Fat of Rams

Proverbs 21:3
To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

It's no surprise that the media, as powerful as it is, has such wide spread influence. In either big or small ways, love it or hate it, the media has shaped who you are and the way that you think. In fact, the media is partially responsible for the clothes that you are wearing right now. It's probably also responsible for the reason why people write on their computers, post up their writings, and expect others to read these writings.

What about the way that we think of and understand love? Has the media somehow changed the way that we understand the gift of love that was perfectly portrayed in the life, death, and resurrection of the Son? I suspect that it did, it does, and it will.

It seems as though, that in our minds, love has become divorced from commitment. In other words, love is often understood as feelings of happiness, smiles, flowers, and at it's essential root, selfish-comfort. But when did love equate to such things? When did the thought of love become separated from the hardship, pain, and even self-death that is required to say that we do in fact love.

What makes my heart skip a beat is especially how we do everything we can to avoid making love sound strict and rigid. We believe that love must always accompany a heart sign <3. Love ought to always be red and pink. Love is always about wedding days and sweet, cuddly emotions. This cannot be the mindset for the people of God. My heart tells me that there is one essential piece of love that is missing in the church today. The key word is obedience. For Christians to profess that they love God, there absolutely must be a heart of obedience. But how come we never talk about obedience when mentioning love? Is it because it makes love sound overly strict and severe? Is it because the media never talks about it that way? Or maybe because obedience is secondary to the sacrifices we offer of loud singing and long lengthy prayers?

In 1 Samuel, the word of the Lord comes to the prophet Samuel to tell the king Saul to attack and destroy an enemy of Israel, the Amalekites. Saul is to destroy every living creature and leave nothing alive. Saul obeys Samuel and goes to fight the Amalekites and destroys them but he makes a crucial mistake. Saul decides to take the Amalekite king as a prisoner and brings back all the best sheep and oxen in order to sacrifice them to the Lord.

Immediately the word of the Lord comes to Samuel and the Lord rejects Saul as king. Saul pleads with Samuel explaining that he did in fact obey the Lord! The only reason why he spared some of the animals was to sacrifice them to the Lord! How could he have done wrong when he wanted to offer sacrifices? Samuel replies with words that we are modern day readers ought to heed today...

"Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams."
1 Samuel 15:22-23

Far too often I find that we are very similar to Saul. We love devoting things to God and singing songs of sacrifice and surrender, and yet we look at our lives and see such small traces of obedience. What good is sacrifice if our lives lack obedience? What good are tears, prayers, and praise songs when the moment we lift our bodies from the pew, the Word of the Lord takes a back seat to what we desire?

The truth is that love is not always fluffy, easy, and constant smiles. Sometimes love is rigid, brutal, impossible, bloody, and painful. We must not mirror the culture of divorce by divorcing love with a part of what it really is. From the very mouth of Jesus Christ comes the call to obedience.

"Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."
John 14:21

The picture of love comes in many shapes and forms. But ultimately the best picture of love was through the obedience of the Son which led to a blood spattered cross. The one and only time in history that perfection was seen in one's obedience, and the one and only time perfection was seen in a sacrifice that would save the world.

Clanging Cymbals

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal."

1 Corinthians 13


According to Dictionary.com, the definition of "poetry" is 'the art of rhythmical composition, written or spoken, for exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts.'

Generations both young and old have appreciated the poetry of those who possess a gifted ability to connect words and seize the power and beauty of language. There is almost endless potential in the way language can capture the senses and stir emotions.

There may be many gifted poets who appreciate the art of language and its use to the fullest, but honestly most of us are not only blind to that, but in fact misuse language in a way that is detrimental to our expression and communication to each other. Unfortunately, our expression and communication to God is not immune to our tainting and watering down of language either.

During college I once had a conversation with an older gentleman in a cafe. He was a retired professor who was a practicing Buddhist and explained how he had been diving into the study of language. He asked me a question that I find is appropriate for our whole generation. "What do we even mean with the words we say?"

If somebody were to ask you, "what do you want with your life?" a typical response would be, "I want to enjoy life and be happy." Now stop and think about that answer. What does that even mean? What do you really mean when you say that you want to be happy? What does the word happy even mean?!

Lately I feel like the Spirit has been bombarding me with the message of love, and how that single word could quite possibly be the most powerful word and/or thing period. So what about love? What does love even mean? I love the Celtics. I love hot dogs. I love Facebook. I love you. I love God. I love vacations. Now when I see the slew of ways that the word love can be used in any sentence, I stop to think, could we be misusing one of the most precious words in any human language? Have we as people, and even further, we as the church got it all wrong? To put it bluntly, I find it sad that one can use the same word to describe their feelings about the Almighty Creator with their feelings of a sports team or processed meat topped with a red condiment.

