Faith & Life

The Weft and Warp Threads

The overall image of someone or something is determined by the multiplication of all factors, not the sum of them. Even though they have earned high marks in many factors, if they get “0” points in one factor, they end up with “0” points for their overall image. Here are some examples: A company’s image may be ruined because of one employee who answered phone calls unkindly, and a couple of people in a country who are unkind and immoral can cause a prejudice against the entire country. As the gospel of the new covenant is spreading quickly to the ends of the earth in the west according to the prophecies of the Bible, God’s people are displaying the glory…

We Get to Resemble Each Other

The Adopt Happiness Spore Project is a Gimhae City’s project to support private organizations to take care of certain places where many citizens come and go, such as roadsides, parks, and streams, and clean up those areas at least once a month. Our Church of God in Sambang, Gimhae, too, participated in the project, and we were to take care of the Shineocheon Stream. The trail along the Shineocheon Stream is somewhat dirty, compared with other places, because it is close to a university area with a large floating population. That’s why the city paid attention to it. On the day we gathered to do a cleanup, the head of the Saman-dong Office came out to support our activity and…

Lee Jeong-hwa from Gimhae, Korea

Mother’s Happiness

On my way home, I got on the bus. The bus was crowded with students after class, office workers after work, and elderly people going home after their grocery shopping. Then I saw a kid eating toast while sitting among them. His mom was grabbing a handle while standing beside him with all his stuff in her both hands. Although her hands were full, she was smiling happily, seeing her child eat toast deliciously. The scene remained clearly in my mind as if it had been caught on camera, because Heavenly Mother came to my mind. Heavenly Mother always takes good care of us and looks at us with love even while carrying the burden of our sins. I was…

Koh Ji-hae from Namyangju, Korea

Spiritual GPS System

If you have a GPS system when you go to an unfamiliar place, you feel at ease. All you have to do is input the name of the place or the address into the GPS system. Then it guides you with a tender voice, showing you the location and surroundings in detail. Also when you pass by the destination by mistake, or take the wrong way, it provides you with a new path by searching again. For people who have a poor sense of direction, it is a faithful guide that saves the effort of wandering from place to place. Upgrading is essential to maintain the convenience that the GPS system provides. If you do not upgrade, it cannot read…

Shaking Seeds Off Sesame Plants with My Grandma

I went to my grandma’s during the harvest season. Usually I leave early for the next day’s work, but that day, I decided to help her shake seeds off sesame plants and leave later. As soon as I reached the sesame field, crossing the persimmon field where ripe persimmon fell here and there, I knew the work would be more than I had expected. At the field on hillside, sesame plants were tied in sheaves like children standing in a row at a playground. “Grandma, are we supposed to shake all these seeds off?” “We can’t finish them all today. We’ll just do as much as we can until sunset.” Since I came to help, I couldn’t stand there idly.…

Jeon Yeong-seon from Anyang, Korea

Make Your Family Fall Asleep Pleasantly

Finishing off your day, you prepare for the next day before going to bed; this time is very important because in order to wake up in a good mood in the morning, you need to fall asleep pleasantly. As it is the most relaxing time of the day with your family, make good use of this time to bond with each other even more. Before going to bed, don’t forget to give affectionate greetings like “Good night” or “Sweet dreams” to your family. Tip Good Things to Do 30 Minutes Before Going to Bed Writing down what you were thankful during the day, or conversing with your family about it. Getting reconciled with someone if you had a quarrel. Massaging…

Exercise to Build Mind Muscles

I work as a physical therapist in the hospital. One day, I saw the old man whom I had been helping with exercise sit on a thump on the chair, putting up his entire weight. “Sir, do you know how the former South Korean professional figure skater Kim Yuna can walk lightly? That’s because she has good muscle strength. I know that’s not easy, but you have to grow your muscles, which will help you sit softly in the chair and not fall.” As I was explaining how to strengthen his muscles, I came to think it’s the same with the muscles of the mind. When we grow our mind muscles, we can handle any and every situation flexibly and…

Gwak Jin-yeong from Daejeon, Korea

One Act of Filial Piety

I grew up in a rich family thanks to my father who was a well-known tax accountant. Many people envied me for my capable father, but as for me, my father was the most difficult and hardest person to be with. It was because I was always weak and incompetent unlike my older sister and older brother who lived up to my father’s expectations. I got fascinated by the saxophone which I got to learn by chance in college and started focusing on music. Then my father was more unsatisfied with me. My sister and brother successfully became experts in their fields, but I had no idea about my future. As time went by, I stayed even further away from…

Lee Hye-gyeong from Seoul, Korea

Stained Glasses

We did repair work on our church restroom. As we finished cutting the tiles, the restroom was filled with stone powder. I left the restroom after ventilating it. For some reason, however, stone powder was still floating around in the hall, too. I opened all the corridor windows and brought in a fan and turned it on, but the stone powder blurred even the sanctuary. I got worried because the following day was the Sabbath. So I hurriedly opened all the windows and doors. While opening the windows, I looked outside and found something strange. The outside area was also covered with stone powder. ‘Did this happen because of our repair work? That’s strange. This can’t be. Can it be…

Oh Dae-yeop from Seoul, Korea

Victory Through Endurance and Unity

I watched a video entitled “Elementary Schools’ Tug-of-War That Moved the World.” It was a tug-of-war between two elementary schools in Kazakhstan. True to its title, the video was very touching. From the beginning of the tug-of-war, the blue team was in the lead. In the beginning, most of the children of the red team were drawn to their opponent’s side, and only one boy remained in the baseline. The boy was trying hard not to cross the baseline, and he never let go of the rope even with his face distorted by the pain. While everyone was astonished at the boy enduring the pain by clenching his teeth to wrestle with the game, the momentum leaned toward the red…

