It was strange to see my small town of 20,000 people, that has been unheard of to most of the people I have been around, become publicized in the past year due to natural disasters. Just back in September 2009, we had the station fire that basically stripped all the mountains. Relatives from Korea saw us on their local news channel and people called to check on us. Luckily, my house was not affected, but because of this disaster, the bare mountains became an almost too-perfect situation for the La Canadians fast forward 5 months. People who got evacuated back in September experienced a dejavu this past month when they were red-tagged to leave their unsafe homes. All back in September, we were praying for rain to stop the fire... and now the rain came a bit late and somewhat uninvited, seeing that the naked mountains had no substance to hold up.
When I got to Spain, I thought about this ironic situation a lot. It was too perfect, no? How can this small small town (aka "LC Bubble") that has been so comfortable for all I can remember, be made famous and public for such a horrible catastrophe..? It reminded me of a conversation I had with my dad a couple months ago, triggered by financial difficulties and disheartening situations. He shared his thoughts about the world and money saying that "money comes and goes..." and how unimportant it really was in our lives. He went from having a grand in his bank account to bringing my family to La Cañada within a few years. That is how unreliable this idol we call money really is. People who have nothing can have everything overnight while those who have lived with no worries can be stripped of everything. He also mentioned that this financial recession was a good humbling experience for America. We have become so engrossed into our financial values, making our possessions our gods and being obsessively dependent on it. When all this is taken away, what is left....? There is God. The less we have, the more we long for... and after longing for worldly things that will not satisfy us, we realize that God is our complete satisfaction.
My dad wrote me an email a few days after I got to Valencia. Towards the end of it, he wrote:
앞으로의 삶은 주님과 동행하는 삶을 살려는 것이 나와 우리 온 가족의 꿈인것을 너에게 말한다
잘살던지 못살던지가 중요한 것이 아니라
주님과 같이 사는 삶이 참으로 중요한 삶인것이라는 것을 깨달았거든..
Basic translation: I want to say...From now on, my dream for our family is to live a life in relation to God. Being rich or poor is not the important part. Being with God and living by Him is the most important thing and it is something that I have realized.
Am I blessed..? I think so. To be able to experience God, knowing that He is in control and that all things are beyond this world, through a simple email from my dad. Times like this, fire, flood, earthquake, is when God becomes bigger to me. I am reading Matthews and couple nights ago, I read chapter 24 where it talks about the signs of the end of the age.
"You will hear of wars and rumors of war... such things must happen but the end is still to come....there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains... And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come" (Matthews 24: 6, 7b, 8, 14)
Come on, friends. Lets stop being the older brother from the prodigal son, who was so wretched in heart to rejoice at the lost being saved. At least for me, that has been the condition of my heart for most my life.. We need to share this thing called GOSPEL so that the end comes. I am dunzo with this place called earth. Until then, no stopping, guys!
*PLEASE KEEP PRAYING FOR ME!!*
I need to find a church. My internet search has been very hard and I cannot find the right one.
Thank you, 13 followers. (I got 3 more since my last entry. Rock on!)
