A couple of impressive young men

Middle School is a hard time.  I would know... I went to three different ones, and none of it was easy.  I think that's why I find it most impressive when a middle schooler does something of character.  I think it takes extra strength to push past all of the hormones, self-discovery, and outside forces to shine through by doing something Good.  I want to take a moment to praise two young men who pushed through all of that on the last day before a long weekend.  These might not be impressive at first, but mull them over; I think you'll see what I mean.

The first is the less obvious example.  It requires a quick culture lesson, though.  One of the things that blows my mind in Korea is the relative lack of supervision the kids have here (ok, in my mind, it's more like an absolute lack of supervision).  They're allowed to do whatever they want, which usually means they're running around, screaming in the halls, and beating on each other.  This stops anywhere between 5-10 minutes after the bell rings to start class and is picked up again the moment class is over, although it often occurs more quietly during classes as well.  I know.  It's not at all what you pictured of Korean schools, but I assure you it's true.  Knowing that, it may be less surprising to you that I had noticed a slap fight starting in the back of my classroom, but ignored it in favor of finishing setting up.  I normally break those up pretty early in an effort to maintain a semi-Western-style classroom (in the name of culture lessons - not comfort, of course...), but not last Thursday.  Well, when I looked up again, something felt not quite right about it, but, by the time I processed what it was, it was too late.  The slaps had been getting harder, until one boy started punching the other in the face.  I could hear the impacts from the front of the room.  I kicked my shoes off and ran to the back of the room, bellowing "YAH!" before I grabbed the hitter from behind in a sort of bear hug, pinning his arms to his side.  The impressive part was that, instead of struggling against me, letting his adrenaline push him forward and out of my grasp (which would have been easy, as he's roughly a head taller than me), he went limp in my arms.  We both stood there, breathing heavily for about 30 seconds before I heard him say,

"Teacher, no fight."
"Yeah, I know 'No fight.'  That's exactly right."  I didn't let him go.  I didn't trust him.
"No, teacher.  No fight."
"Okay..." I said, slowly loosening my grip, waiting to see his next move.  I backed up, and still he stayed where he was.  He turned to meet my eyes.
"No fight."

I was proud of him, even in that moment.  I directed him and the other boy to sit at opposing sides of the back of my room, while sending another to go get a Korean teacher who I knew would be fair and would get to the bottom of what had happened.  The hitter was normally pretty quiet, while the hittee is pretty wide open and has a tendency to speak his mind, so I figure there's a decent chance that the hitter was provoked... not that that justifies rearranging someone's face, but it does justify further investigation.
Even in this moment, I glow with pride at the amazing amount of self-control this kid showed as soon as I got involved.  I don't like the situation, but I do like his actions once within it.

The second young man I want to lift up is more classic in the category of praise.  After school on Thursday, I prayed that G-d would provide me with some kids to take next door to the grilled cheese shop and buy a snack.  Well, He's generally more than happy to answer that prayer.  As I came out of the door of the school, there were about 8 kids sitting on the ground, waiting around for an after-school class.  I talked to them a little bit, mostly about their love lives.  One girl had just broken up with her boyfriend; one girl was yelling up to a third floor window to talk with her "husband;" one boy was gushing to me about how pretty his girlfriend was; one girl wanted to tell me about how she was chatting on an instant messaging service with her boyfriend.  All in all, I felt pretty honored to have them let me into their world.  The trick is that most of it was being relayed by the one boy who felt comfortable using English.  They all wanted to talk to me and I to them, but we needed a translator, and he was fully willing to help - never a sigh, never an eye rolled, breaking off mid-conversation when someone beckoned.  What's more, at the sandwich shop, he made a point of making sure the girls all got their food first, saying "Ladies first," when I looked at him in surprise.  You don't see that much anymore, but it was really nice.

And that, my friends, is me publicly praising two of my many amazing young people at my school.  Or, as my friends at Blimey Cow would say, "That is me supporting my local chivalry."

The Demon Possessed Man: Part 6 - Respect

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Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss. A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission. When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

-Luke 8:30-33

This is a section of the Bible that is incredibly near and dear to my heart.  I find it so profound that it's hard for me to add my own thoughts to it.  It's one of those things that I think loses its luster if I try to break it down.  Nevertheless, I recognize that what I see as obvious in these verses may not be as obvious to other people, so I will do my best to explain what I read in it as eloquently as possible.

