Kosin University

I highly recommended this University to pursue your degree for the Kingdom of God.

Be prepared to be an ambassador of Christ. CORAM DEO.

Kosin University at a glance:

1. Provider of Christian Higher Education which celebrates the unity of faith, life, and learning.


2. A caring, learning community nurturing students academically from a Reformational Perspective.


3. A friendly, cosmopolitan atmosphere with students from over 26 nations.


4. Perched on the side of a mountain with spectacular views overlooking the port of Busan in South Korea.

(It was taken from Kosin University English website: http://www.kosin.edu/)

Joshua Songmin Haniel Liem

God blessed us with a wonderful gift this year.


One month ago, on September 11, 2010 at 23.42, my wife gave birth to our lovely son, Joshua Songmin Haniel Liem. He was 3.7 kg and 51 cm long.

The picture was taken when Joshua was one month old. Some Indonesian brothers and sisters came and celebrated his one month old (plus nine month in the womb of course) in our little house.

We gave him a quite long name to express how Great our God is. Moreover, we also want to confess our faith through this name.


Here is a little story about it.


Name Joshua was given by my Professor in Kosin University, Dr. Richard J. Edlin. He is a great Professor I ever met. He walks by faith and shows his integrity to his students.

Joshua itself means God save us.


Name Songmin was given by our Korean Pastor, Jung Noah. He lives by faith and becomes a role model to our family.

Songmin was taken from Korean word which means holy people/person.


Haniel was given by ourselves. Dita and I always call our son 'Honey' since he was in the womb of his mom which means our beloved one. We changed it a little bit to fit Indonesian pronounciation Hani, then we added el behind it which represents Elohim, one of God's name.

Liem actually is not only my family name, but Dita as well.

Finally, we combined all four words together in purpose which come from English, Korean, Indonesian, and Chinese word to express who, what, and where we are now.

So, we hope that through Joshua Songmin Haniel Liem who already beloved by God, saved by His grace will be a holy person for His glory.

We always pray to God that He will be our Guide, because in fact Joshua is His son, we are only His stewards to fulfill His Will. Please pray for us to be a great parent for him and to do our best since to be a parent is a wonderful privilege we get.

Old poem: "To educate a child is much better (and worthier) than to correct an adult"

Teacher, I don't like science

I heard a story of a child's perception about a subject related to the teacher who teaches it here in Korea. The teacher printed some pictures of the Solar System for discussion in English class. When one of the student saw the picture, he straight away said "Teacher, I don't like Science..." and pulled himself back from the table to show that he was not interested at all in the discussion.

The teacher was curious to know why this fouteen-year youngster doesn't enjoy learning about sun, earth, moon, galaxies, comets, etc...

And she asked a question to the student, why don't you like Science? This is very interesting. We can learn about planets, solar system, the place we live in, etc".

The student was still showing his unpleasant mood in his face and replied, "Teacher, I don't like Science because I don't like the Teacher."

He gives the reason why he does not like the teacher. He says that his science teacher used to debate him and sometimes hits his hands if there is a disagreement between him and the teacher on the subject.

From this story, we may realize that the teacher is in an important part of students' lives. Teacher can bring a great influence on a student through his character or his way of teaching, and even he may put the student in a dis-likeness of a subject. Being a teacher is a difficult job for sure.

God gives every teacher His blessings by giving each of them a chance to enter children's lives by nurturing and educating them.

Let's love our children

I wrote an article in Korea Times recently.

Please read, contemplate it, and comments to:
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2010/05/137_65312.html

Study and Generation Gap

My wife wrote some blog postings related to Education which I also want to share it here. I hope it can be a blessing for everyone who read her writing.

It also can be read here.

I also agree with Dita that we have to study all the time throughout our life.

Some people think that after graduated from High School or University they can stop study.

Study is not only the matter of academic study where you are required to sit in the class, listen to teachers and do exam. Study can be anywhere and anytime. It doesn't need you to go to school or do your homework to get good point or score.

What I mean with study here is to update yourself with any new information, technology, method, design or any news around the world. Listening to radio, watching television, reading newspaper both online or hard-copy, browsing internet, attending seminar or training can be several ways to equip yourself to aware with today's world.

Dita and I were discussing about this subject when we were having dinner yesterday. I noticed that many parents stopped 'studying' and just focus on their job which cause them not aware with their children's world and their way of thinking. It is so called 'generation gap'.

Parents don't want to know about new technology such as internet, blackberry, online-game, facebook, blog, etc, which are popular these days. Parents are far behind in their knowledge of new scientist invention or medical research.

I told Dita about my professor who always read the latest published books and share to his students. My professor actually can just share any famous books he had read that were written by famous author in the past 5, 10 or 20 years. The content of those good books might be relevant on those era, but not exactly for today's era. So, it will be great if he can share a new book which is relevant for today's situation. That's why he doesn't stop reading.

