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You know by now that a recurring theme for my blog updates is time, both in my inability to give timely updates and in my unending wonder of how quickly time passes. Over a month later, a year older, and well over halfway through 2009, I am here (late as usual) to recap my full, momentous, and blessed month of July in Korea.
God richly blessed me right at the beginning of July on my birthday week. Will Joseph (see above left picture--the other American in the middle), a great friend from Belhaven that now works for Redeemer New York as a missionary to China, came to South Korea to visit Jae Yoo and I! On his way back from a mission trip to China, it was an easy and opportune trip to take! I cannot begin to tell you how enjoyable and exciting it was to have a friend I only knew in Mississippi be with me in South Korea! Since Michael and Dorothy Preston left South Korea in March, there had been no connection between life in the States and life on the other side here. When I was blessed to take a short trip back to MS in May for my sister's graduation to see her, family, and friends, Korea almost felt like a dream. No real, tangible connection existed between the two worlds I experienced. There was my former life growing up at home and in college. Then there was my new life in Korea that felt like a new world altogether. There was almost no way for me to explain or put the other world into words. Seeing, talking to, and fellowshiping with Will formed a bridge for the two worlds. Part of me could not fathom how Will and I went from sitting down and talking about college, life, and theology in Mississippi at Newks to sitting down and talking about the church in Asia and America, life, and God's work in South Korea! Such a humbling, striking, and surprising reality to me that God has seen fit to use two young sinners like us to serve and watch God's Kingdom and church grow together globally. I don't deserve to have this opportunity, nor am I worthy to be a part of such a work. Yet God has brought me here to display His power in my weakness, to show me and lead me to repent of my sad, pathetic, sinful attempts at building my own kingdom. All this He does that I might see the glory and wonder of His victorious and global Kingdom with Jesus as the King, the Truth, the Love, the Power, the Glory, the Way, and the Message and me as His messenger, pointing others to Him and never to myself. What a sweet blessing to see and hear God working through another fellow brother I knew while at Belhaven! The time flew by so quickly with Will, Jae, and I having numerous conversations, great meals, late nights, deep laughter, empowering encouragement, mutual upbuilding, and wonderful storytelling! How gracious and kind my God is to have provided such a time of refreshment during my birthday week in Korea!
The other momentous occasion in July came just a week later for our first church retreat (see above picture on the right). 20 people from our body gathered together for a weekend (Friday night-Saturday evening) of fellowship, relaxtion, worship, and spiritual refreshment in a retreat center surrounded by breathtaking Korean mountains! Though I have enjoyed living in the city of Seoul, it is very difficult to find solitude, untainted creation, and fresh air here, as is the case in most massive metropolitan cities. With these facts in mind, our retreat to the Korean countryside was a most welcome, delightful, and rejuvenating time! Korean mountains are just flat-out gorgeous, being immersed in a sea of trees. It was such a blessing to no longer be surrounded by tall, thin sky-scrapers in Seoul but to now replace them with these beautiful mountains. During our retreat, we had plenty of reminders of the Western world, as we feasted on the likes of hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, and beans for dinner; pancakes, bacon, and eggs for breakfast; and barbecue for lunch. Worlds can and do, indeed, collide...as our stomachs could all attest. : ) One of the most refreshing parts of our retreat was swimming in the lake nearby. Though very cold and difficult to take the plunge in, those brave souls who found the strength and fortitude to do so were richly rewarded with an incredible time...me included. : ) One of the main purposes of the retreat was for spiritual refreshment and fellowship. God definitely blessed and fed our souls with these gifts through our time of worship, and especially through sharing our testimonies, stories, and devotionals in small groups. Though our body is a very unique and diverse mix of individuals, God is making us a very close community, as we get to know each other more. I am discovering over and over gain how much I need community. My identity, problems, sin, body, life, vision, hopes, and story is not my own for me to figure out; it is the possession of Jesus Christ and His church. Unless I embrace this reality in my life, I cannot grow, nor be the man that God has created me to be. I can only grow as an individual in Christ as I am deeply involved in His community that He has put me in to make us all reflect His Son to each other and the word from one degree of glory to another. Thank God that He never leaves us isolated in ourselves without hope and help outside of us, but that He continually enwraps us in the light of His presence and community. I am so thankful to be a part of Covenant church in Korea.
Please keep Covenant church and I in your prayers. As each day, week, and month passes, there are so many new adventures and challenges God brings for our body. Currently, we have just started a Worship team to oversee, plan, and lead our worship each Sunday and in other occasions when we meet. We are also preparing to launch small groups in the fall with leadership training scheduled for September and the actual small groups to start in October. Along with this, we are prayerfully planning and raising support for moving to a new location in the next month or two, so we can connect and bring more people into our body to worship God (our current space can only fit about 40 people). These next few months are going to be an intensely busy and exciting time. Please be praying for God to center us in the gospel during the mountain highs and valley lows that He sends to mature and transform us. Also, pray that I would be earnest in seeking to show and share Jesus Christ in this community and city. Over and over again, I struggle with living for myself, trying always to be significant in the eyes of others to bring my own name renown and praise. Pray that God would unveil and reveal this subtle and deadly sin to me each day, leading me to constant repentance and faith in Him for the sake of His name and His renown alone.
Finally, I thank you all from my heart for your deep involvement and impact in my life. As I said before, we are not self-made individuals. We become who we are through Christ and the community and people He puts around us. I would not be in Korea, nor would I be who I am today apart from God putting you in my life. I think of you all often, as your example, words, and love continually encourage, exhort, and challenge me throughout my time in Korea. Thank you for leading me to Jesus...to see and discover more of His presence, power, love, and truth. With Paul, I pray for and thank you in these powerful words of God:
"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace...For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God." --Philippians 1:3-11
Greetings from South Korea! Once again, the interval of time between blog updates has been way too long and it is now June. Already, I’ve been in this foreign land that is becoming more familiar by the day for 5 months. One of the most unique elements of life in Korea is the # of people here. South Korea is about the same size as Mississippi with 70% if its land consisting of mountains. Nevertheless, while Mississippi contains around 2.5 million people, South Korea is filled with 48 million people! It’s remarkable how many people they can fit in such a small country. What you also may find interesting about South Korea is that while most of the west is quite concerned about the unknown planning and plotting of North Korea, South Koreans really are not too worried. Though they do make military preparations and seek to join together with other countries to make a hard stance against North Korea’s nuclear program, the common Korean sees NK and Kim Jong il as a mere threatening, annoying voice that never goes away but that rarely acts as powerfully as their threats. It may also help that most of the world stands against North Korea to support and defend South Korea. Whether or not they threaten and attempt to harm other countries, North Korea desperately needs the gospel. Seeing video from their country is horrifying, as nearly all people there believe Kim Jong il to be a god, as they have been raised to believe and think from birth. The saddest thing about the North Korean government is that rather than providing food and care for their own people they spend all their resources to build this nuclear program meant to bring some semblance of power to this very small country. May God break through in this country to bring the gospel and His Kingdom to bear upon this weary, hurting country to bring light into the darkness to shine the glory of His grace in the midst of tyranny and evil—just what He did on the cross.
