............Life Abroad @ Handong

Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing

2012-01-17T05:37:00.000+09:00

This is a study session I was asked to lead for our Handong students this past semester.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

I would rather Speak Five Words with my Mind . . .

2011-09-03T17:08:00.007+09:00

One thing that I love about my life abroad @ Handong is the depth of spiritual devotion that I find in nearly all my students and faculty colleagues. There are represented here a wide variety of faith traditions within the Church -- the Body of Christ. Such diversity is, without a doubt, a strength of our university community.

With diversity, though, comes the potential for an unbalanced, over-emphasis on certain dimensions of spiritual life and experience. I have recently become even more aware of this likelihood, and my heart is burdened by the possible harm that out-of-balanced teaching and practices may cause, especially in the lives of young people whose hearts are seeking after God and desiring to experience his presence and power in authentic ways.

This, however, is not the first time such a concern has arisen in my mind. Early on in my walk with other believers, I encountered several brothers and sisters who taught that the only way to "know" that you were blessed and empowered by God to live a life following after Christ was to have a special spiritual experience where you spoke audibly in the hearing of others with ecstatic utterances -- what these teachers called "unknown tongues" -- that is, not an actual human language that one had not previously learned, but rather a series of sounds emanating from your mouth that they claimed were an evidence of God's presence and work through your physical body.

After first encountering this teaching, I asked my spiritual mentor to help me understand whether this was a pathway of spirituality that I should pursue. As a wise mentor and guide, he pointed me to the Scriptures, and in particular to First Corinthians, chapters 12, 13 and 14. He said this was the portion of the New Testament that spoke most directly to the exercise of spiritual gifts, including what the Bible calls the "gift of tongues."

He explained that the Apostle Paul was actually answering questions in this passage that had been previously raised by the believers at the church in Corinth. Paul's main point in response, my mentor said, was to remind the Corinthians that all of the gifts of the Spirit of God were given so that followers of Christ might be enabled to build-up and strengthen others. Their purpose is not individual benefit, but rather the benefit of the whole body.

He also stressed that whatever spiritual gift I may think God has given me that gift must always be exercised out of a heart of love for others. He taught me that this is the main point of Chapter 13. Speaking in tongues, whether they be the languages of men or of angels, is worthless unless it is an expression of love to others. He then went on to show me that love is demonstrated when we speak in such a way that others who hear us understand what we are saying.

If I speak aloud in the hearing of others in a way that they do not understand, I am not loving them. I am not edifying them. Only when the unknown language is interpreted and others then understand the message is there any potential for their benefit -- their edification. My mentor also taught me that some Christians practice speaking in tongues as a private prayer language when they are alone.

He noted that there was even a mention of this type of private "prayer language" practice in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 2, where Paul describes the one who is "speaking to God and not to men." Such a private practice of tongues, when not in the hearing of others, is consistent with the overall point of the instruction that Paul is giving in this passage, however, it is a practice that focuses the believer's attention inward rather than outward toward others.

In contrast to private expressions, in the cases where audible words or sounds are spoken in the hearing of others, my spiritual mentor said, those words and sounds should either be directly understood by the ones hearing them (that is, they should be spoken in a known, common, human language) or they should be interpreted immediately so that all may understand and benefit. (See 1 Corinthians 14:26-33).

The aim of all audible expression among gatherings of believers should be mutual edification and common blessing. In fact, Paul also warns that if this practice is not followed, then unbelievers who might happen to come in to the gathering would be confused and think that those speaking in expressions that are not understandable are out of their minds. (1 Corinthians 14:23). As followers of Christ, we are charged to pursue the well-being of others before our own individual spirituality. "So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church." (1 Corinthians 12:12)

At the conclusion of this passage, Paul reiterates the importance of doing all things that can be seen and heard by others in ways that will build them up. He evens uses a proportional argument to show how important it is to speak in an understandable manner whenever what we say can be heard by others. Five words that can be understood -- spoken with "my mind" -- are more important than speaking 10,000 words in uninterpreted and unknowable expressions.

The proper balance is struck when we pray and sing with both our spirit and our mind. (1 Corinthians 14:15). If we truly desire to be loving others as Christ loved us, then we should pursue practices that build others up with the clear and understandable proclamation of God's Word. Let us press on to maturity as we seek to live our lives for others, even as Christ so lived for us!

Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue. Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. (1 Corinthians 14:19-20)

"Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder"

2011-08-19T08:41:00.008+09:00

According to one source, the Roman poet Sextus Propertius gave us the earliest form of this saying in his Elegies: "Always toward absent lovers, love's tide stronger flows." Personally, I thought it must have been Shakespeare or Guillaume de Lorris, but no matter. Is it true?!?!?

Does spacial separation deepen authentic love? And if so, does the greater the distance and longer the time of separation prompt an even deeper devotion? I do believe it does, and I say this not just as an intellectual contention or an emotional aspiration, but rather, based upon lived-experience.

On the 26th of August, my wife and I will celebrate the 33d anniversary of our marriage. We will, however, be half-a-world away from one another. Sandy in St. Louis, and me here, once again, at Handong. But in the most true sense, only space separates us. I've just returned to begin preparations for another semester's teaching this fall. The wonderful seven weeks of our time together this summer during my leave in the States passed all too quickly, but it did afford delightful times of refreshment and strengthening of our relationship.

Now, I'm looking ahead to the third semester that I will be here teaching in the absence of my Beloved. But periods of separation from family are not uncommon in these present times. Last semester, Sandy would often remind me during our Skype calls that the men and women who serve us so faithfully in the military are frequently duty-bound to lengthy times of separation from their loved ones.

Our good friends, Kurt and J.Sun, with whom we enjoyed wonderful visits in Seoul last year, are even now separated due to Kurt's one-year deployment in Afghanistan. And just this past Sunday, I met Seth at our Pohang International Community gathering. He has begun a six-month tour of duty here with the U.S. Navy and will be separated from his wife and three young children for that entire period of time.

When country calls, soldiers and sailors obey. Would it be any less the duty of a follower of Christ to heed his command even though it meant parting from loved-ones for that time of service? Jesus has promised his followers this: "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life." (Luke 18:29-30).

But he gives more grace, and by God's grace and mercy, I'm continuing to learn each day the truth that absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder.

Campaign for a Balanced Life

2011-06-14T09:36:00.003+09:00

I've undertaken a campaign. Its not a political one, nor is it military, nor even a campaign for social or economic justice. Each of those may very well have their own time and place and possibly an appropriate demand for my attention, but the campaign that has gripped me especially during these last weeks of the semester here at Handong is a campaign for living a more balance life.

The busy-ness of life, especially in the life of students and professors alike, has been advancing with menacing force over this past month. The campaign I have undertaken is my small attempt to thwart this advance. And how might you ask am I mounting such a campaign? What tactics and strategies am I employing? My chief weapn is the camera function on my mobile phone, and my subjects are the flowers of the field.

As I walk about campus each morning, I purposefully search out beauty -- the beauty Jesus taught us to behold when he said, "Consider the lilies." When I find beauty, I photograph it. And then as I go about my day, I display the photo I have most recently taken on my mobile's wallpaper and simply ask the student or professor I have encountered along the way whether they know where on campus this object of beauty may be seen, and when seen considered.

If they know, they have already joined the ranks of my campaign. If they're willing to search it out, they are well on their way. If, though, they do not know nor care to discover, then they have been overcome by our common enemy -- the tyrany of the urgent. I seek to persuade them that a life balanced with the pursuit and appreciation of beauty might actually enhance their performance of those duties that they seem so burdened to fulfill. It might just help to lift that burden that has so captured their attention that all around them seems a haze or what's worst, a grayness.

Here are a few of my recent photo's of the flowers that have caught the gaze of eyes that have been gracious opened by the belief that one thing is necessary and when we choose it, we will have chosen the better part of life -- a more balanced life.

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

My Korean Birthday . . .Quite An Auspicious and Lengthy Day!!

2011-05-10T17:03:00.008+09:00

What can I say? I think Sandy put it best in her email to me, "Koreans really know how to celebrate!" And so began the celebrations this past week on Tuesday evening with a "Pre-Birthday Pizza Party" @ one of my students' favorite spots -- "Mr. Pizza" That's a Hawaiian Special with the candles atop it in front of me.

After enjoying our pizza and endless salad bar feast (the true attraction here -- all you can eat salads!!), we played a hilarious game of "Pictionary" using words and phrases from the case these Law & Advocacy students are preparing for Mock Trial in a couple of weeks. So, what picture would you draw if the phrase you were given was "in loco parentis" ?

But, the celebrations didn't end there, even though that would have been an amazingly fabulous time. No, from Mr. Pizza we all walked down the stroll through Yukkuri (the downtown shopping and entertainment district) to what you in the States would call a karaoke club, but what is here called a noraebang (singing room).

That's right, each group that comes in gets its own room equipped with an amazing karaoke machine housing literally tens of thousands of favorite songs from all generations and genres! I'm told this is the number one form of party entertainment in Korea. I was happy to join right in. It was my birthday, right?? Well, pre-birthday, at least!! Ms. YeEun Han, Mr. Vu and I crooned "My Heart Will Go On" together. What a blast!

The pre-birthday party was so overwhelming that I had to take a day of rest on Wednesday! Several students stopped by my office during the day, though, to drop off wonderful little gifts and cards. One, Ms. Ha, even presented me with some home-made rich dark chocolates!! Couldn't even eat half a bite without a glass of milk!! Amazing!

Another student, Ms. Grimi Kim, brought me two small cactus plants for my office. Each gift was accompanied with a beautiful card containing more than just the ordinary "Happy Birthday" wishes you find on American cards. Every card conveyed a hand-written expression of good wishes and prayers. Then, about 9:30 Wednesday evening I received a call from Ms. Shin, the president of our Law & Advocacy study group asking if she and another student might drop-off "something" at my apartment later on that evening.

"Later on" turned-out to be nearly 11:30pm and the two students turned into over a dozen carrying with them a cake, presents and a large decorated envelope full of birthday cards. They sang the "Happy Birthday" song twice as the midnight hour approached, and we all enjoyed pieces of the delicious cake. At the stroke of the new day, they all became the very first to wish me "Happy Birthday" on the Fifth of May! What amazing students I have!!

Their presents included a beautiful orchid plant for my office and a jar of hard candies that one very special and preceptive student had noticed I particularly enjoy. They do not miss a beat!! When I started to open their cards, though, everyone said that I should wait until after they left. I think they knew that when I read them I might very likely start crying. And, after they did all depart around 12:30, I read them all and I did.

So now, I have been given a "pre-birthday" party and a strike-of-midnight birthday party, but the celebrations are, in fact, still just beginning. On the morning of the fifth, I awoke to a beautiful day and took my regular break-of-dawn walkabout campus and was serenaded by some of the most unusual bird songs I have yet to hear here in Korea. Could it have been that my birthday made me a bit more attentive to their tunes??

By eight, I was seated on the sidelines of the soccer field with students and fellow colleagues to watch our Law Department men engage the Engineering Department on the pitch. Unfortunately, our men could not engineer a sufficient number of successful shots on goal, and this one went into the books with disappointment. It was, though, a hard fought match, and after all, that is what we are daily called to give!

At eleven, I joined with my dear friends from the Pohang International Community core group and we journeyed the short distance from campus to Chilpo Beach, and what a beach party it was!!

We cooked-out and enjoyed a great meal together with the sea breeze blowing in our hair and the sun
beaming down on us!

Pastor Richie's son, Joseph, presented me with one of my most precious birthday gifts -- an original picture drawn and colored by Joseph to remind me of our day at the sea. (It has now been posted to a prominent spot on my refrigerator).

I even tried to convince Richie that it was a great day to join me in taking a swim in the ocean, but my powers of persuasion were not (fortunately for him and me) sufficiently potent on this occasion.
But wait, . . . . it was my birthday!!! . . . . don't I get to do what I want to do on my birthday??? Rest easy Sandy! I didn't end up going swimming, but I did have a thoroughly good time with the best of friends on an amazingly beautiful day at the beach!! I even jumped for joy!! Thanks, Boyeon, for convincing I could!!

And, you might think the celebrations had reached their zenith, but you would be wrong!! We're not done yet!! After returning to campus, cleaning off and out the sand I brought back in my clothes and on my legs and feet, I enjoyed a nap. Well, it was my birthday, right! I had to rest because I was due to meet my TA, Ms. Juyoun Han, and three other students for a birthday dinner at Hyoam Restaurant -- the nicest restaurant on campus.

Daniel & Hojong

While it was much more reserved and definitely less rowdy (for Ms. Han would have no other way) than my midday celebration at the beach, we did enjoy our fair share of laughs as I tried to give Daniel and Hojong, who are now both law students at Handong International Law School, some pointers on wooing women.

I don't think they thought my idea of a first-date walk in the cemetery was all that helpful, though. Yet, they could not dispute that it at least worked for me. Just goes to show you how loving and caring my dearest Sandy was and continues to be! So, as Daniel practiced his French to himself ("mon chéri amour"), Hojong wasted no time in getting closer to one of the fairest young ladies on campus, Ms. Shin, who had also joined in my celebratory dinner.

Hojong, you should really smile a bit more! I know your brute handsomeness is your strong suit, but a winning smile can go far toward melting her heart!

At the end of the dinner, the four disappeared for a few minutes only to return with a birthday cheesecake adorned with several candles less than 52 -- they would have needed special permission from the fire marshal for that! It topped-off an amazingly fun and delightful evening. But wait, there's still more . . . .

After departing Hyoam, we walked across campus to the playing field to cheer on our Law Department girls' wild horse team in their match against the Design Department. Wild horse is a game combining the intensity of American football, the speed and agility of soccer and the ruggedness of rugby (sometimes). The team presented me with a great present -- a thoroughly decisive victory! Go Law!!

So that was it! I barely made it back to my campus apartment before collapsing! Although completely exhausted as I was, I couldn't have been happier to have enjoyed such an auspicious day! Sandy was indeed right: Koreans really do know how to celebrate! I only wish you could have been here to join in on all the fun, Honey!!

Living More AND Less

2011-05-07T05:54:00.002+09:00

(I wrote this brief piece about ten years ago. I'm recently finding, though, that I need to take heed to its "suggestions" even more so during my life abroad this semester @ Handong).

A common reply to the everyday question “How are you doing?” is often, “Well…okay…more or less.” Most of us find our day-to-day lives to be somewhere in between the “more” and the “less” of health and wellness, spiritual wholeness and, if we are honest, mental sane-ness.

May I then make a few humble suggestions to encourage us all to live “more and less” as a means of growing beyond the “more or less” of life? I offer these as suggestions, not reproofs. I readily admit that the biggest beam resides in my own eye as I regularly fail the more’s and much too often practice the less’s. To some, they may seem trite and clichéd, but I trust to others they may prove helpful in some small way.

With that said, may we all be living by doing . . .

More Reading, Less Watching
Good books are a treasure. Search them out!

TV (films, the web) can be a trap. Watch, above all, your step.

More Listening, Less Talking

Do I really listen?

Or, just wait to talk?

More Walking, Less Sitting

What wondrous things we can see and ideas ponder on a daily walk!

But, oh how stresses seem to weigh us down as we sit.

More Drinking, Less Eating

Water, that is. Cool, clear water!

Food, yes, food. Start by reducing portions.

More Helping, Less Hounding

“How may I help you?” is a wonderful way to encourage someone.

“What can you do for me?” is an attitude that often prompts us to pound someone.

More Asking, Less Accusing

Seek to understand before expecting to be understood.

Attribute the best motives to others, rather than accuse them of the worst.

More Giving, Less Keeping

Remember Jesus said that you will be happier by giving than by expecting to get.

The less things we hold on to, the less hold things have on us.

More Thanking, Less Expecting

In everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you.

The way we thank others reveals whether we truly thank God.

So, see the acts of others as their gifts to you, not as efforts to fulfill your expectations.

More Singing, Less Sighing

When a song is first in our heart, then it authentically resounds in our voice.

Sighing, however, is a true downer wherever it resides.

More Conserving, Less Consuming

The good things in life are few – they are to be savored.

The fast things in life are plenty – they favor by fattening.

More Serving, Less Summonsing

Jesus summed-up his life’s purpose in the words: “to serve and to give.”

Don’t expect someone to wash your feet; take up the basin and the towel – today.

What a Wonder a Walk Can Be . . . When Only We Open Our Eyes and Look Up!

2011-04-21T23:13:00.005+09:00

Ordinarily on Thursday's my lunch hour is spent with faculty colleagues, but this week's midterm exams prompted the cancellation of our regular departmental meeting. I was delighted, then, to receive an invitation to join two of my best students for a relaxing lunch on the patio of the campus restaurant. We sat outside to enjoy the sunshine and the increasingly warmer temperatures that have finally started to make their way to the eastern coast of Korea -- a bit later this spring than usual, I am told.

As our lunch progressed, though, the wind started to pick-up and even blew some exam review papers from the books on our table. I had to make a quick dash to dab them before another gust took them over the wall and into the woods. It also started to get a bit darker as some clouds rolled-in. Today's forecast is calling for rain tomorrow, but it appeared now to be on its way to making an earlier arrival.

Following lunch, one of my students accompanied me on a walk back across campus. We continued the conversation from our time around the table as we walked. Then, all of a sudden, she stopped and said, "Professor, look up!" As I did, I saw what can only be described as a broad brush stroke of blazing color across the clouds. It wasn't a rainbow. Yet, the full spectrum of light, from violet through every hue to red, was flowing over the clouds that had gathered above.

We were both stopped flat-footed, awestruck. It was as if the Aurora Borealis were dancing in the midday sky. As we stood gazing into the heavens, a few other students came walking by. Some passed by without a pause, but a few wondered what we were looking at. As they turned and looked-up, their mouths dropped open. What a sight! And, it didn't disappear in a few moments. It lingered as the clouds moved slowly across the sky. This "floating rainbow" stretched out its waves of brilliance.

Had I stayed in my office today and done what I ordinarily do -- focused my view on what is below -- the demands of the day -- I would have entirely missed the beauty that was shining above. I'm thankful I was invited to take a walk. I'm thankful I was urged to open my eyes and look-up!

In one of his most precious songs, Michael Card sings to his children and tells them of his prayers -- a father's longing for his children to see increasingly the wonder of life that will bring the sunrise of their smile.

Now close your eyes so you can see,
Your own unfinished memories,
Now open them, for time is brief,
And you'll be blest beyond belief,

Now glance above you at the sky,
There's beauty there to blind the eye,
I ask all this then wait awhile,
To see the dawning of your smile.

Looking ahead to Easter morning's sunrise, may I always be reminded to glance above me at the sky!

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. ~ Colossians 3:14

If I Stand, Let Me Stand Upon the Promise . . .

2011-04-19T22:12:00.003+09:00

Something dawned on me the other week. Actually, it has hit me like a ton of bricks! I'm at Handong this semester teaching without Sandy. She's back in the States continuing her nursing studies -- and doing quite well in them, I might add. When we thought about me returning to teach here this semester, we thought that I could once again make it through a semester even though we would be separated by half a world's distance.

That expectation was based upon the fact that I've done it before. In 2009, I taught here for a semester while Sandy was still back in St. Louis. When I returned over the Christmas break that year, Sandy then joined in our return to Handong for the new semester that began in February 2010. But, there is a big difference now. Why it hadn't struck me before, I will never know. But, I know the difference now.

My first semester's hermitage here at Handong in 2009 was during a Fall term. This time I'm here in hermitage during the Spring! You know, that time of the year when trees blossom, flowers bloom and birds begin to sing. On top of the seasonal impact, there are also the many vivid memories of times Sandy and I spent just one short year ago exploring the Korean countryside and culture together. Consequently, I find myself "longing for my home" a whole lot more these days than ever before while I've been here.

When I get into one of these increasingly more frequently-occurring "down" times, I have resorted to listening to my favorite musicians as a means of encouragement and comfort. One particular concert given by Rich Mullins and his band back in the late 1990's is available in its entirety on YouTube. His songs have become favorites and reliable sources of strength in these days when physical weariness only compounds a deeper psychological and spiritual disheartenedness (if that is even a word).

Here's one of Rich Mullins' songs that has been a special blessing to my soul during these cloudy days. "If I stand, let me stand on the promise that You will pull me through . . . . "

. . . and if I weep, let me weep as a man who is longing for his home."

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. (1 Peter 1:3-8)

Playing the Fool . . . and Teaching, too

2011-04-02T19:02:00.003+09:00

I'm always trying to engage my students through new approaches that I hope will prompt them to examine different perspectives on the persistent questions of life. So, this past Friday I thought I might take a slightly different approach to April Fool's Day. I came to class dressed in a brown Franciscan-like habit and without my glasses or shoes (and sockless, too!).

To say my students were taken aback would be putting it somewhat mildly. Now, you have to understand that in Asian culture in general (and Korean culture in particular), students are taught to accept what their teachers present to them. That being said, many were still trying hard to suppress their laughter. Has professor gone completely crazy? Has separation from his wife and family driven him mad? Does he really think that he has become a monk?

None of those questions were expressly stated, but you can be sure most of them were puzzling more than one student's mind. So what was the point of this first of April performance? I wanted to do for my new students at Handong what I had first done for students at Missouri Baptist University seven years ago on another April fool’s Day. In the attire of a follower of Francis of Assisi, I told them his story and how he came to be known as Francis the Fool.

I had been assigned the responsibility of giving the message for the student chapel service at MBU on the first of April. Earlier that year, I had read G.K. Chesterton's Life of St. Francis. Chesterton's portrayal of Francis challenged me to think more deeply about what it means to follow Jesus fully. Francis sought to live as Jesus lived and to love as Jesus loved. He reached out and touched the leper just as Christ had done. He left behind the wealth and security offered him by his family in order to find the fullness of life as he took seriously Christ's teaching to consider the birds of the air and the flowers of the field.

Having been so challenged by Francis' life, it was quite obvious to me that I was meant to tell his story in that chapel service on the first of April seven years ago. I thought it would make a more memorable impression if I told the story as Francis himself. So, now here at Handong, I wanted to continue the tradition and pass along the lessons from the life of the one who was called "Francis the Fool" -- a name that I'm sure he did not resent since he was seeking to follow the one who many had regarded as "God's own Fool."

