The Strange Uncle

All year long, one of my students (Shane) has been picked up from school by his uncle. In car line, whenever there was any important news, I would tell Shane’s uncle. I told Shane’s uncle what Shane needed to wear to the school program, what Shane needed to bring to school, if Shane was naughty in school. I told Shane’s uncle everything that he needed to know about Shane. When Shane was sick, I even had the office try to call his uncle to pick him up.

About two weeks ago Shane comes to me and says, “Teacher, my uncle is going back to China; I have a new uncle that is going to pick me up. ” A new uncle? I was confused… The K4 teacher overheard what Shane said, and she explained to me that in Chinese culture any male who is older than you is considered your uncle.  Shane’s uncle was really his taxi driver! That would explain why Shane’s uncle never came to any of the school programs and why he didn’t seem too concerned when I told him that Shane was naughty, and why he never came to pick up Shane when he was sick.

As for Shane’s “new uncle,” I just say hi and bye.

Chuukese Evergreen Christian Church

I’m going to be a father… in 2 days … to two Korean boys. The Seo family that Anna tutors is going to Korea for 2 weeks. They are leaving their kids in my charge. For 2 weeks I am living at their house (not in the dorm!!!!) and baby sitting. Last night Anna and I went over for dinner. We were going to talk about baby sitting and eat. As I’ve stated before, Korean food and I don’t get along. At all. To be honest I was planning a trip to Taco Bell on the way home. When we arrived they told us a Chuukese pastor was coming to take us to his house for dinner. Chuuk is an island (also known as Truk) south of Saipan by 500 miles or so. The Seos had helped this pastor find a church building for his church, The Chuukese Evergreen Christian Church of Saipan. There was another man visiting (the pastor of the Chuukese Evergreen Christian Church of Guam), and they were having a party. The Seos were invited. Since we had been previously invited to the Seos we went with.

The Seos thought it was going to be the Saipan pastor,the Guam pastor, and us. Wrong. We arrived to find a large tent set up. The Saipan church was doing some traditional Chuukese dances as we got out of the Seo’s van. Also, as we exited the van we met the other group. Not just a pastor, an entire tour bus loaded with Chuukese people transplanted to Guam. We filed into the tent and had a lei placed on our head. They then walked around and greeted

New Favorite Video

You may recall that I recently posted an Improv Everywhere skit on this very blog. These guys are hysterical. Their newest skit reaches a level of funny that I have never experienced. Here it is. Enjoy. I mean really enjoy. ***DISCLAIMER*** There is a swear word at around 2 min. 30 sec.

Gone Phishing

Read this.

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To: jhorneck3723@hotmail.com
Subject: Account Locked. !
From: account@ChaseBank.com
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2008 02:12:50 +0100
Dear valued Chase member:

Due to the number of incorrect login attempts, your Chase Account has been locked for your security.
This has been done to secure your accounts and to protect your private information in case the login
attempts were not done by you.

At Chase Bank we care about your security so, for your protection we are proactively notifying you of
this activity.
If you did not trigger this lockout, follow this link to Log on to your Chase Online Account :

http://www.chase.com/
Thank you for using Chase Bank Online Service.
© 2008 JPMorgan Chase & Co.All rights reserved.
EQUAL HOUSING LENDER.
Member FDIC

Those of you who know me know that I am not liable to flip out about “scam” e-mails. It drives me crazy when I get warning e-mails about some scam, but I personally received this scam recently and wanted to draw it to your attention. This is called “phishing” the purpose is for you to enter your contact information and credit card information so your identity can be stolen. This is an e-mail from CHASE bank warning that someone has been trying to log into my account (I don’t have an account with CHASE so I caught it). In the e-mail you are told to go to CHASE’s website to deal with the problem. When you click the link it takes you to http://www.komutanucantekme.com/site/modules/PNphpBB2/cache/PNTheme/http/www.chase.com/ . This is almost a perfect replica of the correct site www.chase.com. Compare the two sites. Almost a perfect match. The giveaway is in the web address. You will notice that the fake domain is www.komutunacantekme.com not www.chase.com.

