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Guy Love

To my brothers in Christ,

This is my encouragement to us to continue blogging about our thoughts and feelings, our days, and our lives. (Yes, I did the "Days of our Lives" thing on purpose, if you caught that.) 

This is also my admonishment to you and to me for not blogging more. I think that this is one of the best ways for us all to know how the rest of the guys are doing, especially because visiting everyone in our relative diaspora is impractical and calling everyone is likewise impractical. Therefore, to spread information about our lives as broadly as possible amongs the guys, this is the most efficient ways, for those of you efficiency-mongers out there.

I don't want people to have any expectations of holy and lofty talk about the grandeur of the glories of God--just be real. If God has impressed on your heart to write about something serious, do so. If, led by the Spirit, you are compelled to write about the many reasons Southern California is better than Northern California, by all means. If, for some perverse reason, you want to let us know the precise odor of your flatulence... have a blast.

Some of you might be opposed to this degradation of our blog... but you're wrong and you should repent. :) Let me explain...

We are called to do all things to the glory of God, even the base and regular things of our mundane lives. We don't have to write solely about spiritual things in order to bless one another. In fact, I'd go as far to say that if you were only to share "spiritual things" and leave out the humanistic elements of your interests, then spiritual bonding is stunted significantly. The thing that got me about the T4G blog is that those pastors are genuinely friends. They enjoy discussing things of the Lord, but they also enjoy the company of each others' families and they share extracurricular interests, as well, albeit, for some odd reason, God has not granted the grace of enjoying sports to John Piper, Al Mohler and Mark Dever. (Let's pray for grace in their lives.) Amongst us believers, all things can be good and beneficial, even our discussion of the mundane. (Now... I must say... please don't write every single day about every little thing that goes on in your life... cuz that's just too much.) But, to digress, the T4G guys care for each other more, because they have a personal friendship and connection with each other, and I think that is precisely how we can maintain and grow our love for one another.

Send up prayer requests but feel free to write about how it totally sucks that UCLA lost to USC in the Pac-10 tournament. Write about how God has humbled you and caused you to repent but don't neglect letting us know about how sick you feel after eating at an all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ restaurant. Share with us your struggles and experiences post-college but also share with us the cool things you got to do over the weekend.

Look, I don't want to debase this blog. I don't want to trivialize it. BUT... I don't want people to think that they can only write if they have studied in depth the salvation of all Israel in a dispensational system of understanding the Word. (We will leave that up to Ed.)

Let's enjoy fellowshipping with each other guys. And don't make an excuse that you don't have time... I am in law school--in the library, in fact--writing to you guys. Yes, I'm just trying to distract myself right now and will pay for it dearly later in the semester, but I'm still doing it. You have time! Make sacrifices and love your brothers in Christ. Also, let us love you. Let us know what's going on in your lives and how we can prayerfully keep you in our minds.

Your brother in Christ,

Mitchell J. Kim, Esq.

PS- If any of you are injured in an automobile accidents, give me a call. ;)

Learning

Just some random thoughts bouncing around my head when I was at work the other day. I find it pretty funny that I want to do more learning now, after I've left the school environment, than ever before. The list of things includes but does not exclude, learning to speak Chinese better, learning to read and speak Korean, learning to do more with the guitar, learning to break dance, learning about photography, learning how to do my work better, and learning how to be a better asset to my company. However, wanting to learn all this stuff really distills into two things, reviewing and memorizing. In order for any of these things to be useful to me, I have to have it inside my head to the point that I don't really need to think about it. (Oh . . . so that's what I was supposed to be doing these last 5 years.)

I recently took up a challenge to join Tim Challies to spend more effort on memorizing scripture. Memorizing scripture has been for me what new year's resolutions to diet and exercise have been for others; I'll get excited about it and do it for awhile but then something will derail me and I'll forget about it for awhile. The difference this time seems to be that at least I have someone reminding me every week to either stay on top of it, or fall by the wayside. There is no waiting for me to catch up.