God continues to build up and bless our baby church! Our focus has not been so much on growing in #’s as it has been on growing internally with the near 25 people in Covenant.One of the ways God has really been nurturing and blessing our church is through our newly started Wednesday night Praise, Testimony and Prayer that we started three weeks ago! Having a time in the middle of the week where we can worship, pray, and fellowship together is such a refreshing blessing and is definitely leading us to know each other more deeply and grow closer. I think that one of the strongest elements of our church that God is building lies in community fellowship. After every service on Sunday that we have had people stay to fellowship well after the service and then go out to eat together. God has definitely put a mutual hunger for fellowship in most every one of the people He has brought to our church, and I pray that He would strengthen that bond and lead us to bless, encourage, challenge, exhort, pray for, and love one another more and more.
Music is an immensely deep and beautiful gift of God! Ryan Dixon, a relatively new member in our church, has reminded me of this truth through playing the guitar last Wednesday and also Sunday with Hannah Yoo on the piano. Before I knew Ryan could play the guitar, I had been kicking myself for not learning to play the guitar, as I really wanted to introduce songs from R.U.F. to our church. Then, Ryan came up to me a couple weeks ago after our service and told me he led R.U.F. worship at the University of Tennessee a couple years ago and would love to help with our music in whatever way he could. God is incredible! The most powerful moment of worship came last Wednesday when we sang “O the deep, deep love of Jesus.” Everyone singing was lost in the wonder of what we were singing, as voices were raised and lifted together to mimic the deep, overwhelming, powerful image of Jesus’ love: “O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free! Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me! Underneath me, all around me is the current of Thy love!” I felt as though we were inside of this hymn while singing together, being fully immersed in the ocean of Jesus’ love that is deeper, wider, higher, longer, and more powerful than any other Truth, love, and reality ever in existence! While on most days I am swallowed up by the cares, concerns, wants, and needs of my flesh and this world, I was experiencing and being called instead to be lost and swallowed up in the deep, deep love of Jesus. As David himself said so beautifully, “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you” (Psalm 63:3). A central truth I have been seeing in the past week lies in the presence and person of the Holy Spirit. On my own, I have no ability to grasp and be transformed by the Truth of Jesus Christ and the gospel. Not only this, but alone I cannot even see the power and Truth of the Word of God, as I discovered in going through a dry team where the Word and prayer were anything but alive and vibrant in me. I could read more and more, yet the Word was almost unopened to me. What God has revealed to me in opening His word to me again is that I will be blind and deaf to God apart from His presence through the Holy Spirit. I can't just go to the Word and expect to get something out of it. I must patiently and continually ask that God fill me with His Spirit to reveal the Truth of the Word that is not simply informative but transformative. Sure, I can open the Bible and learn about different aspects of it in my mind; but without the Spirit, I cannot have the Word change my heart and life. The Word of God is not preeminently a book of information that has power in itself to change. Instead, the Word of God is first and foremost a Person, who alone has the power to lead, guide, and change hearts. When I come to God's Word, as I often forget, I'm not coming to a book in an attempt to get something out of it for my own benefit; I'm coming to commune with a Person in order to see, know, and love Him more. Only through the Spirit's ongoing, continual, active work in my heart will I truly see and experience this beautiful reality, have my own life opened up before the Word, and have the Word Himself opened to me that I might worship and be transformed in His presence. Oh that my life would be opened continually by the Word of God, Jesus Christ, that I might be driven to a life of constant communion with Him and those in our Covenant community would also be driven to see, know, and behold Jesus Christ in true, daily, intimate, challenging, life-changing worship.
Please continue to keep me, the Yoo's, and Covenant Church in your prayers. It is so exciting to be a part of a fresh, new church plant in seeing every step of how God grows and forms a Body of believers. I am priviledged and humbled to be a part of this work, and know that God is just beginning to challenge and make us into the people He wants us to be. Pray that our focus would be on being transformed as individuals and a community through the presence and person of Jesus Christ on a daily basis that our lives would be nothing less than a constant outpouring of Christ and His truth and love to each other, and the lost and broken people of this city. Thank you deeply for your support and prayers, as I would not be here without you. You are all an immense blessing to me, and please let me know how you are doing and how I can be praying for you as God continues to conform you to the image of Jesus. I leave you with this glorious prayer of Paul for the church, and I for all of us:
"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." --Ephesians 3:14-21
Wow...its been far too long since I last posted. Time presses on so quickly and subtly, being quite a mystery. On the one hand, the older I get the more each year feels far longer than a year when I think of all the momentous changes and events that took place. Yet, on the other hand, because so much happens so fully and quickly, the more each year feels like it's continually running on fast forward. One thing's for sure, I take far too many days and moments for granted, as I am blessed beyond belief through the provision of God in giving me all of you, the Yoo's, the church I'm a part of, the friends I'm making in Korea, health, food, a place to live, and a rich and full life. More than all of that, though, I have been given a Savior, who has given up His glory, beauty, and life for me, and who is risen from the dead today and forever! How often I miss the wondrous, life-changing dimensions of the resurrection that we've just celebrated: the risen Christ is alive, and not just as an abstraction, but as a living Being in me, who makes every moment and part of my life overflowing with purpose and meaning through Him. Death has no hold on me, fear has been put to rest, and I share in the love and glory of God, my Father, as I am His, and He is mine. What if I actually lived like that were true? Nothing could be more real and vital, and I rarely even meditate on the resurrection of my Lord and Savior. I pray that David's psalm/song would become mine: "I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, not will you let your Holy One see decay" (Psalm 16:8-10). May we live every moment of every day in the full, unshakable knowledge that our God will never abandon us, because of Christ and His resurrection. May we live boldly, fully, and sacrificially to lead others into this deep, life-transforming assurance and salvation in Jesus.
