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Over the past few relatively uneventful weeks, I have noticed a surprising trend in my interactions with people that had gone unobserved until now. Has this been something that was hidden and only now revealed? Or have I simply been unaware? As someone put it, "maybe, we'll neba know" and "duhhhh, who won daw gold?" The truth is, I like to be heard by people who want to hear me. To have an audience that actually cares what you think is incredibly incredible (Showing the range of my vocabulary there). And as someone else once famously said, "That's all I have to say about that."

What's a good title?

"Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head"

Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead"

-The Truth

So here I am. Where? I am in my missionary’s friend’s house. Why? I’m jobless and homeless. And it’s an amazing feeling; to be dependent (or at least more tangibly) on Jehovah. I am feeling less and less worried about going to South East Asia as I learn to let go of myself and embrace the sovereignty and reign of Christ. But now I’m getting ahead of myself, or at least ahead of you.

That’s what it’s like being 13 hours in the future. I talk about things that haven’t even happened yet. I forget that most of you live in a world in the past. I get to live 13 hours in a day you have yet to experience. Everyday. But now I’m blabbering.

"Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?" -Paul

Here is a quick update: As of March 27^th, I was officially finished teaching at my school. Through a long, long process I came to this point. I won’t bore you with the details and what I really mean by that is that I don’t want to tell you. It would be a huge waste of your time and energy to read about that. I guess you’ll just have to trust me on that one. Sometimes we, and by “we” I mean “I,” rehash something that’s not worth talking about and may actually be detrimental to one party or the other.

So, I am officially done teaching in Korea. As I reflect on my time here, I’m struck by how good God is. What a provider, the Lover of my soul. I love you Lord!! Through various trials, I feel the Lord drawing me to Himself; His blessed self. Don’t let me go, keep drawing me. Keep killing the flesh and taking my love of the worldly away. Nothing else matters; only Christ and knowing Him. That’s not extreme, that’s rational and makes perfect sense! Life does not exist apart from Him. Not that I care, as I am realizing. It just wouldn’t matter even if it was babo (crazy). The Lord is so, so, so good.

“If any removes one step from Christ, he withdraws himself from the gospel” –Calvin

I just bought a ticket to Thailand. I’m leaving Seoul on April 2^nd. I plan on travelling through Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia for 1 month. I was scared when I bought the tickets. Unbelief draws closer so easily and distrust approaches quickly. But the Lord has reminded me of His constant provision these past 8 months (my whole life actually). I’ve been able to be connected with some people in that part of the world with which I’ll be able to meet up with. I have a basic idea of where and when I’ll be but am very flexible as to what may happen. I’m excited to see what will happen.

“I will go to the king, even though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.” –Esther

I only have a few days to prepare for this trip of a lifetime. I will go with a backpack and no idea what I’m getting myself into but with a big God, who loves me; my Father.

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” -The apostle John

I will then return to Seoul for a few days and then fly back to Philadelphia. What a strange series of events! I don’t even know what happened that made me come to Korea but I’m glad it happened and can only praise my sovereign, reigning Christ.

“Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them.” –The Life

Sanctified Affliction

....Is what I long for. Or what I dread but know I need. Spurgeon once said:

"To carnal men, this is unfortunate, but for Christians this is like a rich banquet. This lesson cannot be learned from books. This sweetness cannot be tasted by carnal men. This rich spiritual life does not exist in a comfortable environment. Where there is no cross, there is no crown. If the spices are not crushed or refined to become oil, then the fragrance cannot flow forth. If grapes are not crushed in the vat, they will not become wine."
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Hello again. I apologize for not updating for the past two months. I can't believe so much time has passed. I have no excuse other than I am living in the twilight zone. Time goes incredibly slow, while passing incredibly fast. A lot has happened since I last updated.
Only a week has passed and I've been in Russia, I've took part in a protest, and I went snowboarding all night in Korea... Where to begin?
I am, again, sitting in Intopia. My computer is on the fritz and even if it wasn't, there isn't any Internet available right now in my apartment. Since that is the case, I can't upload any pictures or video. When I can, I will upload some pics on facebook and maybe a couple videos here. I don't know.
I have just returned from the Motherland. It was an amazing experience that I will always remember with fondness and a sense of longing. I met so many incredible people. I didn't know Russian's were so kind and generous. I'll guess I'll try to describe it in more detail, even though I experienced things that I don't think I can express adequately.

