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JohnnyMoon
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Name: Johnny
Birthday: 4/4/1970
Gender: Male
Interests: Playing Video Games, musical instruments, singing, sleeping, eating :]
Expertise: Super Smash, music, eating, sports games, etc.
Occupation: Student
Message: message me
Member Since:
9/16/2002
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| Heyy all, it has been a while since I updated my xanga.. haha. With the thanksgiving break now gone, it's been tough for me to get back into the "studying" mode back at school. Also, now that I'm thinking ahead to taking finals exams and all, it's definitely making me worried and stressed outt. So in the midst of this time, I wanted to share with you what I learned from past Sunday's worship at my home church.
The title of the sermon was "Be Alert". Pastor Park (the pastor at my home church) was addressing that as we wear down and get stressed out, it's easier for sin to penetrate our hearts and mess around with us. He used the event at Pearl Harbor as an example to show that just like the Japanese fleet that launched a surprise attack on the U.S fleet, Satan can launch an attack out of nowhere on us.
So how do we protect ourselves? Of course, by equipping ourselves with God's word and prayer. While this is DEFINITELY true, COME ON... if you've been to church for some time, anyone can tell you that as an answer.
What hit me was when Pastor Park recited this verse, from Romans 12:2:
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
In order to protect ourselves from sin, we must stop conforming to the way this world thinks. Pastor Park said that Satan will tempt you to conform in a very sly, cunning way - once you conform to the wrongful ways of this world, Satan will never come out to you and let you know out loud, "YAY, YOU'RE SINNING! SIN MORE!" Rather, it will stay quiet, slowly allowing you to be consumed by the sin until you fall into a deep hole that you never realized that you were digging.
I think of times when I get hurt, disrespected, or get angry... I think if I conformed to the pattern of the world, the typical world's response would be to seek some type of revenge, whether it came down to gossiping, hurting them back, silent treatment, etc. And I look at myself and I definitely see that in many occasions, I have conformed to the pattern of this world... But I don't want to.
The verse above shows the solution for how to not conform - by being transformed by the renewing of the mind.
Instead of thinking why a person hurt me, think of why Jesus would have taken my sins...
Instead of thinking why a person disrespected me, think of why Jesus, in all of his splendor and glory, would choose to humble himself as a man dying in the most humilating way on the cross for me...
Before I get angry and want to lash out at someone, think of the mercy God showed me to take away the wrath of eternal death that I deserved...
I just wanted to encourage you guys that as we approach the end of this semester, many of us will be stressed out with a lot of things to do... But let's not let this time be about how Satan is creeping into our hearts, but about how we walk the race strong for God! Let's focus our hearts onto Him, and through it carry out His work faithfully by discerning his good, pleasing and perfect will. HWAITING EVERYONE!! 
P.S Sorry this entry was long haha. xP
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| Wednesday, August 29, 2007
First week of classes.So
far, so good. I went to all of the classes that I'm taking this
semester, and I'm liking all of them so far. The teachers are all
pretty cool in my opinion.
This week is also welcoming week for
Harvest, so there has been a lot of welcoming events for newcomers such
as ice cream social and wal-mart run. It's really awesome meeting new
people and making new friends!
Tonight, we had a bowling social. Only $5 for 2.5 hours of bowling - good deal 
A lot of people showed up, which was awesome. I also hit my career high
today of 128. This is pretty big considering last year, I hit only
around 80-85 per game. So I improved. Yay! xP
I'm so excited for this year! Aren't you? 
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So that was last year around this time my sophomore year... Wow, how fast a year goes by! This year was not any different, as we had fun with the newcomers and the regulars at the bowling alley... ANDD this time I hit a high of 146 (103 avrg through 3 games)!!! Yeaaayuh~ 
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| It has been almost two months since my last entry. The way I'm spending my summer now is very different from the way I was spending it then.
It is true that I've been pretty much sitting at home and doing nothing up to the second week of June. Since then, I've been occupied with preparing for VBS (which ended on the last week of June), and now I am occupied teaching at Yuong Sang Summer School. Yes, I got the job =] Sorry for not letting you guys on that earlier.
I am teaching math for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. Because I taught 4th and 5th grade math during West Philly mission trip last year, I didn't consider this year's teaching job to be a hard task... But there are certainly a lot of differences.
For one thing, teaching children who have poor education in West Philly versus teaching pretty well-educated suburban Korean kids is so, so different. The expectation and the quality of the math taught are a lot higher here than when I did WP last year. And because I am being paid for teaching, there is more of a pressure on me to carry out the tasks efficiently and professionally.
But when it comes to classroom management and teaching style, I have to thank WP for teaching me those things. Most of the kids are well-behaved and listen well, but sometimes they tend to drift into their own world if I don't guide them correctly. WP taught me a lot about how to treat the students and how to talk to them - strict and boldly, but with respect and care. I'm certainly not perfect, and I make my mistakes, but because I picked up those skills from the past, it's been a lot easier for me to transition into teaching and developing relationships with the kids.