I am very excited to tell you that over the past three weeks Covenant Church has begun worshiping together! We have both a Korean and English worship service with the former at 1p.m. and the latter at 3:30p.m. The English service has been the larger of the two thus far with up to 20 people in one of our service's, consisting of both believers and nonbelievers. After concluding each English service, we've had a group of 10+ people stay with us for fellowship and eat dinner together, which has been a very rich blessing. God is beginning to form community in our small body, and I have really enjoyed being a part of it! I am definitely starting to feel a lot more connected here since we've started worship, and as relationships with friends and people I'm meeting are beginning to deepen. Living as Christ's body is a tremendous challenge, and please pray that God would really show us how to move deeper into fellowship, and to love each other and all those who come to be a part of this body. There's a great deal of excitement in starting a church, developing gospel vision and community, and coming together to make strangers family. Yet, having said that, there's an immense challenge in starting a church as well, since it's a constant temptation to rely on numbers, worldly ideas of success, and become more wrapped up in pride in what we're doing and saying, rather than trust and faithfulness in what God is doing and promised. Please, please keep me, the Yoo's, and this church in your prayers, as things are constantly developing, challenges are always arising, and sin and pride is constantly tempting and raising its ugly head. Pray for God to root US in the gospel in the process of this church and ministry, making us see that to lead is to be led by Christ, never to lead by our own gifts, righteousness, and strength. I'm learning more and more how difficult following Christ and the gospel in leadership is, and more often than not I put myself and being affirmed before Christ and the gospel being proclaimed. Pray for repentance in my heart over my daily sin, and for constant meditation and faith in Jesus that I would always be led to live through Him in His perfect life, death, and resurrection in this church and ministry.
These last two weeks have been crazy and a whole lot of fun! I've had 4 different people stay with me in my little room 12 out of the last 15 nights, as a friend named Sky needed a place to stay for 5 nights before leaving for Southeast Asia; a friend named Chris needed to say for 4 nights before he moved into his new apartment for his new teaching position; an friend named Emmanuel came over for 1 night for fellowship; and a friend on our Launch Team came up for the weekend to teach and be in our service's. God definitely used these busy, often tiring days to deepen and grow these relationships and provide great encouragement and blessing for all of us. It's such a blessing to begin to really meet and share in the lives of other people here.
Though these past few weeks have been filled with work and busyness, bulletin making, worship preparation for presiding in the English service, class teaching and preparation, outreach, they have also been filled with times of great fun and enjoyment! I went to the Dangsan festival with two Korean friends named Ji-son, and Jung-he, along with a member of our Launch Team, to see the beautiful cherry blossoms and other flowers in bloom and ride bikes--awesome time! I also went to Suwon with Dan Baker and Kelly De Boer, two members of our Launch Team, and Jae Yoo to see a famous Korean castle and bell tower! It was such a beautiful Spring day in Korea, as cherry blossoms were everywhere in full bloom, and we were able to stop working in an office and enjoy God's beautiful, living creation! I'm really beginning to enjoy living in Korea, as I meet more people, grow closer to friends, see more of this country, and learn more about who people are. It has such a beautiful, enriching blessing to see God provide for me on the other side of the world, and to see over and over again that He is present everywhere to impart Christ, and the life-giving power of the gospel that is manifested in every place. God is definitely deepening my desire to be, live, and serve here, and I pray that He would continually teach me what it means to really and truly love Him here in my daily walk, and to love the people in Korea that He brings into my path each day. God's resurrection life is everywhere present and manifested in all the world, and I pray for eyes, ears, and a heart to see, hear, and embrace Him and those around me. I'm so bad at that, and the more I see the reality of what Christ's life, death, and resurrection mean, the more I see my failure. Thankfully, that is exactly where God shows us Jesus and His grace, mercy, and power. May you know, see, hear, and believe that very gospel and its glorious mystery, Christ in you, every day that you live. Nothing in mine and your life is beyond the Sovereign grace of God but all flows from that life well, being given to us that we might come to know and share more of Christ while it is still today. May we always exhort one another to live in Christ, standing firm in Him, confessing in Him, rejoicing in Him, giving Him, dying to ourselves in Him, living in Him, and finding all that we are and have in Him. You are missed and prayed for in South Korea. Please let me know more specifically how I can be praying for you as well. It is such a joy to share in your lives, and to share my life with you. So long from the other side!
Mornings in Korea are one of my favorite parts of each day. At 10a.m. each work day, Jae, Hannah, and I meet in our Church Office, one of us shares a Scriptural devotional, we talk about what we have to do for the day, and then we pray together. For all of us, this time has become one of the most vital, enjoyable, and important parts of our ministry. In it, God forms our hearts through His word and prayer to entrust ourselves and this Church to His will, purpose, and faithfulness. This morning it was my turn to share the devotional, and I shared about God's unrelenting commitment to loving and pursuing us, His people, in some of the most beautiful and striking passages in Scripture: Isaiah 53:1-5; 54:1, 4-10; and 55:1-3. As you know from reading many of my blogs, I'm a great sinner that thinks of myself and my own significance and plans far too much. The past few days I've been very weary over myself and my sin, wanting so desperately to be free of me. I was utterly shaken and awe-struck in viewing these Scriptures, as Christ took on our ugliness and shame, giving up His beauty, so that we could be made beautiful. The way in which God speaks to us, His people, in this passage is astounding. He speaks as a husband to a humiliated barren woman, that feels ashamed and worthless by the culture and everyone. But God redefines her by identifying Himself as her husband, saying such calming and striking words of compassion: "Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood" (Isaiah 54:4). Shame and fear plague every soul that has ever existed. We constantly wear coverings in a desperate attempt to hide the ugliness inside of us. Whether it's fig leaves, fashionable clothes, external beauty, ministry, good works, friends, or whatever else, we are experts in trying to cover our shame and fear. The beautiful thing that God does is that He sees us completely naked and exposed in our fear and shame, and HE covers us with Himself. He takes hold of our ugliness, becomes it, and makes us beautiful through His Son, so that we no longer have to fear or face shame. How amazing to be reminded of this, and to know that though I tire of myself that God never does. He never will abandon, forsake, or get tired of any of His people. As He Himself says, "Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you" (54:10). The beauty of Jesus is beyond anything I will ever be able to understand, communicate, or feel, and how sweet to taste of it this morning!
