Faith & Life

Forgiveness

In 1972, during the height of the Vietnam War, a bomb was dropped on a small village near Ho Chi Minh City. Because of the sudden bombing, a nine-year-old girl at the time, Kim Phuc, suffered burns all over her body. After that, she had to undergo 17 surgeries, and because of the wounds she sustained, she could no longer even dream of living a normal life. As time passed, in 1996, Kim Phuc was invited to a memorial event held at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Sitting among the audience during her speech was the pilot of the plane that had dropped the bomb. Listening to her talk about the horrors of war, he suddenly stood up…

A Grown Tree

The Church of God Young Adult Worker Volunteer Group (ASEZ WAO) carried out a tree-planting activity. Members from the Chungnam region gathered in Cheongso-myeon, Boryeong City, each holding a hoe in one hand and a bag of saplings in the other as they made their way up Mount Oseosan. Since we had to leave the hiking trail to reach the planting site, the path became increasingly steep and difficult. The higher we climbed, the more tiring it became, and eventually, my legs could barely support me. Finally we reached our destination and checked the area where the trees would be planted. It was desolate; stripped branches from logging and faded soil were all that remained. We diligently planted the saplings…

Ha Jun-seok from Cheonan, Korea

A Glorious Name in the Heavenly Family Lineage

One day, while dining at my parents’ home, my father disappeared into his room after the meal and returned with a book in hand. It was a family genealogy—bound in black leather with gold lettering engraved on the cover. Even at a glance, it was clear the book had been crafted with great care. Despite my mother’s gentle scoff, “Who even reads genealogies these days?” my father paid no mind and eagerly opened its pages. He began sharing the stories written within—tales of our ancestry, of forebears who brought honor to the family name, of a man who, having no son, adopted his brother’s child to continue the lineage. With each turn of the page, his explanations drew me in.…

Gahng Min-seo from Seongnam, Korea

New Song Poetry Collection

One day, I noticed a deaconess holding a large-print New Song book and asked her why. I had assumed the large-print version—containing only lyrics without musical notation—was intended for elderly members who had difficulty reading small text or for young children who couldn’t yet read sheet music. I asked casually, not thinking much of it. To my surprise, the deaconess gave a deeply touching response. She shared that during an overseas mission trip, she brought the large-print hymnal with her. Since she wasn’t fluent in the local language, she would quietly sing the Korean lyrics in a soft voice during worship, reflecting on each word. From that moment on, the New Song book became, to her, a deeply moving book…

Im Ji-yeon from Seongnam, Korea

Surely This Is Our God

I was once someone who did not seek God. As a child, I followed my parents to temples and shrines, joining my hands in prayer to Buddha or various deities as they instructed. But as I grew older, doubts began to surface, and I eventually stopped participating in those practices. The year I left my family home and began living on my own, I was given the opportunity to hear the word of God. On a cold day, I spent over an hour studying the Bible, and among all the teachings, the one that struck me most deeply was the truth of the Passover. When I realized that Christ Ahnsahnghong, who brought back the Passover, is in fact God, I…

Oyama Yuki from Fukuoka, Japan

The Secret to Building an Excellent Team

Professor Amy Edmondson of Harvard Business School conducted a study analyzing the correlation between teamwork and mistakes. She initially expected that good teamwork would naturally result in fewer mistakes. However, the results were the complete opposite. Teams with a good atmosphere actually made more mistakes than those without. Surprised by this unexpected outcome, Professor Edmondson analyzed the causes and discovered one key fact: teams with a positive atmosphere were more active in reporting and discussing mistakes, which meant errors were more likely to be brought to the surface. Moreover, they were able to quickly correct the mistakes, ultimately leading to excellent performance. On the other hand, in teams without a good atmosphere, individuals were more likely to hide their mistakes…

