Saturday, February 25, 2012

Verse for This Week:


Trust in the Lord with ALL of your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

Proverbs 3:5

Are you trusting in Christ?
He is your rock and your salvation.
Why shouldn't you trust the Man that died for you?

Think about it.



Thursday, February 23, 2012

Through the Window


Watching for You





Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Blue


The Winter has passed, now Spring has come...

Again tonight, under the blue moonlight, I will probably fall asleep again, dreaming of you. Even in my dreams, I look for you; I wander around while singing this song, under these shades of blue.




Monday, February 20, 2012

For Life


Do not fear, for I am with you.
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.


Beautiful People: Cafe Edition 2


Okay, it's not a person... but it's Erica's cat Mocha when he was a baby. ^_^
Jungsu's edition was rather long, so I'm going to narrow it down and do THREE people here. ^_^
And, I'd like to make a note to you authors:
Always keep Christ in your writing.
Each of these characters listed here are struggling with personal problems - especially Daehyun, here. His faith in God is weak, and through the book, to not only him but the others, the goal is to prove that He's sovereign. 
 The verse basis I'm using for each character is this:

"Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."
                                       Isaiah 41:10
 

Name: Erica Adams
Age: 23
Height: 5'6"
Excerpt from Cafe: Erica

Erica wrapped her arm through his to keep him with them, smiling at the prosaic expression on his face.
"What are you hungry for?" she asked, elbowing him lightly. He shrugged, continuing to look ahead as they walked down the busy sidewalks.
"Ask Daehyun – get him something he loves so he won't talk while eating."
Daehyun laughed, dropping back a few paces to get on her other side, making it easier for conversation.
"I don't care where we go, actually. But I am buying."
Erica looked up at him, squinting in the bright sunlight and having to raise her voice above the noise to be heard.
"Why do you keep insisting to buy?" she laughed, the back wind blowing her hair over a shoulder. He shrugged, hands in pockets, a smile still on his face as he spoke.
"I've got money to spare, and I might as well spend it on you two."
She laughed, breath fogging in the cold air as they walked.
"Fine then – I'll let you and Jungsu have it out over where we eat today."
"Really?" Jungsu grinned, looking down at her.
"Have at it," she laughed, keeping pace. Without hesitation, the two fell into a round of where they should go; apparently, Daehyun 'didn't care' only if Erica was involved. Now he was energetically debating with Jungsu over the difference of food quality between an outside market and a sit down restaurant. Erica listened with a smile on her face, trying to keep out of the conversation as much as she could, though she was literally stuck right in the middle. They had slipped from English to Korean, and, as is typical, were being loud and animated about it. She put a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing, walking briskly to keep pace with the two. The brunette glanced up at Daehyun, biting her lower lip in a smile; he was obviously enjoying himself, and she felt so relieved to see him smiling. There were those brief moments when he wasn't such a sincere person, and he'd show those rare smiles and laughs that he often kept to himself. She knew better, though, than to think he was fine. He wasn't, and that was made painfully clear by the glances he constantly cast to his surroundings, to the people around him; the way he came to work the day before, sick to his stomach from nightmares. The smile faded from her face, and she cast her eyes downward toward the sidewalk beneath her feet, hearing him laugh as he and Jungsu continued to debate. She sighed, wondering when that laugh would actually be true. 


 Name: Choi Daehyun
 Age: 22
 Height: 5'9"

