Happy Birthday Mom

Happy birthday mom! 
Despite the date, I am glad you are not a witch.
I know I don't say it as much as I should,
so I will say it here as it is a little less embarrassing.
I love you so much, thank you for being family. 

Dilemma of the Fallen Fire

“Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” 1 Kings 18:37

For Your sake, let the people know that it is You who govern the nations, the wind and the fire, all that is in being. Such was the prayer from Elijah. His confrontation with priests of Baal was not one of power struggles. It was simply to show the lost Israelites just who they truly were.

Such victory was short lasted, however. Many were slain in the name of the Lord immediately following the miraculous showing of His presence. The governing powers were still at large, especially aimed upon seeking death of Elijah. I can’t help but wonder what exactly crossed the mind of Elijah moments after fire had thundered down into the altar. 

Reality Departure

Against the darkness that hath laid before my path
One ridden with thorns of history and mistakes
Once leather shoes now more so rock from dust and mud
Witness as to the lonely walks into the abyss

A gentle surprise you were, glimmering ever so quietly
A company never expected, rather cautiously accepted
Eyes shined like the midnight moon, silent but ever jubilant
The tender touch through the hands, seeping into my heart

A reminder of a place once called home, the final peace
You came with the falling leaves, past the winter snow
Signs of new life, a new hope, one of happiness ever sought
Perhaps now can I rest in your arms, walking together into eternity

Pendulum Thoughts

The physics of a pendulum is one of the simpler systems to predict. It is the first few problems to solve while learning basic physics. You have tension, mass, gravitational acceleration and negligible air friction to play around before solving the questions.

Now it is easy to think that 1+1 would be 2, but once you have two pendulums attached to one another, it produces random motion such that it is utterly chaotic. 

Of course modern physicist would be able to predict and utilize such behavior, but it takes time and effort. Just having one of the simplest systems interacting with each other, just two for that matter, calculations becomes wild, while predictions are harder to achieve. 

Well, then, how utterly chaotic can two people become?

Just a thought.

Reference: https://youtu.be/WepOorvo2I4

PS: and yes, I am a nerd. 

Prayer from Chloe

Prayer for Peter!!

Father, I am weak but YOU ARE STRONG! God, your ways are higher. Thank you for loving us first and helping us love you. Thank you for showing yourself so powerfully in our lives. God help me pray for Peter with authority today.

For the exam tomorrow, I pray that he'll do his best according to Your will, that Your presence will surround Peter powerfully and all throughout the exam. Help him fully be with You. He will not stress out nor will he become super nervous. God you've god him! Help Peter turn this oh-everyone-takes-this-exam-anyway-thing into yet another chance to bring joy and glory to Your sight.

God we praise you. We love you. Let us celebrate today with expectations and thankfulness for You are constantly working and looking after us. In Jesus name I pray, AMEN.

Psalm 67

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, Selah that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.

May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.
May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth. SelahMay the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.

Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us.
God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him. 

Psalm 67

Desperate Hope

I feel like I have been writing a lot less, instead, posting the works of others.
I do admit I may be getting lazy in excuse of being busy, but some works are simply amazing.

http://www.womeninchrist.org/wic_com/wdwnzrph.html

Here is a short story on the widow encountered by Elijah. The explanation of action deriving from desperate hope to real faith is something surely to be noted. 

1 Kings 17 for your reference. 

Random Quotes from

"There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed." - Ernest Hemingway

"Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." - Anton Chekhov

"Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility." - William Wordsworth

Missionary Couples

Like Priscilla and Aquila / Romans 16:3-4

Philosophical Exercise #5840923

"The Philosophy of Fallout - Wisecrack Edition"
https://youtu.be/C-5tEt2CUro

The video is just a random one I watched on Youtube. I have not played the game, and I probably never will, but it got me thinking about a few philosophical ideas.

1. Marketing power masking reality - The power of advertisement and propaganda really does its job in masking the horrifying reality, similar to how the devil got us blind. 

2. Technology as good, always - For some time now, it seems that technological advancement is a positive factor, something that should be achievement more and more. What is it all for? For humanity? I can list a few hundred negative sides of technological advancement on top of my head.

3. Being happy as the ultimate goal - If you are happy, you become rather obedient to the higher powers governing. Satisfaction, however, leads to laziness and proneness to stay put. This reduces the chance for improvement. Thus, the ones suffering will always be suffering. This ties in with point #1 quite well. So, I dare say, "don't be happy, make changes."