Anyway, earlier this week I was taking a break at work and reviewing the passage for the past few weeks, Romans 13, and I got to thinking, "Man! I try to memorize stuff all through the day. I memorize products we sell so I know what people talk about. I memorize basketball plays so I'll be effective when playing with my coworkers. I'll memorize translations when I get home. And now in between all that I'm trying to memorize Scripture. Why am I doing all this?" Answer: Oh yeah, memorizing=learning. Scripture memorizing is about learning God's Word to the point that I can use it at anytime. And though I've heard that before, I think it really sank in this time.

So if you're like me, and scripture memorizing flits in and out of your life like the desire to go to the gym, I encourage you to keep at it. How else can you really learn God's Word and store up His words in your heart (Ps119:11).

Life is Short

Just some thoughts when I was reading Psalm 90 this morning. Life is short, too short to go on complaining about why things don't work out the way we want them to or dwelling on mistakes we've made in the past. It will serve us better to wake up every morning remembering who we really work for and why we work for Him. We don't deserve His grace, but do deserve wrath for the things we've done. And as tough as things get here in life, we're only here at the most 70-80 years, which isn't very far away for us. Remember to redeem the time.

A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.

Psalm 90

Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

3 You return man to dust
and say, “Return, O children of man!”
4 For a thousand years in your sight
are but as yesterday when it is past,
or as a watch in the night.

5 You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning:
6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.

7 For we are brought to an end by your anger;
by your wrath we are dismayed.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.

9 For all our days pass away under your wrath;
we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
10 The years of our life are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
11 Who considers the power of your anger,
and your wrath according to the fear of you?

12 So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
13 Return, O Lord! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
and for as many years as we have seen evil.
16 Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!

I'm Sick...

...so I thought the perfect remedy was to listen to some Piper. Just a few things to share because he is cool like that in the way he views our God. Hope it can be of some encouragement to you, in whatever way you would be.

"The longer I preach, the easier words get for me. I am a word-man now after 13 years of preaching and 6 years of teaching before that... Words are my trade. I minister by means of words and they come relatively easy for me. That's dangerous. That's incredibly dangerous. Because you can start preaching on mystery without standing in awe. And you can preach on purity without feeling pure. And you can preach on zeal without spiritual passion... You can preach on God's holiness and not tremble. You can preach on sin without sorrow. You can preach on heaven without eagerness. And a terrible hardening moves into your life because you're so good with this thing called words."

"John Owen was the kind of person... who had climbed so high up the steeps of wonder revealed in the scriptures that he could pull his face up over the ridge to see the ridges. Most people are down here looking up at that first ridge carping at intellectuals trying to understand it. The people who really know how low they are are the ones that climb high enough in biblical revelation to see over the first ridge to the other ones that disappear into the clouds. These people down here who never got to the top of the first ridge--they might be a little impressed--but they haven't even begun to see what Owens saw [when he climbed] and said, 'I haven't even touched it.'"

Just thought it was cool... :)

ah hah!

I finally figured out how to post a new post. Sorry, my blogger got changed to chinese when I was taiwan.

I love you all!

I can't believe it's been more than year since we graduated. Even so, Maranatha.

Finally, this current economic crisis just might help Christians to focus on another issue -- retirement.  Where in the Bible are we told to aspire to years and decades of leisure without labor?  There is nothing wrong with saving for what the world calls retirement.  Indeed, that is just good stewardship.  Furthermore, there is nothing wrong with workers enjoying the fruit of their labor.  But Christians should think of retirement as an opportunity to be redeployed for Kingdom service.

- Al Mohler's Blog, 9/24/08

I imagine most of us have IRAs now, since we're going on 2 years out of college. Good food for thought by Dr Mohler.

Dude! Theology! Yeah!

Boy, this like 800% more activity on this blog in the past 24 hours than the past several months. Nice.

Today I was beautifully reminded of why I love you guys so much. Pretty much anytime anywhere we can go deep and talk about something meaningful. And a lot of the time something meaningful very quickly transitions into something eternal and glorious.

Caught a quick AIM conversation with a dear teacher friend (hey TW! :-P). We talked about adoption and our inheritance as co-heirs with Christ. Freakin' sweet. Now I'm looking forward to it even more. I'd like to start imagining what it's like, but we already know by definition it'll be impossible for any human mind to adequately dream up how mind-blowing it'll be. Why's that? Because "as it is written, 'What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him'" (1Cor 2:9). Oh daaang.

