First Blog: Who I Am, Establishing Me.

Welcome...to my first official blog, "Mark the Transformer." Thanks for taking the time to sit down and read it!

A little introduction about myself and the purpose of this blog: this is an account to you, about my current and future adventures teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) in the land of my mother's birth: South Korea. I am a 22-year old individual who is unique, just like everyone else. I am just emerging from the ashes of my undergraduate degree experience, seeking to find adventure in this interesting world, and I have finally found that opportunity in this future teaching gig. I will explain how I got the job at a later time.

Yet first, I must establish myself to you. First of all, nice to meet you. You may be asking: why "the Transformer?" Of course, you got to dip your hand into the nostalgia cream and dig out some old flavors from the 80's for this one. I am an eighties baby, born in '84, my brother and I growing up with the hit cartoon show, "Transformers." These stellar robot were always meeting the experts eye-to-eye, displaying their versatile skills in the ongoing struggle between the good, democracy-supporting Autobots and the bad, dictatorial Decepticons (don't worry, I added the political affiliations myself).

What's unique about this show is that you have these robots who, like the show title implies, who transform into something more, into an unique form where they possess powers beyond their original scope. You have some Transformers turning into automobiles, or some into airplanes, or some into...well literally, a gun. They had unique powers where they could rise to the occasion and bring usefulness to the battle scene. Taking this show's fundamental aspect of transforming, lock and load, and ready to fight evil, enter...me.

Why am I a "Transformer?" Well, most of us in life today believe that we are "stuck" with our personalities and current state of being. Some believe we are a product of Freudian history, where our past experiences determine our present. However, I do not believe that at all concerning my life. I believe that when we have a purpose where we can worship the One who created human life itself, life makes sense because we have more reasoning behind what we do. And when I write about "worship," I do not mean singing. We sometimes limit the word worship to just the vocal aspect, but true worship is giving your 110% of your energy and determination to all that you do, ALL of it, to the One who gave us breath in our lungs. Makes sense, right? So, you rightly assume that I believe in God, the Being who determines and gives us our existence, and made us for His pleasures and glory.

Ultimately, as a Transformer, it comes down to my transforming experience of meeting Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior, and hence, my faith in the unseen. Jesus is the Son of God who died for us, and gave us the chance again to worship God. Para mi, accepting Christ as my Savior was the best decision I have ever made in life. Yet sadly in this world today, I have never seen so many people who mock His name yet fear His name at the same time. Jesus was the most powerful human being on the planet, because He was direct from the Source of Life, and what He had to say was real and life-transforming. For my life now, transformation not only is necessary, in fact, it is a part of my life. Why? Because the nature of Jesus Christ calls us to become like God, to become Holy, to transform to become who we were originally meant to be: in God's Divine Image.

So, I never believe that my life is stuck because God uses all circumstances, especially the bad experiences, to draw a born-again Christian closer to Him. See, people today think that Christianity is a religion; a pick and choose buffet line where we can tailor our faith according to our needs. In fact, many people in America are religious. They go to church and do the lip services at service. They give, but they go back to their Mon-Fri schedules with melancholy and mundane mediocrity, which I believe is the American Tragedy.

Not me. My life is more than this. Instead of expounding on it more, I'll let this hook from Christian/Indie hip-hop artist, Mars Ill, sum up my attitude towards my life's experiences:

My life moves and it changes and it grows/
My life, I fight for life throughout the highs and lows/
My life is sacrifice, open wounds and broken habits/
My life, come here, take a second look at it/
My life moves and it changes and it grows/
My life, I fight for life throughout the highs and lows/
My life is just a token, a tool for you to see with/
It’s my life, but here, you can take it if you need it…

Yea. Now, why am I writing all this philosophical truth stuff, and about my Savior? Simply put: to understand this blog and to understand my perspectives, I have to establish the fundamental purposes behind who I am and what drives me in life. I am an immature man with a willingness to grow, but experienced enough to know that I cannot control all things. I have to trust the One who made all things perfectly, because I have no choice. Yet ironically it is my trust in God which opens up more choices and opportunities than ever before.

So, for the next few weeks, as I prepare for the greatest journey of my life so far, I want to let you know who I am and see what I'm about. Then, the rest of these ramblings will make sense. I will meet new people daily in Korea, learn about a new culture, language, and struggle to break barriers. Yet, what makes me stand apart from others is that I am assured that it is in Christ that I can break these barriers. Let's transform together.

Oh by the way...

Nice to meet you.