Our Trip to the East Sea in GangNeung

Since Thursday we have been on a one week vacation from our school. We decided to take a little vacation to refresh ourselves for our last month of work and so Friday morning we took a bus for four hours to the next province and to a place called GangNeung. GangNeung is geographically bigger than Seoul, but Seoul has about 13 million people and GangNeung has about 220000. Quite a difference. GangNeung is on the coast of the Pacific Ocean and is surrounded by mountains covered in dense forest, it is clean, the air is fresh and it is beautiful! On Friday, when we arrived it was raining, so we didn't get much done. We went to the tourist information office and got a brochure and a map, then checked in to the first hotel we saw, which turned out to be really nice and really cheap (I think it was cheap because it was quite far away from the beach and there were many many hotels in the same area). We then took our umbrellas and headed out for a walk around the are which we hoped would end up at the closest beach (gang-po), the beach turned out to be farther away than expected, so after a couple of hours walking, we hailed a cab. The beach was pretty empty as it was raining, so it was a good day to walk along and enjoy the scenery and the breeze. We ate dinner at a korean restaurant near the beach and then headed back to the hotel.

The next morning we got up pretty early and got a bus to Odaessan National Park, it's a really big park with tons of mountains, rivers, temples, mineral springs etc.. It was about an hour bus ride away (by coach bus to the smallest town I've ever seen, you could walk through the whole thing in about ten minutes), then took a regular bus to the park entrance. We first explored the first temple near the entrance, then the pine forest, then we hiked in the mountains. The mountain is almost untouched... the paths are barely paths at all, so it was extremely beautiful, though because it was wet from the previous days rain, I did what I'm best at. Again, I ended up taking quite a tumble. Near the end of our hike, on the way down, we were rushing to get out of the woods before the sun went down and I slipped on a wet piece of ground, hit a big rock and then fell about three feet into a shallow, rocky part of the river, landing face down in the river. Suffice it to say, it hurt a lot and it was probably the first time I've cried in pain since I was a kid. Scott didn't want to move me at first, so I laid face down in the river until I was able to assess the damage. As it turns out I was pretty lucky, just ending up with a lot of bumps on my legs and arms, some bloody spots and a lot of bruises all over my legs, arms, wrists and shoulders. I was super lucky that I didn't hit my head on a rock though. I had a bit of trouble walking after that but since we were near the end and with Scott's help, I made it. We actually missed the last bus out of the park though, but were luckily able to wave down the one cab in the area that had just happened to drive someone up the mountain. When we arrived back at the hotel, I took a hot bath and felt much better in the morning, though to be expected I'm still quite sore.

Sunday morning we got ready and took a bus to a really big church near Gang-po beach. It was Kang - nung (another way to spell GangNeung) Presbyterian church and there was no english translation, it was all in Korean, so it was kind of hard to sit through the sermon, but their choir was beautiful and we knew the tunes of the hymns and some of the words so we hummed and sang along in English (Scott actually sang along in Korean because he can read the symbols, though he doesn't know what they mean). After church we walked to the beach, this time it was really sunny and hot. After changing our clothes we found a spot and went swimming for the first time in the Pacific Ocean. It was extremely salty which really stung my cuts, but it actually made me feel a lot better. It was really refreshing and relaxing for both of us, so nice to be in the ocean and lay on the sand feeling the hot sun (although Scott got a really bad sunburn on his back)... yes we were wearing sunscreen 45 spf. After our time at the beach, we headed back to the bus terminal area and had a late lunch at a nearby korean restaurant after buying our tickets, then we went on the four hour trip back to Gwangmyeong.

It was such a relaxing and refreshing trip, we both felt refreshed for our last month here, knowing that we can make it through with our new found energy. Some of Scott's energy may drain though, as he has a really bad cold now! I have never heard someone sneeze so much or go through so much Kleenex! I thought that maybe he had an allergy, but to what? Anyway, hopefully that will clear up soon and he'll be on the mend.

Sorry, this post was so long... to those of you who made it through the whole thing, there are lots of new pictures of our trip, if you'd like to see them.