It all starts with four simple words: "What is your name?"  That's where personhood begins in our minds.  It's easy for us to ignore others, to devalue them... until we know their names.  Then everything is amplified.  (This isn't as strong if we don't already have a face to attach to the name, but I think the name is what gives it definition.)  Don't believe me?  Say these sentences out loud:

That guy makes me sick.
Joseph Kony makes me sick.

That man gives me hope.
Pope Francis gives me hope.

Of course, this exercise works better if you know who these men are, but let's just assume you do (and, if you don't, substitute in the names of people you do know).  Now, ask yourself, which sentence elicited a stronger response?  Names make a difference.  It becomes infinitely harder to dehumanize someone after you have a name for them.  (The reverse is true, too, a tactic employed by Ralph Ellison, the Nazi army, the Borg, and many others... Although the true unnamed protagonist is the only complete example I can give you.)

So what's so profound about that?  Well, the profundity is found in the speaker (Christ) and his addressee (a... demon).  By asking the demon for his name, Christ is essentially saying, "I don't want to de-value you."  [Insert the sound of my mind blowing here.]  We've all heard it said that we should love our enemies (Matthew 5:44), but I think even the most G-dly of us only took this imagery to that of Christ praying for those who were try to kill Him.  Seriously, who has ever pictured this to mean that Christ loves, and even prays for demons (possibly even Satan?!)?  And yet, there He is, showing respect and value for a demon.

"What is your name?"

But wait.  There's more.

My mind would be blown even if He left it there.  But, in true Jesus-fashion, He doesn't.  The demons turn around and beg Him to not throw them back in the Abyss.  They even say, "Please, please, please, please let us experience drowning rather than make us go back there!"(Side Note: How horrible must hell be for them to beg Christ to let them drown rather than return to it?)  Every time I read this, there's a part of me that expects Christ to reply, "Away from me, you vile creature!  Have you not brought this upon yourself?  Return to your prince of darkness."  I think there's ample Biblical evidence that would allow for eyelids to remain un-batted at this response.  But that's not what Christ says.  Christ turns everything about human justice on its head with His answer.

"...He gave them permission."

So let's review:

1. Christ meets a demon.
2. The demon recognizes Christ.
3. Christ doesn't assess the demon as a purely evil, lost cause.
4. Christ is polite to the demon.
5. The demon is polite back to Christ.
6. The demon begs for mercy.
7. Christ gives the demon the mercy it wanted.

All this with the henchman of the guy who tried to take over Christ's Kingdom, failed, convinced a third of the angels to abandon Christ with him, and continues to try to take over/get even by swaying Christ's beloved children to follow him.

And you think you can't be civil to the annoying person at the desk next to you?

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?  Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." -Matthew 5:43-48

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Day 1

I finished my fourth first day of middle school today.  I hated middle school the first time.  I went to three of them (thus this is my fourth first day), and you'd think I would have found one that I liked, but no.  None.  Zero.  Today, was different.

I love my classroom.  It's beautiful.  It's just eclectic enough for me to like it, but subdued enough to be a good learning environment.  I didn't get any photos today, because I was holding on for dear life.  When I settle into a routine, I'll be sure to take some pictures.

My students seem to be the same level of rowdy as my fifth and sixth graders were (thus far), but today I was much more willing to roll with it.  I feel like that may have been because I was definitely the head of my classroom.  The other teachers barely said anything, but it was beautiful and it flowed.  If discipline needed to happen, it did.  If stuff needed to be translated, it was.  If I needed to joke with someone beforehand, it happened.

And that's another thing.  So far, all of my co-teachers speak flowing, beautiful English.  I even explained my pajama dream to the woman who has the desk next to me, and she laughed!  She laughed hard!  She went so far as to say, "I guess you were very nervous!"  I didn't have to explain it any more than I would to a native speaker.  Furthermore, Sam, who sits across from me, is SO helpful.  He explains everything I have a question about (even when he ran into me on the way home and I was having a bit of trouble ordering dinner).  He doesn't know it, but he also made such a HUGE difference between this school and the last one: he closed today by saying, "You did a great job today."  Yes, my other co-teachers gave me positive feedback, but I had to ask for it.  This was out of the blue, and it was wonderful to hear.  Don't get me wrong, I am all for constructive criticism, but the balance goes a long way.  He also told me what I most wanted to hear: "The most important thing you can do is be friends with [the students]."  He took the pressure off and told me that I'm doing well.  What more could you ask for in an office mate?

