Wednesday, November 29, 2006
shadows
This place is growing colder as the sun is slowly setting. My shadow grows longer with every minute that the sun sets. The closer the sun is to disappearing, the bigger a shadow I cast. Indeed the impact I have on the world is a dark, obscure blackness. I am nothing but an obstacle to the sun. My mark on the world grows larger, the more the sun sets, but should it finally set I would be wholly unseen.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Follow Me
11/11/06
This past week has been one of exceptional spiritual dryness for me. I had no desire to be in communion with God. I had no desire to do anything but veg out. When Jaynie told me no one had signed up to speak and asked me to do the message, I felt entirely disinclined to do it, and even felt as though I would be hypocritical in doing it. This was a false sense of shame at my spiritual state; an excuse to avoid doing what I could feel God was calling me to do. Even though I was running from God this week, I could still feel Him calling to me.
Today, He reached me. I’m not sure if it was through the prayers of others, but He certainly made Himself known to me today. He got to me through the meditation of Scripture. He got to me through His Son Jesus Christ, who in His life of humility said two simple words: follow me. As one who believes in Jesus and the words He said, I need to act on them. I need to follow Him.
Follow Me, says the One who chose to live a life of humility. Follow Me, says the One who followed the will of His Father to death. Follow Me, says the One who claimed divinity. Follow Me, said the carpenter from Nazareth. Follow Me, said the One crucified for blasphemy against the One True God.
Follow Me, He said to Peter and Andrew; they did. Follow Me, he said to Matthew and Philip; they did. Abandon your own desires, and follow Me. Follow Me; follow My obedience to the Father, and my insatiable desire for Him.
These two simple words caused Peter, Andrew, Matthew and Philip to abandon the life they knew and embrace a new one. They followed Him wherever He went. They absorbed His teachings, observed His life, and did what He told them to do.
Has this command changed in the last 2000 years? Has He come to expect a different response from us than He did from His disciples in the last two millennia? No, the call is unchanged, and He expects the same response from us who believe in Him.
How does this response translate to us today? Obviously, we cannot go where He goes, since He no longer walks the earth. We are to follow the example of His life. His drive was to do the will of the Father; indeed, He had a thirst to be in communion with His Father. So, it should be with us. My desire to avoid the Father this week was sin. I was not following Jesus in this.
Follow Me. Does this mean that we all have to sacrifice our lives on the cross? Does this mean that all of us are being called to do big, extravagant things for God; that He is going to use all of us to reach thousands of people? These questions arise from our tendency to focus solely on the death and resurrection of Christ. We forget the countless times we are told that He withdrew to the mountains to pray; or the times of fasting; or the times of simply having fellowship with His disciples. Jesus did not just do the will of His Father in extravagant, grandiose ways. He did His Father’s will in every detail of His life.
“The thing readiest to be done, those which lie, not at the door, but on the very table, of a man’s mind, are not merely in general the most neglected, but even by the thoughtful man, the oftenest let alone, the oftenest postponed… Truth is one, and he who does the truth in the small thing is of the truth; he who will do it only in a great thing, who postpones the small thing near him to the great farther from him, is not of the truth.”
– Mac Donald
When Christ called His disciples, He did not call them only during the times of miracles and points of major impact, He called them to follow in the quiet times as well. We are not called to do major things for God. “Do you desire great things for yourself? Do not desire them?” We are called to follow Christ, through the small things of life. I avoided heeding His call this week. I feel there were times when doing the dishes, or praying at a certain time, reading at a certain time, were His call for my life. I didn’t follow Him, and so my life had no hint of the things I believe, the things at my core.
Follow Me. Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me. Get over yourself, because you are not important. The will of my Father is important, so follow Me.
This past week has been one of exceptional spiritual dryness for me. I had no desire to be in communion with God. I had no desire to do anything but veg out. When Jaynie told me no one had signed up to speak and asked me to do the message, I felt entirely disinclined to do it, and even felt as though I would be hypocritical in doing it. This was a false sense of shame at my spiritual state; an excuse to avoid doing what I could feel God was calling me to do. Even though I was running from God this week, I could still feel Him calling to me.
