out of bed.  Then I had a mid-morning pear, and my host mother insisted on feeding me lunch right before I left to meet a friend for lunch in town.  From lunch, I met some of my students and spent the afternoon with them.  This time, coffee and bagels, directly followed by dinner, was on the menu (pun intended). 

Eating so much food, my mind naturally gravitated to the opposite extreme - fasting.  When I was growing up, I looked at fasting as a rather obsolete tradition that was only practiced in extreme situations, due to the enormity of the commitment.  I mean, fasting means you stop eating, right?  So you grow thin and gaunt, and everyone knows that you're fasting, right?  Isn't that how fasting works? 

Well, not exactly.  Fasting is not supposed to be a big showy event, a time when everyone has a chance to observe just how holy you really are.  In fact, when we fast, God doesn't even want other people to be able to notice a difference.  God doesn't want us to fast for show, to bow our heads and rip our clothes and loudly proclaim just how much we love Him.  He wants our hearts to show it.  He wants us to show our devotion through self-sacrifice, but not self-flagellation.  He wants us to sacrifice ourselves by giving to others, not making a public display of our piety. 

That's the complete opposite of what most people think of when they think of fasting.  But if I know anything about God, it's that He specializes in turning logic on its head, in making the unexpected normal. 

Isaiah 58:1-5, 13-14

¹ “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
   Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
   and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
² For day after day they seek me out;
   they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
   and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
   and seem eager for God to come near them.
³ ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
   ‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
   and you have not noticed?’

   “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
   and exploit all your workers.
⁴ Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
   and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
   and expect your voice to be heard on high.
⁵ Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
   only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
   and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
   a day acceptable to the LORD? ......

.....¹³“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
   and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
   and the LORD’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
   and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
¹⁴ then you will find your joy in the LORD,
   and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
   and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
            For the mouth of the LORD has spoken. 

Adopted

I have been given a unique opportunity to be both adopted - three times, actually! - while also remaining simultaneously within my biological family.  What do I mean, you ask?  How is that even possible? 

I'm talking about homestays.  Someone who has never experienced a homestay before might think that it is little more than a glorified hotel, in which the stranger lives in the home of another family, but does not do much more than that - their lives are still largely separate, and they do not interact much beyond the normal niceties required when living together.

And it's true that in some houses, that is exactly what a homestay is.  But that's not a real homestay.  In a real homestay, you are, in almost every sense of the word, adopted.  You eat with them, you talk with them.  They take you to experience events in their world, you do the same with them.  You hear their squabbles, you feel their sorrow, and you share in their joy.  They call you their daughter or son or sibling; you call them your parents or sister or brother.  When you leave, you stay in touch through whatever means you can, so strong has the bond between you become.

Homestays offer a unique perspective on our relationship with the Lord.  We are called sons and daughters of the living God - we have been adopted into His family, with all the rights and privileges associated with that.  You are not a passing guest.  You are family.  Family sticks together through thick and thin, even when it's difficult - even when they don't want to.  How are you treating God?  Are you acting like His child...or simply a distant house guest?

Galatians 4:1-7

 ¹ What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. ² The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. ³ So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. ⁴ But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. ⁶ Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

Wanderlust

I have been afflicted with wanderlust.  Quite fatally, in fact.  On the one hand, I love my life back home in America.  I have a wonderful family and fantastic friends, great places to live, and fulfilling jobs.  My life in the USA has been the kind of life that most people would be quite envious of.

But there's a part of me that always wants to get away.  When I come home from my travels, when I settle down for a year or two, there's always a part of me that is yearning to travel again, to keep going and to see more of this big, beautiful world that we live in.  And once I get to some new destination, there's always a part of me that wants to come back home. 

In both places, at home and abroad, I can usually conquer my yearning for the other place, and concentrate on the here and now.  But there are times in Korea when I feel that I shall simply die if I don't catch the next flight to America.  It was the same in Spain, Costa Rica, France, and Morocco.  And it is often the same in America - I feel that if I don't escape the constancy, the inane sameness of day to day life by going somewhere - anywhere - I will self-implode. 