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I arrived in Russia, got off the plane, went through security, and was met by a smaller Russian man holding a sign with my name in LARGE LETTERS. He didn't speak English and I don't speak Po-Russki. Luckily, I had printed out a five page "cheat sheet." We shook hands or hugged, I don't remember which. Then he brought me out to the car and he blessed the food Marie had prepared and we ate dinner. Hard boiled eggs, ham, cheese, bread, blueberry juice, and tea. He rambled off something in Russian, which I had no idea what he was saying, so he called Marie and she translated what he was saying. He wanted to know if I need to use the bathroom because it was a long drive home. We soon left the airport and were on our way to his house.
I'll just give you a brief description of what happened over the next 9 days because I'm exhausted and it's too much to write. I stayed with Marie, Maksim, Pausha(their son), and Sofia(Their newborn daughter). I slept in Pausha's bed in the corner. Thank you Pausha for letting me sleep there!
The second day there, I went to church with Maksim (Marie stayed home and watched the baby). I didn't understand anything in church but could sense the Spirit of the Lord in that place. This was later confirmed next Sunday when Marie translated for me. After the service, two adorable younger girls came up to me and pointed at me and said in broken English, "You my uncle." I was blown away. The Lord filled me with love for them right away. I felt so much love from everyone I met at church.

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We went to eat lunch at Maksim's parents house with the pastor and his family and a couple other people from church. There was a lot of food there. I didn't know what was going on about 99% of the time because everything was in Russian. But I thoroughly enjoyed it. I felt very blessed to be in their company.
The week was much of the same: meeting new people and learning about Russian culture. I met some of Marie's students and they showed me around Birobidzhan. It is a small town of about 60,000 people ( I think). And it's called the Russian Zion because apparently it's the center of the Jewish Autonomy Oblast (which is a region in the Far East). But apparently, the Russian Orthodoxy claims about 90% of the inhabitants...Most of the people I talked to weren't religious, though some of them did believe in the Zodiac and reincarnation. I talked to a girl who said that she believes in reincarnation but thought that this was her first life. I asked her on what basis she believed that it was her first and once she thought it through she didn't know what to say. I had an amazing opportunity to witness to the two girls who showed me around. And I feel blessed to say that God gave me the strength and wisdom to talk about Christianity and what I believe. We talked about evil in the world, free will, sin, death, and life eternal.
I don't know what else to say about Russia... I guess the last thing I will say is that I had a potential life changing experience and I was very sad in my heart to leave. I want to go back but can only trust the Lord to guide where He wills.
Speaking of trusting the Lord to lead me where He wills, I am at a crossroads...

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BUT first I'll talk about the protest and snowboarding. I returned from Russia on the 29th of December and worked the 30th & 31st but got the 1st of January off. On the 31st, after work, I went to City Hall in Seoul with Chris and and friend named Jordan and his wife. There was "only" about 100,000 people gathered there (nothing compared to the Million+ for the fireworks). Everyone was waiting for the bell to sound, bring in the new year. We squeezed our way through the crowd to get closer to the front. As we moved, we began to notice that the energy of the crowd was changing. Then, we saw a wall of police officers and soon after realized that we were in the midst of a potentially violent protest. We quickly grabbed a couple signs and joined the march against the backbiting, bent, bluffing, cheating, corrupt, crafty, crooked, cunning, deceitful, deceiving, deceptive, disreputable, double-crossing, elusive, false, hoodwinking, Korean president(That's what I heard, anyways). The energy was incredible. When the clock struck midnight the bell started to ring and fireworks exploded into the sky. People were screaming and celebrating (but not in the protest section of course) and 20,000 police officers prepared for a potential riot. It was an amazing experience. I got home around 2am. It took 1:30 minutes to get home because the subway system was half shut down. Anyways, that was my new year celebration. pretty sweet.