It's especially really cool to talk to the kids about Jesus. Everyday, we do quiet time for 15 minutes before classes start. I'm glad to starting to see the kids open up to me during quiet time, asking me questions about God and sharing their experiences. Teaching math for 50 minutes is important, but I consider the 15 minutes of QT with my students to be the most important time, and I stress that to my kids. Couple of my kids told me the other day that they weren't too sure about Jesus and what He did for us, but they said that through the QTs they are learning more about Him and are starting to make sense of Him. Hopefully by the end of summer school, I can deliver the gospel to them. =]
There are so many things I could share about the summer school... It is by no doubt very tiring and draining, but it is oh-so-worth it. The smiles on the kids' faces are gifts from God... It gives me strength to keep on teaching and to really enjoy this job. To not only be able to teach the younger generation, but also to teach them about God at the same time... It is such a very worthwhile job. :)
Oh, I'm also leading praise for the younger kids' worship (Pre-K to 5th). Thank you WP for all the songs that you taught me last year. I taught the kids "Making Melodies in My Heart" this week, and the kids are loving it =] haha.
Please pray for:
-The children: that they may meet God while learning at the same time, safety
-The teachers and staff: for strength and wisdom in the way we act and speak
-The school: that things could run smoothly and even if it doesn't that we can trust in God's provision and grace
-The quiet times: that God may prepare the hearts of the children to His word
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| I feel like this summer is one of those summers that I've not figured out exactly what I'm going to do with it in a while. Last summer, I served in West Philly, went to Korea the year before, and the two summers before that were spent at Accel studying for SATs. I don't remember the last summer that I actually had so much time in my hands. It feels pretty weird.
Bumming for the first couple weeks was great, but it's starting to tire me out now. It's almost irritating in the sense that I feel like I'm trapped in this 'luxurious jail' called a house sometimes. I would like to find something to do, something that will keep me busy. So far that's been replaced mostly by watching Korean dramas. It's been fun, but again, it would be very depressing if I look back and see that all I've done over summer is watching dramas.
One thing that does keep me out of my regular 'bumming' routine though is the religious studies class that I'm taking at Montco. The class meets twice a week in gruesome 3 hour sessions, but I guess it beats staying home and doing nothing. The topic itself is real interesting though. It's nice to read and learn about how religions around the world originated and what they believe in. The course only lays out the introduction of the major religions, but I'm already learning a lot of interesting stuff. I'm reading about Islam right now and the life of Muhammed the prophet. It's pretty cool.
Another thing that I'm hoping that will shake up my routine schedule is teaching job I applied for Yuong Sang Summer School. I handed in a resume, and I'm waiting for the director to get back to me with an informal interview time. I'm definitely looking forward to teaching, but it doesn't start until July, which still leaves me with the entire month of June to worry about.
I would like to work, but for some reason I don't find the motivation to actually get up and search for jobs. It's probably my laziness that keeps me from doing so. I guess if anything, I would like to work in an area that could help me in my major, so something business-related would be nice. But then again, would there be places that accept someone that is only willing to work for a month (since if I get the teaching job @ YS, then I would have to quit the job by end of June)? In any case, I guess I should really pray and think about what I'll do with the time I have.
My walk with Christ hasn't been too great. I'm definitely struggling on reading the Bible everyday (heck, I don't think I've read it on weekdays so far this summer PERIOD), and the only thing that keeps me reminded of Him is when I go to church on Sundays and serve on the praise band for the summer. Hopefully those won't be the only things that will help me to keep on track with Him. I realize that when I go back to school in the fall that I'm going to be an upperclassman. And as one, I feel almost a responsibility to keep walking with Christ so that when I lead and help the underclassman, I wouldn't feel like I'm being hypocritical. For example, I wouldn't want to tell them to read the Bible everyday when in fact I don't read it everyday either (you know what I mean?) But yeah, so far, it's been stagnant at best. I really need to get back into it >.<
Having so much time in my hands allowed me to kind of sit down and think about what's been going on in my life so far. It was nice because I felt like I was all over the place with so many things to do in school. Now that all the events and the final exams from last semester are gone, I could actually sit down and start reflecting. And the more and more I'm reflecting, the more I see of the selfish nature I have. I look back and think, 'man, I wish I was there for this person', 'I shouldn't have said this to that person', 'I wish I spent more time with this person', etc. It's not as if I can go back in time to change it, but I guess looking back I wish I had done some things differently. I just hope that what has already happened will be reminders for me of what not to do in the future.
Wow, that was a long entry. I haven't written this much on xanga in a whilee. So I better see a lot of comments/eprops. hahah. xP Oh yeah, I've also started to get back and recording some music clips lately. I haven't done one since June last summer, and it's fun to mix and record. I hope to have my own mini recording studio someday, but for now, a computer program and a microphone will do fine. Maybe if I make some money this summer, I can buy a small mixer and some equipments that I could use to record with :)
Anyway, that is all. Special thanks to you especially if you have actually managed to read the entire entry from the top down. Good day =)
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| MY NUMBER CHANGED, but you'll have to find my new number on my AIM screen/profile or ask me personally (I don't want to put the number on a public weblog, sorry). I'll also put the number on my facebook status, but it will be gone in a week.
I got Nokia XpressMusic 5300. I like it (mine is black, like the one below):
It's pretty nice. I got it for free with the renewed phone
plan. It came with 1GB microSD card, and it has real nice sound quality. The
camera is pretty decent too. I guess the only 'backdrop' is that it is a little
big for a regular cellphone, but it's really light and it packs a punch when it
comes to its multimedia capabilities, so yayy =] | | |
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