Faith & Life

Searching for Pearls in the Sand with a Thankful Heart

I was exhausted while working after graduating from university. To regain my strength, I participated in a short-term mission, and then started the overseas mission in earnest. The country I chose to do my overseas mission was India which is known as a land of gods and goddesses. India has much to do with gods. To Indians, religion is life itself. They are religious in their daily lives. Among numerous gods, they pray to gods they believe in whenever they can, and take their days off on their religious festivals. It wasn’t easy to preach to them about God Elohim the Savior in this age. Although we explained that the Bible is fact and that there is God the Mother…

Yu Hui-jin from Gwangju, South Korea

Qualities of a Mature Adult

A full-grown person is called an adult. When you become an adult, you need to be mature. What does it mean to be an adult? One writer said that only those who have fulfilled their duties as adults are true mature adults. For about a decade, he has had meaningful conversations with about 200 celebrities, including writers, doctors, and choreographers, and defined a person who performs his/her duty well as an adult: Someone who does not complain, does not brag, and always stays in a good mood. We gradually grow in the truth. We are gradually becoming spiritual adults while maintaining a smile and loving heart by being grateful in all circumstances without any complaints, being humble, and not bragging.…

A Happy Family Made with Care

My husband who works in a construction site, my daughter studying in the lab, and I are living together. My husband and daughter are so busy that it is difficult for us all to get together. However, since I diligently put into practice the “Mission of the Month” in the Happy Home booklet, a little change started to appear in my family. For my husband who goes to work at dawn, I didn’t see him off with the excuse that I was washing the dishes. Unlike before, now I hug him with greeting full of love. On his payday, I always prepare special dish for him with gratitude. Recently, I carried out the mission, “Wash your family’s feet,” in order…

Kim Eun-suk from Seoul, South Korea

Children of Heaven

A boy goes to repair his little sister’s shoes, but he loses them on his way back. His sister, who lost her only shoes, was very disappointed. The boy knows that his parents cannot afford to buy new shoes but will scold him even if he tells them the truth. So he asks his sister to share his shoes. As the girl goes to school in the morning and her brother in the afternoon, when his sister comes back after school and takes off the shoes for her brother, he then goes to school. The sister runs to hand the shoes to her brother quickly, and the brother runs not to be late for school. Meanwhile, they hear the news…

Calling

A college in the U.S. made a research on the relationship between career and happiness among people working in the same industry. They divided them into two groups—those who took their career as a calling and those as a means of living, which showed a considerable difference. Those who worked for living found no special meaning in their jobs. On the other hand, those who had a sense of calling had much joy and confidence in their work as they believed they were doing what the world needed. Apostle Paul gladly took up the mission of preaching despite all sorts of hardships—being captured in prison, beaten, robbed, and hungry. It was because he realized that he was called by God…

Compliment & Criticism

Which one do you make more, compliments or criticism? A research team at Duke University in the United States revealed that the human brain treats compliments and criticism in different ways in different parts. Negative things like criticism are handled in the amygdala in charge of emotions, whereas positive things like compliments are processed in a more logical approach without stimulating the amygdala. For this reason, people tend to judge others’ good behavior to be coincidental, but react emotionally at a negative behavior, regarding it as what they meant to do it. However, if you want to be happy, you should be accustomed to complimenting than criticizing. The person who refrains himself from criticizing and compliments often can make himself…

On Earth Day

On April 22, 2018, since it was Earth Day, the ASEZ Church of God University Student Volunteer Group carried out a street cleanup in our efforts for a cleaner community. Early in the morning, about eighty volunteers gathered at Suitland Parkway. Included in the volunteers were not only ASEZ members but also ordinary citizens. At first glance, the area where we would be cleaning looked clean. As we started the cleanup, however, there was a lot of garbage hidden in every corner. Although we planned to clean up for two hours, it was not enough. We piled small pieces of garbage scattered everywhere, waste tires, and abandoned pieces of furniture. The pile was so high that someone could stand behind…

Florencia Riquelme from Washington D.C., U.S.

Giving Love than to Receive

A renowned American columnist wrote an article about the powerful traits of successful leaders during World War II. Based on research on the traits of those who rose to the position of officers in the military, there was a distinguishing quality that was more helpful to their promotion than their physical strength or resourcefulness. It was their relationship with their mothers. Having received love and care from their mothers and maintaining good relationships with them, they could become officers who did not lose humanity even in times of brutal wars and took care of their subordinates with sincerity. “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may…

Let’s Play ‘The Glad Game’

Pollyanna, the major character in the American novel Pollyanna published in 1913, is a very positive character who finds joy anytime, anywhere, and in any matter. For example, when she came to live in the attic with no window curtains, she said she was so glad to have nothing that screened the view outside the window. When she was late for supper and had to only eat bread and milk, she said, “I like bread and milk!” Her positive way of thinking called “The Glad Game” spread throughout the town, making even gloomy face relax into a broad smile. It is not always when something excellent happens that we are glad and happy. Happiness and unhappiness depend on how we…

Not a Loss but a Lesson

An employee in a small company that is responsible for product supply to a large company made a mistake and defects were found in the product. The company suffered tremendous losses, and the employee who caused it could not fall into sleep in great torment and finally decided to leave the company. The next day, the employee went to see his boss and knelt down, asking for forgiveness. He then handed in his resignation and said that he would resign, taking all the responsibility. Then the boss raised him and said, “You resign as you wish? Not on your life! I paid so much tuition, but where are you going now? You must’ve got a lesson as much as I…

Only God Makes Things Grow

One Sabbath morning, I received a text message from a sister in New York. “Maria got baptized!” The moment I checked my text message, I was overwhelmed, remembering vividly what happened a year ago. About a year ago, I went out to preach with a sister from New York, and we met Maria from Colombia, who was traveling the U.S. We invited her to our church, and she was willing to accept our invitation. She was very surprised by the words of the Bible about God the Mother. That day, she had dinner with Zion members, had a fun time together, and then went back to New Jersey where she was staying. A few days later, she came to church…

Kim Seon-ju from Baltimore, MD, U.S.

