Powers of Good

With every power for good to stay and guide me,
comforted and inspired beyond all fear,
I'll live these days with you in thought beside me,
and pass, with you, into the coming year.
The old year still torments our hearts, unhastening;
the long days of our sorrow still endure,
Father, grant to the souls thou hast been chastening
that thou hast promised, the healing and the cure.
Should it be ours to drain the cup of grieving
even to the dregs of pain, at thy command,
we will not falter, thankfully receiving
all that is given by thy loving hand.
But should it be thy will once more to release us
to life's enjoyment and its good sunshine,
that which we've learned from sorrow shall increase us,
and all our life be dedicate as thine.
Today, let candles shed their radiant greeting;
lo, on our darkness are they not thy light
leading us, haply, to our longed-for meeting?
Thou canst illumine even our darkest night.
When now the silence deepens for our hearkening,
grant we may hear the children's voices raise
from all the unseen world around us darkening
their universal paean, in thy praise.
While all the powers of good aid and attend us,
boldly we'll face the future, come what may.
At even and at morn God will befriend us,
and oh, most surely on each newborn day!

Heart Check

In a world where success is the measure and justification of all things the figure of Him who was sentenced and crucified remains a stranger and is at best the object of pity. It is not ideas or opinions which decide, but deeds. Success alone justifies wrongs done... With a frankness and off-handedness which no other earthly power could permit itself, history appeals in its own cause to the dictum that the end justifies the means... The figure of the Crucified invalidates all thought which takes success for its standard.

June 4, 1939

One day we shall know and see what today we believe;
one day we shall hold a service together in eternity.

The beginning and the end, O Lord, are thine,
The span between, life, was mine.
I wandered in the darkness and did not discover myself,
With thee, O Lord, is clarity, and light is thy house.
A short time only, and all is done;
Then the whole struggle dies away to nothing.
Then I will refresh myself by the waters of life,
and will talk with Jesus for ever and ever.

Ten Words of the Day

"REAL men...

Reject Passivity,

Exemplify Integrity,

Accept Responsibility,

Lead Courageously."

Empty Streets

Strangely, the most satisfying time with God this past Sunday wasn't at Sunday Celebration... rather,

It was blasting Christ Tomlin "Exalted" down Ann Arbor-Saline at 2am. No one but God and SB. Glorious.

Cultural Identity, Christian Reflections

After being in an international student setting for some time, I notice two general types of international identifications, those who come from a single predominant cultural background and those who are considered third-culture backgrounds.

1) By a single predominant cultural background, I am alluding to a person who was raised within a dominant social/linguistic/ethnic culture and they have not had significant exposure to another culture. These people maintain close relationships with people of their cultural background in higher proportion than those people not of their cultural background.

2) By a third-culture background, I refer to a person who has been exposed to several cultures during their lives. They do not necessarily identify wholly with a single cultural background but weave themselves with an individuality that is uniquely diverse due to their multiple experiences.

I think it is rather fascinating to observe the differences in interaction between these types of people. There are certainly exceptions to my generalizations but here are some thoughts.

1) People who come from a singular cultural background have a tendency to remain within their comfortable cultures. While many of these people remain in those comfort zones, some of these people remove themselves from the culture homogeneity after a period of time once they are consistently exposed to a different cultural environment. What are possible causes of this change? Several things come to mind. I notice it can be due to a shift in expectations. Some of these people who remove themselves from cultural comforts because they expect such new experiences to be of value to them in the future. They do not intend on completely submersing themselves in the culture from which they came and so they adapt themselves to a culture that is of value to them for future possibilities. Some of these people have a genuine change in preference because they find a new culture makes them feel more comfortable than the culture they came from. Or perhaps some of these people find they no longer hold such high preferences for their culture of origin. Lastly, some of these people just add another culture to their identity, not necessarily giving up a cultural preference but adding to their cultural experience.

2) People who come from third-culture backgrounds have a tendency to maintain a diversity of relationships, especially with people of third-culture backgrounds. However, some of these third-culture people have difficulty maintain any close relationships due to a unique individual experience others cannot personally identify with. Third-culture people seem to be more comfortable at flowing in and out of different cultural contexts instantaneously and relating with people of different backgrounds. But they seem to have a tendency to find difficulty finding meaningful relationships with people who are from single-cultural backgrounds unless there is a common interest of some sort that widens the cultural bridge. While they are comfortable building relationships with single-cultural background people, those relationships do not seem to be of as substance as single-cultural background people relating with other single-cultural background people unless a common experience prepares a fertile soil for such relationships to deepen.

Why am I reflecting on these observations? Because I think it's telling of why people do what they do and why they behave the way they behave. Also, it's worth examining why I do what I do while considering my background.

For instance, I am perfectly capable of holding a basic conversation in Korean. But why do I feel uncomfortable speaking Korean in certain contexts? More than anything else, it has to do with denying people the satisfaction of hearing me speak it after so much expectation that has built up a reputation. But underlying the situation, I find something uncomfortable with reinforcing a Korean cultural perception about myself. While it seems irrelevant for those who want me to be comfortable with speaking my native tongue and those who I already know well, I value my cultural flexibility where I demonstrate as little cultural preference such that there are no hindrances, at least on my side, to get people to be more open and comfortable around me.

