100 Things I Love About Korea # 38: Shille Bang Bang - Trampoline Center

You know those rainy days when kids have so much energy where they are literally bouncing off the walls?  Why not send them somewhere (else) to do that?

That is the brilliant idea behind Shille Bang-Bang.  You could walk right past it without ever knowing it is there.  The entrance to this basement underworld is hidden under a small sign in a mini-alley off a main street near our local Lotte Mart.  But it is a treasure well worth discovering.

With four separate trampolines, Emma and her friends can go bounce ‘till their hearts are content.  For just 2,000 ($1.75), Emma gets an hour of exercise (plus the fifteen minute walk to get there), and we get some piece and quiet.  Just one more reason, why I love this place!

100 Things I Love About Korea # 37: Block-I Lego Cafe

I always envied my friends’ lego collections.  They always seemed to have the latest Star Wars or Ninja sets.  My only chance was to be invited over to their houses to play - or more recently to play with the kids when we go over to someone’s house.

But Emma hasn’t had this problem in Korea - thanks to Block-I, a “Lego Cafe.”  Block-I is a chain of small stores with a “library” of lego sets, puzzles, and board games.  Kids can enjoy safe, supervised, educational play for an hour or two at a time, and parents can get some super cheap babysitting.  For those who pay ahead for a package deal, the cost is only 4,000 won an hour (about $3.50).  

Rewind my life 10 years - before I had kids of my own to escape from - and I would be a regular customer myself!

Is It Acceptable to Study on the Sabbath? (Talk Back Series)

Question: Is it acceptable to study on the Sabbath?

[This question can in on a Talk Back card at our church.]

Unless we want to be really legalistic, we can’t say that studying is NEVER allowed on the Sabbath.  But let’s think about the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20: 8-11.  God says, "Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God.  On that day no one in your household may do any work.  This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you.  For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy."  

This passage - along with loads of others - talks about "keeping the Sabbath holy".  God created the world and everything in it in six days, but on the seventh day, he didn't work.  He rested. 

One thing we need to consider is whether or not studying is actual work.  In our sermon series on Sabbath, we have talked a lot about making sure that we don't do anything on the Sabbath that we consider to be work.  For students, school and studying is basically their job.  They work hard at it - harder in Korea than in any other developed nation.  We all need a break sometimes, and the Sabbath is the break that God knew we would need.  If students are studying on the Sabbath, are they really getting a break?  Are they really able to take time to de-stress, not worry about grades or test scores, or just have fun with their friends and family? 

In the 10 commandments, God said that not only the parents or adults who have a job are to rest from their work, but even the children, servants, animals and foreigners should observe the Sabbath.  No one was excluded from the command to rest. 

First and Last (Revelation 1:17-18)

[This is a children's sermon for Galilee Methodist Church Promise Land next Sunday.  They are going to be partnering with us on Cheonan Migrant Shelter, so I said yes when they asked me to preach for their kids' program. They assigned this text.]

Revelation 1:17-18 ... Jesus “said, ‘Don’t be afraid.  I am the First and the Last.  I am the living one.  I died, but look - I am alive forever and ever!’”

    Do I look fat?  Maybe not now, but when I was a kid, I was fat.  Some of the mean kids in my school sang a song about me when they passed me in the hall.  Have you ever heard the Batman song?  They changed it for me: “Fatman, na-na-na-na-na, Fat-man!” 
For some strange reason, I decided to be on the track team.  One week I heard that our team didn’t have enough guys to run the 800 meter race.  (That’s 2 times all the way around the big track at Cheonan Stadium.)  I volunteered.  My coach looked at me ... looked at my stomach ... and said, “800 meters?  Have you even run that far before?” 
I said, “Sure, sometimes I go jogging with my dad.”  I didn’t know that jogging with my 50 year old father is completely different from racing around a track with a bunch of fast, skinny kids. ...

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