Admire or Follow

Last night I was convicted.

My mother recently read a book called Maximum Faith by George Barna and the whole time she was reading it she just went on and on about what a great book it was. She talked about it so much that I asked if I could borrow it to read after she had finished.

A couple weeks ago she handed it to me, excited for me to read it yet hesitant, knowing that with books my good intentions hardly ever come to fruition. Still, she gave it to me and despite her plea to get it back to her soon, it has sat at my bedside untouched until last night.

I breezed through the first chapter, stopping once to pray about something I had read and to muse over what he had written about Change vs Transformation. "Change is typically refinement that is short-term, impermanent, incremental, superficial, and of limited ultimate consequences. Transformation on the other hand in generally long term, permanent, systemic, deep, and monumental in its impact and consequences. Change merely alters a known reality; transformation radically redefines that reality."

Interest peeked, I moved on to Chapter 2 expecting the same easy yet interesting read, and that's pretty much what I got until a line from the book stopped me dead. It read, "We are not so much Christ followers as we are Christ admirers..." As soon as I read those words my hand raised it's hand in an invisible "Here" or "That's me" gesture.

I looked at my life, especially, since I've gotten out of high school, and that sentence has been exactly me. Suddenly, the definitions of change and transformation came back to me and connected with the sentence from the book. I realized that in my life Christ has been a movie star with a Mother Teresa reputation. I have been taught to look up to Him and to try to act like Him but that is all. I read His word or stories of His life and for a second I think, "I wish I could be like that" or "I wish I could do that" but then the thought is gone, choked by the worldly weeds of the day. Perhaps if a topic or trait hits me particularly hard I will make changes in my life to be more like Him but they are merely "short-term, impermanent, of limited ultimate consequence." Yes, I try to make changes in my life so that it will look more like His but am I willing to let Him transform my life? Am I willing to let Him have so much control over my life that my reality will become "radically redefined" and even unrecognizable?

I saw then that I look up to Christ for all His good deeds and wisdom but my life, my thoughts, words suggest that I am an Admirer of Christ more than a Follower of Christ. Looking up the definition of Admire purely for curiosity sake it said it meant "to marvel at" or "to like very much" or "to hold in esteem." Check, check, and check. I often marvel at God and I like Him very much and of course I esteem Him but do I follow Him?

So I looked up the definition of the verb to follow and checked myself against it.
1) To go, proceed, or come after. Do I actively run after God eager to join Him in where He is leading me or do I make small changes in my life to merely placate Him and myself that I am attempting to pursue Him? Fail
2) To engage in as a calling or way of life. I call myself a Christian and for the most part I imitate the Christian Life but am really truly living it in my inmost being and emulating it every minute of every day? Fail
3) To accept as authority. Yeah, I listen to God, when it suits me or if I agree with what He is saying or if it's not going to keep me from doing what I want to do. I obey Him in the big things. Epic Fail
4) To pursue in an effort to overtake. Now wait a minute, I barely pursue God now knowing full well that He is perfect and also knowing full well that I can never be perfect. Why fight a losing battle? We are all going to end up in the same place right. Fail
5) To watch steadily or to keep the mind on. Are my eyes on God and what H is doing in this world? Or am I in my own little world waiting for God to watch me and bless what I am doing? Is my mind on Him every minute of everyday, half the day? Fail
6) To keep abreast of. Am I walking side by side with God and Christ? Am I going with Him on the path that He has for me or am I trying to lead? Always trying to be one step ahead of Him and His timing? Fail

I'm ashamed to admit it but I am comfortable in my life. I have worked hard to control my surroundings and I enjoy the familiar. Yet God is calling me to more, to be more and I pray for the strength and the faith to follow and be transformed.

Pirates

Hello!

Yes, it has been forever since I have blogged and though I have thought about blogging many times I somehow lacked the time, patience or inspiration to do so. So, what is it that has me sitting here ready and inspired to write? Well, that is easy, Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides.

With all the things going on in my life it strikes me as odd and even kind of sad that a movie is what has me writing again, but it is true. I also realize that this movie has been out only a few days and so I will try not to spoil too much during this post.

The movie starts of with plenty of action and Jack Sparrow, both of which I love. Jack just has this amazing attitude of "Everything is gonna work out". It doesn't matter what kind of scrape or situation he is in he never seems to get discouraged. I love and admire that about his character. To me he almost embodies Mathew 6:25-27“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"

Could you imagine how much stress, worry and anxiety would be alleviated if we could all trust in God enough to have a Captain Jack Sparrow attitude towards life? It would be wonderful! But notice how Jack doesn't just sit around and wait to be rescued either, instead he waits for the opportunities that God gives him and then he takes full advantage of those open doors to flip the situation around. So trusting in God does not mean that we don't have to work or take advantage/walk through the open doors that God gives us.