If you click on any link it will take you to the CHASE site. Very clever. Always look at the domain when taking care of online business. Another clue is that the e-mail is from account@chasebank.com. A real e-mail would be from account@chase.com. If you wish go ahead and enter a fake user name and password in the log in blanks. FAKE. DO NOT USE YOUR REAL USERNAMES OR PASSWORDS. When you log in it assumes you have the right password and takes you to the next step. Here you enter ALL your information. Never give out your pin number or credit card number. If you are not careful you can give away all your information. Keep track of the domain name and you will be fine. The most common places to see these scams are Ebay, Paypal, Banks, and Credit Card companies. Be aware and you’re fine. The internet is great for shopping as long as you pay attention.

Senior Pictures

Last week I took our high school seniors out for senior pictures. I think they turned out well so here they are.

Once in a Lifetime

Sports is one of the strangest hobbies. Very few things require more of a personal investment than being a true sports fan. The world is full of semi-fans. These are the people who, once a week, sit down and watch a game. If something else is going on it’s fine. They will do what is most convenient. This is fine; however, there is another level. This is the level that many Packer’s fans get to. At the next level a team becomes a part of life. I did not realize how much I loved the Packers until I was separated from them for the past 8 months. I look back on my life and remember many things, but the Packer’s take up a significant part of those memories. In fact, my earliest memory is watching the Packer’s play. I remember Don Majcowski scrambling in the pocket when I was three. I remember talking to Aaron Collogan (who I still think looked like Brett) about how bad Brett Favre was. 1993 was not a good season. A young quarterback who straight up flung the ball. I remember dying on the interceptions. I remember rushing to Pizza Hut after church on Sunday to get home quickly. I remember being grounded from watching the first half of Super Bowl XXXII. I remember the Antonio Freeman catch Monday night in overtime against the Viqueens. I remember my dad yelling at the TV every time the commentators mentioned Sterling Sharp. I remember dreaming of playing for the Packer’s one day. I remember the Lambeau Leap in it’s early days. I remember being shocked that Reggie WHITE was black. I remember the shovel pass. I remember the dive into the end zone against the Falcons. I remember the pain of 4-12. I remember my heart sinking with every 4th quarter interception.

Most of all I remember Brett. Most people cannot understand how I feel. The girls I work with can’t believe I started to cry when I read that he retired. They don’t understand. Sports are legends. Most of your time is invested in waiting for the next … Jordan, Bird, Ruth, Aaron, Gretzky, Montana, Lombardi, or Payton (Walter not Manning). Each year the draft passes with high hopes. Can your team draft Tom Brady on day 2 or Ryan Leif 1st overall. Waiting … Hoping … Wishing … Dreaming. Most of the dreams end in disappointment. For every success there are countless failures. I follow three professional sports and two college sports. The chances of 1 of my 5 teams winning a championship is about 1 in 30. Never in my life has more than one team one a championship in a year. Still, I hope and dream. Brett Favre was the answer to those dreams. The toughest man since Lou Gehrig. He holds the consecutive start record for a quarter back. That’s amazing, but consider hi drug problem. Years ago he admitted an addiction to prescription pain-killers. He has not been allowed to take them since. He set that record without anything more than an Advil. For 16 years I’ve watched a legend. Unitas, Montana, Marino, Elway, Favre. Pure legend. The most enjoyable player to watch in any sport ever.

Now it’s time to say good bye. 16 great years. Joy, pain, and hope. Did I cry? Yeah, I did. The crazy thing is - I don’t even feel dumb about it.

Sorry about the lack of posts. We’ve been experiencing a weird combination of being busy but really bored too. A couple of weeks ago I was really encouraged by something, and I would like to share it with you.

For over a year, I’ve been teaching English to a Korean couple 2-3 times a week on a  volunteer basis. They moved to Saipan as missionaries to start a church for the Chinese people. Because of all of the Chinese factories closing, their congregation has shrunk. About a month ago, they started having an English-speaking service for the Filipinos, Chomorros, and Chuukese in their neighborhood. Pastor Seo writes out his sermons and even prayers word-for-word in English. He showed them to me, and I was touched by the simple yet sincere messages that he had been sharing with his congregation. I was encouraged by his love for Christ and for the people in his congregation. I was also challenged by his willingness to share the gospel with people in a language that is not his own. I also felt privileged that I have the opportunity to teach English to he and his wife, and that they are able to use it to further the gospel.

Random thoughts

I will admit I have been quite lax in my posting these days. To be quite honest I’ve been unmotivated. I kind of feel like I am not enjoying much right now so I try not to relive it. A few things have happened so I’m just going to go with some short stuff to explain what’s going on.

