"I'd Rather Die Than Live Without You."

"I'd rather die than live without you." I was thinking about this phrase this morning. Or more specifically I was thinking about a popular 'quote' that is making it's way around the Christian segment of the Internet these days. "Jesus loves you so much that He would rather die than live without you." I was thinking about what that phrase actually means, and the thing is, it's simply not true. To die rather than live without someone is not love, it is obsession, and it is selfish. To really truly love would be to continue to live without the person and to do good for them, to wish them to be happy, to help them, even though there is no hope that they will love you back.

That is what Jesus did, Jesus came to our earth and died to make a way for us to be in heaven with Him, if we choose to take it. He died so that we could have a chance to love Him, and so that He could have a chance to spend eternity with us. When He came He knew His death would be temporary. He knew He was going to conquer death and be resurrected. Consider Jesus in His two incarnations;

1. As the Prince of Heaven before He comes to earth as the Baby Jesus.
2. As the man, Jesus of Nazareth walking on the planet, a human with us.

First, before Jesus was a man He was God, the Prince of Heaven for want of a better title. He knew the end from the beginning. He and His Father planned the whole Earth Mission together, and they gave prophecies that said that the Messiah would be resurrected. Isaiah 53:7-12 is one of these prophecies,verses 10 and 11 particularly only make sense if they are thought about in terms of Jesus having been resurrected. Jesus' death and resurrection was planned and prophesied before He ever came to earth. Jesus as God knew He would die, and He knew it would not be pleasant, but He also knew He would be resurrected, and that as a result of His life, death and resurrection we would be able to spend eternity with Him. So He chose to go ahead with the plan and be born as the babe in Bethlehem because He wanted to spend eternity with us, not because He couldn't live without us.

Second, when Jesus was a man living on the earth He did not have that 'God's eye view' that He had had in Heaven. He did not know from His own knowledge that He would die and be resurrected, but He did have the prophecies. Prophecies that He Himself had given in His 'God' incarnation. It is obvious that Jesus believed those prophecies because He tells His disciples on several occasions that He will die and be resurrected. One example of this is found in Matthew 17:22-23. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus struggled with His human nature, He knew the trial in front of Him would be terrible, that He would be betrayed by Judas, denied by Peter, abandoned by almost all of the other disciples, mocked, beaten, humiliated. And He still chose to go ahead with the plan - on faith, faith in the prophecies that He would be resurrected, faith in the prophecies that we would chose to join with Him, faith that He would get to spend eternity with us.

Jesus did not chose to die because He couldn't live without us. He chose to die because He wanted to live with us - forever. The desire to be with the object of your affection, that is real love, and Jesus, The Prince of Heaven, He really loves us, He was willing, and is still willing to do whatever it takes so that He can be with us. Forever!

Hot Lava and Fruit Stamps

Today I taught the kidlettes the Hot Lava game - the one where the floor is hot lava and they have to get from one side of the room to the other without touching the floor. Funny - they chose the most difficult method to get there in my view. The first girl grabbed two chairs, she sat on one and put her feet on the other and then proceeded to slowly perambulate across the floor inchworm style ... so frustrating to watch, and it got worse, all the others copied her. It became a race about who could inch the fastest. Not what I had been imagining at all!

The worst thing about this blog is that lots of cute things happen and I think "Must remember that to put in the blog" ... and then it gets pushed out of my head by the next thing that happens.

The other funny thing from today that I do remember though is the look if absolute horror on the girls faces as they realised I was about to dip half an apple into paint. We used various fruits and veggies dipped in paint to do stamping. Was fun and the girls enjoyed it, once it was firmly installed in their minds that I was not expecting them to eat the fruit afterwards.

Best best thing though is that today is the start of my holidays. 10 days of no work :-)

One of the things I have learned about teaching...

One of the things I have learned about teaching Kinders is that is very similar in some ways to teaching high school, just more extreme.