We were reminded to keep studying since we are going to be parents. We have to equip ourselves and aware of any changes in the world. Our child's world will be different from ours, that's why we have to reduce the generation gap to be able to understand our child better. Let's study!

Robotic Technology: Good Idea but Not for Classrooms

The title was taken exactly from my friend's article in Korea Times several days ago.

Please read, contemplate it and give comments to:
http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2010/02/137_60621.html

Shepherding a Child's Heart (Tedd Trip)-Part 2

Here it is the part 2 of the book.

PART 2: SHEPHERDING THROUGH THE STAGES OF CHILDHOOD
1. Infancy to Childhood: Training Objectives
The first stage of development, infancy to childhood, encompasses the period from birth to age four or five. This period can be described in a single word – change. With such dramatic changes over a short time, it is easy to lose focus. The most important lesson for the child to learn in this period is that HE IS AN INDIVIDUAL UNDER AUTHORITY.
In Ephesians 6:1-3, God has drawn a circle of great blessing. Submission to parents means HONORING and OBEYING. Within that circle things will go well and they will enjoy long lives. Honoring parents means to treat them with respect and esteem because of their position of authority. It is honoring them because of their role of authority. Obedience is the willing submission of one person to the authority of another without challenge, without excuse, and without delay.

2. Infancy to Childhood: Training Procedures
When does a child need a spanking? When you have given a directive that he has heard and is within his capacity to understand, and he has not obeyed without challenge, without excuse or without delay, he needs a spanking. If you fail to spank, you fail to take God’s Word seriously.
The following procedure can provide discipline that preserves the child’s dignity: (1) Take your child to a private place where he can be spoken with in privacy, (2) Tell him specifically what he has done or failed to do, (3) Secure an acknowledgement from the child of what he has done, (4) Remind him that the function of the spanking is not venting your frustration or because you are angry, but to restore him to the place in which God has promised blessing, (5) Tell the child how many swats he will receive, (6) Remove his drawer so that the spanking is not lost in the padding of his pants, (7) After you have spanked, take the child up on your lap and hug him, telling how much you love him, how much it grieves you to spank him, and how you hope that it will not be necessary again.

3. Childhood: Training Objectives
The big issue during these middle years is character. Your child’s character must be developed in several areas. In stage one the focus was obedience. Now in the stage two the focus was character. In this stage, the child should learn about his relationship with God, himself, and others. Once or twice a year, you and your spouse should sit down and take stock of your children about their relationship. Develop some strategy for dealing with the areas of concern.

4. Childhood: Training Procedures
Whatever motivates behavior trains the heart. The temptation is to focus on behavior. Behavior is a manifestation of what is going on inside. Your task is to help them understand the “overflow of the heart” aspect of their behavior. Your children need heart change. Change in the heart begins with conviction of sin. Conviction of sin comes through the conscience. You must get to the root issues by dealing with the conscience. You must be a person of long-term vision. You must see your children’s need for shepherding, not simply in terms of the here and now, but in terms of long-range vision.

5. Teenagers: Training Objectives
The benchmarks for this period of life are the onset of puberty and the time when the child leaves home to establish a home of his own. The teen years are years of monumental insecurity. The youth is neither a child nor an adult. He is unsure about how to act. Teens feel vulnerable about everything. They worry about their appearance.
The teenage years are often years of rebellion. Proverbs 1:7-19 furnishes you with such direction about parenting goals in this period of life. Three foundations of life in this passage: The fear of the Lord (v. 7), adherence to parental instruction (vv. 8-9), and disassociation from the wicked (vv. 10-19).
I am appaleled at the skepticism people express about helping teenagers see the importance of the fear of God. It is too often assumed that young people cannot be driven by godly motives. The teen who understands the fear of God will be delivered from danger. He will possess wisdom. He will grow in the knowledge of God.
Proverbs asserts that children will be enriched and greatly benefited by adherence to the values and instruction of their parents. There is no one who will be more honest or more tender than their own parents.
The call to association with the wicked comes to our kids. We must work to make home an attractive place to be. Home should be the shelter where the teen is understood and loved, where he is encouraged and shown the paths of life.

6. Teenagers: Training Procedures
Internalization of the gospel is the process of your children embracing the things of God as their own living faith. Your wish during this period is to see your children develop autonomous identities as persons under God. It is obvious that internalizing the gospel requires the work of the Holy Spirit in the child. All the reason for shepherding children's hearts is to see them come to know God. Your role during this period is a shepherding role of encouraign the child and seeking to influence him in the process of internalizing the gospel.
Teenagers are capable of colossal blunders. There is an enormous gap between the teen's desire to be autonomous and his understadning of life. What they need is parental interaction that is full of hope and courage when they made a mistake. The Proverbs tell us that pleasant words promote instruction. (Proverbs 16:21)
A good metaphor for the parent and teenage child relationship is the relationship adults would have with one another: waiting for the right time, deal with broad themes, and allowing room for disagreement.