My students even seem excited to see me!  I ran into a couple of them on my way home, and they gave the very classic "Oh!" that means "I recognize you and I wasn't expecting to see you!", and quite eagerly spoke English to me.  What strange, parallel universe am I in?

I'm not foolish enough to believe that this isn't tainted by the first day, rose-colored glasses, but I'm very happy with my decision to change schools, so far. :)

July Report Card

July kicked my butt a bit, goals-wise, as violin practicing usually ended up taking more than the hour I'd mentally planned for it, not to mention I got sick again, and, as I'm an over achiever, summer camp planning took what I'm reporting as a good 50 hours of planning, but, if I was being honest, I'd put it in the 75+ range.  That being said, I'm giving myself a lenient B.

1. Drink 1.5L of water before indulging in other drinks.
• I vote that this gets an A-.  I didn't really keep a record of whether or not I was doing this, but I definitely felt like I was, and, if I didn't, it was usually to drink a sports drink instead.  With as much as I've been sweating with the heat and humidity here, I don't consider that a bad thing.
2. Practice my violin every day.
• I'm giving this an A.  While it hasn't been every day, it's been nearly every day, and I've achieved my goal of feeling pretty ready for Meret's wedding.
3. Go out with friends every week.
• A+.  Mission very accomplished and then some.
4. Work on my story (almost) every day, with the goal of finishing the first draft by the end of August.
• F.  I think I wrote one time this month.  I really need someone to be willing to read it consistently and give me constructive feedback.
5. At least think about doing Rosetta Stone once a week.
• A.  I even did it twice.
6. Make a hot-months bucket list.
• C.  I hadn't done it until now: Hot months bucket list - Meret's wedding, Sonic, Istanbul, Mountain Dew Voltage, cousins, bathing suit, sleep, hair cut, superhero movies.  So, maybe that's only a vacation's worth of stuff, but, as it turns out, I'm pretty busy, and I'm not going to find time to do much else.  Also, when I'm free, no one else is.
7. Shrink my "to mend" clothes pile.  (Maybe even just finish one???)
• F.  I made this goal, knowing it probably wasn't going to happen.  Your attitude determines the outcome, I guess.
8. Kick my summer camp's butt.
• I - incomplete.  So far, since I've discovered that water guns make my kids participate, the summer camp seems to be being kicked, but I won't be able to tell you for sure for a couple more days.

June Report Card

Overall, I'm giving myself a B-.  For the first part of the month, I did great, but... I get bored with things.  Because I did so many every day goals, it made my days look very similar, and I didn't like it.

The water project went great, and I ended up averaging 3L of water a day.  The exercising, well... let's just say that anyone who knows me can know how that went.  I did join a bi-weekly (once every 2 weeks) Yoga club at school, and I started wearing heels more in an effort to force exercise.  But just exercising for the sake of exercising is boring to me.  I need to do more things where I can add exercise into what I'm already doing, like taking the stairs and getting off a bus stop early and such.   Doing such things has helped some.  Total: B+

The story had been coming along well, until the last couple of weeks (again).  Then, I was more of writing every other day or so.  I'm just kind of at this weird block where I'm really afraid it's incredibly boring.  I need some input from my friends who are reading it, but they're also incredibly busy right now.  Either way, I'm at least three chapters in, which I'm strongly considering breaking up into more. Total: B

The letter writing was great until the last week.  I'm going to blame both writing projects on the fact that I got busy at school.  Summer camp is coming up, and I'm an over-achiever, so... yeah... lots of prep time needed.  I've also started going out with friends more, which is proving incredibly good for me.  It wears me out, to be sure, but I think I need to find some balance to my recluse tendencies.  Total: A-


My spending, well... I had been doing okay, but a lot of unexpected expenses (like vet and doctors bills) came up, as well as a money transfer I did with a credit card that I'd forgotten about, so, all-in-all, I saved less than usual this month.  I was really unhappy about that.  I really am rather disappointed in myself, and I need to find a better system for saving.  I may have to just bite the bullet and send money every month.  I'd just rather wait and send a ton in October, when the exchange rate will be its best.  Any tips for how to save?  Total: C




How did your monthly goals end up?


