Friday, October 22, 2010

Bunch of Bums

Something cool I'm realizing about the Bible is how the Grace of God manifests itself through a "bunch of bums."

I grew up admiring our forefathers of old in the faith...Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. I have intense respect for the New Testament brothers who held down the faith...John and James, Peter, Paul, Stephen, Silas, Timothy, and Titus. There are countless others. I've read about the major and minor prophets whom the Lord used to be His mouthpieces...Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and others. The kings and judges of old who through the Lord's power did some major conquering and defending in the nation of Israel while maintaining worship to the Lord: David, Hezekiah, Deborah, Josiah, and Asa. Foreigners who followed God rather than their own people like Rahab, Ruth, and Namaan.

I look up to God because of them. They had faith in God and God used them to bring glory to His name. Sometimes I think that I personally can't be on their level because God elevated them on a whole another level. They just had "it" when it comes to faith in God.

But as I look at their lives more intricately, I started seeing more of how God was using people who were simply flawed and sinful. Yeah, its like we think these faith warriors were sinless so God chose them instead: they had the talent like a spiritual LeBron James or Ronaldinho. But, just take a look at how much these guys biffed up in their sin, yet our Lord was still faithful to finish the work that He started. He used these ordinary people to do His work.

Moses killed an Egyptian man who was abusing one of his fellow peoples (Exodus 2). David committed adultery and murdered the lady's husband through manipulation (2 Samuel 11). Rahab, who helped the Israelite people into Jericho, was a prostitute (Joshua 2). Abraham lied about his wife being his wife to the Egyptians, which brought calamity on them (Genesis 12). Jacob deceived and cheated his brother Esau...twice! (Genesis 25 and 27) Judah, one of the forefathers of our Savior Jesus, had relations with his daughter-in-law (Genesis 38). King Hezekiah ended up showing envoys of Babylon, potential thugs from the outside, his vast treasures and riches that he had stored, a huge mistake (2 Kings 20). And there are many more, because as Isaiah so aptly puts it: "I am a man of unclean lips!" (Isaiah 6:5) In God's presence, we are in big trouble.

I was just thinking about this phrase from rapper Stephen the Levite before begins his song "Stained Glass Window:"

"I'll never understand it man, a Holy God, not just allowing, but choosing sinful men, to represent Him, its crazy man..."

So, if you ever feel like God's grace is not sufficient for your sinful baggage, regret, pain? To magnify God's glory forevermore, read the Word and see how He uses and makes holy sinful people for His glory; to draw people to Himself. You'll find that a person like King David is more similar to you than you think. That's what the Bible is all about...God's Power, Glory, and Magnificence through human history, yet using ordinary, sinful people to be His vessels. And He does it all through His son, Jesus Christ, who took our sins to make it happen on the cross.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Chris Brown Teaches English Better Than I Do

This is a hilarious story that shows how pop culture can influence people better than real people.

While teaching Class 1-11 at my high school in Korea in 2009, I decided to play some music while they were doing an individual activity. I start off each class with a lecture and then some kind of activity where they have to do something on their own so they won't have to be bored all the time. I would usually play music from my iTunes library, music they never heard of, just to set the mood while they were working.

Earlier that week, during a free period at the office, I looked up YouTube videos of Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. I am a casual fan of the boy wonder from Portugal, and I enjoy watching his footwork on the ball. This one compilation video of his football acrobatics was accompanied by a really nice R&B song that was quite catchy. I didn't know who it was at the time, being that I don't really listen to pop music in the States.

Commenters on the video were asking what the song was for some of them too did not know. Then the ominous came in the form of "Chris Brown, With You." Chris Brown is the infamous pop star who abused his girlfriend Rihanna, another famous pop star in the States. He received a lot of flack and charges for it.

Now, to anyone who reads my blog or has read this blog, I have portrayed what its like to work in the public school system of South Korea. It is a system of intense, rigorous study yet with no practical real life applications. So English is an off-target program where they have the goal to learn English but they miss the shot by a mile. Most of my kids study intensely daily, but have hardly any chance to speak, therefore, a good majority do not speak it well. Many kids know grammar well, but sentences are often broken. I'm not blaming them, I blame the system.

So how did Chris Brown teach English better than I did that day? During individual work time, I played his song in the middle of class. I had two girls in that class whose English really wasn't that good. One girl in particular never participated and she always looked off towards the East Sea in boredom. She even wrote one time in her notebook that my "Soni's class is not fun." Hey, she's honest. Speaking English to the both of them was like speaking English to fish..."huh?" Okay, I'm exaggerating, because one of the girls was decent, but the East Sea-staring off to space girl had hardly no English.

Yet, when Chris Brown started singing...I heard more voices.

It was the two of them. Not only singing the choruses, but ALL the verses by heart. Flawless. I asked them if they knew who this was..."Yeah teacher! Chris Brown!" And they sung the entire song by heart.

Chris Brown bested me that day. Teaching English by pop songs is a good method. But Chris Brown? Give me a break. I would never teach them to abuse others.

Get It Done...

Get It Done...
2010: The Year of the Soni Tiger