Faith & Life

Inventions That Saved Humanity

The New York Times chronicled milestones in medical technology that influenced generations to come. In chronological order, it dealt with inventions that has had a great influence on saving humanity by becoming a medical technology directly in the field of physiology and medicine in the last nearly 1,000 years from the mid-13th century to the modern times. Among the milestones there is one invention of Benjamin Franklin, a renowned American politician and chemist. Franklin made a flexible tube by connecting metal segments together for his brother who suffered from bladder stones, and it replaced the urethra. It was the first urethral catheter. Now the catheter has developed to a level that it can replace all tubes in the human body.…

Praise to God in an African Local Language

The Republic of South Africa uses English as an official language, but there are ten more local languages: Afrikaans, Xhosa, Zulu, Sesotho, Tswana, Tsonga, Ndebele, Venda, Southern Sotho, and Swati. Even though you are fluent in speaking English, if you have your own mother tongue, you will feel more comfortable with your mother tongue. People here, too, like to speak in their tribal languages. It is the same with Zion members. Sometimes, when I greet them with a short sentence in their local language, they are delighted like a child, saying, “How did you know that?” This happened when the New Songs were translated into the Afrikaans and Xhosa languages. After the morning service on a Sabbath day, we announced…

Kim Min-gyu from Bellville, Cape Town, South Africa

Shackleton and His Crews 1:Great Return

In December 1914, Captain Ernest Shackleton (1874–1922) and his 27 crews left on a voyage with the goal to cross Antarctica for the first time in the world. Their ship was called Endurance, but it got trapped in pack ice and was finally crushed to sink due to pressure of floating ice. The crews, left on a huge ice sea with the average temperature of -50°C [-58℉], changed their goal to return home alive. They arrived at Elephant Island after walking on the ice with baggage and boats, and after taking the boat when the ice melted. They stepped on a land in six months after drifting but it was an uninhabited island. After much consideration, Captain Shackleton finally made…

How to Recognize the Mysterious World that Transcends Time and Space

Peter Drucker, who was a management consultant and educator, served as professor of philosophy, political science, and business administration, and he was also the founder of modern management. When he was little, his parents often held different types of meetings in their house, and invited public figures of various fields such as Schumpeter and Hayek, who were economists, Thomas Mann, who was a writer, Freud, who was a psychologist, etc. Peter’s meetings with them acted as the catalyst for him to expand his knowledge and his way of thinking. Experience is important asset for one’s life. However, there is a way to learn from great teachers, transcending ages and national boundaries, and accumulate valuable experience without having to meet someone…

Have a Happy Morning!

At the question, “What word comes up in your mind when you think of a morning?” some may say sunshine, dew, stretch, refreshing, and opportunity, and some others may say haste, oversleeping, lateness, busy, and tired. The words people associated with morning show a rough picture of how they actually spend their mornings. On New Year’s Day every year, sunrise spots across the country are crowded with people who want to start the new year by watching the first sunrise. The beginning of a year is the first day of the New Year, and the beginning of a day is the morning. A good morning is the key to a good day; because it is more likely that a happy…

The Value of the Truth I Realized Again

My dream was to run God’s errands in Europe ever since I was a student. My dream was fulfilled in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in the following month after I finished my military service a few years ago. I was excited that I was finally fulfilling my long-standing goal, but worried at the same time. It was because I heard quite a few times that preaching the gospel in Europe wasn’t easy. As soon as I arrived in Amsterdam, my concerns turned out to be reality. I could hardly communicate with them because of the language barrier, and it was very hard to meet people who would pay attention to the Bible. Even when we met someone who listened to the…

Gwon Gu-hyeong from Yongin, South Korea

Happy People

Cassie Mogilner, an American professor of marketing and behavioral decision making, conducted a study about happiness, targeting adults between ages 18 and 87. According to the result of the study, happiness felt from daily activities such as watching movies or going for a walk is much greater in older people than younger people. The reason is simple. Young people normally feel happiness from special experiences such as overseas trips or a wedding. On the contrary, old people feel happy from ordinary activities such as smelling the scent of flowers in the street. It is noteworthy that happiness, which everyone wants, is not only gained through something new. Some of modern people make an abstract goal, and feel frustrated as they…