1 Corinthians 13 is probably the most famous passage in the Bible about love. Of course we've seen the descriptions of love on everyone's facebook profile, and its probably something that you've written in a letter or card to a friend sometime in your life. You know you've done it before. So much attention is brought to the description love in the middle of the passage by both congregation and preacher a like, but I find the opening verses are of up-most importance. If we miss these verses, then we've missed it all. In verses 1-3 Paul writes of how we are nothing without love. We may have the greatest gifts and talents this world could possibly see, and we may have the strongest faith, but without love we are absolutely nothing.

Churches today spend so much time trying to figure out whether babies should be baptized at birth and if there will ever be a solution to the freewill versus predestination debate. My humble call to the church is this. If we haven't gotten step 1 right yet, why move on to step 10...23...500?

In Matthew 22:37 (Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind), Christ Himself says that the GREATEST commandment is to love. There is so much power and mystery to the word love, this agape love that Paul writes about and that Jesus speaks about. But could it be that our misuse of the word and our lack of "poetry" plays a larger role in our misunderstanding of its depth, power and truth?

Does the church of Christ in the year 2009 understand what it means to love? Or are we all just a bunch of clanging cymbals? Trying to wrap my head around understanding God and our role as His creation actually just leaves me more confused than I started off. Will we really ever understand love? Maybe. Maybe not. So for now my prayer is like the song says, that in the light of Christ all the things of this world would grow strangely dim...even hot dogs.

Seasons Change

Isaiah 54:10
Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

- As time goes by, makes me wonder why nothing's the same

- Once in a while, I'm in frozen time where clocks unwind
- It's like all I know is foreign too, I'm fallen through
- Like seasons change, new painted pictures with changing names
- And it's me, but its You

- Winter chill carrying the storms, builds up frozen walls
- And Spring bursts in life giving
- Summer joys stir up my heart and melt away the bitter cold
- Fall colors bring, what's beautiful just falls again
- To find all has changed...
- But somehow You're the same



http://www.myspace.com/djyoon

Bread, Trains, and Planes

“As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you.” 

Joshua 1:5

There's a single right turn at the Bradley International Airport in Hartford, CT that makes my stomach turn.  It's a perfect example of something that is bittersweet or better yet, an example of a love/hate relationship.  I've never spent so much time at airports than I have since I've been in college.  None of those times were for my own flight.  

This not-so-special right turn at the Bradley airport is the road that allows you to aboard both the departure and arrival ramps.  I'm often very nervous that I'll choose the wrong road so it's become a common practice of mine to constantly repeat outloud whether my patron is arriving or departing.  

Airports ellicit such opposite responses.  There's the joy of welcoming a loved one home.  The warm hug of a friend you haven't seen for so long.  But at the same time, the tear-jerking hug good-bye, and the last wave farewell as a dear friend walks away down the terminal ramp.  I've had my turns at this scenario way too many times.

As a graduating senior, it's hard to pinpoint exactly what the most important lesson is that I've learned in my four years.  Commencement is only a few days away and I question myself.  "If commencement really is the beginning and fresh start to something new, what have I taken away from the old?"  I realized there are only a few simple truths that I'll take to heart after college.  The same truth that will be no different whether I'm 21, 30, or on my death bed waiting for my time to come.

Life changes all the time.  People will come and go.  So cherish the people you have and do all that is humanly possible to let them know they are loved.

It's often so hard for us as humans to let go.  It's often so difficult for us as Christians to be ok with unwanted change and abrupt transformations to take over our lives without our deciding permission.  For me, I feel like I should join Boys2Men and sing "it's so hard to say goodbye."  Again I find myself in place that screams a simple message.  Life is always about perspective, always.  When change comes our way, when we feel like we've lost something, we can harden our hearts, be bitter, or just sleep away our sadness.  Or we can be thankful for what we've had, the passed time, the special memories, and the special marks made on our hearts that not even time can erase.  

Life and relationships are a lot like airports.  There is a constant cycle of departures and arrivals and the airport isn't going to slow down to wait for you.  Our lives are often like a plane, flying around the world, hitting turbulence, carrying a variety of passengers and dropping them off in different destinations around the world never to see them again.  There is only one thing constant.  We always come back to find the ground.  We always land on a Solid Rock.