 Cafe Exceprt: Daehyun
 
A drowsy darkness hung over the room, the fan still humming in the corner, the flow of air pushing dark curtains aside just enough to let in a single shaft of light. The beam reflected off of the glass still littering the floor, and the lamp was still toppled in a haphazard way. A crumpled picture lay close to the foot of the bed, the faces of four people angrily inked out with a permanent marker. A mess of sheets were tangled around Daehyun's sleeping form. Everything was quiet, the blarring car horns down below the apartment, the sound of a door slamming – it was all lost to his sleep. Abruptly, a sharp ringtone rent the air from somewhere under a pile of clothing, shattering the silence. Daehyun stirred, but the sound was muted through the pillow on his head, and it wasn't until the third ring that he came fully awake. When the realization that his phone was going off hit him, he shot upright, black hair falling into his eyes as he stumbled out of bed, shouting at anything that got in his way in the race to find it.
"Omo, omo, omo!" he cried, tossing clothes in every direction in an attempt to find the object. It continued to ring loudly, and just before it cut off, he found it, buried in the pocket of his jeans.
"Oh, come ON!" he exclaimed, working it out, hardly able to get it open as it slipped out of his hands. He finally did, jerking it up to his ear.
"Yeobsayo!?" he nearly shouted in a high pitched tone, and then uttered something between the sound of clearing his throat and an embarrassed cough. "Um... yeobsayo?" he corrected himself in a hoarse voice.
"... Wow," Jungsu said on the other line, a hint of amusement in his tone.
"Omo," Daehyun whispered under his breath, subconsciously doing a 90 degree bow towards the wall as he apologized. "I'm... I didn't mean to shout."
"Did I wake you up?" - there was no mistaking the chuckle. Daehyun got to his feet, rubbing a hand across his eyes as he blinked against the light coming in the room.
"Uhm... yeh. I'm sor - " he cut himself short, having seen the time on the clock. "Oh no! I'm fired – I'm fired! She's going to kill me!" he wailed as he fell back onto the bed, staring at the red digital numbers in disbelief. Jungsu was laughing on the other line, his voice sounding deeper over the phone.
"Yah! Keep your shirt on – she said to tell you that you can take the day off if you need it."
Daehyun sat on the edge of the bed, shaking his head slowly as he caught it in a hand, squeezing his eyes shut in frustration.
"No, I need to come in today. I'll... ah, I'll be there in about half an hour."
His voice sounded stronger and heavier from just having gotten up, but it still carried that hoarseness to it.
"Sure," Jungsu said; the sound of a chair scraping the tile floor was heard in the background, and the distant whir of the coffee grinder made him raise his voice.
"So – see you then," he finished.
"Yeh," Daehyun answered, pushing himself up after pulling on his house shoes. "I'll be there as soon as I can."
"No problemo," Jungsu said in English, a very nonchalant tone in his voice. There was an awkward silence, and then Jungsu spoke again, his voice lowered and the background sounds muffled as though he had a hand over the reciever. "You, are okay, aren't you?"
"I'm fine," he sighed, rubbing his eyes again. "Just, slept in. I'll be there soon."
"... okeh. Just checking. Um... see you."
"Yeh," Daehyun ducked his head in a subconscious bow once again, and after a five second delay of silence, the dialtone cut in. He snapped the phone shut, sighing as he looked around the room. Was it really 9:14? Shaking his head, he pushed a hand through his hair, blinking slowly as it fell right back into place over his eyes. Tossing the phone onto the bed, he walked out into the kitchen, finding all of the lights still on from the night before. Sunlight filtered brightly through the wall-window in the living room, confirming the time of morning through the long shadows it cast over the hardwood floor. He walked to the window, looking down at the packed streets below, the towering sky scrapers high above that made the apartment building look small. The bright sun caught and reflected off of the huge buildings, glaring back at him so that he had to raise a hand to shade his eyes, tossing his head to the side as he took a breath. He really didn't want to go out today, but he couldn't stay there and do nothing. He stood their quietly for several long moments, noticing that snow flurries had begun to drift from the sky. The heater cut on, warm air touching his skin. Still gazing out at the street, his hand moved to his stomach, resting over firm muscles; he closed his eyes, trying to forget the excruciating pain of a bullet tearing through his body, the images that haunted his mind of lying in a street bleeding to death. Taking in a sharp breath, he tossed his head to the side again, turning to walk into the kitchen, hand flicking off an overhead light as he did so. It's only a dream, he thought to himself, wide jaw clenching. Just a dream. 