Overall, I do not enjoy flaunting an unhealthy amount of cultural pride or preference because I have seen it hinder people from feeling welcome and comfortable. Being in an international student ministry, I'm realizing how important it is to tamper down cultural dominance especially when it comes to language and food. I have spent enough time in Global Access to not give much care when a language I do not understand is spoken in my presence. But I can imagine how big of a turn-off it would be if a new person had to endure it. English is safe (since almost everyone can communicate with it) so I will keep the Korean away.

I've grown to love the foods international students enjoy. I do not remember another time in my life when I've had such a diversity of foods. I've gone through a period of time when I despised Korean food because I had too much of it. I still love it and I hope to expose people to Korean food who have never explored it. However, I am unwilling to go as far as pronouncing Korean food as the best in the world. Korean is one of many types of foods and qualifying it as the best would be unnecessarily rude and a turn-off. Flaunting my opinion is not as important as being considerate to other people. Again, it's about making people feel comfortable and welcomed in any Christ-centered environment. Similarly, I love American food and I hope everyone gets to enjoy the best of it. However, on the other hand, remarks that disparage another cultural experience require restraint and possibly repentance. No culture is better than another in any way because God loves every culture, he created them!

In concluding, I've been asked why I am in Global Access frequently these days. I grew up in the US almost all my life but I find myself more comfortable relating with international students. I never fully identified myself as an American because I have always felt different in the American culture I grew up in, an immigrant at heart. It was never a culture I completely accepted because I always had one hand permanently grasping my Korean heritage no matter how much Americanization I underwent. While I've certainly adopted a majority of my social and political values from America, I have always appreciated and continue to retain my Korean values. Furthermore, I've come to appreciate a certain amount of cultural ambiguity, not because I have some major identity issues, but for the sake of the Gospel. My identity as belonging to Jesus Christ has risen to be of the highest priority. While far from perfect, God continues to work in me to make it true.

Being around international students has been quite an experience and it has been teaching me a lot of biblical lessons on what it means to be like Jesus across cultures.

Godspeed

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?

And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?

And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

And how are they to preach unless they are sent?

As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"

Without Your touch, without Your love

You changed my world

When You came to me.

You drove a passion,

In my soul down deep,

Lord, to follow You in everything.

I don't want to go somewhere

If I know that You're not there,

'Cause I know that me without You is a lie.

And I don't want to walk that road,

Be a million miles from home,

Cause my heart needs to be where You are.

So I don't want to go.

So come whatever,

(Whatever may come)

I'll stick with You.

(Right by Your side)

I'll walk You'll lead me,

Call me crazy or a fool,

For forever I promise You...

That I don't want to go somewhere

If I know that You're not there,

'Cause I know that me without You is a lie.

And I don't want to walk that road,

Be a million miles from home,

Cause my heart needs to be where You are.

So I don't want to go

Without Your touch,

Without Your love

Filling me like an ocean.

For Your grace is enough,

Enough for me.

Never want to go somewhere

If I know that You're not there.

No, no, no, no.

I don't want to go somewhere

If I know that You're not there,

'Cause I know that me without You is a lie.

And I don't want to walk that road,

Be a million miles from home,

Cause my heart needs to be right where You are.

So I don't want to go. No, no.

Oh.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

Without Your touch,

Without Your love

Filling me like an ocean.

Your grace is enough,

I don't want to go.

I don't want to go somewhere,

If I know that You're not there.

I don't want to be there without You.

Without your touch,

(I don't want to go somewhere,)

Without you love

(If I know that You're not there.

I don't want to be there without You.)

I don't want to go. No, no.

(I don't want to go somewhere,

If I know that You're not there.

I don't want to be there without You.)

If You're not there.

Filling me, loving me.

I don't want to go.

Don't want to go.

(Don't want to go, don't want to go there without you.)

There without you.

(Don't want to go)

Don't want to be

(Don't want to go, don't want to go)

There without you.

(There without you.)

The Godfather, the greatest

I never buy movies on DVD but this week, history was made for the 2nd time and possibly the last. I purchased Godfather Part II. Care to guess what movie I bought the first time?

I'm only beginning to scratch the surface of the cinematic beauty of the Godfather I & II. Every time I watch it, I discover something new that never occurred to me before. The story unfolds through these two films. One captures the honor, respect, family, prestige. Vito Corleone loves his family, being a man who did what he had to do to take care of those he loved, a man of principle who never crossed certain bounds. The other captures a fall, isolation, ruthlessness, brutality, cold. Michael Corleone gradually loses everything, his humanity, his warmth and innocence, the honor and respect have all but disappeared by the end of the second film. One portrays the rise and the other portrays the fall.

There are many scenes in the films that grip me but one particular scene is when young Vito is on the immigrant boat passing across the Statue of Liberty. The camera sweeps across the deck of the boat and captures the hopes and dreams of all the immigrants staring out at the symbol of freedom and opportunity. Their faces are lit as if reborn, their eyes are filled with hope and dreams of a new life, a second chance and a passage into a place where their destinies are completely in their control.

Another scene that I anticipate for is when Vito and Michael are sitting together in the yard and Vito speaks of all he wanted for Michael, a congressman, a senator, president Corleone. Vito wanted something better for Michael, that his son would one day be the one "pulling the strings." Its a moving scene of a father and son, a passage of rite, a father that shares with his son his regret for what he failed to do. Vito Corleone admits his imperfections while defending his actions as a family provider and protector.

The Godfather I & II are worth every scene. I do not regret owning them, they are worth owning because they are the epitome of American film. It's an American success story and yet an American tragedy. A superb story of America that grips and delights, that is heart-breaking and tragic.

Proverbs 19:21

Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.

Here I am. Use me Lord.