I am thankful for (in pictures)

For the serious and silly moments of life. I do feel that sometimes the challenging part is to just enjoy life. life! it! is! to! be! enjoyed! Anyway, hope everyone is having a happy Turkey day!

autumnal @Yuldong Park

heart theology

“Salvation comes from the Lord.”--Jonah prayed.

Restore unto me the joy of salvation.

I recently picked up Per Petterson's novel, I Curse the River of Time, a book about memory and rueful regret, as well as confronting the idea that we will all die. In it, Petterson writes of the moment when you realize that you are dying, the moment before you simply cease to be, and your brain is able to register that fact: "I was scared. Not of being dead, that I could not comprehend, to be nothing was impossible to grasp and therefore nothing really to be scared of. But the dying itself I could comprehend, the very instant when you know that now comes what you have always feared, and you suddenly realise that every chance of being the person you really wanted to be, is gone for ever, and the one you were, is the one those around you will remember."

I bring this up because at service yesterday night, the guest speaker spoke extensively about Jonah in the moment he thought he was to die. Jonah had been thrown overboard, abandoned in the water and in the fish. He was going down, down, down....But then his faith rises with his heart in it. He turned and ran to God. He called out to God in prayer--a humble, honest, cry of need.

If I honestly describe my present feelings and situation, my private prayer life has been suffering for awhile. Recent, big decisions about the future were solely my own. I didn't consult family or friends or God. Also, it's been hard to make meaningful connections with people here yet I feel such weak resolve to take the initiative to get to know others. I realize if I'm to have any public ministry, I need revival in my prayer life. As long as I'm alive, I can and should and will cry out to the Lord! But I'm so forgetful and weak. Please pray that my heart and prayers are honest, repenting, thankful, and committed.

An email from my student

I COULDN'T RESIST:

Hi, Esther.

I am sending you a mail because I couldn't do my grammer homework. The first reason was because the printer was not working. So I decided to write it online and send you mail. However, it failed because my computer was knocked out and erased all my writings about chapter 8. I was so angry at my computer and regretted if I did my homework in weekends....

That was the second reason.

The third reason was that I went to the school trip to Everland today.

Sorry for the excuse and sending you late.

I could have finished that homework earlier, but forgive me.

Next time, there won't be any excuse.

Sincerely,

Simon

Just going to think out loud here. All this internal conflict for a working and true worldview has given me much to think through, and then a notion occurs to me. I don't think that looking at what is right or wrong or trying to nail down what is black or white or gray will help me find a way forward in life. There is much of what goes on in this world that we cannot understand and react to properly. We're not always in control of what happens around us, and even when we are in control, we don't do what is right.

So after all that, what, in the end, have I learned? It seems like I know something but still know nothing.