Random Meetings

So I jumped on the subway this evening to head home after my Bible Study and there was a scruffy looking foreigner surrounded by luggage, obviously newly arrived in Korea. I was feeling anti-social so studiously avoided making eye contact, but peeking at his luggage I suddenly noticed the tag AKL. So of course I had to talk to him :-)

Turns out his name is Anton and he's from Christchurch - but has been living in Queensland for the last 6 years so has missed all the earthquakes. Is in Korea for a Holiday, (with a huge amount of luggage for just a holiday, more than I bought for an entire year ... but I was good and didn't mention that!) He's looked after poultry for 17 years and decided it was time for a change. Chose Korea because he has friends here. Amazing how much you can find out about a person in just 2 stops.

People really are interesting and I am resolving to talk to one random foreigner per week this year - I'm never going to see them again so it really doesn't matter what happens and I'll hopefully have some interesting encounters ...

Happy New Year Lovely People!!

Bargaining

Did my first bit of bargaining today - accidentally, as is the way that many of my adventures occur ...

Currently I am always on the look out for things to wear to increase the layers of warmth, tending to wear 5 or 6 layers at a time these days. (All that fat I've, lost - everyday I carefully build myself back to that size with multiple layers of clothes!) And, people keep telling me that the cold is going to get worse - I try not to listen, but you can only put your hands over your ears and shout "LALALALALALA" if you know what their going to say ...

Anyway, today I saw a street stall selling some interesting looking ponchos, so I stopped to take a closer look. The lady minding the stall imediately sprung into action, "hand crocheted, special wool, etc, etc, etc!" I tried on a green one and she tried to get me to buy it for 55,000won (around $55 - give or take the exchange rate.) I said "no, I don't like it that much", and was about to walk away - actually I wasn't sure I liked it enough to buy it full stop. Anyway, as I'm saying "I'll think about it," she starts saying "What is a good price?" over and over again. So I decided to be ridiculous just to escape, and said 10,000won. She looked at me as if I was mad and eventually she sold it to me for 25,000won.

I'm such a soft touch - she looked like she was about to cry. So now I have warm shoulders, this is a very short poncho - only covers from the shoulders to half way to my waist ... but its also green, matches my eyes ...
I think I'm glad I bought it ...

Heavenly Places

So I was thinking about Ephesians chapter 2. Specifically I was thinking about the verse 6 "And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus..."

I've always considered this one of those faith statements that Paul makes - it isn't true yet, but it will happen so we'll state it as if it already has happened. But, then I was thinking about God and time.

God is outside of time, He sees the end from the beginning. So for Him we are not yet created, currently living our sinful lives here on this world and also living on the New Earth with Him. All at the same time.

(The way I see it time is like a swimming pool, God sits on the edge of the pool and He can see all of everything that has happened, is happening and will happen. When we ask Him, He dips His fingers into a particular portion of the time puddle to intervene in the events of our lives. We on the other hand are like ants crawling along a twisted piece of string. We can only see what is directly in front of us or remember what is behind us.)

This means that in God's world I'm already in Heaven with Him. Living in Heavenly Places!!

Addendum - Epiphany 4 and More

So I'm still thinking about God loving me ... and having a few more epiphanies ...


Epiphany 4
When Jesus died on the cross he presented God with the biggest, bestest gift He possibly could.

Jesus gave God the one thing that God couldn't obtain for Himself. I mean God is God! If He want's something all He has to do is create it. Except He can't have a relationship with me because I'm covered in sin and if He comes near me I die. So when Jesus made a way for God to be able to hug and care for me (and all the other humans) the way He wants to, He gave God the one thing God couldn't get for Himself.


Epiphany 5
God treasures me!!

For two reasons. 1. He really loves me and He couldn't be with me, and then it was made possible for Him to be with me after all. And, 2. It was His only begotten Son, who He also loves, who paid a huge price to make it possible for Him to be with me. No wonder God loves Jesus so much. And that can only make me more special to Him - I was a gift given to Him by a much loved Son at a huge cost.


Epiphany 6
God is a gentleman, He will never force me to accept His love.

