020912

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11 is for my younger brothers' birth day and also because they are twins.. and they act like 11 year olds.

HEY GUISE.

today was a very chill day.. fitting for it being Sunday - a day of rest and recuperation. i like to think Sunday as the start of the week because Sunday is when i go to church and metaphorically, a day where i recharge my battery so i can get through the rest of the week =].

i do apologise however, that i did not go to church today... Jo took her mother and sister to the airport, and i wasn't too comfortable with going alone to an area 40+ minutes away.. on top of that, it would be nice to go with a Korean speaker just in case... i'm sorry =[

i instead went to Myeongdong (again) to help a fellow exchange student find the office of the telecom company so she could go by herself tomorrow to get her SIM card... it was the most awkward 1 on 1... i was hoping that she brought a few friends along so we wouldn't be 1 on 1.. but o well... it only lasted 30 minutes or so.. haha...

ANYWAY... i can't get over how nice the river is in front of my dorm.. it motivated me to go for runs... but i'll need new shoes.



later in the day (on the way home)




when i came back home... i turned the laptop on and went onto desiringgod.org... i know it shouldn't be a substitute to church.. but i really did listen intently..

i listened to John Piper's 1993 sermon on Anxiety [1 Peter 5:11]. awesome stuff...

he talked about how it shouldn't be 'humble yourselves AND THEN cast your anxieties on Him'.. but rather it is 'humble yourselves BY casting your anxieties on Him'. if you take the pre-translated passage, the word 'casting' is a participle; it is meant to link with the statement before the word and hence, the sentence should not be two separate commands.

and how does humbling one's self look like?
 - asking for help
 - admitting your weakness
 - doing the ordinary tasks - the little tasks
 - hanging around with all kinds of people

these are very relevant to my time here in Korea, and so was the sermon itself.

i think in the past, i have been very proud in that i rarely ask God for help.. i often try to juggle my own problems by myself and/or sort them out by myself. not only is this prideful, it is causing me a lot more anxiety than it should. furthermore, me relying on my own strength is like an ant thinking it can move mountains.

lately i have been more dependent on God and trusting in His plans for me here in Korea. it has helped a lot because i now see my time here in a new light.. which the sermon helped me realise.

- who am i to question God's will - a God who wants to work for my good?

if He has placed me here (and i thank Him that He did), He did it for good reason. He will forever know the infinite amount of other paths that I could've embarked on if not this exchange program. but i will trust that this path i am on right now is the path He wants me to take so that in the end, He will show me and teach me all He will to get me closer to the man He has planned me to be.

which is applicable in all aspects of life... you could be so anxious due to losing your credit card that you are at home looking around the house for it.. in doing this, you miss the show you were about to watch, that may have had a very sexual scene that would later cause you to indulge in sexual sin(s), resulting in a dry/non-existent prayer season that could've otherwise given you the strength to get through a very important event in your life the next day.
God works in mysterious ways.... He won't always come in your preferred timing and He won't always fix circumstances the way you want Him to... but trust that He is good and whatever happens in your life.. it has happened for a good reason.

" Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." v. 6-7.


The next bit... humbling yourself under God's mighty hand...

we shouldn't come to Him and cower under His hand with anxiety on our shoulders... but instead, we pass our anxieties onto Him before we go under His hand. 
the hand that holds the universe... also wants to hold your troubles. how awesome is that?

the word 'cast' is used another time in the New Testament... it is when Jesus was getting on the donkey and the crowd 'cast' cloths onto the donkey - the imagery of one transferring the heavy burden of 'baggage' onto a capable pack animal.

God is not ashamed to be like a donkey for us (used only for analogy's sake); carrying our load up steep mountains and through the crowd. God loves to flex His muscles to the world to show how unique and gracious His burden-carrying power is. Our God is a God who carries; a God who works for our good.



during my time here, i aim to abandon (even if it's slowly) my mentality of 'i can handle all my problems by myself' mentality. it is a very proud mentality and it humiliates God's sovereign authority over my life.
i will trust in His plans for me here in Korea and i will trust Him all the more when I am struck with anxiety and burden.


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after the sermon finished, dinner time was approaching.. i fell asleep on my chair and woke up 5 minutes before 6pm... the time when i was supposed to meet a fellow exchange student who was clueless about the ticket machine. after helping her and after dinner, i went with her and another two guys from Pakistan to look for the buildings in which we will be having class, and also went to E-mart to pick up stuff for our dorms.

the oval at our uni


they got blankets whilst i got washing liquid, ethanol wipes (for the bathroom floor), cereal and milk!

MAYTE... they have Oreo cereal here.... it looks amazing. apparently in the USA, it's a very popular cereal (but now not in production). i didn't buy it though because i assumed it would have cakeloads of sugar...


the middle one is the oreo cereal.. =O


in other news, tomorrow is the first day of Uni for me!!! Half excited-ish... i'm more excited to go on that Cultural trip!!! it will be very fun!!! rice cake making.. tofu making... oh yeh..

Thankful: A day of rest and a certain calmness in my heart.

Prayerful: For the new semester. May it be educational, fruitful, focused and fun.

Dangers: Forgetting God in times of heavy workload and stress.