Holy Spirit

What is meant by a life lived as a Christian?

Many would give the obvious answers such as going to church, praying regularly, or reading the bible. Well, it is all true that a Christian's life should (lest must) consist of such acts, but doing it for the sake of doing it doesn't get you anywhere. That is the fastest way to be a 'Sunday Christian'. I'm not being picky here. Rather, I'm suggesting how Christians should live the REAL Christian life, the light and salt of the world, as how the bible puts it.

I confess that I was one of those Sunday Christians where the life was filled with only religious acts (and occational spiritual 'burst'). Most of the people around me would have thought that I was a sincere and faithful believer and follower of Christ. Well, now I know I wasn't.

I would like to introduce a book to those who are fedup with the same old daily life, those who feel that God only exists in church, to give them a chance to renew and refresh them everyday. This book is called Holy Spirit, written by A.W.Tozer. He explains succiently how Christians should live an abundant life through the power of the holy spirit. It isn't something ritual or very spiritual, but it is the change of attitude to listen to what the master says, in a humble manner. If you are really a Christian, that you have received Jesus Christ as your personal saviour, the spirit of Christ resides in you, in the form of the holy spirit.

What this book really tells us are how to listen to His voice, and how to live our life as someone who is drawn by the spirit. Just imagine: you have a friend who is able to foresee the future events. He is willing to help you and you aquire a great advantage in living your life by listen to your friend. Exactly the same analogy here. The friend, for Christian, is the holy spirit. He never stops talking to you how to act and how to live; it's just that we don't listen to Him (or don't know how to). It feels so secure to be guided. I suggest you listen to Him, too. Another dimension of your life will be opened.

The minimum etiquette

The news nowadays are full of negative articles. The biggies are the BBK fraud issue, oil-ship crash, a murderer who killed a solidier and ran away with weapons, the election, etc.

I understand the tension among the people, the sense of nervousness of the uncertain future, but I still think that it is going too far. Korean netizens (combined word for internet users) are well known for their short replies at the end of an article. It is often true that people are more interested in the replies than the actual article. The problem is, that many of the netizens are at their young age, and some of them are totally perssimistic about the world around them. They thoughtlessly make a one-line reply, never thinking about the possible reactions or consequences it might bring.

There were many fatal consequences. One typical example is the suicide of entertainers. A mistake or wrong news about entertainers that raged the netizens resulted furious replies, most of them being too personal. Since entertainers are humans, too, they seriously reflected themselves on the thoughtless replies and unfortunately, they decided they were not worth living.

Such unbelivable consequence alerted the Koreans and reminded of how an impulsive act can harm (and ultimately, kill) others. Nowadays, the portal websites where millions of people surf everyday, the reply system is being watched by the netizens themselves. There is this 'report' button next to every replies, so that any potentially dangerous comment can be reported and of course, deleted. There even were cases where people got arrested under the name of 'disguising one's reputation'.

It is a scarely world now, where everyone is watching everyone.

Paul Potts

This video clip has been clicked more than 18 million times. This video introduces a man, who had been a carphone saleman but dreamed a big dream of becoming an opera singer. At first glance, frankly, one wouldn't expect something good. He wasn't at all good-looking, carismatic or smiling. Rather, he looked scared, nervous and fidgety. I'm sure this was the common first impression of all the people present in the Britain's Got Talent show.

Well, I had heard about how well he performed and sort, so I was expecting something great.

I still remember the reaction of the judges when Paul said he was going to sing oprea; one looked as if he was thinking 'Er, not again!' and another 'Just let it pass'.
But, everything changed when he began to sing. A famous song from oprea of Fuccini, Nessun Dorma. His voice was soft and clear, yet strong. Not even before he finished the first chorus, the audience applauded, showing they really appreciated his voice. That was just a start. The climax of the song was at the end, a powerful ending with a majestic orchestra in background.

One could just explain it as 'a blow'. No one expected such storm from this ordinary man. Paul said that he always had problems with his self-confidence, which hindered him from challenges. However, he gave his last try, and there he stood, fascinating everyone who watched him sing. Some old ladies were crying when he was singing, probably because his voice carried something more than the lyrics. The attitude change of the judges was something really worth the attention. All three of them were smiling brightly, and their faces were telling 'I wasn't expecting this at all!'

This video clip is popular not only because Paul was a great singer, but he had overcomed his painful past, and the fear of getting mocked if he fails. His story touched people all over the world, especially to those are in slump, those who thought they couldn't make it. He was a fresh air of inspiration and encouragement.

I still feel a thrill (or a chill, maybe) anytime when I play this clip.

For those who are slow in getting information or want to watch the successive clip again, I've attached the video clips for the semi-finals, finals and the annocement of the winner.

Semi-finals - Time to Say Goodbye

Finals - Nessun Dorma

The result!!

Ordering your private wolrd

'Ordering your private world' is written by Gordon Macdonald, the famous Christian book writer in the US. This book has been translated into Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and many other languages in the world. I have yet to take a look at Korean version, because common sense told me to read English version, the original.

Well, the book starts with a personal encounter of an experience of 'hitting the wall', an incidence that he suddenly broke down helplessly without any reason. Only then he realised that he needs to take care of his interior, the private world. He makes his points with a mix of amusing stories or personal anecdotes. Every single pages was precious to me. The more I read the book, the more I realised that I was going off the track in terms of managing time and governing my soul, or interaction with God.

The most challenging part was the section about time. He explains how time flows if we do not have control over it, and that was exactly my case. He then moves onto the ways to grab it back, and bring it under control. Frankly speaking, I've begun to forget some of the materials in the book but the book is always on my book shelf so that at anytime I can strech my arm to get it.

This book definitely isn't an one-time-read book, but is rather a life-time guidebook how to live a fruitful life, especially to Christians. I strongly, absolutely recommend this book to others; they should read this book before they leave this wolrd (you know what I mean).

Between calm and passion

This is one of the most famous Japanese movie to Koreans - Between calm and passion. This movie is actually based on two books. The two books tell the reader the same story but from different perspective; one from Jun-Sei, a art-piece restorator working in Italy, and the other one from Kaori, a lady working in a jewelry shop in Milano, Italy. In other words, this is a story told by a man and a lady, whom previously were lovers in Japan ten years ago.

I read lady's version first. There wasn't any good reason but I somehow felt that I had to read that first, and later I realised that I was right to do so because man's version had something more than lady's. Anyway, when I finished reading lady's version, I couldn't help myself from searching for the movie, as there were so many images floating around my head, desperately wanting to be captured. I just wanted to sort out those images, as the book was (espcially for lady's version) considerably descriptive.

And the movie didn't disappoint me. The scenary of Firenze fasinated me. I was mesmerised by the OST of the movie, which mainly was orchestrial, with few other musical instruments coming into play such as guitar. Even though I had known the plot, I was as nervous as a first-timer, probably because all the critical factors that make up the movie was very well coordinated.

I don't even dare to start on the storyline or how I feel about the movie in detail, because I know that would take me several hours. One thing I can confidently say is this: strongly recommended.

Hi James!

This is my blog.. haha