This wanderlust has caused an unfortunate, unforeseen consequence in my internal psyche.  I have no real home.  When I want to go home, I no longer know where to go.  When I first started solo traveling at the age of 17, I never expected that the result would be that I would be rendered homeless.  If home is truly where the heart is, then my home is spread out all over the world, in the homes of the people that I've met and traveled with and explored with. 

I still love to see new things and meet new people.  But at the same time,  it's exhausting.  I don't have a home base to retreat to, a cheering squad to meet me when I come home from work or school.  I am, in effect, a self-made gypsy.  But the Lord's faithfulness crosses all borders, knows no times zones.  If you are feeling distant from your family - emotionally, physically, or both - don't despair.  God is looking out for you, even if it feels like no one else is. 

Psalm 37:23-29

²³ The LORD makes firm the steps
   of the one who delights in him;
²⁴ though he may stumble, he will not fall,
   for the LORD upholds him with his hand.

 ²⁵ I was young and now I am old,
   yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
   or their children begging bread.
²⁶ They are always generous and lend freely;
   their children will be a blessing.

 ²⁷ Turn from evil and do good;
   then you will dwell in the land forever.
²⁸ For the LORD loves the just
   and will not forsake his faithful ones.

   Wrongdoers will be completely destroyed;
   the offspring of the wicked will perish.
²⁹ The righteous will inherit the land
   and dwell in it forever.

Believe without seeing

I have a book that stays hidden away in the recesses of my room.  It rarely sees the light of day, except when I feel the urge to write in it.  It's a book filled with letters that I have written, letters that I've been scribbling for years now.  But I never send them.  No one but myself ever reads them.  Because, you see, those letters are letters to my future husband.  And the only person other than myself who ever will read them is the man who gives me a ring and his name, the man that I choose to spend my life with.

How, you ask, can I write letters to someone I've never met?  How can I reveal intimate things about myself, and share my thoughts and hopes and worries and dreams and ambitions with a dead piece of paper, meant for a shadow of a man?  I asked myself the same things when I started writing them.  I've done few things harder than writing that first letter.  What do I say?  How can I start?  Of course by the time he reads it, we will already know each other, but right now we don't....so should I introduce myself or not?  It was a strange beginning, like stepping out onto a frozen lake that you are not sure will hold you or not.

But as time has gone on, those letters have become a source of comfort to me, a means of getting closer to someone I cannot see.  If I feel lonely or far away from him, I write him a letter telling him how I feel, and somehow that brings us closer together.  It's difficult to describe, but writing to him and telling him things that are close to my heart before I ever even meet him have added an extra level of intimacy and trust that I would have never gotten had I waited until I could actually see him to start talking to him. 

In a way, these letters have shown me how to get closer to God, too.  So many of us wait until we can "see" God before we invest in Him.  We wait until He performs a miracle in our lives, or works something out the way we want it to, or saves a loved one...and THEN we start investing in Him, start developing a relationship with Him.  But God wants us to invest in Him now - before He performs a miracle, before we need Him for something, before we can see Him.  

Isn't that what a life of faith is all about?  Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.  Why do I spend all of this time writing letters to a phantom?  Because I have faith that he is not a phantom; that he is a real, flesh-and-blood human being, and that someday I will meet him.  If we can believe that future spouses exist, when they are still as of yet unmet, why is it so hard to believe that the God who created them exists and loves us?  Where is our faith in God?

Hebrews 11

Faith in Action

 ¹ Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. ² This is what the ancients were commended for.  ³ By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
 ⁴ By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
 ⁵ By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. ⁶ And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
 ⁷ By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.
 ⁸ By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. ⁹ By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰ For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. ¹¹ And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. ¹² And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
 ¹³ All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. ¹⁴ People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
 ¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, ¹⁸ even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” ¹⁹ Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
 ²⁰ By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.
 ²¹ By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
 ²² By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.
 ²³ By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
 ²⁴ By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. ²⁵ He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. ²⁶ He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. ²⁷ By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. ²⁸ By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
 ²⁹ By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
 ³⁰ By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.
 ³¹ By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.
 ³² And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, ³³ who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴ quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. ³⁵ Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. ³⁶ Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— ³⁸ the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.
 ³⁹ These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, ⁴⁰ since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

Youthful wisdom

Older people are wise.  At least, that's what I'm always told.  And it's true, they sure do have a lot of knowledge.  It was my father who taught me how to change the oil in my car, my mother who taught me how to cook and bake.  My grandparents have hundreds of anecdotal stories about their childhood and adulthood that they have shared with me over the years, and I'm sure many more that I will never hear.  I remember going to nursing homes when I was younger and just listening to the old folks there, while they played Bingo and talked about their experiences during times of war and peace, depression and innovation, sorrow and joy.  

