An Attack

First off, I'll start by saying that I'm still blessed by the wonderful retreat we recently had. Second, I'll have to say that praise music has got to be the best kind of music.

Anyways, as I was saying in my previous post. I want to become a man like Job, but it's hard. This past week, I've been focusing a lot on my Christian life but as I said it's difficult. It's as if right after remembering that one verse from pastor Howard's sermon, it became a more apparent reality to me.

Lately, my family hasn't been doing too well financially. My father has lost his job and his only income is from welfare, which he hates because he is a proud man who likes to stand up for himself. He hates laziness and always passes that on to me, so when he lost his job he was devastated. He's not really the same person he used to be, but he's finding himself again. Anyways, as I was saying my family's not doing too well. So my father earns money from welfare, and my mother earns money from her job as an interpreter at a convalescent hospital (Though she doesn't know much English, only enough practical English to get her through normal life. Similar to how much Korean I know.).

So even though my family is going through financial problems, it's not a big enough of a deal that I can't go on through my daily life with all the necessities. I just can't indulge myself in a lot of things I used to.

Anyways, track season has started again and my old running shoes have literally fallen apart. Knowing I'm going to be needing some good running shoes for the season to come, I purchased some fairly expensive (for me at least) running shoes that would last me at least this season and give me comfort like the previous pair.

So, this past week it was raining like the end of the world or something and due to that I had to stay inside for the break periods at school (nutrition and lunch). So while I was eating lunch, I put my shoes down and... FORGOT THEM THERE!!! I left when the second lunch bell rang for the rest of my classes and then went to track practice. At track practice I noticed that my shoes weren't in my P.E. locker, so I figured they were in my regular locker. Then at the end of the day when I went to go check, I realized that I had forgotten them. I looked everywhere and prayed to God that I would be able to find the shoes and spare my parents the trouble of buying new ones. At that point I also realized that I had left my umbrella at school during track practice, but I can somewhat easily replace an umbrella so that's not as bad. In the end, I couldn't find them. I wanted to curse God, but I remembered the story about Job and decided not to. I decided to praise God instead because of all the things he has done for me. If I had cursed God I would have proved Satan was right and lost the battle.

If you were too lazy to read that then here's a quick summary: I lost my running shoes which equals to losing a hefty sum of money, I wanted to curse God but did not because then Satan would win, and I am looking for new running shoes. In conclusion, praise the Lord! :) Don't ever forget what he has done for you, because that will keep you from sinning sometimes (it's regrettable but we as humans can not never sin because of our nature), it will help you to keep being a servant of God like Job, and it will remind you of your worth to Him.

"In Jesus Christ's name we say,
Amen!"

God and Temptation

“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”- 1 Corinthians 10:13

So as I read this passage, I remembered one of the sermons from pastor Howard. He talked about a passage in Job that talked about how God allows Satan to tempt us, so that we may prove to Satan how faithful we are to God. The story goes on and Satan does terrible things to Job to try and get him to curse God, however Job never does. Instead he keeps insisting that it is he that is doing something wrong and must ask for forgiveness from God. Even when 3 of Job's friends come and scold Job for thinking such a thing, Job never gives up on God. In the end, God is proud of Job and greatly rewards him for his good deeds, and Satan's plans are foiled once again.

Anyways, my point is that I believe this is how we should believe in God. I've noticed how selfish I am in thinking that God should keep on giving to me, when He is everything to me. I mean, He is so great that I can't even give anything of worth to him but my praises. Even that, it's not enough. Everything in this world is from him, we can't even hope to offer him anything. So when one bad things happens in our lives, we usually blame God for it or ask him to help us. I'm not saying it's wrong to do that, because even Jesus did it. He cried to God when he was put on the cross "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" So if even Jesus did it, I think we'd be allowed to do it as well, but that's besides the point. What I'm trying to say is that we usually blame God during bad times or only ask for help during the bad times like the Israelites did when going to the promised land. Instead, we should ask God what we are doing wrong and how we can please him like Job (a man who God himself said "is upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil").

After the retreat, I was seeing the major flaws in my ways and now want to change. I want to be more of a person like Job who believes in God with all of his heart, mind, and soul. When God allowed afflictions to burden him, Job still believed in God with his all. I want to be able to do that. When times of trouble come up, I want to be able to get through them while praising God and not blame him.

Well there are more things on my mind, but everything I'm thinking about is in a huge mess. So I'll write some more another time.