So while God loves me more than I can ever know or understand He also will respect my wishes. if I choose  to deny and reject His love He will step back and allow me to go my own way. But He also orchestrates circumstances to show me that my best happiness comes from being in a relationship with Him. However it is my decision. It must hurt Him terrible to want to be with me and see me cavorting with His enemy, who He knows is only playing with me for the purpose of hurting Him (God), before he (the enemy) kills me.


Epiphany 7
Once I've accepted Christ, God won't allow anything into my life to harm me.

Having said this I must add that, God is more interested in my character development than my worldly wealth. In preparing me for heaven and eternity with Him than in these few short years we have now on this sinful planet. So sometimes things seem hard here and I question, "Why God?" but those things are to build my character and aimed at my ultimate good. If I don't accept Christ then unfortunately I am outside of His special care and he can't protect me in the way he would like too - because remember he won't force us to accept Him and if He comes too close when we are carrying our own sin then we will die because His very presence will destroy the sin in us and us along with that sin.


I am becoming more and more convinced that it is the Love of God that is the most important thing for us to understand and that every circumstance in our lives and every belief we have about God must be filtered through that love.

The Gospel and The Stick-men.

Every class I teach is started with a 3-5 minute devotional where we discuss a verse from the Bible. I am discovering that it is amazing what can be explained using stick men!!! Here is one of the verses from this week accompanied by my explanation. Then, as I thought more about this verse I had a couple of epiphanies.

“Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come fearlessly into God's presence, assured of his glad welcome.” Ephesians 3:12

The Stick-men Gospel:

God is described in the Bible as being a consuming fire.

Sin can not exist in His presence, instead it is destroyed. Just like turning on a light bulb destroys darkness. That means that we can't come into Gods presence because we have sin in us and simply being in God's presence would destroy us. 

He doesn't want us to die, He loves us, so He put us into quarantine, away from His presence - because He loves us and doesn't want us to die. 

Then He came up with a plan to bring us back into His world. He sent Jesus to our world as a human. Jesus lived a perfect sinless life and died an obedient death paying the price for our sins in the process. 

Then because Jesus was sinless He was one Human who could go into Gods presence without being destroyed. 

When we accept Jesus as our God and Saviour He adopts us as little brothers and sisters and takes responsibility for our sins. However He's already paid for those sins so there can be no more punishment for them - Double Jeopardy. 

This means that He can take us into God's presence with Him and there is nothing to fear, we won't be destroyed. 

And God welcomes us with open arms and joy!!!!

Epiphany 1:

God Loves Me!!

Yes, I know, the Bible says this over and over again. But somehow I had this idea of God as a reserved being who quietly says "Cat, I love you," and then gives you one of those lean-in hugs where you lightly touch each others shoulders and air-kiss in the vicinity of each others checks. Then you wave goodbye and go and take care of yourself, trying not too bother Him to much, until it's time to touch-base again.

Instead God wants to shout "I love You!!" and sweep us up in a huge bear hug and not let go!! No reserve there. And He doesn't want to let us go off to take care of ourselves, He wants to nestle us into His lap and give us everything we need and more besides. Showering us with good things. (Of course His definition of good is not always the same as mine, but I already know that He has the better definition and even when it seems like what He is giving me is a curse rather than a blessing I know that He can be trusted - like the three Young Men in Babylon I am learning to be able to say "My God is able and willing to save me, but even if He doesn't I will still serve/love/trust Him.")

Epiphany 2:

God must feel so devastated by our rejection of Him.

Imagine if you had a condition that instantly destroyed anything you touched. You can't hug your most loved person all you can do is watch them from afar and hanker. That's God's problem! 

If we come into His presence we will instantly die because of the sin in us. Not because He want's to kill us but simply because sin can't exist in God's presence and if the sin is in us then we can't exist there either. So God is caught. He loves us most desperately but He can't have us.

So He came up with a plan to remove the sin from us. It involved the death of His Son. The Son who also loves us more than His own life, the Son who also is forced to watch us from afar. The Son who gave up His divinity and was born as a human baby, who became one of us. The Son who endured the torture of life in this world of sin, of death on a wooden cross and of separation from His Father so that they could both have future where they can be with us (me) for eternity.