It's true that elderly people have a lot of knowledge, a lot of experiences.  But do they have wisdom?  Experiences I can wait for - I know that they will come with time.  But wisdom?  Wisdom I want now.  Wisdom is what guides your life, what helps you to make the right decisions.  Despite my youth, wisdom is not something that I can afford to wait for.  Every difficult situation, every angry friend or hurting stranger or estranged family member that I encounter makes my soul cry out for wisdom, my spirit scream for direction and guidance. 

The good news is that we don't have to wait until we are old, filled with many mistakes and regrets, to have wisdom.  God can - and wants to - give it to you now.  No matter what your age is.  One of the wisest people I know is several years younger than I.  I have often wondered his secret.  After stumbling across some of his writings today, I think I have it figured out. 

This kid loves God with everything he is.  He puts every last bit of his energy into developing the talents that God has given him and getting to better know his Maker.  First Timothy is such a great encouragement.  It doesn't matter what your age is.  What matters is your heart.  Your devotion to the Lord.  And that's something that anyone can cultivate.  Don't let your youth be an excuse anymore.  Youth should be a sign of passion, not complacency. 

1 Timothy 4:12-16

¹² Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. ¹³ Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. ¹⁴ Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you.
 ¹⁵ Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. ¹⁶ Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

See His handiwork

I had today all planned out.  I was supposed to wake up at 6:00 am, take the 6:30 train to another city, change clothes and meet up with a friend from school to go to a mutual friend's wedding.  That was what was supposed to happen. 

But today most certainly did not go as planned.  What actually happened was that I ended up waking up at 4:30 instead of 6:00, taking the wrong train, going three hours out of my way before I came to a station from which I could turn around, completely missing the wedding, and traveling a grand total of about 5 hours for what should have been an hour and a half trip.

Needless to say, I was more than a little frustrated.  And I must admit, by noon I was not in the most charitable of moods.  My day had turned into an "I hate Korea" day - one of those days when everything is going wrong, and you find fault that everything that everyone does around you.  Days like that don't happen to me very often, and I justified it to myself this time, saying that I deserved to be annoyed with Korea after the day that I had had.  

But there were things that I missed because I was wallowing in my self-pity.  Like the fact that the reason I had gotten up at 4:30 was to serve orphans by making breakfast for them, and that honestly I had a blast doing it.  Or the fact that, because we rode the wrong train, I got to ride an extra hour with one of my best friends whom I rarely see.  Or the fact that upon my return I was greeted by a Korean family who was genuinely excited to see me, and welcomed me with all the hospitality and love that they could muster. 

Jesus is everywhere, His handiwork in every situation.  But if we're unable to see beyond our own selfish messes and mishaps, how will we ever be able to see Jesus in our midst?

Psalm 119:33-40

³³ Teach me, LORD, the way of your decrees,
   that I may follow it to the end.
³⁴ Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law
   and obey it with all my heart.
³⁵ Direct me in the path of your commands,
   for there I find delight.
³⁶ Turn my heart toward your statutes
   and not toward selfish gain.
³⁷ Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
   preserve my life according to your word.
³⁸ Fulfill your promise to your servant,
   so that you may be feared.
³⁹ Take away the disgrace I dread,
   for your laws are good.
⁴⁰ How I long for your precepts!
   In your righteousness preserve my life.

Get in sync

I went to a Christmas concert a few days ago.  It was a beautiful concert, with all of the old classics, and a few new surprises thrown in there, as well.  The fact that it was all in Korean just added an extra layer of beauty to it. 

