Thursday, October 23, 2008
The Mystery of God...
It occurred to me the other day that even if we were to at some point understand God in practically every regard, there is one aspect of God that no human can possibly ever understand. Caedmon’s call phrases it pretty well. “It’s the mystery of mercy…” I’ll never understand that… That He has so many reasons to just walk away and leave me in the mess I make. Yet He has mercy. That will be impossible for me to understand….
The Importance of the Article
“You forgot to use ‘a’.” “Say, ‘I’m going to the park today.” “Don’t forget your articles!!!”
In case you’re just tuning in, I am teaching English to elementary students at a private school in South Korea. I just learned today that one of the reasons that Koreans have such a hard time learning to add articles in their sentences has to do with the fact that apparently they don’t have articles in their language. Intriguing, but I’m still going to jump on them when they forget it in my class, because that’s the reason they are here: to learn English. Articles are a part of the language just as much as the vocabulary.
Yet as much as I get onto my kids because they forget to add the article, how many times do we in the church forget our articles? “I’m going to church.” What are we saying? Is church a noun or a verb? If we are thinking “church” as in our destination of where we are going, than the answer is noun, but we are forgetting the article to declare it as such. Without the article to define “church” in a statement such as that as a place it sounds like a verb, like something we are doing. If we are leaving it as a verb, what does that mean? What does it mean to “church”? Are we referring to the repetitious pattern of going to a building to meet with people of similar belief to sing songs and hear a small lesson to remind us to be closer to God? What do we mean? It seems silly to refer to “church” as a verb. I think there would be general agreement because of our years of hearing this that the church is not a building but the body of believers.
Ah! A body of believers! Then the word we are using is a noun, as it refers to a group of people. So why do we still speak of it as a verb? I read an article recently recommended by a friend about the development of the word, “FAIL.” (You can read the article for yourself here.) The author points out how it is common for verbs to become nouns. He cites examples such as lock, bike, and meet. These can both act as nouns and verbs. But here we see just the reverse action: a noun that has become a verb. What a confused word! It knows itself to be a noun, but is used like a verb. Imagine having a child who knows his name to be Todd only to begin hearing people call him Bill. The confusion would be unbearable.
So while it could be said that “church” has simply changed from a noun to a verb, the problem is simply that the word “church” simply makes no sense as a verb. It’s definition then is confusing. How do you describe that? What definition do you give? It is best left as it was intended to be – a noun. Listen to the sentence again, now with the article in place as it should be: “I’m going to go to the church.” Understanding the word “church” as a body of believers, it makes more sense with the article.
From here it is simply a matter of actually reminding yourself to change your vocabulary this little bit. It will likely take some time. For me it’s taken a year or more just to finally get an even mix of “I’m going to go to service at…” and “I’m going to church.” We simply have to be patient and constantly check ourselves.
It seems such a trivial point to fix, yet our language holds such power, sway and meaning within it. We treat it so carelessly and flippantly – oftentimes even more so in our church language. We cause those outside the church to become so confused by what we say because we are so used to speaking among Christians that we forget the vocabulary of the world, or we forget that words have taken on new meaning in the body of believers.
If we are to serve the people around us, it would benefit us all greatly if we watched how we said things, and what we said around others.
In case you’re just tuning in, I am teaching English to elementary students at a private school in South Korea. I just learned today that one of the reasons that Koreans have such a hard time learning to add articles in their sentences has to do with the fact that apparently they don’t have articles in their language. Intriguing, but I’m still going to jump on them when they forget it in my class, because that’s the reason they are here: to learn English. Articles are a part of the language just as much as the vocabulary.
Yet as much as I get onto my kids because they forget to add the article, how many times do we in the church forget our articles? “I’m going to church.” What are we saying? Is church a noun or a verb? If we are thinking “church” as in our destination of where we are going, than the answer is noun, but we are forgetting the article to declare it as such. Without the article to define “church” in a statement such as that as a place it sounds like a verb, like something we are doing. If we are leaving it as a verb, what does that mean? What does it mean to “church”? Are we referring to the repetitious pattern of going to a building to meet with people of similar belief to sing songs and hear a small lesson to remind us to be closer to God? What do we mean? It seems silly to refer to “church” as a verb. I think there would be general agreement because of our years of hearing this that the church is not a building but the body of believers.