Hong Jeong-eun from Seongnam, Korea

Gigaseo(寄家書)

欲作家書說苦辛 恐敎愁殺白頭親 陰山積雪深千丈 却報今冬暖似春 When I send a letter home, I was going to mention my troubles, But I was worried that my gray-haired parents might become anxious, So although heavy snow has covered this shadowy mountain, I wrote that this winter is as warm as a spring day. This is part of the poem named “Gigaseo” (which means a letter sent home) that was written by a civil servant, Lee Ahn-nul, when he was the governor of Hamgyeongbuk-do the northernmost province, in the middle of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. Although he went through difficulties while living far from home, he wrote to his parents in a way that was different from the real condition. The writer’s love and…

With Uncontrollable Happiness

The ultimate purpose of life is to meet God and return to the kingdom of heaven by receiving salvation through Him. To put it another way, our lives can be referred to as the process of preparing for the eternal kingdom of heaven. Many people live without knowing the essence and meaning of life, but I believed I was different. After converting from Hinduism to Christianity around 1996, I thought I’d finally found my way and there was nothing more I could wish for. A dozen years later, I heard the message of the Bible from a colleague, who I had led a religious life together with and accepted the truth later in Nepal. Then I realized I too was…

Raju Purty from Kolkata, WB, India

Ornaments on the Fine Linen

Recently, I went to a wedding. The bride in a pure white dress was as beautiful as a princess in a movie. The wedding ceremony began, and the bride appeared after the entrance of the gallant groom. The ornaments on the wedding dress shined brilliantly under the bright light. Looking at each ornament shining according to the movements of the bride, I admired how beautiful! It was. Suddenly a Bible verse came to my mind: The righteousness of the saints is the ornaments on the fine linen of Heavenly Mother, the wife of the Lamb (Rev 19:7–8). I looked back at myself to see if my deeds were displaying God’s glory. The ornaments attached to the dress make the bride,…

Kim Nam-su from Seoul, Korea

As Working for God

As the serving leadership is in the spotlight, there are increasing cases of combining the principles of business management and the teachings of the Bible. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord” (Col 3:23) is one of them. It means that we will get far better results when we do things as if we are working for God. Let’s take some examples. When we make products, if we think that God will use them, we cannot neglect anything such as material, design, function and so on. If we serve customers regarding them as God, we come to make sure before others point out, whether the customers have any inconvenience in shopping or…

The Hand That Rules the World

“The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world!” William Ross Wallace, an American poet, emphasized the influence of mothers on their children, saying, “They say that man is mighty; he governs land and sea . . . but . . . the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.” In fact, most of historic figures who had the world under their control were influenced by their mothers. On the base of the values formed through their mothers from the cradles, they visualized their dreams and marked milestones in world history. Now, there are heroes who are shaking the entire world with a strong weapon called love. They are the Elohists…

The Existence of Mother

Recently, my mother signed an annuity insurance contract in my name. I was not yet in my 30s at that time, and I was not happy with it because I wouldn’t be able to receive annuity benefit payments until I hit my 60s. Then my mother said, “This kind of thing must be prepared in advance.” Honestly, if I become old enough to be covered by the annuity, my mother might not be in this world. So I asked her carefully. “Mom, do you need to take care of me even after you leave the world?” “That’s what mothers do.” My heart ached. A mother loves and cares for her children even beyond her life. How can children fully understand…

Yun Du-nam from Mungyeong, Korea

My Privilege

My husband and I run a small restaurant in Yongin. At first, I was just an assistant for my husband who is a chef, but as time went by, I became more than an assistant. Working in the restaurant from 9 in the morning to 9 at night, I had no time for myself. I wanted to give as much help as possible to my husband who was working so hard, but at the same time, I couldn’t stop thinking, ‘When will I get out of this routine?’ Sometimes, I recalled the good old days when I did the gospel work with the brothers and sisters on the front line of the gospel before moving here, and then I got…

Ju Yeong-mi from Yongin, Korea

Failure for Success

According to a survey conducted by the National Retail Federation in the U.S., 48% of salespersons immediately give up when they are refused after recommending their customers to buy something; 25% of them recommend twice, 15% three times before they give up, and only 12% of them recommended four times or more. What is important here is that the sales volume of the last group takes 80% of total sales volume. This is something worth considering when things do not go as we expected, leaving us frustrated. If we keep in mind that we can get the best results after going through some steps, we should not just regard failure or refusal as negative. Although we might be afraid of…

Timely Words

It was when I helped organize an event for male adults in the church. As many helping hands were needed, I sent our Zion members a text message asking for help. Soon a brother sent a reply. “Thank you so much for working hard for the members. Even if I can’t help you a lot, I’ll join and support you. I love you.” I’d not done so much, but the brother said he appreciated my hard work and would help me actively. I was very grateful to him. Thanks to that, I was able to volunteer with a joyful heart. “A man finds joy in giving an apt reply—and how good is a timely word!” Pr 15:23 As the brother…

Yeo In-won from Daejeon, Korea

Zhiyin

There is a term Zhiyin (知音) in Chinese character. It literally means “to understand the sound,” and is used to refer to close friends who know and understand each other’s innermost feelings. This word was created by Yu Boya and Zhong Ziqi who lived in the Spring and Autumn period in Chinese history. Boya was an expert heptachord player, of whom it was said: “When he played, horses looked up to listen.” Ziqi was the only person who ever read what was in Boya’s heart, just by hearing him play the heptachord; he understood even the deep meaning behind his music. But when Ziqi died from a disease, Boya broke his heptachord strings and never played again from then on.…