There's something about hearing a familiar tune sung in an unfamiliar language, that just makes you pay all the more attention.  You notice the lovely costumes, the faces of rapture of the singers, the gusto with which the musicians play their instruments, the reactions of the crowd around you....all of those little details that you might overlook if you were able to understand everything that the choir was saying.

Our life is like a concert.  We can easily think of God as the conductor, and ourselves as the musicians and vocalists.  When one person is out of tune or sync with the conductor, it throws off the entire performance.  But when everyone's right where they need to be, doing exactly what they need to be doing, it makes a beautiful work of art, indeed.

Was there ever a time when you were completely in sync with God? Are you there now?  Or are you trying to make your own beat?  The music will happen, whether or  not you are playing on key with everyone else.  Don't be off your rhythm.  Get in sync with God, and the music that your life makes will be wonderful, indeed.

Psalm 150

¹ Praise the LORD.

   Praise God in his sanctuary;
   praise him in his mighty heavens.
² Praise him for his acts of power;
   praise him for his surpassing greatness.
³ Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
   praise him with the harp and lyre,
⁴ praise him with timbrel and dancing,
   praise him with the strings and pipe,
⁵ praise him with the clash of cymbals,
   praise him with resounding cymbals.

 ⁶ Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.

   Praise the LORD.

The 12 days of Christmas

The 12 days of Christmas is one of the most well-known Christmas songs ever.  Some people claim that it is actually a Christian allegory - the 2 turtle doves refer to the Old and New Testaments, the 4 calling birds refer to the 4 gospels, the maids-a-milking are in reference to the 8 beatitudes, etc.

But that allegory is easily disputable, and it's not a discussion that I want to start.  Listening to it, however, did make me think about what it means to truly love someone.  In the song, the singers' "true love" gives him an overabundance of gifts - 12 partridges in pear trees and drummers drumming, 22 turtle doves and pipers piping, 30 french hens and lords-a-leaping, 36 calling birds and ladies dancing, 40 golden rings and maids-a-milking, and 42 geese-a-laying and swans-a-swimming, to be exact.

Now don't get me wrong, I really love both giving and receiving gifts...but even for me, that seems a little excessive.  It doesn't seem like you should have to buy all of that to show your love.  So what is true love?  How do you show it to Jesus, who already has everything?  I like to think that Jesus prefers a more personal gift.  One that cost less money, but is still just as costly.

So this year, instead of turtle doves, how about giving your time to people in need?  Instead of maids-a-milking, why don't you make someone a meal?  Instead of calling birds, why don't you care for someone less fortunate than you?  In lieu of french hens, why don't you give a friendly word to someone who needs it?  God has lavished great love on us, indeed.  It's only right that we do the same for others.

1 John 3:1-3

1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are!  The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.  2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.  But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  3 All who have this hope in Him purify themselves, just as He is pure. 

Immanuel

Well we're in the middle of advent, which is a time to remember Jesus and who He is, so I figured now would be a perfect time to talk about one of His many names - Immanuel.  I'm not sure why, but I've always loved the name Immanuel.

Perhaps it is because of the wonderful songs that have been written about that name - think "O Come O come Emmanuel" and "Emmanuel," a la Michael W Smith and Amy Grant.  Perhaps it's the meaning of the word, "God with us."  Perhaps it's simply because it has a pretty sound, a lovely cadence that rolls pleasantly off the tongue and washes gently over the ears.

Whatever the reason, Immanuel is a wonderful word.  It's a wonderful name.  Immanuel, as I mentioned before, means God With Us.  But the awesome thing about that statement is that, although God came to us as a baby, He didn't stay that way.  He came to us as a baby, but He is with us now as a conqueror.

And let's be real, as much as I love babies, they're not much help in a battle.  When I'm waging war against a powerful, unseen enemy, I'd much rather have a conqueror on my side than a baby.  That's the good part.  He is most certainly a conqueror, no longer a baby.  And he is also most certainly with us - He is our Immanuel.

Matthew 1:18-25

18This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.  19Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrance, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.  

20But after he has considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  21She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins."

22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23"The virgin will give conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel" (which means "God with us").