Spreading Hope Across the Globe by Erasing Plastic Footprints

More than 330 members of the Gangbuk Central Church Association carried out the “Erasing Plastic Footprints” campaign around the Jungnangcheon and Uicheon Streams in Seoul. This volunteer activity was part of the “Global Hope Challenge,” held in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Church of God’s establishment, with the aim of spreading hope across the global village. At the riverside park along Jungnangcheon Stream, participants gathered and read the “Intergenerational Joint Declaration,” pledging to help build a sustainable global environment and future. Although the sunlight felt even stronger than during last year’s cleanup around the same time, the members gathered in yellow vests wore bright smiles on their faces. With a pair of tongs in one hand and two…

Kim Ju-yeong from Seoul, Korea

I’m Happy Because I Smile

It would be wonderful if we could always wear a bright and cheerful expression—but at times, that’s not so easy. Still, even in those moments, there is a secret to being able to smile: just go ahead and smile. In fact, there is something called the Facial Feedback Hypothesis, which suggests that our emotions can be influenced by our facial expressions. German social psychologist Fritz Strack divided experiment participants into two groups. One group was asked to hold a pen between their teeth while reading a comic book, and the other group was told to hold the pen with their lips. Afterward, the group that held the pen between their teeth reported that the comic was more amusing. This is…

Dreaming of the Universe

In his writings, American astronomer Carl Sagan introduced the “Cosmic Calendar,” a model that compresses the 13.8-billion-year history of the universe into a single year. According to this scale, the Big Bang takes place at midnight on January 1, and the present moment falls at the final stroke of midnight on December 31. This framework offers a striking perspective on the vast timeline of the cosmos. Within the Cosmic Calendar, one second represents 475 years on Earth; a single day spans 38 million years, and a month amounts to roughly 1.1 billion years. Earth appears in early September, and modern humans emerge only in the final moments of December 31. All of human civilization fits within less than a minute,…

Jo Mun-gyeong from Cheongju, Korea

A Truly Valuable Education

For students in the Church of God, the most anticipated time during school breaks is likely the student camp. Among the many programs offered, such as Bible studies, character education, volunteer work, and hands-on learning, my favorite activity is environmental cleanup. That’s because it provides meaningful lessons both physically and spiritually. During a recent break, we carried out a street cleanup in the Bisandong 4-ga area of Daegu. When someone litters, someone else has to pick it up. It’s exactly as the saying goes: “Some throw it away, others pick it up.” Those who clean up the trash work hard and sweat, even though they didn’t create the mess. Perhaps the reason people still volunteer despite the effort is because…

Bae Sani-a from Daegu, Korea

Envisioning Instead of Predicting

The tablet PC is one of the smartest devices, often cited as one of the greatest inventions of the 21st century. It supports various functions, making it highly versatile and convenient to carry. The tablet PC began to gain popularity in 2010. However, 40 years before the tablet PC came into existence, there was someone who envisioned such a device. That person was the American scientist Alan Kay. He was the first to conceive of a personal computer in 1968 and later illustrated it in a paper he wrote. Its shape closely resembled today’s tablet PC. At that time, computers were as large as automobiles, so the idea of creating a portable one was hard to imagine. How was he…

Gentle on the Outside, Strong on the Inside

Plantago asiatica springs back up even after being run over by a car tire. With its strong vitality, plantago asiatica is known to grow even better on paths where many people walk and it is frequently trampled. There are several secrets to how plantago asiatica endures adversity, and one of them lies in its leaves. The leaves of the plantago asiatica are very soft. If the leaves were stiff and hard, they might hold up the first time they were stepped on, but would eventually break or snap. Because they are soft, they suffer less damage. If they were only soft, they would eventually tear, but inside the leaves are five strong strands of fiber. Thanks to these, the plantago…

The Blessing of the One who Reads God’s Word, Hears It, and Take It to Heart

While on an overseas mission, I met someone who attended church but had never once opened a Bible. Believing it to be a book reserved only for clergy, he had never read a single verse. I opened the Bible and read this passage aloud: Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart [keep, KJV] what is written in it, because the time is near. Rev 1:3 I had always thought that reading, hearing, and keeping God’s word was something anyone could easily do. But I came to realize that there are still many people in the world who have neither heard nor seen the words…