Could You Patent the Sun?

By the mid-1950s, polio was as scary as an atomic bomb. In the United States alone, more than 40,000 people died or became disabled due to polio, and there were about 500,000 victims around the world every year. It is now declared that polio which made the world so terrified has ended in most countries except for a few countries. That is thanks to Jonas Edward Salk, an American medical researcher, who developed the polio vaccine. In 1955, he officially announced the safety of the vaccine, after years of research and injections to himself and his family for clinical trials. The success of the vaccine development was led to a festive atmosphere in the United States, and many pharmaceutical companies…

Net Preparing

Net is a tool for catching fish. Before sailing, a fisherman prepares his fishing net. Net gets entangled after fishing and he have to arrange it to use it again. If he leaves it alone and just throws it into the sea, it doesn’t open properly and he cannot catch fish as much as he wants. Though it is hard and takes time to untangle the net, he shouldn’t be lazy to do it if he wants to enjoy having a boatful of fish. Before going to the sea of the gospel, we, fishers of men, too must prepare the fishing nets of the word of God. Since it is a precious tool to catch a life, we must put…

Meeting the True God

I was raised by my grandparents who were missionaries. Naturally, my life was filled with the faith in God. Jesus Christ was the hero of my life and I thought that I could do nothing without Him. I believed that if I prayed to Jesus—our God and Savior—about my worries and even something so trivial, He would always answer me. I studied hard at school by day, and when I got back home, I helped my grandmother with the housework. And at night, I studied hard. For my every effort, God helped me much, that I could be on the top of the line at school. God also blessed me with so many talents such as singing, sports, and writing,…

Neeru Patricia Berry from Chala, Vapi, GJ, India

Two Important Days

A speaker asked the audience at a lecture hall. “There are two most important days in your life. When do you think they are?” The audience gave various answers such as “the day when I was born,” “the day when I got married,” and “the day when my child was born.” The speaker listed their answers one by one and said with a smile. “The first important day in your life is when you were born, as many of you have said. Seeing you nod, I think all of you agree to this. Then, when is the other important day?” The audience responded confidently as if they could guess the correct answer, “It’s the day when I die!” Then the…

Tree Planting

Micro dust today is causing a big problem in all seasons. While the debate on how to resolve the problem is ongoing, environmental experts came up with a sure and easy solution—tree planting. A few years ago, Korea Forest Research Institute found out that the forest absorbs 42% of micro dust created in Seoul. Tree planting seems to be an easy solution, but it takes much effort and time for a tree to fully grow from a seedling, absorb micro dust, and release clean oxygen. It is the same with our new members whose faith grows over time; they eventually become mature gospel workers who do good in the world. The forest of the gospel, which God has been cultivating…

Language Etiquette Begins at Home

There is joke that if you say, “I’m a boy,” with a wry look and in an aggressive tone, you mean that “I’m a bad boy”; and if you say, “I’m a boy,” with a smile and in a soft tone, you mean that “I’m a good boy.” The reason they sound totally different though they are the same words is the difference in the vessels that contain the words. When you set the table for a guest, the taste of food is important, and you can’t help but care about the plates that contain the food. If the size, shape, and color of plates harmonize with the food, it looks more delicious. But if the plates are dirty, broken,…

Without Knowing the Value

There are about 350,000 species of plants on the earth. Among them, only about 3,000 species are cultivated for food. The edible plants are less than 1% of all. Grasses have their own names and characteristics, but before they are known, people regard them merely as weeds. As for weeds, the dictionary defines them as wild plants that grow well though uncared, or as plants that prevent the crops from growing properly. However, as their hidden efficacy is discovered, weeds are no longer treated with contempt but regarded as precious now. So some people define weeds as plants of which the value has not been found yet. It must not only be in the world of plants that something is…

Just like the Good Samaritan

Peru was a familiar place though I’d never been there, because I learned about it through videos and fragrances of Zion. In 2019, I decided to go on a short-term mission trip to Peru as I thought that I would be able to learn many things there. While preparing for it, I was so excited. Our preaching area for three weeks was Huancayo, the city located 3,200 meters [10,500 ft] above the sea level in the central part of Peru. While traveling from Lima, the capital city, to Huancayo with the bus for eight hours, our breathing became faster at a high altitude. It was altitude sickness. Though we were tired, we were thrilled that we came to the place…

Seo Ha-neul from Puebla, Mexico

Dignity Maintenance

For the Korean government officers who are in charge of the administration of the country or the local public entity, dignity maintenance is not a choice but an obligation. All public officers must follow the State Public Officers Act Article 63, “No public officer shall do any act detrimental to his dignity, regardless of whether it is for his duties.” Since it was made into a law, the fault that can be easily overlooked if it was made by an ordinary person may become a reason for disciplinary action against the officer. Some claim privacy protection of the government officers or argue over the range and level of disciplinary actions. However, the opinion that their ethical standards should be stricter…