Giving and Receiving

As we are approaching Christmas here in Korea it has been really different for us. Just this week was the first time we went out and bought a few things. Christmas is really not a big deal here. If anything, it is a time to give and get presents and that is all. Just yesterday, I sat at a classroom computer with some 5th grade students and showed them some of our pictures of last year's Christmas. We saw family photos and some photos of our Christmas tree. When they saw all of the presents under the tree they said, "You're rich." My first thought and statement to them was, "No, I'm not." But in comparison to them, I am.

Giving

The Bible says that God loved mankind so much that He gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him will have everlasting life. To think that the God of this universe, the One who created you and me, agreed to die for His own creation. The Bible also says that Jesus loved the church and gave Himself for it. God has shown an amazing love for those who many times don't love Him back. When you love someone you usually show it by giving.

Receiving

The Bible also tells us, His children, if we give with the right heart and motivation to others or for the cause of Christ, an overflowing amount will be given to us by others. The point is that God is a giver. He gives to us through circumstances or others. "Give and it shall be given unto you..." This verse starts with the word "give." It's a call to you and to me. We are the ones who start this process and activate God's promise.

Before we came here to Korea, we had churches and individuals give to help us financially. Since being here, we have experienced this over and over from Korean Christians. I want to mention just a few of the amazing ways we have been on the receiving end of God's blessings.

The Teeth

Once we arrived, we went to church with my co-teacher. There we met a man who is a dentist, orthodontist and an oral surgeon. We went to his home for a violin concert and he started lifting up Kharis' lip and looking at her teeth. I thought, what is going on. Later, he said, "I want to fix her teeth." Wow! Our next question was, "How much?" He said, "For free." Wow again. Kharis has had two appliances made for her mouth and she is almost finished having her teeth straightened. The orthodontist said she will not need braces. Thank you Lord!

The Horses

That same night the same man said he wanted to teach me and Aaron how to ride horses. We thought we might just go horseback riding one day. We ended up meeting him at 6:20am each morning five days a week for two months. He and a professional trainer have worked with us and said we will be jumping hurdles on the horses before we are finished. All for free!

The Workouts

We have received a free gym membership and a ride to the gym three times a week now for about a month. We get plenty of exercise here since we don't have a car but this allows us to work on those difficult areas. Sorry no photo for this one : (

The Milk

The children at our school get a carton of milk every morning during homeroom. My co-teacher took me to the break room one day and handed me a bag full of half pints of milk. These were left over from students who were absent that day. I imagine we have received over 400 half pints of milk so far. We do love milk so what a blessing and a financial savings this has been for us.

Mi & More

One day, Karen was out walking with the kids and a lady approached her. She sat down and they began talking. Mi Kyong Seo is a Korean language teacher at the local high school. Every since that day, they meet five days a week and it has given Karen an opportunity to share Christ with her. She alway gives Karen and the kids something when they meet. Karen has received money, coats, shirts, gift cards, apples, bread, tangerines and more. Again, God's supplies for His children.

This is a short list and there are many more things I could mention. There is nothing wrong with receiving this Christmas and nothing wrong with giving. Just remember, the giving we are caught up in now is just for a Season, the Christmas Season. This giving is usually to show our love for others. As the Holy Spirit leads, we should look for opportunities to bless others throughout the entire year. God will keep His promise and bless you in return.

Matthew 22:36 - 40: "Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

Look Up!

A couple of weeks ago, a family took us to a remote valley and then to the highest mountain top in this area. This trip was neat because the leaves were changing colors. When we arrived at the valley, we walked for the first hour or so up a river. We truly saw the beauty of God's creation. Huge boulders and waterfalls were found all along the way. These things mixed with the colorful trees was awesome. After a while we hiked up the mountain side to a trail. We used this trail to make our way back towards the van.

It seemed like we walked for 20 or 30 minutes when the man who brought us stopped everyone and said, "Look." We turned to our right and there was an opening in the trees. We could see one mountain right in front of us and another mountain to our left. The sun was shining so brightly on the mountain that the colors in the leaves seemed to jump out at us. We stayed there for a minute or two and then went on our way.

As we continued down the trail, I began to think about what had just happened. We had been walking for 30 minutes with our heads down watching the trail. We hadn't noticed anything around us. It was only when someone said, "Look Up" that we saw the beauty that was there all along. How many beautiful things had we missed because we weren't "Looking Up?"

Today, I want to be the one who says to you, "Look Up."

Peter & John
In Acts 3:1-9, Peter and John were headed to the temple and the Bible says that they focused their eyes on a crippled man by the gate. This man was taken to the same gate every day by someone. I'm sure Peter had seen this man before, but today was different. The man wanted money, but Peter had something far greater for him. Peter said silver and gold I don't have, but I will give you what I do have. That day God used Peter to heal the man. Do we have the same attitude? Let me encourage you to use whatever God has given you to serve others. It may be an encouraging word, it may be money or it may be the Word of God. We pass so many people every day. Let us "Look Up" and see opportunities to serve them.