24When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.  25But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son.  And he gave him the name Jesus.  

The reason for the season

It's winter time, which means the days are getting shorter.  But my days seem to be getting longer.  No matter how much I get done, no matter how productive I am, the to-do lists just keep growing.  I've got finals to give, goodbye presents to purchase, student assessments to write, Christmas shopping to bring back home, church stuff, homestay stuff, volunteer stuff....the list goes on and on.

It's easy to get overwhelmed.  On a good day, I assure myself that God will not give me more than I can handle, and I don't let it stress me out.  But not every day is a good day, and sometimes I just want to curl up in a ball and sleep forever to escape the mounting pressures. 

I think that, during times like these, it's important to remember our blessings....especially during the Christmas season.  Christmas has become one of the biggest causes of stress in the modern American family.  During this season, debt, rates of depression, and suicide rates skyrocket.  Most people find Christmas a source of stress and worry, not of joy and laughter. 

So we need to remember why we celebrate Christmas.  It's not for the presents under the tree.  It's not for the stocking stuffers.  It's not about the wreathes, or the trees, or the decorations, or even the family gatherings and friendly get-togethers.  As much as I enjoy all of those things, that's not the reason for the season. 

The reason for the season is, plain and simple, Jesus.  He gave us a gift so wonderful, so incredible, so unbelievably selfless, that we celebrate Christmas out of pure joy and gratitude for what He first did for us.  At least, that's the idea.  That's why we're supposed to celebrate.  What is your reason for the season?

Luke 1: 30-33

³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Gifts that cost something

The Gift of the Magi is one of the most beautiful Christmas stories ever written.  It's a fictional story about a young married couple, deeply in love but desperately poor, trying to buy each other the perfect Christmas gift.  So he decides to sell his prize, antique gold watch to buy a pair of tortoiseshell combs for her lovely, waist-length brunette hair.  She, in turn, cuts off her hair and sells it to a wig-maker, so that she can buy a fine gold chain for her husband's beautiful gold watch. 

Of course this story has a bit of an ironic ending - each one's sacrifice, although great indeed, is rendered useless at the end because of the equally sacrificial love of their spouse.  But what stand out more to me is not the irony, but rather the sacrifice.  I've been going Christmas shopping for friends and family for a while now, picking up things here and there to take back to the states with me when I fly home in 2 weeks.  It's been fun - I enjoy buying presents for people, and it serves as a sort of pseudo-countdown for when I get to see my family and friends.

But I have to ask myself...have I been giving sacrificially?  Have I approached giving not simply as something that I do out of my abundance, but also out of my scarcity?  Most people try not to go into debt when buying Christmas presents.  And, while I am most certainly NOT advocating that you do that, God does want us to give sacrificially.  A gift only truly means something if it costs you something.  And I'm not talking about just money.  You can offer time, talent, energy, ideas....the list goes on.  So I wonder, if people merit sacrificial giving, how much more so do you think God deserves it??

Acts 20:32-35

³² “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. ³³ I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. ³⁴ You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. ³⁵ In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” 

1 John 4:10-11

¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Lights

Christmas lights have started popping up all over the place, even here in Korea.  I can only imagine what it's like in America, where Christmas is celebrated so much more widely than in South Korea.  I love Christmas lights.  I love how they twinkle in the night sky.  I love how they brighten up and bring cheer to dim, dreary rooms.  I love their fire, their vibrancy, their pure life.  There's just something about Christmas lights that's simply magical.

Jesus came to be the light of the world - we have been called to be the same.  The Christmas season illustrates that concept for me particularly well.  Every day, I can see firsthand how God wants us to light up this dark, somber world with joy and hope.  But sometimes our lights go out.  We get complacent, we get nonchalant, we don't care. 

I imagine all of those lovely lights strung up on the rooftops and ceilings and laced around the Christmas trees, with all of their capacity for beauty, sitting cold and black.  It's a sad picture. It's not something that I ever want to be.  So I encourage you, during this season of Advent, when we are remembering Jesus and why He came, to check your light.  Make sure that it hasn't burnt out.  The world needs to see Jesus, and we're the only way they have to do so. 