Now there is a way that we can come to God, a way for us to be engulfed in that bear hug, to be held and never let go and we ignore it, reject it and despise it. We take a pass on the greatest love we can ever experience for a handful of meagre excuses; fear of giving up control to a being who is all powerful, all loving and all knowing. Covetously clutching after our own perception of wealth when our potential lover created the universe and owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

Poor God!!! 

Epiphany 3:

When I allow sin back into my life it separates me from the lover of my soul, God.

I am learning that I need to obey God - not because it is the right thing to do but because I don't want to be separated from my saviour. Every time I sin God has to step away from me again - to protect me from  Himself. And then He has to wait. Wait for me to gather the courage to crawl back to Jesus and ask for forgiveness - except that crawling is not required God is desperately waiting for us to come to Him, To engulf me once again in His love and care.

In Conclusion:

I know in whom I have believed, He is revealing Himself to me more and more everyday and I know that I want to be surrendered to His care forever.

The Temple Was Built in Peace

"David said, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the LORD shall be exceedingly magnificent, famous and glorious throughout all lands. Therefore now I will make preparation for it.” So David made ample preparations before his death. Then he called for his son Solomon, and charged him to build a house for the LORD God of Israel. David said to Solomon, “My son, I had intended to build a house to the name of the LORD my God. But the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood and have waged great wars; you shall not build a house to My name, because you have shed so much blood on the earth before Me. Behold, a son will be born to you, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side; for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. He shall build a house for My name, and he shall be My son and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’ " 1 Chronicles 22:5-10

I was reading this portion of scripture last night and two interesting and related points struck me;

• David prepared the materials for the temple as a man of war.
• Solomon a man of peace used those materials to build the temple and was given rest.

Given that a temple is a place where God lives, then there are two analogies that I can see - and probably a whole bunch more that I can't see;


Analogy One:

"He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God ..." Revelation 3:12 

Each person who accepts Christ becomes a member of His church, His body, here on earth. The church is the place where God lives so it is a temple of God and each of us is a building block of that temple.

We (our characters), are being prepared during a time of war. Jesus is moulding us here and now during His war with Satan. Some of us will be pillars as mentioned in the verse above, the rest of us will be other parts of this temple. 

The finished temple that the church represents will actually be put together, 'built,'  during a time of rest and peace - when Jesus comes again and collects all of the people who chose to follow Him and takes them to Heaven and we (the church) live with God for ever and ever. 

"And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them..." Revelation 21:3

Analogy Two:

"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?" 1 Corinthians 6:19

Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.

We were born, 'prepared,' during a time of war, during the war between Jesus and Satan.

The temple is 'built' when we accept Jesus as our Saviour and the Holy Spirit comes to live in our hearts making us a Temple of God. He brings with Him peace and rest.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness..." Galatians 5:22

Any thoughts?

So That's New!!

Ever since I left New Zealand I've had a lot of people make wrong suggestions about where I'm from. The moment I open my mouth I'm marked as different by my accent.  Over the last couple of years it's become one of my favourite games to make people guess where I'm from. I've had precisely three correct guesses and many many wrong guesses. From the inevitable Australia or highly popular England, to the somewhat less understandable, Germany or France, and on one notably memorable occasion Jamaica! (I mean really??? What are you smoking??? Do I sound Jamaican??? Do I look Jamaican???)

Today however was a definite first!

I'm sitting on the front seat of the bus. It pulls up one stop from my home stop and another foreigner gets on. I make friendly and say "Hi." He looks at me, his expression changes to one of surprise and he says "Hi" too and goes to find a seat. Then the bus lurches off.  I get out of my seat in preparation for alighting at the next stop and end up standing next to this foreigner. He asks me "How long have you been in Korea?" "Six months," I reply. "Oh," he says looking confused, and adds, "Only that short a time, you have an Asian Aura, I thought you were Asian when I got on the bus."

I think Asian tops Jamaican on the 'Most Unlikely Place For Me To Be From' list seeing as this guy didn't even wait for me to talk before he made his assumption!!!!! All I can think of to say in his defence is that I was praying in my head  when the bus pulled up to his stop - would prayer give me an Asian Aura???

Feminine Intuition ... Or Is It Just Fantasy ... ?

I bumped into this on facebook a couple of days ago.

