Faith & Life

Compliment and Silence

A middle-aged man who was tired of boredom every day went to a consultant for counseling. “I am not happy with my marriage life. My relationship with my wife isn’t bad, but we don’t really have anything to laugh about.” The consultant asked the man a few questions. He learned that the man had a stable job and good health. His wife seemed to take good care of the family, too. After hearing everything the man had to say, the consultant said, “I see. Is your wife a good cook?” “I sometimes like her food, and sometimes I don’t.” “What do you do when you like her food?” “I just eat.” “What about when you don’t like it?” “If it’s…

The Reason He Can’t Die

There was a lazy son in a family. Even after coming of age, he didn’t work but spent every day sitting around at home. His parents, who worried about his lifestyle, sent his son to a renowned sage. The son opened his heart to the sage who was offering him warm tea with a gentle look. “What is the reason for life? I don’t know why I live, so I don’t know what to do.” “If then, can you die right now?” “What? I didn’t mean that I would die.” “Why can’t you die? Tell me why.” The son thought deeply, and after a while he opened his mouth. “If I die, my parents will be very sad. Although I…

Eyes, Where Heart to Heart Connections Are Made

“The beauty of a woman is seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.” Audrey Hepburn “The eyes of men converse as much as their tongues, with the advantage that the ocular dialect needs no dictionary, but is understood all the world over.” Ralph Waldo Emerson Windows allow people to see the outside from the inside and the inside from the outside. Even if there are walls all around, if there is a window, it lets sunlight and breeze in, making the house pleasant. Our body also has an organ that is like a window. It is the eyes. Eyes play a very important role in our body. Among the sensory…

The Flower of Unity Blooms in the Frozen Land of Eastern Europe

Starting the year 2019, Mother blessed us, saying, “If you unite, the gospel in Europe will go well.” Now that a year has passed, I feel that Mother’s words are being exactly fulfilled in Eastern Europe. Last spring, I was carrying out a mission as a prophet in Korea; then I came to Czech Republic in Eastern Europe. The barrier to the gospel in Europe seemed very high at that time. My heart ached when I saw people try to argue with us with their own knowledge and logic rather than try to learn about the word of God, and on the other hand I was thankful and sorry to the Korean members who stayed in Czech Republic for a…

Park Seong-hyeon from Prague, Czech Republic

Time to Be Relaxed

It is very important to check your tire pressure before driving on the highway. This is because if the air pressure is low, the braking distance is long, the car totters, and the tire damage can lead to a serious accident. However, there is a case where it is necessary to lower the tire pressure for smooth driving. Right, that’s in the desert. While you’re driving in the desert, if the wheel falls into a pit of soft sand, it is hard to get out. If you step on the accelerator pedal, the wheel goes deeper into the sand. In that case, you can get out a little easily by lowering the tire pressure. It is because the surface where…

A United Family in a Difficult Time

One day, my husband came back from work, limping. As I asked him what happened, he said he fell at a small car accident and he felt pain in the leg. He thought he would be okay and came straight home without going to the hospital. I was worried there might be its aftereffect. I simply applied ointment on his bruised knee and put an ice pack on it. I hoped nothing would happen as my husband said he would be okay after a night. The next day, my husband said he should see a doctor. The doctor said he needed to undergo knee ligament surgery. Although he fell slightly, he needed a surgery. My heart sank. However, I felt…

Gye Gyeong-nam from Seoul, South Korea

Useless Stubbornness

A prominent architect was in charge of designing the city hall. When all the construction was finished, city councilors went to the city hall to check. The councilors who looked around the building ordered that more columns be built, saying that the number of pillars seemed to be few, compared with the area of ​​the lobby. The architect tried to persuade the councilors, saying that he devoted himself to the design so that there were no problems supporting the ceiling, but the councilors did not agree. Eventually, four more columns were set up in the lobby. A long time passed since then. One day, an officer inspected the city hall building and discovered something surprising. There were gaps at the…

To Live Happily for a Long Time

Many people regard happiness as the ultimate goal in their lives. Then, what is needed most to enjoy happiness for a long time? People may think of material elements first, such as a good house and a nice car. However, it is said that the abundance obtained from materials cannot sustain happiness. In fact, according to a survey on lottery winners in the United States in 1978, the happiness from winning the lottery lasted only a short time, and after that, they came to live a more prosaic life than before; because they quickly got used to the changed life and they couldn’t feel happy about trivial things after experiencing such a great luck in a moment. The requirements for…

Invisible Sweat Drops

Soccer players run all over the ground for ninety minutes in the first and second half. Players’ performance is measured in a variety of ways, thanks to technological advancement in data collection. Every movement is precisely analyzed, including time of running during the game, the position of receiving the ball and passing it, and action radius, as well as the number of shots, goal assists, and time of ball possession. The experts who analyze such data say that a goal-in scene alone cannot explain all the scoring factors. The role of the player who scored the goal is big until a nice goal-in scene was made, but there was also the dedication of several players who made the game go…

Valuable Work

In April, 2020, I participated in the “Cheer Up Campaign” held by ASEZ, the Church of God University Student Volunteer Group, hoping to ride out COVID-19. The Cheer Up Campaign is an activity to deliver encouragement letters and gifts to those who are exhausted physically and mentally in the wake of COVID-19, and to those who fight against the pandemic. First, we expressed our intention to send gifts of encouragement to a local public health center. Then we wrote the letters of encouragement and packed snacks wholeheartedly, in the earnest hope that our gifts would bring some comfort and encouragement to the medical staff and quarantine officials who were working hard to ensure the health and safety of people. When…

Kim Tae-ho from Gwangyang, South Korea

Excellent Adaptability

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA] conducted a number of training programs for astronauts who would perform research and missions in space to adapt to extreme environments. As a part of the programs, they conducted an experiment to see how the human sense of space changes in zero gravity. The astronauts who participated in the experiment lived, wearing special glasses that showed everything turned 180 degrees. The participants became extremely nervous, and their stress increased. About a month after that, however, something amazing happened to the participants. The world no longer looked upside down, but began to look upright. The researchers found that it is because the brain restructures neural circuits. No matter how difficult it is to adapt,…

Please the Ears of Your Family!