After the devotional and time of prayer, I spent a good portion of the day finishing the bulletin for our Launch Team Worship service this coming Sunday! I am in charge of putting all the information together for the bulletin, and then a friend and member of our Launch Team will design the bulletin to actually make it artistic and creative. It has been a really fun process, and we are so excited to begin worshiping as a body! Our first official worship service will be March 29th! We will not start off as a large church body, but we are really convinced that God is calling us to begin worshiping Him together, as a gospel-centered community with however many or few come. It really is such a blessing to be in this ministry with the Yoo's. They give me a lot of freedom and opportunity to serve, and I am so blessed to grow in relationship to them here.
For Lunch, after doing some work on the bulletin, Jae and I went out to eat at a wonderful steak restaurant. Each Wednesday Jae and I go out to eat to talk about how we're both doing personally and spiritually, which is such a source of growth and blessing. We had tenderloin steaks, salad, soup, and a little bowl of Ice Cream--not quite the authentic Korean meal, I know, but it was delicious! : ) The fellowship was also great, as we talked about the ministry, how we are both doing, and learning how to rest and live in the love of God in the midst of many different emotions and seasons of life. What a blessing Jae has been to me, as a brother, leader, pastor, and c0-ambassador of Jesus Christ.
This afternoon Jae and I went to pick out a movie for my Movies and Media Class that I have each Friday. This coming class we're going to watch a Korean movie (that thankfully has Korean subtitles), and it should be a great time, as always. The class is a whole lot of fun for getting to fellowship and talk to a group of Koreans and foreigners about different issues in the movies we watch, especially since it is such a great opportunity to share the love of Christ with nonbelievers who are coming. After renting the movie, I continued the final work on the bulletin, sent it to Dan Baker to help make it aesthetically pleasing, and then prepared for my Children's Bible Story Class this evening (the above picture shows the kids and I after class a few weeks ago--they're tons of fun!). Tonight, after first learning new vocabulary and playing some games, I shared about the story of Joseph, which is such an incredible story! Each week I am teaching these kids--most of which are nonbelievers and have never heard the Bible--about how these stories all show how the Bible is God's story of how He rescues His people (the awesome thing is that most of the kids can even recite and remember this definition for what the Bible is!). The stories of the Bible are fun, alive, and contain beautiful truth that God can most definitely stamp on the hearts of children. It was such a blessing to tell them about how Joseph could forgive his brother's, because he saw God and His purpose to rescue His people in the coming famine. Great story that illustrates the gospel so powerfully.
For dinner I met with a member of our Launch Team, whose English name is Isaac. We ate at a great mexican restaurant (I really do eat Korean food, by the way, and really love it--just didn't eat it much today), and had a wonderful time of fellowship. We talked about Isaac's struggles with his job, as his business (like many in Korea) is plagued with cheating and unjust practices that make it really tough for him. Many Korean professionals are overly burdened and in bondage to their job, as there working hours and requirements will often go well into the night and leave little to no time for Father's to be with their families. Isaac spoke a lot about these difficulties, though he isn't married yet, and how it is causing the divorce rate to sky rocket, leaving Korean families in a worse state than ever before. Isaac was even asked by his Christian boss, as the boss asks all interviewees, whether or not he values work or family more. Isaac was the only one who said family out of 12 people, and his boss ridiculed him for it. There is brokeness everywhere, but thankfully God's grace can and does extend to any and all people and places. I pray that God uses this ministry to really bless and comfort people like Isaac, to reveal to them the grace and love of God that saves and keeps us always. It was a joy to share fellowship and the love of Christ with him tonight, and to get to know him more.
Please be praying for Jae Yoo. After getting home at around 10p.m, he called me and has been having some severe back pain. Before I left him tonight, his back pain was beginning, and it later was so bad that he couldn't move for around 30 minutes. His wife Hannah and daughter Hara had to drag and carry him to a medical clinc to get him an acupuncture. He's still in severe pain after receiving treatment, and it would be great if you could be lifting him up to God in prayer. Pray that God would guard and heal him quickly, even as he is beginning to preach this coming Sunday and has a lot on his plate. Pray that all of us would rest in the peace and purpose of God for our growth in Christ at all times in all the trials, joys, and struggles we face.
So long from Korea, and may God's presence and peace fill your hearts and lives this day and always.
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves" -- Philippians 2:3
"The desire to be God rather than to serve God lies at the bottom of every sin that anyone has ever committed...sin is rooted in my unwillingness to find joy in living my life under the authority of, and for the glory of, Another. Sin is rooted in my desire to live for me. It's driven by my propensity to indulge my every feeling, satisfy my every desire, and meet my every need" --Paul David Tripp, White As Snow
If there's one thing that being in full-time ministry teaches, it's the humbling truth of how far I fall short of the glory of God and true, humble, Christ-centered, other-centered service. Often, though, to be honest with you, I don't sense my sin. Many days I'm not even aware of any personal sin. I keep trudging forward in the name of Jesus, teaching, helping in outreach events, planning with Jae and Hannah Yoo, and spending time with different people without a sense of conviction of sin. Sin is so much more subtle than I want to believe. I think of sin as something outward, a list of right and wrongs, something big and obvious to my own human eyes. Thankfully, after a course of several days, God graciously and patiently removes the scales from my eyes to reveal the true, active, living, breathing evil of my heart--my attempts for self-glory, self-worship, a self-made Kingdom, all in the name of Jesus. I don't want to think of my sin in that light, not in those terms. I'm just a little selfish, tired, and frustrated like everybody else. But then, as in the past couple of days, the frightening and undeniable truth hits: my prayers are mere repititions of words with no feeling, awe, or eyes to God's glory; my time in God's word is brief, dry, and self-focused; my service is anything but service but an attempt to gain favor from the Yoo's, those I minister to, and all of you back home, so that I can tell great, vibrant, wonderful stories of how God's working in ME, through ME, concerning ME, and MY life, all in the name of Jesus. I am far more prideful than I know, and a far worse sinner than I or most people perceive. The awful thing about it all is that my unnoticed self-made Kingdom plans for my glory and reputation in the name of Jesus produce nothing but a lukewarm, stale, deadening, soul-killing misery. James couldn't have said it better: "where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice" (3:16). In other words, selfish ambition is at the core of every sin and evil known to man. Sin is utter self-absorbtion that causes crippling envy, which leads to never being able to "Rejoice with those who rejoice" but to live with a false sense of entitlement like the older, seemingly "better" brother in the Parable of the Prodigle Son. This sin destroys any true, lasting relationship and community, since people are solely defined as significant in so far as their relation to me. It's so easy to see sin in others; but when it comes to facing my own personal sin, I am blind. Rather than hiding in Christ, I hide in my own self-justifying reasons for my failures, neglecting to see the heart and root of every sin. Regardless of how evil I or others would qualify individual sins, the fact of the matter is that every sin I commit contains the same root evil as Paul Tripp in the above quote shows: "The desire to be God rather than to serve God."