Just like My Sister

As the youngest at home, I have rarely worked hard nor did something difficult. Even on my parents’ birthdays, my elder sister took the lead in preparing birthday food and gifts, so I didn’t have anything to do. This year, too, I didn’t prepare anything for my mom’s upcoming birthday. Then suddenly, I remembered that my sister had gone abroad. Since my mother said, “I want to eat the seaweed soup that my daughter cooked,” I was worried about cooking seaweed soup by myself, but I decided to give it a try. Soon I’ll turn 20, but what I can cook is only ramen (instant noodle). For me, making seaweed soup was a challenging mission. I searched for recipes on…

Jo Eun-bi from Gwangju, South Korea

The Strikeout King Who Became the Home Run King

The ball a pitcher throws at 130 to 150 kilometers (80–93 miles) per hour reaches a batter in 0.4 second. It takes about 0.2 second for the batter to catch the ball trajectory and swing his bat by intuition. The ball that a batter exactly hits on the sweet spot of the bat crosses the fence, flying in an arc with a ‘penk’ sound. It’s a home run, the centerpiece of a baseball game. The sweet spot is the optimal point that makes a ball go far and fast to the direction the batter wants. The point where a round ball touches a round bat is a mere spot. But a home run hit in harmony with all the conditions…

Characteristics of Outstanding Athletes

The weightlifting hall suddenly becomes silent as if the time stopped. The athlete gives a loud shout and lifts the barbell with all his might. The light indicating success switches on, and the buzzer rings. There is a loud cheer from the audience, and the athlete is overwhelmed with great joy. What’s the secret for weightlifters to lift huge barbells? James Clear, an American author, asked weightlifting a coach about the characteristics of outstanding athletes. He replied that one of the characteristics is to endure the boredom of training--constantly repeating the same motion over and over again. Sometimes, athletes lose motivation and feel an impulse to quit their training, but instead of getting caught up in negative emotions, they seek…

A Perfect Cradle

Aristotle thought, ‘The egg in the belly of its mother bird is soft but it becomes harder when it comes out and touches the air, so that it will be less painful for the mother.’ But the egg is covered with hard eggshell even from inside of its mom’s belly. The eggshell is hard enough to bear the weight of the mother bird, but also soft enough for the young to break it to come out. The main component of the shell was calcium carbonate. When it is time for the eggshell to be formed, the mother bird searches for food made of calcium carbonate by her instinct. The fine pores (air holes), which spread over the eggshell, allow oxygen…

Though Invisible

On the day of the cleanup, the sky was covered with clouds, contrary to the weather forecast that it would rain. I was worried that the cleanup might be interrupted by rain, but the clouds shaded off the burning sunlight and made a cool, pleasant weather. We did our cleanup in my village. I was wondering why we chose to do a cleanup in my village. Street cleaners frequently clean my village, and flower beds are well taken care of; it seemed unnecessary to do a cleanup. I was also somewhat anxious that our members, full of the sense of volunteerism and active in participation, might come to the village in a large number, making it the sea of orange…

Im Mi-ran from Incheon, South Korea

Spiritual System That Speedily Achieves the Salvation of Mankind

The use of GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) has sharply increased over the past few years, and IT companies are making more investment in it with greater interest. GPU is used in various fields such as predicting climate change and cryptography by making an analysis of big data, and it is pointed out as a system that will actualize autonomous vehicles. As its name suggests, GPU was made as a supplementary component that manipulates computer graphics. Technical developments were made on GPU in such a way that its computer power gets enhanced for faster processing of graphic quality which gets more complex and complicated as days go by. The powerful computing power of GPU optimally performs particularly in the field of…