Ah! A body of believers! Then the word we are using is a noun, as it refers to a group of people. So why do we still speak of it as a verb? I read an article recently recommended by a friend about the development of the word, “FAIL.” (You can read the article for yourself here.) The author points out how it is common for verbs to become nouns. He cites examples such as lock, bike, and meet. These can both act as nouns and verbs. But here we see just the reverse action: a noun that has become a verb. What a confused word! It knows itself to be a noun, but is used like a verb. Imagine having a child who knows his name to be Todd only to begin hearing people call him Bill. The confusion would be unbearable.
So while it could be said that “church” has simply changed from a noun to a verb, the problem is simply that the word “church” simply makes no sense as a verb. It’s definition then is confusing. How do you describe that? What definition do you give? It is best left as it was intended to be – a noun. Listen to the sentence again, now with the article in place as it should be: “I’m going to go to the church.” Understanding the word “church” as a body of believers, it makes more sense with the article.
From here it is simply a matter of actually reminding yourself to change your vocabulary this little bit. It will likely take some time. For me it’s taken a year or more just to finally get an even mix of “I’m going to go to service at…” and “I’m going to church.” We simply have to be patient and constantly check ourselves.
It seems such a trivial point to fix, yet our language holds such power, sway and meaning within it. We treat it so carelessly and flippantly – oftentimes even more so in our church language. We cause those outside the church to become so confused by what we say because we are so used to speaking among Christians that we forget the vocabulary of the world, or we forget that words have taken on new meaning in the body of believers.
If we are to serve the people around us, it would benefit us all greatly if we watched how we said things, and what we said around others.
In All Fairness...
There have been a lot of people that were really upset with John McCain for having thrown done so much mud and garbage at Obama during the debates. I agree that during debates candidates should be civil with one another and not throw around so much dirt to try and show the other guy as such a terrible person. What McCain did was wrong. But let’s be fair here: I remember before the DNC where Barack Obama was flinging just as much garbage at Hillary Clinton as McCain has thrown his way. Is it OK for Obama, but not for McCain? If we’re going to get mad at one, let’s keep it consistent here folks…
A Flurry of Activity
There will shortly be quite a few posts on the blog I've been meaning to post for some time, but have been prevented from doing so due to health or work related reasons. Tonight, however, I intend to post as many as I can.
Friday, October 17, 2008
I dropped my chopstick...
Ever tried to eat cheese ramen with just one chopstick? It's tough.
This random post brought to you by the flu. Making me more loopy than usual once a year...and this is without help from pharmaceuticals. :)
This random post brought to you by the flu. Making me more loopy than usual once a year...and this is without help from pharmaceuticals. :)
Thursday, October 16, 2008
“Are You Going to Trust the God Who Saves You?”
As I walk down the streets of South Korea on my way to work I notice something…
Even though I am walking down the streets of a city in a distant country from home,
Even though I still haven’t travelled that far out of my own neighborhood yet and can easily get lost…
I have already found myself being able to walk to work without having to look up much from the street. Incredible.
How is it that although I am still so new to this country that I get lost in a grocery store that I can already be disregarding what is in my typical path?
Repetition.
If you think about it, there is so much information that passes by our eyes each and every day, while our brain can store all of it, if it becomes a repetitive pattern there is less of a need to be consistently recording the data. What purpose does it serve? Better to eventually tune it out.
I have a confession to make.
And after everything that I’ve seen God do in my life in the past months, I feel as if I should have understood this already to begin with. That as soon as I saw the problem I could rest easy, because God had already shown me that he would provide.
When I first started making plans to come to Korea, there were at least two times that I found out that I would need an additional $200 to make the arrangements to get over here (getting paperwork settled and such). The first time I needed the money I was worried like crazy as to where the money was going to come from. Yet, just fifteen minutes after the need was presented, I was shown where $200 more would be coming from. “Awesome!” I thought. I gave a quick praise to God for providing for my need.
