Faith & Life

Sorry for Leaving You in Pain

I went to my daughter Seo-hee’s kindergarten to pick her up. When her teacher brought her out, she said to me with an anxious look. “Seo-hee blinked her eyes all day. It’s not her first time. I’m worried about her.” “Ah, she has sensitive eyes, so she does that when she feels sleepy or reads a lot. I’ll put her to bed earlier, and then she’ll be alright.” I said as if it was not a big problem, and I came back home. However, probably because of what her teacher said, it seemed like she was blinking her eyes more often than before. When she was reading a book or eating or talking, she wouldn’t stop blinking her eyes. Finally,…

Jeong Eun-jeong from Seoul, Korea

Take Care of Your Emotions and Your Family’s

Feeling satisfied from eating delicious food; feeling awkward when encountering a person you are uncomfortable with in a narrow corridor; feeling confident when solving a difficult problem; feeling sad when breaking up with your loved one; feeling sorry when you are late for an appointment; feeling scary when walking a dark night street, and so on. Emotions lie in everything that we experience in our lives. An emotion is a feeling caused by the situation that you are in or the people you are with. But emotions don’t just end in the mind. Not only does the corresponding expression appear on the face such as laughing or frowning, but also the body reacts such as stiff neck and shoulders when…

I Eagerly Desired

Two years ago, I went to the hospital because my ankle was hurting. The doctor told me that my joint was worn out severely, and so I scheduled a surgery. I wanted to be quickly in full recovery through the surgery, but as the surgery day was approaching, I felt scared. I kept imagining the surgery scene, and even thought about canceling it. On the day of surgery, I headed to the operating room, lying on the bed as if I was waiting for death. Probably because I was so scared, the operating room looked cold and even the doctors’ white gowns seemed cold. I prayed eagerly. As soon as they gave me anesthesia, I fell into a deep sleep.…

Kim Jong-su from Seongnam, Korea

Every Work Is Led by God

I remember the first day I met Sister Lea for the first time. After hearing that we were preaching about God the Mother, she asked us back, saying, “God the Mother?” Though she appeared exhausted, we could sense in her eyes that she was very eager to learn about God the Mother. As we met together late at night on a street, we had to preach the gospel to her in a dim light. Even so, she gave ear to the words of the Bible, and we preached about God the Mother and the Passover to her. Though she was completely exhausted from school work, she gradually felt refreshed, and her eyes began to sparkle. I guess the blessings we…

Genevieve Joaquin from Bacolod, Philippines

Escaping from the Maze

One day, our Zion’s young adult members went to Busan Citizens’ Park together. The eco-friendly park with various themes had a lot of attractions. While taking a walk to the park, we spotted a fun place. It was a hedge maze. It had complicated routes in various directions with camellia trees standing as walls. There was no way that we, the young adult members full of curiosity, would miss the chance of trying it. We immediately went inside the hedge maze. We decided that whoever came out of the maze first would be the winner. After carefully looking at the map of the hedge maze, we started our race. At first, I followed the route without any hesitation, remembering the…

Ryu Mi-gyeong from Busan, Korea

When You Open Your Ears, Your Mind Opens

Everything has its partner: teachers and students, patients and doctors, sellers and buyers, and leaders and followers. The same is true for conversations—speakers and listeners. A conversation consists of speaking and listening; a speaker and a listener exchange words with each other, which is called communication. However, most people misunderstand that a communication centers on speaking and pay less attention to listening. A unilateral speaking is not a conversation, but a declaration or a push. If you don’t listen to the other person but only pour out your words, you may feel good for the moment, but you will eventually lose communication with the people around you. If you don’t pay attention to the other person or are distracted, the…

I Thought It Would Be Okay

One day, I found a bottle of drinking yogurt in the refrigerator. I had bought a pack of yogurt while ago and thought I had finished the whole pack, but one was left hidden deep in the refrigerator. It had already expired, but I didn’t feel like throwing it away and wasting it. Yogurt is a fermented food anyway. So, I thought it would be okay. When I was about to drink it, my daughter walked into the kitchen. “Mom, we have yogurt? Can I have some, please?” “No. It’s already expired. You’re going to have a stomachache.” “Then why do you still have it? Throw it away.” “I . . . I was going to.” “Mom, don’t drink it.…