Evidently that chapel message seven years ago was memorable. When one of my Handong student's posted the picture above to facebook during our Friday morning class, one of my former students from MBU, who was on-line at the time, commented within minutes: "I remember that robe!" I guess, playing the fool can sometimes be an effective means of teaching.

A Most Delightful Place, A Sacred Place, My Favorite Place!

2011-03-29T17:11:00.002+09:00

Do you have a favorite place? A place that you would go if you had the opportunity? A place that brings you joy? A place of delight? A place that brings you refreshment? When my wife Sandy and I first began traveling abroad in the summer of 2001, we tagged along on a mission trip sponsored by Missouri Baptist University where I had been teaching, by that time, for a number of years.

We traveled to England and spent two delightful weeks doing physical labor as we worked on the rehab of a 16th century manor house that had been transformed into a youth camping center. That place -- The Oakes -- became one of my first favorite places.

Sandy and I were able to return there in May of 2004 and see first-hand the on-going development and growth of a wonderful community led my our good friends, Dan & Billie Thaw. We experienced a true sense of joy as we visited the Oakes and met even more people who were continuing to contribute to its renewal. It has become a special place where the light of truth is being shared with many young people from across the entire United Kingdom.

On that same visit to the UK, Sandy and I were also able to travel to Ireland for the first time. There we spent a delightful time touring in Dublin, Bray and the surrounding Counties. One place, though, completely captured me.

It became my favorite place in all of Ireland (granted, I have been everywhere in Ireland, but I'm quite confident that this place will be hard to beat if I ever get back to the Emerald Isle). The place is called Glendalough -- the valley between the two lakes. It is the site of an early Celtic Christian community founded by St. Kevin, who lived in the generation just after Patrick.

Later during this tour of the UK, Sandy and I were invited to visit friends in Brecon, Wales. Our hosts took us out for a day of sight-seeing in the South of Wales. We drove along the Wye River Valley and came upon one of the most sacred sites in all of Wales -- Tintern Abbey. It was just above and overlooking this Abbey that Woodsworth wrote his "Few Lines . . ." My heart had been captured my yet another special place.

Though the Oakes, Glendalough and Tintern Abbey remain my favorite places in England, Ireland, and Wales, my fondness for them has, I must confess, grown somewhat dimmer these days. Having now returned to the East, one place in all of Korea has become and I'm sure will continue to remain, my most favorite of all. I first visited this place in July of 2004 when the students who were taking my short summer course at Handong International Law School (HILS) suggested that we take a break from our studies and enjoy a Saturday touring sights in a nearby town.

They drove me to Gyeongju -- the ancient capital of Korea -- and then up the mountains surrounding Gyeongju to a place called "Bulguksa" -- a Buddhist monastery. The experience I sensed upon walking up to the central structures of this place was much like the feeling I had had at Glendalough and Tintern Abbey -- I knew that I was venturing upon a sacred place. Interestingly, Bulguksa's founding dates back to about the same time as the founding of Glendalough -- around the 8th century.

This past weekend, I had the privilege of making my fourth visit to Bulguksa. Each time I've been there, I've seen something new. This time I paused along a path and looked back toward the main stairway that leads up to the central worship area. I took the picture you see here.

On my three previous visits, I followed the guide book and stopped at a point well to the far west of this main stairway. This is the perspective you see in all the photo's. Its a beautiful sight, no doubt (just take a look below), but I now realize that this view does not convey the fullest sense of the beauty of Bulguksa -- the beauty that shines as you see how the structures built there are so carefully balanced with the surrounding natural setting. I had unknowingly limited my perspective by just looking from the well-known perspective.

What I needed to do was to look at things from a new perspective. When I did, the wonder and beauty of this place only expanded in my mind. It has become my favorite place in all of Korea in a new way. The early blossoms of Spring hint at a coming beauty that will explode across the hillsides as more and more of the cherry trees bloom.

As you walk along the paths that lead you through the grounds, the delight and beauty of this place only become more and more apparent. Each time I visit, my spirit is lifted and I feel a sense of refreshment that is much more that just what comes from a vigorous walk on a brisk day. It is more than a physical rejuvenation, it is truly soul sustenance. In fact, it is difficult to put it into words, because words in themselves seem a too limited means of conveying what the whole of my person experiences in this place.

Simply put, it is now my favorite place. I can't wait to go back!

Truth is Truth whether from Lips of . . .

2011-03-24T20:37:00.002+09:00

I look to C.S. Lewis as one of my model teachers. The portrayal of Lewis' tutorial with his students in the film, Shadowlands, is one of the finest displays of formation-in-process that I can point to in contemporary culture. He challenges his students to explore the significance of a rose as a metaphor for desire. Through a series of questions, he guides his students to ponder a persistent question: "What is desire's one essential quality?" When one of his pupils shrugs-off the answer proposed, Lewis exhorts him into a deeper debate. The student though, at this early point in their relationship, is reticent to take up the gauntlet.

Now, I don't know if Anthony Hopkins' Lewis is an accurate portrayal, but it is an authentically inspiring one to me, and I think it is quite consistent with the Lewis we come to know in his books, especially Mere Christianity and his essays contained in God in the Dock. Lewis' thinking (and his teaching, I would imagine) was significantly formed by the works of the Scottish pastor and novelist George MacDonald. One of the books by Lewis I ever purchased after reading The Screwtape Letters in my high school years was a little paperback entitled, George MacDonald: Anthology. In the preface to this collection, Lewis wrote: "In making these extracts, I have been concerned with MacDonald not as a writer but as a Christian teacher" (14).

Though he had never met MacDonald, Lewis recounts how his works and life, as told by MacDonald's son in the biography he wrote of his father, substantially shaped his approach to writing and to living. One of the most telling quotes that Lewis includes among the 365 extracts (most coming from MacDonald's sermons) composing this little volume is this: "Truth is truth, whether from the lips of Jesus or Balaam" (27). From the very first time I read that line nearly 35 years ago it was indelibly impressed upon my thinking. MacDonald's words have continued challenged me to listen carefully to many speakers, to read thoughtfully many authors, and to watch observantly many actors.

The search for truth -- true truth, as Francis Schaeffer has called it -- will take us in a variety of directions. I was reminded of this just last evening. As on nearly every Wednesday evening, I was engaged in a discussion of the Scriptures with some of my fellow colleagues here at Handong. Our focus was the first chapter of James, and someone pointed out how this passage emphasizes the need to look into the Scriptures as a mirror that can reveal to us our true selves. This comment led another participant in the study to mention a book entitled The Man in the Mirror. When I heard that phrase, my thoughts turned to a pop song with the same title from the 80's by Michael Jackson.

And being the sort of "quick to speak" guy that I am, I told the group that Jackson had written a song about the "man in the mirror." The mention of the "king of pop's" name must have struck a dissonant chord though, because another of my colleagues promptly declared, "But Michael Jackson got it wrong!" I replied, "Did he? Didn't he just express what Gandhi had said -- "Become the change you wish to make in the world"? Well, my mention of Michael Jackson and Gandhi in the same sentence seemed to be quite enough to alert the group's leader that we (read "I") had now gone way too far afield in our discussion. It was a Bible study for heaven's sake!

But hold on! Truth is truth, right? Whether spoken from the lips of Jesus or Balaam, right? Whether spoken from the lips of Gandhi or sung by Michael Jackson? -- Well you tell me. Did Jackson get it right or not? Here's what he sings:

"As I, Turn Up The Collar On My
Favorite Winter Coat
This Wind Is Blowin' My Mind
I See The Kids In The Street,
With Not Enough To Eat
Who Am I, To Be Blind?
Pretending Not To See Their Needs
"A Summer's Disregard,
A Broken Bottle Top
And A One Man's Soul
They Follow Each Other On
The Wind Ya' Know
'Cause They Got Nowhere To Go
That's Why I Want You To Know

"I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways
And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself,
And Then Make A Change.

"I've Been A Victim Of A Selfish Kind Of Love
It's Time That I Realize
That There Are Some With No Home,
Not A Nickel To Loan
Could It Be Really Me,
Pretending That They're Not Alone?
"A Willow Deeply Scarred,
Somebody's Broken Heart
And A Washed-Out Dream
They Follow The Pattern Of The Wind, Ya' See
Cause They Got No Place To Be
That's Why I'm Starting With Me

"I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways
And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself,
And Then Make A Change."

That's what Michael Jackson sang. Here's what James wrote:

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. ~ James 1:22-25

If truth is truth no matter from whose lips the message is spoken or from whose pen the words are written, then it would appear to me that a question of first importance is indeed: Have I made a change in my life?

They Could Not Keep Their Eyes Open

2011-03-18T17:03:00.007+09:00

During my morning readings a few days back, I came across this phrase. It suddenly dawned upon me that Jesus' students encountered the very same struggles that students today face.

At one of the most important times in their life, when they had been asked specifically by their teacher to stay alert, they were found falling asleep! And we're not talking about one of the stragglers at the back of the class. No, these were Jesus' three top students -- the inner circle -- the creme of the crop -- the "summa cum laude" guys -- who couldn't keep their eyes open!

So, if that was the case with Peter, James and John, this poor teacher should not be surprised nor offended when even some of his most diligent students occasionally can't seem to keep their eyes open during class. Now, I try to provide some incentive for them to stay awake.

Rather than standing in one place at the front of the classroom (which I have observed seems to be the norm among many of the local prof's here), I try to infuse some variety into the discussion by walking about through the aisles and even sometimes taking a place at the back of the room in order to challenge the students to adjust to a new posture in order to engage a new perspective.

In addition to these peripatetic tendencies, I also take some pains to restrain my natural inclination to speak up and so try to lower my volume a bit. As you might imagine, though, this strategy tends to have the opposite effect than the one I'm seeking. So, those short periods of soft tones are usually followed by an abrupt exclamation or the invocation of some Latin maxim whether it is application to the legal issue under consideration or not.

But you might be asking at this point, why is it that my students are having such a struggle to stay awake. Am I that boring??? Well --- I’ll let you ask my students to answer that one. I will only say that I'm trying to be ever interesting and engaging. I'm trying to talk less and ask questions more -- to encourage dialogue and eliminate monologue. That said, though, there is another possible cause.

You see, students here are very conscientious about their studies that they will often stay up quite late diligently studying in preparation for the next day's classes. They study so much, that when they come to class, the struggle to stay awake -- not because they're uninterested in the subject under discussion or just bored -- they're EXHAUSTED!

Since that is indeed most often the case, I just might start bringing a couple extra pillows to my classes and offer them as rewards (not to be used during lectures, however!) to the most diligent disciple who, like Peter, James & John, find that they "could not keep their eyes open."

The Breastplate of St. Patrick

2011-03-17T12:31:00.001+09:00

I bind unto myself today

The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this day to me for ever.
By power of faith, Christ's incarnation;
His baptism in the Jordan river;
His death on Cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spicèd tomb;
His riding up the heavenly way;
His coming at the day of doom;*

I bind unto myself today.
I bind unto myself the power
Of the great love of the cherubim;
The sweet 'well done' in judgment hour,
The service of the seraphim,
Confessors' faith, Apostles' word,
The Patriarchs' prayers, the Prophets' scrolls,
All good deeds done unto the Lord,
And purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the starlit heaven,
The glorious sun's life-giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea,
Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward,
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile men that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In every place and in all hours,
Against their fierce hostility,
I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan's spells and wiles,
Against false words of heresy,
Against the knowledge that defiles,
Against the heart's idolatry,
Against the wizard's evil craft,
Against the death wound and the burning,
The choking wave and the poisoned shaft,
Protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,
The strong Name of the Trinity;
By invocation of the same.
The Three in One, and One in Three,
Of Whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

There Arose a Reasoning Among Them . . .

2011-03-16T10:55:00.001+09:00

Bonhoeffer & his students

In every community of faith and learning there come times of conflict. Conflicts arise because these communities are composed of humans who are finite and fallen. At every university where I've taught over the past sixteen years there have been conflicts – conflicts between students and faculty members; between faculty and fellow faculty; and between faculty and university administration.

A university is in many respects like all other human communities that experience conflict from within among its members. Universities founded upon a common faith are no less prone to experience conflicts since, like every church fellowship, such a university is made-up of humans. So it should come as no surprise that a Christian university, especially one that is in its early years of growth and development, would experience conflict between some of its faculty and its administrative leaders.

Brother Bonhoeffer knew the reality of conflict from within a fellowship. During his days leading the Confessing Church’s seminary at Finkenwalde, he experienced it. When he wrote about this experiment in Christian community in his little book Life Together, he began the fourth chapter with this warning:

“'There arose a reasoning among them, which of them would be the greatest’ (Luke 9:46). We know who it is that sows this thought in the Christian community. But perhaps we do not bear in mind enough that no Christian community ever comes together without this thought immediately emerging as a seed of discord. Thus at the very beginning of Christian fellowship there is engendered an invisible, often unconscious, life-and-death contest. ‘There arose a reasoning among them’; this is enough to destroy a fellowship” (90).

Bonhoeffer’s insight exposes the root cause for many, if not most, of these conflicts in our communities. It is the human desire for greatness or ascendancy over others. He continues, “It is vitally necessary that every Christian community from the very outset face this dangerous enemy squarely, and eradicate it. There is not time to lose here, for from the first moment when a man meets another person he is looking for a strategic position he can assume and hold over against that person.”

Bethge & Bonhoeffer - student & teacher

“There are strong persons and weak ones. If a man is not strong, he immediately claims the right of the weak as his own and uses it against the strong. There are gifted and ungifted persons, simple people and difficult people, devout and less devout, the sociable and the solitary. Does not the ungifted person have to take up a position just as well as the gifted person, the difficult one as well as the simple? . . . Where is there a person who does not with instinctive sureness find the spot where he can stand and defend himself, but which he will never give up to another, for which he will fight with all the drive of his instinct of self-assertion?”

“All this can occur in the most polite or even pious environment. But the important thing is that a Christian community should know that somewhere in it there will certainly be ‘a reasoning among them, which of them would be the greatest.’ It is the struggle of the natural man for self-justification. He finds it only in comparing himself with others, in condemning and judging others. Self-justification and judging others go together, as justification by grace and serving others go together “ (91).

If this then is indeed the case, how may members of a community who are presently experiencing such conflict eradicate it? Bonhoeffer offers a potential path in the remainder of his chapter. There he addresses seven “ministries” that we owe to one another in community. Each bears upon me and my colleagues here at Handong if we would be peacemakers and ones who are committed to the growth of our community of learning into wholeness and mutual blessing that flows to all.

Those within our Handong community who would advance and seek to protect the students’ “right to learn” owe the ministries Bonhoeffer commends to professors, students and fellow administrators. Those, on the other hand, who uphold and see to maintain the professors’ “right to teach” likewise owe these ministries to all others within the community of learning.

Rather than dispute over issues of control and authority, the ministries that Bonhoeffer teaches us to engage express avenues of service that lead toward mutual edification and the ultimate achievement of the goal of our community – the forming of whole persons who act responsibly in the service of others according to God’s calling upon their lives.

The first of these ministries, as Bonhoeffer describes them, is “the ministry of holding one’s tongue.” “Often we combat our evil thoughts most effectively if we absolutely refuse to allow them to be expressed in words” (91). We are admonished in Scripture to be “slow to speak” (James 1:19), so we would do well to hold our tongue and think thoroughly we express comments, especially when they are criticisms of others.

Bonhoeffer advises that “where this discipline of the tongue is practiced right from the beginning, each individual will make a matchless discovery. He will be able to cease from constantly scrutinizing the other person, judging him, condemning him, putting him in his particular place where he can gain ascendancy over him and thus doing violence to him as a person. Now he can allow the brother to exist as a completely free person, as God made him to be” (92-93).

The second ministry is meekness. “He who would learn to serve must first learn to think little of himself” (94). This is not self-loathing, but rather a proper view of self. “Only he who lives by the forgiveness of his sin in Jesus Christ will rightly think little of himself” (95). Such a perspective, Bonhoeffer acknowledges, leads to a challenging conclusion: “To forego self-conceit and to associate with the lowly means . . . to consider oneself the greatest of sinners. . . If my sinfulness appears to me to be in any way smaller or less detestable in comparison with the sins of others, I am still not recognizing my sinfulness at all. . . He who would serve his brother in the fellowship must sink all the way down to these depths of humility” (96).

Holding one’s tongue and meekness lead naturally to the third ministry we owe one another in community – that of listening. “Just as love to God begins with listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for the brethren [i.e. for others] is learning to listen to them” (97). To be an effective listener, though, is a skill we must be devoted to developing. Our tendency is merely to “wait to talk” when in conversation with others. What we need to be doing is authentic listening. Bonhoeffer warns that “he who can no longer listen to his brother will soon be no longer listening to God either; he will be doing nothing but prattle in the presence of God” (98).

By listening we are enabled to understand the needs of others and so reach out to them with the ministry of helpfulness. “This means, initially, simple assistance in trifling, external matters . . . Nobody is too good for the meanest (i.e. lowest) service. One who worries about the loss of time that such petty, outward acts of helpfulness entail is usually taking the importance of his own career too solemnly” (99).

The next service we owe is the ministry of bearing. “’Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ’ (Gal. 6:2). . . Bearing means forbearing and sustaining. . . The Christian . . . must bear the burden of a brother. He must suffer and endure the brother. It is only when he is a burden that another person is really a brother and not merely an object to be manipulated” (100). As we extend this service, Bonhoeffer calls us to bear both the freedom of the other person as well as his sin through regularly practicing forgiveness.

The thoughtful engagement of these first five ministries – holding one’s tongue, meekness, listening, helpfulness and bearing – provides the only sure foundation for the next – the ministry of proclaiming the Word. This ministry is not the “preaching of the Word” but rather “that unique situation in which one person bears witness in human words to another person, bespeaking the whole consolation of God, the admonition, the kindness, and the severity of God” (103-104). “We speak to one another on the basis of the help we both need. We admonish one another to go the way that Christ bids us to go. We warn one another against the disobedience that is our common destruction” (106).

Bonhoeffer concludes with the ultimate service we owe -- the ministry of authority. This ministry, however, can only be exercised by those who have first fulfilled the all that come before it because “Jesus made authority in the fellowship dependent upon brotherly service” (108). “Every cult of personality that emphasizes the distinguished qualities, virtues, and talents of another person, even though these be of an altogether spiritual nature, is worldly and has no place in the Christian community . . . The Church does not need brilliant personalities but faithful servants of Jesus and the brethren” (108-109).

Indeed, no community of faith, no community of learning, needs brilliant personalities. What we need are faithful followers of Christ who seek daily, by His grace, to serve one another according to the call of God. What is needed to eradicate the attitudes and actions that destroy our community of learning are men and women possessed with the mind of Christ that seeks not their own interests and rights but those of others. Such an approach to sustaining our community of learning and faith will not pit the right to learn against the right to teach. Rather, it will serve others by taking seriously the responsibility to teach and the responsibility to learn as we seek together to obey the call of Christ and serve the needs of others in the here and now.

Two Weeks Into the New Semester

2011-03-13T20:59:00.000+09:00

This weekend marks the completion of the first two weeks of the new semester. I feel like I've "hit the ground running," as we say back in the States. But, I need to be careful in choosing my phrases when speaking with my Korean colleagues and students. They tend to take each word quite literally.

I'm not literally running. I'm not in that good of shape just yet. I am, though, doing quite a bit of walking. In fact, that is one of the prime factors that draws me to life at Handong. Here, I can live a walking-paced life. This morning, I walked to church, and later walked to lunch outside where I "helped" grill hot dogs and enjoyed a beautiful Spring-like afternoon with many who live on campus.

Each morning (or, nearly every morning), I get out and talk a walk-about. I head down road toward the main entrance and overlook the valley that stretches out between Handong's campus and the East Sea. If you look carefully at the picture above, you'll see the sea just beyond the rolling hills in the distance. I then make my way back up the long hill and around the road that circles the entire campus before returning to my apartment. The whole walk is nearly two miles.

After preparing a breakfast of either fruit and cereal or -- on days when I'm a little more hungry -- French toast, scrambled eggs and bacon, I take another walk, much shorter though, over to All Nations Hall, and up to the third floor where my office is located. I usually arrive in time to check my email while listening to the latest news from St. Louis via KWMU's streaming audio on the web before making final preparations for my morning class.

After class, its back to the office for meetings with students and then off to lunch, usually with a colleague or two or on occasion, like this past Friday, I'll be invited to lunch by a group of students. There is a tradition here where students take their professors to lunch or dinner. It gives the students an opportunity to get to know their prof's in a more informal setting as well as being good practice with English conversation skills.

Following lunch, an afternoon walk tends to keep my energy level up and helps to ward off the drowsiness that might otherwise tempt me back to my apartment for a little nap. Just a couple of days ago, I noticed another sure sign of spring when walking across campus. Some of the trees are already starting to blossom out.

Eventually, a whole host of cherry and pear trees across campus will be filled with delicate blossoms. Some will be white and others pink. It's an absolutely gorgeous sight! By then, I'll be walking even more since the temperatures will regularly be in the 60's and the rainy days of the late winter will have passed.

The afternoons are filled with classes on Monday's and Thursday's, a faculty seminar on Wednesday's and a lively round table discussions with other international faculty on Friday's. My days are very full but not hectic. These first two weeks have begun to settle me in to a pattern and flow that I trust, by God's grace, will be both meaningful and productive as I seek to encourage my students to grow not only in knowledge but also in responsible service to others according to the callings on their lives.

May I Talk to You about My Plans?

2011-03-08T14:16:00.000+09:00

All Nations Hall

This is a question that is posed to me by my students several times a week. I've found that the typical Handong student is much more inclined to be thinking about her or his future than the run-of-the-mill student in the States. That's not to say, however, that I didn't have many exceptional students during my days of teaching at both Fontbonne and MBU who were quite serious about making their lives count.

