Justin Kim

Earthquake Chile

8.8-magnitude earthquake struck the South American country early in the morning. Haiti's earthquake was only a 7.0-magnitude, but it was much more devastating because of Haiti's poor infrastructure and economy. Nonetheless, lives were lost in a matter of seconds. We don't know the final numbers and statistics coming out of Chile as things are still being sorted out, but it's becoming all too clear now that the earth is unstable. Nothing is dependable. Our lives are frail and vulnerable. Things can change in a heartbeat. Lives can be snuffed out without warning. We have no way of knowing when a catastrophic earthquake could happen even here in Seattle, or there wherever you may reside.

The earthquakes in Haiti and now in Chile have put things in proper perspective for me. My church and I are participating in the One Month to Live challenge. The question that we're asking is, "How differently would we live our lives if we only had one month to live?" The goal for us all is transformational growth in living thirty days of a no-regret life. My wife and I have been reading a chapter a night from the book and praying about how we could make much of God each day and seizing every opportunity to live passionately and to love completely. I've already witness myself being affected by this challenge in the way I make decisions.

I pray for the people of Chile. I pray that God would send aid and help to the people there. I pray also that all people would consider carefully how frail and short and vulnerable life really is. James 4:14 says that our lives are a mist that's there one moment, gone the next. Ephesians 5:16 says, "Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." Not only are the days evil, but it is unstable and unpredictable. We best starting living now... and we're not really living apart from Christ.

Home Sweet Home

 

So I've been out of town for awhile.  Actually, I've been of the country for awhile.  My family and I left for missions on January 4th and we just got back the other day.  Boy, it's good to be home again!  And when we came back, there were all these changes that had happened while we were gone. 

Two of my church staff members got engaged!  Congrats to D. Cho & Christina!  Congrats to Jimmy & Gina! 

The Seahawks fired their coach only after one season and hired Pete Carroll from USC.  I was thrilled about this but I'm come to realize that not everyone shares my sentiment. 

My Redskins hired a new coach in Mike Shananan which makes them a definitive front-runner to win next year's Superbowl! 

And then, of course... there were the earthquakes, first in California and then the big one in Haiti.  I had heard about the earthquakes during my mission trip but didn't know exactly how devastating the Haiti quake was until I got to Korea.  Where we were, we didn't get good internet connection and also a lot of the media was censored a bit.  In any case, I'm proud that our church is stepping up and taking real steps to bring aid to Haiti.  We are sending a team of medical professionals, along with other volunteers this coming Friday to Haiti.  We collected a love offering yesterday and all of it will go to help people there.

I was only gone for 19 days but so much has happened in such a short period of time.  My wife and I were talking and it felt like we were gone much longer than that.  It's good to be home nonetheless and to continue our ministry back here in Seattle.  

Book Review: "The Faith"

Reading is fundamental!  I disliked reading when I was younger.  All I wanted to do was watch my cartoons.  The only types of literature that I read was Sports' Illustrated and comic books.  Then I got to college and fell in love with reading.  It opened up a whole new world!  I liked to read so much that I became an English major.  Now, I wish I had more time to read.  I enjoy being around people, but give me a good book in a room by myself and I'm pretty content and satisfied. 

So I came upon this book because of the author.  I was looking for a book to read with my leaders and staff at church and there were several great books that I had in mind.  But I found out that Chuck Colson came out with a relatively new book entitled, "The Faith."  I enjoyed his books like, "Born Again," "Loving God," and "Being the Body" and so I thought I would flip through this one as well.  Chuck Colson writes about all the major aspects of the Christian faith... like the Word, the Church, Holiness, Sanctity of Life, etc.  He writes that "most professing Christians don't know what they believe, and so can neither understand nor defend the Christian faith - much less live it."  So he sets out to define what the Christian faith is and challenges the reader to live it out.  To know what you believe and why you believe is so important.  I chose this book to read with my leaders because as leaders, we definitely need to know what we believe and why it is so important to our Christian faith.

Chuck Colson, by the way, was also my employer when I was in college.  I worked for Prison Fellowship Ministry as an intern and got to meet him and his wife, Patty.  Chuck always wears a thick, black-rimmed glasses.  His wife, Patty, wears the same glasses except hers is thick and white-rimmed.  They were so cute together!  Also, I've never met a man who had more wrinkles on his face than Chuck did.  One time, I was sitting sort of close to him and I looked into his face and I couldn't believe how wrinkly his face was.  My mother and my wife would be so upset if I had that many wrinkles on my face... he probably never used lotion on his face in his life! 

Chuck Colson would again re-appear into my life when he came to my seminary as the commencement speaker at my graduation.  Of course, he didn't remember me at all, but when I mentioned that I worked for Prison Fellowship, he was delighted and even gave me a handshake.  Nice man.  I love what he's about and I love his writings. 

The book overall, was great.  It was intellectually challenging and the pages were filled with riveting illustrations.  He's a better writer than a speaker in my opinion.  My leaders, staff, and I greatly benefited from reading this book together.  I think you should read it as well.