Faith & Life

Luxury at My Fingertips

This is what happened when I was young. I was about ten years old. There was a cosmetics store in the street where I often go to and from school, and outside the store there was a basket full of nail polishes. One day, my sister, who is two years younger than me, and I stopped in front of the basket while passing by the store. The small glass bottles filled with the colorful and fine liquid looked so pretty. I’ve never painted my nails before, and when my friends sometimes showed off their painted nails, I was envious. Probably because of that, I quickly put a nail polish from the basket into my pocket despite myself. At that time,…

Kim Do-yeong from Buenos Aires, Argentina

A Boxer Who Left the Ring with Smile

Peter Buckley was an English professional boxer. He had a total of 299 fights for 19 years, 31 wins, 12 draws, and 256 losses. It’s the world’s worst record. Whenever he stepped into the ring, he lost but he didn’t reject the offer. He fought two or three times a month, and before the bruise and fatigue from the previous contest disappeared he had the next fight. In 2008, he got his 300th fight in Birmingham, his hometown, before he retired. Many people paid attention to the result of his last fight. The result was victory! He had been called forever a loser, but he ended his last fight with victory and left the ring with smile. As for the…

Force to Lift up

In order for an airplane, which is made up of heavy metal, to fly in the air, there must be a combination of various kinds of forces such as momentum made by engines and resistance made by the air. Here a force to lift up, also known as lift force, is included. Lift force is produced not just by having wings, but it happens when there is a certain amount of speed. The reason the airplane runs on the runway with its fastest speed is to gain lift force. If it moves slowly, it cannot have enough speed to fly up in the air, bearing its weight. Therefore, it runs as fastest as it can and flies little by little…

As Magpies Build a Nest

Magpies build a nest when they’re about to lay eggs. They build a nest at the top of a tall tree that can protect their young from natural enemies. They bring branches and weave them together to make a frame, and apply mud to fix it tightly. The inside of the nest is covered with dry grass or down feathers to make it cozy and soft. They have to fly up and down more than a thousand times in order to get all the materials together until the nest is finished. Apart from gathering branches, it is more difficult to weave the branches tightly. Branches frequently fall to the ground by the wind. Then the magpies do not pick them…

Warm Wintering

When I heard that my Zion members would repair the roof and the wall of an old house of an elderly couple, I decided to participate in the demolition work for one day. On the morning of the volunteer, I drove to the house for about an hour, admiring the landscape of fields covered with white frost. The brothers and sisters who arrived there earlier welcomed me with a bright smile. I was a little worried that I might not be helpful because of my weak body. Before getting into the full-scale work, we carried all the stuff out of the house. Working hard, we sweated even in the cold weather. After having a delicious lunch, I went up to…

On Nam-yeol from Wonju, South Korea

Elohist

The word “banana” is derived from the Arabic word “banan,” which means “finger.” Since the fruit looks like a finger, it has got the name “banana.” Kiwi fruit, which is mass-produced in New Zealand, has also got its name because it resembles a Kiwi bird, which is the national bird of New Zealand. It is the same with the name “Elohist”; we are called “Elohists” because we resemble Elohim inwardly, not outwardly. ‘As the saying goes, “An apple never falls far from the tree,” parents and children naturally resemble each other. The Elohists, who are reborn to be conformed to the image of God in righteousness and holiness of the truth, must resemble Heavenly Father and Mother. As the Elohists,…

My Sweet Home

What would it taste like if you describe love with taste? Koreans often liken affectionate glance to honey dripping eyes. And just like honeymoon and sweet home, when comparing love and happiness with taste, it is often expressed in sweetness. Actually, sweet means pleasant in many languages. Adequate sugar calms your mind and makes you feel better. This is because sugar triggers the release of serotonin, the hormone that is released when you feel happy. Give your family sweetness this month in a variety of ways. Your home will be sweet home. Tip Speak in a sweet and soft voice. Look at each other with eyes full of love. Say what makes the other person feel better just by hearing…

Loving and Learning

‘How can I spend my summer vacation meaningfully?’ Although each of us belonged to a different Zion, we’d been participating in the IWBA education together. In 2017, we all hoped to have a special experience during our summer vacation which came only once a year. Being on the same page, we decided to take action before it was too late. Our plan was to fly to a country we had never been to, broaden our horizons both physically and spiritually, and display God’s glory through our good deeds. The place we were going to stay for ten days was Salt Lake City, the capital of the state of Utah, in the Midwest U.S. Just like its name, we prayed that…

Noh Min-a from Anyang, South Korea

A Man Who Took Off His Shoes

“Earth is blue.” This was spoken by Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space on April 12, 1961, looking at Earth out of the atmosphere. Gagarin entered Earth’s orbit on the spacecraft Vostok 1 and flew around Earth for about one and a half hours and returned safely. He succeeded in flying a lonely and fearful flight that could not guarantee the pressure of the gravitational acceleration and his return alive, and he still remains a Russian hero. At that time, there were many candidate cosmonauts excellent in flight, adaptability to sudden pressure changes, and expertise. Before the final successful candidate was announced, all the candidates were given the opportunity to board Vostok 1. Then, Gagarin, unlike other candidates, quietly…

According to the Words That There Is a Time for Everything

I lay in bed, but I couldn’t fall asleep. I just kept repeating, “Father and Mother, thank You,” in my mind. I was surprised to see a text message from the chief hairdresser this morning. “I‘ll be baptized today.” I checked that short sentence over and over again. She had said she wasn’t interested until the previous day. It was unbelievable. We’ve known each other for seven years. I could’ve given up after seven years of refusal, but I didn’t because she was just like me before I received the truth. Somebody preached the gospel to me tirelessly for about ten years until I became a child of God. I wasn’t interested at that time. I took the words as…