Today, He reached me. I’m not sure if it was through the prayers of others, but He certainly made Himself known to me today. He got to me through the meditation of Scripture. He got to me through His Son Jesus Christ, who in His life of humility said two simple words: follow me. As one who believes in Jesus and the words He said, I need to act on them. I need to follow Him.
Follow Me, says the One who chose to live a life of humility. Follow Me, says the One who followed the will of His Father to death. Follow Me, says the One who claimed divinity. Follow Me, said the carpenter from Nazareth. Follow Me, said the One crucified for blasphemy against the One True God.
Follow Me, He said to Peter and Andrew; they did. Follow Me, he said to Matthew and Philip; they did. Abandon your own desires, and follow Me. Follow Me; follow My obedience to the Father, and my insatiable desire for Him.
These two simple words caused Peter, Andrew, Matthew and Philip to abandon the life they knew and embrace a new one. They followed Him wherever He went. They absorbed His teachings, observed His life, and did what He told them to do.
Has this command changed in the last 2000 years? Has He come to expect a different response from us than He did from His disciples in the last two millennia? No, the call is unchanged, and He expects the same response from us who believe in Him.
How does this response translate to us today? Obviously, we cannot go where He goes, since He no longer walks the earth. We are to follow the example of His life. His drive was to do the will of the Father; indeed, He had a thirst to be in communion with His Father. So, it should be with us. My desire to avoid the Father this week was sin. I was not following Jesus in this.
Follow Me. Does this mean that we all have to sacrifice our lives on the cross? Does this mean that all of us are being called to do big, extravagant things for God; that He is going to use all of us to reach thousands of people? These questions arise from our tendency to focus solely on the death and resurrection of Christ. We forget the countless times we are told that He withdrew to the mountains to pray; or the times of fasting; or the times of simply having fellowship with His disciples. Jesus did not just do the will of His Father in extravagant, grandiose ways. He did His Father’s will in every detail of His life.
“The thing readiest to be done, those which lie, not at the door, but on the very table, of a man’s mind, are not merely in general the most neglected, but even by the thoughtful man, the oftenest let alone, the oftenest postponed… Truth is one, and he who does the truth in the small thing is of the truth; he who will do it only in a great thing, who postpones the small thing near him to the great farther from him, is not of the truth.”
– Mac Donald
When Christ called His disciples, He did not call them only during the times of miracles and points of major impact, He called them to follow in the quiet times as well. We are not called to do major things for God. “Do you desire great things for yourself? Do not desire them?” We are called to follow Christ, through the small things of life. I avoided heeding His call this week. I feel there were times when doing the dishes, or praying at a certain time, reading at a certain time, were His call for my life. I didn’t follow Him, and so my life had no hint of the things I believe, the things at my core.
Follow Me. Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me. Get over yourself, because you are not important. The will of my Father is important, so follow Me.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Sunday, November 05, 2006
The Existentialist Experience of a Non-Existentialist
If (God's) help is not a metaphor, neither are (His) commands. If (He) can answer when you call, then (He) can speak without your asking. If you can go to (Him), (He) can come to you. - C.S. Lewis
There is nothing certain, nothing except the nothingness of everything that is incomprehensible to me, and the greatness of something incomprehensible but all-important! -Leo Tolstoy
It’s been nearly 2 years since I first came to Korea. The time has gone by quickly, and many things have changed. This weekend I visited my friends in Suji. I enjoy visiting my friends, but really, the thing that draws me back to the Seoul area is skateboarding. The Jon’s and I had a great session on Friday night in Suji. The place isn’t an awesome place for skateboarding, but we had a great session nevertheless. On Saturday, they wanted so badly to go to Suwon. I wanted not to go to Suwon with equal emotional intensity.
Suwon seems to deflate all excitedness I have for skateboarding. It would be no different this time. Upon getting off the bus, an unidentifiable stench invaded my nostrils, causing me to gag. Ah yes, Suwon, the city of a thousand smells. After our noses got used to the symbolic miasma, we skated to the skatepark – the reason Johnny T and Aussie Jon wanted to come here. As I skated to the gate, I saw the first sign of how this day would go; the gate was locked. It had begun; Suwon had begun to strangle the joy out of skateboarding.