How far short I fall from true, servant-minded, other-centered love. How great my need for Jesus is! When I think I see the gospel, my heart is often blinded to its never-ending, soul-stirring, spirit-restoring power that I need every moment of every day. Oh! that I would see Jesus Christ and his deep, incomprehensible, deep, wide, life-changing, breathtaking love and be transformed! Only Jesus can make you and I see and follow the wisdom and beauty of the gospel: "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility count others as more significant than yourselves." I like to think I have a high and loving view of others, but what does my heart reveal? What does my prayer life reveal? What does my walk with God reveal? What does the way I use my time reveal? What does my interaction with others reveal? What does the thoughts and meditations of my heart in this ministry and in my life here reveal? Most of the time, it reveals an incessant, mind-numbing preoccupation with my own significance and attempts of self-exaltation, rather than a continual, Christ-centered, servant-led preoccupation with the significance of others and growth in humility. How twisted and perverse my sin is, especially in view of Jesus Christ. For, the above verse is grounded not in any attempt at humility that you or I are capable of. No, the truth about humility is that we can't gain it or work toward it in our own efforts. We can only be humbled through having the Spirit of God show us the captivating beauty, pure holiness, and perfect love of Jesus Christ, "who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness" (Philippians 2:6-7). The only one who is rightly more significant than every human being on the planet was the only one who purely and truly considered others as more significant than himself. This wasn't a mere moment or season of such humility and love, even as Christ gave up his life, reputation, and beauty to die a miserable, God-forsaking death, so that we could be holy, beautiful, blameless, and embraced as beloved children of God. Yet, even so, it was Jesus' joy to die such a death out of submission to His Father's will and a desire for us to share in their fellowship and glory!
Oh God, my Father, I don't know the slightest thing about the nature of ministry, service, love, and humility. Rather than seeking to grow in my own efforts, I need to behold your glory in the face of Jesus Christ that thoughts of self and my own significance would banish in the blinding light and transcending beauty of your Son, the radiance of your glory!
I've been really convicted and shaken by Ephesians 6. Life, often, doesn't feel like warfare, even as sin works far more subtly and deeply than my eyes can see. Yet, I am deceived, for what I see as a lukewarm, "ok" state is actually my own wicked self and Satan attacking and blinding my heart to the inner workings of evil in me that keep me from embracing the gospel through seeing my need for Jesus. That is why Paul begins this section on spiritual warfare, urging us to "be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power", for we don't have the strength in ourselves to fight or even to see that we are in battle (6:10). The next verses continue to reveal the unseen nature of this warfare that we are helpless to see or fight apart from God's intervening strength and grace: "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand" (Ephesians 6:11-13). We are called to fight against the devil's schemes, which are not readily and clearly manifested in most occasions and days but that come to us subtly in our hearts and that deaden our souls to the beauty and light of Jesus and the gospel, leaving us unprepared and unequipped to face the day of evil when it comes. In 2 Corinthians 2:11 Paul, after speaking of false prophets of Christ who boast not in the cross but in themselves, reveals the subtle evil we often miss that Satan embodies: "And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light." What's more Satan's job description is given before this passage in 2 Corinthians 4:4: "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." Satan takes beauty, goodness, blessing and twists, perverts, distorts, blinds so subtly that we can barely tell the difference. What's more he appeals to our own sense of significance and love of self, making everything about us, even ministry in Jesus' name. This is warfare! Battle! Yet, it comes in passing, subconscious, subtle, unexamined thoughts and meditations in our hearts, as Satan blinds us to his schemes and tactics that seek to rob God of his glory and us of our only hope and joy in Christ Jesus and the gospel. The only way to overcome in battle is to arm ourselves with Christ and the gospel, the very thing Satan is trying to blind us to and keep our hearts and minds away from. Why? Because the gospel alone can expose the core reality and condition of our sinful hearts, leading us to repentance and faith. Because the gospel alone can lead us to see the misery and foolishness of seeking joy through ourselves and our own significance, showing us that the far greater and only way to joy is the way of death, the way of the cross, the way of Christ. Because the gospel is the only true weapon that can utterly demolish and destroy Satan's core attack that appeals to our own love for self, since the gospel humbles us as great, specific sinners and brings us the freedom and joy and acceptance of living defined in Jesus Christ and his significance, salvation, righteousness, holiness, and love.
What is so beautiful is that if you study the armor of God we are called to put on in Ephesians 6 every single weapon points back in the Old Testament to Jesus Christ, who "put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head" (Isaiah 59:17). In other words, we are not called to put on self-righteousness as our breastplate, and seek to fight Satan with weapons of our own making and work. We are called to nothing less and nothing more than putting on Christ, who has stared death in the face and destroyed its power and sting, making a mockery of its power and Satan's schemes of evil, and ushering forth the unbreakable Kingdom of God through the gospel of His grace. We don't fight evil with the weapons of this world. We don't fight evil for the things of this world. We fight in the certainty of victory through Christ both for our salvation and for our perseverance in this life. Paul knew this power and fought in it, even as he urges the Ephesian church to pray for what is most valuable and unshakable: "Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should" (6:19-20; italics are mine). What seems to be the greatest need for Paul that we would feel in his situation? He is in chains. He needs to be released, so that he can help lead the Ephesian church in the gospel. He needs to be released so that he can do the actual work of ministry, right? NO! What shapes Paul's vision, need, and fight is not himself as a leader (the church doesn't rest on Paul's or any minister's strength or ability to serve, teach, lead, and preach), nor does Paul's vision rest in his own personal circumstances that Satan leads our often self-deceived hearts to center all of life around, but it is nothing less and nothing more than the mystery of the gospel! THE GOSPEL shapes Paul's identity, even as he defines his situation according to a greater power and Sovereign King: "the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains." The gospel is truly unshakable! Thus, as Paul rests in it, so it is that he is untouchable to Satan and his schemes, since he is resting his identity and ministry on the firm, sold rock foundation of the gospel! This is the same powerful gospel that led Paul to proclaim in the face of life's greatest burdens, warfare, and hardship, even death, that "we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:37-39). Satan's schemes lose all power, luster, and light in the greater, blinding light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ! Such light exposes sin and all Satan's schemes in their deceit, ugliness, joy-killing, and soul-deadening ends, exposing the folly of sin and Satan's appeals to our own significance and worship meant to destroy us. Furthermore, this wondrous light leads us to an unbreakable Kingdom, an unfading inheritance, and an unchanging gospel that frees, liberates, and provides more than our hearts ever knew, desired, or imagined through worship of the all-faithful, almighty, all-powerful, only wise God who made us for nothing less than His glory.