4. Hunger for power will never stop - Hegemony is probably human nature. We long to be better than one another. When will it stop? War in history seems to be constantly repeating itself. What did Jesus say about this? Oh wait, yeah, stop being self-serving. 

Warrior

Nobody said it was easy, but nobody said it would be this hard.
The pain of leaving families behind, the sorrow of mistakes long past.
The recurring dreams of that which was, and the reality of no return.

Yet the face of a warrior is hidden deep within the ironclad mask.
Strength and honor in each hand, faith inscribed at heart.
Hope in mind, he charges on, tears to sweat, heavenbound. 

Judgement Seat Empty

"Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. One person's faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand. One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and give thanks to God. 

For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 

If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. 

You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God's judgement seat. It is written: "'As surely as I live, says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.'" 

So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God."

Romans 14:1-12

If I had this down in my heart, if I had memorized it and learned the true meaning of it deep within my soul, would I have had such arguments and disputes? Who was I to judge and frown upon? Yet, I still do. 

성수역 12시

지하철을 기다리며
문득 너와 함께했다면
행복했을 그 날들의 상상
소소한 이야기를 나누며
진정한 친구이자
기쁨의 동역자 되었을 너
그 땐 몰랐던 것들이
어찌 실수가 되고
어찌 잘못이 되어야 하는 걸까
아쉬운 마음은 뒤로
혹 새로운 만남을 기대하며
오늘도 역시 기다리며

One Body

“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.” Romans 12:4-8

As I am nearly my graduation, the jump into society, I feel more pressure to be responsible. A big part of that, to me at least, is being financially stable. Actually, I have this growing desire to be well off. As a child, a daily allowance was all that was needed to be pretty satisfied. With my eyes seeing more of the world, the power of money and the influence it can bring, I have been wanting to be more famous and wealthy.

At first, I had thought being wealthy was not really God’s desire for man. As I got to know more about Him, I realized that it is less so much about how we are spiritually, rather than our current life situations. Of course, faith and works need to go in tandem, but being rich or poor didn’t seem like such a big issue as I had seen it before.

Thus came my question, why not be rich then? If being rich or poor does not have much bearing in God’s love and will for us, I thought it would be better to be rich, having a bit more luxury and comfort, be a little more free in giving.

As I shared this desire, a pastor simply said to pray about it more. He also added that God has specific plans for us all, the best plans laid specifically and perfect for individuals.

Out of all the people in this world, not everyone is a Christian. Would it be too much to ask? I was not asking for wealth beyond legend. Plus, it would be just one more person with a bit more money.

Then I came across this verse. It was not the first time I had seen it, but I saw it in a different light. We really were one body. The same is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12. “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ” (Verse 12). As with the human body, one cell acting out would be instantly killed by the immune function. Cells actually even have a self-destruct function for when it fails to do its function. A cell that survives despite having left its originally function, is in essence, a cancer cell. It would destroy the entire body. Do you remember those horror movies that depict body parts hanging out in the wrong places? Well, medically, it is real. It is called a teratoma: random functioning cells growing in random places.

I admit it. I still want to be rich, not even that, simply a bit well off. I know it may not be God’s will for me to have financial stability. I will still pray about it, perhaps my prayer would soon change as I grow more mature spiritually. 

Wonderful Days

That the most wonderful of it all is that I can sit down in front of His words and simply seek to follow it. Some days may be filled with divine intervention, some days not, but such is the present, already but not yet. 

Whether rich or poor, the most plain a life it may be, living as called from God is the greatest blessing. I simply hope to realize it all the earlier. 

I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud by William Wordsworth

I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud 
That floats on high o'er vales and hills, 
When all at once I saw a crowd, 
A host, of golden daffodils; 
Beside the lake, beneath the trees, 
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine 
And twinkle on the milky way, 
They stretched in never-ending line 
Along the margin of a bay: 
Ten thousand saw I at a glance, 
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they 
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: 
A poet could not but be gay, 
In such a jocund company: 
I gazed - and gazed - but little thought 
What wealth the show to me had brought: 

For oft, when on my couch I lie 
In vacant or in pensive mood, 
They flash upon that inward eye 
Which is the bliss of solitude; 
And then my heart with pleasure fills, 
And dances with the daffodils.