• My students are terrorizing me. I have several that are badly behaved. This week I also had a huge cheating issue. It’s getting really frustrating. Pray for me to trust the Lord through the situations I face in the class room. It’s easy to get discouraged and this semester is going very slowly. All those of you who said it would fly by are liars.
• Anna and I tried a new restaurant last week. It was actually pretty good (for Saipan). Saipan American food just doesn’t taste quite right. I don’t know how you mess up a cheeseburger, but they have mastered the art of making cheeseburgers taste odd. The restaurant was really cool though. It’s called 360. It’s one of those rotating restaurants. Anna and I went at sunset and watched the sun set over the Philippine sea. It was really pretty. W are definitely going to go back again. It’s not even very expensive.
• My first youth activity went well. We did a photo scavenger hunt. I gave 4 teams a list of items to take pictures of. Each picture was worth a certain amount of points. Everyone brought their cameras to take pictures. My favorite was my student, Jemma, in handcuffs at the police station. The police man was a little weird , but we got the picture so it was good. After returning we had a spaghetti dinner at the school.
• Pray for Anna and I as we deal with our authorities at school. The bosses are often very difficult to work for. It’s a very high stress place to work at times. Sometimes you feel like you are fighting with the administration on everything. Pray that Anna and I have wisdom to decide what to do in each situation.
• 118 more days. Planning is going well. Both of us are just ready for the day to get here.
• We’ve had even more scooter problems. This semester alone we’ve had to go in 3 times. My oil tank cracked, my mirrors were broken, Anna’s mirrors were broken, Anna’s tire needed replaced, and now my tire needs replaced. Pray that we won’t have any more issues in the near future. It’s getting expensive
• Yesterday I took the seniors out for there senior pictures. It was nice. One thing I can’t complain about in Saipan is the scenery. The island is incredibly beautiful. Some of the pictures turned out great. Asian/islander skin tones don’t hurt either. Unlike Americans, my students don’t have pasty white skin. I will put the pictures on Facebook when I finish editing them.

I think that’s about it. I hope this is good enough for a while. I will post again some day. I promise.

Photos

I’ve uploaded some new pictures to facebook here’s the link! Also, while I’m putting up links - our wedding page is here. And since I’m on a link frenzy our engagement pictures are here.

Spiritual Boot Camp

Every nation has soldiers. There are different types of soldiers: Army, Navy, Air Force, and so on. Each type of soldier has his own job. A cook will not be asked to fly a fighter jet. A foot soldier will not be asked to captain a submarine. Each job has unique training. My brother is in basic training for the United States Army right now. The training is very difficult. He spends a lot of time doing push ups, running, and marching. He doesn’t get very much food, he has little time to relax, and he gets yelled at a lot. This is a very difficult time for him. He is going to be in the Army, and the training is hard. The Marines are even more difficult. Many people say that Marines are the best trained large group of soldiers in the world. Their training is long and hard, but they do it because it will help them. Even harder than Marine training is Navy S.E.A.L. training. The Navy S.E.A.L.s are the best trained soldiers in the world. Their training is very similar to torture. They go days without sleep in cold weather. They spend their nights running through freezing cold water. They are forced to swim for hours on end with heavy bags on their backs. Why? Is it for fun? Of course not. The reason for difficult training is a goal which comes to us in the end. The training time may be long and hard, but God has an ultimate plan. Training can take many forms. It may be a difficult job, annoying people, persecution, loneliness, and many other troubles. As a Christian we can always rest secure that God is controlling our trials for our good and His glory.

James 1 speaks of this. James was writing to the Jewish church shortly after the time of Christ. The Jewish church was one of the most heavily persecuted churches in history. They were persecuted by the Jews because they did not follow the Old Testament law. Their friends and family would reject them, they could be fired, and some were even martyred by their own people. Not only were they persecuted by their own culture for not being Jewish enough, they were also persecuted by the Roman culture for being Jewish. Roman culture did not like Jewish culture; therefore, Jews were persecuted by Romans. They were also persecuted by the Romans for being Christians! What a tough life. The Jews hated them for not being Jewish. The Gentiles hated them for being Jewish. Every one hated them for being Christian. This was a very difficult time to be a Christian. These Jews faced many trials and tests. When James writes to them he addresses this issue immediately. Remember last month when we studied Galatians? Paul immediately dealt with the most important issue in the church – Judaizers and legalism! Here James deals with the most important issue first as well – trials. James seeks to encourage the people to continue on in Christ.