Glorious, beautiful Father, oh that you would give me eyes to always behold and stand in awe of your glory in Jesus! Oh that my soul would delight and feed on Christ alone, never settling for my own paltry, weightless, joyless samples of self-seeking glory in ministry and living. Fix my eyes, heart, joy, heart, treasure, motivation, and being on Jesus and him alone. Destroy all my personal attempts to exalt myself, humbling me before the throne and cross of Christ that I might find life through death, fellowship in suffering, and exaltation through humility. Enable me to see and battle in warfare in the midst of an often seemingly mundane, me-oriented, mundane world as defined by the world's values and focus on the glamorous, self-exalting, and seen. May I continually fight the good fight of faith through the infinite power and all-sufficient grace of Jesus Christ, who has given me everything I need for life and godliness. May I never settle for anything less than the glory and majesty of my Father God in the light of His victorious gospel that can truly bring peace, joy, hope, and life to all nations and all peoples and break through all evil, sin, and death through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Friends, family thank you so much for your love and support. What a joy to know that none of us are ever alone in battle but that our God, who is mighty to save, always goes before us and leads us in triumphal procession through Jesus Christ in all times and circumstances. I pray that you would be encouraged, built up, strengthened, and made alive through Christ in whatever difficulties, joys, burdens, or trials you are facing. Christ is greater! He is able and willing to save! He doesn't grow tired or weary in His pursuit of us, as we often do in our pursuit of Him; rather, He is patient, longsuffering, relentless, and unwavering in His pursuit of us. May your heart's focus be on the One who lived to die for you, not as a duty but as His great joy and treasured possession. You are the beloved, holy children of God. May you live based on that certain, unchanging identity and status that is yours in Christ. He will be faithful to complete the work He has begun in you. Please know that you're in my thoughts and prayers, and that more importantly you are always being prayed for and fought for through the constant intercession of your High Priest and Savior, Jesus Christ.
It has recently been pointed out to me that I've been in South Korea for over 6 weeks. One thing in life is for certain: time never stops or slows down. The fact that I'm 23 and a college graduate is absurd to me. I definitely don't feel like an adult but more like I'm in a bizarre, undefined location between youth and adulthood. I don't know. Everything seems older than it actually is until you become that age yourself. Then, it's just you, feeling like the same old, familiar you. Other people seem to fall into clearer categories as they age; but when it comes to 'me' everything seems more blurry, experiential, and harder to define, since I don't get to watch myself living but simply live experiencing, feeling, and processing all the many different things God brings in my life. That's probably quite a blessing in disguise, since watching myself would more than likely be a terrifying experience, even as most pastors will say that listening to their own voice in sermons is terribly distressing, even as our voices sound different in actuality than we perceive them to sound. Anyway, enough with time and aging, it's been a while, and an update on what God is doing on the other side of the world is in order. : )
God is continuing to move and work in building His body here in South Korea, Covenant Church Outreach Center. As I said in my last update, we're officially and fully moved into our church office, and have been freed to begin reaching out into our community to serve people, telling them about our ministry, offering our nearly free English classes, and inviting anyone to come and be a part of them. This past Saturday we had our first community outreach event, as we set up a booth and had a Survey Questionnaire for Koreans. The goal of our survey is to learn about the needs of the people in our Jamshil area so that we might better know how to serve them, along with learning about their beliefs and views concerning the church to understand where they're coming from, while also telling them about our Educational program to see if they would desire to get involved. We made a sign for the event that said something like, "Free 10 Minute English Lesson from Foreigners", as two other fellow foreign friends of mine and I spoke to over 20 Koreans that stopped by to take the survey with the help of the Yoo's and one of their Korean friends. It was a very encouraging time to see more people show interest and curiosity concerning our program, and to actually hear from the people that we're going to serve. This week we're finalizing our Covenant Church Outreach Center Brochure, and I will begin teaching our first class tomorrow night with a few children, teaching Bible Stories, Phonics, and playing games with them--should be a lot of fun. Also, Pastor Yoo is going to begin teaching a class next week to college age students called "Gospel Foundations", as I met and became friends with a few Koreans, who showed interest in taking some classes from our Outreach Center. Please keep our Church Plant in your prayers, as we seek to reach out into this community and share the love and knowledge of Christ with them through our Outreach Center. Pray that God would bring the people He desires us to serve. Pray that He would equip us with wisdom and insight concerning the needs and hearts of those we serve that we might love and proclaim the truth effectively to their hearts. Pray that God would bring others to join our Launch Team that would have a heart filled with love for Christ and the gospel, and a desire to share that good news with others. Pray also that the Yoo's and I would never cease to rely on God for strength, energy, wisdom, holiness, growth, salvation, love, hope, joy, and endurance, always growing in love for God and each other.
I've been reading through the gospel of Luke, an absolutely beautiful, soul-stirring, convicting, Kingdom-driven account of Jesus Christ. God has impressed two very familiar, powerful verses on my heart in the past couple of weeks: "Then he [Jesus] said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it" (9:23-24). Gospel wisdom is counterintuitive: The way to life is death. The way to gain is to lose. The way to come is to deny. Really? How could that be when it is utterly against our nature to live this way? And how is this the way to freedom? After all, isn't freedom the ability to choose anything I want, living in the joy of unlimited possibility and options? How my flesh wishes this were reality, as I begin living each day entirely oriented toward my own needs, wants, and desires. Yet, when I honestly face reality, the truth of the gospel concerning freedom emerges: the freedom my flesh thinks is freedom in being able to choose from an unlimited number of possibilites is actually bondage, as I live entraped in my own unsatisfied, unquenchable state of unfufilled desires. In seeking with all of my heart to gain, make, and possess life through fulfilling desire I lose myself and life, being left with the emptiness of self apart from Christ and my own failed schemes of earthly joy. That's just it: Adam and Eve thought in eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil they would be truly free to see and choose as God does. Yet, what they thought would bring freedom was the source of all evil, bondage, sin, death, and misery that has followed men, women, and children for the rest of human history and existence. Our flesh is convinced: our way to life is better. God's way can't really be. Our sinful default mode of the flesh screams against death being the way to life, as we so desperately seek to live in our own strength and wisdom, even and often in God's name and in ministry. Sure, it's easy to proclaim His way, His word, His gospel; but when our way is clouded, our plans fail, and we come to the end of ourselves, our anxiety and emotions reveal hearts that are not resting and trusting in God and His way and His plans and His gospel for our salvation, ministry, and lives.