Delicious food is pleasant to your mouth, beautiful scenery to your eyes, and fragrant scent to your nose. Also, soft touch is pleasant to your tactile sense, and beautiful sound to your ears. The mission of this month is to please the ears of your family. How can we please their ears? You can do it in any way—sweet music purifying the mind, the beautiful sound of nature, or the words of praise and gratitude that make them feel better. Let your family hear only good things all the month round! Tip Ask what your family wants to hear. Say frequently what your family wants to hear. Ask what your family does not like to hear. Don’t say what your…

Removing the Waste Vinyl

Many farms were severely damaged by heavy rains in summer 2020. Members in Gwangju planned to help farmers in hardship. We were in a hurry, hearing that the Hwangryonggang River was flooded and all the agricultural lands and greenhouses nearby were submerged in water. Upon arriving at the site, we divided into groups and scattered into fields and greenhouses. I was assigned to clean up the inside of a greenhouse. As the water that had filled the greenhouse drained, all the crops were washed away and only the waste vinyl and iron rods were scattered all over. Seeing us, the farmer couple felt relieved and thanked us for coming to help them, saying that they didn’t really know where to…

Lee Sun-ju from Gwangju, South Korea

How to Choose a Goat

A market opened in a village in the Himalayan high mountains. A boy came to the market with his father and saw people buy and sell goats. Interested, the boy pestered his father to go see the goats. There were many goats, from small cubs to large and fat ones. Looking at the goats carefully and pricing them, he noticed something unusual. The price was not determined by the size of their body. The boy asked his father why. “That’s a good question. Look over there.” The father pointed to the goats that would soon be sold. Two goats were placed on a hillside without grass, and a merchant and his customer were watching them. One looked around and climbed…

Doing My Best

Two years ago, I had a cancer surgery. After the surgery, I was admitted to a convalescent hospital to receive cancer treatment. One day, I was knitting on a terrace when one kind-hearted patient approached me for a talk. We soon made friends with each other. She was indeed very gentle in character, which I could deduce from her first impression. Even after I was discharged from the hospital, I continued to stay in contact with her. When I heard of the news that a concert would be held in a nearby Church, I invited her to the concert. I was afraid that she would reject my invitation, but she willingly agreed to come. After the concert was over, she…

Lee Gyeong-ja from Suwon, South Korea

Mother’s Love for Her Son

In April 2020, a report was filed at a police station in Tongyeong, Korea. It was that from some time a creased bill and a plastic bag containing snacks began to be hung regularly on the reporter’s car door handle. When the police checked through surveillance camera, the person who did this was an 86-year-old woman with dementia. Why was it that she left money and snacks on someone else’s car although it was hard for her to move around? The story goes that her son once lived near her house. The color of his son’s car was the same red as the reporter’s. As she remembered the color of her son’s car even while suffering from dementia, she misunderstood…

Mother’s Errand

I am the second child in my family; I have an older brother and a younger brother. We live in different parts of Melbourne in Australia, and our parents live in Adelaide which is nine hours away by car from Melbourne. We cannot go visit our parents that often due to our work, but our mother travels such a long distance whenever we get sick or something happens, and she looks after us. One day, my older brother got a flu. My mother would have made a trip to my older brother’s house right away, but she was also sick and busy taking care of something else, too. Late at night, my mother called me. “Yeon-uk, could you make some…

Jeong Yeon-uk from Melbourne, Australia

Longing for Home

Nostalgia means a sentimental longing for home. This is a Greek compound word of “return home” and “pain,” meaning homesickness. In the 17th century, a Swiss doctor made this term to describe the pain of the soldiers who lived away from home, missing their hometown and family, and the term had long been regarded as a negative emotion because it caused insomnia or depression. However, in the 20th century, as psychologists analyzed that nostalgia was mainly associated with positive keywords such as “yearning for home” and “happy time,” people’s viewpoint on the term began to change. Furthermore, social psychologists at the University of Southampton in the U.K. have found that nostalgia elevates a sense of social connectedness. As a result…

When We Seek God and Stay Close to His Word

In March 2020, the Philippine government implemented Enhanced Community Quarantine [ECQ] in the capital city due to the spread of COVID-19. It was not clear what would happen in Bacoor where our Bible Center was located, though it was somewhat far away from the capital city. So Brother Tirso and his wife Jane, who were building up their faith, wanted to preach to their family. The brother and the sister invited us to their house as my wife and I were working for the Bible Center in Bacoor. We could feel how earnest they were, so we hurried to go to Dasmariñas where they lived. When we arrived there, their son and daughter, and the sister’s mother welcomed us in.…

Mark Sumeguin from Mandaluyong, Philippines

A Doctor Who Admitted His Fault

In the 19th century when medical technology did not develop, Emil Theodore Kocher who was professor at the University of Bern in Switzerland was known as an authority on thyroidectomy. It’s because while the surgery was prohibited in some countries due to its high mortality rate, he performed it safely with thorough disinfection and excellent techniques. In 1882, however, some cases of serious side effects of thyroidectomy were published in the medical community. After learning the content, Kocher immediately checked the patients who had gone through his operation. As a result, the patients whose thyroid gland was partially removed were okay, but many of the patients who had it completely removed showed side effects. If he revealed this fact, he…