There are many reasons why God sends us trials. Today I want to focus on what I believe may be the biggest reason – growth. James tells the Hebrews to “count it all joy.” He wants them to have full and complete joy in spite of their trials. Notice that the word count is imperative. This is a command given to people. It is our responsibility to count it all joy. It is not Christ’s responsibility to put us in joyful situations. We ought to COUNT on our own what Christ gives us as joy. It is our responsibility. James does not deny the difficulty of trials. He acknowledges them as being trials. I am by nature a pessimist. I hate when people are falsely happy. Trials do exist in our lives. This is true. Every day we are faced with a different trial. Some are major and some are minor, but they are all trials and all difficult. James does not say imagine that your trials don’t exist. He tells us to count them as joy. To the average person this is ludicrous.

James does give us a reason why we ought to count our trials as joy. They make us better! “The trying of our faith worketh patience!” There is an end in sight, and it is wonderful! God wants to train us and make us better. Why do the Navy S.E.A.L.s train so hard? For their own survival. When they are on the battle field life is not perfect. They may not have slept enough the night before, they may be hungry, they may be cold; but they know that they have experienced it before. They can turn to each other and say, “Keep going! You’ve been here before!” Pain, hunger, and cold are not new feelings for them. They are old friends. Because of their training they know they can overcome these disadvantages.

Why then are our lives difficult – because we need to get prepared. Paul compares the Christian life to a race.

²⁴ Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. ²⁵ And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. ²⁶ I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:

We have a goal to push towards. Often times a goal requires work. Paul often used sports to illustrate the life of the Christian. The training is hard and long, but the reward is great. God is preparing you for something special in your trials.

How do we do this? I want to emphasize three words here to answer this question – “of your faith.” What is it that allows us to continue through struggles? Quite simply, it is faith. Hebrews 11 speaks of this great faith. When we think of faith many thoughts spring to mind, but Hebrews 11 sums them all up in one amazing chapter. We call it the “faith chapter.” What is this faith? The writer of Hebrews calls it, “the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen.” It is the assurance or certainty of good to come. When we are faced with a trial we need to press on because we trust God. In the new relationship with God that Christ allows we can have true, total trust in God. God is not the ruler of the universe moving us like pieces in a spiritual chess game. There are no pawns that God is willing to sacrifice for his ultimate plan. If we die serving Christ it is not because God decided he would give us up for a greater reward later. If we die serving Christ it is because it is the ultimate good that can come to us. Romans 8 says that, “all things work together for good to them that love the Lord.” When we are talking about good in God’s eyes it is different than man’s eyes. If I say that a food is good it just means that I like it. I might say that I ate a good cheeseburger this week. A “good” cheeseburger is not a “universe endingly amazing, best food ever” cheeseburger. It’s just “good.” At the end of a game of volleyball I might tell someone – “Good job!” That does not mean it was the best game of volleyball ever played. When God says, “Good,” he means “best.” When we say that God is good we aren’t saying that there are good things about Him. He is good. He is only good. There is no bad in Him. There is no good outside of Him. There is nothing better than Him! When we say that God’s plan is “good,” we are saying that it is the best thing that could possibly happen to us. When Paul tells us through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that all thing work together for good, he is saying best! If we trust God the ultimate best thing can happen. God’s idea of good is better than what we could even imagine.

That’s why James speaks of the trying of our faith. Faith is our assurance that God is doing what is best. There is no room for doubt here. God isn’t doing something that will be good when we look back on it; He is doing something that is good right now. The greatest good is God’s good! When God sends us trials he is perfecting our faith. The entire Christian life is summed up by Paul in Galatians 5:6: “⁶ For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.” We have faith in God because he loves us. We live our lives trusting him because we love Him. We demonstrate our faith in Him by loving fellow man. God will allow exactly what we need to make our faith “perfect and complete.” When we face trials we do not need to doubt whether it is best for us. We simply need to trust God to glorify himself. This trial trains us to live lives committed to serving him. The goal of the trial may be simply to prove that He can indeed sustain us through difficult situations; so we can trust Him in the future. Navy S.E.A.L.s are the best because they suffer the most in training. If God sees enough potential in you to try you and make you better, you ought to be excited for what He has in store for you. It will be wonderful! If you are so weak that you don’t face trials, be worried. The servant who God is not preparing, He is not using either.