Sorry, I forgot

Sorry, I forgot to mention that the latest song that I've recorded is a hymn and was not written by me. I didn't mean to mislead, and I'll be more careful in the future. It is called "The Day is Past and Gone." The music is EVENING HYMN by Elisha West and the words are by John Leland. I've recorded two verses, but there are 5 verses in total.

Amateurish poetry appreciation

"The Old Familiar Faces" by Charles Lamb has seven stanzas, each with three lines. I here suggest that Lamb chose seven stanzas to reflect the passage of time by reference to the seven days of the week. Thus, the first stanza represents the first day of the week. It also talks of Lamb's early days, as one can see from the word playmates: "I have had playmates, I have had companions" The next stanza is about the next stage of life. Lamb is now with friends: "I have been laughing, I have been carousing" and it is now Tuesday and time is running out. After having friends, the next step in life is to fall in love: "I loved a Love once, fairest among women." The next part isn't so staight forward. It goes from being in love to having a great friend: "I have a friend, a kinder friend has no man." This is Thursday. After love, or rather, later in life, there is man to man friendship again, and it is more intimate than the young friendships. This was Wednesday, and it is the last day of new relationships. On Thursday, in the fifth stanza, Lamb is pacing "round the haunts of [his] childhood." He is remembering and longing, "seeking to find the old familiar faces." On Friday, we're near the end of life here, he simply laments that his bosom friend was not a member of his family, for then he would be there now, and they could talk. They would talk of what Lamb thinks to himself in the final stanza, namely, what has happened to all people they used to know: "some they have died, some they have left me/ some are taken from me; all have departed."

Each stanza ends with an elegiac line about the old familiar faces, for example, "All, all are gone, the old familiar faces." So, in each day of the week, that is, in every period of life, there is the sense that time will take what one has and it there will remain only a memory, both pleasurable and painful.

The Old Familiar Faces by Charles Lamb

New Song

Who's that soprano and alto?! Fantastic!!!

Things wonderful

Every so often one ought to read up on the important things, and here's what I found when I did. I really think that Nintendo has a chance get back into the system race. The new Wii system looks like it will be extravagantly fun. It's controller has motion sensor technology, so for many games one simply has to move the contoller rather than press any buttons. For instance, if one if playing tennis, one has to use the controller as a racket; just swing it when the ball comes to your character. Likewise with baseball. In the Legend of Zelda, one can swing the controller like a sword. On top of the controller, Nintendo Wii will have free online access, with the option to download famous games from Nintendo's past library. That includes the original Nintendo, the Super Nintendo, the Turbo Graphics 16, and the Nintendo 64. That in itself has made me want one. Also, Nintendo will have a space for independent games on its server. Developers who want to make games but don't have a large budget can make games and send them to Nintendo, and players can download them and play them.

In other news, the Nintendo DS, the handheld which also has motion sensor technology, was the highest selling video game system in June (I think).

Argument

The use of argument is to persuade, and not primarily to bludgeon. Arguing to win is a form of pride, and pride is not our friend, and however often he shows up, he is not welcome (Father, forgive me for I have sinned). Truth is satisfying; it fills and delights the soul. As we want to put food into the mouths of the hungry, so we want to put truth into the souls of the ignorant. Argument is a tool for getting that truth into those souls, but if a person is particularly receptive and doesn't need the argument, then nothing is lost.

To reverse a phrase from some musician, we haven't just been loved, we've been told. God loved us, and part of that love was telling us things, speaking to us about the good things which He has planned and prepared for us and of the good things He has done for us. And when such a one tells you things, you must simply believe and rejoice.

The problem with argument is that sometimes one can be skilled at argument and yet reach conclusions that are face down in a ditch somewhere. On the other hand, one can believe what one has been told by a reliable source and therefore know the truth, and have no argument to support it except, say, "my parents told me so." For instance, what year were you born?

Of course, such an appeal to authority depends on the reliability of the authority. When my parents tell me when I was born I believe them. If I met a drunkard on the street, however, and he told me that he was my father and that I was born in 1975, I wouldn't believe him, nor should I. When the authority is God, you have to believe, because God is perfect and cannot lie and is perfectly able to communicate. Therefore, many people, anyone who can hear or read, can believe lots of truth, and very important truth, without any argument at all.