We threw our boards over the fence and hopped it, but when Aussie Jon jumped on his board, his front wheels came off – he had snapped his kingpin. Since we didn’t know of any skateshops in Suwon, AJ would have to borrow one of our boards while we were resting. He and John began skating the mini-pipe. All of a sudden I heard groaning and exasperations. John’s board had somehow ended up under the big pipe, square in the middle. They spent about 20 minutes trying to get it out. I ate kimbap and laughed.
When the boys had their fill of this joy-stealing place, we rode on. We decided to stop at a place we saw on the way. There was a nice little 3-stair here, and we had some fun at it – until Suwon struck again! John and I decided to do the 3 stair at the same time, figuring it would make for a cool video. The problem was that the stairway was narrow, so we weren’t very confident. John fell and somehow hurt his back. We skated a little while longer, then left.
We were heading to Bundang to go to the skate shop, and then do the ‘Bundang Trek,’ but time was running short. We were supposed to meet my friend Min-Ho for dinner at 6:30, and didn’t have enough time to skate and shower. We decided to skate Ori, which is much closer to Suji, instead. I’m glad we did.
Although I didn’t feel much like skating, the energy in the air refreshed my bones and restored my joy of skateboarding. I was landing my kickflips and varial flips consistently, I pulled ollies and 180’s off the big 3 without missing. I decked out a tre flip on a small bank smoothly. I shove-it’d the big 3 and even did the 7 stair. I was feeling it again! Then we went across the street and it got even better. There were these little wavy pieces of marble that are usually covered with water, but weren’t this time. They were so fun to skate. Then Suwon extended its long fingers to Ori for one final blow. AJ snapped Johnny T’s deck. He felt terrible, and that signaled the end of the Ori skate session. We headed back to Suji, and made plans with AJ to meet later in Itaewon, and then skate Yongsan.
As we got to John’s door, he started looking frantically in his bag for something. ‘Where are my keys,’ he asked, as if I would know. The losing of his keys was the official sign-off for the night, as well as the beginning of many phone calls to cancel plans, pick locks, and make keys. We hung out with AJ, Britt, Stef, Ruth, and a guy named Jody the rest of the night.
The next day I woke up, had some toast and met Min-Ho in Gangnam. We had tea and juice and a nice conversation. He’s a nice man and I enjoy having conversations with him. After that I headed to the bus station, thinking that no more excitement would be coming my way.
Then came the bus ride home. For some reason this ride had a profound impact on me. Looking out the window at the rivers, rice fields, villages, and mist-covered mountains, I could feel the presence of God in my soul. It comforted me. The beauty of His creation has always had a quiet, peace-giving effect on me. I sat there on the bus, enjoying God’s creation and listening to Him speak to me.
I could hear Him telling me that this is the end of the road for a part of me. Some part of me which I had previously deemed important to the make-up of who I am would be departing from my inner framework. Fittingly, the song ‘The End of an Era’ by Hopesfall began to play. This was a song which I listened to frequently at the beginning of my stay in Korea. I sat back and enjoyed the moment, enjoyed the peace and the reverential feelings that overtook my soul.
These moments come infrequently in a man’s life, yet they leave their mark on his soul. My internal being was changed. We grow physically not of our own will, but by the natural design of God. In such a manner, there are moments of internal growth that do not come by our own will, but by the perfect design of God. I’m not sure what changed in me, but something did. I thank God for the change, and look forward to following His leading in the future.
There is nothing certain, nothing except the nothingness of everything that is incomprehensible to me, and the greatness of something incomprehensible but all-important! -Leo Tolstoy
It’s been nearly 2 years since I first came to Korea. The time has gone by quickly, and many things have changed. This weekend I visited my friends in Suji. I enjoy visiting my friends, but really, the thing that draws me back to the Seoul area is skateboarding. The Jon’s and I had a great session on Friday night in Suji. The place isn’t an awesome place for skateboarding, but we had a great session nevertheless. On Saturday, they wanted so badly to go to Suwon. I wanted not to go to Suwon with equal emotional intensity.