Imperfection

It seems like yesterday when sophomore year here at UMASS had come to a close. Somehow what feels like "yesterday" is actually a whole 365 days gone by, and boom, I find myself back in this spot once again. This time however, a giant leap closer to graduation. As every year concludes I usually find myself physically in front of my computer and a blank xanga post. Emotionally it's become common to be in a state as if I'm swimming in a giant pool of mixed emotions. Kind of like swimming in a public pool... it's definitely not just water you're swimming in. ;)

What is it about our human nature that imperfection stands out so much? In an entire academic years worth of blessings, fun, smiles, friendship, relationships, community, and love, sadly I can't help but look back at junior year and see all my flaws covering each semester...month...day. It's like what my old youth pastor used to joke about....

Imagine a pool of crystal clear, pure, cold, refreshing water. I like to picture a waterfall and gushing springs and just jumping into the water and drinking it all up. Move over Gatorade! You don't know what refreshment is compared to this water! It's like I bought Dasani and filtered it 100 times through Brita, chilled it and THEN drank it. PURE. Get the point? Well now imagine if I took a TINY speck of my ddong and dropped it in. Did all that description of the PURITY and BEAUTY and CLEANLINESS of the pool of water just disappear? Yeah. Me too.

I find that my analyzation of this junior year is much like the life we as Christians live today. Every single day in our lives is worthy of celebration is it not? EVERY SINGLE DAY. If you call yourself a believer and follower of Christ, then that means you must have understood and accepted the message of the gospel. What can bring more comfort, peace, joy, satisfaction, etc. then the gospel? Nothing that I know of does. Thus I find that in every day there are a countless number of things to be thankful for, to worship for, to pray for, to celebrate for. Good thing is that a lot of the times we DO do that. Bad thing is that as soon as the storm comes all of it disappears faster than your opinion about my ddong water. Life brings to us some sort of struggle or hardship, whatever it may be for you personally, and as soon as it hits, we forget to worship, we don't want to pray, the party is over and there is no celebration. Everyone go home, parties over. Get out. We were so ready to jump into the crystal clear pool and so ready to drink the water, but as soon as the tiny miniscule ddong hit the water, we don't want to drink it anymore. The thing to notice is that we're surrounded by thousands of gallons of crystal clear water versus one .001 gram of human feces. Many times in our lives we're swimming in a thousand gallons of God's blessings, but once the .001 gram of hardship comes our way, its time to get out of the water.

Take the persepective of the creator. God looking down upon his creation. He sends us blessings and love and has SPOILED us with everything we could ever ask for. But are we not the most disgusting and fickle creatures ever? In simplistic terms, to God, are we not the whining baby crying when we don't get the newest toy at Wal-mart that our mom refuses to buy for us?

One thing I love about Christianity, is that bad news always becomes good news and nothing else in the world can say the same. Pretty much everything I wrote above on the surface seems so discouraging. We're babies, we're spoiled, we're fickle, when we're surrounded with blessings we complain. Dang...I'm a very cynical writer no? Haha. I think everything I wrote above has nothing but good news sprayed all over it.

Just for ONE moment think if you were God, what would you think of "insert your name here." If I was God, I would be so fed up with "Daniel Jee-Sup Yoon." For he would have failed me a thousand times and a thousand times more. Luckily grace makes it so that is not the case.
God loves me. God loves you. God IS love.

This is what I mean when I say that Christianity takes bad news and turns it good. Even though we're messed up and we complain when we are called to celebrate, God is gracious and loving. Yes, many times He is tough and teaches us lessons, but its always driven by love.

Want to know the best example of bad news turning good?

Jesus Christ was brutally tortured and crucified. = Bad News
Outcome?...

I rest my case.

I find that life is always about perspective. When given a situation (hardships,fun,friends,problems,tests,etc) which way will you look at it? When given lemons, will you make lemonade type thing? If you are trudging through the storm right now, is your perspective that life sucks and that you can't catch a break, or are you thinking that God is building you and growing you stronger?

So I guess I should take a spoonful of my own advice. So, was junior year about imperfection?

No.

Junior year was about blessings and a whole lotta grace.
A whole lot of it.
Ok. Now after 365 days my blank xanga entry is now full. What's next?


Give me a cup of that crystal clear ddong water.

Bread and Trains Pt.2

Today I had an out of this world experience. So, in spirit, come with me to a place that I can hardly describe. A place full of the aroma of a fresh morning, full of chatter from smiling faces, furniture soft and welcoming, and an aura that catches ones eye instilling a longing to join the experience. A little piece of heaven...?

