Korean church

Today, I had the chance to visit the Korean Presbyterian Church of St. Louis with a friend of mine I met at school (who is, you guessed it, Korean).  It was a very interesting experience.  For starters, I was the only non-Korean at the church.  Secondly, the entire service was in Korean.  If something was printed in English, chances are it had something to do with the fire code.  I filled out a guest card, little to my knowledge, they had me stand up and introduce myself.  We at lunch at the church before the service started, and let me tell you, it was some good food.  My friend sang in the praise band, and they sounded really good.  One thing I noticed about Korean praise music is that its a lot like English praise music...its very repetitive.  There was a song with a repeating line in the course, and by the end of the song, I could sing it (even though I had no idea what I was saying).  Listening to the sermon, you would be thrown off if the pastor said anything in English.  There was one time where he through out an entire sentence in English.  This threw me off greatly because I was not expecting to understand anything he said while he was speaking, so the fact I understood something made me believe for a brief second I could understand Korean.  I love the opportunity to experience different cultures and try different things, and I feel very blessed to have had the chance to go to Korean church today.

This seat is taken

We have all entered a crowed seating area were seats are a few and we are just looking for a place to sit down. We spot an empty seat next to someone and we ask them if the seat is taken...they say it is. Perhaps without that person's knowledge, you are able to find a seat in direct view of them. There yoi sit and watch, and no one ever comes to sit in that seat. You were lied to... the seat wasn't taken, they simply didn't want someone sitting by them.

This happened at church today.

I struggled to find God during the service.

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Little Mr. Sunshine

I thought i'd get the Sunday service rocking by spicing up my name tag this morning! I just want to brighten up people's day with my presence, dang it!

Running, a puzzle, and bible gum

Today was a great day! This afternoon, I met a friend at Forrest Park, and we went on a 5 1/2 mile run. It was a very chili day, but we were both well dressed for the journey. While I'm not up to pace for long distances yet, I'm hoping I can continue to train and improve. After I got home from dinner, I started chatting with someone I'm going to go out with tomorrow, and through the conversation, we decided to meet up tonight for a "pre-date". I went over to her house and we watched "The Office" and worked on a jigsaw puzzle of Las Vegas. Through the puzzle process, I learned many things. I learned that I suck at putting skylines together, but I'm great at parking lots. I also learned that doing a puzzle is a great first date (or pre-date) activity because you get to work on something, yet you are able to talk and get to know each other too. On my way home, I knew I needed to pick up a few things from the store, amongst which was a new pack of "bible gum". Bible gum is gum that I keep in my bible because I know that my church has donut holes every Sunday, and I like to chew a piece of gum to get rid of the donut breath. When I was checking out, I struck up a conversation with the checkout lady where I had her guess my age. She guessed that I was 20 (boomshakalaka), where, in fact, I'm 29. Feeling pretty good about myself, I neglected to get the pack of bible gum out of the cart, and I walked out of the store without paying for it. Realizing what I had done when I made it to my car, I went back inside the store to pay for the gum. I think the checkout lady who thought I was 20 was surprised that I would do this, so I told her the story of what the gum was for and how I keep it in my bible. Of course, I have no idea if this person was a Christian, but as I was driving home, I thought to myself that I had just been a part of a special witnessing opportunity where I was able to share my faith and hopefully put forth a good example of why I was coming back in to pay for my gum. After all, I would never feel right had I shoplifted my bible gum...that's just wrong.

My mom is anti-bible in church

So I went home last weekend and one of things I did was go to church w/ my mom because a former cross country teammate named Chris was speaking at my mom's church. My dad had to work a very very rare Sunday due to all the power outages caused by the ice storm. Being that I just wanted to go to Church and my mom also wanted to go to Sunday School, I went later in my own car....a bit too later for my mom's taste, as I was a bit late. Now note the fact that this is one of those small country churches with the squeaky door and if anyone arrives just the slightest bit after singing has begun (or ended in my case ;) all twenty or so people who are there will turn around because you walking in the door late is more interesting than whatever else happens to be happening. So there I am, as I slink my way to where my mom is sitting, and the first thing I do is something I always try to do when I'm in church; I turn off my cell phone ringer. My mom sees this and thinks nothing of it. Right about the time I did this, Chris gave the passage that he was going to preach out of, and I decided to follow along by reading out of the entire bible I have on my phone (I actually have two different translations and a full commentary using a program stored on my phone called Pocket E-sword). My mother looks over at me "fiddling" (her word, not mine) with my phone, and she leans over to me and whispers harshly in only that tone a mother can and says "Do you HAVE to be messing with that thing now!" I show her the screen and explain to her that it is my bible, and she gets this glazed, embarrassed look in her eyes and says "Oh". I greatly enjoyed telling dad this story when I got home as he laughed for a long time.

Clean-up, Isle 2

I am now in the process of cleaning my room up from trying on clothes the other night. I am giving away the vast majority of the clothes, but there are a couple of items I've decided to sell on ebay or at Plato's closet. Its a disaster area, but I'm glad I took the time to go through everything.

I went to church today and I really liked the service. I attend Riverside Church in Webster Groves, MO. I really like the sense of community, and I am thinking strongly about joining. I just got an email saying there is a new membership seminar on Saturday. I'm going to try to attend.

I was pleased to see some of the people that went on a mission trip to Hondourus. They said it was a wonderful experience; one I would like to partake in someday. I need to get my passport so I can be in a position to say yes next time (I was asked to go this time, but I didn't have a current passport).

Fasting, Day 3

I struggled more with my fasting today than I did yesterday. I found myself taking small pieces of candy, putting them in my mouth, tasting them, and spitting them out so I wouldn't "actually" eat them. I know that I really shouldln't be temping myself like this, but I'm really missing sweets. Oddly enough, I'm not missing meat as much, but that is subject to change if I find myself in restaurants in the near future. During my fast, I am praying for three things in my life:

1. My future wife.
2. Career Direction
3. Be a better Christian

I hope I'm able to stay strong during this fast. I was going to church with a friend tomorrow, but those plans have fallen through, so I will be attending Riverside.