Adjust the Volume of Your Voice

Sounds affect your emotions. Sounds pleasing to the ears like nature sounds let you relax, while car horns and mechanical noise make you frown and increase your stress. The same goes for human voices. Laughter, singing, and compliment make the other person feel good, while angry voice, irritating words, and complaints make the listener feel unpleasant. So why don’t you volume up when you speak ear-pleasing words that have a positive effect on each other, and volume down when you come to high words carried away by negative feelings? A saying goes, “Happiness looks into the house full of laughter, and misfortune looks into the house with angry shouts.” This month, adjust your voice volume properly to invite happiness to…

A Person Who Finds Hope

A man and his son were lost in the desert. The two men were worn out after wandering for a long time under the scorching sun. They ran out of water and were parched. “Father, if we keep going this way, we will fall.” “We’ll find a village if we go a little further. Let’s bear up a little more.” The father encouraged his son, helping him walk. After quite a while, a grave appeared before them, who were walking endlessly. Terrified, the son shouted, “Look at that grave! Someone must’ve died after wandering around as we do!” However, the father said with relief. “No, there is no grave where there is no man. The grave is a sign that…

Fruits Borne by Mother’s Words of the Water of Life

In the Czech Republic, many people came to Zion after hearing the voice of Heavenly Father and Mother through the 2018 short-term missions. Among them, I would like to introduce the story of one brother. Andel was the place that always came to mind when choosing a preaching field. Andel is a Czech word meaning angel. Probably because of the name, it always felt like our brothers and sisters are there. Our expectation of meeting our heavenly family there increased day by day, especially after hearing Mother’s word that there are brothers and sisters like jewels in Europe. One very cold day, we finally had a chance to go to Andel to preach. As soon as we got there, we…

Mun So-yeong from Guatemala City, Guatemala

Other Parts but One Body

Taste is one of the five senses that people have. However, your sense of taste alone cannot recognize how food tastes. When you chew food, its flavor is transferred to the pharynx between the mouth and the nose and you can sense the flavor; it’s because the sense of smell plays an important role. This is why you cannot taste properly if your nose is stuffy. It is not only the sense of smell that affects taste. Chromatist Nomura Junichi wrapped the same canned coffees with each different color such as red, yellow, blue, and brown. Then he asked people to drink them and asked about their taste. 73% of the participants said that the coffee in brown-colored can had…

A Joyful Trip

A daily life information magazine conducted a survey on the “type of people whom we don’t want to go on a trip with.” According to the survey result, “people who blindly follow,” “people who always complain,” and “people who are strongly self-opinionated” ranked high on the list. Nobody would ever like a companion who shifts responsibility onto others without making any effort to navigate his way at an unfamiliar place or complains about everything without tolerating any variable. It is also not easy to go on a trip with those who are very self-opinionated about where to go and what to eat. “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes”Novelist Marcel Proust…

When You Pray Earnestly

My life has been completely changed after receiving the truth and being baptized at the age of fifteen. Since my behavior was not like before, everyone around me said, “You are so different nowadays.” Even though my friends, family, or relatives asked me, “Where are you going?” or “What is going on?” I didn’t give them any answer. It was because I was afraid of being ridiculed if they found out that I attended the Church of God. However, after studying the prophecies of the Bible fulfilled without missing the smallest letter or the least stroke of a pen, I couldn’t just sit back anymore. I started to deliver the precious truth, which I shouldn’t keep only to myself, to…

Rakesh Kumarakunta Rathinam from Puducherry, India

“Because I Am a Mother, Too!”

A 5.4 magnitude earthquake hit Pohang, Korea, in November 2017. When a postpartum care center was shaken by the earthquake, baby beds with wheels began to roll around. The mothers who had been resting in maternity ward ran frantically toward the neonatal unit, and the staff in the nursery quickly held several beds in their arms to protect the babies. Those who saw the scene later through the CCTV video praised the proper reaction of the staff. A member of the staff who was on the spot that day said in an interview. “Of course, I was scared, but I just thought I should protect the babies because I am a mother, too.” In January 2014, a ten-year-old elementary school…