No. I'm actually just back at Panera again.

There's something about this place that brings me a sense of security. Although my actions are very private, when I'm sheltered by these walls and armed with a pen I feel as though I could let the whole world know how I feel. It's a strange sense of public performance in seclusion. Yes, I know that doesn't make sense, but it works like Sex Panther cologne. "They've done studies, you know. 60% of the time it works, every time."

Today I was very enticed by an advertisement placed right in front of the Panera cashier. Talk about good location to make up the indecisive customers mind. The advertisement pictured a perfect pair for your “summer sensation.” It displayed a “more beautiful than what you’re going to get” picture of a You-pick-two of the strawberry poppy-seed salad along with a chicken salad sandwich. It is the combination they brought out for the change of season.

Now what is it about different you-pick-two pairings that make them complement each other so well? Ok if you’re missing my point and think I’m really out there with all the Panera illustrations here’s some others for you more normal people.

Wine and Cheese or Peanut butter and Jelly

All of these things are indeed created by a creator. Someone in some part of history decided to make the alcoholic beverage of wine. And the creator paired different kinds of wines with different kinds of cheeses in order to complement each other in bringing out the perfect flavor and balance.

Now what about human pairing? I guess the use of the word pairing is a bit inappropriate. What about human unification. The bond between man and woman, husband and wife. Just like wine we are the creation of a creator. Thus in order to bring the perfect balance and connection of love, shouldn’t the creator be in charge of finding the perfect match?

Joshua Harris says that getting our romantic relationships right as Christians means seeing God’s glory as the ultimate purpose of any relationship. Who would be better to pave the path to God’s glory than God Himself? I’m a firm believer that God is always speaking to us, just most of the time we’re not listening. He has a sign with the best you-pick-two on it for all of us. It might not be in front of the register today, but we’re called to wait for it as customers.

It takes simply this. Patience, along with a change of season.

Bread and Trains Pt.1

It would be an understatement to describe the couch I am currently sitting on as “comfortable.” I think I’m going to have to steal it some day. I’m sure Panera’s employees would never notice the strange Asian man carrying a giant love seat out the front door.

At times when I’m seeking serenity, silence, and alone time for thought and contemplation, I often like to come to places such as this. I don’t like to venture off into the woods by a bubbling stream or on the other end of the spectrum, lock myself in my room to be alone. I actually like to be alone, when in fact I’m not alone at all. Being surrounded by strangers is some sort of an “alone-ness” in my book. It’s a perfect balance of having the peace and privacy to your self, yet the atmosphere helps embrace human interaction and community.

One of my favorite places in the world is on the Boston T. Most people would think I’m weirder than they already thought because the T is usually noisy, uncomfortable, dirty, and crowded. But that’s exactly what I love about it. Not the uncleanliness of course but the crowded part. On public transportation systems is where you find the most diversity. It’s like a giant bag of human jelly bellies. Every flavor and every color, the most variety you could think of. And what do I do when I’m presented with such an experience? I watch.

So whether it is in Panera Bread with jazz music ringing my ear drums, people chatting while enjoying their panini’s and bacon turkey bravos behind an array of autumn colors, or on a dirty, tattered old train in the heart of the city, laden with old newspapers, gum wrappers and dirty magazines, it is somewhat of a pleasure and enjoyment of mine to simply watch. It is amazing to see God’s handiwork.

Every person taking the T and every person eating their bread has their own story filled with a past, present and future 100% unique to themselves. They each have their own family and group of friends. They have their own hobbies, interests, and favorite sports teams. It’s like 6 billion novels walking around the entire earth.

How should that make me feel? Well for starters I gain a sense of awe. How is it that our God knows every person by name, hears all their prayers, knows what they have done and will do, and yet His heart is overflowing with love for every single person. One quote I heard that I will never forget is, “God knows me, yet He still loves me.” That is quite possibly one of the most profound, simple, and yet powerful sentences I’ve ever heard all at once. Even though my novel is chock full of more dirt and is a bigger mess than the floor bed of a Boston train, God chooses to love me. And that’s not all, He loves everyone else riding the T too.

What should that make me do? That answer is quite simple. Love God and love others too.

I don’t know where my life will lead and what will happen between the stops. That is all in God’s hands and I trust in His sovereignty and quite frankly I’m excited for whatever is to come. I don’t have any answers right now, but I don’t need any and it’s ok.

Good thing about life is accepting that we’ll never know the answers. I don’t know any of them. The only thing I know is that I really got to steal this couch.