Lee Yeong-ja from Paju, South Korea

A Person Who Wants to Put On a Crown

The crown, which symbolizes dignity and authority, is decorated with gold and jewels throughout the ages and the world. Korea’s National Treasure No. 191, a golden crown in Silla Dynasty, is elaborately decorated with about 375 grams [0.8 lb] of gold and 77 pieces of comma-shaped jade. The crown used at the coronation of the Iranian Pahlavi Dynasty was studded with 3,380 pieces of diamonds and 369 pearls. The weight of the gems alone is 10,400 carats and the crown weighs about 2 ㎏ [4.4 lb]. The U.K.’s Imperial State Crown that attracts the attention of the world is densely decorated with 2,868 diamonds, 273 pearls, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds, and 5 rubies. And the front of the crown has…

Change

In cold winter days, when the temperature drops below freezing, a slow-flowing river and a pool on the ground turn to solid ice that anyone can glide over it. On the contrary, when water is heated, it evaporates. Liquid water cannot fly into the air, but it can, when it turns into vapor. What was impossible before can be done easily after transformation. The principle applies to God’s children too. As Mother said, if we are reborn as heavenly people, giving thanks in all circumstances will become easy although it was hard to practice. Being joyful always and praying continually will become our everyday life. We can surely love our brothers and sisters as ourselves and even save a soul…

After a Long Wait

My husband and I do a small food business. We usually work from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., but one day we left work around 2 p.m. and came home because I caught a cold and was very sick. While closing the window to lie down and get some rest, I saw some people going door to door. Since it was a very hot summer day, I wondered what they were doing under the scorching sun. When they knocked on my door, I asked my husband to open the door quickly. Then he asked me, “You want me to open the door for people you don’t even know?” And I said yes. I was filled with curiosity, so I quickly…

Elisangela de Oliveira Silva Assuncao from Feira de Santana, Brazil

Molting

When a child grows up, he changes his clothes into a bigger one. Likewise, an insect turns into a new body, throwing away its old self that no longer fits itself in due time. This is called molting. The process by which insects are newly born through molting is never smooth. While taking off their exoskeleton, they sometimes get wounded or finish their life, failing to get out of it due to lack of strength. Right after they molted, their skin is soft and they act unnaturally that they are vulnerable to attack by other insects. Despite a number of dangers and pains that follow, insects molt several times in their lives because there is no growth without molting. The…

Without Oxen, the Manger Is Clean But …

In an agrarian society, the next most important property after land for farmers is oxen. Oxen can do work equivalent to several workers in the field. Raising oxen, however, is not easy. You have to wake up early in the morning to make fodder and put it in the crib. You need to clean stalls often, unless you want them to be dirty and smelly. But there is no farmer who would think, ‘I wish I had no oxen,’ just because he doesn’t feel like mucking out messy stalls. It’s just something he should do to get the benefits of oxen. While doing the work of God, sometimes we meet people who give us a hard time or we face…

Smiley Faces, Happy Home

The human face is capable of creating more than 7,000 expressions. Among those many, the expression that makes you look the youngest and most beautiful and makes you and other people happy is of course a smiley face. When you frown, your eyes and the corners of your mouth are pulled downward, and your forehead and the space between the eyebrows become narrow; you don’t look well. However, when you smile, your eyes, the corners of your mouth, and the cheek muscles are lifted; and the eyebrows and the forehead spread outward; your face becomes bright. The facial muscles when smiling and frowning move in the opposite direction. There is a Korean proverb that goes, “You can’t spit on a…

Sparring Partners

There are sports players working in a sweat for their fellow players to win gold medals. They are sparring partners of the players who will compete in the Olympics. The players of individual sports such as judo, taekwondo, and boxing, absolutely need a partner for their training. The sparring partners should have some level of competency enough to spar with the national team members and also have a spirit of sacrifice to support the players and follow them like a shadow. On top of that, they need to identify the characteristics of the opponents their players will fight against in the games to offer them the experience like the actual battles, and should be careful not to have them injured…

Growing Pains of Faith I Had in the Philippines

This happened a few years ago. At that time, I planned to go on a mission trip overseas, which was one of my New Year’s goals, but to be honest, I didn’t think it was going to happen. I thought only those with good faith could go for overseas preaching. However, the opportunity to achieve the goal came sooner than I had thought; I was able to participate in the short-term mission trip to the Philippines. I arrived in the Philippines with a big dream. However, it did not take long to realize the wall of the reality. It was November, but it was still so hot that I got a headache just by walking for half an hour. The…

Kim Hyeon-ju from Seoul, South Korea

Wait

In Korea, there is a flower that is hard to see even once in a lifetime. It is a sweet potato flower. Since it blooms once in a hundred years, it is hard to see even once in a lifetime if you do not live a hundred years. But recently, many people have seen lavender-colored sweet potato flowers that look like morning glory flowers. Sweet potatoes, which originated in Central and South America, are subtropical plants, and so it is difficult to flower in Korea, which is located in the temperate climate zone. However, as a record-breaking heat wave continued throughout the summer a few years ago, sweet potato flowers bloomed everywhere. Since the sweet potato flowers are the evidence…

Harmony Overcomes Difficulties

COVID-19, which swept the world, has brought many changes to our daily lives. As we learn about personal hygiene and “social distancing” through TV news, newspapers, disaster notification messages, etc., the time we stay at home is getting longer. As we had never stayed only at home for a few days, at first I was worried about how we should spend time together. What is more, it was not an easy task to set the table three times a day for my children, who were having a very long winter vacation. One day, my youngest son said during a meal. “Mom! Come to think of it, housework is not difficult but a little bit annoying.” Then, he asked me not…

Gwon Mi-suk from Seoul, South Korea