John Yoon

This evening I was sitting in Tresidder LaIR. By the way, do you know how to spell Tresidder? Quick, look away from the screen and think about it. The correct spelling is Tresidder, but I’d be willing to wager that it is just as often misspelled Tressider. Interesting phenomenon.

Anyway, I was sitting at a computer when John Yoon ytalk requested me. So we ytalked for a while. It was good.

At any rate, I realized that I really love John Yoon. I don’t know if you know John Yoon, but he really is one of, if not the most encouraging brother in Christ I know. This mymind is basically a tribute to John Yoon.

The reason I say this is because for some odd reason, he always seems to be encouraging me when I need it most. Well, maybe always is an exaggeration, but it happens enough for me to remember and appreciate.

For example, I mentioned this on a mymind previously, but I struggled a lot with theological issues fall quarter. I know that theology is a lesser thing, well, at least to me, but it’s difficult when it’s constantly being pounded on you, you know? And it’s even harder when people, in the midst of their theology laden pounding say that theology isn’t the most important thing. Sometimes I just wanna yell, “So why are you pounding theology in to me so much?” But I digress.

At any rate, regardless of its importance, I struggled with it. In particular I struggled with the concept of predestination and of the nature of God’s love. I mentioned it in a previous mymind so I won’t rehash it, but basically John said some really poignant things (at least to me) over dinner at Yost. He just said 2 things that stick out to me. First, he said how a lot of times you can take things and make a bunch of logical conclusions from them, and they seem to be cool, but the problem is when you really examine it, it’s not Biblical. Hmm. Second, he mentioned how he looks at his own Christian walk, and how when he accepted Christ, he really felt/thought at the time that it was all him, that it was all his doing, that it was all his decision. But as he grows in the faith, and looks back, he realizes more and more that it was all God. So there’s a mystery to it.

Think about that. It’s pretty deep.

At any rate, recently I’d been struggling with issues of weakness. Meaning, I felt really weak. Like no matter how hard I tried or how many commitments I made, my quiet times and prayer life remained sporadic, for example. It was kind of depressing. I mean, I know, you gotta let go of your human effort and depend on God, but I just didn’t know how to do that. I mean, how to let God. In fact, I’m still not quite sure. If you know, tell me.

So I was feeling really weak. And you know, this can be good if it makes one humble, right? But it wasn’t a humility thing, it was just a weakness thing; bad in that I felt that I couldn’t do anything, and would never reach a higher point in my walk and that it was almost pointless in a way. I guess I was just tired of failing. I wasn’t feeling like humbled so I depended on God to do it; I just felt like it couldn’t be done in me.

So I was actually quite discouraged, and I guess I let some of this show to John. And I remember what he said to me. He said, “Do you believe that God has a victorious Christian life in store for you?” And I think I mumbled something about yeah, I need a heavenly perspective and think about the eternal and all that, but then John said something like, “Do you believe that God has a victorious Christian life in store for you here on this earth?” I don’t know, for some reason that just hit me. It’s not like it’s particularly new or profound, but for some reason, the way he expressed it it just sounded fresh.

That’s the thing about John. I think sometimes he says really simple things but it comes across (at least to me) as really fresh and compelling.

Anyway, that was one of the most encouraging things to me. For some reason, that just turned me around, and I clung to the faith in knowing that God really does have a victorious Christian life in store for me here, on this earth. For some reason, this was fresh to me, and I really started to appreciate all those passages and psalms that talk about victory in God / Christ. Man, it’s a good feeling when you truly and deeply know that you will one day be victorious. It’s just about the most encouraging thought you can ever have.

So basically John is da bomb. I don’t want to idolize him or anything though. He certainly has his faults. But I love John. If you’re reading this and don’t know him, get to know him. He lives somewhere in Lantana.

Peace be with you.