But, in general, I'm finding that the vast majority of students here think about making a difference in the world in the -- to borrow a phrase from Brother Bonhoeffer -- "the concrete realities of life in here and now." As a result, I've had many students visiting my office (on the 3d floor of All Nations Hall -- my window is the first one on the wing that extends off to the right of the corner tower), even within the first week of classes this semester, to talk about the plans they have made or are seeking to make for their studies and future roles of service.

Quite a number of them are interested in discussing whether the major in U.S. & International Law ("UIL") would help to equip them for positions in government or non-governmental organizations within their home countries or in developing third-world countries.

In fact, just I was started composing this post yesterday afternoon, I had a knock on my office door and a freshman came in to discuss this very question. All the freshman here at Handong start as "Global Studies" majors, and then within their first two semesters, they are required to declare two specific majors they wish to pursue through their studies. That's right, every student at Handong declares two majors! Many of the freshman are stopping by my office to discuss the UIL major.

Often, students will tell me of a personal "vision" they have for their lives. They describe the positions they imagine themselves occupying in leadership roles within major international corporations or political parties. Others have a strong commitment to developing countries and during their university studies use holiday breaks to work in Cambodia or Kyrgyzstan rather than travel to the sunny beaches of Phuket. In nearly every case, though, they have carefully thought through their plans and are looking ahead with very specific expectations.

After recounting to me their plans and expectations, these students will then sit quietly with a slight smile on their faces as they await my comments. What should I say? Do I affirm their plans? Should I suggest alternatives? Should I encourage them or try to dissuade them for their proposed path, if I think it might be unwise? Because the Asian culture puts such a strong emphasis on young people respecting the advice and guidance of their elders, I'm put in quite a precarious position.

I don't have any fixed answers for them. I don't offer any formulas for success, nor do I try to tell them what God's will is for their lives. Instead, I feel like the Korean Buddhist monk, well-known for his silence and meditation, who when he was asked for a "word of wisdom" by his students told them, "Never trust the word of a monk." So rather than try to offer them specific counsel regarding their plans and choices, I encourage them to seek out the path where they can best serve the purpose to which they have been called.

I suggest that success in life can only be found as we, individually and with others, seek to discover how we have been designed and equipped to serve others, and then start doing that service now in the midst of the concrete realities of life. Plans for the future can provide guidance for the way we live out today, but what is of even greater importance is living fully in the present -- making the most of each opportunity to serve that we are provided today.

"The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." ~ Proverbs 16:9

What's That Beeping, Creeping That I Hear . . . ?

2011-03-05T12:43:00.000+09:00

(With deepest apologies to E.A. Poe)

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly sleeping, suddenly there came a beeping,
As of something gently creeping, creeping along my chamber floor.

No, I won't go any farther with this, but the beeping that pierced my nights for the past two days did nearly inspire a Homeric epic. That beeping, beeping, beeping continued nearly every five minutes through-out the entire night! What a way to be welcomed into your new apartment, though, I must say, the apartment that I've been provided this time is a great improvement over little (did I say little) studio apartment last year.

What could it be? Was it the first faint taunts of a fire alarm or, maybe worse, a carbon-monoxide alarm that I had inadvertently activated by using the gas cook stove incorrectly? Was it coming from the radiant heating system that warms my floors? Was it my water heater? Had I forgotten to turn it off? I looked and looked, tried this and tried that, and I just couldn't get that beeping to STOP!

My only recourse was to go to bed and pack a pillow over my ears. Thankfully I was still so exhausted from the re-ordering of my circadian rhythm that I was able to sleep though the beeping, beeping -- at least for a few hours at a time. Yet, each time I awoke, I waiting anxiously, listening, hoping, and then the silence of the night was fractured again with that incessant BEEPING!

I just can't go through another day with this beeping. I'll have to move into my office until I can get someone who knows how to make it stop. Or, is it just in my head? I'm I just imagining this or is it really real?? There's only one way for me to find out. The way that any good foreign faculty member at Handong begins his search for true knowledge.

I must call my TA! Now, as any regular reader of these postings might think, it would be a very difficult task for me to find someone who might have the potential to measure up to Mr. Mok. He was my most excellent TA who served me faithfully during my two semesters as a visiting professor here in 2009-2010. Now, upon my return to Handong, though, I did not have to look for a replacement -- for my new TA came to me.

Ms. Han was the top student in my Legal Argumentation class last year. She also was the driving-force organizing and directing the Law & Advocacy study group with whom I served as a faculty sponsor. Over the past winter break, she and two other top law students from Handong traveled to the Netherlands for a research project at The Hague and the University of Utrecht. A more outstanding student I could not find if I had tried.

So, I placed a call to Ms. Han asking her to investigate the piercing beeping that was pervading my apartment. With just one short telephone call (in Korean) to the University's Housing Authority, she advised me that the beeping was a signal that the batteries powering the igniter for my gas stovetop were soon to lose power and needed to be replaced. Amazing, all that needed to be done was to remove the old batteries from the back of my stovetop (they were hidden back there) and replace them with new.

Relief! No more beeping, beeping throughout the night. It is such a good thing to have an excellent TA!

A Good Place to Start -- Realizing Our End

2011-03-01T17:35:00.001+09:00

I consider Prof. Richard Hughes a mentor though I've only met him twice -- once at a conference hosted by Baylor and a second time on the campus of Missouri Baptist University when he visited there as a part of the Rhodes Fellowship. In his book on the vocation of the Christian scholar, Hughes explains that he has one primary objective in every course he teaches -- to convince his students that they are going to die.

I was vividly reminded of Hughes' principal objective yesterday when, in between my first day morning and afternoon classes, I attended the funeral of a 22-year old Handong student who had died while serving on mission trip last month in Israel. The student, Ms. Park, was one of a team of Handong students who were in Israel to work on a kibbutz. She died as a result of a tractor accident. It was her second mission trip to Israel.

As I sat in the funeral service and listened to the words of encouragement, comfort and hope offered by our campus pastor, I realized that this was the third funeral I had attended in the month of February. The first was my mother's. She had lived a very full and meaningful life that had even exceeded the "four score and ten" of Psalm 90:10 by nearly two years. Her funeral was a celebration of the reality of Christ's promise of resurrection and life in him.

The second funeral was for a friend, Rodney -- the son of the Lutheran pastor who served the congregation where I grew up. I was confirmed under Rodney's father's instruction. Rodney had also been my family's life insurance agent and financial advisor. He died suddenly in middle-age of a rare brain disease. As a follower of Christ, though, he and his family had a settled trust in God's wise and good care. He peacefully yielded to his Lord's final call.

Then, within three days of my return to Korea, I was sitting in yet another funeral service -- this one, though, for a bright, energetic young person who had died at what most would readily say was the very beginning of her adult life. From the testimonies of her fellow students and her professors, Ms. Park had a devoted sense of mission and commitment to living her life for others. She was a psychology and counseling major at Handong and hoped to soon begin serving others as a counselor.

Her sudden death has had a significant impact upon the Handong community. We have all been reminded of the brevity of life and the necessity of living each day to the fullest according the grace and calling of God. There is a tradition here in Korea that is practiced as a memorial to those who have died. A tree is planted to commemorate the person's life and a small memorial stone is placed near the newly planted tree.

This morning during my reflective walk about campus, I stopped by the memory tree that had been planted yesterday for Ms. Park. It is a beautiful 3-foot fir tree. It reminded me of three lives that had all been rooted in Christ and continue even now to bear fruit in the lives of others. May I be mindful each day of both the brevity of life and the certainty of death so that I might be living wholly and meaningfully today -- and, teach my students to do the same.

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. ~ Psalm 90:12

An Emerging Korean Call

2011-02-27T14:30:00.003+09:00

Today marks my second full day back on the campus of Handong University in Pohang, Korea. When I departed from here last June, I expected to be coming back sometime in the future, but not so soon. I had returned to Missouri last summer first and foremost to be close to my mother whose health was failing. I also returned to resume my teaching position at Fontbonne and to continue PhD studies at Concordia Seminary, both in St. Louis.

At that time, I believed that there would likely be a position opening on the full-time faculty at Fontbonne and the PhD studies were helping to bolster my credentials for that hoped-for appointment. In early November, however, I learned that the position would not be available and so, I suspended my graduate studies at the close of the fall quarter. Within days thereafter, my mother's health took a decided turn for the worse.

I spent most of December and January caring for my mother through three hospitalizations and intervening home convalescences. Earlier this month, Mom's time on earth drew to a close, and she entered her eternal rest on the 4th of February. Earlier in December, I had spoken to my mother about possibly returning to Handong and, even as her own health was fast fading, she was still encouraging me to respond to God’s call.

My decision to return, though, did not come in an inspiring vision nor a challenging dream. Instead, it has been developing over the past eight years from my first meeting with Professors Lee Kuk-woon and Lee Hee-eun at an academic conference in the fall of 2003 all the way through my months of service as a visiting professor just last year. It has been an emerging call that has, in turn, both gripped my heart and puzzled my mind.

Having once again left behind in the States those who are most precious to me, I am, none the less, now more convinced than ever that this is the time and this is the place where I have been designed and equipped to serve others through the gifts God has given me. So I’ve come in response to what might aptly be described as my emerging Korean call. May God’s sustaining grace keep and fortify me for each day. Classes start tomorrow!

Living to Teach Rather Than Teaching to Live

2010-12-30T07:30:00.005+09:00

As I ponder the possibility of returning to teach at Handong University in Korea, I have been revisiting the Analects of Confucius. One in particular is especially applicable to anyone who senses that the calling upon their life is a call to teach.

Of his own role as a teacher, Confucius said, "For anyone who brings even the smallest token of appreciation, I have yet to refuse instruction."

This responsibility to the one seeking instruction was again impressed upon me when I read this morning these verses in The Wisdom of Solomon: "The beginning of wisdom is the most sincere desire for instruction, and concern for instruction is love of her." So when one is met with a request from those who are sincerely seeking instruction, the one who has a call to teach must give the most deliberate consideration to responding.

This type of thinking challenges me to confront the question: Do you teach to live or do you live to teach? Another way to put the question would be to examine whether I am accept the offer to teach primarily and principally as a means to make a living, or do I view the opportunity to teach as an open door through which God is directing me to proceed in faith depending upon him and him alone to provide for my earthly needs?

Am I taking no thought for tomorrow, anxious over what I will eat or where I will live or how I will be clothed? Am I willing to follow on trusting the one who is my Guide, not only to make the way clear, but also to provide all that will be needed for me to progress along that way? Here Bonhoeffer instructs: "The only way to win assurance is by leaving to-morrow entirely in the hands of God and by receiving from him all we need for to-day" (Discipleship, 178).

"Watch and Pray"

2010-12-22T03:49:00.000+09:00

I find myself in a time of waiting. As I ponder the options that are before me, I continue to wait on the responses of others to clarify what opportunities are presently open to me. While prayer is always essential to the one who seeks to follow Christ, I'm realizing even more how necessary it is during these times of waiting.

Bonhoeffer's comments on the petition "Thy will be done, as in heaven so on earth" are particularly poignant as I seek to practice living a submitted, singular and sacrificed life. He writes: "In fellowship with Jesus his followers have surrendered their own wills completely to God's, and so they pray that God's will may be done throughout the world. No creature on earth shall defy him. But the evil will is still alive even in the followers of Christ, it still seeks to cut them off from fellowship with him; and that is why they must also pray that the will of God may prevail more and more in their hearts every day and break down all defiance" (Discipleship 166).

Psalm 40 echoes this theme -- "my delight is to do your will, O Lord!" -- and so may my heart and mind! Show me your way, O Lord; lead me in the path you have set out ahead of me. Again, Bonhoeffer speaks to the heart of the matter: "It is always true of the disciple that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, and he must therefore "watch and pray" (Discipleship 170).

Practicing Mindfulness

2010-12-15T23:07:00.000+09:00

A few weeks ago I learned that a teaching opportunity that I had been told would be opening for me in St. Louis within the next academic year will, in fact, not be opening. The door to that opportunity seems to be closing or is actually completely closed now. I had been planning on that position, but now it appears that I have a much greater need to practice daily mindfulness rather than living so much for an imagined future whose fulfillment was and is completely out of my hands.

In the midst of this time of searching for guidance and reflection upon my calling to teach, I have started to read Thich Nhat Hanh's little book, The Miracle of Mindfulness. Thich Nhat Hanh had a substantial impact upon Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King even nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership in the movement for peace in Vietnam during the 1960's.

I was first introduced to the writings of Thich Nhat Hanh by my good friend and colleague, John Han, when I served with him on the faculty of Missouri Baptist University. As I have read, I have been challenged by Hanh's insights in to living a whole life. In this little book, he writes: "Mindfulness is the miracle by which we master and restore ourselves. . . it is the miracle which can call back in a flash our dispersed mind and restore it to wholeness so that we can live each minute of life" (21).

Thich Nhat Hanh's instruction on the practice of mindfulness echoes the theme of "single-mindedness" that pervades the New Testament. More than merely a self-discipline, single-mindedness is very much a gift of the Holy Spirit as he is at work forming within each follower of Jesus the mind of Christ. Paul exhorts the disciple of Christ to do whatever your hand finds to do heartily as unto to the Lord (Colossians 3:23) and to do all things to the glory of God. This is practicing mindfulness.

May I be living more wholly in the fullness of my present calling today that I may know and practice such mindfulness in each moment that is granted to me.

StudyPracticeTeach

2010-09-04T11:02:00.001+09:00

Today, I launched a new blog where I'll be posting my reflections, from time-to-time, along the way of studying-practicing-teaching. Together with the direction I received to return to teaching at Fontbonne in St. Louis, I've also sensed a renewed call to engage this path more deliberately now and in the coming days. By God's sustaining and empowering grace, I'll seek to follow the pattern of the ancient Ezra who "set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes." (Ezra 7:10).

Concluding Thoughts

2010-08-03T05:26:00.003+09:00

I've now been back in the States for five weeks. Much of my time since returning has been spent with my mother who still lives in my hometown in central Missouri. She has been experiencing some health issues which at 81 years of age can be quite debilitating. I've been thankful that I have been able to be near, help and encourage her. My days with her have affirmed God's direction for me at this time.

During my visits with my mother, I've also have been afforded a considerable amount of quite time. So among other studies, I've been reading Eric Metaxas' new biography on Bonhoffer. It gives some wonderful insights into the daily life and struggles Bonhoeffer encountered, especially in the mid to late 1930's, as he sought to learn and do what he believed to be God's will for his life. Bonhoeffer's view of the Scripture comes through quite vividly as he writes to his family and friends regarding his decisions.

Bonhoeffer believed that God desired to and did speak very personally to his servants through his Word. He read the Scriptures daily with an anticipation of God's revelation to him -- not, however, of some new or extra-biblical idea, but of God's will for him. When pondering whether to stay in America in the summer of 1939 as Germany under Hitler was on the verge of war, Bonhoeffer read Isaiah 28:16, "The one who believes does no flee" and became convinced that to remain in America was "to flee" from his responsibility before God in Germany.

He decided to leave the safety and security of America and return as soon as possible to his homeland. A few days later he read 2 Timothy 4 - "Do thy diligence to come before winter" and reflected in his personal journal upon this verse in these words: "Come before winter" -- it is not a misuse of Scripture if I take that to be said to me. If God gives me grace to do it." (Emphasis in the original) (p. 340 in Metaxas).

As I think about the way Bonhoeffer lived his life, I am becoming more and more convinced these days that to live a life truly submitted to God's Word, I too must look daily to God in faith with an expectation for his guidance and direction through the revelation of his Word. This will not come by the effort of analyzing the Word with human reason, but through the work of the Holy Spirit in a heart and mind that desires to do God's will.

I believe this is one of the most important lessons that I have been learning during the past year, most of which I have lived abroad at Handong. I am open to return and serve others there in the future as God directs. For now, though, I'll remain here seeking to study, practice and teach God's Word and way by serving others, my mother and family chief among them. I'm also thinking of starting a new blog where I'll continue to post some of my persistent ponderings along the way.

Last Days

2010-06-26T23:23:00.000+09:00

I find myself now living in the last days of my sojourn here at Handong. When you know the date of your departure, the last days seem to lengthen. I finished the reading and marking of my last set of student exam papers and have now submitted my student's grades for the semester. I'm nearly packed, but I still find myself wondering whether I'll forget something or whether I'm trying to take too much back to the States.

I have distributed out to others nearly two-thirds of the books I had shipped over last August. I invited my students and colleagues to stop by my office over the past two weeks and select two or three books that they had an interest in reading. Some students asked me to write a personal inscription in the book they chose. Others (colleagues on whom I had placed no limit) just took arm-loads. The few that remained were donated to Handong's library.

During these last days, I have also enjoyed the fellowship of both students and colleagues alike who have invited me out to a dinner. One group of students (several from my Law & Advocacy study group/debate team) treated me to a meal at Hyoam Restaurant last week. In the course of our dinner conversation, one student asked if he might be permitted to pose a personal question.

Without hesitation, I encouraged him to fire away. He asked me a question that is often put to students at Handong by their professors. The answer that is expected, here at Handong, usually involves the description of a long-term plan for addressing some pressing global need that the student believes he has been called to fulfill as his contribution to changing the world.

His question: What is your vision? The answer I gave, though, did not fit the expected mold. I did not have a grand vision of establishing 300 universities around the developing world (this, however, is an example of the scale of vision that students have come to expect from their professors). Instead, I expressed my desire to be willing to do God's will whatever that might be in the coming days I am given upon this earth.

I admitted that I really did not know, with any degree of confidence, what was lying ahead of me. I believed that for now, at least, I am to return to my home in the States and continue to fulfill the callings that God has upon my life as a teacher, husband, son, father, grandfather, and student. I trust that God will lead and provide me with the grace and strength to do what he wills for each day.

I expressed my aspiration in the words that the Apostle Paul used to describe the life of King David. I said that I will have fulfilled my vision if it can be said by others of me at the end of my life that I "served the purpose of God in my own generation." (Acts 13:36).

As I now come closer to the last of my days here in Korea (for the time being, at least), I am realizing in a deeper way, I trust, the importance of keeping a willingness to do his will as my singular vision.

Let Us Not Love in Words or Talk, but . . . .

2010-06-11T19:07:00.006+09:00

“Let us love with deeds and in truth,” so said the Apostle John when writing in the first century to followers of Jesus. (1 John 3:18) His words speak to the heart of a problem that has recently come into sharper focus for me here. That problem is the human intendancy to "talk a lot" about how we love others but actually to do very little true acts of love. I realize that this is a problem in my own life, and it appears to be a present deficiency in large number of professing followers of Christ today.

The idea that we can love merely in words is indeed a persistent problem. It came into clearer view for me a few weeks ago when a visitor to our global campus here in Korea made a presentation to students and faculty on the international crimes of human trafficking. Our visitor's stated purpose for her presentation was "to raise awareness" about this tragic reality in our world. She presented an extremely informative lecture with heart-rending photographs of victims of sexual slavery and forced labor. It was a very moving presentation.

During the Q & A session, one very perceptive student asked our visitor what she had done to help free a victim of trafficking. The presenter's reply was quite telling. She acknowledged that there were organizations on the front lines that are engaged in direct efforts to free victims and prosecute the perpetrators of these human rights violations, but that was not something she did.

Instead, she believed her role was to raise awareness about the problem because "she was gifted at talking and making presentations." She also recounted a story about a group of high school students to whom she had given a similar presentation. Following the presentation, the students raised a significant amount of money to send to one of the organizations that is working against human trafficking.

There is no doubt that "raising awareness" as well as "raising funding" are important dimensions in the success of any endeavor to address pressing human needs in the world. But the Handong student who first raised the question of what a person can "do" was not satisfied with the presenter's response. She knew that there must be something more.

Is there a willingness on my part to consider whether "awareness" of a need should lead us to ask the more important question: "What can I do?" And am I willing to consider whether the answer to the question of "doing" is not resolved by merely giving money or joining in the effort to "raise awareness" even further?

Are we willing to allow for the possibility . . . opening ourselves to a readiness . . . to actually take action by going and being with those whom we are so ready to talk about? Will we consider and seek God's grace to obey the command to "bear the burdens" of others?

Will we begin to move beyond merely "loving" with our words and by talking about the needs of others? Will we begin to love others with deeds that cost us more than a few dollars contributed to a cause? Will we begin to love in truth by going to, being with and bearing the burdens of others?

Happy Birthday, Thea!

2010-06-07T15:00:00.002+09:00

Today is my older daughter Thea's birthday. (I'll let her tell you which one it is). She's the wife of Juan Luis, and mother of Taya Maria, Maya Theresa and Aydan Juan. She's a teacher at both Rockwood Summit High School and Missouri Baptist University. She's also an event coordinator for MBU's annual commencement exercises as well as weddings and other special events for many.

Now, in addition to everything else, she's working on her second Master's degree -- this one at the University of Missouri - St.Louis in English. By God's good grace, she has accomplished much already in her life and will continue to have a positive impact upon the lives of her family, friends and her students.

I am very proud of you, Thea! Happy Birthday! Enjoy the special gift I sent along to you last week -- the safe return of your children's grand mother! (Save a piece of that birthday pie for me.)

Hahoe Village -- The Williamsburg of Korea

2010-06-06T01:00:00.006+09:00

One of our last opportunities to experience the wonder and beauty of Korean culture was provided to Sandy and me when my Teaching Assistant, Mr. Mok, and his girl friend Narang, treated us, a few weeks back, to a day of touring in Andong -- one of the most traditional cities in Korea. The high-light of the trip was the our visit to Hahoe Folk Village. Hahoe is one of the most well-preserved traditional villages in the entire country.

The decendants of one family -- the Ryu's -- have lived in this village for over 600 years. Although they have added some modern updates -- electicity and plumbing, as well as automobiles and tractors -- the homes and other structures within the village are authentic. As we walked toward the village on a path through the surrounding wooded hills, I realized that we were about to enter the "Colonial Williamsburg" of Korea.