It reignited an internal debate I've been having for a number of months now. Pretty much settled on my answer - but then something will happen which will make me wonder again ...

This post has the has the potential to make all my female friends a little cross with me, and for the record I will say up front here and now that when it comes to the perception and intuition department I am rather lacking. Actually I have NONE!! Or if I do it takes about three months for me to figure out that there is something I should be paying attention too, and then more often than not I put the pieces together wrongly anyway.

So here are my thoughts on Feminine Intuition. It seems to me that perception/intuition/or what ever else you want to call it, is really just imagination on steroids.

You see someone do something so then you imagine the reasons and motivations for why the person did that thing, acted that way, made that face ...

Women tend to jump straight to reasons and motivations without consciously registering that they saw the action or facial expression or whatever it is that set them off. So then they call it intuition. And just because they're sometimes right in guessing those motivations and reasons doesn't change the fact that it's still imagination. Because when it comes down to it, no-one can see inside another persons head.

I'm very interested in peoples thoughts on this ...

Things I Have Learned Or Been Reminded Of This Week

• It is a good idea to remember to close the pressure cooker valve when you turn the gas on - unless you actually want to clean your kitchen floor and bench and wall and stove and ...

• Laying out ALL of tomorrows clothes the night before is a fantastic idea, saves the whole where are the clean socks routine at 5:30am while trying not to wake your flatmate in the next room. On this topic it also a fantastic idea buy 10 pairs of identical socks when sock shopping, never have to hunt for a missing sock partner again. (Been doing this one for years!)

• There is no such thing as too many layers! Every time it gets colder I realise I need to buy more clothes. 

• When going to a clothes shop do not automatically reach for the largest size. They are now too big!  :-D

• Everything you buy you have to carry home on your back!!! Stop shopping for two weeks at a time!!! Wish I was better at remembering this one.

• Check the distance a glass counter top extends over your hand bag with your eyes rather than your forehead - light rays don't get bruises when they bounce off hard objects ...

Autumn Comes But Once A Year ...

Autumn has come to Junggye, that part of Korea where I live. The trees in front of my apartment are a kaleidoscope of colour.

There are maple trees decked out in vibrant red, gentle yellow and fast disappearing greens that are becoming more red every day.

Oak trees made of bronze and gold,

and naked Persimmon trees that only have persimmons, orange as a very orange thing, to preserve their modesty.

All these mixed in with evergreen Pines
- and a bunch of trees that look pretty but I can't name so they totally destroy the lyrical mood I was trying to create :-b

Kids are Trolls - Sometimes

The other day I gave my class a lovely little exercise to make them talk to each other and speak clearly. On the classroom wall I posted the first two verses of a poem and divided the kids into pairs.One person from each pair had to sit down at the other end of the classroom with a pen and paper. Then the other person went back and forward telling their writing partner the poem a line at a time.

I made it a race to see who can finish the quickest - you're not finished until it is letter and punctuation perfect! (Yes, I know that's a bit rich coming from me, but that's the perks of being the teacher.)

Any way, I'm talking to a kid and turn around to see that almost all of the 'run and tell' partners have whipped out there cell phones and are taking pictures of the poem, with the intention of simply delivering the phone to their 'writing' partner.  Like I said ... Clever little TROLLS!!

Before and On The Way

I thought now was a good half way point to give myself some inspiration and motivation to keep eating healthy.

Here are a couple of nasty pictures of me from before I went to America:

 This photo was taken at Christmas about a month before I went to the US.

And this nastiness was from the last school camp I ran in 2008.

All I can say is THANK GOD for the changes He has made in me. Left to my own devices there is no way I could have stayed on any diet for so long. But, He has healed the pressures in my mind that caused me to live in such an unhealthy way and has taught me that healthy eating is a lifestyle not just a diet.

This is me now at half way, I've lost somewhere near 100 pounds - not really sure, scales are hard to come by here in Korea.

With some students a couple of months back.

Yes that is McDonald's we are at - it is the only place that is open at that time in the morning. And I've only been about 4 times since I've been in Korea. Feeling the need to justify myself here ... ;-)

With two of my favourite fellow missionaries.
(I have lots of favourites!!)