 Name: Adriana Kang
 Age: 22
 Height: 5'4"

 Cafe Excerpt: Adriana
 
"Heyo!" Adriana smiled as she opened the café door, cold air rushing in from outside. Jungsu glanced up, a grin appearing as he raised a hand.
"Yo – whattup?" It was just then that he noticed her little brother in tow behind, shyly clinging to her, squinted brown eyes looking around nervously.
"Hey! Minsung!" he laughed, twitching his chin towards the boy. Minsung's face disappeared into a smile when he saw him.
"Jungsu-sshi!" he grinned, waving a hand.
"He was well enough to come out today," Adriana smiled, looking down at her little brother. "He wanted to see you."
Jungsu came out from around the counter, wiping his hands off on a rag as he knelt down to Minsung's level, holding his hand up for a high-five.
"How's my buddy?"
Minsung slapped his hand, looking like a miniature gangster in his pilot's jacket and oversized base-ball cap.
"I'm fine," he grinned, revealing a couple of missing baby teeth. The storage room door slammed shut as Daehyun appeared, tossing auburn hair from his eyes.
"Yah!" he smiled, pointing towards Adriana. "How are you?"
She pulled long black hair over her shoulder, letting go of her brother's hand to pull her coat off. "Great. You?"
"I'm well. Erica'll be back in a minute; she went to pick up some stuff at the market," he said, nodding towards the window. Jungsu straightened, Minsung taking his hand as he did so.
"She said you might come by," he added, rubbing his nose. "You two going out again today?"
Adriana smiled down at her little brother before glancing over at Jungsu.
"Yeh," she laughed. "I was wondering if you guys could watch Minsung again while we're gone."
Daehyun had taken a seat on one of the bar stools, hands hanging between his legs as he smiled, eyes disappearing.
"Absolutely," he gave her a thumbs up. "He's fun to hang out with."
Minsung grinned shyly as he winked at him. Jungsu looked down at the little boy, nodding towards the storage room.
"You wanna help me put some stuff up?" he asked, bleached hair sliding into his eyes, voice sounding deeper. Minsung hopped up and down excitedly, taking off towards the room, pulling Jungsu along.
"I take that as a yes!" he grunted, stumbling along behind his excited helper. Adriana laughed, folding her coat over her arm with a grin.
"That kid loves Jungsu," she giggled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Daehyun swung his leg back over the stool as he got up, slapping a hand on the counter.
"You want something to drink?" he asked, flicking his head to the side with an air of authority. A humored smirk appeared on Adriana's face as she sat down at the counter, raising an eyebrow.
"Feeling in charge, are we?" she laughed. He grinned, adjusting the fadora on his head that sat in a slightly angled position.
"Maybe," he swiped up a cup, something in his eyes sparkling. "Now... what'll it be?"
She glanced over the choices, lower lip stuck out in a thoughtful manner, elbows planted on the counter.
"Hmmm... a white chocolate mocha," she smiled sweetly. Daehyun twitched his chin up in a confident way as he jolted the filter loose, giving her a smug smirk.
"I think I can handle that."
"... you look like a gangster in that hat," she giggled. While the milk was steaming, he tilted the gray fadora sharply, folding athletic arms over his chest, biting lower lip in a fake grimace, auburn hair touching the back of his shirt as he tilted his head back.
"Yo," he nodded, lowering his voice to its deepest point. Adriana fell into a fit of laughter, shaking her head at him.
"Nice try, big boy," she laughed as he pushed the hat back into its proper position, a smile appearing as he took the milk up.
"I try," he grinned. She watched him making the mocha quietly for a few minutes, chin resting in hand, observing how he put it together. Moments later, he capped the drink, sliding it over to her.
"There you go," he said, wiping his hands off on a rag. She thanked him, taking the hot cup carefully.
"It smells nice," she smiled.