Just inside the primary entrance to the village, we came upon this example of a traditional home. This is actually just the front gate entrance to the family's compound. It consists of retored and updated structures owned by the CEO of a large Korean corporation. Our guide told that the reconstruction costs were in excess of $5 million US.

Here's Sandy and our guide, Young Ju, walking down a typical street in Hahoe.

Each of the established (wealthy) family homes is actually a compound of several buildings enclosed by a stone wall. Within the walls there will be a main dwelling for the women of the family, another dwelling for the men, dwelling for the servants usually built onto the interior side of the surrounding wall. Most of the family compounds will also have a Guest House like the one pictured above.

Within the walls of the next family compound, this calligrapher had set up a tent and would gladly write a word of phase of your choosing. I asked him to write the name that my department chair, Profressor Chi, had given me: 高德

Situated at the very center of Hahoe Village is this 600-year old zelkova tree which the villagers call "Samsindang". The name means "shrine for three gods." According to traditional animistic beliefs, the tree is worshipped as a spirit. On the 15th of every January (by the lunar calendar), the villagers perform a ritual at the tree to pray for the peace of the village.

When I was walking back along one of the paths, this little sparrow caught my attention. It reminded me that no matter where you go in the world, you always find sparrows. And when I remember what Jesus taught. Not one sparrow falls to ground without the Father's knowledge. And as God cares for the sparrows, you can be assured He cares for you. You are worth more than many sparrows.

Yangjindang, one of the oldest houses in Hahoe Village, belongs to the head of the Ryu clan in the P'ungsan area. It is one of the Korean national treasures. Ryu, Seong-ryong (1542-1607), a famous court minister who helped protect Korea from the Japanese invasion of 1592, lived here.

This is a picture of the interior of the large meeting room within Yangjindang. I made the grevious mistake, though, of stepping-up on the wooden deck structure that surrounds the outside of the building. The sign warning against stepping-up was written in Korean only. I should, however, have asked our guide before stepping-up and taking these pictures. My offense resulted in one of the other Korean visitors (who had observed my disrespectful conduct) giving me a sound chewing-out as I was later told by our guide.

Just a few kilometers down the Nakdong River is located Dosan Confucian Academy, one of the oldest in Korea. At the top of these stairs is the entry gate to the shrine within the academy's grounds that was built to house the memorial tablet of Yi Hwang (이황). Yi is one of Korea’s most celebrated philosophers.

At the end of this very full and inspiring day, our guide, Young Ju Choi, asked another visitor to snap this photo. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the "Williamsburg" of Korea.

Leav'n (and Safely Arriving) on a Jet Plane

2010-06-03T21:34:00.003+09:00

Yesterday was Sandy's last day in Korea. Around 9:30am we departed with our friend Abraham Lee on the first leg of Sandy's journey back to St. Louis. Abraham drove us down from Handong's campus to Busan's (about 125 km south) Gimhae Airport. I was the worried one. The trip down took a little longer than I had expected due to a few "wrong turns." Abraham, though, assured me all along the way, "No worries. We have plenty of time to get there." And, we did.

We arrived well before Sandy's flight was scheduled to depart. We checked-in her luggage and then she proceeded on through the security check to her departure gate. Gimhae in a new airport, but it only has 6 gates for departure in its international terminal. No risk of getting lost there, but Sandy was on her way to Narita (Tokyo) which is one of the largest airports in Asia. We had hoped our friends, the Han's, were going be able to meet her at the arrival gate since they would be traveling together on the same flight form Narita to Chicago.

That hope, though, was not to be realized. While still awaiting Sandy's departure from Busan's Gimhae, Abraham encouraged me to check my email to see if Dr. Han had sent me any information about the arrival gate for Sandy's flight into Narita. When I checked, I found an email from him, but it contained information that I did not give me any reason to reduce my worries.

In fact, I got even more concerned when I read that John would not be able to go down to Sandy's arrival gate -- Gate 81 at Narita. Rather, he informed me that Sandy would need to find her way through the international terminal's connection security and then further make her way down to meet the Han's at Gate 73 for their departure. I was able to page Sandy and get a message with that information to her before she departed on the flight from Busan to Narita.

That was my last opportunity to speak with her in Korea. So, with "I love you, and I'll talk to you soon," we concluded the call, and Sandy boarded her departing flight. Abraham and I stayed at Gimhae until the status board showed that American Airlines Flight 5848 had in fact departed. I was hoping that Dr. Han might be able to send me a quick email from Narita when he and his wife met-up with Sandy, but that email did not come. I, however, took "no news" (as my mother always taught me) to be "good news."

And it was. Sandy moved smoothly through Narita, met-up with the Han's and departed on the trans-continental flight to Chicago. She was seated beside an elderly Chinese woman who was on her way to Chicago, too, to visit her daughter. Sandy was able to help her with her immigration and customs forms and visit with her -- even though she spoke very little English -- during the flight.

About 14 hours later, I was able to get a call through to Sandy's mobile while she was waiting in Chicago's O'Hare Airport for the connecting flight down to St. Louis. Another 4 hours later, and I called my daughter's mobile phone and confirmed that Sandy had arrived safe and sound back in St. Louis. She was enjoying the celebration of her arrival with Thea, Taya, Maya and Aydan! My load of worries was finally lifted as I heard all their voices over the phone!

Now, I have another 25 days to complete this semester, prepare for my own departure from Korea and travel back to the States.

Two Weddings and a Talent Show

2010-05-29T16:25:00.005+09:00

Earlier this month, Sandy and I were invited to attend the weddings of two teachers from the KEBS Sunday School class that we help to teach at The Joyful Church in Pohang. Pictured above is our friend Samuel and his new bride. Their parents stand together on each side of them as they are presented to their 500+ guests as husband and wife for the first time. Korean weddings are very elaborate affairs. Both of the weddings we attended (one on Saturday and the other on Sunday afternoon) were held in the Grand Ballroom of the Philos Hotel -- the biggest hotel in Pohang.

In between these two formal events, we were invited to serve as judges that Saturday night for the University's International Student Union "Open-Mic" talent show. Our trainer, Aleksey, was among the many contestants. As a graduating senior this semester, he sang a parting song that brought tears to many of the young ladies' eyes. I was happy when the other five judges agreed with me that Aleksey was clearly one of the top performers of the night. He won second place! I was called upon to announce the winners and hand-out their prizes.

We enjoyed a full weekend of celebration and quite a bit of fun! There was a striking similarity, though, between the weddings and the talent show. All three were very much staged "productions." At both weddings, special songs were sung by friends of the bride and groom. The second wedding even featured a singer who is well-known in Korean popular culture. The weddings themselves were performed in the midst of banquet tables at which many of the guests had already begun to eat and drink even as the ceremony was occurring.

The weddings were, however, distinctly marked by the honor given to the parents of the bride and groom in Korean culture. At the point in the wedding ceremony when American bride's and groom's would give roses to their mothers, the newly wed Korean couple is instructed by the presiding minister to turn first to the parents of the groom and bow. The bride bows from the waist so that her upper body is at nearly a 90 degree angle to her lower body. The groom, however, goes down on his knees and then bows with his arms extended out in front of him along the floor and with his face all the way down to the ground.

After bowing to the parents of the groom, the couple comes across to the parents of the bride and the same bowing ritual is performed in their honor. The value and respect such actions showed to the parents of the married couple was definitely the hallmark of the ceremonies and what -- in the midst of a fun and entertaining weekend -- we will remember most from these two weddings and a talent show.

How Do You Celebrate Buddha's Birthday?

2010-05-22T12:51:00.003+09:00

The 21st of May is a national holiday in Korea.

It is the Buddha's birthday.

So, how do you celebrate?

The answer I suggested to my students was this:

"Be Awake!"

“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Ephesians 5:14

(The pensive Buddha, pictured at right, is a Korean national treasure.)

Some Thoughts from a Visitor

2010-05-19T11:48:00.005+09:00

Shortly after I arrived at Handong last August, I was asked by the student newspaper to write a brief essay describing my initial impressions as a visiting professor. Occasionally, a view from the outside can be a help to enlighten those on the inside.

In that first article, I focused on some early experiences with my U.S. & International Law (UIL) students whom I found needed to be encouraged to pose questions in class.

I suggested that asking questions is not a sign of disrespect or inattention, but rather, a good question is actually the most authentic signal that a student is truly interested in understanding the deeper meaning of things and not just memorizing facts that will quickly lose their significance once the class exam has passed.

Now, as I come even more quickly to the conclusion of my visiting professorship, I’ve been asked to reflect back and recount some lessons I’ve learned during my sojourn here – lessons that I will take back with me when I return to teaching at Fontbonne University this fall in St. Louis.

While those lessons have occurred on nearly a daily basis, I believe they may be best expressed in a few words. Through my days of service among you as a teacher, I have learned anew, from experiences with students and colleagues alike, the value of a walking-paced life, the value of interruptions, and the value of listening.

Coming from the States, one of my greatest challenges here arose from my nearly in-born tendency to live life at a rapid pace. Multi-tasking is considered a mark of proficiency. During my time at Handong, though, I have been put in a position where I lived within a short 5-minute walk to where I worked and worshipped. Leading a walking-paced life slows you down. It prompts you to be more reflective about what you do and even what you say.

You also can discover more opportunities to think when you slow down. The life I had been living in the States could fairly be described as a “driving-paced life” that frequently filled me with tension, stress, and worries. At a walking-pace, life may more readily become an on-going occasion for prayer trusting that Christ will lead us step-by-step as we seek to follow him all the days of our life.

Another challenge facing me came from a personality trait that is often inbred in people with my ethnic heritage (i.e. German as the “Sch” in my surname signals). That personality trait is one that insists upon orderliness and precision, especially in my daily schedule.

I usually approach each day with a pre-determined plan for nearly every hour. What I often found, though, was that my “plan” was interrupted by knocks on my door or emails announcing meetings for me to attend, not next week, but within a few hours.

To say that these interruptions caused me a bit of consternation would be to put it mildly. But, when I allowed the “interruptions” to change my plans, I found that instead of keeping me from doing what I thought I needed to do, pausing to heed those “interruptions” was actually what I was supposed to do. Being ready and willing to respond to the requests of others resulted in greater meaning for that day.

Likely the biggest challenge, though, that confronted me arose from neither the pace of my life nor the pattern of my day. Instead, it stemmed from my ever-present propensity to talk, and to talk too much. In my professional career, I have been a lawyer, a pastor and a professor. Each of these vocations is a “talking” profession. From my months here at Handong, I learned that well-spoken words have an essential prerequisite – thoughtful, engaged listening.

I learned once again the value of being quick to hear and slow to speak. I also learned anew (and tried to convey to my students) that when I do speak fewer words are best. These are the lessons that I will take with me from my time of teaching and learning here – slow down, pause and listen. What I hope to leave to my students and colleagues at Handong is this seven-word admonition: Question everything! Hold on to the good!

(This essay is planned for publication in the June edition of Handong Today, a student English-langugage newspaper)

Look Out for Them Thar Boars!

2010-05-16T16:46:00.005+09:00

That's what I said, "Boars!" -- as in wild pigs! I couldn't believe my eyes when I looked out the back window of our apartment late Saturday afternoon. At first, I could only make out some movement in the tall grass that had overgrown the rice fields in the valley immediately behind the Mission House. I was drawn, though, to watch.

There was something out there. In a matter of minutes, he came into the clearing, or at least, I'm pretty sure it was a he. It was a boar! He was as big as any pig I had ever seen back in Missouri. But he had something those hogs did not. He had a mane of short, stiff, black hair running from the top of his head to the middle of his back -- the sign of what an Arkansan would call a "razorback."

But then, I realized that this big guy was not alone. There was a second dark and equally big boar rooting around, too . . . and three more young pigs. A whole family of wild boar had come out of the woods to root for their evening dinner in our "backyard." We haven't experienced much of Korean native wildlife, so this was quite a sight.

I tried to take a picture -- just in case some of my more skeptical readers might be supposing that I've gone to composing fiction just to liven up our last few weeks here. Here's what I was able to catch with my little Samsung digital camera with its 31.5mm zoom lens.

When I recounted this little adventure to my mother in a telephone conversation this morning, she highly recommended that we not take any more hikes up into the hills behind the Mission House, unless of course, we were well-armed with a big stick. Look-out for them thar boars!

Happy Birthday, Hannah!

2010-05-14T14:20:00.004+09:00

Our daughter Hannah is celebrating her 27th birthday this week. Her day is May 13, but in our family, we do our best to stretch out our birthday celebrations for at least a week. In order to make sure that my gift would arrived by or before the 13th, I put it in the mail here in Korea 10 days ago. Sandy put a card in the mail to Hannah the following day. Yesterday, when checking her email, Sandy noticed that Hannah was on-line and connected with her via Skype for a video call to wish her a happy birthday and catch-up on all her news from the home front.

So, here's another of our on-going birthday good wishes to keep the celebration progressing! Congratulations, Hannah, on your new position as the Sous Chef at Molly's in Soulard! With your 11 years of experience in fine-dining, you have well-earned this recognition. (By the way, I strongly encourage all our friends in the St. Louis to make the trip down to Molly's for lunch. You will have a thoroughly enjoyable time!) Its one of the first places I plan to take Sandy as we re-accustom ourselves to American cuisine once again.

Continue enjoying the celebration of your birthday, Hannah!

Don't spend all that 27,000 Korean Won I sent you in one place!

A Red-Letter Day

2010-05-09T15:15:00.005+09:00

The 5th of May is a national holiday in Korea. On every Korean calendar the date is highlighted in red. Its Children's Day. Everyone gets the day off from work to spend the entire day with their children. Here on campus all classes were cancelled, and even the weekly faculty meetings that are ordinarily held every Wednesday were post-poned until next week. Most of the faculty members plan outings with their families at the local park or hikes into the foothills of the surrounding mountains.

A few of my Law & Advocacy Study Group students had learned that May 5 was also my birthday, so they invited Sandy and me to a brunch at Hyoam Restaurant. I wasn't exactly sure what would be on the bunch menu, but I was looking forward to an enjoyable, leisurely morning with some of my brightest students. When we arrived at the Restaurant, though, I was a bit confused to find that none of my students had shown-up. Koreans generally tend to be somewhat late to events, but when students plan a meal for their professor they usually arrive well in advance to make preparations.

The owner of the restaurant must have noticed that I was puzzled, so he suggested that Sandy and I should wait in the special dining room and assured me that my students were "on their way." About ten minutes later -- as we were considering putting out a call to the study group leader -- the doors on both ends of the dining room opened, and my students processed in singing the traditional Korean birthday song to a guitar accompaniment. The song was followed by the presentation of a beautifully decorated cake sporting one, tall and thin, lit candle. As I accepted the cake, the whole group together sang "Happy Birthday to You" in English.

At the end of the song, they all encouraged me to blow-out the single candle. They explained that, while they knew this was not my first birthday (by a long shot, a 50-year long shot), it was the first of my birthday's to be celebrated in Korea. They wished for me to celebrate many more birthdays here at Handong in the future. Some already knew of our decision to return to the States this summer, but they were still attempting to use their influence to persuade me to stay longer.

Next, I was presented with a rice paper scroll from Prof. Chi, the chairman of the School of Law, on which he had hand-painted in Chinese calligraphy the characters Ko Deok (shown below) which one student translated for me as "high character" or "practicing the highest good". It is the name that Prof. Chi has given to me.

Another of my students then presented me with a gift box (about 8 inches x 8 inches x 5 inches in size) in which I found some 50 small pieces of orange paper all rolled-up in scrolls. I later unrolled each of the orange scrolls to find a special individual birthday wish written by my students. Some expressed their wishes in their language and provided me with a translation, others even drew pictures.

The final gift was presented when we all took our seats around the tables. I had cut the cake for everyone to enjoy, but just before I could take a bite, Ms. Han -- the leader of my student study group -- placed in front of me a bowl of traditional Korean birthday soup that she had prepared herself. It consists of a broth with a healthy amount of seaweed, an excellent source of nutrients, topped with a small portion of beef. Along with the soup, a bowl of rice is also served. The soup is an expression of everyone's wish that the one celebrating his birthday experience a long and healthy life. I ate nearly all of it before moving on to the less-than-health-enhancing (but delicious) cake.

Needless to say, I was quite overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness and kindness of my students and fellow colleagues. It will be a birthday celebration that I will long remember -- a true red-letter day!

Set Your Seal

2010-05-06T19:58:00.004+09:00

There are many things that fascinate me about Asian culture. I believe my interest in Asia, in general, and in the countries of China and Korea, in particular, dates back to my elementary school days when my father was member of the local Rotary Club in Boonville, Missouri. One of the regular events that dad's Rotary Club sponsored was a series of films shown at the high school auditorium called the Travelog.

Each month a different film would be shown about places around the world that folks from Boonville had never heard of and would be even more likely to never be able to visit. I recall several films over the years that featured China, Korea and other exotic countries of the East. One film documented life in the small Himalayan country of Hunza. It is located near Tibet and is one of those countries that many travelers believe may have inspired stories about Shangri La.

I imagine that those stories and films of Asia were the earliest seeds that grew my increasing interest in this land over the years. In particular, I have always been intrigued by Asian calligraphy. I remember once when I was a teenager purchasing a wall scroll at an Asian imports store in Columbia, Missouri, located next door to the health foods grocery where my parents would frequently shop. I don’t think I realized at the time that the scroll I had purchased was written in Korean Hangul.

The Hangul alphabet, as well as the intricacies of Chinese characters, continues to fascinate me. On our recent trip to Seoul, I discovered several hand-made paper and stamp shops in the Insadon traditional shopping district. One of the customs of Asian writing is to sign one’s name with a special seal that is always inked with a particular hue of red. I asked my faithful teaching assistant, Mr. Mok, to order a signature stamp with my name in Korean Hangul. That’s the stamp in the upper right corner of this post. It reads: 코(Ko)델(Del)슐(Schul)튼(Teun).

Now, I can “set my seal” in Korean upon any document I write. This is one of the many Korean customs that I will bring back with me to the States. These months that I lived here have definitely had a formative impact upon me, and I trust that the forming that has and is taking place is for the better -- as my thinking is broadened and my experience of life deepened.

A Letter of Decision

2010-05-01T01:00:00.002+09:00

For the past five months, I have been seeking God's guidance concerning my future. What follows is a letter that I wrote and presented earlier this week to the chairman of Handong's School of Law faculty.

Dear Prof. Chi,

At the end of the 2009 fall semester, you extended to me the University’s invitation to apply for a full-time professorship. At that time, I stated that I believed it would be wise for me to wait until near the end of the spring semester to make a decision in response to the University’s invitation. I wanted to have additional time to learn more about Handong and to seek God’s guidance concerning my future academic service. I also wanted to give my wife the opportunity to come here to Handong so that she might experience life with me on the campus and meet both my fellow faculty members and students.

Throughout this semester, my wife and I have been praying for God’s direction and wisdom regarding our future. We have had many long talks about my service at Handong. We have also talked about the needs of our children and grand children back in the United States. During my visit to the United States during the Christmas holiday break, I also had the opportunity to meet with members of the administration of Fontbonne University where I have been teaching for the past five years prior to my visiting professorship at Handong this year. Lastly, I met with my Doktorvater at Concordia Seminary where I am currently working on PhD studies.

Based upon these extended times of prayer and conversation, as well as my meetings with both Fontbonne University and Concordia Seminary in January, I have decided to accept an offer from Fontbonne University to return to my teaching post in St. Louis, Missouri, this coming fall term. I will also be returning to complete my PhD studies at Concordia Seminary. I believe that this is the best course for me to follow in serving God’s purpose according to His call upon my life as a teacher, husband, father and grandfather at this time in my life. As a result of this decision, I will be concluding my service as a visiting professor at Handong at the end of the current spring semester.

My teaching experiences here at Handong these past two semesters have been wonderful. I am very thankful that the Lord has given me the privilege of serving together with you and my other esteemed colleagues on the faculty of the School of Law. I am very interested in maintaining an on-going working relationship with Handong Global University. I would look forward to opportunities to return in the future for additional terms of teaching should the occasion arise for the University to request my service again in a visiting professorship capacity.

Please accept my most grateful thanks for your leadership and for the opportunity to serve the students of Handong Global University as we together seek the will of God and His Kingdom.

Yours in the service of Christ,
Cordell P. Schulten

Bodily Exercise Profiteth (a) Little

2010-04-29T12:00:00.005+09:00

One of the benefits of living on a campus with nearly 4000 young people is the constant motivation you sense to be active and even a feeling of guilt for being so out-of-shape. This impression comes home to you when you get up at 6:30am each morning to set out on your daily "walk-about" the campus only to find that teams of students have already been up for almost an hour (since the sunrise) and are vigorously engaged in battle upon the soccer pitch that occupies the better part of the center of campus. If only I had the energy and stamina to be out there running around and kicking that ball!

Well, Sandy must have picked-up on those unspoken expressions by means of her feminine intuition. How do I know? She hired one of the seniors on campus to be our personal trainer! His name is Aleksey. He's a national judo champion from Uzbekistan. Not only is he in spectacular physical shape, he also speaks four languages -- Uzbek, Russian, Korean and English -- so his mind is as fit as his body! Now, every Wednesday and Friday evenings, we meet Aleksey in the campus health club -- located on the basement level of Shalom Dormitory -- for our training sessions.

They begin with warm-ups and a series of stretches. We then proceed to running on the treadmill for about 12-15 minutes at various levels of speed. Aleksey is working us up to 8 km/h, but at this point -- three weeks into our training -- we're doing well to make it to 6 km/h -- a nice jogging pace. Then comes the squats. Three sets of 10 rep's each by the end of which the tops of my thighs are beginning to burn with pain. But, we're only about half-way through our program.

Next, Aleksey demonstrates three floor exercises. The first one requires us to lie on our backs, pull our heads up at 30 degrees, fix our eyes on a point on the wall, and then lift our legs up and then lower them down -- sloooooowwwwwly -- until they are about two inches off the floor, and then lift them back up again. We repeat this exercise 6 to 8 rep's for two sets. Now, lie back and bring your heels toward your bottom so that your knees are raised up about 12-14 inches; extend your arms placing your hands on the tops of your thighs and then raise up siding your hands up toward your knee caps and hold it there! Gently, lie back and repeat this exercise now 6 to 8 times for two sets.