I still have a long long way to go, but God is good and I will get there. It is interesting, looking at these photo's makes it more real. When I look in the mirror I still see the fat girl, the one who wants to be slim and beautiful but doesn't think she'll ever get there. But the photos side by side like this show her that this goal is obtainable - well the slim part any way, and I'll gladly settle for slim and healthy.

The other night I was coming home from Costco wishing I had remembered at the check out that I have to carry home everything I buy on my back, and that I had not bought quite so much stuff. And I suddenly realised as my knees threatened to give way that I used to carry more weight that that every second of every day. I have no idea how I did it!

OHS in Korea

One thing I admire about the Koreans is the fact that they have not succumbed to the urge to legislate away personal responsibility or personal stupidity. By that I mean they have not tied up peoples enjoyment of hazard with lots and lots of red tape. People are left to determine for themselves how to keep safe. Therefore children get to enjoy the feeling of riding their bikes with the wind blowing in their hair.

In fact I think I've seen helmets maybe three times since I've been here. Twice they were dangling from the handle bars as the bike sailed gaily past me. The third time it was actually sitting on the risk takers head - with the chin straps trailing behind them in the wind. Having painted a picture that would have many western parents worry in the extreme I should also point out that here in Korea everybody rides on the footpath. To ride in the traffic should be considered suicide!

There are times however where a few OHS standards might be useful - but then that comes under the category of personal stupidity.

Take for example this man I saw painting the arch above the local 'mall' the other day. He had no harness or anything else to keep him safe. If he slipped it was straight down.

Having said all of the above. I think one of the things stifling western society today is a lack of risk, consequence and personal responsibility. I applaud Korean's for maintaining these traits in their culture. I hope they don't drift into the same trap we have, but I fear they will as I see them drifting into other 'western' traps, like fast food and entertainment, etc.

Speaking Korean

I am coming to understand why my teenage students dislike Speaking Class. I walk into a shop and want to ask for something and the moment I am confronted by a shop keeper my limited vocabulary flees from my mind, even my English seems to disappear at the thought of having to communicate with someone who doesn't understand my language. So there I am left, lost for words to explain what I want and an expectant set of eyes waiting, wondering why I am wasting their time. I find myself resorting to single English  words, pantomime and pointing. I can buy a weeks worth of groceries from the street stalls without even having to speak these days. Not something that pleases me.


Today however I was pleased, I went to a shop and refused to let the 'mind blank' win, pushing through the fog. Between the assistants limited English and my very limited Korean we actually had a conversation that involved more than just making a purchase - I was able to explain the purpose of the purchase and she gave me a loyalty card and I left the shop exultant, because I had actually connected with a Korean in her natural environment. Sorry if that makes her sound like a wild animal, that's not what I mean, it's just that most of the time I connect with my students in class. And while I love them they are coming into my environment, rather than me entering theirs. So sometimes I feel like I am exhibit A in the zoo. This morning I felt more like an explorer on safari. I LIKED IT!!!

PS My students are also getting over their fear/dislike of Speaking Class, and are beginning to speak up and voice their opinions even though they know their grammar is wrong and that their pronunciation is not the best and they are also discovering the joy of being understood regardless of the difficulties.

Love and Marriage Korean Style

Last night I was chatting with my Korean flatmate (room mate for the American readers), she was telling me that that afternoon she and her boyfriend had been discussing their marriage. Apparently the man buys the house and the woman buys the furniture. So they had been discussing things like where to live and styles of furniture, etc. Also the fact that they will probably get married in October next year. I asked her, "How did he propose?" She looked at me strangely, "He didn't propose."

I looked at her strangely!! How can one discuss all these concrete things without having had a proposal? So this morning I asked a couple of my classes about Korean proposals. In the first class it was all older married men. Only one third of them had proposed to their wives the others just got married without ever having asked their wife to marry them. In the second class there was 1 man who is married - he said he did propose to his wife, the other student is an unmarried woman, she looked at me like I was out of my mind. Told me that she was practical and that a proposal was not necessary, she just wanted to get married.

Is it so strange that I think that a woman should be asked "Would you marry me?" Rather than the guy just assuming that she will??

I guess this is part of what is called culture shock.