Stephen
In Acts 7, Stephen finishes preaching an awesome message to the council at Jerusalem that goes from Moses to Jesus. At the end of this message, the council was so convicted that they leaped on Stephen. The Bible says that the gnashed on him with their teeth. As this was happening, Stephen "Looked Up" and saw Jesus standing on the right hand of the Father in heaven. Let me encourage you that when life seems tough and when things look their worst, "Look Up." God is still on the throne, Jesus is still your Saviour and the Holy Spirit still lives within you. There is coming a day when we shall see Him face to face.

Jesus
Lastly, in John 4, Jesus goes through Samaria and meets a woman at the well of Jacob. This woman and Jesus have a conversation and Jesus tells her that he has "living water" to give her that will cause her to never thirst again. She asks Jesus to give her this water. The disciples had been to Samaria to buy food and they arrive back as Jesus finishes his conversation with this woman. She leaves to go back to town and bring back as many people as she can to meet Jesus. The disciples offer Jesus food and Jesus says that He has food to eat they they know nothing about. His food (nourishment, what gives Him strength) is to do the will of the Father. Jesus then tells the disciples to "Look Up." He says lift up your eyes and see that the fields are already white unto harvest. Many Samaritans came that day across that field to meet their Saviour. Let me encourage you to "Look Up" and see the lost souls in the fields around you. They need what you already have. Forgiveness of sins, salvation and an eternal home in heaven.

Don't let life pass us by as we walk with our heads down focusing on the trail; our own security and safety. Let's "Look Up" and see opportunities to serve, see that Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us and see that there are lost souls in need of our Saviour.

Shoe Shine Anyone?

When we arrived in Korea we had around 10 days of orientation in Jeonju. We then headed for Ulsan where we live now. When we arrived in Ulsan, all 70 teachers teaching in the Ulsan area met their co-teacher. I met mine as well. His name is Mr. Sung. One of the first things I found out about him is that he's a Christian. He invited us to his church two days later so we accepted his invitation.

Mr. Sung picked us up at 10:30am and we were off. We went to a local town named Yangsan. We parked and went up to the 3rd floor of a building in the center of town. We were greeted by several Koreans, a Chinese pastor, a Filipino pastor and the Korean pastor. We sat down and we sang, we prayed, we sang, we prayed, we listened to preaching, we sang, we ate lunch, we sang and finally we prayed some more. We left for home around 3:30pm.

About four weeks ago at church, I was sitting at the table after lunch and a man came up to me and asked me to give him my shoes. At first, I didn't know what was going on but I said okay and away my shoes went. Thankfully, he gave me some sandals to wear while my shoes were gone. About ten minutes later he came back with my shoes and they had never looked so good. The church member had taken my shoes and shined them like nothing I'd ever seen before. They looked like a mirror.

This man has found a way to serve the members of the church. About once a month he will go around and take each persons shoes and shine them. You can tell he is doing the best job he can do as he works. As I thought about this the week after it happened, I could not help but think of Jesus going around the room after the passover feast and washing the feet of His disciples.

John 13:12-17 "So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them."

I believe humility and faithfullness are two of the keys to being a servant that pleases the Lord. As I write this a few people come to mind. One is my father, Lennie Gardner. I know he is someone who would give up anything for his family and friends. He thinks of himself last. When we eat dinner at their house, you either leave the house having turned down several offers to take something with you or you leave with a bag of food for later. It's easier to just take the food at the first offer. He also uses the blessings God has given him to serve others, whether it's through his knowledge of so many things or through his business. He will one day reap his rewards for his humble faithfulness to God.

Another person is Karen's father, Jerry Guin, who is now enjoying everlasting life in heaven. He was also a true servant of God. He never wanted recognition for what he did, he just did it and moved on. He would save every penny and use it for others. I know he is already reaping the rewards of his humble faithfulness to God.
May we all look for for opportunities to ask the question, "Shoe Shine Anyone?"

Home At Last!

We arrived at our home, for the next year, on August 28th. God has truly answered our prayers. We were prepared for anything. We were really prepared for the worst. We have been given an apartment which includes the entire fourth floor of the building. It is very spacious (I'm guessing around 1100 sq. ft.) with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and it's brand new. The bedrooms are good sized and the kitchen is nice. Ashley was able to get an apartment in the same building which is also an answered prayer.

It wasn't but a couple of days into us living in our new home when we began realizing some differences and difficulties. These types of things seem to become large when they're all you focus on. Karen and I were talking and she said, "We really have been blessed by God and we can deal with these little inconveniences. God truly answered our prayers just by providing this place."

I was thinking about this later and I realized that many times we're not happy and we get frustrated because we have outrageous expectations. We ask God for things and when He answers our prayers we're still not happy. We seem to file away in our minds how all of the details should be as well. We really should be thankful for what He decides to give us even if we think He missed some details. This over expectation, I believe, leads to most of the frustrations believers have in their lives. We've not learned to be content in whatever situation we face.