Though God's unconventional, counterintuitive gospel seems to be opposite of joy and freedom, in our experiences it is revealed over and over again that our own--my own--way, idea, and vision for fulfillment and life leads to alienation, not loving relationship; bondage, not freedom; sorrow, not joy; death, not life; anxiety, not peace; weariness, not rest; doubt, not security. As the wise words of Provers remind us, "There is a way that seems right to a man, and in the end it leads to death" (14:12). It isn't just that our plans and schemes for joy in this life, whether seemingly worldly or seemingly godly, miss the mark, leading nearly to happiness or good; rather, our plans that seem right--that we believe consciously or subconsciously in our hearts probably with good biblical backing in alignment with our own starting point--lead to death. What we think will bring us joy in whatever area and avenue of life actually will lead to death. We aren't just partially flawed people; we need new hearts, dispositions, desires, and wills. How sweet that in arriving at this dark, distressing reality, as we lose hope and trust in ourselves, that light and hope comes outside of us in the face of Jesus Christ. The one who truly was free, possessing all things, joy, and beauty in Himself, gave Himself up to die, so that we might truly live, being free from our self-deceived, sinful selves to become one with God in His family, Kingdom, and gospel. Jesus wasn't bound to do this; yet his own loving, relational nature led Him to choose death over holding the joy and glory He had with the Father and the Spirit to each other. Their desire was to share that love, joy, and glory, enduring all for that end. Not only did Jesus sacrifice Himself willingly; He sacrificed Himself joyfully: "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2; emphasis is mine). It was Jesus' joy to die for weary, deceived, lost, totally depraved sinners. The better way was the way of death. The way to joy was sacrifice. The way to gain was to lose. There is the gospel! There is our hope! There is our joy! There is the way to relational wholeness and not alienation; the way to freedom, not bondage; the way to life, not death; the way to peace, not anxiety; the way to rest, not weariness; the way to security, not doubt. It is the way of the cross, the way of love, the way of sacrifice, the way of losing yourself in relationship to God, just as Jesus did.
In being led to a way that our earthly nature thinks will actually enslave us, we're brought to finally find security and freedom in the loving arms of God, our Savior, as we're defined in Him alone and not by virtue of ourselves and our efforts. In losing ourselves in Christ, we're brought to the joy of being free from self-absorption that alienates us from the people around us, being enabled to actually invest and lay our lives down for our brothers and sisters in Christ, friends, and enemies, since we can rest secure in Christ and not in what others think of us. In losing ourselves in Christ, we can actually face the reality of who we are in our sin, fear, hurt, and doubt, casting all our cares and anxieties on Him, and living in His sufficient strength and power, not our own. In losing ourselves and dying daily to our flesh, way, schemes, dreams, and vision, we're restored and made alive through the Spirit of God inside us, as He shows us how much higher, greater, wonderful, and glorious God's ways, thoughts, desires, and plans are. Not only this, but He shows us that His ways and plans can be trusted, convincing our hearts more and more that He is good, faithful, and forever loving. In losing ourselves, we are brought to rest in the shadow of the Almighty, as Psalm 91:1 says: "He who dwells in the shelter of the most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty." Rather than resting in our own feeble strength, nearsighted vision, self-centered heart, and ever-changing plans, we can cast ourselves in our identity, holiness, dreams, desires, nature, and heart into the hands of the Almighty, relational, loving, merciful, holy, powerful, sufficient, omnipotent, good, never-failing, Sovereign, gracious, omniscient, faithful God and King. Though my flesh cries out for its former nature, and I struggle each day to die to self and my own plans and schemes I've had since the day I was born, God is convincing my heart that His way is best, His Kingdom is greater, His love is better than life, and His plans are to give me hope and a future, not to harm me. My time in South Korea has brought me to wrestle and see this over and over again, as I learn and relearn, discover and rediscover how faithful and loving my heavenly Father is. In being brought away from what I know as home through family, friends, and familiar places and times, God is revealing that what I need is not what my own heart and flesh desires and longs for but Him. What I need is not the perfect job, the perfect relationship, the perfect place, the perfect friends, the perfect life; I need Jesus, which means dying to self and living to Him. How sweet and freeing to discover His goodness, beauty, and love that truly are better than life! How cool to also see that it is this discovery and death to self that enables true love, community, prayer, joy, service, calling, and beauty to be born and made alive. Please pray that God would continue this work on my heart, as I get busier and busier and tempted to rest in my strength, striving, efforts, self-worth, relationships, flesh, and desires. Pray that the love of Jesus would be my source of joy, holiness, endurance, faithfulness, love, forgiveness, repentance, belief, and power. I struggle daily to believe this, whether conscious of that struggle or not, living more often than not through the quality of my circumstances, the strength of my own striving. This results in me falling on my face, while being reminded gently and lovingly through the discipline of God to cry out to Him in prayer for needs only He can meet. Though my heart and flesh cries out against giving up and this death to self, I find in doing so freedom, power, strength, and love through the Spirit of God alive, at work, and inside of me. How beautiful the gospel is! How wonderful to live for more than ourselves! How glorious to lose ourselves in Christ! How sweet to give up our lives in service to God's immense, glorious, and loving Kingdom where we find true justice and mercy co-existing!
Thank you immensely for your prayers. They mean more than you--and I really--could ever know. God is alive and at work through His Spirit in my life and the Yoo's in South Korea, and I know that He is alive and working in you, dear family and friends. Please know that you are in my thoughts and prayers continually in the midst of the daily battle you face to die to self and lose yourself in the gospel. Know that the battle is not in question you are victorious! Christ has purchased eternal life for you through His blood, giving you the certain promise of an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade. Therefore you fight for the faith, struggle, pray, and live to God not to obtain favor and relationship with God but for the sake of the spread of the gospel and the glory of God, that His name might be proclaimed, made known, embraced, and called upon by men, women, and children from all nations to the freedom and love that are found fully and solely in Christ! May you and I live in the strength and persevering grace of Christ, even as our ancestors of the faith and Christ cry out, cheer for, and call us to God's better Kingdom way of self-denying, other-centered love:
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such hostility from sinful men that you may not grow weary and lose heart" (Hebrews 12:1-3).