Thanks T-Dubb. God used you to bless my day. Who said talking theology wasn't worship inducing and stimulating to thirsts for Heaven? Oh heck yeah it is. Come quickly, Lord Jesus!



On a related (related because this is something of eternal significance too!) note: Neill is leaving for Wyoming soon. Let's keep him, Chandra, the Davises, and the whole team in our prayers! Lord, please do amazing things over there. May many gaze upon the Fairest Lord Jesus and fall to their knees in repentance, and then rise in worship.

Post-grad Notes

Really briefly. A few things I've noticed I've struggled through and hopefully learned something about. Take it as you like, and perhaps you will find some encouragement in it.

PS: Congrats on those engagements! Keep 'em coming. I'm free all next summer!!

Submission
For some reason its a lot harder now than it was before. Perhaps that is because it I have a lot more to surrender now than I did before. Before, time was plentiful, my talents were minor, and my perspective was limited. Now, I find myself on a larger stage than just a college campus. And therefore I am more selfish with my time, invest more in my endeavors, and build up grand ambitions. I find it funny that I never thought much of sermons that warned of the dangers that come from seeking prestige, power, or possessions because I never thought I would be in a position to attain such things. But now I have the potential to achieve it, if even on a small scale. And that is enough to get me idolizing and planning, which is one step removed from pursuing. It is scary to realize that my heart is so twisted, it can take the blessings of God (a good education, exciting career choices, and undeserved opportunities) and use them for my own means.
Somewhere along the line the desire for prominence has begun to take a foothold and so it is good be reminded of Christ's emphatic declaration that it shall not be so among His own. The world would have you believe that it is a tragedy for those with our potential and background to achieve anything less than worldly greatness. Such people are labeled as failures who could not attain what was within their grasp. But the real tragedies are those who squander the blessings of Christ for their own gains rather than construct the kingdom of Christ. It is a good desire to come to the end of life utterly used up and exhausted for His glory, but that does not happen unless there is complete surrender of ambition.

Mercy
This too is harder to give than it used to be. And I suspect it has a lot to do with the fact that I am around unbelievers for most of my day. I suppose that it should not be surprising that being around people who are less gracious has made me less gracious as well. Or that I find myself more selfish when I am around those who are insecure and ambitious. It is even easy to resent the world for the way it hardens the heart I've tried so hard to keep soft. But all of this lies contrary to the idea of mercy, which compels one to give it to those who are most in need of it. One of my greatest sins post-college has been the lack of mercy I have shown to others. I forget that mercy does not pity from a distance, but it seeks to restore and heal those who are broken even at great cost. And how often I am surrounded by those who are much to in need of restoration and healing.
And lest we forget why we should show mercy, we must remember that we were shown mercy as well. We too would be lost in our futile ways were it not for God who is rich in mercy. Despite our sinfulness, God was moved to compassion and came near to us bringing full restoration at the cost of His only son. If we are products of God's mercy, how then can we deny mercy to others?

Church
Thank God for the church! One of the many blessings of post-GCC life is the realization that GCC is just one church. There are many other churches with just as much capacity to glorify God. Part of my apprehension about leaving LA was knowing that I would be separated from people who have been instrumental in their encouragement and example. But it would be short-sided and arrogant to think that God's care for me extended only so far as I was around such people. For this reason He has established the local church which is the main body to minister to me. Though I am thankful for the role of GOC people and their contributions are not to be diminished, I realize that they were so encouraging partly because they were acting as a part of my local church. Wherever I am, as long as I am a part of the local church, I am still under God's care and guidance and there is no reason to expect that it will be less comforting than when I was in LA.
Similarly, if we move somewhere, we do not have to feel that we are abandoning anyone to survive on their own without our counsel or encouragement (however flawed). Though friendships will remain, the local church is the main body that is to exhort and counsel them. So the most encouraging thing to hear of others who have transitioned to other places is that they have found a church to commit to and serve in. And likewise, if we move, we should not cling to our old church so much so that it makes us hesitant to dedicate ourselves to another church.