For example, when teaching high school I used to plan carefully for each lesson and then once in the classroom just go with the flow. Secure in the knowledge that if the 'flow' came to a stop I had my plan to come back to. When teaching Kinder I have learned that I need to over plan. Plan more activities than can actually be done - according to my ideas anyway - and then be exceedingly flexible once the class starts. As it turns out, some days we do everything I have planned even though I thought it was too much. Other days we don't even finish one thing. But it is always good to have my plan :-)

Today I was very proud of my flexibility, was all set to teach a cooking class - grilled pineapple - the kidlettes were all sitting expectantly around the table in their little yellow overcoat things - to protect their clothes. I picked up the one thing I didn't buy myself - the main ingredient, pineapple. It was off - well and truly vinergarising. What to do? I went rummaging in the kitchen and found two peaches and some boiled potatoes in the fridge. So I taught them how to make grilled peaches and potato skins instead. Same method as the grilled pineapple. (Cut peaches into wedges, paint with a little butter and sprinkle with brown sugar and a tiny bit of powdered ginger - actually if I was doing them at home for me I would use thyme instead of ginger. Potatoes are the same minus the sugar and ginger, and you scoop out the inside of each wedge so you get two chips for the price of one and lots of crunchy bits. Then put everything under the grill. Wait until the peaches are hot, brown and juicey and the potatoes are hot, brown and crunchy. Sprinkle the potatoes with a little salt and enjoy - separately.) Kidlettes loved them, general consensus was that it was very delicious, with the potatoes earning an extra very.

I think the thing I like best about teaching the Kinders is the same thing I liked about teaching high school. I used to love watching my kids develop and grow from runty (and sometimes not so runty) twelve and thirteen year olds into young men and women of eighteen and nineteen. And now with the wonders of facebook I am getting to see them as young adults, in there twenties and even thirties, I get to see them graduate from university, start careers, buy houses, get married, have babies and all those other life mile stones. I got to see and help shape their characters, to help try to set them in an upwards direction. Often this has been highly rewarding, like the student who is about to go and represent NZ in the world championships for her sport, or the students who have reached their goals and become doctors or lawyers or teachers - even chemistry teachers :-D

Here in the Kinder I get to see and do the same thing, to watch my babies characters and help shape them, praise and build up the good and ignore and down play the bad. And again it is more extreme than for high school. What can take years to change in older students can change in just weeks in the Kinders. Seeing the little girl who is a loner and watcher start to become part of the group and participate, to see the girl who is a follower start to become a leader, to see the one who always seems to want to hit me stop and start dressing me in the play jewellery instead, those things are really rewarding.

Too Cute

I know I said I would try to post something everyday - well, sorry that hasn't been happening ... on the other hand I've finished making 6 months worth of flashcards. 11 cards per letter of the alphabet, 10 of them with the English word the kids are supposed to learn, the Korean word it translates as, and a picture. All linked to two textbooks and two other resources. Totally worth the effort as I shall be able to use them with every kinder class I teach. :-)

Next project is review sheets to put on the wall, so that kids can have constant review and really master the content - and I can carry a couple in my hand bag and practice my Korean on the bus. ^^

So today's story:
Last week I showed my Kinder's how to fold paper and then cut bits out of it so that when it is unfolded it looks like a snowflake. We put them on the wall. Today one of the kidlets took her snowflake off the wall stuck it on her chest and announced, "I'm a Snow Princess." I laughed and laughed.

Also today I taught them the balloon game - don't let the balloon touch the ground. Awesomeness - in fact for my NZ readers let me tell you it was 'O for Owesome.' Five screaming little girls running around and laughing as hard as possible. Only three balloons were hurt in the making of this fun.

The Ultimate Romance

Here is my latest Sermon, preached it twice in the last two weeks :-) And I'm about to start working on the sequel, "The Ways God Promises To Love Us After We accept His Offer."

The Ultimate Romance

When a person is single and of a certain age suddenly love and romance become very interesting. Us single people, we spend far too much time considering the topic. I think married people do too – it has been my experience that married people can’t seem to believe that it is possible to be single and happy. As soon as one of my single friends gets married, I can almost guarantee that within moments of sliding the ring on the finger they will be turning around and telling me that I must copy them if I wish to be completely fulfilled in life.

However there is a problem with this – marriage requires two people. It is not actually possible to get married by yourself. So then all my friends tell me that I must put myself out there and find my husband. So the question I am forced to ask is “How? How does one find a marriage partner?”

In the Bible we see two basic patterns for finding a marriage partner, these two patterns are the extremes of a continuum, many people fit somewhere between them.

1.      First we have the ‘Hunters’. These people go out searching and hunting, trying to find a wife or husband. Jacob is an example of this, he left his family in Canaan and went to visit his Uncle Laban. When he left he had two reasons for his trip, one was to find a wife who believed in the same God he did. The other reason was to stay alive. You can read the full story in Genesis chapters 27 and 29. When Jacob arrived in Harran he immediately met Laban’s daughter Rachel and fell in love, within  a month he was engaged to her – but he had to work for 14 years to earn her hand in marriage.