On the other hand it turns out that some things are the same wherever you are. This evening I was going through a vocab list with one of my classes. The word under discussion was 'Trait,' so I asked the students to list traits that show that you are Korean. The list included things like; black hair, black eyes (they think my green eyes are fascinating), low nose, single eyelid, and short eyelashes. This last led to a  discussion of the fact that women can get eyelash extensions, (something I think is fascinating, and bizarre). Then one of the girls says, "but it's not fair, guys have longer eyelashes than girls," and added in anguish, "and they have better legs!" I remember having this exact same conversation about guys eyelashes and legs when I was her age. I've also heard my students in New Zealand say the same things many times.

A Year in Two Halves

This week brings two BIG events; 1. The 18th of October marked the completion of the first half of my year in Korea, and 2. as we speak the All Blacks are playing the final of the Rugby World Cup at Eden Park in Auckland New Zealand. Current score, 55 minutes and 44 seconds into the game is New Zealand 8, France 7.

I am keeping an eye on the score, following my friends comments on facebook and feeling just a little homesick right now. Considered going to a pub in Itaewon to watch the game live with other Kiwi's but didn't want to go an hour on the subway, just to mingle with a bunch of strangers for a couple of hours, and then take an hour to come home again. Maybe I should have gone ...

To divert myself I've been thinking about things Korean.

I'm still very exceedingly glad I came to Korea. I have gained so much by being here. I have also made some wonderful friends, both Korean and foreign. I've had all sorts of adventures, I've fulfilled some things on my bucket list, and yesterday one of the church members leant me his violin so I can play in the little church orchestra (it has three members - counting the piano.) I have two weeks to practice back up to being ok - currently my skills are downright dismal, can't even play a scale in tune.

Then I started thinking about some of the mistakes I've made or almost made since I've been in Korea.

Like walking into an all chicken restaurant and trying to get a vegetarian meal - in my first week at my school - the picture of the chicken on the door should have clued me in ... just as well I didn't decide to try my luck at the restaurant next door - it has a picture of a pig on the door ...

There are taxi's everywhere in Korea and they are cheap!! Way cheaper than in NZ (actually everything is way cheaper than in NZ - expensive things in Korea are normal NZ prices.) Anyway the taxis; turns out the yellow taxis aren't taxis, they are learner drivers. Very glad I didn't have to learn that lesson the hard way - imagine the general consternation if I had jumped into the back of a learner driver car when it pulled up to the lights ... hahahaha ... I think I need to go find a tissue to deal with the laughter tears that mental image causes.

And finally there has been huge personal growth, God has used this time to teach me many things; He has taught me to overcome fear, He has shown me things in myself that needed fixing and then proceeded to fix them and now He is teaching me to put Him first, ahead of my hopes, my dreams and my desires. This is not always comfortable - sometimes it's downright painful but it is good. I am clinging to the following promises:

Philippians 1:6
Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

James 1:12
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

1 Peter 1:10
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

I don't know what will happen in my life when this year is up, maybe I'll stay in Korea, maybe I'll end up somewhere else, I have no plans, I just knock on doors that look interesting. Having said that I would love to stay right where I am. But I do know that wherever I am it will be the place God has planned for me and it will be a place that is very good.

PS New Zealand won the Rugby World cup. 

This is the sermon formally known as 'Big Green Crocodiles with Sharp and Scary Teeth.' I had to cut the crocodile illustration out due to time constraints, that obviously necessatatetid a name change. Seeing as a sermon with Crocodile in the title should have a Crocodile in the actual speaking bit. 

As always the odd formatting is to allow room for translation.

I hope this blesses you. 

The Power Of Positive Choice

A few years ago I had just finished an in depth Bible Study topic that I had been working on for quite a long time and I was trying to decide what I wanted to study next.

But, I was having difficulty.

There were so many interesting ideas.

I would spend a few days on one idea and then get distracted by another idea and then get distracted by yet another topic.

After a few months my computer was full of just started Bible studies and none of them were anywhere near completion.

I decided I had to choose one topic and stick with it until it was finished.

But how to choose?

Eventually I decided to write each idea on a piece of paper.

Then I would put all the pieces of paper into a bowl.