This is an absolutely terrible video but it is exactly where we were located and it sounded identical: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7PC1buw6eU

And this also will help you get an idea what it was like (even though it falls way short): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bubqG3mRP00&feature=related

Lastly, a couple weekends ago I went snowboarding. Friday morning, my co-worker invited me to go snowboarding that night from midnight until 5am. Of course I accepted. How often do you get to go snowboarding all night in South Korea? Gotta go. Haven't regretted it yet either. We went and it was packed all night long. Never experienced anything like that in the States. It was a TON of fun. I got home at 730am on Saturday after working all Friday and then not sleeping for 36hrs. pretty sweet.

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Now, onto the crossroads part. Basically, things have happened in my hagwon(academy) that have caused my co-worker and I to consider leaving early and going on a missionary journey across South East Asia. There are certain aspects of the school that aren't honest and which may make it guilty of "borrowing the name of God" for business purposes. The school claims Christianity but doesn't implement anything Christian in their curriculum and the teachers aren't given an opportunity to use Christ in the classroom. Also, the leadership of the school hasn't been forthright about things having to do with teaching hours, transparency, and some other things (no need to open a can of worms). My co-worker and I are beginning to become uncomfortable with the way the Lord's name is being thrown around for, what seems to us, the sake of money. There are other issues, but, that is the big one. And we feel like the Lord is opening a door where, if the director won't budge on the issues, we can walk away with the Lord's blessing.

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The next step is to have a candid talk with the director and see if he's willing listen to our opinions. If he can't be persuaded to work towards implementing some of the Christian teaching that he claims to have, then Chris and I feel like the Lord is opening the door to leave. It's not a breach of contract to leave, but, I would feel like I would have sufficient cause to put in my 2 months notice in good conscience.
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Anyways, I may be a fool making myself known. But, loved ones, bear with me as I grow in wisdom and am taught by the Lord here in So Ko land

Live from Intopia!

So... its been a while since I last wrote. A month has passed with its adventures and pains... but it has passed and now it is a new day. First, let me describe to you where exactly I am. I'll give you a hint: I am not in my room typing on my computer like I have every entry before. Does that help? no, I didn't think so.

I'm sitting in a "PC Bong" called Intopia, a combination of the words Internet and Utopia. As you may have guessed, it is a place filled with computers connected to high-speed internet. It's a place where the gamers go to play online games like World of Warcraft. My reason for being here isn't nearly as glorious. I'm finding it hard to blog as of late and so I decided that I was in need of inspiration. I don't know how one couldn't be inspired when surrounded by high-powered, performance based computers commanded by computer nerds. Oddly enough, I feel like I'm in Casablanca; like I'm in Rick's Cafe Americain. It must be the all of the smoke combined with Buble in the headphones because I don't remember there being computers in the movie, never mind all of the Asians. And I'm not even close to Morocco.

Okay, now down to business. Where to start... how about at the beginning. I was born....and then I went to Korea and here I am! I guess I'll just dive into it. So there was an American born in Papua New Guinea who decided to go on a hike with a French guy, a Canadian, and a Korean. Seriously. It's not a joke. I met the French guy at church two weeks ago. He works for a French car company who is partnered with Samsung ( a S. Korean based company). He came to Korea for 7 weeks to work on some car software; something too complex for my brain to understand. When we met, he mentioned that he was driving (he has a company car) to Mt. Seoraksan, which is the 3rd largest mountain in Korea. I knew that I had to grab the opportunity because it was getting later in the year and October apparently the best time of year to climb because of the fall colors. Chris ( my coworker) had the same thinking and so we decided to tag along.

I got up early and met Tib (the French guy), Lisa (the Korean), and Chris (the Canadian) at the nearest subway station. We didn't get on the train. Rather, we hopped in Tib's car and took off. It was a long drive, about 3.5 hours. Despite the headache (literally), the car ride wasn't bad because the scenery kept getting more beautiful as we left the city. October is the best month to see Sorak Mt., but it is also the busiest. There were tons of people there when we arrived.

