Encourage one another

When we read many of the openings to Paul's letters, they often begin with thanksgiving and encouragement. And my main question is: Do we exemplify this today in our lives? How often do we really take the time to express our love, thankfulness, and encouragement for the people in our lives. How often do we take the time to write letters, or just stop someone in church, and just lavish them with Christian, brotherly encouragement. Because my guess is that a lot of people could use it. It's amazing what just a couple words by a random person in my life can mean to me. God uses what might seem insignificant to you, to mean a lot to someone else. And why not want to bless our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ? What an incredible strengthening would occur in the church if we invested ourselves more into their lives, and showed that we cared.

Maybe I'm being too sentamental, but I just want to thank each and every person in my life who's been an encouragement to me. You are being Christ to me, and really appreciate more than words can express. So I encourage anyone reading this, to make a sincere, purposeful effort to show love and encouragement to other people in your life. My guess, is that if you randomly wrote a letter of encouragement to someone in Christ, that they would be blown away, and maybe even encouraged to do the same. There doesn't have to be an occassion for it. Just show them how much your fellowship with them in Christ means to you, and how much you desire for them to honor God in everything they do. I'd love to hear any feedback on how that goes by the way...^_^

Another thing God has been showing me recently is that we have two options in every situation. We can either choose to sin, or to love Christ. Every single circumstance in your life is an opportunity; and too often, we don't take hold of them. And it's not that this is legalistic or anything, on the contrary, God wants us to take hold of these opportunities for our own sake (and of course ultimately for His glory). But every circumstance, every crossroad, every decision we make is a chance for God to mold us a little more into the image of Christ. My question is, how often do you "see" the opportunities. More and more God has been revealing the opportunities to me. It's like God stops time for me, and says, "here Mark, what will you do, which path will you take? Will you let me work in and through you?" God has been speaking to me much more loudly recently, and I am deeply thankful for it.

That's all for now. As always, your prayers are always welcome for me, and I once again, appreciate all the encouragement and support I've recieved from everyone!

By the way, I just listened to a sermon by Anthony Bradley today! A rockin' sermon at that. I love his enthusiasm for Christ, and his willingness to be bold for the sake of the Kingdom. Check out his sermon: http://www.summitfamily.org/audio/node/1524

Prayer

I've always liked writing and expressing my thoughts on issues. But I've also always told people that I'd never publish a book because I'm sure that years later I'd disagree with a good portion of it.

College definitely taught me that the more I learned, the less I actually knew. And I think this is true with our relationship with God in a certain way as well. The closer we grow with God, the more we realize our unworthiness. That's what God's been teaching me recently. That I need to change so much. I live with constant dissatisfaction, and it's hard to always pinpoint why. But I think a large part of it stems from sin in my life that God wants me to deal with.

And then I just heard a sermon that really made me think hard about who God is, and the nature of prayer. It was based around Christ's prayer sessions at Gethsemane. 3 times Jesus prayed to have "this cup" taken from him. Did Jesus repeat himself because he thought that maybe if he kept asking, God would change his mind? I don't think so. He did it because he needed to pray that many times, for that long to work it out with God. He just needed to talk to God that much about it, so that the Father would get him "through" the situation, not "around" it. And that's what the sermon was basically about. That prayer more often than not, a means by which God gets us through situations, not around them. God might not cure your cancer, but he can get you through it.

And then I thought about our expectations of God. Are people who really do pray, "Your will be done?" Or do we just tac that on for insurance. Is our ultimate desire to see God glorified and his will done on earth?

Then I got to thinking about my last film, "Got a Light." My big question that I was asking in that film is what do you do when things don't work out? What do you do when God doesn't answer your prayers. And this is the final answer to the film. It took me a year to realize it, but I think if I had to remake the film, I'd end it with the lead character saying, "Your will be done!"

God is good!

I really heard something very wise today in church. I used to go to a Bible Study for about 4 months last year, but they stopped having it (I think they're starting them back up soon). Anyway, the guy who let us use his apartment for the Bible Study is leaving Korea to go back to the States. He was a really great guy, and I really respected him a lot. He had such a great love for God, and he just exemplified what a man in Christ should be like. Anyways, I went to say goodbye to him today at church, and he said something that just totally set me free of a lot of worries. First he gave me a lot of encouragement that he saw God working in my life and that really meant a lot to me, and then he asked me what my plans were. I told him I really didn't know and it was something I needed prayer for. And he said, "I don't know if it's hit you yet or not, but at some point in your life, it's going to hit you that your purpose is all about God, and you will no longer worry about your future, but wait in eager anticipation for what God has next in store for you." And I've always believed that to be true, but for some reason the way he said it, and hearing it from someone else that way made it really fresh for me.

Worrying is my weakest point in life. Everything worries me. The absence of worrying worries me. That's how bad I am. But I know the Bible tells us not to worry about anything, for God is in control, and he loves us. And I no longer want my life to be governed by my worries, but governed by an excitement in God's redemptive plan. I want my zeal for Christ's work to be contagious (sp?). I want every day to count for Christ as if it were my last. I want a Matrix like awakening where I stand before my fears, and realize once and for all that Christ has conquered it all. That Christ is bigger than every situation that comes my way. I want my life to be defined by love.

No more waiting for the right circumstances. Today is the day to live for Christ.

So yeah, on a different topic, things in Korea are great. I had a great weekend of swimming and amazing food. I constantly am thanking God for all of the amazing friends that He has brought into my life here, and I totally resonate with C.S. Lewis, that friendships make a place what it is. Korea the country is a great place, but I define Korea through the people I know here. And that's why I love Korea so much, because I love the people in my life here.

With that in mind, I still couldn't have been happier with my trip back to the States. It was so refreshing to see all of my family and friends from back home. I'm so thankful to God that he gave me a safe and wonderful trip, and I thank God so much that I have people that love me and are praying for me in multiple countries. That's so cool to think about.

God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good!

Back in Korea

I'm back in Korea, and everything has picked up again very well. I'm very happy to be back, and I'm praying that God will continue to bless and teach me here. It's late here and I'm pretty tired, so I'll just stop now, but I'm promsing to write more very soon ^_-!

Traveling back to Korea

Well, as I'm typing this blog post, I am sitting in Terminal E in the Philadelphia airport, waiting for my flight. It's 8:45 AM, on Thursday in the U.S., and my flight doesn't depart till 11:07 AM, so I figured I might as well get a one day WiFi pass and surf the net while I'm waiting. I had a great break, and I'm also looking forward to getting back to Korea.

Please pray for safe travels and that my Visa renewal process goes smoothly and quickly. I am so thankful to God for giving me the opportunities he's given me so far. I pray that he will continue to bless my endeavors and make me grow through them. Thank you to everyone who has supported me and prayed for me. I couldn't have done all of this without your constant support and love.

Well, once again, I will try to commit myself to writing in this blog more frequently. I want people to hold me to it. Also, I want people to hold me to studying Korean more diligently. The next time I write, it will be in South Korea. I'll miss everyone back in the States, but I know this is what God wants me to do right now, and I'm so thankful for all of the great people in my life in Korea as well. No matter where I am, God is the same, and he brings great people into your life no matter where you are in the world. ^_^