My plan was to pick one at random and that would be the one I would study.

So that’s what I did.

I put over 100 pieces of paper with idea’s written on them into a rose bowl.

The bowl I used was very similar to the one in the picture, notice how small the opening at the top is?

Then I prayed that God would lead my choice and stuck my hand in the bowl.

I gently gave the bowl a 180 degree stir and as I did one of the pieces of paper leapt up, slipped between my wrist and the edge of the bowl, flew through the air and finally landed on the ground under the desk that I was sitting at.

I looked at it in shock, there is no way my stir was strong enough to cause that to happen.

“Well, I guess that’s the one I’m meant to study next!” I thought.

After crawling under the desk to pick the paper up I opened it to read “Victory in Christ.”

Victory in Christ means overcoming sin.

Today I am going to share some opf the things I have learned on this topic.

I definitely do not feel qualified to present anything on this topic seeing as I fail so often.

However the story of Thomas Edison and his failure with the light bulb encourages me.

In the early 1900’s light bulbs were very dim and had a life of about 13 hours before the filament inside died.

Edison wanted to improve this.

He tested thousands of substances to see if they would make a brighter light that lasted longer.

And he failed thousands of times.

His description of this experience is;

"After we had conducted thousands of experiments ... without solving the problem, one of my associates ... expressed discouragement and disgust over our having failed to find out anything. I cheerily assured him that we had learned something. For we had learned for a certainty that the thing couldn't be done [those ways], and that we would have to try some other way."

The quote above comes from an interview with Edison that was published in the January 1921 issue of American Magazine.

Eventually Edison succeeded, he discovered a substance that gave a much brighter light and lasted for about 1200 hours.

Our Christian life of overcoming sin is the same.

We may fail many times but as long as we get up, ask for forgiveness and try again then we are on the right path.

Proverbs 24:16

¹⁶ For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again,
   but the wicked are brought down by calamity.

According to this verse the difference between a righteous man and a wicked man is not the falling but the getting up.

The righteous man rises and goes back to God every time he falls into sin.

The wicked man stays down and wallows in his sin.

A righteous man learns from his mistakes.

“Well that is one way that doesn’t work.” He says, and after asking for and receiving forgiveness, he rises to try to overcome sin again.

Mrs White calls this experimental religion.

Experience is knowledge derived from experiment. Experimental religion is what is needed now. {AG 252.5}

Now I will share some of the things I have learned in my efforts to overcome the sin in my life.

1.       Every time we sin there is a moment of choice, a moment when we choose to sin.

How do I know this?

I used to have a very bad temper. I did not lose it very often but when I did it was spectacular.

When I was 14 (16 in Korean age) I tried to stab a boy in my class.

He sat behind me in maths and every day he would annoy me.

He threw spit balls over my shoulders.

He poked me in the back with his ruler.

He dripped glue down the back of my dress.

He did many other things.

This went on continually for a long long time.

I tried to ignore him, but it irritated me – a lot.

One day he started pretending to cut my hair.

This really upset me.

Then he actually did cut my hair.

Great big chunks of it fell to the floor.

I got up out of my chair.

I picked up my hair and I put it in my pencil case.

In my pencil case I saw the knife I used to sharpen my pencils.

I very deliberately picked it up and tried to stab him in the heart with it.

Fortunately for both of us the blade broke.

The reason I tell this story is that the moment when I saw that knife I recognised that I had a choice.

I could choose to keep my temper under control or I could choose to lose it.

I deliberately choose to give in to my temper.

This moment of choice took maybe half a second but I have never forgotten it.

Over the years I have come to realise that every single time a temptation is put in front of me it is a choice.

I can choose to give in to the current temptation.

Or, I can choose to turn to God, for His strength to overcome the temptation.

Unfortunately I do not always choose well.

(You also may be happy to know though that I have never chosen to lose my temper since that day. I’ve come close a couple of times, but I can honestly say that you don’t have to lock up your knives if I come to visit.)

2.       We can only overcome sin by Gods power.

For me overcoming sin is identical to dieting.

I can have all the desire in the world to stick to a diet.

I can have big wonderful plans that will guarantee me success this time.

But the sad truth is that I have never managed to stick to a diet for more than about 4 weeks.