Isaiah 9:1-3

¹ Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—  ² The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. ³ You have enlarged the nation
   and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder. 

Life

“To move, to breath, to fly, to float, 

To gain all while you give, 

To roam the roads of lands remote,
To travel is to live.” 

~Hans Christian Andersen

What is life?  I don't usually think about such abstract questions as this.  But this quote by renowned author H.C. Andersen arrested my attention.  If life being with your family?  Having great friends?  A good job?  Is it travel, as Andersen claims?  Why, indeed, are we here?

Now don't get me wrong, I love to travel.  I have been to nearly a dozen countries within the span of 2 years.  I have seen wonderful things, met incredible people, and done some things that I never would have dreamed of.  The pages of my passport are covered with entry stamps, exit stamps, alien registration numbers, and visas. 

I don't regret anywhere that I've gone.  My experiences have been amazing.  But is that, in itself, true life?  What have we been put on this earth for?  Some people would say that travel really IS life - we've only got one life and then that's it, so you might as well have as much fun as you can!  Some people use that same logic to justify constant partying and promiscuity.  Others say that we must be good, so that our next lives can be even better than this one.  Many simply have no idea why we're here. 

But I would submit to you that our purpose on this earth is a very simple, yet exceedingly complex one.  We have been created, we live, for God.  We were made to have a relationship with Him.  And, as such, the greatest thing that we could ever do in our lives is to, as Deuteronomy says, "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength."

Given the emphasis that our world places on success, money, talent, fame, and prestige, that's a rather surprising definition of one's life's purpose.  But, then again, isn't our God the king of surprises? :)

Deuteronomy 6:5-9

⁵ Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. 

Flash mob

I saw a flash mob yesterday.  If you don't know what that is, it's basically when a group of people create some kind of synchronized or choreographed performance.  And, rather than announcing it and performing it in a normal venue, they choose a random location, perform it out of the blue at a random time, and then disappear into the crowd, acting as if it never happened. 

It's truly fascinating to see a flash mob.  And I'm not alone in this opinion.  Flash mobs are known to attract large crowds of people, people who stop for a few minutes in their busy day to just watch the action, and then return to work after it finishes.

But I started thinking more about that after the crowd dispersed.  People are so willing to stop, to spend a few minutes of their precious time to watch a flash mob.  But if there is a homeless person who is asking for help, we walk right on past without even batting an eye.  It's as if they don't even exist.  And sometimes, when someone does stop and help, the other people in their party even berate them for stopping.  Why are we so much more willing to stop and watch random strangers for a few minutes, then to invest in the life of someone who needs our help?  What has happened to our culture, that it's ok to pass them by without batting an eye?

1 John 3:16-24

¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? ¹⁸ Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
 ¹⁹ This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: ²⁰ If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. ²¹ Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God ²² and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. ²³ And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. ²⁴ The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

Servanthood and greatness

In my class today I had my students make Christmas trees out of green construction paper.  They covered them with stickers, adorned them with delicate drawings, and smothered them with glitter.  They were really quite something to behold.

But the center was left blank.  That was where they were supposed to write something.  "Christmas is often looked at as a time when we get lots of things," I told them.  "But Christmas is really about giving, not getting.  It's a time to remember what God gave to us, and to give things to other people as a way of saying thank you."  (Ah, the joys of working in a school - and a country - where opportunities to talk about God are not smothered by regulations and political correctness!)

So I told my students to write in the middle something that they wanted to do for someone else over winter break this year.  Almost all of them said that they wanted to volunteer in orphanages.  They could have just as easily said that they would take their friend out to dinner, or help their mother clean, or let their sister have the bigger serving of rice cake.  But they didn't.  They looked outside of themselves.  They wanted to do something real, something for the people for whom nobody else does anything. 

It was touching, seeing how they wanted to make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate than them.  It was also a bit humbling, because I was one of the few people who did not write that I wanted to work with orphaned children on my Christmas tree.  But yet, isn't that really why we're here?  To serve others?  That, for Jesus, is the mark of true greatness.  So how great are you?