Tired yet? I forgot to tell you that in between each set of exercises you are to get up and walk around in order to keep yourself loose all the while controlling your breathing with long and deep inhalations followed by slow exhalations. Now, back down on the floor -- this time on your stomach. Bring your knees up under you with your palms flat on the floor in front. Gradually extend your legs back while you arch your stomach in and your head back almost forming a C with your body. Got the picture? Now do that 6 to 8 times for two sets.

We're nearly through. At this point, we move to the exercise machines. The first one requires us to sit in a chair and place our feet on a platform that is connected to a set of pulleys. The cable running through the pulleys is connected to a series of weights that allows you to increase and decrease the amount of weight that your legs will be lifting as you push the platform with your feet. We start with 20 kilos and gradually move up to 30 and then 40. Finally, we head over to the last apparatus. This one is a bit tough to describe – not because it is particularly complex, but because it requires your body to bend and stretch in ways that are not a part of the normal range of physical activities you might encounter in an ordinary day.

Here’s the scene – first you place your thighs on pads that are set at about a 45 degree angle. Then, you place your heels up against a set of rollers. This essentially locks the lower half of your body into a slanted position. Now arch your back up with your hands raised up in the surrender posture (because at this point in the training you are ready to say, “I give up!” – but you don’t). Instead, you slowly lower the upper half of your body down farther and farther until you are now making an A frame with the highest point of the A being your bottom – you feet form on base and your head is the other base of the A. Now, raise-up slowly (inhaling along the way) back up to the arching position. Repeat this movement 6 to 8 times for two sets.

Did you survive? Aleksey keeps a close watch on us so we don’t overdo it. One time last week, though, Sandy couldn’t make it to the training session, so I was working on my own with Aleksey. Another one of my international faculty colleagues, Alex from Australia, was also doing a workout in the gym on some nearby equipment. He happened to overhear me say to Aleksey that I wasn’t feeling as sore as I thought I might be this the level of training I had been through thus far. Alex, looking out for my best interests, shouted over, “Don’t say that Mate! Yaur trainer will pushya even haawrrder!”

Needless to say, that was the last time I made any comments about not feeling sore. In fact, it was the last time I've not been feeling sore as I’m finding that this bodily exercise is profiting – a little. So far, though, a very little.

HomePlus Plus

2010-04-28T12:53:00.001+09:00

What your local Target store is to any American suburb, HomePlus is to us here in Korea. Its the department store where you can find nearly everything you're looking for and at a quality that is usually about a step above what you find at Wal-Mart. So you might imagine that a trip into town to shop at HomePlus would be an adventure that my wife (who rarely sets out upon adventures) would be motivated to undertake. And that is exactly what she did.

Hopping onto the University's shuttle bus (here, though, shuttle buses are not like those you would ride from the long-term parking lot at the airport to the terminal -- they are the size of a full-scale Greyhound touring bus), Sandy rode the bus as far as its route went into downtown Pohang before turning around to head back to campus. Exiting the shuttle bus, she crossed one of the busiest streets in Pohang to catch the local 101 city bus that would take her further south passed Jukdo Market where she would get off and then walk -- a few blocks -- to HomePlus.

That was the plan, but you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men -- they often go astray. And, its extremely easy to "go astray" in downtown Pohang where the streets are configured in no particular pattern and where street signs are of very little help -- even to those who can read the language -- and of even less assistance to those who don't. In a certain way, though, Sandy did not go "astray" since she just kept walking along that same street where she had exited the 101 bus. She walked and walked. At each intersection, she looked and looked for that HomePlus sign (it at least was in English) -- but to no avail.

After nearly an hour walk about, she decided to head back toward a familiar landmark -- Joyful Church -- where we help to teach a kids Sunday School class each Sunday. Feeling quite disappointed in her efforts to locate her desired destination, she was almost at the point of giving-up. In one of those times of conversational prayer, she expressed a readiness to accept that today was not to be the day that she was to shop, but just in case the Lord had other plans, could He send along an English speaker to be her guide.

Within minutes, as Sandy was continuing her walk back toward the church, she encountered Abdul, one of my students from last semester who is now a first-year law student at Handong International Law School. What was even more interesting was the fact that she was able to recognize him and felt comfortable in approaching him because he and another of my former students, Prophete, had just -- the week before -- taken Sandy and me to dinner at the restaurant on campus. He just happened to be on his way to KBStar Bank when their paths crossed. When asked, Abdul was not only willing to show Sandy the way to HomePlus, he offered to help with the shopping too. He mentioned that he had had good practice helping his own mother do shopping in their home country of Afghanistan.

The two of them perused the aisles on each floor and ended-up filling a big cart with all sorts of groceries and household items. In many ways, Abdul reminded Sandy of our son Justin -- a young man ready to be a help in any way that he can even when it means changing his plans. So, with full bags in hand, Sandy and Abdul caught the 101 bus back to the spot where they transferred to the University shuttle and then made their return trip to campus with even more than they had both bargained for -- all in all, a real HomePlus plus!

All the Trees of the Forest Sing for Joy

2010-04-20T20:01:00.003+09:00

This past Saturday, Sandy and I enjoyed an outing with three of our colleagues from the international faculty. We traveled together to Gyeongju, the ancient capital city of Korea, and Bulguksa, a monastery that is nestled up in the mountains above Gyeongju. The cherry blossoms were at their height and many of the other trees and shrubs were beginning to show their many hues of new-growth green.

Cherry trees fill the hillside along the pathway up to the entrance of Bulguksa.

Just inside Bulguksa's main gate, we come to a lovely mountain pond. The newly constructed monastery enclave can be seen in the background above the stone bridge.

Here's a close-up of the cherry blossoms with the new-growth of green leaves beginning to unfold.

As we walk along the path that encircles the garden pond, we can look back toward the monastery gate.

Another stone bridge leads over a slow-flowing, spring-fed stream that trickles down the mountain and fills the pond.

More cherry trees surround the monastery's 10-foot tall bell suspended in the center of this structure. The bell's low-tones mark the hours of prayer. The entrance to the old monastic enclave can be seen along the left side of the photo.

This is the most popular perspective on the ascending stairs to the main temple enclosure. The second stairway (in the distance) is called "The Stairway to Heaven."

Here we are with Lynn & Debi in front of one of the other temple buildings. Lynn's husband Roy took the photo.

Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord. ~ Psalm 96:12-13

Taciturnitas

2010-04-20T17:30:00.000+09:00

Dennis Okholm, a professor at Azusa Pacific University, wrote a wonderful little book entitled Monk Habits for Everyday People. The subtitle particularly caught my attention: "Benedictine Spirituality for Protestants." Ever since my wife and I had the opportunity to participate in a retreat at the Pecos Benedictine Monastery in New Mexico nearly five years ago, I have been increasingly interested in the lessons I can learn from this tradition.

Prof. Okholm's book makes those lessons very accessible. For example, take this story from Okholm's own efforts to practice one of the disciplines taught by St. Benedict in his Rule, the discipline of taciturnitas.

"Recently, on an Ash Wednesday, I was encouraging students to think of one deficiency in their lives that they could attack with a spiritual discipline during Lent. Never afraid to barge in where uninvited, a member of the class in the back row (the source of much consternation for college professors) asked, 'What deficiency are you going to attack?'"

"I had to be honest, so I answered, 'Actually I've got several, and I need to decide on one by the beginning of the first full week of Lent. I'll let you know.' But I knew what it would be, and , true to my word, I soon announced to the class that I needed to learn to listen better to others, so I would be attempting to talk much less in some small study groups of which I was a part."

“What I attempted – with a mixed degree of success – was what Benedict insists upon all the time for his monks in . . . the Rule – namely, restraint of speech. He does not command silence (silentium) but restraint (taciturnitas), because sometimes silence can be a bad thing, such as when someone needs help with directions or counsel . . . When a monk speaks, he should do so gently, seriously, briefly, and reasonably.”

Beside the advice from scripture that he cites (Ps. 39:1-2; Prov. 10:19; 18:21), why would Benedict be so concerned with a topic about which we hear so little in the church? Michael Casey answers with a litany of possible dangers of talk: ‘It restricts our capacity to listen; it banishes mindfulness and opens the door to distraction and escapism."

"Talking too much often convinces us of the correctness of our own conclusions and leads some into thinking they are wise. It can be a subtle exercise in arrogance and superiority. Often patterns of dependence, manipulation, and dominance are established and maintained by the medium of speech . . . . So if we want to grow in grace, we must learn to talk less and listen more.” (pp. 43-45).

Wise instruction worth my careful attention and adherence.

So . . . What's It Take to Find a Good Chinese Restaurant around Pohang, Korea?

2010-04-16T14:13:00.004+09:00

This past weekend, my wife and I had the pleasure of returning the favor of hospitality to our new friends from Seoul, Kurt and J.Sun. They had traveled Friday along with their friends, Sam and Suzanne, over to the southeast coast to tour in the beautiful island of Tongyeong. Then, Saturday afternoon, they gave us a call to let us know that they were on their way driving north and anticipated arriving at Handong in a few hours. We had made reservations for them at the Pine Beach Hotel on Chilpo Beach. (This particular hotel gives all guests from Handong a 30% discount, so we thought that this would be an ideal place for them to stay). Chilpo is one of several less crowed areas (at least at this time of the year) to the north of downtown Pohang. The hotel itself sits back from the sandy beach with a beautiful, unobstructed view of the sea to the east.

As the time for their arrival drew near, we walked across campus to greet our visitors in front of the University's chapel -- the prominent landmark that greets everyone at the top of the entrance drive leading up the hillside from the new highway that now runs through the valley below our campus. I had suggested to Kurt that he might want to by-pass Pohang as they drove up from the south around the city on the new highway and come in from the west. What I did not realize, though, was that the highway is so new that all the its interchanges have not been completely constructed, and when our friends tried to enter on to the new Interstate (since there are no "states" in Korea, I guess I should call it the "Interprovincial" highway), they could only travel east back toward Daegu, and not west toward our campus.

This unfortunate bit of misdirection resulted in their arrival being delayed until a little after 6pm. Once they did arrive, though, we were able to take a nice strolling tour around the campus with notable stops at All Nations Hall to see both Sandy's and my offices. Then, we continued our walk along the south campus drive and reached our apartment for a short time of light refreshment and conversation, and yes, all six of us were able to squeeze into our studio, though some of us had to stand. (By this point in the story, you might be asking yourself what all this has to do with finding a Chinese restaurant, so here is where the plot thickens).

Our friends had been traveling quite comfortably over the past two days in their Honda Accord – adequate room for four, but six would be a bit tight. So, I called my trusty TA, Mr. Mok, who in turn, summoned a taxi in which Sandy and I would ride through the countryside to Chilpo Beach – the taxi being the guide for our friends to follow in their Honda. (Have I mentioned the tendency of Korean cabdrivers to drive as excessive rates of speed along even the narrowest of roadways?) Picture this – the time is about 7:30 in the evening. The sun has set and darkness is now covering the countryside. One lone taxi speeds along a narrow road followed at varying lengths by a Honda Accord that is clearly doing its best to keep up with each twist and turn along the way. Finally, we drive into the parking lot of the Pine Beach Hotel as the beach is shadowed in the dark of night.

In the distance, the flickering neon sign in the window of the hotel’s famed Chinese restaurant glimmered, and just as we step out of the cars, that sign’s light was extinguished. I suggested that it might be a good idea for our friends to go ahead and check-in so that we could confirm that the room reservations my TA had made were in fact being “held” (those of you familiar with the Jerry Seinfeld Show will recall that what is important is not just the “making” of the reservation, but the “holding” of it) through the evening. Thankfully, the rooms were still available – although one had only twin beds and not a single full-sized bed. Having secured the rooms for our guests, we now set upon to find a Chinese restaurant since the one that we had promised to them in the lobby of the hotel had indeed closed its kitchen just moments before our arrival.

My first thought was to call Mr. Mok and have him order from another nearby Chinese restaurant that I knew delivered to Handong; so I hoped it might also deliver to the hotel where we were on Chilpo Beach. When the innkeeper learned of my plan, though, she recommended that we drive a short 5 minutes north into the next village where she assured us we would find a delightful Chinese restaurant that would be quite suitable for our needs. What I only just then learned, however, was that our friends had not stopped to eat a regular meal all day. They were – and I think this is the first time in this blog that I can actually use this word in all its fullness – famished!

So, rather than waiting for a delivery from a restaurant that I knew, we – all six of us – piled into the Accord – the taxi was long gone by now – and set out to find that Chinese restaurant in the next seaside village up the coastal roadway. True to the innkeeper’s estimation, J. Sun spotted the sign for the restaurant within a short 5-minute drive. But as we turned into the yard in front of the building, we noticed a lady coming out the front door onto the porch. It looked as if she was just about to close and lock the door and turn-off the light.

In a flash, J. Sun pealed herself out of the front passenger seat she had been occupying with Suzanne and ran over to the restaurant owner with what must have been perceived by this dear little lady as a dire request for dinner. I didn’t overhear the exchange, but within mere moments, we were all warmly welcomed into the restaurant as the lady and her husband turned the lights back on and began to fire-up the stove in the kitchen.

What a relief! For the next hour or so, we all sat cross-legged with chopsticks in hand around the center table in the restaurant’s single dining room and enjoyed a wonderful feast of several entrées, including but not limited to, sweet and sour pork along with hand-made noodles and black beans – the local substitute for fried rice in these parts. At the end of this very long day for our new friends, we were able to share a delightful meal together with fervent fellowship around the table of a well-found Chinese Restaurant on the eastern seacoast of beautiful Korea just a tad north of Chilpo Beach.

That’s what it takes.

My Testimony to God's Grace, Mercy and Faithfulness

2010-04-14T14:30:00.003+09:00

Last week, the campus pastor asked me to give my testimony at the weekly faculty chapel service that was held this morning. I thought it best to write out my story in order to keep the telling of it under the twenty-five minutes I had been allotted. Here is what I said:

My parents were devout Lutherans. So, shortly after my birth, they had me baptized in their home congregation, Immanuel Lutheran Church in Boonville, Missouri. I was confirmed in the Lutheran faith at age 13 and expressed an interest in studying for the ministry at that time. Although I had an “academic” understanding of the person of Christ through my upbringing in the church and even an inclination to pursue the ministry, it was not until my freshman year of high school that I came to personal faith in the Lord Jesus.

My algebra teacher spoke with me one day after class and asked me if I was saved. He also pointed me to a number of Bible passages that spoke about a personal relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. He encouraged me not only to read God’s Word, but also to study it seriously. I began to attend Bible studies at my teacher’s home on a weekly basis and also during my lunch break from school in the basement of a Baptist church across the street from the high school. I developed friendships with believers from a variety of evangelical and reformed churches. After about one year of study, I came to place my trust in Christ’s work alone for my salvation.

At this point in my life I began to study the Scriptures with an even greater intensity and seriousness. I attended St. Paul’s College High, a Lutheran school located in Concordia, Missouri, for my remaining two years of high school. My direction, though, changed from ministerial training to Christian education, and I made a decision to resign my membership in the Lutheran church in order to fellowship with a small group of believers who met as an assembly of Plymouth Brethren. My decision to leave the Lutheran church was extremely hard on my father whose family had been Lutheran for generations. I did not, however, realize the extent of his disappointment at the time.

Instead, I was being significantly influenced by my reading of the biographies of both George Mueller and Jim Elliot. In addition, while attending a church youth retreat in St. Louis at the South Side Bible Chapel, I met the young lady, Sandy White, who would later become my wife. Throughout this formative period in my life, my parents continued to support me and gave their blessing for both my upcoming marriage to Sandy and our decision to go into full-time ministry as a school teacher with Victory Christian School operated by South Side Bible Chapel, the Plymouth Brethren assembly where Sandy had grown-up and where we would be members.

In August of 1978, Sandy and I were married at South Side and in that same month, the church ordained me to full-time ministry as a teacher at Victory even though I had not yet completed my undergraduate education. I continued to take classes at local colleges during my two years of teaching middle school students at Victory. During these years of teaching, I developed a particular interest in the many legal issues facing Christian schools and ministries, as well as parents who were seeking to home school their children.

After consulting with a number of older brothers and my parents, my wife and I decided to move to South Carolina where I enrolled in Bob Jones University in order to pursue a pre-law course of studies. I believed that the Lord was now leading me to serve others through becoming a lawyer. So, Sandy and I and our 7-month old son, Caleb, traveled over 700 miles to a new place away from our families for the first time.

We spent three years in South Carolina. In addition to my studies at university and working a full-time job, we were actively involved in our local church another Plymouth Brethren assembly -- where I served in both the preaching and teaching of the Word. Upon graduation, and the growth of our family to three children, we returned to St. Louis in the summer of 1983.

We renewed our fellowship with the believers at South Side, and I entered law school at Saint Louis University. During my three years in law school, I continued to serve my church through preaching and teaching. My ministries also expanded to working with college-aged young people. At law school, I assisted with the establishment of a local chapter of the Christian Legal Society and led Bible studies on campus.

After graduating from law school in May 1986 and passing the bar later that summer, I joined a large firm in downtown St. Louis to provide for my wife and now family of four children – our youngest, Justin Mark, had been born in the middle of my second year at law school. I had started the professional stage of my life journey. Still believing that God has called me to use my profession to serve others, I attempted to develop a practice in the area of First Amendment law. I found, however, that the demands and restrictions of being an associate in one of the largest law firms in St. Louis did not complement my pursuits.

Instead, I became distracted by the wiles of “big firm” practice, and after about six years, I was nearly consumed by the world. All the while, though, I continued outwardly to serve in my local church. I was drawing near to God with my lips, but my heart was growing farther and farther away from him. Through a series of challenging circumstances over the next three years of my law practice, I began to experience deeper and deeper bouts of depression largely due to my leading a duplicitous life.

At one point, I remember distinctly driving my car into the parking garage of the office building where I was working, and as I drove down into the garage, I felt as if darkness itself was completely enveloping me. It was my Psalm 88:18 experience. Do you know that verse? I think it must be one of the saddest verses in the Bible. Heman the Erzahite sighs and says to God: “You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.” I turned my car around, drove straight back to the big two-story colonial house I had had built to show all my friends how successful a lawyer I had become, got out of my car, went into the house and went back to bed.

Sandy was concerned that I was ill, but I told that I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I didn’t want to do anything; I didn’t want to talk to anyone; I just wanted to go back to bed. She left me there for several hours, but later she came back to the bedroom and said to me: “I don’t know what is wrong with you. I only know that you need to get back to doing what you used to do.” By that, she meant, I needed to get back to reading God’s Word on a daily basis and journaling my thoughts and ideas, my prayers and concerns. A few days later, by the grace of God, I started back to doing what I had been taught to do in the early years of my walk with Lord.

I was restored in my faith through meditation upon Scripture, prayer and the discipline of journaling. Within the next few months, I ended up leaving that large law firm I had been working for the past nine years, and joining a small firm of Christian lawyers. In January, 1995, my family and I also decided to move our church fellowship to a small gathering of believers who met at place providentially called Grace Bible Chapel.

This transfer out of “law” and into “grace” was accompanied by my desire and interest to return to full-time ministry. The elders at Grace Bible Chapel invited me to spend a year praying with them about an opportunity for me to serve in a pastoral-teaching ministry within the church. That year turned into 18 months, after which the church ordained me in May 1996. Having now left behind the practice of law, yet another stage in my journey had begun. Over the next four years, I committed myself to ministry in the local church. My elders also encouraged me to start theological studies at Covenant Seminary, and I continued there as a part-time student for the next seven years.

During that same time period, I also started teaching on a part-time basis at Missouri Baptist University as a lecturer in law. In January, 2000, the University offered me a full-time appointment to its faculty as an assistant professor. This marked a new stage in my journey. The course of my life over 25 years to that point had been marked by my respective callings to teaching, law and ministry. These three strands were brought together in the opportunity to serve on the faculty of Missouri Baptist. I began teaching as an assistant professor of Interdisciplinary Studies. Later, I was appointed Chair of the Division of Social & Behavioral Sciences and then, Associate Academic Dean of Undergraduate Studies.

The high-light of my years of teaching at Missouri Baptist was the opportunity I was given to develop a senior seminar focusing students on critical thinking and analytical writing skills. The course required the students to read broadly and to consider what it meant to live an examined, an integrated and an offered life according to one’s calling. The theme of this course became the challenge I would use to conclude every class session of every course I have taught from then until now: Question Everything! Hold on to the Good!

In the fall of 2003, I had the privilege of meeting two professors from Handong while presenting a paper at an academic conference in Florida. Those two were Professor Hee Eun Lee and Professor Guk Woon “Kuyper” Lee. They told me about a young university in Korea called Handong, and they invited me to apply for a summer visiting professorship.

The next summer, after completing my seminary studies at Covenant, I traveled here to Korea for the first time and taught a course on Antitrust Law at Handong International Law School. Upon my return to St. Louis that fall, I continued to serve on the faculty at Missouri Baptist until August, 2005 when I began teaching as a part-time lecturer at Fontbonne University and also started my PhD studies in Theology & Culture at Concordia Seminary.

For the next two years while teaching and studying, I also served as a chaplain to the legal community in St. Louis, Missouri through the Christian Legal Society’s Spirit of St. Louis Pilot Project in Marketplace Discipleship. In conjunction with this ministry, I was ordained as a pastor of discipleship by my current home church, West Hills Community Church.

After completing that project, I continued to teach part-time as a Senior Lecturer at Fontbonne University as well as study in the Theology & Culture PhD program at Concordia Seminary. Last summer, I received an invitation to come back here to Handong as a visiting professor of American Law in the undergraduate School of Law’s U.S. and International Law program.

God has led me on a long journey. It has taken many turns -- from my Lutheran family upbringing, through the Plymouth Brethren to now serving at a Baptist church. Along the way I have been a student at a Fundamentalist University – Bob Jones, a Jesuit Law School – Saint Louis University, both a Presbyterian and Lutheran Seminary – Covenant and Concordia. I’ve taught at a Southern Baptist and a Catholic University – Missouri Baptist and Fontbonne – and now, for this academic year – I teaching here at Handong.