And, I'm not forgetting that I promised the last photos... just, one thing led to another, and I haven't taken them yet.  Don't worry.  They're coming.

June goals, a head start

My friend Kelli (wife to JoshTaylor of Blimey Cow) has been doing this wonderful project of monthly resolutions.  I, being the non-committal person that I am, smiled, nodded, said "that's a good idea," and moved on.  BUT today, I was reality checked (think of how people check each other in hockey, and that's similar to how G-d checks me.  Don't think chess.  Don't even think wizard's chess.  Neither of those are violent enough).

Since my birthday, I've been indulging too much.  At first, I justified it with "It's birthday week.  I'll let myself do what I want."  Then, it was, "I freaking just got out of the hospital because I couldn't breath," (bronchitis.  It's gone now.  Don't worry.) "I'll let myself do what I want."  Until today, it wasn't even a conscious thought.  I was just doing what I wanted with no regard to anything else.

But, today it became clear that this needed to stop.  Sooooo I'm setting some boundaries and some goals to whip myself into shape.  I'm hoping to set goals in these categories each month.  I'll check in and grade myself for you, too.  So, whether you like it or not, you're holding me accountable.

1. Health: Aside from Project: 물 주세요, I am adding that I need to exercise every day.  I specifically need to slim down my thighs, as they're rubbing together when I walk and forming very painful blisters.  I'd show you a picture, but they're too high for me to feel comfortable putting that on my blog.
2. Self-improvement: This month, I'm going to try to live on $10 a day.  I want to be saving much more than I am.  I'll allow my $10 a day to roll-over, so on days when I don't spend anything (like today), I'll have more for the next day.  This does not include things like bills, transportation, and tithe, but it does include my food budget.  We'll see how this goes.
3. Focus on others: This month, I'd like to write a letter every day, mailing them once a week.  I think too much about myself.  Hopefully, this will make me think more about others.
4. Other: (I couldn't think of a good category title for this one.) Write a page a day on my story. I need to find a good time in my day to do this, because writing just before I go to sleep is proving disastrous to my character development.

So, yes.  Those are my biggies.  We'll see how they go.  Today, I'm acing them, having only one left to do (exercise, of course... although I did take the stairs).  I'll keep you posted.

Yesterday and Today

Yesterday, I slept in for the first time all week.  I was excited.
Today, I woke up to my alarm so I could watch the full solar eclipse.  I was expecting everything to go dark like it did in Heroes.  It didn't, so I didn't see the full eclipse, only the partial ones.

This is a photo taken by Adam Thomas.  Like I said, it wasn't actually dark outside, so I'm assuming he played with his settings a lot to make it look like this.  You can see the rest of his eclipse photos HERE.

Yesterday, I started my day with a full breakfast and a pleasant walk to church.
Today, I started my day with breakfast on the bus and the realization that I was going to have to deal with drama from two different continents.

Yesterday, I stood up for myself.
Today, I broke up my first fist-fight.

Yesterday, I joined my friends at Awesome Place for some coffee and laughs (true to Project: 물 주세요, I drank a kiwi-yogurt smoothie, which I figured would have less sugar than a green tea latte).
Today, I realized that that rolling pain across the crown of my head was a chronic tension headache.

Yesterday I finished LOST for the second time.  (I don't care what you say.  I still adore the ending).
Today, I started watching Alex McKenzie and Jesse Page's senior project.  This is Alex's first full-length film that he's scored, and Jesse did an amazing job with the sound editing, too. (I was thrilled to be able to cross "Be the voice of a cartoon character" off my Bucket List with this project.)

Yesterday, I pretended to clean my apartment.
Today, I plan to make an actual dent in it.

Yesterday, I wrote three pages.
Today, I have a feeling I'm going to be struggling to make the one-page quota.

Yesterday, I bought some nutmeg - ON SALE! :)
Today, I will be eating it on a sweet potato. :)

Yesterday, I let go of a lot of things.
Today, I think I snatched them off that shelf I set them on.  Ah well... we all have those days.

That my friends, was my yesterday and today, which happens to be one of my favorite albums, so I'm going to leave you with a song from it, documenting a problem that I do NOT have:

How about you?  What's your yesterday and today?