2.      I call the people who follow the second pattern ‘Waiters’. These people are not actively searching for a husband or wife. They are simply going about their daily lives and God brings their partner to them. In the story of Isaac and Rebecca, Rebecca is an example of a ‘waiter.’ She goes to the well one day to collect water for her family and she has no idea that God is about to blow her future wide open. At the well she meets a stranger who asks her for a drink of water. Being a kind girl she gives him the requested drink and waters all his camels as well, not realising that she has just fulfilled the sign this stranger has asked God for to identify the girl who is to be the wife of Isaac.

The man gives her expensive gifts and she invites him back to stay in her family’s home. Once the man arrives at her home he reveals his mission. Everybody acknowledges that God has been guiding in this situation and that it is obvious that God plans for Rebecca to go and marry Isaac. But they still turn to Rebecca and ask her “Will you go with this man?” I want you to remember that question, we will come back to it.

(You can read the full story for yourself in Genesis chapter 24 – I highly recommend it. It is one of the most beautiful stories in the Bible.)

Now Isaac, I have trouble classifying him, he was not out searching for a wife for himself, but he did have other people who he trusted actively searching for him. So maybe he fits with the hunters better than with the waiters … On the other hand he did just trustingly wait at home without any say in the result of the search – he simply a deeply loved the girl that was brought to him … so maybe he is a waiter … I’m really not sure.

There is however one person in the Bible who I have no problems at all classifying. That person is God. He is most definitely 100% Hunter, and when you examine the ways that God shows His love for us, I think it is safe to say that God is the most romantic being in the universe.  

Consider:

1.      He loved us first, in fact He loved us when we were his enemies.

Romans 5:8

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Ephesians 2:1-5

¹As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ² in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³ All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. ⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. 

God looked down from Heaven and He saw us and He loved us. We were not thinking about Him, we had no desire to know or love Him, some of us hated Him. But, He loved us anyway. So …

2.      He made the first move – He told us He loved us – without worrying about whether we returned His love or not.

Jeremiah 31:3

The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.

Again, looking down on us from Heaven, God knew it was impossible for us to comprehend His true character; that we could not appreciate Him for who He truly was, so He sent us Jesus …

3.      He came here to be with us, so that we could see His character, so that we could see what he is really like and so that He could demonstrate His love to us. 

Matthew 4:23-24

²³ Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and illness among the people. ²⁴ News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralysed; and he healed them.

Consider, when Jesus was here on earth every single thing he did was done in love. From healing the sick, lame, blind, to forgiving sins and raising the dead. Both implicitly and explicitly He showed us God’s character and God’s love.  And this still was not enough. God knew that even if we returned His love there was no way we could come to Him, so

4.      He made a way for us to choose. He gave everything He has to win us. Jesus gave His life, He died and was resurrected just so that we can have the choice to be with Him, or not.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

What I find most amazing is that Jesus did this before we even realised we needed or wanted Him. He did everything possible so that we could have a chance to choose Him, and even then having given us our choice

5.      He never forces us to come to Him. He respects our choice.

Joshua 24:14-15

¹⁴ ‘Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshipped beyond the River Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. ¹⁵ But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.’

If we choose Him He is exceedingly happy, but if we choose against Him, well he will not force us ... but

6.      He never gives up, He is persistent.

Romans 8:35,38-39

³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ^… 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

                                          

Revelation 3:20

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

Let’s review, God tries to win our hearts in six ways:

Review: 6 Ways God tries to win our love.

1.      He loved us first

2.      He made the first move

3.      He came here to be with us

4.      He made a way for us to choose

5.      He never forces us to come to Him

6.      He never gives up

Think about this list of things our romantic God has done, just to be able to have a chance to win us for Himself. If you think this list is amazing, then you should see the list of the way God promises to love us after we agree to be His – that list is simply … wonderful.

The questions to each of us is the same one that was asked of Rebecca, “Will you go with this man?”

Now you may be asking, ”Why is she saying all this? We are all good SDA’s, we’ve been baptised, we’ve already said yes to Him.”

The reason I’m saying this is because from my own experience I know it is possible to look like a good Christian and do and say all the right things and still not have a heart connection with God.  Plus even when we do form that heart connection it needs to be renewed each and every day. Every morning when we wake up the question our Guardian Angel is asking us is “Will you go with this man today?”