Argument isn't useless, but argument's main purpose is destructive. It is a maxim of presuppotional apologetics that the role of apologetics is to shut the mouth of the opponent, not to convert his heart. The latter can be done only by the Holy Spirit. It is the role of apologetics to show that every worldview apart from Trinitarian Christianity is self-contradictory. Through argument, the apologist reveals all the holes and inconsistencies in opposing worldviews.

One should develop one's ability to argue, but arguments are not the greatest thing we have. They help one speak with clarity, with coherence, and with connecting ideas, but truth is what we cherish most.

South Korea when it rains; and when we get home

It rained steadily here for the whole weekend, and this rain was heavy, no lightweight stuff. Thunder and lightning are frightening if they happen when one is asleep. The river near our house has risen probably more than ten feet; it overflowed its boundary and then rose nearly to the rims of the basketball nets that are beside the river. It is still contained in valley, though. We'll try to get some pictures before the water subsides. Perhaps it already has, in which case case we won't post said pictures.

Recording songs is fun. I think that perhaps it's narcissistic, but then again, my most complete songs are the ones that I've written for other people and for specific occasions. Writing pop songs should be a more usual activity. Rebecca and I did it for a while, and then we stopped. But it was fantastic when we were doing it. I still remember the riff at the beginning of our first song. I usually just record fragments, but with a computer they're easy to keep track of, and then I can look them over later and form them into a whole song. I'm going to try a more thorough approach soon though, so expect some full length songs in the future. I remember reading about a band that wrote the song titles and then wrote the songs. In imitation of them, here are the titles for my future-complete songs:

1. In the halls of Praetorium
2. The field of Machpelah

On a similar note, I can't wait to hear Andrew's psalm settings.

Monsoon

The weather here has been a very different experience for me lately. We are in the middle of the rainy season or monsoon season here and for the last month, it has rained almost everyday at least a little bit. It is generally cloudy at the very least. Recently we experienced our first 'monsoon', I guess it's the same as a hurricane, so it's not really our first, but our first that was called a monsoon. We actually got very little of it. The big storm was in the south of the country where some people died, but we just got some wind and very very heavy rain, and some occasional thunder. The rain was incredible though! I was walking to work and while waiting at the stoplight, my umbrella was my only protection from the sheet of water falling all around me (they make pretty strong umbrellas here... forget about one of those small fold-up ones.. they'd never survive). My feet and legs got quite wet, along with all of the contents of my bag, but the rest of me stayed remarkably dry under my umbrella.

Today we are having a break from the rain, but not from the humidity. Along with the rainy season comes terrible humidity. So though the temperatures are only around 30 degrees celcius, the humidity is at over 90% everyday... I don't really know what the percentage means, but the air is so thick you could chew it and our bodies are constantly sweaty and clammy. I feel the constant need to take a shower, but of course you can't stay in the shower all day, though sometimes I'd like to, although it does little good, shortly after exiting the shower, I'm all sweaty again. Blech! Anyone who thinks the maritimes have bad humidity in the summer ("It's not the heat, it's the humidity") You're sadly mistaken... because I have never experienced humidity like this and I've been in the Maritimes my whole life.

So, the rainy season has been quite the experience so far and though I think new experiences are wonderful and all that.... I won't be sorry to see it go.

A good sermon

The sermon that I remember most from Sheffield, other than John Henry's, is one by a visiting preacher, entitled "the Little Enemy of the Church." He spoke about the tongue. He told us what the scripture had to say about the tongue, how it was a dangerous thing, how it cut like a sword and cut people apart. He told us that if we controlled the tongue then we could control the heart. And he revealed to us how very often we aren't controlling our tongues when we think that we are. As I remember, most everyone felt called out on it, yet we had the grace to be thankful for the man. As Doug Wilson said, the job of the preacher is not to talk about the sinfulness of the world, but of the sinfulness of the flock. This is how he cares for them, by attacking their enemies and whatever is attacking them, which is their own sins.