Project: 물 주세요

The other day, I ran out of Coke.  I know... I can hear Jaimi gasping all the way over here, but it happened.  I decided that that marked the perfect time to go ahead and start something that my friend JoshTaylor of Blimey Cow has been trying to get me to do for a while: cut out the processed sugar in my drinks.  (Not to mention, my health has been so flukey lately that I could really use the immune-boost.)  Now, I'm not sure that I'm intending on going as ninja as he does on his diet, but I did set up some rules for myself:

1. I won't buy pop (or sugar-high juices) except for special occasions.
2. I won't drink pop (or sugar-high juices) unless directly offered ("no" isn't a culturally-acceptable word).
3. At home, I will drink water, homemade juices, milk, or almond milk.
4. If given the option, "What would you like to drink?" my answer will be "물 주세요" (Water, please!"

I've technically been doing this for several days now, but today was the first time I had to be conscious about it.  I'm telling you, there's nothing like a Coke when you're hot, tired, and thirsty, but I held out.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.

What health thing are you working on right now?  Let's go in this together.

I'm writing again.

The last time I wrote like this, it was in first grade.  I was writing a story called Planet X.  I gave up when I realized how much it was developing, though.  I wasn't willing to be in it for the long haul.  This time, I'm determined to see my story through.  Interestingly enough, it's kind of like a grown-up Planet X... sort of.  Perhaps that's why it's flowing so easily.  Anyway, I've promised myself that I'm going to write at least a page a day.  So far, that hasn't been a problem.  I'm not really worried about lack of inspiration, I'm more concerned about a lack of motivation at some point.

So, will you help me?  Will you ask me about it?  Will you hold me accountable?

It would make me really happy if you would.

Lent: Count your Blessings

LENT

It's funny how that one word can cause more greif than a string of other "four-letter words."

I think we look at Lent wrong.  Absolutely wrong.

As the video says, Lent is a time in which we dwell on the stories of Jesus spending 40 days fasting the dessert and the Israelites spending 40 years in the wilderness.  But what we DON'T tend to focus on is G-d's constant provision throughout those stories.  (Check out Matthew 4:11 and Exodus 16.)  Instead, we've perverted it and turned it into a way to focus on self... again.

Oh my gosh, I just want chocolate so much right now... is it cheating if I take Sundays off?

We've missed the point.

Lent is about focusing on G-d and allowing Him to refine us for 40 days, leading up to the celebration of the single greatest act of Love this earth has ever known: The day G-d laid down His Life so that we would never have to.

This year for Lent, I'm going to do something somewhat uncharacteristic of the season.  Whereas most people are thinking of Lent as a somber time, it is my intention to spend these 40 days counting my blessings - or at least 40 of them.  Hopefully, I'll be able to bring the focus on to Him a little more through this exercise.

Will you join me?

 

Handel's Mesiah

I got the opportunity to go to hear Handel's Messiah performed live yesterday.  How?  Well, I saw an advertisement for it while I was on the bus, so I took note and showed up later the next day.  Now, I don't mean to slight anyone's hard work over in Nashville, but never in my life have I heard a more glorious performance of this work than I did last night... and they did it without intermission... and added an encore performance of the Hallelujah Chorus.  I was in tears... partially from the beauty of it, and partially from the realization that if I was in Nashville I would be doing the same thing in about a week.   Either way, it was good enough that I had to share.

The cover of the program

I live in Korea.  There's a line for everything.

Tenor 최승진, singing his heart out on "Every Valley Shall Be Exalted."

Mezzo-Soprano 구은서, with an absolutely stunning performance of "O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings To Zion."

Mezzo-Soprano 구은서 and Soprano 박영자, singing "He Shall Feed His Flock Like a Shepherd."  It was too good to cut down, so this is the entire song.

Hallelujah Chorus - I was very pleasantly surprised to find that everyone stood for this, despite a lack of ties to England and its former King.

Bass 류현승 was not my favorite, but only because I'm incredibly picky when it comes to basses.  He clearly is very well trained and has put many hard hours of practice into his profession.  He is singing "The Trumpet Shall Sound," featuring 정권수 on solo trumpet.

I hope you were able to enjoy it anywhere near as much as I did!
<3

Advent, Week 1: Hope

As always, click the title of this post for a (almost always) relevant video to tie everything together.

Here we go (As adapted from the Book of Common Prayer):

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

The Confession:

Let us confess our sins against G-d and our neighbor:

Most merciful G-d, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; and we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in you will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your name. Amen. 