Suwon seems to deflate all excitedness I have for skateboarding. It would be no different this time. Upon getting off the bus, an unidentifiable stench invaded my nostrils, causing me to gag. Ah yes, Suwon, the city of a thousand smells. After our noses got used to the symbolic miasma, we skated to the skatepark – the reason Johnny T and Aussie Jon wanted to come here. As I skated to the gate, I saw the first sign of how this day would go; the gate was locked. It had begun; Suwon had begun to strangle the joy out of skateboarding.
We threw our boards over the fence and hopped it, but when Aussie Jon jumped on his board, his front wheels came off – he had snapped his kingpin. Since we didn’t know of any skateshops in Suwon, AJ would have to borrow one of our boards while we were resting. He and John began skating the mini-pipe. All of a sudden I heard groaning and exasperations. John’s board had somehow ended up under the big pipe, square in the middle. They spent about 20 minutes trying to get it out. I ate kimbap and laughed.
When the boys had their fill of this joy-stealing place, we rode on. We decided to stop at a place we saw on the way. There was a nice little 3-stair here, and we had some fun at it – until Suwon struck again! John and I decided to do the 3 stair at the same time, figuring it would make for a cool video. The problem was that the stairway was narrow, so we weren’t very confident. John fell and somehow hurt his back. We skated a little while longer, then left.
We were heading to Bundang to go to the skate shop, and then do the ‘Bundang Trek,’ but time was running short. We were supposed to meet my friend Min-Ho for dinner at 6:30, and didn’t have enough time to skate and shower. We decided to skate Ori, which is much closer to Suji, instead. I’m glad we did.
Although I didn’t feel much like skating, the energy in the air refreshed my bones and restored my joy of skateboarding. I was landing my kickflips and varial flips consistently, I pulled ollies and 180’s off the big 3 without missing. I decked out a tre flip on a small bank smoothly. I shove-it’d the big 3 and even did the 7 stair. I was feeling it again! Then we went across the street and it got even better. There were these little wavy pieces of marble that are usually covered with water, but weren’t this time. They were so fun to skate. Then Suwon extended its long fingers to Ori for one final blow. AJ snapped Johnny T’s deck. He felt terrible, and that signaled the end of the Ori skate session. We headed back to Suji, and made plans with AJ to meet later in Itaewon, and then skate Yongsan.
As we got to John’s door, he started looking frantically in his bag for something. ‘Where are my keys,’ he asked, as if I would know. The losing of his keys was the official sign-off for the night, as well as the beginning of many phone calls to cancel plans, pick locks, and make keys. We hung out with AJ, Britt, Stef, Ruth, and a guy named Jody the rest of the night.
The next day I woke up, had some toast and met Min-Ho in Gangnam. We had tea and juice and a nice conversation. He’s a nice man and I enjoy having conversations with him. After that I headed to the bus station, thinking that no more excitement would be coming my way.
Then came the bus ride home. For some reason this ride had a profound impact on me. Looking out the window at the rivers, rice fields, villages, and mist-covered mountains, I could feel the presence of God in my soul. It comforted me. The beauty of His creation has always had a quiet, peace-giving effect on me. I sat there on the bus, enjoying God’s creation and listening to Him speak to me.
I could hear Him telling me that this is the end of the road for a part of me. Some part of me which I had previously deemed important to the make-up of who I am would be departing from my inner framework. Fittingly, the song ‘The End of an Era’ by Hopesfall began to play. This was a song which I listened to frequently at the beginning of my stay in Korea. I sat back and enjoyed the moment, enjoyed the peace and the reverential feelings that overtook my soul.These moments come infrequently in a man’s life, yet they leave their mark on his soul. My internal being was changed. We grow physically not of our own will, but by the natural design of God. In such a manner, there are moments of internal growth that do not come by our own will, but by the perfect design of God. I’m not sure what changed in me, but something did. I thank God for the change, and look forward to following His leading in the future.
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