Mark 9:33-37

³³ They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” ³⁴ But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.
 ³⁵ Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
 ³⁶ He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, ³⁷ “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”

Anticipation

It is officially December.  Every year, December first always brings an air of excitement, of anticipation, and of expectation.  But this year, the start of December has special significance for me.  December first still heralds the coming of Christmas caroling with friends, and snuggling up with my family around a crackling fire, and making hot cocoa and apple cider and gingerbread houses, and running around the entire town to find the perfect gift for the perfect person.

But this year, it means so much more to me.  Because this year, I've been on the other side of the world since July.  And all of the little things that I do with my family - wrapping presents with my brothers and sister, scheming with my parents to hide my siblings' stocking stuffers, putting out a plate of milk and cookies for Santa and carrots for Rudolph, helping my dad eat said cookies and carrots after the children are in bed, writing a note "from Santa" and putting it under the stockings, bounding out of bed at the crack of dawn on December 25 to greet the day with the biblical Christmas story, breakfast, and then presents - all of those things are going to be all the more precious to me because they almost didn't happen this year.  Flights from Korea to America are expensive, and the decision to come home was a closely fought battle.

But in the end, I AM coming home, and I'm so unbelievably excited.  But I was convicted of something today as I sat there thinking of my trip home.  Do I look on Christ's coming with as much anticipation as I look upon my return to America?  Does the thought of Jesus coming to my life fill me with as much joy as the thought of me coming home for a few weeks?  Do I live my life in anticipation of His coming?  Or have I become indifferent, calloused, numb to the joy that He brings to the world?

Luke 2:22-40

 ²² When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord ²³ (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), ²⁴ and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”  ²⁵ Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. ²⁶ It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. ²⁷ Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, ²⁸ Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
 ²⁹ “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
   you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
³⁰ For my eyes have seen your salvation,
 ³¹ which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
   and the glory of your people Israel.”
 ³³ The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. ³⁴ Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, ³⁵ so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
 ³⁶ There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, ³⁷ and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. ³⁸ Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
 ³⁹ When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. ⁴⁰ And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.

The lessons Larry can teach us

OK, I have a confession to make.  I'm a nerd.  Not the pencil-protector wearing, taped glasses, walking encyclopedia type of nerd.  But rather, the type of nerd who fixes computers and obsessively corrects peoples' spelling and collars and loves animated children's movies, a la VeggieTales and 321Penguins and The Incredibles and Cars. 

So when I woke up today and realized that December begins tomorrow, with Christmas coming not far behind it, it's probably not a surprise that the next thought that popped into my mind was that of a Silly Song with Larry, "Oh Santa," from VeggieTales' The Toy that Saved Christmas.  The premise of the song is that it's Christmas Eve, and Larry the Cucumber is excitedly waiting for Santa to come visit him.  Over the course of the evening, he is visited not by Santa, but rather by a banker, a viking, and an IRS agent.  The milk cartoon in the background obviously shaking fake snow over the entire scene, the kitchen tiles on which the stage is set, and the varied vegetables actors, which are undoubtedly the cutest comestibles you've ever seen, do nothing but add to the charm of the song.

The song says multiple times that Larry, although frightened by the intruders, makes an offering in the spirit of Christmas, giving one of the cookies that he had planned to give to Santa to each of the trespassers.  This is surely an unsurpassed gesture of kindness for a cucumber.  But it got me thinking about the kindness that humans can show, the offerings that we can give to Jesus. 

It's easy to laugh at the absurdity of a cucumber dressed in a towel, giving cookies to vikings and IRS agents on his kitchen counter.  But perhaps Jesus would have been pleased with his offering, after all.  Because for a cucumber, that really is quite an extraordinary gift.  And Jesus doesn't care about the size of our offerings; He cares about the heart of our gift.  He wants us to give something to Him that means something to us.  He doesn't want our trash, our leftovers, the things that cost us nothing to give.  He wants our best.  He deserves our best.  Don't short-change Him.

Luke 21:1-4

¹ As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. ² He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. ³ “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. ⁴ All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

Advent

This is the first week of Advent, the time leading up to the celebration of Christmas, when we take time to remember Christ Jesus.  What is Advent, exactly?  What does it mean?  Advent comes from the Latin word advenio, which means arrival or coming.  Advent is a period of around four weeks that we set aside to remind ourselves of the imminent second coming of Jesus.