May you rest in the peace and grace of God. Good night from Seoul, South Korea, and good morning to all of you. : )
This Saturday we had our first Covenant Church Launch Team Meeting! This is most, but not all, of our Launch Team--a great group of people, who are quickly becoming dear friends and fellow family and servants of Jesus. We will be meeting together every Saturday to pray, plan, discuss, fellowship, worship, and prepare to serve the city of Seoul! There has been so much happening, as life in Korea is getting busier and busier, as God continues to guide and shape His plan for Covenant church. This past week was filled with preparatory work, mainly involving the purchasing of our new Church Office Space that we just moved into today! God graciously provided in leading us to a place that was nearly half the cost of other buildings around Seoul! We have been preparing non-stop to set up everything in the building from finding a designer to construct and install the outside signs; order chairs, desks, tables, and a book shelf; and this week put up new wallpaper, paint the ceiling, and install extra lights. God is really putting everything together quickly, as the building should be fully ready by Thursday! I am really excited to move from a lot of task-oriented work to reaching out to people, as we will begin doing in earnest this week and next! Our vision for Covenant Church Plant is not simply to start a worshiping community with a few people, but to first be an Outreach Center that offers nearly free English classes to Koreans of all ages and levels in English. Currently, Jae and Hannah Yoo, and I are working on a beginning curriculum that offers a couple classes for children, youth, college students, young professions, and adults. The vision for our Outreach Center has its roots in 2 Corinthians 4:14: "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him." Our desire is to be the sweet aroma of Christ in the city of Seoul, following God's leading in using us to spread the knowledge of Jesus Christ in every place. Many young Koreans from teenagers to college students to young professionals are disillusioned and bitter toward the church, seeing Christianity as a dying breed amidst the struggles, pleasures, and immediate needs of this life. Rather than seeking to show Christ and the gospel and how they directly relate to and transform the issues in our lives and the world, the Korean Church here often misses them through offering a recylced, spiritualized, seeker-friendly version of Christianity that doesn't measure up to reality--a very common issue and failure of the church throughout the world. Our vision is use teaching English--which is a great need for all Koreans, especially for college students and young professionals--to show and spread the knowledge of Christ in classes concerning the gospel, worldview, God's existence, current issues, the workplace and business world, and other classes that will engage the lives of Koreans, while hoping to show them how Christ and the gospel relate to and transform all areas of life. In doing this, we will seek to serve and effect the community of Koreans around us, while looking to begin worshiping once God brings a decent number of people with the desire and need to join our church. We will mostly offer classes on nights and weekends, and will hopefully be able to move from starting on a smaller scale to a much larger ministry as God brings people into our contacts to serve alongside us. It's incredible to see how He is already doing that. This week our focus will be on networking and spreading the word to Koreans about our Outreach Center, basing what classes we offer first on what age groups sign up to come. However few or many come is not the point, as we pray that God would use our ministry to point any Koreans that come to the transforming person of Jesus Christ and His gospel. Please pray that God would fill the Yoo's hearts, mine, and our Launch Team with Christ, that we might be the sweet aroma of Christ to anyone who comes in our path, exhorting all to come and eat and drink of the free gift of life eternal and life abundant in Jesus Christ alone for the glory of God and the joy of all people's. Yesterday, I went to my first Korean-speaking worship service with the Yoo family. It was a beautiful experience to hear Koreans worship and praise God in their heart language, and to hear the the pastor preach in Korean but then hear it translated through my very handy head-set. The most memorable moment of the service came when the Korean choir sang the beautiful version of "The Lord Bless You and Keep You" by John Rutter. Immediately, memories flooded my mind of the many times I sang this song with my family, as it is a song we usually sing at least every Christmas together before leaving each other's fellowship. As these Koreans sang in their own language, I felt my worlds colliding for one of the first times, as God brought a profound bridge of beautiful continuity between these worlds, cultures, peoples, and continents, revealing His presence powerfully and simultaneously in and through both. It was as if I could hear my family and former community singing together this truly amazing blessing from God Himself from the past, urging me forward in God's blessing to press on, because He is here just as He was there; and yet, not only them, but combined in there past singing was synchronized a new culture and people who sang the same blessing from God over me in there country and culture, leading me to see that God's blessing and presence is unlimited in its scope and power, existing and heard and sung in every continent and part of the world. What a sweet, rich, and amazing experience of God's grace and power, as His hand of blessing and mercy extends throughout the world. How glorious to experience and learn how God enables His people to live as sojourners and strangers in a foreign land who are, at the same time, always at home through always being in the presence of God our Father and His global family of believers bought and adopted by the blood of His Son. If the experience I had yesterday is as great as it was, I cannot even imagine how indescribably beautiful and magnificent that day will be when all the family of God from all lands, ages, and cultures will come together to worship our Savior and Lord in perfect love and communion. Rather than having that day lead me to seek such a home now--a utopia of my own making on earth according to my own wishes and desires--I pray that God would use that vision of His greater Kingdom to implant an unquenchable desire in me to extend that invitation to as many people as God puts in my path, desiring that others would come to taste and see how good our God is in Jesus Christ! May God never cease to remind you of how high, wide, deep, and vast His love and Kingdom extend: from the furthest corners of the globe in other cultures, worlds, and languages that seem to difficult to enter and affect to the all-too familiar places in many of our lives that seem beyond God's reach. His grace is, indeed sufficient; His mercy surely reaches from age to age; His power absolutely knows no limit, and His love truly does endure forever and, as David says, is better than life itself. May you abound richly and deeply in Christ, knowing and believing in your hearts and lives in word and deed that transformation, life, substance, meaning, righteousness, goodness, grace, justice, love, joy, peace, and satisfaction are found only in Him. Family and friends, thank you so much for your love and support--you mean so much to me, and are being used by God to continually have a deep impact on my life in Korea. Know that I am praying for you often, even as I pray this blessing from God upon your day-to-day lives in Christ:
"The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace" --Numbers 6:24-26