Almighty G-d, have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our L-rd Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen.

The Psalter (sung):
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be,
World without end, Amen.  Amen.


Psalm 80
O Come, All Ye Faithful
Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus
Isaiah 64:1-9 

1 Corinthians 1:1-9 

Mark 13:33-37

Candle Lighting: O Come, O Come Emmanuel (verse 1)

O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of G-d appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.


A Sermon from Fusion Fellowship Church

A Most Bealtiful Ugliness from Fusion Fellowship Church on Vimeo.


Prayers
The L-rd be with you.
And also with you.
Let us pray.


The L-rd's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the Kingdom, the power,
and the glory, forever.
Amen.


Prayers of the People
Each person may voice a prayer aloud, ending with “This is my prayer.”
We will respond:
“L-rd, hear our prayer.”

The Advent Prayer:

Almighty G-d, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, on G-d, now and forever. Amen.


The Closing Prayer:
Almighty G-d, you have given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication to you; and you have promised through your well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name you will be in the midst of them: fulfill now, O L-rd, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting. Amen.


Blessing:
May the G-d of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Maybe we've been thinking too narrowly.

Matthew 5:3-12

New International Version (NIV)

   ³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
   for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
⁴ Blessed are those who mourn,
   for they will be comforted.
⁵ Blessed are the meek,
   for they will inherit the earth.
⁶ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
   for they will be filled.
⁷ Blessed are the merciful,
   for they will be shown mercy.
⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart,
   for they will see God.
⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers,
   for they will be called children of God.
¹⁰ Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
   for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
   ¹¹ “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

"ROYSTER TEACH-UH!"  I heard my name called with such enthusiasm that I couldn't help but translate it in my head to mean, "Oh my gosh, I'm so excited to see you!  I love seeing you!"  I looked up in time just to see a couple of my more familiar students running off the soccer pitch of the English Academy next to the school where I teach.
"Royster Teach-uh!  Hi!"
"Hi!"
"...Water?  Please?"
I smiled.  This was one of those few moments that I didn't feel like their excitement had been merely a ploy to get something from me, but, even if it was, I'll never be one to refuse a child water.  The two boys quickly downed half of my 1.5 liter bottle, smiled, chatted through one of their memorized dialogues with me, and then gave the standard, abrupt, "Okay, byeee!" and ran back off to play more soccer.
I continued my walk to the bus stop, and looked back over my shoulder as I rounded the corner.  The sight that greeted me this time left me in a state of mild self-argument.  One of the boys, having grown tired of the soccer game, had climbed up on top of the goal netting, and was lounging there, using it as a hammock.  My first instinct was to call out to him to get down, but the more I looked at it, the more I realized that it was not going to break under his small body weight, so I just laughed and enjoyed it.

Later, I got to thinking about the instance.  This boy wanted to be close to his friends and close to the action, but was too tired to still be in the thick of it.  He came up with a creative solution.  He could even still contribute to the game, calling out helpful warnings to the goalie beneath him.

What if we've been thinking too narrowly about our walk with Christ?  What if, when we rest, we don't need time out from the battle?  What if we just need a different position?  What if we need to create a new position?

Jesus brought about revolution, but He did not do it in the way that anyone else revolted, he created a new position, a new type of King, a new type of leader.  After all, who has ever heard of a peaceful revolution before or after?  Nonetheless, this is what He brought.  He left us instructions for how to continue it too.  Philip Zimmerman, pastor of the KiA Mainz church (I attended Project:Camp in 2008 [see the article linked to Phil's name] and interned there in 2009), often speaks of how the Kingdom of G-d is not some far off place, it's in us now, and it's our job to spread the Kingdom through everything we do.  Dr. Nathan Kerr adamantly agrees with him (and I'm going to quote Nate here, even though his writing is on such a high level, but what he has to say makes it worth deciphering):

What has become increasingly apparent to me is the way in which the ecclesiocentric approach short-circuits the practice of theology as a specifically dogmatic task. There are several dimensions to this short-circuiting. On the one hand, the ecclesiocentric construal of the church as a distinctively Christian culture renders a certain ecclesiological natural theology unavoidable. Whether one is speaking of the need for a “Christian social imaginary” as the condition for hearing and carrying out the task of the gospel (as does James K. A. Smith ); of the need to render an account of Christianity as a “habitable world” and to witness to a given Christian culture’s “particular way of structuring the whole” as requisite to the “intelligibility” and “truth” of the gospel proclamation (as we find in the work of Stanley Hauerwas and Bruce Marshall ); or speculatively, of the need to consider the church as its own historically “cultural” entity, as in God’s intention “antecedent” to (and so historically a condition of) the gospel (as does Robert Jenson ), the result is for all intents and purposes the same: the positing of a Christian culture or worldview as the real Anknüpfungspunkt (point of contact) required for the hearing of the gospel and thus the virtual identification of Christian mission with enculturation, or what John Flett would call propaganda.  

