Day 31 – Jonathan Kim
1. What do you do for a living? (occupation/field of study)
I am an elementary school teacher for Success Academy Hells Kitchen, as a 4th grade homeroom teacher teaching math and ELA.
2. How do you like to spend your free time?
YouTube (basketball, pop culture, other random interesting things on YouTube), spending time with friends at food places, and just bumming out!
3. Share one interesting fact about you that most people don’t know!
I’ve been to the Great Wall of China twice. It’s a lovely wonder of the world but I absolutely hated my experience because I essentially stair mastered for 2-3 hours straight in 90-100 degree weather.
4. Do you have a favorite book in the Bible? If you do, which one is it and why?
I am stuck between Jeremiah and Job for me recently. But for answering the question, I think it has to be Jeremiah. God’s heart is really revealed and how he feels when we sin is just so raw and real there, more than I’ve seen in other parts of the Bible. For Job, I’ve had a newfound appreciation of it and how I read it completely changed because I realized the prayers Job prays of God and his friends abandoning him, and the sorrows and pains (spiritual, physical, emotional, mental) is how Jesus probably felt before the cross and he prayed the prayers Job prayed. I feel I have more access to how Christ felt and the agony/suffering he felt put into words with Job’s prayers.
5. Is there a verse/passage in the Bible that has significantly impacted your life? If so, which is it and why?
“I have heard Ephraim grieving,‘You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined like an untrained calf; bring me back that I may be restored, for you are the Lord my God. For after I had turned away, I relented, and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh; I was ashamed, and I was confounded, because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’ Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he my darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him,declares the Lord.”-Jeremiah 31:18-20
When I struggle with sin and fall, this is a verse I always come back to. God's heart should rightfully be upset and bitter and shouldn’t want to talk to me or even be around me, but this passage reminds me of His heart for me. It amazes me how His heart can be so tender despite the countless times I turn away from Him and do what He doesn’t want me to. As I grow in my faith, and see more and more of how awful and sinful I am, the fact that His love stays constant and that He speaks this way towards me leaves me in an endless amazement.
6. Is there a prayer request that has been on your heart recently? If so, please share with us.
For me, I’ve been struggling with anxiety about work and my little rascal students, but that’s because I idolize being the best at my job. Pray for God to give me supernatural trust and peace in Him. I want to trust that His ways are better than mine and in trusting Him, it would get rid of the sins in my life. Outside of myself, a prayer for my sister; for God to give her peace and assurance of His love, along with strength.
7. Tell us about how you met Christ? (feel free to share a brief testimony)
I feel like my understanding of the gospel and really believing Christ to be Lord and Savior was a gradual process so I’ll just share key points in my life!
– Despite growing up in a devout Christian household, I always thought that I needed to earn salvation and thought that I was good enough.
– I encountered God’s presence at a retreat and cried more than I have my entire life but was still not a Christian yet. Still, God made His presence known to me that day. Reading my journal the day after I came back, I wrote that my life was Christ’s and everything was going to be about Him. This was probably my biggest turning point, but it was still very surface level and I don’t think I really understood the gospel yet.
– During a Bible Study on Ephesians 2:8, I began to understand that it wasn’t works that saved me, but faith. While at a college retreat, I learned that not only did God forgive me, but Christ’s righteousness was imputed onto me. I realized that God sees Christ’s perfect record when He looks at me.
– Lastly, it took countless hours of sermons just to understand that the blessings given to me have been paid for by Christ. Christ was forsaken so that I would never be forsaken. Christ’s prayer was not answered so that my prayers would always be answered. Christ paid the price so that I can receive all of these free blessings.