Jo Eun-jin from Changwon, Korea

Supporters Open People’s Minds Joyfully and Excitedly

We, the young adults of the Cape Town Church, participated in the Cape Peninsula Marathon as supporters. Our duty was to hand out bottles of water from the drinking fountains at the start line and the finish line. African people all have outstanding talents in dancing and singing. The young adults of the Cape Town Church are no exceptions. As they are full of joy and energy, they always say a passionate chant and perform a dance routine before an event or a meeting starts. Their enthusiastic personalities shone brightly during this event where they served as supporters. They gathered at 3 a.m., but they didn’t look tired at all, and even those who had to stay at church to…

The Cape Town Church in South Africa

With Family

“What is this?” Six years ago, my twin sister saw my veil and asked me what it was. It was when I just started attending the Church of God, and I simply explained to her about our church and the truth in the Bible as much as I knew. She was unfamiliar with the truth, and as she came across groundless rumors about our church, she opposed my faith. Moreover, my mother just listened to my sister and misunderstood our church, and she kicked up a fuss. My family’s prejudice had not changed for years. The more I realized the value of heavenly blessings, the more I felt pity for my family. When I saw parents attending worship services with…

Park Bo-ra from Seoul, Korea

Things I compelled to do

“For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me.” 1 Co 9:16–17 Since my childhood, I attended Zion with my parents. As I entered middle school, I began to study the Bible seriously. The words of the Bible, such as the parable of the fig tree and the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, were amazing and fascinating. I shared what I learned with my friends. One by one, the number of fruits increased. Zion members said to me, “Brother, you have a good faith.”…

Lee Jae-wook from Sacheon, Korea

The Final Flight

“Falling. I will escape. I see a village ahead. Escape impossible!” On December 13, 1991, over Deokheung Village in Gwangju, Korea, two fighter jets collided while preparing to land after a training exercise. One pilot managed to eject using his parachute, but the other, 23-year-old Lieutenant Lee Sang-hee, clung to the controls and heroically perished, leaving only his urgent last words. Lieutenant Lee, on the brink of achieving his dream of becoming a pilot, was on his final training mission. As the damaged jet rapidly descended toward a densely populated area, Lee chose to forgo ejection to steer the plane away. The crash site ended up being just 10 meters (32 ft) from the nearest residential area, in a water…

I Shall Rely Only on God

Finally, I was allowed to do the work of an evangelist, which I had hoped for. Every day, I worked for the gospel with a thankful heart. However, I was overly enthusiastic and gave an advice to a member out of consideration for her, which, on the contrary to my expectation, hurt her. When I found that out later, I really wanted to sink through the floor. But when I approached her to ask for forgiveness, she magnanimously forgave me. Afterward, I looked back upon my faith. Instead of relying on God, I’d tried to lead the members on my own. It is only God who leads the gospel. Around that time, the Prayer Week of the Day of Atonement…

Bang Deok-sun from Cheonan, Korea

A Protector That Humanity Needs

During the Second World War, Britain implemented the “Evacuation of Children” project. It was a policy to evacuate young children from major cities vulnerable to concentrated bombing to safer areas. Approximately 830,000 children and hundreds of thousands of infants were separated from their parents and placed in foster homes or temporary shelters. Although it was considered a good project, there were consequences after the war ended. Many of the children entrusted to unfamiliar caregivers suffered from illnesses or died, and they experienced emotional problems such as anxiety disorders, depression, and impaired learning abilities for a long time. This was the aftermath of what psychologists call attachment injury, which refers to the psychological shock and its aftermath caused by a lack…