So, the movie goes on for awhile and we are introduced to new characters and reunited with old ones. It's entertaining and I am just sitting back and passively enjoying myself until we are introduced to Philip, the missionary. Immediately sit up a little straighter in my chair. I have just gone from a passive watcher to an active participant. First off I am very skeptical of any character who Hollywood portrays as "religious". They, having almost no knowledge of God themselves, are unwittingly or perhaps all to wittingly portrayed in an offensive way. So, I had little hopes for this character to be any different.

At first, he isn't so bad. He's a little annoying but other than that he's ok. As you know, the people in the movies are searching for the Fountain of Youth and apparently, there is a ritual that they must perform in order to gain the fountain's benefits. One of the requirements is a mermaid's tear. Well, from the trailer we know that they catch a mermaid and Philip takes a liking to her. That's all fine and dandy as he is the only one who shows any compassion or concern for the mermaids life as well as the life of all the characters. So, I'm thinking "Ok not so bad. I've seen worse renditions of Christians in movies." But then comes the last scene with Philip, who is injured, talking to the mermaid. He tells her that he was lost and searching for something and how his faith was supposed to be strengthened by his journey but now there is only her. I did not like that and I cringed visibly at that moment. To have him come all this way as a character only at the end to abandon his faith for the mermaid. I mean his faith would have to be pretty small for him to totally discard it and for her to become the thing that he believes in. I just hate how Hollywood portrays Christians. They are always weak and annoying or worse, at the end of the movie, in order for their character to “grow”, they end up growing beyond their faith and it becomes radically altered in a worldly way or left behind completely. So, needless to say I was disappointed in the missionary's character.




I did perhaps think though that I was being a bit too hard on him in the fact that there are millions of people who start out on fire for God and then slowly let something in this life become more important to them than God. Whether it is a mate, money, power, or things and I am fact have been guilty of that many times. So while most people were gushing about how romantic the last scene was and how they adored the new couple I sat and grieved.

Now for my favorite part of the movie (WARNING SPOILER AHEAD)

So the whole movie is about three groups of people trying to get to the Fountain of Youth.
1) The Pirates - led by Blackbeard and Jack
2) The English - led by Barbosa
3) The Spanish - Which is led by an unnamed character

So when the Pirates and the English come at the fountain of youth and they start fighting over it. All of a sudden the Spanish arrive and the other two are vastly outnumbered and outgunned. There are a few tense moments of silence before the Spanish Captain finally orders that the fountain be destroyed! Everyone in the audience was all "Huh?" and as the were destroying it the Captain shouted that the fountain was being destroyed because they were trusting in the fountain for something (eternal life) that was a thing that only God could give them. I almost let out a "Woot!" from my seat in the theater but contained myself. The whole scene with the Spanish was great but that made it awesome!

END SPOILER

All in all it was an ok movie. I will see it again but noting really compares to the first one.

Absence of Faith

One thing that I hate almost more than anything else is doubt. It creeps in, even into my most assured of plans and wreaks havoc in my mind and with my feelings. The worst part is that I can't even say that I don't understand it or how it works and if you understand something and how it works can't you control that thing or get rid of it? So then it becomes not a matter of can I defeat it but a question of whether I willing or not.

Doubt is the absence of faith. Whether it be faith in what God has told you or faith in God himself. My particular doubt comes from the latter. I heard once that most people's faith tends to come in spurts. God speaks to us and at that moment and for a few days, weeks, months, even perhaps years later we are determined and full of faith in that word which we have received. Then little by little the fire disappears and we cool off letting our faith wane. When we are not full of faith we leave room for doubt.

Soon come the questions, sometimes they are introduced by outside sources and sometimes they come from the places in your mind where the devil still has a stronghold. Questions like, "Are you sure you have been called to do this?" "Can you do this?" "Are you strong enough?" "Are you ready?"

As the time comes closer and things are set into motion for Japan these doubts have snuck into my mind. People very close to me have questioned my motives and my readiness which I must confess has shaken me. I am weak and I am flawed but I have heard all my life that it is when you are weak that God is strong and when you are known to be flawed that God will show his perfectness.

So where is the balance? When do you throw caution to the wind and just go for it? I guess it's when God says to go.