“Will you go with this man?”

I’ve slowly learned that there is no comparison between the days when I go with that man and the days go on my own. Even the hard days are better with Him.

So How about you? “Will you go with this man?”

Kinder Surprises

One thing about little kids, they have no problems with personal comments. 

Today they said to me "Teacher big." This was  accompanied by expansive arm movements in the chest and belly region. Then they said "Teacher small." The arm movements became flat. as they rubbed their own tiny bellies. They figured out quite quickly that I wasn't getting it. So moved on to drawings of stick figures. A big fat one, and a genuine stick. Finally figured out that they were trying to say that they think I have lost weight.

Happy Teacher 

Also today they decided that I must have a sticker chart just like they do. So I put a chart up with my name on it. From somewhere they produced stickers - not ones I had given them - now i have five stickers on my chart. Another 23 and I get a prize. LOL

Kinders on the Forth of July

This post has absolutely nothing at all to do with America!! It is simply one little tiny short Kinder story that happened in Korea on the 4th of July 2013.

Today's story is short and cute.

My Kinders have decided they need a daily nap. Whoever heard of kids who want to take naps? Each day they will say "Teacher, sleep time?" I say yes and give them a time limit like 10 mintues or so. Then they build themselves beds out of various toys and when they are ready they ask me to sing them a sleeping song. I am getting to indulge my love of Christmas Carols at their expense. Picture Happy Cat ~^^~

KinderSurprises - Surprisingly Surprising

In my new job my time table changes every month - but I started this post a week or so ago so I'll just finish it without a bunch of editing, just read this as if it is still June and not July.

I teaching three hours of kinder each day, a half an hour of 1st grade students and another hour of students who are around the 5th grade.

One class of 5th graders (Monday/Wednesday) have tolerably good English - they can understand just about everything I say, we just need to work on grammar. I brought some games from NZ to Korea with me this time, and this class have fallen in love with Billionaire - so have discovered the perfect motivation - they do two pages in their book - and do it well! Then we spend the rest of the class playing Billionaire.

The other class (Tuesday/Thursday) have terrible English - in fact they have about as much English as I have Korean - we muddle through with translators and dictionaries but it has been a struggle, they don't want to work as they have learned to hate English because it is hard and they continually fail. Today though I put a new plan into place and they actually did homework :-) I have organised that the Korean teacher will cover the textbook and I am just going to work on increasing their vocabulary. So I made a list of 100 words from the textbook and have told them that when they know all 100 words I will take them out for dinner - now they are trying to decide if it will be chicken or pizza or hamburgers ... Anyway as a result they are actually working - however they have insisted that I must learn the Korean for the words they are learning English for - so now I have 100 words to learn too - and I had to do the same homework as I had assigned them :-) All in a good cause!

My 1st graders are very cute, I have been working on getting them into learning habits - eyes on page/computer/me, hands empty, ears open and mouths closed. Today they used tape to tape their mouths closed - totally their own idea. Made me laugh as I remembered certain nameless students from the chemistry days who also used to do this.

And the Kinders, what can I say? I think I am falling in love - who would have thought. So let me describe my life as a Kinder teacher. It could not be more different from, being a chemistry teacher if it tried. I will say I was filled with trepidation when I realised exactly what I had signed up for - but it is turning out to be quite delightful.

This is where today's writing starts :-)

One of my babies, (she is 7 by Korean age, 5 by ours) she is determined to do the things that scare her, to conquer her fears. When I first got there she and her friend would put their chairs on the desk and  sit on then while they practised their vocabulary. When it came time to get down, the friend would just jump, but she would sit down on the edge and then slide off - and it's not actually very high, maybe 50cm, but when your only 100cm tall yourself I guess that seems like a huge amount. Anyway she was determined to master the jump. So each day somewhere during free time she climbs onto the desk, first she would just stand on the edge for a long time looking down, before she would sit and slide off. Then she started squatting on the edge, and holding my hands and she would jump from a squat. The day she jumped from a squat without holding my hands I was so proud!!!!!! Then she started trying to jump from a standing position, again holding my hands. Yesterday she did a standing jump all by herself. Today she did not bother to climb on the desk. Fear conquered. :-D

Now it is time to post this, but I have decided I'm going to get back on the blogging band wagon and tell you a Kinder story every day. :-)