The problem is that sheer determination will only take a person so far before they are overcome by a temptation.

Whether that is the temptation to eat or the temptation to fulfil some other desire; anger, covetousness, lust, etc.

The solution to this problem is God.

God is eagerly waiting to give us the power we need to overcome sin.

Paul told us in Philippians that

... it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

Philippians 2:13.

Notice God does two things:

                                First He gives us the WILL to do what is right – that is the desire to do what is right.

                                Second He gives us the DO to do what is right – that is the ability to act on our Godly desires.

Our part in this solution is to make the choice to ask for and act on that power

Overcoming sin = God’s desire (WILL) + God’s power (DO) + Our Choice.

3.       The key to overcoming sin is putting choice into action, this is called surrender.

Something that perplexed me for a long time was how to use the power that God was giving me.

I had prayed asking God to ‘will and to do’ His good pleasure in me.

I had the WILL to do right, I desired to do right but when faced with a temptation I would still fail time and time again.

I could not seem to get the DO part right

I heard people talk about surrendering to the will of God, but I thought I had no experience in this and I could not understand what this looked like.

One day it occurred to me that while I had no recognisable experience of surrendering to God I had a lot of experience in surrendering to Satan.

Every time I gave in to a temptation I was surrendering to Satan.

I’m going to use the dieting analogy again.

Imagine, I have a chocolate bar in front of me.

It is definitely not on my diet.

My taste buds are saying “Eat it!! It will taste so good!”

My brain is saying “It’s not on the diet, you really shouldn’t eat it.”

Half of me wants the chocolate desperately.

Half of me does not want the chocolate at all.

The moment I make the choice I am surrendering to one of those wants.

Either I surrender to my taste buds and eat the chocolate.

Or I surrender to my brain and put the chocolate down and walk away.

In both cases I have a desire; ‘eat the chocolate’ or ‘don’t eat the chocolate.’

In both cases I make a choice between two desires.

And in both cases I surrender to the chosen desire and act on it.

If I didn’t act I would be stuck looking at the chocolate forever.

For the record I am not in any way suggesting with this analogy that eating chocolate is a sin.

But the analogy very nicely illustrates the same process of desire, choice and surrender we go through whenever we are faced with a temptation.

We desire the tempting thing. (If we didn’t desire it, it wouldn’t be tempting.)

We make a choice between our conflicting desires.

And we either surrender to the temptation and sin or we surrender to God and become victorious overcomers.

(In the last 18 months I have lost something like 50kg’s. This is entirely by surrendering to God’s power and the health message. I don’t always get it right but I get it right more often than I get it wrong.)

4.        important points I have learned about surrendering to God:

a.       Put your choice into action as soon as you have made it – flee temptation, don’t give Satan the chance to change your mind.

b.      For each of us our moment of choice comes at a different place.

When it comes to chocolate my moment of choice is when I see it in the supermarket.

If it gets into my shopping cart then there is a 99.9% chance that I will buy it and eat it.

I have to surrender to the desire for health before I pick the chocolate up off the supermarket shelf.

Other people can have chocolate in their homes for weeks and not touch it.

c.       God has promised to change our hearts, but this process happens gradually.

Each time we are faced with a temptation and choose to surrender to the Godly desire the satanic desire loses some of its power over us.

Eventually we will no longer desire that thing and it will no longer be a temptation for us.

Satan can never again attack us through that particular desire.

d.      Sanctification is a process, the work of a life time, God doesn’t try to fix everything at once.

Instead He chooses one or two things and points them out to us.

“Look,” he says, “See that, I want you to surrender that desire to me.”

When we have overcome in that area, then He points out another area, and another, and another.

And it is always the same choice, What do I love more? God? or my own sinful desires?

e.      God has made provision for my failure. And, He promises rewards for success:

1 John 2:1-2

... if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins ...

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

James 1:2-4,12

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ... Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

Conclusion:

Joshua’s challenge to as all is to

“... choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve ... But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15-16

The choice to serve the Lord must be renewed day by day, moment by moment, temptation by temptation.

Will you persevere in making this choice?

It is my prayer that we all continue to grow in grace as we choose to surrender to the Godly desires Jesus places in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.