Just a week or so later, another incident occurred and I found out I would need still another $200 to make preparations to come to Korea. $200 more?!?! How will this come?! I was nervous. I was scared. …Yet fifteen minutes later I was shown how God had provided the additional $200 needed. I was thrilled! I was ecstatic! I realized that God was going to take care of this the whole way through! And then I realized…
God…will…take…care…of…this…the…whole…way…through…
I really had to take the time to say that slowly. I realized that in my walk I had grown accustomed to saying, “God will provide.” The most powerful time I remember being reminded of this point was when a teacher pointed out that one of the themes of Exodus 15-17 is, “Are you going to trust the God who saves you?”
Did I? Did I truly live like I trusted God? “Of course I am!” I would proudly say. “God will provide!” I would say (while I nervously glanced over my shoulder, wondering how I would get this lesson made…). “God will provide!” I would shout (while I bit my nails wondering how I would eat…). “God will provide!” (I would proclaim) while I started to really wonder how things were going to work… “God will provide!” (I would yell) while I was now desperately trying to figure out when will it all end??… (“God will provide.”) I murmured out of habit while I was too busy trying to get things to work myself… (“God will provide.”) I hurriedly whispered as I continued to mount plans as defensives against the powers staggering against me… (“ “)…I was too busy caught up trying to take care of myself…
As I busy myself with slapping mortar on another brick, trying to patch up yet another hole in a shoddy wall, a faint whisper catches my ear as the enemy fire pauses for a moment…
are you going to trust the God who saves you?
My hand pauses. The whisper pulls up a memory of times long ago. I remember the class, and I think back to the story. I think back to the history of God and His people, how He has always taken care of them. I think of how many times I could not possibly imagine how I would get through it, yet God somehow provided. Sometimes even more than I could have possibly asked for. I don’t even notice as the brick begins to slip out of my hand as I remember how God has brought me this far to Korea and found a way to get my passport back not just on time but early when the consulate didn’t do interviews that day, and with only 3 days to get it back to me for a process that took 2 days to file…
I remember the cross, and how he had already anticipated my greatest need of all… the whisper again…
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness… (2 Pe 1:3)
…the brick falls out of my hand. The canons fire again, this time in more earnest… The heavy artillery is coming in now. The enemy has seen the cracks in my defense and is ready to smash it down. The whistles grow steadily louder as they rocket ever closer to my frail position behind such a clumsy wall…
…but I don’t hear them. My thoughts are lost in the words of Paul…”No, in all of these things 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.” (Ro 8:37-39)
I look at my silly excuse for a wall and chuckle. I look up at the heavy firepower coming in, and tears roll down my face. But they’re not tears of fear from the mortar shells. They’re mixed tears…
They’re tears of shame because I had forgotten one of the most important things in my Christian walk:
That although I may have gotten myself into a mess with finances, that I may lose patience with another or that I may falter in my walk…I had forgotten that nothing…absolutely nothing…
can separate me from God’s love…
What a shame! That I had forgotten the one thing that can give me the most joy in life! But the tears aren’t just tears of shame.
They’re tears of joy as well. Why? It’s simple! Because nothing can separate me from the love of God! That He loves me in my foolishness now just as much as he loved me when he sent Jesus to the cross. That even though the attack is closing in on me, what harm can it do? The enemy can take my money. The enemy can take my health. The enemy can make me feel so alone…
But no matter how heavy the firepower the enemy uses, it will never penetrate God’s love for me.
It is so easy to get caught up in the worries of this world, and forget about trusting the God who saves me. Repetition is so hard to break free from. Paul said it best. “Oh wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God, for Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25)
As I walked to work the other day, I happened to break from looking straight ahead and I looked to the side and I noticed something new…
A tree is turning colors…
Even though I am walking down the streets of a city in a distant country from home,
Even though I still haven’t travelled that far out of my own neighborhood yet and can easily get lost…
I have already found myself being able to walk to work without having to look up much from the street. Incredible.
How is it that although I am still so new to this country that I get lost in a grocery store that I can already be disregarding what is in my typical path?