Dignity of Faith

Doris Martin, a world-renowned consultant, reached one conclusion after observing and studying various people for 20 years: the difference between success and failure in life stems from an individual's habitus. Habitus, a concept established by the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, refers to the habits and tastes ingrained in the body by education or social and cultural environments. In her book, Martin focused on the habitus of individuals who achieved significant success in various fields. She identified common lessons they received, including: ① Don’t be swayed by criticism. ② Generosity builds dignity. ③ Set clear goals and work toward achieving them. ④ The language one uses reveals their status. Through these lessons, these individuals acquired virtues such as strong determination, insight,…

Billionaire’s Happiness

“You should use your wealth to help people. You can’t wear two pairs of shoes at a time.” Chuck Feeney ‘Wealthy, Cold-Hearted, and Determined Man Who Is Only After Money’ In 1988, the American business magazine Forbes ranked businessman Chuck Feeney as the 23rd richest American and made the above remarks about him. True, Chuck Feeney had a knack for making money since he was a child, engaging in various ventures such as renting parasols, selling sandwiches, and organizing events. By his forties, he had achieved great success in the duty-free shop business and became a billionaire. Despite his wealth, as reported by the media, he was not a miser who only cared about money. In fact, he spent money…

The Happiest Father in the World

Mr. Roh Taekwon, who has a middle school education and works as a manual laborer, experienced a life-changing moment one day while at home. He watched an English lecture video and suddenly felt inspired to attend college. Despite being middle-aged and having dyslexia, he began studying from that moment on. He read books during breaks at work, slept only two hours a day, and attended free lectures while working night shifts at a gas station. After seven years of self-study, he gained the confidence to believe he could achieve a perfect score on the college entrance exam. However, during this period, his children, lacking his guidance, began to go astray. Faced with this challenge, Mr. Roh made a significant decision:…

Lesson From the Iceberg

“The mind is like an iceberg; it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water.” Freud Greenland, an island in the Arctic Ocean, is a country dominated by ice, with more than 80% of its total area covered with ice. Icebergs here range in size from as small as a house to as massive as the downtown area of New York City. As icebergs break off from glaciers, they slowly move along ocean currents, melting gradually until they eventually disappear. Many tourists visit Greenland to witness these spectacular icebergs. However, what they see is only a fraction of the whole. Typically, only about 10% of an iceberg is visible above the water, embodying the saying, “The tip of the iceberg.”…

Breaking Stereotypes

The El Cortez Hotel was the tallest building in San Diego, United States, when it was completed in 1927. Later, the CEO faced a dilemma when he decided to expand the hotel by adding more floors. If expansion construction were undertaken, a new elevator would need to be installed to reach the newly constructed floors. This would require tearing down rooms to create passageways for the elevator on each floor. Reducing the number of rooms would result in financial losses, business would not be possible during the installation work, and employees would also have to take time off from work. At that time, thanks to someone’s brilliant idea, the hotel was able to continue operating without demolishing any rooms while…

Wisdom Learned from Cows

What happens when a cow and a horse fall into a pond? Both manage to swim to the shore, but the horse, with its stronger strength, gets out much faster than the cow. But what if it’s a flood or a swift current situation? The cow comes out alive, but sadly, the horse doesn’t. It’s said that the strong and skilled swimmer, the horse, exhausts itself desperately trying to swim against the current and eventually drowns, while the cow just floats along with the water and calmly walks out when it reaches shallow ground. From this situation comes the saying “The cow lives, the horse dies,” which means that sometimes it’s wiser to wait patiently with humility rather than relying…

Different and Wrong

In Korea, crows are considered birds of bad luck, but in England they are considered auspicious. In Japan, people hold their rice bowl with their hands while eating, but in many other countries people put them on the table. In some countries vehicles drive on the left side of the road and in other countries they do on the right side. Some countries use knives and forks when eating, while others use chopsticks or eat with bare hands. Countries have different languages, climates, geographic characteristics, historical backgrounds, and foods. In the same way, cultures vary from one county to another. You cannot say that a certain side is wrong. Likewise, people are all different. However, the difference often becomes the…