So, I am in prayer for this step and change in my life. I know that God is going to have to move supernaturally for me to go to Japan and that is what I am counting on.

Water and Time

I was reading a blog this morning written by a woman who went to Japan as a missionary. At first I just glanced at some of the pictures, admired her background and read a couple of the post titles before deciding I didn't really feel like reading any further. I exited the screen but immediately felt a propmting to return to her blog and delve a little deeper, so I did.

You how when you are thirsty and you come upon water and sometimes you just don't want to drink it even though you are thirsty. You don't feel like drinking water and would prefer gatorade, milk, or soda instead. You actually become kinda indignant at the water, annoyed that it is not something else more tastey. So, you don't drink it and go find one of the other beverages to satisfy your thirst. Then, eventually, for some reason you end up drinking some water and a funny thing happens, you actually enjoy it. Not only do you enjoy it but you feel refreshed and it tastes good to you. At that momment it is better than anything else you could be drinking and you drink more.

Sometimes I find myself feeling that way about God. I'll go about my life without reading His word or hearing His word for awhile until I become thirsty. Then when His word is presented to me I become irritated or annoyed by it. I don't feel like listening to it or spending my time reading it as I would rather be doing other things. So I go and find something else to do. Then, like today, when I finally get a taste of His word or His wisdom my love and wonder for Him comes back. A little bit of life gets pored into me and I want more and I kick myself for refusing it in the first place.

The most recent entry of this missionary's blog was entitled "The God Who Hears Me". It wasn't a long post or even a very detailed post but in it something that she said struck me and got me thinking. It gave me a little sip of what I've been missing. She was talking about how God had blessed her by giving her half a day off at work unexpectedly when she had just tweeted about wanting more time to complete personal tasks and be lazy.

I immediately related to her. When I was working two jobs and trying to balance friends and church I often found myself wishing there were more hours in the day for "me time". One of the excuses that I had for not reading my Bible was that I just never had enough time. So I read on and then she said something that hit me as a profound truth that I had never realized before. It said, "Today I was riding the train, thinking about time, or rather, the lack of it. I do that often lately. LAst night as I was coming home past my bedtime I was pondering why it is so difficult for us humans to manage time. God created the world to give us the right amount of time. We have seasons, night and day, and they are all meant to bless us, not confine us. This must mean we end up confining ourselves."

Think about that for a second. All the verses in the Bible that say that God will provide for us our needs and we think of things such as food, clothes, and water but what I learned today is that this also applys to time. God has given you a purpose. Before you were born that purpose was decided and your days were numbered. God in His infinate wisdom has given you exactly enough time on this earth to complete that task which He has created you for. But we as sinful beings squander the time given us doing what we want to do, chasing after the temporal things of this world and filling our time with things that do not matter.

Do not confine yourself with something that God has created to bless you. Also, If you are doing that which is God's will and purpose for you don't worry about having enough time to complete it.


Matthew 6:31-32
31Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

2 Corinthians 9:8
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

Philippians 4:19
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Bathroom Etiquette

Ok so I know this is a bit of a... strange topic but, every time I go to use the restroom at my job I always witness some kind of restroom faux pas and it just irritates me. So, I am going to go through a couple rules for using a public restroom and hopefully make whoever reads this a better bathroom goer.

You are sitting at your desk, perusing the mall or standing in an hour long line at a theme park when suddenly the urge hits. You have to go to the bathroom and you have to go bad! So, you gather your purse and ID card, put the shirt you were looking at back on the rack or jump the guard rails and head to the public restrooms.

By the time you get there all you can think about is trying not to have an accident before you can sit on the polished porcelain and rush into the first stall that you see or, if you are at work, you rush into your favorite stall because lets face it if we've been there a few times we have a favorite stall. You lock the door behind you sit down and breath a huge sigh of relief that you made it. Unfortunately, whether intentionally or unintentionally you have broken the first rule of bathroom etiquette.

1. The Stall Between:

The stall between or the every other stall rule is oddly enough one of the most broken rules in the bathroom. I have to say that this is not just an annoyance to me but I have heard others in my office complain about this one as well. Whether you just don't think about it because you have to go so bad or whether you break this rule to obtain your favorite stall there is just no excuse for why a person (if available) shouldn't keep one empty stall in between you and any other occupants of the bathroom. This allows for a little bit of added privacy for the bathroom goer and is just polite. Every time this rules is broken in the bathroom I just want to ask the person next to me "Why?! There are 20 other stalls in this bathroom! Why did you have to pick the one next to mine?" Keeping a stall between you and the other pottiers, even if it requires you to give up your favorite stall is just good manners. I don't know about you but when someone is in the stall next to me it just adds a whole bunch of concerns(such as volume, aroma, cute shoes etc) and requires extra rules to be put into place. Note: This rule is void if bathroom is full or every other seating is not available.