All in all, as I look back over my nearly 51 years upon this earth, I realize anew that it has only been the grace, mercy and faithfulness of God through Christ Jesus that has brought me through. I continue to look forward to the opportunities for service that the Lord has yet ahead of me as I continue to seek, by His grace and strength, to fulfill both His calling to teach and His purpose through serving others in this my generation. I can confidently say, as I know you too will confess, that it is only: “By the grace of God [that] I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.”

If the LORD had not been my help,
my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.
When I thought, “My foot slips,”
your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up.
When the cares of my heart are many,
your consolations cheer my soul.
Psalm 94: 17-19

The Ministry of Holding One's Tongue

2010-04-08T13:32:00.005+09:00

Brother Bonhoeffer taught the importance of speaking fewer words, especially when the more words spoken would tend to tear down others rather than build them up. In his chapter from Life Together devoted to the "ministry" we owe one another in community, he places the "ministry of holding one's tongue" as the first.

Bonhoeffer counsels us to practice these ministries in order to guard against the natural tendency toward ascendancy and control that arises in every human community. This grasping for power is frequently accompanied by condemning and judging others in the struggle of the natural man for self-justification.

In response, Bonhoeffer writes: "Often we combat our evil thoughts most effectively if we absolutely refuse to allow them to be expressed in words. It is certain that the spirit of self-justification can be overcome only by the Spirit of grace; nevertheless, isolated thoughts of judgment can be curbed and smothered by never allowing them the right to be uttered, except as a confession of sin . . . . "He who holds his tongue in check controls both mind and body" (James 3:2ff). Thus, it must be a decisive rule of every Christian fellowship that each individual is prohibited from saying much that occurs to him."
. . . .
"Where this discipline of the tongue is practiced right from the beginning, each individual will make a matchless discovery. He will be able to cease from constantly scrutinizing the other person, judging him, condemning him, putting him in his particular place where he can gain ascendancy over him and thus doing violence to him as a person. Now he can allow the brother to exist as a completely free person, as God made him to be. His view expands and, to his amazement, for the first time he sees, shining above his brethren, the richness of God's creative glory."

Through my on-going experiences with students, colleagues and administrators up to this very day, I continue to learn the wisdom of Brother Bonhoeffer's words that affirm, in nearly every context and circumstance, the adage: Fewer words are best.

A Teacher's Dilemma

2010-04-06T21:12:00.003+09:00

One of my students recently posed a question that prompted me to pause and think. The student attends my Tuesday and Friday morning class on Legal Argumentation. The purpose of this course is to sharpen both the students' analytical thinking and their legal writing and speaking skills. I had given the class their first writing assignment -- a research memorandum. I emphasized the importance of their writing in a clear, concise and convincing manner.

I also stressed to the class the importance of choosing the right words in arguing the position they had determined was correct. Finally, I charged them to observe the wisdom of the Chinese proverb that you see written at right. It reads: "Fewer words are best." I'd been told that it may also be translated: "Fewer words are beautiful." It was this last bit of writing advice that confused my student and gave rise to her question.

"I thought you were supposed to be teaching us to write like lawyers. Why do you say that we should use fewer words? I thought lawyers always used a lot of words."

I had to admit that her understanding of lawyers -- and American lawyers, in particular -- was indeed correct. Lawyers are professionals who use words -- lots of words -- to make their point and advance their clients' interests. In fact, I have often admitted to my students that as a recovering lawyer, I suffer from a professional disability -- I talk too much. In a meager attempt at self-justification, I offer the weak excuse that after ten years of a law practice where I essentially got paid by the word, I developed the nasty habit.

But, my student's question presented me with a dilemma. To teach effective writing and speaking skills, I have to use words. But the more words I use, I am actually doing the very thing I'm trying to teach my students to avoid. If I use fewer words, I fear my teaching will be ineffective; if I use more words, though, I won't be able to demonstrate the principal lesson of the course. What's a teacher to do?

Is it possible to teach, write and speak effectively with fewer words? The wisdom of that Chinese proverb is consistent with the teaching of Scripture. James admonishes us to be "quick to hear, slow to speak." (James 1:19) Solomon, too, teaches us: "Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business, and a fool's voice with many words." (Ecclesiastes 5:2-3). And finally, Jesus himself warns us that "on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak." (Matthew 12:36)

If I am to follow these instructions, I will need to slow down and choose my words with care. Yes, it is possible to be an effective communicator with fewer words, but it takes time. In fact, it takes more time to compose an argument in a clear, concise and convincing manner than it does to come up with one twice as long. Thus, I must be slow, not hasty, to speak a few careful, not careless, words.

I don't know if my student realized how telling her question was. It prompted me to remember to practice first before I seek to teach.

Tell Me All Your Thoughts On God

2010-04-02T14:03:00.001+09:00

On Wednesday this week, I gave the talk in our student English Chapel. I had been asked to address the question: Why to Christians believe in the Trinity? Here's what I had to say.

Cordell P. Schulten at HGU Wednesday Chapel Mar. 31, 2010 from younghoon Mok on Vimeo.

Counter in Every Culture

2010-03-31T21:26:00.003+09:00

One of Mark Twain's most thought-provoking and critical commentaries on life in his day was the delightful novel "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court." In many ways these days, I feel as though I may very well be living the tale of "A Missouri Boarder on President Kim's Campus." (Folks, like me, from Missouri are neither "Yankees" nor "Rebels" since ours was a "border" state). For, even after nearly six months of attempted assimilation, I still find myself often "at odds" with the expectations and practices of my new surrounding culture.

Many of the practices and behaviors that I'm told are "cultural," though, seem to be in actuality characteristic of human nature in every culture. What might appear to be a rude, assertive pushing to the head of the line is really not so much a manifestation of a cultural tendency as it is an evidence of a self-focus that is common to humanity as a whole -- and, that whole clearly includes me. The splinters that I've so meticulously identified in the many dark eyes about me are truly fragments of the burgeoning beam protruding from my own.

What I'm coming to understand, however, is that a life seeking to be lived according to the teachings and practices of Christ will, in very many respects, be counter in every culture that it encounters. I believe this is true because so much of what we defend and even attempt to protect as "culture" is all too often an institutionalization of human behaviors that are, by their very nature, at odds with the life we humans were originally designed and created to live with one another.

Behaviors that are frequently accommodated by playing the "culture card" are in reality the very ones that should instead be targeted for transformation. Instead of asserting ourselves to positions of higher recognition, we are called to "associate with the lowly." Rather than striving for authority and control over others, we are commanded by Jesus to "love one another as I have loved you." In the place of retaliation and anger when harmed or offended, we are charged to forgive and "bless those who persecute you."

Jesus was the ultimate counter to his culture in both his teaching and example. And so his followers should be in theirs.

A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves. ~ (Luke 22:24-27)

Souls Refreshed in Seoul

2010-03-28T23:33:00.003+09:00

We just returned from the most delightful weekend trip visiting friends, Kurt and his wife J.Sun, in the soul (Yongsan) of Seoul. We made the trip on the KTX bullet train that speeds cross-country in less than two hours. Here are a few photo's from our travels.

Geunjeongjeon at Gyeongbokgung Palace

A Gapsa Guard protecting the Palace Gate

The King's Throne in Geunjeongjeon

On the steps in front of Jibokjae (a reception hall for foreign envoys).

A study within Cheonchujeon next to Sajeongjeon -- "Hall where the king should thnk deeply before deciding what is right or wrong."

Mr. Park, a gentleman who volunteered to serve as our guide throughout the grounds of Gyeongbokgung.

Changing of the Gate Guard Ceremony

The viewof Seoul from Kurt & J.Sun's apartment on the 22nd floor of their building.

J.Sun, Sandy and Kurt in the gardens outside the Dragon Hill Lodge on Yongsan Base. Kurt is a Captain in the U.S. Army and the son of good friends from back in St. Louis.

Korean War Memorial Museum

Sunday afternoon shopping along the streets in the heart of Seoul.

A Sunny Day at Sunrise Park

2010-03-23T15:35:00.001+09:00

We hesitated to step out of our apartment Saturday morning. It was too good to be true. The morning skies looked sunny. The temperature might actually have risen. After just a bit of hesitation, we ventured out. Our weak faith in Pohang's March weather was strengthened! Yes! Yes! It is truly warm. There's not a trace of clouds in the sky. Those are birds we hear singing out their calls. That is a fragrance of cherry blossoms in the air! Let's pack a picnic and head out to the bus stop. We're on our way to the park!

For those of you who know St. Louis, you know that Forest Park is the crown jewel of the many public parks spread throughout both city and county. For Pohang, Sunrise Park is their Forest Park. It is situated on the eastern side of the city along the natural bay that makes Pohang one of the principal port cities of Korea. A short 15-minute bus ride from Handong's campus brings us to the southeastern entrance of Sunrise Park.

Across the street from the park rises a series of apartment towers forming one of the many typical housings complexes found throughout the city of Pohang. If you visit nearly any sizeable city in Korea, you will see similar apartment buildings. There are countless numbers of them.

Under a beautiful blue sky, we enjoyed a wonderful walk up the hillsides and through the park's gardens with their lovely arrangements of enormous granite rocks, both hardwood and fruit trees as well as shrubberies and flowers. The trees are just starting to bud and the flowers are almost in bloom. The warm sunshine and the calm sea breezes made for delightful temperatures through the morning and into the early afternoon.

Sandy and I enjoyed our picnic lunch on the steps of the amphitheater that overlooks the sea, and then, having been recharged, we ventured back along the trials up and over the hills toward the new museum of steelworks that will shortly be opening. (Did I mention in previous posts that Pohang is the steel capital of Korea? Pohang is to Korea what Pittsburg is to the U.S. and what Sheffield and Birmingham are to England.)

After a quick bit of shopping at the local Lee Plus (like your neighborhood Walgreens without the pharmacy), we hopped on the next Handong bus back to campus and enjoyed a well-earned late afternoon nap. Our delightful day at Sunrise Park convinced us that Pohang truly is a sunny place!

How Do You Bear It???

2010-03-18T12:52:00.005+09:00

I frequently hear this question from both students and fellow faculty members alike when I inform them that Sandy and I are living in a studio apartment within the campus Mission House. Their questions reflect the common knowledge that the Mission House studio apartments were originally designed for short-term occupancy by a single individual -- not extended living for a couple. How do you bear living in such close-quarters?

I also hear the same question -- So, how do you bear it? -- from friends and family, when they ask about our adjusting to life in a culture that is in so many ways "upside-down" from what a modern American is use to in this day and age. Not that we are experiencing "primitive living" in any way, shape or form -- our son Caleb would quickly attest to the many "modern" conveniences (like electric power and gas heat) that we daily are dependent upon -- but many of the "customary" life practices here leave us feeling very "foreign."

One experience this past week brought this question to mind in a particular manner. I was invited as a member of the undergraduate law faculty to attend the law student association's "MT" -- "membership training" session. I was informed that a bus would be provided to transport everyone from campus to a dining facility off-campus where we would enjoy a meal followed by the MT session. The bus was to depart campus at 6:30pm on Friday and, I was told, would not return until 2am.

What did you just say? 2am? I heard correctly, for such are the "bonding" experiences of students here -- which, if I think about it for a few minutes, is not unlike the late night excursions of university students in the States or in whatever country, for that matter -- but, did they really want their professors to hang-out with them? Well, . . . yeah. I was even treated to a seven course meal, prepared by the leaders of the student association, no less.

And then, we were all directed to a fellowship hall on a lower level of the building where a worship service was held. Prof. Chi, the chairman of the School of Law, presented a challenging message from the story of Micaiah, the prophet who spoke truth to power even though all the other 400 prophets affirmed the evil King Ahab’s plan. He reminded us that “bearing witness to the truth” in our efforts to “do justice” may often prove costly in our careers and even to our lives.

I was reminded by Prof. Chi’s words of what Jesus had said to his disciples: “For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ, will by no means lose his reward.” (Mark 9:41, emphasis added). Now the question came to me in a much different way – How do you bear it? That is, how do I bear the name of Christ? Do I bear it well, or do I bear it poorly?

That I “bear it” at all is only by the gift of God’s abundant grace. But, I would do well to examine myself regularly with this question. If I claim to be a Christ-follower, how am I doing bearing his name? Interestingly, the first followers of The Way (Acts 9:2) did not take on the name “Christian” (literally “little Christ’s”). Rather, they were called Christians in the town of Antioch. (Acts 11:26) Others recognized that they were following the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and so called them by his name. Is that how I have come to bear his name?

How am I bearing it, today?

ps – I didn’t end-up staying at the MT until 2am. One of my good and faithful colleagues, Prof. Cheoljoon Chang, graciously offered me a ride back to campus around 11pm. I have already found that when one has to bear with sleeplessness, it is an even greater challenge to bear the name. The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak.

Welcome to Sunny Pohang!

2010-03-11T19:28:00.002+09:00

Well . . . that's at least what all the folks around here had told us we would be enjoying by this time in March -- lots of sunshine and increasingly warmer temperatures. So, it came as quite a surprise last evening when I learned that there was snow in the forecast again. When we arrived nearly a month ago now, the eastern part of Korea (where we are located) had just been blanketed with about 5 inches of snow -- more than they had received in the last 20 years, we were told. It never snows like this in Pohang! It was a fluke, not global climate change.

Right! So, if it should snow again, it would only be a dusting. You can imagine our reaction, then, when we opened the door to our apartment Wednesday morning and found that nearly 6 inches of snow had fallen in the night and it was still coming down, and I mean coming down like a blizzard! A second record-setting snow in Pohang. Sandy was undaunted! Being the industrious person she is, she immediately said, "If we can't take our walk this morning, then we need to find a shovel!"

So, off I went to the Student Union (that's the building at the end of the street in the photo above). There's a construction project underway to expand the SU, and just under that big canopy I found a large pile of sand into which was stuck a flat-bladed shovel. I trudged back through the new fallen snow and presented my find. Sandy promptly took the shovel and began clearing a path from our front door all the way along the walkway in front of the Mission House to the point at the end where the walkway meets the street.

In no time at all, Sandy had completed the task of removing several inches of snow from our building's front walk. But, was she finished? No way! If you even began to think that she was satisfied with only shoveling the walkway, you don't know my wife very well at all. Having cleared off our neighbors sidewalks, she then proceeded to shovel the stairway that leads to the apartments on the second floor of the Mission House. Now, did I tell you that we were doing all this shoveling at 6:30 in the morning?

By 7am, we had completed clearing all the snow in front of the Mission House and on the stairwell! What a warm welcome we've been experiencing here in Sunny Pohang! The lack of sunshine, though, hasn't put a damper on Sandy's readiness to get a job done when she sees a need!

And, I'm happy to report, all that snow has nearly melted away in two days. In fact, I spotted a cherry tree in blossom on my walk over to All Nations Hall this morning! The sure signs of Spring have begun to show themselves. So, we're looking forward to some soon coming sunny days here in Pohang.

Lifelong Learning in Balance

2010-03-09T20:12:00.005+09:00

Balance is one of the essential keys to living wholly. The Greeks taught moderation in all things -- the golden mean. The Scriptures, too, teach balance -- particularly in the arena of study. On the one hand, Paul exhorts Timothy to "study to show himself approved unto God as servant of the truth who is able to "cut a straight line" with God's Word. (See 2 Timothy 2:15). On the other hand, though, Solomon warns us that "there is no end" to the "making of many books," and "much study is weariness to the flesh." (Ecclesiastes 12:12).

Hence, balance is also the key to study. When, however, you live on a university campus just a short walk from your office and two libraries, not to mention having ready access in both home and office, via the Internet, to a wide array of library collections from institutions of higher learning around the world, you are daily confronted with the temptation to live an unbalanced life -- to engage in "much study" and aspire to the "making of many books." A life lived according to the golden mean easily escapes you.

A life of balance can be an even greater challenge, though, in the face of requests for your assistance with the learning of others. In the past week, I have been approached by three different people asking for my help with the forming and leading of study groups (both a law student group and a faculty group) and the mentoring of other faculty. My first inclination is to offer whatever help I may be able to give. Jesus’ words, “Freely you have received, freely give” come to mind. I want to encourage others in their desire to learn and grow in knowledge as well as in faith.

So what’s a person, who believes they have been called to teach, to do? The Chinese proverb written along the side of this post says: “Study is eternal.” That is, the pursuit of truth, insight and understanding is a lifelong endeavor. Each day we’re on the path of learning. Our progress along the way, though, will be substantially enhanced by keeping our life, as a whole, in balance. Even as we seek to respond to the requests and inquiries of others, we must maintain a balance in our life together of learning.

Bonhoeffer suggests in Life Together that one of the key means of maintaining balance in life is to live each day as both a day with others and as a day alone. Indeed, he emphasizes how these two aspects of life impact each other when he writes, “Let him who cannot be alone fear to be in community; and, let him who cannot be in community, fear to be alone.” In order to respond effectively to others, I must maintain a daily discipline of solitude. So too, study is balanced with work, rest, and prayer.

These are the rhythms to the balance of a long life of learning.

Go With Him Two . . .

2010-03-06T16:50:00.004+09:00

On Friday mornings, after my Legal Argumentation class and office hours, I attend Prof. Enlow's "Christianity and Law" lectures at HILS. (Handong International Law School -- the graduate law school that is now located on the first two floors of All Nations Hall below my department -- the University's undergraduate School of Law housed on All Nations' third floor). Yesterday's lecture focused upon the 2nd Century Letter to Diognetus written by an anonymous Christian who had been taught by the Apostles (most likely Paul).

The recipient of this letter, Diognetus, is considered by many scholars to have been the Diognetus who was the teacher of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (that's the emperor above; no known bust of Diognetus exists). Diognetus, though, was a well-known philosopher of his day and may have looked a bit like this simply-clothed fellow striking a pensive pose with scroll in hand.

It is a very interesting letter seeing as it describes how followers of Christ, some 1800 years ago, lived their lives in the midst of the Roman culture of their day. One passage from the letter to Diognetus was particularly arresting:

For Christians cannot be distinguished from the rest of the human race by country or language or customs. They do not live in cities of their own; they do not use a peculiar form of speech; they do not follow an eccentric manner of life. This doctrine of theirs has not been discovered by the ingenuity or deep thought of inquisitive men, nor do they put forward a merely human teaching, as some people do.

Yet, although they live in Greek and barbarian cities alike, as each man's lot has been cast, and follow the customs of the country in clothing and food and other matters of daily living, at the same time they give proof of the remarkable and admittedly extraordinary constitution of their own commonwealth.

They live in their own countries, but only as aliens. They have a share in everything as citizens, and endure everything as foreigners. Every foreign land is their fatherland, and yet for them every fatherland is a foreign land. They marry, like everyone else, and they beget children, but they do not cast out their offspring.

They share their board with each other, but not their marriage bed. It is true that they are "in the flesh," but they do not live "according to the flesh. They busy themselves on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. They obey the established laws, but in their own lives they go far beyond what the laws require.

I found that last line to be especially telling. Could the same be said of Christ's followers today? Could it be said of me here at Handong? Do I make it a practice of my life to "go far beyond" what is required of me? As a disciple of Christ do I follow his teachings in the Sermon on the Mount? When I am compelled to go one mile, do I willingly "go with him two"?

And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. ~ Matthew 5:40-42

First Day's Daunting

2010-03-02T19:34:00.002+09:00

The first day of the new term can be daunting. When you look at your first class roster and see more names than the number of seats in the classroom you've been assigned, you can feel a bit overwhelmed. But, with the help of your able Teaching Assistant, you scout out available, larger classrooms down the hall and find, to your great relief, that the largest lecture room in the new wing of your building is open and accommodates all of the students who have registered for your course -- even the ones on the waiting list who are making heart-felt appeals for admission.

As the room begins to fill, you are pleased to see that you actually recognize some of the students as those who had taken (and survived) one of your classes in the past fall term. You think to yourself, "Maybe this term I'll even be able to master some of their names." Then, it happens. More students arrive. Now there are students who are on neither the class roster nor the waiting list! That daunting feeling begins to creep up on you again. As the seats begin to fill, the students are thankful that you have selected the largest classroom, but you begin to suspect that a more moderate-sized one might have been a better choice.

The time comes to begin your introduction and overview of the course, and after a few words of personal greeting, you invite each of the students to introduce himself and herself. As each rises to do so, up and down through all of the many rows, you realize once again why you do what you do. Each face is full of expression. Each voice speaks with its own accent -- Korean, both South and North, Vietnamese, Tajik and Mongolian as well as a few Korean Americans who grew up in Minnesota, New Jersey or California, and even other Koreans who have lived in South Africa and Senegal. You have been given the opportunity of leading and the privilege of learning together with some of the best and brightest students from around the world.

While the day began under daunting circumstances, by the end of the first class period that overwhelming feeling has transformed into an enveloping excitement. The new term has begun. Its time to seize the day, and undertake another journey with your students as together you continue to pose and ponder the persistent questions of life.

Test everything; hold fast what is good. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:21

Happy 5th Birthday, Maya!

2010-02-26T15:11:00.001+09:00

Our granddaughter Maya Theresa just turned 5 years old! Happy Birthday, Maya! One of the most difficult challenges for Grandma and Grandpa here in Korea comes from our being half-way around the world on these special days when we would love to be together with our little ones. I don't think we could survive such a separation if we did not have the wonders of the internet and especially the opportunity to enjoy video calls through Skype.

Sandy was delighted by a long talk with our daughter and the grand kids this morning. (It was early Thursday evening there in St. Louis). Maya was able to show and tell her grandma about the birthday bear she was built at the "Build-A-Bear" workshop. So, even though we can't be there in person, face-to-face, we can at least be present with one another face-to-face and voice-to-voice through the blessings of internet technology.

We wish and pray for you, our little princess Maya, all the happiness and blessings of God on this your fifth birthday!