Repetition.
If you think about it, there is so much information that passes by our eyes each and every day, while our brain can store all of it, if it becomes a repetitive pattern there is less of a need to be consistently recording the data. What purpose does it serve? Better to eventually tune it out.
I have a confession to make.
And after everything that I’ve seen God do in my life in the past months, I feel as if I should have understood this already to begin with. That as soon as I saw the problem I could rest easy, because God had already shown me that he would provide.
When I first started making plans to come to Korea, there were at least two times that I found out that I would need an additional $200 to make the arrangements to get over here (getting paperwork settled and such). The first time I needed the money I was worried like crazy as to where the money was going to come from. Yet, just fifteen minutes after the need was presented, I was shown where $200 more would be coming from. “Awesome!” I thought. I gave a quick praise to God for providing for my need.
Just a week or so later, another incident occurred and I found out I would need still another $200 to make preparations to come to Korea. $200 more?!?! How will this come?! I was nervous. I was scared. …Yet fifteen minutes later I was shown how God had provided the additional $200 needed. I was thrilled! I was ecstatic! I realized that God was going to take care of this the whole way through! And then I realized…
God…will…take…care…of…this…the…whole…way…through…
I really had to take the time to say that slowly. I realized that in my walk I had grown accustomed to saying, “God will provide.” The most powerful time I remember being reminded of this point was when a teacher pointed out that one of the themes of Exodus 15-17 is, “Are you going to trust the God who saves you?”
Did I? Did I truly live like I trusted God? “Of course I am!” I would proudly say. “God will provide!” I would say (while I nervously glanced over my shoulder, wondering how I would get this lesson made…). “God will provide!” I would shout (while I bit my nails wondering how I would eat…). “God will provide!” (I would proclaim) while I started to really wonder how things were going to work… “God will provide!” (I would yell) while I was now desperately trying to figure out when will it all end??… (“God will provide.”) I murmured out of habit while I was too busy trying to get things to work myself… (“God will provide.”) I hurriedly whispered as I continued to mount plans as defensives against the powers staggering against me… (“ “)…I was too busy caught up trying to take care of myself…
As I busy myself with slapping mortar on another brick, trying to patch up yet another hole in a shoddy wall, a faint whisper catches my ear as the enemy fire pauses for a moment…
are you going to trust the God who saves you?
My hand pauses. The whisper pulls up a memory of times long ago. I remember the class, and I think back to the story. I think back to the history of God and His people, how He has always taken care of them. I think of how many times I could not possibly imagine how I would get through it, yet God somehow provided. Sometimes even more than I could have possibly asked for. I don’t even notice as the brick begins to slip out of my hand as I remember how God has brought me this far to Korea and found a way to get my passport back not just on time but early when the consulate didn’t do interviews that day, and with only 3 days to get it back to me for a process that took 2 days to file…
I remember the cross, and how he had already anticipated my greatest need of all… the whisper again…
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness… (2 Pe 1:3)
…the brick falls out of my hand. The canons fire again, this time in more earnest… The heavy artillery is coming in now. The enemy has seen the cracks in my defense and is ready to smash it down. The whistles grow steadily louder as they rocket ever closer to my frail position behind such a clumsy wall…
…but I don’t hear them. My thoughts are lost in the words of Paul…”No, in all of these things 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.” (Ro 8:37-39)
I look at my silly excuse for a wall and chuckle. I look up at the heavy firepower coming in, and tears roll down my face. But they’re not tears of fear from the mortar shells. They’re mixed tears…
They’re tears of shame because I had forgotten one of the most important things in my Christian walk:
That although I may have gotten myself into a mess with finances, that I may lose patience with another or that I may falter in my walk…I had forgotten that nothing…absolutely nothing…
can separate me from God’s love…
What a shame! That I had forgotten the one thing that can give me the most joy in life! But the tears aren’t just tears of shame.
They’re tears of joy as well. Why? It’s simple! Because nothing can separate me from the love of God! That He loves me in my foolishness now just as much as he loved me when he sent Jesus to the cross. That even though the attack is closing in on me, what harm can it do? The enemy can take my money. The enemy can take my health. The enemy can make me feel so alone…
But no matter how heavy the firepower the enemy uses, it will never penetrate God’s love for me.