2. The "Wait for it..." Rule:

If you are able this is a good rule to practice. When you are in the stall and you know that it's going to be noisy, you can just feel it ya know and there are other people in the restroom, there are a couple optimal times to let loose. a) When a toilet flushes and b) when a sink is in use. This rule is a flexible one and depends on several factors such as if you can wait for either of the optimal situations or if there are others in the restroom. Obviously if you are alone in the restroom or have diarrhea and absolutely can't hold it anymore then this rule doesn't apply. Going during these optimal times wont completely mask all the sounds but it will help the others in the room dismiss them sooner.

3. The "If It's Brown Flush It Down" Rule:

Now this one is a rule that benefits everyone in the bathroom. If you have to go #2 and it is stinky but you have to continue to sit there for awhile because you aren't completely done or you just feel like chillin, please for every ones sake, flush the toilet. Even if you are still using it, go ahead and flush the stinky stuff. This may seem a little weird but it will keep the smell from venturing out of the stall and will keep the whole bathroom smelling alot better. Believe me, others (especially those next to you) will thank you for it.




4. The "Personal Vanity" Rule:

When all is done and you leave the stall to wash your hands please follow this rule and don't spend forever infront of the mirror primping or preening. The public restroom mirror is not your personal vanity and there could be people in the stalls waiting for you to leave so they can follow rule number 2. Go in, do your business, wash your hands, fix a stray hair strand and then leave. Don't put on makeup, don't brush your teeth (oh yeah, it happens) and don't self analyze for ten minutes.

If you follow these simple rules you will make the public restroom experience a better one for all involved. I tried to do this post with as much class as possible but there is only such a level of class you can achieve when talking about this topic. lol

Review TVXQ "Keep Your Head Down"

Oh TVXQ how I love you! This has been my new favorite song ever since it came out a couple weeks ago. I love the energy and just the hugeness of the sound that fills your car speakers making you bob and dance while the people in the car next to you at the stoplight worry for their safety. I especially like the almost marching band sound that they throw in throughout the song with the horns and the drums. It gives it a very unique yet powerful sound that I didn't know could come from those instruments.

The Dance:

Now, my sister also reviewed this song in her blog recently and I have to say that her opinion of the dancing and mine are almost completely opposite. The video starts out with Uknow dancing with this scarf/powdery rope thing and I just cringe every time I see it. Pause the video at 4sec... To me he looks like a very grouchy person who has to pee really badly. Note to Uknow, puckering your lips does not make you look tough.

Anyway, 17 sec into the video Uknow throws his rag over to Max who then takes his turn dancing. I know this is gonna sound weird but I love his outfit! Hey, I can say that, I'm a girl. I really enjoy Max's dancing. To me it looks powerful and graceful at the same time. I mean, how many guys can almost pull off a pirouette and still look ok?




At 45 sec Uknow does this weird leap thing which reminds me of a leprechaun and then at 49 sec we have the ever so popular, among korean bands, lip touch/mouth wiping maneuver. Which, by the way, can be substituted for the traditional raunchy hip thrusting that was mentioned in my last blog.

1:43 is one of my favorite parts in the video. It is when Uknow, who's power is fire, calls the fire back into his hand and then extinguishes it by making a fist. Out of all the shows that I have seen people with this power are limited to making the fire and are not able to put it out at will. This to me reminds me a little about life. How often do we create these destructive "fires" in our life without possessing the knowledge or the skill of extinguishing them? How many people do you know that go around starting fires such as drinking or smoking or gossiping thinking that they can handle it and keep it under control only to have it spread and consume them. I know this might be reaching a little far but during that part I can just imagine this fire that is ravaging us, just consuming everything that we are and then we finally give it to God and in His hands it becomes but a small flame that he distinguishes in his fist. Love that imagery.

2:27 they are both dancing in there hideous, what were you thinking when you let them put this on you suits and Uknow who is on the left does a total John Travolta disco move. I mean, if he would have just pointed his finger it would have been perfect... and he may have been sued for copyright infringement.