The Gift of Mercy

2010-02-24T19:27:00.001+09:00

My wife never ceases to amaze me. She's been here on this new continent, in this new country, among a completely new and different culture for only one week, and yet she still has such a sensitivity to the needs of others as well as the personal initiative to get done what needs to get done, especially when it comes to helping another person -- whose name she doesn't even know -- obtain some measure of relief from physical pain. Sandy demonstrated yet again --even here in this totally new environment -- that she has the gift of mercy.

It all took place Sunday morning. We had been picked-up by Prof. Rhee who not only teaches in the Graduate School of Education at Handong but also serves as a teacher and leader for the Kids English Bible Study (KEBS) at Joyful Church in downtown Pohang. I had been invited last semester to present the English Bible Story lessons at KEBS, and this semester the church leaders have asked both Sandy and me to serve as helpers and teachers for the kids on a regular basis.

Sunday was the KEBS orientation. Over 75 children, ages 8 to 12, have been enrolled by their parents in the class. The class is aimed at providing a double benefit -- instruction in God's Word, first and foremost, and also English language instruction. Each of the teachers introduced himself or herself to the other members of the KEBS leadership team.

There will be 16 teachers who will handle small groups of the children. Sandy introduced herself briefly, but I followed-up and informed the leadership team that Sandy was not only an experienced Sunday School teacher, she was also a Physical Therapist Assistant and a nursing student as well as a former administrative assistant to the Provost of a university in the States.

One of the other Korean teachers introduced herself but apologized for not standing-up due to back pain that she was experiencing. Following the introductions, Sandy went to this young lady and began to assess her pain and offer some help. As Sandy was assisting her in walking up a flight of stairs, she realized that the young lady was in severe pain and needed to get home and lie down to rest. The young lady, however, had driven herself to church. She was now in no condition to drive due to the pain in her back.

Sandy came back down to the Sunday School room and asked Mr. Kim, one of the Korean men on the leadership team who spoke English quite well, to drive along with us while we took the young lady back to her apartment. He drove his car so that Sandy and I would have a ride back to the church. And who might you suspect was going to drive the young lady's car through the busy traffic of downtown Pohang on an early Sunday afternoon? That would be me. Sandy was in the back seat attending to the young lady in pain.

Well, I managed to find my way to her apartment without running any red lights or missing any turns. (Actually, it was a pretty straight shot down one major street after I successfully navigated my way through the packed church parking lot). The young lady lived with her parents in one of the typical high-rise Korean apartments. I was even able to find an open parking place near the young lady's building. Sandy walked her in and took her up to the apartment assuring that she was safely entrusted to the care of her parents.

Mr. Kim and I waited in the parking lot for Sandy's return and then he drove us back to Joyful Church where Sandy and I were treated to a lunch (continental European-style) of toast and cappuccino’s. As I observed Sandy caring for this young lady in pain, I once again realized how naturally grace and mercy flow through her to serve the needs of others. One with the gift of mercy serves whenever and wherever she senses the needs of others -- whether in St. Louis, Missouri among her children, grand children, friends and church family or in Pohang, Korea among people whose names she does not yet even know.

Commencement @ the Commencement of the New Year

2010-02-23T14:22:00.001+09:00

This past Saturday, Handong Global University convened its 12th Commencement Exercises. Throughout my teaching experience in the States, university commencement ceremonies were traditionally held at the end of the academic year. You would often hear speakers making the comment that though the ceremony occurred at the end of the academic year, it is called "Commencement" because it marks the beginning of a new stage in the life of each graduate.

The Asian tradition, however, places the graduation ceremony at the beginning of the academic year, and I think they get it right. Not only does Commencement mark a new start for the many students who are graduating, it also signals a new beginning for the entire university community. It was a joy to see several of my students, who I had had the privilege of teaching in the past fall term, step up to the platform as their names were announced.

Another excellent tradition is practiced by the faculty at Commencement here at Handong. The graduates are called up to the dais according to their schools. For example, all of the graduates from the School of Management and Economics are called forward and their names are read. Next, all the graduates from the School of Life Sciences are called forward. Later, the graduates from the School of Law, where I teach, are also called forward.

As each school's graduates are announced, the faculty from that school lines up across the platform. Groups of graduates step up in a line stretching across the dais with a student standing in front of each faculty member. The student bows to the professor and the professor then takes the tassel that hangs from the student's mortar board and moves it from the right side to the left side thus marking, by this symbolic gesture, the student's passing to the graduated status. The professor then congratulates the graduate with a hardy hand-shake and often, in this culture, a hug.

As the New Year here in Asia has recently been celebrated, it was a genuine pleasure to participate in Handong's 12th Commencement Ceremony at this the commencement of the new academic term!

Staying Up Late and Rising Early

2010-02-20T11:48:00.003+09:00

Our first week back at Handong has been filled with a variety of meetings and tasks aimed at orienting the faculty to a new academic year and instilling us with a renewed sense of vision and purpose in our callings to learn and teach others. Each day has been filled with sessions where the speakers have found some interesting ways to extend their presentations well beyond the time allotted on the published schedule of events for the faculty retreat.

One speaker, in particular, announced at the beginning of his lecture that he would require three hours to make his speech even though he had been slated for only one. As he neared the 90-minute mark, he was handed a note informing him of the need to conclude so that he would be able to catch his flight back to Seoul. Instead of bringing his remarks to a prompt conclusion, he publicly requested the University's president to change his flight schedule so that he might have sufficient time to complete his presentation.

Needless to say, we are still experiencing some definite challenges adjusting to the local culture. One of the most "stretching" is an expectation of our participation in dinners that begin at 8pm and are followed by more meetings that continue until midnight. Now, I do recall that when Paul was about to depart from Troas, he prolonged his sermon until midnight (see Acts 20:7ff), but this does not appear to be a pattern in either the Apostle's life nor was it in Jesus'. So, I don't think that you could readily cite Biblical precedent for such late night meetings, but it does, however, seem to be somewhat the norm in this culture.

What's even more challenging than late-night meetings, though, is an expectation that you should also be able to rise up early each morning for a time of personal devotion and community prayer. Now, I'll acknowledge that early rising is both a good habit and one that is modeled by many throughout the Scriptures. Bonhoeffer makes a succinct case for this discipline in Life Together.

On the other hand, there is explicit guidance in the Word against attempting to combine the two -- staying up late and rising early. So, while adjusting to a new culture is clearly a challenge, maintaining and cultivating a healthy and balanced pattern of life is paramount, wherever you may be living and whatever the expectations of others may be upon your life.

It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. ~ Psalm 127:2

You Shall Live in Tents

2010-02-17T23:02:00.001+09:00

About twelve years ago, when Sandy and I and the kids were moving from a 2,900 sq. ft., two-story colonial (that we had built when I thought I was on my way to becoming a partner at a large law firm) to a 950 sq. ft. ranch walkout in a much older section of Fenton, I began to say -- in a good humored-way -- that I was working my way toward living in a tent. I had left my law practice and had been involved in ministry with a young, small church while also beginning to teach part-time at Missouri Baptist (then) College. Down-sizing came with the territory.

I would joke with the family that "tent-living" was much more in keeping with the pattern of life described in the Bible, but only Caleb and Hannah thought that it sounded like I had a good plan. Well, it seems that the Lord also has a sense of humor. He's brought my "aspiration" to fruition in a way I did not anticipate. It appears that we'll be staying here in what I had referred to last semester as my "hermitage" -- the very small but very adequately appointed studio apartment in the Mission House. (That's our front door on the first level; I took this picture last August when I first moved-in; those rocks in the front are all covered with snow right now). It is, however, no longer a hermitage. Now, it has come to be called our "tent."

It's working-out pretty well, though. We do have a wonderful scenic view of pine-covered rolling hills out the back through a window that stretches across nearly the entire length of the rear wall of our laundry and storage room with sliding glass floor to ceiling doors separting the laundry room from our studio. Sandy loves the natural light and the fact that we don't have to climb three flights of stairs with groceries and laundry (the other apartment would have been on the 3d floor of another building). We've also been promised a second wardrobe which, when it is delivered, will provide sufficient space for all our clothes.

Other than that, and the fact that none of the apartments on campus have ovens (evidently the Koreans do not do any baking; instead, just steaming, boiling and frying on stove-tops), we pretty much have what is needed to live comfortably. The studio is, to say the least, close quarters, but hey, aren't you supposed to grow closer and closer over 31 years of marriage! We are in a land of sojourning here, and tent-living is beginning to suit us fine for the time.

You shall not build a house; you shall not sow seed; you shall not plant or have a vineyard; but you shall live in tents all your days, that you may live many days in the land where you sojourn. ~ Jeremiah 35:7

Happy Lunar New Year!

2010-02-15T21:34:00.003+09:00

Our first full day here at Handong is actually the first day of the New Year on the Chinese calendar. February 15 marks the beginning of The Year of the Tiger. It seems appropriate that this day mark a new beginning for us. As I look back now, I'm realizing that my first semester was a time of preparation. This semester will be a time of challenge, no doubt, but I trust that it will also be a time of formation and growth both for Sandy and me personally and for us together in our relationship now in our 31st year of marriage.

We'll need to take each day step-by-step -- at a walking pace. Today we walked over to view the new apartment that had been assigned to us only to find that it had several issues that will prevent us moving in. We're making the most of my old studio apartment here in the Mission House where I lived last term. It actually is quite adequate for us.

Sandy even referred to the old apartment as my "tent" since it is just a bit bigger in space than a large family tent we borrowed and used many years ago on one of our family vacations with the kids in Colorado. Sandy has made the most of the limited cooking facilities and has already prepared a wonderful spaghetti dinner and an evening meal of pork mandoo and vegetables. I definitely won't go hungry this semester and it’s very likely that I won't be losing any weight even though I could stand to.

Tomorrow, Sandy will be treated to her first Korean shopping experience by one of the seasoned American faculty member's spouse, Danika. Her husband Eric and their four children have been here for six years. Eric (for my regular readers, you may recall how this faithful brother came to my aid by taking me to the emergency room last August when I cut my finger) has been teaching law at Handong International Law School (the graduate law school here). They're great friends who have shown us warm hospitality.

All in all, it looks like this New Year has begun well. We'll be trusting the Lord for grace each day as it progresses in these coming months.

A Walking-Paced Life

2010-02-15T11:57:00.002+09:00

Greetings once again from Pohang, Korea! My wife and I have just arrived back on Handong's campus after nearly 20 hours of traveling. The new spring term is shortly to begin and so we're embarking on the next stage of our sojourn here. Over the past seven weeks of winter break, I enjoyed a wonderful time of refreshment visiting with family and friends in St. Louis and Portland (hence this blog's hiatus).

Something dawned upon me, though, within my first few days back in the States -- the pace of life in the U.S. is substantially faster than the pace I had been experiencing here at Handong over the fall term. This realization came during my second week back in St. Louis as I was driving along Interstate 44 (at the speed limit) from downtown, where I had attended the Urbana Missions Conference at the A.G. Edwards Dome, out to Fenton. I started to become quite aware that my days back home had been very stressful and tense. I thought that I would have been relieved to be in familiar surroundings, but I was experiencing quite the opposite -- greater tension, increased stressfulness.

Then, like the proverbial light bulb going off over my head, it came to me. For over four months while living in Korea, I had been leading a walking-paced life on the campus of Handong. I lived where I taught, where I worshipped, even where I shopped and occasionally went out to eat (at Mom's Kitchen -- a favorite little restaurant in the Student Union). As I was back in St. Louis, however, all I had been doing was driving every day. You had to drive to get anywhere you needed to go in nearly every case.

What a difference! -- A driving-paced life on the one hand and a walking-paced life on the other. It doesn't take a great deal of analysis to conclude which pattern of living is more favorable to a happy and healthy emotional, intellectual and spiritual life. So, now that we are back in Korea and back to living on Handong's campus, we are looking forward to getting back into a walking-pace of life.

I find it quite interesting that the life of one who lives by and through the gracious gift of God in Christ is described by the Apostle Paul as a "walk" and not a "run". With this awareness, Rich Mullins wrote: "Step by step you lead me and I will follow you all of my days."

If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Galatians 5:25

So Just What is a Global University?

2009-12-18T20:14:00.003+09:00

Today marks the conclusion of my first semester of teaching at Handong Global University. My students completed their final exams in each of my three courses over the past two days. Now, I have only to finish marking them and then to submit the final grades each has earned. Here at the end of the fall term, I find myself pondering a question that has been presenting itself to me for some time now. What is it about Handong that makes it a "global" university? There are many "state" universities, quite a few "national" ones (Seoul National, just to name one) and even several "international" universities around the world. But just what is a "global" university?

Though it may not be apart of the university's name, there is hardly any institution of higher education these days that doesn't say that it is challenging and equipping its students to think and act globally. When communication can be accomplished at the speed of the Internet and transportation to nearly any location on six continents (I'm excluding Antarctica at this point, though I'm sure a few airlines will start making regular commercial flights there and back any day now) takes merely hours rather than days, weeks or months, this world has become in many respects a global community.

But what do we mean when we say we are seeking to think and to act globally? What’s more, how might I help others to begin to think and act in this way? How might the members of a university -- as a community of thinking, learning and doing -- authentically embody the idea of being global? I'm sure there are some who have begun to engage this question in thoughtful ways. My experience here over the past four months leads me to conclude that a part of the beginning of being a global university is found in students and faculty who are already living their lives for others.

I have found it in students who have come to this university wishing to be further formed and equipped to serve the needs of others wherever they might be called to serve. For most, this means looking ahead to serving back in their home countries -- serving for the greater good of developing their home countries. For some, it means being willing to go to any of the emerging countries in order to assist them in their development through the rule of law and the upholding of human rights.

These two young men are great examples of the students I'm describing. Prophete (left) from Haiti is studying international law, and Edward (right) from Tanzania is studying management and economics. Both demonstrate exceptional servant leadership qualities. Both are planning to return to their home countries after completing their studies. Both have taught me more of what it means to be apart of a global university.

I don't know that anyone here would say that Handong has a corner on the "global" idea of a university, but in some very significant ways the students and faculty are living it out as they seek to live more diliberately and unreservedly for others here, at home or wherever they may be called to serve.

A Subject Not Often Brought Up in Polite Conversation . . .

2009-12-15T18:37:00.006+09:00

At least that's what is often said about the subject of either religion or politics, especially as we anticipate conversations with family and friends at holiday gatherings. Earlier this semester, though, I came upon a book whose author dares to take on both and does so in an thought-provoking way.

This topic is one that continues to interest me as I examine the inter-relationship of law, ethics and theology. So, since I recently completed (teaching is not the only thing I've been doing here at Handong these past four months) the following review of this new book by Richard Hughes -- a professor from whose writings I have learned much -- I thought some of you might enjoy or even be challenged by his throughts on:

Christian America and the Kingdom of God (University of Illinois Press, 2009)

No subject raises more debates nor fosters greater confusion among conscientious Christians than the inter-relationship of religion and politics. Professor Hughes’ new work contributes significantly to this on-going debate by both helping to dispel the confusion over history and the Bible that all too often characterizes those discussions and charting a clearer course for a Christian’s engagement of the political and social issues of our day.

Through careful historical analysis and comprehensive biblical exegesis, Hughes examines not only whether America was ever intended by its founders to be a Christian nation but also what is an even more telling inquiry; namely, whether that description may, or even should, be applied to the United States today. His approach to these questions, though, goes well beyond mere political theory or even theological doctrine. Indeed, Hughes has accomplished in this concise work as comprehensive a critique of “Christian Americanism” as Mark Noll did of anti-intellectualism fifteen years ago in his Scandal of the Evangelical Mind.

From the outset, Hughes asserts three theses: first, “the notion of Christian America and the notion of the kingdom of God are polar opposites whose values could not be further apart” (4); second, “the devastatingly ironic truth that Christian America so often behaves in such unchristian and even anti-Christian ways” (5); and finally, “that Christians should behave in ways that are consistent with their profession of faith, especially in America’s public square” (5). He then proceeds to present his case against Christian Americanism in five well-formed chapters.

In the first, he examines the historical account of those who have viewed America as a nation chosen by God. Beginning with the earliest identifications made by colonial leaders of the New World as a “Promised Land,” Hughes surveys a litany of claims to America’s “chosen” status throughout its history. He describes each assertion fairly and within both the historical and theological contexts that gave them rise. Having succinctly and carefully observed claims from Tyndale’s time to their contemporary formulations in the preaching of D. James Kennedy, Hughes proceeds to assess whether such claims hold up under the scrutiny of a thorough biblical review.

Many who advocate for America’s chosen status draw heavily upon analogies to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament. But rather than indulging in a “proof-text” approach, Hughes counters these claims by charting the full scope of the Biblical narrative to demonstrate that the particularistic status associated with Israel as God’s chosen nation in the Hebrew Bible finds its fulfillment, according to the New Testament, not in a national – much less an ethnically identified – community, but in the Body of Christ, in whom there are no racial, national, ethnic, political, nor even social or economic distinctions.

In his next two chapters, Hughes turns his analysis from the notion of America as a “chosen nation” to the theme which occupies him for the larger part of this work, i.e. a biblical understanding of the kingdom of God and its bearing upon the claim of a Christian America. His critique is premised upon the notion that if America is to be considered a truly Christian country, then it values and actions should bear semblance to the description of the qualities and characteristics that define the kingdom of God both in the Hebrew Bible (in particular the those announced and called for by the prophets, e.g. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Amos and others) and in the teachings of Jesus Christ and his apostles as set forth in the New Testament. Hughes demonstrates that the chief characteristics of the kingdom of God described in the Scriptures taken as a whole are justice and peace.

Justice, especially as called for by the prophets, means equitable treatment and care especially for the poor and marginalized in society. Peace entails a conscientious dedication to peace-making and efforts toward reconciliation between individuals, groups and races as well as nations. Though Hughes does not cite him in depicting a nation devoted to peace, echoes can be heard of Bonhoeffer’s Fano address: “There is no way to peace along the way of safety. For peace must be dared. It is the great venture” (A Testament to Freedom, 228). Hughes’ analysis of the New Testament passages on the kingdom of God, though sound in both interpretation and application, could have been rendered even more persuasive among a broader scope of evangelicals and fundamentalists (all of whom should be reading this book) had he relied upon the scholarship of N.T. Wright on several points where he instead resorts to Crossan.

In the remaining chapters, Hughes returns to an historical investigation of reasons offered to support Christian Americanism. He traces the first antecedents of this idea all the way back to Constantine’s Edit of Milan and then charts its seminal development through Justinian and Theodosius. He describes a second strand in its emergence that was woven in through the Reformation and especially Calvin’s doctrine of the sovereignty of God that motivated a not insignificant number of the early colonists. Hughes strongly rejects, however, the claim that the new nation was established as a distinctively Christian country.

Rather, he demonstrates instead that the vast majority of the founding leaders were not exclusively Christian and that the documents they formulated to define the nation, while upholding the role of religion in society and protecting it from state interference, were in purpose and effect fundamentally secular. He then recounts a series of engagements throughout the 18th and 19th centuries in an on-going battle for Christian America through such forays as the Second Great Awakening and Manifest Destiny, then on to the Gilded Age’s gospel of wealth and the social gospel’s rejection of it. All of which, Hughes contends contributed in various ways to the messianic nationalism that characterized those who advanced Christian Americanism through the later part of the 20th century and into our present day.

The book reaches its climax in Hughes unflinching critique of the fundamentalist vision of America within a Dispensational eschatology as it was embodied within the Evangelical Right from its early advances in the Reagan administration to the political might it displayed through the policies, both foreign and domestic, of George W. Bush. In sum, he issues a prophetic warning, in his own right, to all those who claim that God is on “their side” in an Armageddon-like clash of civilizations. Hughes concludes his critique by drawing a telling analogy:

"Obviously, there is a sense—and, in fact, a profound sense—in which America is a Christian nation. After all, some 76 percent of the American people claim to be Christian in one form or another. But the Christian character of the United States is comparable to the Christian character of the Roman Empire after Constantine . . . . Like that ancient empire, the United States abounds in Christian trappings. And yet the United States embraces virtually all the values that have been common to empires for centuries on end. It pays lip service to peace but thrives on violence, exalts the rich over the poor, prefers power to humility, places vengeance above forgiveness, extravagance above modesty, and luxury above simplicity. In a word, it rejects the values of Jesus" (185-86).

In this book, Hughes has synthesized and fortified the calls issued over the past ten years by the likes of Stephen Carter and Jim Wallis for a renewed prophetic engagement of religiously motivated Christians in the social and political issues of our day; but in so doing, to acknowledge that the Kingdom of God will not, indeed cannot, be brought about by force of arms or even force of law, but as it was, and is and will be in Christ’s day, only by the force of truth. For anyone who wishes to live responsibly within the concrete realities of life today, Hughes’ analysis found within these pages should be read with careful thought and his challenges heeded with conscientious action.

Unto Us a Son is Given

2009-12-14T15:14:00.004+09:00

Just a few hours ago, I was enjoying a wonderful conversation with Sandy via Skype when our son Caleb called her from Portland to announce the glad tidings -- Micaela gave birth at 1:59pm (Pacific Time) Sunday (13 December 2009) to their first born son, Atreya Lynx Schulten.

He weighed in at 8 pounds (3.62 kilos for my friends here in Asia). He has light brown hair and a strong pair of lungs according to his papa! He is also a hungry little fellow as he took to nursing within minutes of his birth! Both mom and child are doing very well.

Atreya is the name of the 8th century BC physician and sage from India who is considered one of the founders of Indian medicine. Lynx is a Native American name and also the name of one of Caleb's good friends within the primitive living community. We are all rejoicing for his healthy and safe birth!

As the Rest of the World Sleeps . . .

2009-12-12T20:36:00.001+09:00

Asia rises! Those are the words I hear each morning when I turn on Channel NewsAsia to catch-up on the latest events impacting our lives in today's global society. And, its true -- since as most of you who are reading this blog (my friends and family back in the States) settle in for your night of rest, we here in Asia have already arisen from our beds (or for the more authentic Asians, from their mats) and have begun the next new day.