It is so easy to get caught up in the worries of this world, and forget about trusting the God who saves me. Repetition is so hard to break free from. Paul said it best. “Oh wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God, for Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25)
As I walked to work the other day, I happened to break from looking straight ahead and I looked to the side and I noticed something new…
A tree is turning colors…
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
A Man of Wrath
“I…am a man of wrath!
I am a man of anger!
I am a man of strife, of malice!
I am a man of wrath!!
I hear your words,
your words to convince me.
Your words saying, “Turn away! Turn away!”
Fools!!
Wrath!
Anger! Strife! Malice!
RAGE!!!
I am a man of WRATH!
Fury! Anger! Strife!!
(weaker) pain…
(shake it off)
No! Malice! Rage!!
WRATH!!
I am a man of –“
love
The man of wrath began to look around. Was there a voice just then? He began again, but quieter, timidly.
Wrath!
Nothing. He thinks to himself he must have heard things. He begins again just as loud.
Anger! Strife Malice!
Rage!!!
love
NO!!! WRATH!!!!
He shakes his fist vehemently into the air. His screams are louder, almost desperate. His face is contorted, the wrath painting his face red. The sweat begins to bead on his forehead.
love
His body begins to waver now. The wrath in his face begins to loosen. The red begins to fade as the tears begin to build. His hands begin to drop from the fists in the air to the helplessness near his side.
….
The weakness begins to set in now. He fights it…
….Wrath! Anger!! Strife! … he is weak
Malice…
…Rage?
love
The disbelief sets in now. As if fighting a mighty battle is being waged in his mind, the confusion on his face builds. Where beads of sweat began, trails are beginning to form as the sweat mounts and traces its way down his face. Confusion begins to once again give way to wrath…His breathes become heavy…he begins to heave… he prepares his lungs…
NO! Wrath!
love
He begins to falter…his body begins to lower as his knees begin to sway…
Wrath! Please,… wrath!
love
Closer…closer to the ground as his knees begin to fall
…lo- lo- …?
…
Disbelief. Confusion. One last attempt…
NO!! WRATH!!
love
…HOW CAN YOU LOVE?!
HOW?! WHY?!?
The desperate cries…
the weakened man…
love
NO!! PLEASE NO!!
NOT ME!!
I AM A MAN OF WRATH!!
i will make you a man of love
He tries to reason, tries to explain why he is not worth the effort…
all my wrath…
love
The persistence of the love is beyond him.
Who could love such a man?
how will you take such wrath?
why?
mercy
LOVE
no…
After all he has done, how can he accept this love?
LOVE
please, not for me…
Anyone, Anyone, oh please, please…
not for me…please…
LOVE
please…
LOVE
He can bear it no longer. Who can stand against such love? Who can persist? He falls to his knees. He covers his face in shame. He writhes in agony at the mere thought…of love…of the cost of love…
could it be real?
MERCY!!! Oh, God, please…mercy!!
I am a man of wrath!!
i will make you a man of love
The tears flow through the hands.
He weeps…
The man of wrath…is wrath no more…but love…
When the tears begin to slow, he wonders, is this still real? Is it really love?
love
He braces his knees…slowly he rises.
He is weak.
He is broken.
He is not the same man.
I was a man of wrath…
I will be a man of love…
Voices around him now…angry voices, terrible voices
“Fool!” they cry.
“Love” he responds.
“Fool!” they shout.
“Love” he responds.
“Fool!” they laugh.
“Love…” he says with difficulty.
“Fool!” they roar.
“Love!” he cries
“Fool!” they scream.
“Love!” he shouts.
“Fool!”
“Love!” he roars
“Fool!”
“Love!” he screams.
“FOOL!”
“WRATH-“
It comes out… And he is ashamed…
love
He weeps.
Still?
love
He straightens himself up.
He is called a fool several more times.
A few times more he slips…yet each time he hears love afterwards
The years pass on. He slips into wrath much less.