Whatever God gives us is His "Divine Plan" for us. It's what He desires. However, God WILL give us the desires of our heart. When we walk close to God, our "heart's desire" will be His. Our heart's desire will be to say,

"nevertheless not what I will, but what Thou wilt."
Jesus

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." Philippians 2:5

We've Arrived

posted by James

After four airports and a 3 1/2 hour bus ride we made it to orientation. We are staying in a dorm room with two bunk beds and air that is controlled by the engineering office of the dorms. It is on sometimes and off sometimes. We never know when those times will be.

The people are great. Their culture is one that has its roots in Confucionism. Because of this they are caring, giving and they want to share everything they have with you. The younger respect the older and the older feel responsible to take care of and positively influence the younger. What an example of how Christians should act. We are taught this in God's Word, we simply must follow the teachings in a practical way each day.

We are slowly getting adjusted to the change in times and to the food (not really the food so much). It will take awhile. They had french fries on the buffet today just down past the Kimchi. Aaron had a plate full of fries and ketchup. He even went back for seconds. Overall, we are adjusting well and the kids are doing great with all of the travel and changes.

We must say that God is taking care of us. We made all of our connections on the planes even with very short layovers. All of our luggage made it to our destination. No one has been sick.

We have met some great people at the orientation who are from all over the world. We met a man today who is a Christian from California. We were able to tell him and others about how we came to be in Korea. The first question we get from most people is, "What caused you to bring your entire family to Korea?" From there we can explain how God led us here.

Continue to pray for us as we have not yet arrived to our final destination, Ulsan. We want to really reach souls for Christ so when we reach our FINAL DESTINATION (Heaven) we can have them there with us.

How it all started

posted by James

The following is how God lead us (James, Karen, Aaron-12 & Kharis Gardner-8) to go to South Korea. We are excited and hope that through reading this blog you will see how truly amazing God is and how He still speaks to His children.

November 2005

Almost 4 years ago, I had a missionary to Hong Kong come to Liberty Baptist Church's mission conference named Wayne Purcell. While at the conference, Wayne mentioned to the church that individuals could come to China and teach English and that the government would pay them to do this. This caught our attention but was put in the back of our minds.

September 2008

Fast forward 3 years... A man names Steve Kim, a native of Korea, came to our church on a Sunday night to hear the message. We met him and found out he wanted to learn more about God's Word. Steve and I had several lunches and the subject came up about teaching English in Korea. Something inside told me that this was something to consider. I prayed and told God that if this is something He wanted me to pursue that I would want Karen to have the same desire. Later that same day we went out to eat at Denny's. I told Karen about my day, casually mentioned teaching English in Korea and went on to another subject. Karen stopped me in the middle of my sentence and said, "If that is something you would ever consider, I would be all for it." I was surprised but said nothing about my prayer at that time.

A couple of weeks and many Google searches later

I told Karen about my prayer and she remembered her response at Denny's. We knew that God wanted us to continue pursuing teaching ESL somewhere in the world.

November 2008

After speaking with a close pastor friend of ours, we decided to pray that God would confirm our thoughts through answers to specific prayers instead of a general feeling that this was His will. The following are some of the examples of how God confirmed our move:

Pastor Green

One of our concerns was that our current employer and pastor would support our decision. After meeting with him in November, 2008, I left Pastor Green's office with not only his blessings but he said he would hold my position at Liberty for me for a year. God is amazing.

Our children's education

Karen has always said she would never home school! Somehow she feels that she can do this now with the Lord's help.

Our home
We are not selling our home so we didn't know how we would afford to keep it without our current salaries. A young couple who will get married in September came to mind and we approached them about renting our home. They were excited and that has now been confirmed.

Our van
After telling a close friend of ours about our decision, he asked what are you going to do with your van? He bought it and is going to pick it up August 10th.

A church in Ulsan
A friend called me on July 6th and said you will never believe who I am having lunch with. I got on the phone with his lunch guest who was the founder of the Korean Baptist Bible Fellowship, has pastored 3 churches and founded two Bible colleges in Korea. I had lunch with Brother Choo two days later in Raleigh, NC and he said I know the perfect church for you and your family in Ulsan, Ulsan Bible Baptist Church.

Expenses
Pastor Green volunteered to purchase the one-way tickets for my family to get to Korea. Liberty and a few other churches are going to give a one-time gift to us to help with the transition and you know about our home and our van already.

We titled this Blog "What were we thinking?". What we were thinking is that whatever God wants us to do, we will do. We are anxious and excited at the same time. A new country...a new home...a new school for Aaron and Kharis(our living room)...a new job. We know God is in control and we can't wait to see how He is going to use each person in our family to reach more souls for Him.

Bookmark this blog to keep up with info, photos and videos of our journey and contact us if we can ever help you!