But that statement is much more than a comment on the difference in time zones between the Western Hemisphere and the East. In many real and practical ways, Asia is rising to greater and greater prominence on the world stage while a good deal of the rest of the world is sleeping, or at least slogging along. The ascendance of China and India to the status of leading nations in the global economy is as indisputable as it is inevitable in light of the current trends in both the West and the East.

So what’s to be made of Asia’s rising? Are we to perceive it as a threat or is it the marker of movement for the 21st century? The sun never sat on Britannia in the 19th century, and near the close of the 20th, America claimed sole possession of dominance among world powers after the fall of the Soviet Union. But today, if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that the status of the United States as foremost leader in the arenas of power – economic and military – has been and continues to decline, while the increasing emergence of Asian countries into prominent roles in global affairs is being recognized by every leader of the West.

The community of humanity will always consist of differing peoples, tribes, languages and nations. Rather than angling for positions of control, power and prestige, maybe it is time for us to learn to bow a bit more often and even a bit deeper.

God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble . . . . Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. James 4:6-8

The Ministry of Bearing

2009-12-11T17:01:00.008+09:00

As I'm coming to the close of my first four months in Korea, I have been experiencing this past week what some of my American colleagues tell me is a common disposition in first-time foreigners. In spite of all the wonderful opportunities to celebrate the accomplishments of students at the end of the academic year, I have been thinking and acting a whole lot more like Scrooge than Santa Claus – no matter how hard I’ve tried to work-up a holiday spirit.

Nearly every little thing throughout each day that otherwise might only be a minor irritant has now, from my perspective, transformed into a major -- did I say MAJOR -- source of consternation!!!!! My patience is wearing thinner and thinner. (For my regular readers, you may have noticed a shift in tone in some of my recent posts).

I am so ready to get back to the States for what I’m looking forward to -- a few wonderful weeks of renewed fellowship with my dearly loved ones. My only consolation, at this point, is to confess my failures to love and bear with my new brothers and sisters, and trust the forgiving grace of our Lord. I have been reminded of my deep need to ask God to cultivate within me a servant’s heart.

Brother Bonhoeffer teaches us to serve one another in very practical ways. One of the chief means of service is what he describes as the ministry of bearing. As followers of Christ we are called upon to bear the burdens of others.

Those burdens include the other “person’s nature, individuality, endowment. It also includes his weaknesses and oddities, which are such a trial to our patience, everything that produces frictions, conflicts, and collisions among us”

“To bear the burden of the other person means involvement with the created reality of the other, to accept and affirm it, and, in bearing with it, to break through to the point where we take joy in it.” (Life Together 101).

I have not yet made that break through to joy. I know that I am not capable of it. So, if it should occur (and only the others with whom I am called to bear will know for sure) it will only occur by the grace and mercy of Christ.

Sitting Down to Dine

2009-12-09T17:28:00.003+09:00

This past Friday evening I had the privilege of being invited to the "End of Semester Party" put on by our International Student Union here at Handong. This is the same group that hosted the "open mic" night a few weeks back where I was asked to serve as one of the competition's judges. The invitation came by text message to my mobile. I was further advised that a car would come by to pick me up and transport me to the party venue. In many respects, I felt as if I were being given the VIP treatment.

The evening's festivities did not disappoint in any regard. If fact, the whole experience reflected all of the many and varied dimensions of the cross-cultural engagements I have been provided during my first four months of teaching here. The banquet afforded both traditional Korean dishes as well as a wide selection of entrées from throughout Asia and even a few Western-styled items. Needless to say, we were more than abundantly provided for.

But what was an even a greater blessing, though, was the delight and true joy I experienced from the fellowship of sitting around a table with students from eleven different countries, including Haiti, Congo, Cameroon, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Russia, Mongolia, China, and India. In addition, there were also students from Kenya, Thailand, Philippines and Korea. Nearly all the students joined in both singing and dancing to traditional songs from their home countries. It was one of those evenings that you wish would continue on for hours more.

As I read the Scriptures these days, the phrase “all nations” has begun to stand out in new ways. I sense that I am being given a small preview of the glorious gathering that awaits us when people from every tribe, language, and nation will join together in unity around the throne of God.

Thirty Years Ago

2009-12-06T19:36:00.003+09:00

Thirty years ago, I was teaching sixth, seventh and eighth graders language arts and social studies in St. Louis, Missouri. Thirty years ago, my wife and I were awaiting the birth of our first child. And it was, thirty years ago today that Caleb Andrew was born.

Today, I'm teaching university students from over twenty-five different countries American law in Korea. Today, I'm celebrating the birthday of my son, though I'm nearly half-way around the world from him and his beautiful wife, Micaela. [That's them in a photo I took at their wedding out at Cuiver River State Park in August 2008 - thirty years after Sandy and my wedding in August 1978].

Today, Caleb and Micaela are now expecting the birth of their first child. So many wonderful events have occured over the past thirty years, and yet in some even more wonderful ways, the cycle of life is being renewed again by God's gracious goodness and mercy -- His faithfulness that is new to us each morning.

May you and Micaela continue to know God's good and gracious hand upon your lives, my Son! You are an amazing young man, and I am very proud of the man, the husband and soon to be father, that you have become!

Having Ears You Do Not Hear

2009-12-05T19:41:00.002+09:00

When you are an alien living as stranger in a strange land, you tend to associate your new experiences with ones you've had before. You do this to try to better understand your past, the present and how you might make your way through the days that lie ahead of you. This week, I realized that my current experiences can deepened my appreciation of others I've come to know in the past.

One of the most interesting experiences in my past has been the opportunity I've been given to learn from those who are deaf. Over the last 15 years, I've come to understand the Deaf culture better through spending time with them. My wife is a sign-language interpreter, among many other things, and together with her I've met and become good friends with many Deaf, and through my wife’s assistance, I’ve learned much from them.

I recall vividly my first real insight into Deaf culture. It came through a story teller who explained the drastically different reactions he received when as a young boy he had been taught to voice words. When he attempted to voice the simple sentence "I like baseball," those who heard his halting expressions of sounds reacted as if, according to his account, he was mentally impaired.

When, however, later in this story teller's life, he entered into groups of hearing people and began to express himself with sign language, the reactions he received showed that those who observed his signing acknowledged him to be a very intelligent person. They realized that he knew a language that they did not know.

For the first time, I realized that signing is a distinct language in itself, and those who use it to communicate are just like any other person who might speak German, French or even Korean. I realized that a person’s intelligence is not impaired by a disability, but rather their intelligence is demonstrated by their ability to overcome a perceived limitation through new forms of communication.

Now, for me here in Korea, amongst a majority of people whose language I do not understand nor speak (and have to this point made very little progress in learning), I am the one with the disability. I am the one at the disadvantage. And just this past Thursday evening, it finally dawned upon me that I am the one who, in a certain, small way, is deaf in this culture. I hear sounds but I understand nothing or nearly nothing.

Thursday evening was the annual university Christmas concert. While some of the songs where performed in English, all of the spoken introductions and explanations were in Korean. I thought to myself, “I’m sure those who organized this concert realized that at least a few people in the audience would not be Korean-speakers. Why didn’t they provide a translator?”

When teaching in the States at Fontbonne University, I noted that every university event provided sign-language interpretation. This is most likely because Fontbonne is known for its outstanding Deaf Education department and often deaf or hearing-impaired are among those attending the events. The University consciously seeks to provide the means for communicating understanding to all who attend.

So, as I sat there at the Christmas concert and listened to the emcee introduce acts and to performers explaining whatever it was they were explaining, I acquired a deeper understanding of what it means to have ears but still not hear. But if that is all I learned, I'm not listening very well. My failure to hear, to understand cannot be blamed on the failure or deficiency of others. I bear the responsibility for seeking to understand. I may not now have the ability, in and of myself, to gain the understanding, but I bear the responsibility to ask for it.

No one is alone sufficient to achieve understanding. We will always need others. Though I have ears, I always need others to help me hear.

To Question or Not to Question? . . . . . . . . . That is the Question.

2009-12-03T15:26:00.007+09:00

As a teacher, I have been endeavoring over the past four months here at Handong both to encourage and to challenge my students to ask questions. My approach, though, runs contrary to the inclination not to question that most Asian students have had instilled within them from their culture (or at least, that's the explanation that is most often offered to me for their hesitation, and in some cases, out-right resistance to raising questions).

Many view questioning not as a positive expression of desire for deeper understanding of an idea, but rather as a negative attack that seeks to undermine the "authority" of the teacher as well as create divisions and doubt. From this perspective, listening quietly is expected of students, rather than questioning openly. There are, though, some questions that are not aimed at understanding. In my reading, I recently encountered Paul's admonition to avoid "foolish and undisciplined speculations [questions], understanding that they only give rise to quarrels" (2 Timothy 2:23).

So, if there are some questions that are either motivated by or are aimed at creating quarrels, for the sake of quarreling, then we would have to acknowledge that not all questions are of equal value. Not every question should be entertained. Not every question should even be aired. Some questions are constructive. They lead toward building understanding and strengthening learning relationships. But other questions, may be corrupting. These sorts of questions are intended to foster greater misunderstanding and confusion.

The problem is, however, that any given question on its face may not reveal its true character; or, should I say, the question itself may not disclose the true character and intentions of the one who poses the question. Since we are all humans who are engaged in the endeavor of education, I must ever be on guard that the questions I put to others be questions truly seeking understanding and not be questions meant to divide, harm others, corrupt the pursuit of truth for the sake of self-justification.

All of these thoughts came to bear upon me yesterday, when I pondered whether I should raise a question in response to a guest speaker's presentation that was, as I pondered, being delivered to our faculty. The presenter was a former Egyptian Muslim imam who had converted to Christianity. He now gives presentations to governmental organizations as well as educational institutions and private groups around the world. He had, in fact, just before arriving in Korea been in Switzerland where he consulted with several members of the government there.

In his presentation, the speaker set forth twenty-two of the thirty articles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the member countries of the United Nations in 1948 and compared various selections from the Islamic Scriptures to each of these articles in his effort to demonstrate that the teachings and practices of the Muslim religion violate the UN Declaration. He then argued that action against the spread of Islam should be taken by those nations that recognize the Declaration as a standard for human rights.

He gave as his one and only example of the type of action for which he was calling the recent adoption by the Swiss people of a ban on the construction of minarets at mosques within Switzerland. (read more) What the speaker, however, failed to acknowledge in his presentation was that the Swiss action banning the construction of minarets was in and of itself a violation of the provision of the UN Declaration which expressly acknowledges that: "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance" (emphasis added).

As I sat and listened to the speaker's presentation, I began to formulate several questions to pose to our guest should the audience be given that opportunity. My questions were: "Do you believe that the UN Declaration is a standard for human rights that all countries should follow? If so (and I assumed that the speaker would say yes to my first question) have you considered whether the Swiss ban on minarets is an action that itself violates the UN Declaration?"

I must readily admit that I wished to expose the evident inconsistency in the speaker's presentation with much more directness and force. No public Q&A time was offered, though, and when I went up to talk with the speaker personally his limited time was occupied by many who were approving of his comments. I did, however, raise my concerns with a few fellow faculty members who were also waiting to talk with our guest speaker. So, I didn't put my questions to the speaker.

This morning I found an interesting article by Dr. Albert Mohler commenting on the Swiss banning of minarets. I emailed this article out to all of my fellow faculty members here at Handong and promptly received several replies that indicated I was not the only one who was raising questions about what we had heard. One colleague wrote: "read [Mohler's article] with interest. Thanks much. Certainly consistent with what you were suggesting yesterday." While I must be on guard not to use questions improperly, it is better to question than not to question. All ideas, all opinions, all things need to be examined by questions.

Birthday of a Great Author

2009-11-30T21:47:00.003+09:00

The following is from Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac.

It's the birthday of a writer who described life in the Mississippi River valley, whose most famous fiction and nonfiction is set along the river, and who got his pen name from being a riverboat captain, even though he spent most of his adult life traveling or living on the East Coast. That's Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, born on this day in Florida, Missouri (1835).

The town of Florida was about 30 miles inland from the Mississippi River, and Samuel's father, trained as a lawyer, was finding it impossible to support himself in Florida as a lawyer, or a politician or storekeeper, for that matter. So when Sam was four, his father moved the family to Hannibal, Missouri, right on the river, figuring that he would have better business there.

For a while, Sam had an ordinary childhood, playing with other boys his age, exploring the caves near Hannibal, playing elaborate pranks on fellow townspeople. But when he was 11, his father died, and after fifth grade he never went back to school. He was an apprentice with local printers, including his older brother Orion, who had bought out several of the area's newspapers. When he got tired of working for his brother, he went and worked as a typesetter on the East Coast. But he wasn't very successful.

Like many boys growing up along the Mississippi, Sam had dreamed of being a riverboat pilot, and so when he found himself, at 22 years old, struggling to make a living as a printer, he decided to switch careers entirely and give his childhood dream a try. It was a rigorous job, requiring an 18-month apprenticeship that cost $500 (more than $10,000 today). But he loved life on a riverboat. He said, "A pilot, in those days, was the only unfettered and entirely independent human being that lived in the earth."

And Sam Clemens was good at learning the river, and a very good pilot. He made enough money to pay off his debts, support his mother, and have some money left over to spend in St. Louis and New Orleans, where he learned to drink and dance. He admitted that he found it satisfying to walk around with hundred dollar bills peeking out between his smaller bills to show off to the pilots who didn't think he could ever learn the river as well as he did.

And he might have stayed this way for the rest of his life, a successful steamboat captain enjoying the river and the nightlife of the river cities, if the Civil War had not come along. In the spring of 1861, all the river traffic was stopped, and Sam no longer had a job.

His older brother was given the job of Secretary of the Nevada Territory, and was set to leave that summer. He asked Sam if he would like to travel west with him, and Sam agreed. He got a job writing for a newspaper in Virginia City, Nevada. He wanted to write under a new name, so he chose a riverboat expression: "Mark Twain," a call given when the river is two fathoms deep, about 12 feet, which means it is safe for the average steamboat. And so Mark Twain became a writer.

He lived in California, Europe, New York, and Connecticut, but never again along the Mississippi, although he went back in 1882 in order to do research for a project about life as a riverboat pilot. And he went back to the river again and again in his fiction, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885).

[Twain's works are well-known in Korea. Though an American author, his words speak to the core of the human condition and reveal our deepest needs.]

http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/

Why I Teach

2009-11-29T17:34:00.001+09:00

A week or so ago, I recieved an email from Mark Johnson, the Director of Public Relations at Fontbonne University. It was an email that he had sent out to all Fontbonne faculty. Mark asked a simple question: "Why do you teach?" Here's my answer to his question -

All of us teach others through what we say, how we act and the ways in which we live each day. Whether we intend to or not, we are influencing, instructing and, in many ways, shaping the lives of others. A few people are privileged and enabled to be involved in this endeavor in a purposeful way.

I teach because I’ve been shaped and equipped by others to teach, and when I’m teaching I sense that I’m being the person and doing the very human activity I was designed to be and equipped to do.

I been given the opportunity to teach at several different institutions during my career, and I can say without the slightest hesitation that my experiences teaching at Fontbonne have been the most enriching. Here I’ve been encouraged and supported to create learning experiences together with my students that flow out of pondering the questions of life.

Questions like those posed by Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner in their book, Teaching as a Subversive Activity: “What, if anything, seems to you to be worth dying for? What seems worth living for? How can ‘good’ be distinguished from ‘evil’?” Equipping and challenging others to reflect upon these sorts of questions is, to me, what teaching is all about.

I wrote those words as I reflected upon my teaching experiences the past four years at Fontbonne in St. Louis. During these past four months teaching here at Handong, I continue to sense a renewal of my calling to teach. The renewal comes through an on-going openness to ask myself those persistent questions and to listen to others for insights into their answers.

You're No Song and Dance Man!

2009-11-28T18:48:00.005+09:00

Have I mentioned just how much Korean students love to sing and dance? Not just the drum and cymbal corps (who, by the way, are still banging away these nights), but virtually every Korean student I've met is quite the singer and almost as many are dancers, or at least they don't hesitate to try to be dancers.

So, it should come as no surprise that my students have been appealing to me to participate (I used that word advisedly; note, I did not say "perform") in their various talent contests over these past few weeks. Or, maybe that is a surprise, or at least should be -- since I've never been known as a dancer (maybe a shuffler, at most) and my singing is best kept within the confines of a large choir.

A couple of Friday nights ago, I was recruited into serving as one of several judges for an "open-mic" evening at the "I-Cafe" (that's the International Cafe that operates within the Student Union especially for those members of the Handong student body who are from countries other than Korea).

There were singers from Mongolia, Thailand, Cambodia, Korea, and the U.S., dancers from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti and Russia, a linguist from Afghanistan (who could translate any phrase posed to him into 8 languages) and even a would-be comedian from the State of Washington (an exchange student from La Tourneau University). To top it all off, the emcee was from Tajikistan. The winners, though, were all singers: third place to a young man from Korea, second to a young lady from Russia, and first to a young man from the States who played the guitar and sang with echoes of Eric Clapton.

[By the way, please do not worry -- The guy in the picture above is not trying to sing. He's actually introducing the winners of the "open-mic" contest and happened to be caught in a somewhat awkward posture. I must note, though, that his attire is quite international -- scarf from Angkor Wat, Cambodia, sweatshirt from The Oakes in Sheffield, England and cap, neatly tucked into the poach of his hoody, from Bray, Ireland].

Well, serving as a judge for the I-Cafe open-mic night was only my initiation into the world of student talent at Handong. The following week, I began rehearsing with a group of Korean law students for the annual "Battle of the Schools" talent contest where each school within the university presents a singing and dancing troupe in performance on center stage, under the lights, and on camera.

The first number our group was to perform was a four-part choral arrangement of St. Francis' Prayer for Peace -- in Korean! Thankfully, I was placed along side a young man with a strong and resonant bass voice, so following the music was rendered much easier. My challenge, however, was to get close enough to a correct pronunciation of the Korean words so that my trembling bass voice did not sound out when it should have been silent. All and all, though, the singing was a breeze compared to what lay ahead of me in the second half of our performance.

Our second number was a dance routine, and I don't mean "dance" as in the style that Bill Cosby was known to display during the opening of his popular TV show. That would have been much more my speed, but oh no! These Korean kids love to jump and kick and spin and even shake their hips and heads, at the same time! In a very smart move on our dance director's part (after she had witnessed my first feeble attempts during the initial rehearsals of the routine), I was placed in the third row center, surrounded by young students who had mastered every move.

I really have no idea how I did. It was fun, but exhausting. We were the seventh group to go on that evening, and I think we made it to the stage around 10pm. I'm told the whole thing was video-taped, but you can be sure that if it was, that video will never see the light of day (at least I hope it never will). I do remember the last move of our routine -- a coordinated salute that I'm fairly sure I managed with my right hand and on the final beat. If the performance is ever viewed again, then whoever sees it will conclude with me that I'm definitely NO song and dance man!

Here's a video I found from last year that features one of the Handong student performance groups. This will give you an idea of the quality of talent that the university displays. (I am no where in this video; it will be quite obvious).

Thanksgiving Half-a-World Away

2009-11-27T17:17:00.003+09:00

Although this is the first Thanksgiving I have ever experienced apart from my family, I've been sustained by the fellowship of new friends, and I've been reminded of the blessings that are bestowed upon us through our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ.

I'm also thankful for the blessing of internet technology that enabled me to enjoy a video call with my family who had gathered at my mother's home for a traditional Thanksgiving feast.

In spite of the fact that I'm half-a-world away from the people I love the most, I was enabled to give thanks this year in ways more meaningful to me than ever before.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever.

It is he who remembered us in our low estate,
for his steadfast love endures forever;

and rescued us from our foes,
for his steadfast love endures forever;

he who gives food to all flesh,
for his steadfast love endures forever.

Give thanks to the God of heaven,
for his steadfast love endures forever.

Psalm 136:1,23-26

He Who Would Be Great, Must Be . . .

2009-11-26T21:32:00.002+09:00

. . . the servant of all. Jesus embodied this truth throughout his life and especially in his death. He also said, "I did not come to be served, but to serve and to give my life as a ransom for all." This way of living, though, goes completely against the grain of human nature. Our natural inclination is to be served, to be preferred over others, and above all, to be first. What I am learning during my time here is that human nature is basically the same in any culture, and the way of life shown to us by Jesus is counter-cultural no matter where you are on earth.

This realization came home to me a couple of evenings ago when I decided to head over to Hyoam Restaurant -- the best place to eat on campus -- for my dinner. It's a popular spot among both students and faculty. When I arrived, the line was quite long, so I took up my place at the end and waited. The special on Tuesday evenings is breaded pork tenderloin. It tends to be one of the hottest sellers. As I waited for the line to progress toward the front counter where orders are placed, I was hoping (okay, I was also praying) that there would be at least one pork tenderloin left.

When I had made it about half-way up to the counter, I noticed that someone was quickly moving up the line, passing by me and going straight to the front. Hold-on a second! I've been waiting in this line for nearly 10 minutes, patiently taking gradual steps along the way as I watched more and more people ahead of me walk away with their trays filled with the pork tenderloin special. Who was this guy cutting-in line? Only later did I learn (after the special sold-out and I ended up with the "not-so teriyaki" chicken) that he was a faculty member. Evidently, the custom on campus allows faculty members to go to the head of the line. They need not wait their turn with everyone else. That's the local practice.

I thought about that for a while. I had every right in this culture to go straight to the front of the line, and no one would object. But then, I reflected. What would be better for a teacher to do? One who is attempting to teach in the classroom about living like a follower of Christ in every dimension life? Would it be better to prefer myself or to defer and wait my turn in line like all the students? So now, I run the risk of acting in a manner not expected of faculty on this campus if I simply wait my turn in line for a meal. I'm finding, though, that being "counter-cultural" is our calling when it comes to the commands of Christ.

Jesus took time on the night he was betrayed not only to share a last supper with his disciples, but also to wash their feet. He calls us to follow him -- to love others just as he has loved us -- to take up the basin and the towel.

Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. ~ Romans 12:10-11.