Happy Chuseok!

Today is Chuseok in Korea. Yesterday I went to some nearby mountains with a church group. It was a Christian retreat, and I'm sure most of you can figure out how I feel about those things. This one was exactly what I expected: good people, great people, trying hard to get to a good end, but whose means are not fully thought out.

During discussion, I had to remind the group, more than once, of how the disciples thought of Jesus because everyone there kept talking about it as if they considered Him to be the Son of God, or their God. There were other times where I had to bring things out about the Lord's Supper and the Passover, which should be obvious. It's all so frustrating. I say with Fitzgerald (though out of context) that this is "a new generation, shouting the old cries, learning the old creeds, through a revery of long days and nights; destined finally to go out into that dirty gray turmoil to follow love and pride." It's the same thing said over and over and over again, with little thought as to how does this rubber actually meet the road? I know for some of you it will come as a shock to hear me say this, but where's the practicality? Let's stop talking about "how to grow closer to God," and let's start DOING IT.

Any-dang-way. I did have fun, and I don't regret going. I met a guy who was born and raised in Uganda, who became a Christian and whose family disowned him because of it. I've told him that I'll give him half of my tithes to send to friends and people, as he sees fit, in his country. I met lots of Americans who were very new to Korea, within a month, and I was able to give them some advice and help. I stayed up until 5.30am talking with two other guys, discussing nothing and anything, being refreshed in the presence and conversation of fellow Christians. For some pics of the hike we went on (I went barefoot), go here: <http://picasaweb.google.com/jmphry/NamhanSanseong#>

Today being Chuseok, it was rather hard to find a meal. I invited a few people out to dinner, people who I knew didn't have anything to do on the holiday, and one was sick, one was tired, one never called back, but one did come. He and I went out to dinner, but it was a chore. We were basically trying to find a restaurant open on Thanksgiving or Christmas. All we could find were bars, haha, sad face. We ended up going to this new place that just opened behind Topia. It's a combination butcher and barbeque, so the meat is fresh. It was really pretty good.