Faith & Life

What I Need

The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. Ac 16:27–32 I was amazed by Paul’s actions. If it had been me, I would not have tried to…

Bae Su-jin From Cheongju, Korea

The Power of Positive Words

“She pursues her path with confidence, never losing her dreams or hope even in difficult situations.” “Kind-hearted and sincere, she genuinely cares for her friends and is well-liked by her classmates.” “She finds joy in sharing what she has with others—a student with a beautiful heart.” These are excerpts from the “Behavior and General Comments” section of student report cards, written by teachers to describe each student’s overall character. When online access to school records became available, many people looked up their past report cards, and some even shared the comments on social media. One person wrote: “This feels like a lifelong message of encouragement I can turn to whenever things get tough.” Another said: “Reading such hopeful and positive…

God Leads Me

“The lyrics of the New Songs touch my heart and make me cry.” “I can truly feel the sacrifice and love of Heavenly Father and Mother in my heart.” “Now I understand why we are encouraged to say ‘Amen’ out loud.” “Until now, I had only known Christ Ahnsahnghong intellectually, but now I have real conviction.” “While working on my assignments, I ended up earnestly studying for the truth presentations.” These are realizations and the fragrance of Zion that came from the mouths of the students whom I had once regarded as still young and immature. During the school break, through active participation in various events like the student camp, the New Song Festival, and the Bible Preaching Contest, their…

Gwon Mi-suk From Seoul, Korea

Health, the First Condition for Happiness!

There are warning signs ahead for the health of modern people due to increasing environmental pollution, bad eating habits, improper diet, lack of exercise from convenient transportation and computerization of work, and so on. Medical skills continue to improve, but emergence of unprecedented diseases and of mutant virus is also one of the factors that threaten health. So people today pay more attention to health. Almost everybody takes dietary supplements and healthy foods, gets regular checkups, prefers organic products, and purchases anything that is known to be good for health. Many books introduce secrets to living healthy, and health related information overflows online. Why is it that people are interested in health and make lavish investment in it? It’s because…

Broken Car

Pett paf pett paf pett paf . . . With a clamorous rumble, the yellow check engine light came on when I was about to enter the highway, passing the toll gate. ‘Why today?’ It was the last day of the holiday season and there were no garages open on Sunday afternoon. I didn’t know what to do. My car didn’t become odd when I entered the highway. The check engine light had come on and off repeatedly all the day, but the engine started and I could drive with no problem, so I drove here and there to do some work. I didn’t think anything serious would happen. Late in the evening, I started out to go back home.…

Baek Hyeon-mi from Iksan, Korea

It’s Time to Give Love to Elderly Parents

To a little child, his parents are like a huge tree that stands strong even in the heavy rain or strong winds. The child eats fruit from the tree, avoids rain and winds, runs around to his heart’s content, and sleeps peacefully under the tree. And when he grows up, he leaves the tree and lives independently. The tree that seemed to be green and strong forever is only left with thin branches after giving everything to the child. Humans, unlike animals, need their parents’ help for a long time until they can live independently. It takes humans about a year to barely start walking, and three years to be potty trained fully. It takes them some twenty years to…

Joy of Harvesting Fruits

When I was young, my playground was all the fields and paddies in my countryside village. Helping my parents was one of the most fun plays. In the busy farming season, I ran around the fields with a hoe or a pickax in my hand, or followed my parents as they sprayed pesticides. When the harvest season came, I helped them harvest the crops that they took good care of for a year by picking beans and red peppers, or digging up sweet potatoes. Rather than feeling tired, I was just happy to be able to stay with my mom. Whenever they left for work, I always followed them. The time I spent with my parents in the fields and…

Park Jeong-ah from Gimcheon, Korea

A Housekeeper Who Brought Honor to Her Hotel

In 1992, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel received the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. It was the first hotel to win this award. This award is a prestigious award which the U.S. government gives to an enterprise with an outstanding quality of service. The hotel decided to offer a Five Star Award to an employee who made a key contribution in earning the award. The name of the employee that won was Virginia Azuela; a housekeeper at the hotel. Ms. Azuela believed that “room service is a key task that decides the image of the hotel,” and she did her best to clean the rooms and keep them neat. She always thought about how to please customers. She even kept a notebook…

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