My other favorite part of this video is at 3:39 - 3:50 when the horns and the drums really kick in and both Uknow and Max airdrum. Air drumming, always cool in my book lol

And lastly was the near miss high five at 4:09. This cracks me up every time I see it. I mean granted they are high fiving with their left hands so I'm wondering if that was perhaps the problem but I would think they would do the scene over until it didn't look so awkward or perhaps they should have practiced it more like "Dude I have to pee, High five!" "Dude, I'm going to bed, High Five!" Just saying.

The Costumes:

I actually really liked all the costumes in this video.. except for the suits which make their first appearance at 2:12. Like I said before, what were they thinking? This may be the reason why they never look at each other while they are wearing these suits because if they did they would burst out laughing at each other, hence the no eye contact. Strangely enough though they seem to be growing on me.

The voice:

Is it just me or is Uknow like the funniest sounding rapper ever?! Especially at 3:13 when he starts his final rap. To me he sounds like a Muppet and this is perhaps the reason why they gave him the ultra cool power of fire... compensation. Make the guy with the weird voice look cool so no one will notice. Max on the other hand has the lame power of making light where there is darkness, which could have been really cool but they just didn't do much with it, but has, in my opinion, the better of the two voices. About Max's power, you'd think he might have had lightning striking in the background or something cool like that but instead he just kinda stands there in this room where the walls look like they have been riddled with bullet holes and spreads out his hands like he is basking in the almost none existent light.

Anyway, it sound like I don't like this video but like I said before it is definitely one of my favorites and although a bit flawed I find it very enjoyable. Also, I am not a Uknow hater lol

Review of MBLAQ "Cry"

Ok so normally I am not into ballads because honestly I just wanna dance and feel happy and ballads just don't inspire that glee or that wild charge that other music does. That being said I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this song. The first time I listened to it I kinda dismissed it as boring but after reading my sister's review of the song I decided to watch it one more time so I could understand what she was talking about and I actually found myself liking the song and the video.



The Costumes:
I have to agree with my sister that the costumes in this video were very much a step forward for all kpop fashion, especially these guys. Again, I am not a fan of highly colorful, highly chaotic clothes that look like they just put all their costume choices in a huge pile on the floor and then had a free-for-all grabbing whatever they could get their hands on and dressing in that (for example see f.cuz "Wanna Be Your Love"). I really liked the outfits that they are wearing in the rain, don't know why exactly but I think they all look very sleek and well put together but also very unique in style. So yes, 8 points for their costume choices, having 2 points deducted for the big thick black gloves.

The makeup didn't bother me except for the makeup at 1:20 which was a little too feminine/drag queen with the blue and the glitter. I also thought that the blond haired guys eye was open at 3:29 and that he just had one wonked out eye that wouldn't close because of too much plastic surgery or something but I found it funny rather that disturbing lol

The Dance:
The dancing was all good to me, not counting the underwater stuff which I will get to later. I didn't particularly think the Oeteke? Oeteke? part at 0:35 - 0:38 sec was sensual like my sister did. I mean it seems like there is raunchy hip thrusting in nearly all kpop songs nowadays and to me this was just their way of raunchy hip thrusting when they are sad instead of like say in SS501's "Love Ya" where they are trying to pick up a girl. So this is mournful hip thrusting. My favorite part of the whole video was at 44-46sec when they throw their arms open and fall to their knees. To me this just displays the emotion of the song so well and conveys everything that they could be thinking like "Why?", pain, sadness, grief,despair, hopelessness and so on. Very nice part.

There is a part at 3:16-3:18 where the guy looks like he is on a slip'n slide and does this nifty little spin in the pouring rain. My first thought was "That looks so fun!" and I kinda lost the feeling of sadness that the song was trying to portray but I think that's just me lol

Them dancing under water... yeah... I'm gonna have to agree with my sister's roommate Veronica on this one. It is just way to feminine and I think the tattered clothing actually takes away from the effect by obscuring all the potentially beautiful shapes that they are making underwater. If the clothes were longer and more spread out instead of concentrated into one lump around they guy's body it might have been better.

So for the whole video I give it a 7 out of 10 and might consider adding it to a cd of mine in the future.

For those who are wondering here are the names of those in MBlaq:

@0:06 is Thunder/Cheondung

@0:15 is Seungho and he is the leader of MBLAQ

@0:27 is G.O (Byunghee is his real name but it's country so he uses G.O) main vocalist

@0:31 is Joon who is my personal favorite and is the uber hot guy tied to the bed in Kan Miyoun's Going Crazy music video.

@2:44 is MIR he's the main rapper and maknae (youngest)