In my home growing up, my parents always had all sorts of little traditions that we would do every year during advent.  We would light advent candles at dinner every night - I remember that my siblings and I would always fight over who got to light them and blow them out.  But we had other traditions, too, ones that didn't cause squabbles over the dinner table.  Like how we would read the Bible every evening together as a family, to remind us of who Jesus is and what He did for us.  Or how we would pray, also as a family, every night before bedtime, thanking God for who He is.

So, in the spirit of Advent, I went to Luke today and re-read for the millionth time the story of the birth of Jesus.  It never fails to give me chills.  There's something about this story - the mystery, the romance, the danger, the singularity, the supernatural elements - that makes it one of my favorite stories in the Bible, ever. 

Every time I read this story, I can almost hear the choir of angels singing, their pure, crystal voices serenading the lonely shepherds and scattered sheep.  I can sense the stress when Joseph and Mary are desperately trying to find a place to stay in Bethlehem.  I can feel the wonder in the young couple's eyes when they first lay eyes on their precious miracle child, Jesus. 

Christmas is a beautiful time of year.  But, throughout the hustle and bustle of decorating and shopping and shoveling snow and seeing family and friends, we must remember why we celebrate Christmas in the first place.  It's not for the trees we put up in our homes.  It's not for the presents we pile beneath it.  It's not for the hot chocolate, or spiced cider, or snow angels, or holly berries, or gingerbread cookies, or even for the chance to spend time with people we love.  It's all because of that tiny bundle of life, lying in a manger in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago.  Goodness, I'm so grateful for that tiny little baby.

Luke 2:1-21

The Birth of Jesus

 ¹ In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.  ⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
 ⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
 ¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
 ¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
   and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
 ¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
 ¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
 ²¹ On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.
 

Old truths and new wisdom

I'm not the kind of person who likes to just open the Bible at random and assume that whatever verse I happen to land on is exactly what God wants to speak into my life at that moment in time.  I do believe, however, that there are some days when you just need to go to what's tried and true.  Go to the "classics," as it were - the verses that speak to you over and over again, the ones that are highlighted and underlined in your Bible, with notes scribbled in the wrinkled pages, or written on sticky-notes stuck to your bulletin boards and computer screens.

This is one of those days for me.  It's one of those days when I don't really want to discover new wisdom, but rather remember old truths, verses that have been a source of comfort for me throughout my 21 years of life.  Verses that trickle soothingly over my spirit, and banish the chills in my soul with their warmth, and gently cradle me in their softness like a luxurious blanket.  It's a day when I all I want to do is bask in what I already know of God, when I simply want to remember what He has done for me. 

But you know what the cool thing about God is?  Sometimes even while we are remembering old truths, He teaches us something new, too.  2 Corinthians 1:3-7 has always been a wonderful verse for me.  It reminds me that God can and will comfort me through whatever trouble I may be going through - so much so, in fact, that He will even give me the ability to comfort others in their distress, as well.  He has given me the capacity to empathize with others, and share both our joys and distresses with each other.  That's cool.  It says, to me, that I will never be alone as long as I allow the God of all comfort to be the Lord of my life.

But today I kept reading beyond verse 7.  And I've gotta say, I felt like God was speaking just to me.  Now, I cannot say that the pressure I'm under has caused me to "despair of life itself."  I'm nowhere near that point, and it would be highly melodramatic to say that.  But I am trying to live for the Lord in Asia, far from home, and it can be stressful at times.  But He already knew that.  That's why He sent me to this verse.  That's why He wanted to remind me that others have been in my situation before.  And that He got them through it, and will do the same for me.  His Word is timeless....but sometimes I'm sure glad when He sends me new nuggets of wisdom from it.  Even when I'm not looking for them.

2 Corinthians 1:3-11

 ³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. ⁵ For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. ⁶ If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. ⁷ And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
 ⁸ We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. ⁹ Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. ¹⁰ He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, ¹¹ as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.