Paul Kim's PhotoBlog

“Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

-C.S. Lewis

chris’s last dinner at new china buffet

the morning before billy left to china, remembering what to bring

tony and i gave josh a haircut, he wore a trashbag

sharing during alex’s last night

alex likes to sit on the ground like this, like a panda. i’m gonna miss this dude

“What I have learned from about twenty-years of serious reading is this: It is sentences that change my life, not books. What changes my life is some new glimpse of truth, some powerful challenge, some resolution to a long-standing dilemma, and these usually come concentrated in a sentence or two. I do not remember 99% of what I read, but if the 1% of each book or article I do remember is a life-changing insight, then I don’t begrudge the 99%.”

-John Piper

last weekend, our ministry, church plant resources, went to yosemite national park. we ended up hiking up to nevada falls which was a total of over 8 miles.

O’Shaughnessy Reservoir

CPR bros

my small group leader dave and I

CPR at the top of nevada falls. woot.

handsome guy

oil change

well, i’m all moved into pac house now! =)

borrowing spacelee’s nikon 24-70mm f/2.8. not really a fan of zoom lenses, but trying this one out for versatility.

helped chris with changing his car’s oil. he’s leaving in 2 days and will be dearly missed.

man, times are changing fast. maybe i’ll start posting frequently again.

there will be many changes in my life (and many others) in the next month. to name a few without going into too much detail, praxis is going through big structural changes as we move towards becoming a more ministry oriented group. current praxis members are being moved around. there’s the new grad class that will be joining us. people are leaving for church plants. others are leaving for whatever personal reasons (school, family, etc.). i’ll be moving out of this house where i’ve developed relationships with 10 brothers and living with a new set of brothers for the next year. with all these changes, naturally, i’m feeling a bit overwhelmed. these are all people i’ve developed meaningful relationships with. it’s definitely not easy to say good bye to many friends, let alone one of them.

in addition to being anxious about these upcoming changes, we all go through periods of deep struggling. it just so happens that that period of struggling is now (i know, great..). in the midst of all these struggles, it’s easy to want an explanation. ”why God? why me? is this truly the life you call me to live? just make it clear what it is you want me to do”. but God doesn’t need to explain to me why He does the things He does (even if He did, would I understand?). I just need to trust in His goodness and sovereignty and when I begin to trust is when God opens my heart and lets me catch a glimpse of His wonderful plan for me.

God has been faithful in spite of my faithlessness. i’ve prayed many times, “Where are you, Father? I’m tired. I need you right now!”. but He has been by my side all along revealing to me, in His time, His greater plan for me.

Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Philippians 4:6-9
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

and now, being faithful to the fact that this is a photoblog, here is a picture from a trip to oregon last summer. this was shot in portland.

..until my undergraduate years at berkeley are over. in hindsight, it’s been a very tough 5 years. so much has happened, and i’ve changed in so many ways. though i’m optimistic about the direction these experiences have left me, i’m also wary about what’s to come. some experiences, i wouldn’t mind reliving, and others i’d like to think i’m leaving them behind..

actually, i came across the following picture online of san francisco and it’s what inspired me to make a post. beautiful isn’t it? it’s called ‘rain dance’.