 (Incidentally, when Googling to find the correct interview with Nate, I'm pretty sure I stumbled across the blog of a good friend of mine from my freshman year of college.  If you understood and liked what Nate had to say, you'd like what Nathaniel Maddox says too.)

So, now that you're probably entirely overwhelmed, let me just write one question for you in big, bold letters so that you know what I've been asking myself today:

Have I been approaching this peaceful revolution from the sidelines or from the goalposts?

They gave me a fork.

I went to a workshop the other day that my city so nicely arranged for all of the Native English Teachers (NTs) on how to better flow with society and all-in-all be a better teacher.  I found myself resonating with my kids at the thought of being four hours in a lecture setting, but I tried my best to refrain from doing the exact things for which I scold my students.  (Side note: I thought that working in the food and retail industries gave me a better idea of how to respect people... good gracious!  That's nothing compared to teaching!)  But let me be honest, I feel so touched that these people went out of their ways to make our lives easier.  With the way America's economy is going, it's not like Korea will have any shortage of young people who are willing to come and teach in their schools.  Our bosses could very easily let us make our mistakes, fire us, replace us, and take themselves out to a rather extravagant dinner.  Instead, they brought in a speaker who was doing this for 30ish years before being stationed in Korea by the US Government to specifically work with NTs, and then our superintendent provided ALL of us with a gargantuan buffet dinner.  I'm beyond touched.

That being said, I have an amusing anecdote for you:

Upon arriving at the dinner, I put my things down, and grabbed my plate, spoon, and... ... FORK.  At first I was confused by its presence in my life, then I got a little excited.  A FORK!  I could see the possibilities of eating with speed and dignity.  So I got my food and returned to my table, where the first thing I did was drop the thing from not holding it correctly.  As if that wasn't bad enough, I seem to have forgotten that lesson that my mom so painstakingly drilled into me: how to eat noodles with a fork.  Alas!  I could not get them from my bowl to my mouth.  I'm choosing to blame it on the fact that the dish in question was a very Korean dish, complete with soup, so the noodles themselves preferred chopsticks, which appeared shortly thereafter, much to my delight.  And then, the sad but true fact unfurled: It is now easier for me to eat with chopsticks than with a fork.

And here I was, thinking that was a myth.  Sounds like I've got a little bit of KDS (and, admittedly, a hard time swallowing fan death) going on myself... (I've been reading up on what The Korean and The Expat have to say on that little problem.)  I have, however, found the perfect solution to this problem, but you'll have to click on the title of this post to find out what it is.  :P

Finally, as per the request of Ms. Malcolm, I'm leaving you with some more cultural media, which just so happens to be entirely related to this post, as it is a clip of a local student who came to our workshop to play the Tanso (also written as Danso, because the ㄷ letter in Korean actually falls between D and T).  Once again, I am thoroughly impressed by the willingness of these students to give up their valuable study time to come and preform for us.  I hope you enjoy as much as I did!

The only lesson that has stuck

Another snippet for today:

My sixth graders are... a handful... if you will, but I've managed to make one lesson stick.  Yesterday, I caught a boy giving another the middle finger.  I called him on it in class, and then talked to him afterward.  I gave him a long lecture about how that is very rude, and you should never show it to another.  I told him that if I saw it from him again,  I would involve more teachers.  Then, realizing I'd been talking for a while and he had just been nodding, I asked him if he understood.

"Yes, teacher."

"Okay.  What did I say to you?"

"Teacher say I should not make hand gesture.  Teacher say I am very rude."



Darn straight, little boy... darn straight.  Is it bad that I am actually starting to look forward to taking things away from the kids?  hahah... I'm horrible.

PS.  Click on the title of this post for a list of all of Bart Simpson's similar encounters.