We first found the place where we were going to spend the night. It took a little while to find it, so we unpacked around noon at our abode. It was one of those moments when I thought to myself, "wow, I'm in Korea." We stayed at a private home whose owners rented out the guest room. It was the first time in Korea that I hadn't seen tall apartment buildings; actually, there wasn't anything there! It was wonderful. The country air, the country scenery, and the unique company.

We started the climb around 2. We didn't have enough time to climb to the top peak and so we decided to climb to a lower, quicker peak. Boy was I glad. I was lacking energy and so it was a blessing to go on a more relaxed hike. Besides, I got to see a Buddhist cave and get my picture taken with a woman monk. Buddhism is second to Christianity in terms of overall followers. However, about 1/3 of the Christians are Catholic while the others are Protestant. So, Buddhism has the slight edge over Protestant Christianity in South Korea. From what I've read, which is very little, the numbers on Buddhism are harder to calculate because there isn't much of a line between the believers and unbelievers because its criteria isn't as clear-cut as is Christianity's.

I've been here in the PC Bong for about 2 hours now and I think I should be leaving soon. I only brought 5,000 Won. It costs 1,000 Won per hour here plus and initial base fee. I haven't nearly covered all of my activities but must be content with what I've put up. I guess there are just going to be things that I only know. Muahahahaha.

Work is getting busier and more stressful! That is partly why it is difficult for me to blog these days. Blogging takes more mental energy than I would typically like to give. I know that I must do it regardless. Besides, I'm enjoying it here in Casablanca...

Here's looking at you, kid. . . And We'll always have Paris!

Word

I will be updating shortly. . . I wrote an entry but it was just rejected because of some error in the script. I don't know the details of the error but it basically means I have to re-write it again. Sorry everyone, I'll try again as soon as I have a minute.

Strangely Familiar, Eerily Alien

I have been here a while and have notices certain trends taking place. I see them not only in others but also in myself. I mention myself, in part, to alleviate the obvious air of arrogance that might otherwise accompany that statement. The truth is, I see it more in others but only because I'm a conceited, rotten sinner. The trend that I am alluding to is that of the human condition. We are fallen creatures; corrupt to the core. Lies and flat out anger accompany this condition and I see it well. That's the good news...or at least for the purpose of this post. It means that I am in a land of familiarity, a land where the people are much like the West because of this condition. East or West. It doesn't matter in the sense that we are all damaged goods. This is familiar territory to everyone.

Yet Korea is still very unfamiliar to me. It seems too illogical at times. Too chaotic and unorganized. I've heard it said of the Asians, in one form or another, "very Asian, everything in its place." This may true, but what if the place where they put everything goes against every logical fiber in my being? But why, why, why would you do that? Because that's how we've always done it. This is often how I feel. The horrible grip of frustration suffocating my heart...

But then it loosens and everything is okay. Take on the attitude of a servant, something tells me, and everything will be okay. BUT I DON'T WANT TO! That is often how I respond. Its interesting that when I respond in a "I want to control everything" type of attitude, I end up have a less than stellar day. But if I let go of those desires to have things my way, I typically end up with a good day.

Well, that is that. I've spilled the beans. I've let the cat out of the bag. I've given you a brief description of what I am feeling on a day-to-day basis. As much as I hate exposing my horrible vices, I have a feeling I'm not hiding them that well anyways.

I think the most common feeling I have had is just plain exhaustion. I have been more busy here than I have at any other point in my life. And its great. Its a definite challenge.

On another note, I climbed my first Korean mountain two days ago. The mountain is called Dobongsan Mountain(Google it). It was pretty sweet. It was actually more of a hike than I anticipated. It is only around 700 meters high (for you westerners, that's about 2100 ft). It was so much fun to be in pain. The beauty was amazing. Actually, near the top was a scary hike. I had to grab onto steel cables in order not to fall off the side of the mountain. It was good to escape the city life for a day and enjoy God's creation.