I read this recently and was really hit by it:

“how wrong it is to use God as a stop-gap for the incompleteness of our knowledge. For the frontiers of knowledge are inevitably being pushed back further and further, which means that you only think of God as a stop-gap. He also is being pushed back further and further, and is in more or less continuous retreat. We should find God in what we do know, not in what we don’t; not in outstanding problems, but in those we have already solved. This is true not only for the relation between Christianity and science, but also for wider human problems such as guilt, suffering and death. It is possible nowadays to find answers to these problems which leave God right out of the picture. It just isn’t true to say that Christianity alone has the answers. In fact the Christian answers are no more conclusive or compelling than any of the others. Once more, God cannot be used as a stop-gap. We must not wait until we are at the end of our tether: he must be found at the centre of life: in life, and not only in death; in health and vigour, and not only in suffering; in activity, and not only in sin. The ground for this lies in the revelation of God in Christ. Christ is the centre of life, and in no sense did he come to answer our unsolved problems. From the centre of life certain questions are seen to be wholly irrelevant, and so are the answers commonly given to them…In Christ there are no Christian problems.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer, taken from his book Letters and Papers from Prison

 

We’ve arrived back from in Taiwan from our vacation in Korea! It was an awesome, awesome, awesome trip. The following is a list of the free stuff we received from the generous people of Korea:

a free traditional Korean pipe during a performance at the Chongdong Theater in Seoul when Emily was called up on stage
two free cups of instant coffee from a generous coffee shop staff in Jinbu
a free power adapter for plugging into Korean wall-sockets from a generous shop-keeper in Jinbu. Why he didn’t want our money we’ll never know
a free dinner at a restaurant outside Odaesan National Park from the generous Temple Stay staff of Woljeongsa Temple
a free ride to Yongpyong Ski Resort from Mr. Joo from Odaesan National Park
two trinkets bought at a gift shop at Yongpyong for Emily by Mr. Joo
two Haagen-daz ice cream bars from Mr. Joo
two free swimsuit rentals and admission to the indoor water park at Peak Island at Yongpyong Ski Resort from Mr. Joo
free apples, chips, beer, tea, coffee, and the like from Mr. Joo
an assortment of winter clothes to wear while skiiing from Mr. Joo plus a set of skis for Emily to use so we could save money on rentals
more free food from Mr. Joo
a free ride in Mr. Joo’s Porsche Carrera to visit Gangeung and see Korea’s East Sea
a free chance for Michael to drive Mr. Joo’s Porsche for a few kilometers on the curvy roads of Korea’s heartland
two sets of these two nut shaped things that you role around in your hand for massaging from Mr. Joo

This list doesn’t even include the money Mr. Joo saved us with the serious discounts on Michael’s ski rental and lift tickets that he got us with his season pass holder abilities and the front row center seats at the Chongdong Theater that Mary Wang of Hongdae Guesthouse got us at the nosebleed wing seats price.

God is a pretty incredible provider and Mr. Joo reminds me of Jesus.

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