Jonathan S. Hong

My girlfriend got a job! All praise goes to you Father!!! As much as I am sad that I won’t be able to get to see her as much because of the distance, I am so happy for her new job and excited for her future! God, thank you so much for answering prayers. 

Also, even though she will be busy busy…please let me see her at least a little bit somehow :)

This is the time of the quarter that everything starts piling on because of procrastination and a sudden motivation to study hard to get A’s on my final midterms. But even with this, I feel like more than half of the busyness of my life is not school-related. Is this normal?

I’m pooped.

I regret not trying to learn korean earlier. Even though my american accent is super heavy and my korean pronounciation might not sound like the actual korean word that I’m trying to say, it would have been nice to communicate with my grandparents before they passed away. I have a feeling that they had a lot to say to me but just weren’t able to communicate it to me because of my lack of korean. I know if I were a grandparent, I would love to talk to my grandchildren about anything and everything. Not being able to talk to them because of a language barrier would be pretty frustrating. Ah, thinking about you halmoni and hadabogi. Miss you two so much. Hope you know that even though it’s a bit too late, I’m trying my best to learn korean now.

This Mother’s Day, I have a much greater understanding of why I am thanking and showing my appreciation for my mom. Seeing what it’s like for my sister and her husband to provide for my nephew the past two weeks has been something that has taught me a lot about sacrifice. They give up practically everything in order to take care of and help nurture the newborn Caleb. 

For me, I have barely any memory of what it was like growing up from the ages zero to three. My mom had told me stories, but I’d always shrugged them off as just whatever. Now that I am a bit older and able to see my sister take care of baby Caleb, I am able to understand the trials of parenthood. The struggles and sacrifice of a parent leads to an inexplicable joy as they see their newborn grow and mature on a daily basis. It’s crazy how similar this relationship can be to a believer’s relationship with his Heavenly Father.

But anyways…Today, when I was thinking about the parts of my life that I can remember, I realized how faithful my mom has been to me. From her, I am able to see how great of a Father I have in heaven. If my human mother is this faithful and loves me unconditionally as she does, how much more is God faithful and how much more does He love me. 

Thank you for being such a great role model in my life, mom. I love you so much even though I may not show it at times because of my selfishness. I’m still learning a lot, and I hope that someday I will be able to show that same unconditional love that you have shown me all of my life.

Happy Mother’s Day! You deserve it! 

“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” 

Oh how I miss playing high school basketball… Took it for granted.

Put up a thousand shots today…feels good. Wish I could make it a daily thing…If only I had the time! Larry Drew II was playing right next to me…Man, I wish I was just a bit taller to try and play in college.

I’m slowly developing a love for coffee…Great. Here comes spending more money and gaining extra calories. On the other hand, I can finally stay awake while working at the law school at 8AM. I guess my boss would appreciate that…

In the labor and delivery waiting room at Kaiser waiting for my sister to deliver a baby boy into this world! Pretty excited, pretty nervous. Hoping that everything is going well inside the delivery room. Been waiting out here for about 9 hours.. Seems like I’ve been here all day. But it’s pretty amazing knowing that I’m going to be an uncle any minute now! Am I ready for this? I have no clue… Lets hope so. I’ve always wanted to be the cool uncle who gets to spoil his nephew. Kinda funny thinking that a little boy may be clinging to my arm soon, wanting a piggyback or what not. Seems like just the other day it was I that was the baby of the family. It was me that was getting all the love and all the spoils of being the 막내. Yet again God has brought change to my family. Things keep shifting, things keep changing.. It’s so weird. Sometimes feels like it’s too fast. One day I feel like I’m too young, the next I feel old. In all this change God.. You’ve been so faithful. Thank you. Idk what plans you have for me and my family but whatever it is, help me to trust you completely. In my future..I fear struggle and I fear pain God but help me see even more the joy of being your son who you delight in
~can’t wait to see you baby Caleb, praying for you!

Korean culture night at UCLA was an awesome experience. It’s really amazing to see how much talent each and every individual has been given by God. The theme was very biblical as well and I couldn’t help but feel lucky to have a Father who loves me unconditionally.
I also had the opportunity to hangout with a couple friends from church after the performance. It was such a blessing to hang with them. Man, I really need to put in more of an effort in my church life (Serving at young nak is something I definitely need to keep praying about).
Today and tonight were awesome. God, you are so good.

All I hear about these days is how fun candy crush is. I am so very tempted to start playing… It would be an awesome study break. Or studying would be an awesome break from playing candy crush. Ah! Discipline..Jonathan..Discipline!

Man, it sure does feel good. First off, playing in Pauley Pavilion was one heck of an honor. It’s always been my dream growing up to play in a gym like pauley or staples center. Second, playing with a bunch of guys who have so much skill was really fun and let me learn from the way they played. Great teammates who were constantly encouraging! Thirdly, I was so blessed by the fact that my girlfriend and a lot of my friends were there cheering our team on! I have such supportive people in my life…its an amazing blessing. Finally, and most importantly, can’t thank God enough for the opportunity to play ball. Love the sport and love the way it can be a way to fellowship with my brothers and sisters!
Overall, it really was a night to remember! It’s pretty awesome to say that I was part of a UCLA IM basketball championship team :)

Here I am lying in my bed… Been here for the past two and half hours just trying to fall asleep. Tried finishing all my work early to catch up on some sleep but for some odd reason I just can’t fall asleep. Found myself getting impatient..even to the point of frustration and inner anger. Wasn’t used to this whole insomnia thing. Wondering why sleep wouldn’t come on the one night I actually have a lot of time for it. Remembered I had asked God for patience and His wisdom every time I prayed this week. Now I see this is an opportunity given to me to be patient and to read His word and meditate while I wait for sleep to come. Ladies and gentlemen, God does answer prayers.

as i read the gospel of matthew, im in awe of how different of lives jesus tells his disciples to live than that of the people around them. they were to live sanctified lives “turning the other cheek”, praying for their enemies, and rejoicing in god regardless of persecution. they were to do all of this and more in order to be living testimonies of god’s word. it’s really crazy to think of how different we are called to be as christians. when we look at what our lives our like and how we’ve been living every god-given day, what has the condition of our hearts been? are our thoughts on things of this world or on things far greater than that? in matthew, i believe jesus is emphasizing kingdom righteousness and sanctification, or in other words, how our belief in him should stir an inner transformation that becomes our outward reality. in that case, with our full trust in our lord and savior, we must fight temptation, persevere against apathy, and praise him always knowing that there is far greater to look forward to than the many distractions of this world. our lord’s challenge to the disciples to live a life separate from the world extends to us as christians. as jesus says, we, god’s sons and daughters, are the salt and light of the world. therefore, we must pursue to reflect God’s perfection by living in conformity with scripture.

(Matthew 5) 

Waiting here to take my midterm…don’t feel like cramming anymore. But man, why is God’s creation so beautiful? Such a nice day out.. I should study outside more often!