Soon wrath has left him entirely.
All that is left is…
Love!
Love!
Love!
Love…
LOVE
This is not just some made-up story. This is the story of who I was. This is the story of who I am. And it is the story of who I hope to become. Thank you, Christ, for your love.
I am a man of anger!
I am a man of strife, of malice!
I am a man of wrath!!
I hear your words,
your words to convince me.
Your words saying, “Turn away! Turn away!”
Fools!!
Wrath!
Anger! Strife! Malice!
RAGE!!!
I am a man of WRATH!
Fury! Anger! Strife!!
(weaker) pain…
(shake it off)
No! Malice! Rage!!
WRATH!!
I am a man of –“
love
The man of wrath began to look around. Was there a voice just then? He began again, but quieter, timidly.
Wrath!
Nothing. He thinks to himself he must have heard things. He begins again just as loud.
Anger! Strife Malice!
Rage!!!
love
NO!!! WRATH!!!!
He shakes his fist vehemently into the air. His screams are louder, almost desperate. His face is contorted, the wrath painting his face red. The sweat begins to bead on his forehead.
love
His body begins to waver now. The wrath in his face begins to loosen. The red begins to fade as the tears begin to build. His hands begin to drop from the fists in the air to the helplessness near his side.
….
The weakness begins to set in now. He fights it…
….Wrath! Anger!! Strife! … he is weak
Malice…
…Rage?
love
The disbelief sets in now. As if fighting a mighty battle is being waged in his mind, the confusion on his face builds. Where beads of sweat began, trails are beginning to form as the sweat mounts and traces its way down his face. Confusion begins to once again give way to wrath…His breathes become heavy…he begins to heave… he prepares his lungs…
NO! Wrath!
love
He begins to falter…his body begins to lower as his knees begin to sway…
Wrath! Please,… wrath!
love
Closer…closer to the ground as his knees begin to fall
…lo- lo- …?
…
Disbelief. Confusion. One last attempt…
NO!! WRATH!!
love
…HOW CAN YOU LOVE?!
HOW?! WHY?!?
The desperate cries…
the weakened man…
love
NO!! PLEASE NO!!
NOT ME!!
I AM A MAN OF WRATH!!
i will make you a man of love
He tries to reason, tries to explain why he is not worth the effort…
all my wrath…
love
The persistence of the love is beyond him.
Who could love such a man?
how will you take such wrath?
why?
mercy
LOVE
no…
After all he has done, how can he accept this love?
LOVE
please, not for me…
Anyone, Anyone, oh please, please…
not for me…please…
LOVE
please…
LOVE
He can bear it no longer. Who can stand against such love? Who can persist? He falls to his knees. He covers his face in shame. He writhes in agony at the mere thought…of love…of the cost of love…
could it be real?
MERCY!!! Oh, God, please…mercy!!
I am a man of wrath!!
i will make you a man of love
The tears flow through the hands.
He weeps…
The man of wrath…is wrath no more…but love…
When the tears begin to slow, he wonders, is this still real? Is it really love?
love
He braces his knees…slowly he rises.
He is weak.
He is broken.
He is not the same man.
I was a man of wrath…
I will be a man of love…
Voices around him now…angry voices, terrible voices
“Fool!” they cry.
“Love” he responds.
“Fool!” they shout.
“Love” he responds.
“Fool!” they laugh.
“Love…” he says with difficulty.
“Fool!” they roar.
“Love!” he cries
“Fool!” they scream.
“Love!” he shouts.
“Fool!”
“Love!” he roars
“Fool!”
“Love!” he screams.
“FOOL!”
“WRATH-“
It comes out… And he is ashamed…
love
He weeps.
Still?
love
He straightens himself up.
He is called a fool several more times.
A few times more he slips…yet each time he hears love afterwards
The years pass on. He slips into wrath much less.
Soon wrath has left him entirely.
All that is left is…
Love!
Love!
Love!
Love…
LOVE
This is not just some made-up story. This is the story of who I was. This is the story of who I am. And it is the story of who I hope to become. Thank you, Christ, for your love.
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