God is Sovereign

November 22, 2010. A fellow teacher rushes in and in fast Korean announces something to the children. The children immediately begin crying. She looks at me and in broken English says, "basement. North Korea bomb now." I looked at the 11 Korean children in the room, the assistant teacher who was trying to consule them, and I wondered why I didn't listen to all the people telling me that coming to South Korea was crazy.

The assistant teacher and I sheparded the children into the elevator and ended up carrying quite a few as fear (and screaming) prevented them from walking. On the short ride to the basement, the danger of the situation finally assaulted my senses full force. I was in charge of 11 crying Korean children, was the only person who spoke English (as my supervisor had left for the day), and was most likely going to die (even if North Korea didn't kill me, my mother probably would for not heeding her warnings about the danger).

When we arrived in the basement there were even more screeching children (almost 200) and my little group was huddled into one corner. Once they were all sitting down I began to assess the reality of what was happening. The only thing I knew was that North Korea was bombing. Did that mean they were using their nuclear weapons? In which case, I might as well enjoy my last few minutes on Earth and ditch these crying kids for Ryan ;). Or were they just normal bombs in which case if they didn't hit where I was what did they hit? And why no matter how bad the situation is would they tell 2 year olds (my ears are still hurting a month later)? And if they told the 2 year olds, it must really be a big deal which means it's probably nuclears so we're all going to die? Will it be fast? Why didn't I eat more chik-fil-a in my life? Does my mom still know where my Bob the Builder lunchbox coffin is? Does she realize I was serious about my death being a party?

After about 20 minutes, I spotted one of the teachers who speaks English. She was in the midst of screaming children as well but it was a necessity. And so I dragged the three children that refused to let me leave to where Grace was who shouted the answer to my, "what's going on?" Her directly quoted answer, "North Korea attacked an island and the director is stupid."

She went on to explain (literally yelling over the screaming children) that the director thought it was serious and issued the drill without warning teachers and therefore teachers paniced and told children and the madness we are now looking at is a result.

Over an hour later, only a few kids were still crying and the rest were back to playing games with their home room teachers (classes were stopped). And I was able to read a million reports online about the reality of the situation. And to be honest after believing for 20 minutes that North Korea was launching nuclear missiles on Seoul, the facts seemed bearable.

Fast Forward to Now. There are news reports all over right now about North Korea being upset by South Korean (and American) forces performing drills near the DMZ. North Korea promised to retaliate if they did the drills but the day of the drills passed without retaliation. South Korean experts now believe North Korea will attack either the DMZ, a town near the border, or a tourist attraction in Seoul. Most South Koreans continue to live their lives normally and not show evidence of any fear; however, if you really talk about it most will say they are scared.

Tensions have escalated between the two nations (or as some would say are constantly escalating). There are all sorts of reasons why this could be from the new South Korean power party not working with North Korea, to American aid stopping, to Kim-Jong-Il's son coming into power, to the NK's need for a move that stops NKs shifting attitudes.

I've done a lot of research on the North and South since the "incident." I decided if I was going to die by North Korea's bombs I better at least know why they didn't like the South and who they are. It's interesting...very interesting.

But all of that research and all of the current news reports and all of the conversations with South Koreans and other foreigners has only led me to one divine truth: God is Sovereign.

I know without a shadow of doubt that God is completely in control and that there is nothing that God has not forseen. And so if North Korea were to attack South Korea tomorrow, I can trust that God has forseen that event and allwed in to come into being. I can't pretend that I could understand why but I can proclaim to trust in the Lord.

And so as I look forward to the next 10 to 12 months in a nation with escalating tensions with a nuclear power, I declare a solid belief and trust in the Lord Almighty.