Park Ji-ho from Seoul, Korea

Let’s Talk for a Thousand Years in Heaven

The greatest lesson I learned during my three-week overseas mission was the meaning of brotherly love. Until then, I had admired our overseas members from a distance, viewing them as amazing prophets and key figures in God’s prophecy, but I had never truly felt close to them. However, throughout the mission, as we laughed, shed tears, and preached together, a deep bond naturally formed. When the time came to part, I couldn’t hold back my tears. Seeing me sobbing, a deaconess gently came over and offered comfort: “If it’s this hard for us to say goodbye, imagine how hard it must be for Mother.” Though we were unforgivable sinners, our Heavenly Mother came to this earth because She could not…

Park Min-ji from Seoul, Korea

Youth

General MacArthur, renowned for the Incheon Landing during the Korean War, was 70 years old when he served in that conflict. In his office, he always kept a poem he often read like a personal creed, Samuel Ullman’s “Youth.” Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; . . . Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than a boy of twenty. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. . . . In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless…

Kim Hae-gyeong from Taebaek, Korea

The Heart Behind ‘Animo!’

While I was briefly standing still after sharing the message of the Passover with passersby, I sensed someone slowly approaching. When the presence stopped beside me, I turned in surprise to see a person cheerfully exclaim, “Animo!” while handing me a bottle of vitamin drink. It caught me completely off guard. For a moment I thought, “Animo? That sounds familiar . . .” Then it clicked—the person seemed to be a member from another Zion who worked at the convenience store near Zion. I immediately expressed my gratitude. That warm greeting and the thoughtful gesture of offering the drink moved me deeply. I couldn’t help but wonder, “How much she thought it through before coming over?” “What could I give…

Ahn Ji-yeong from Gwangju, Korea

An Old Lady on the Platform

"Mind the gap" is a warning to watch the space between the train and the platform. At one time in the London Underground, this announcement was delivered in the gentle voice of an unknown actor. However, as digital technology was introduced over time, this announcement gradually began to be replaced. In November 2012, even at Embankment Station—the last place where his voice remained—the announcement was finally switched to a new version. But not long after, his voice began to echo once again through the station. How did this happen? There was an old lady who visited Embankment Station every day. She didn’t board any trains; she would just quietly sit on the platform and then return home. The reason she…

Preparing for Father’s Birthday

The three siblings gathered together to plan a birthday celebration for their father. As their father was turning sixty, the children wanted to prepare something special and put their heads together to come up with ideas. After much discussion, they decided to take their father on a trip, treat him to delicious food, and enjoy sightseeing together. They also divided up the responsibilities. It happened while the eldest was searching for accommodations at the travel destination. Their father called and said, “I haven’t been able to sleep well lately, so I’m thinking of going to the hospital, but I don’t know which one I should go to.” The eldest replied, “I’m busy right now. I’ll check later.” It happened while…

Fresh Strawberries and Rotten Ones

On a table sat a basket of strawberries. Most were fresh, but about 15% were spoiled. Children were divided into two groups. One group was asked to pick out the fresh strawberries, and the other group to pick out the spoiled ones. Afterward, they were asked how many spoiled strawberries they thought were in the basket. The children who picked the fresh ones gave almost accurate answers. But the children who picked the spoiled ones said there were more spoiled strawberries than fresh ones. They even thought some of the fresh ones were spoiled. The same result appeared when the experiment was done with adults. This experiment, conducted by Austrian psychologist Elisabeth Lukas, demonstrates the Negativity Effect. The Negativity Effect…

The Reason for Differences in Skill Level

Psychologist Gary McPherson had a question about children who play musical instruments: “Why do children progress so differently even when they receive the same lessons?” To find the answer, he randomly selected 157 children who had just begun learning to play an instrument and began his research. About nine months later, he evaluated their progress and analyzed the data. What he discovered was surprising: intelligence, hearing development, sense of rhythm, and family income level did not significantly affect improvement. The decisive factor that made a difference in skill level was the children’s passion and interest. In fact, before their first lesson, McPherson asked each child one simple question: “How long do you plan to play your instrument?” The children who…