Faith & Life

For a Lover of Watermelon

“Watermelon Killer” and “Watermelon Lover!” These are the nicknames I gave my younger sister. It’s because she loves watermelons whereas I don’t because it is troublesome for me to spit out the seeds. When she comes back home after work, she takes out a container full of chopped watermelon my mom prepared from the fridge, and takes it to her room; then she enthusiastically eats it all. I see the scene almost every day in summer. When I asked my mom how often she bought a watermelon, she said she did at least once a week. My sister alone eats about five watermelons a month. I wonder how she doesn’t get tired of eating watermelons. Even in cold winter, she…

Hong Jeong-eun from Seoul, South Korea

How to Learn Well

When you have acquired knowledge, there is a way to see if you have fully understood it or not. It is to explain it to others. Although you know something, if you cannot verbalize it, it is hard to say that you have learned it completely. That is why the Jewish Havruta learning attracts much attention; this method has produced a lot of brilliant minds. The atmosphere of Jewish libraries is quite different from that of any other libraries where people are even careful not to make the sound of turning pages. In Havruta learning, people study and learn by heart, and then they sit face to face to discuss or to persuade each other. Through this process, they organize…

It Is Entirely Up to You

Even the same writing gives different feelings to different people. A word that is skimmed by someone can be a clue to precious realization to another. Sometimes, situations may change. The article, which was not inspiring much before, may move you a lot or the sentence, which touched your heart before, may seem to be a cliché now. The writing is the same. What changes is the mind of the reader. The manna that the Israelites ate in the desert had the same taste like wafers made with honey when God rained it down from heaven for the first time or after a long time. However, the complaintive hearts of the Israelites, who were tired of living in the desert,…

A Heart More Beautiful than a Crown

Khanittha “Mint” Phasaeng, a 17-year-old girl, won a beauty contest in Thailand in 2015. As soon as the contest was over, Khanittha ran straight to her mother and kneeled down before her to thank her for raising her. The mother, who makes a living by collecting rubbish, stroked her daughter’s back in front of large trash bins on the street. A witness posted this scene on a social networking site and many people applauded the girl’s filial love. Growing up in the poor family that couldn’t support her going to college, Khanittha assisted her mother in collecting recycling rubbish. With the help of Khanittha’s friend, she could participate in the beauty contest. For Khanittha who has a good heart as…

A Beautiful Mind

With the hope of giving our neighbors in need even a little bit of help so they could get through the winter, we planned a volunteer service to deliver the warmth of Mother’s love with Zion members. It was to visit senior citizens living alone and to clean and insulate their places. A community service center introduced us some elderly people and we were divided into a few teams. After promising that we would all gather at the senior citizen center of the village to clean up when finishing each team’s mission, we departed. My team arrived at the house of an old man who was slightly indisposed. Since our team leader had lived with her father-in-law, serving him, she…

Choi Yun-heui from Daegu, South Korea

A Lesson from a Spider

A troop of a country was defeated in a battle; it was almost wiped out. The general, who barely survived and hid in a cave with his remnants, decided to kill himself in shame and took out his sword. Then, he saw a spider spinning a web at the entrance to the cave. The spider failed weaving the web in a row because of the wind. However, it tried without giving up and finally succeeded in seven times. After watching the whole thing, the general put his sword back in its place and stood up. ‘I’ve only failed once!’ he thought. And then he braced up and went back to the battlefield again. This time his troop won big.

Make a Family Cheer Song!

A song has the power to make people closer together. The sense of closeness increases while all sing along the rhythm and melody in unison. Sports supporters and marching soldiers become one in mind by chanting together. What about a family song at home just like sports chants in the stadium and a military song in the army? Your precious family is always with you whether you are happy or sad. A family song in harmony, though imperfect, has great power in itself because the love and encouragement contained in it become infinite energy to each other. Make a song for your family this month and sing it together, so that your home can be full of happiness along with…

With Absolute Faith and Mother’s Love

I had desired to be a child of God since a long time ago, and I had been to many different denominations including the Catholic and Protestant churches. However, none of them convinced me that they were the true church. So I hesitated to go to church. A few years ago, I was staying in Washington D.C., USA, for my job. One day while shopping, I got a phone call from one of my friends. “Won’t you go with me to the church where God the Mother dwells?” I was very surprised. My friend said that I would be able to receive eternal life in the church where God the Mother dwells. I was curious to know what kind of…

Surimon Jindaprapaporn from Bangkok, Thailand

In the Apple Orchard

Whenever the harvest season comes, farmers need a lot of helping hands. They are so busy that Koreans describe the situation this way: “Even a poker which is used for stirring the fire has no time to lie on the ground.” And also, they are always short-handed. Feeling sorry for farmers, one sunny Sunday, the brothers and sisters of Zion gathered together for a volunteer service at the farm. We went to an apple orchard located in Yeongju, Gyeongbuk Province. The orchard presented a great sight with red ripe apples. First, the owner of the orchard explained to us what we were supposed to do. He explained what we needed to be careful about when picking the apples and how…

Lee Sahng-hwa from Daegu, South Korea

Good Weather

Just because the sun is hot, wind blows fiercely, or it rains, are you sometimes in a subdued mood or irritated? Sunlight helps generate vitamin D in the human body, and becomes the source of photosynthesis in plants. Rain washes dust in the air, and supplies water to creatures. Wind helps plants propagate and circulates the air. Lightning helps plants absorb nutrients, and typhoon keeps the earth temperature balanced. Sunshine, rain, wind, lightning, typhoon . . . None of them is unnecessary for the earth. We may complain about certain weather conditions, but cannot change the weather. Sometimes, even if you are uncomfortable due to bad weather, you need wisdom to learn how to adapt to nature. No matter how…

Turning a Weak Point into a Strong Point

A shark, the apex predator in the sea, has fatal weak points as a fish. It is that it doesn’t have an air-filled sac, namely, an air bladder which controls its buoyancy, and gill muscles. A shark has a liver which constitutes up to one fourth of its total body mass instead of the air bladder. The liver is filled with oil which is lighter than water, so it helps it float in the water. However, the liver’s effectiveness is limited, so a shark needs to constantly swim in order not to sink. Besides, it does not have gill muscles which are necessary for respiration, so it cannot stop swimming even for a moment to ensure a constant supply of…

A Blessed Mission, the Duty of Giving Love

A pastor couple of a small church used to live next door when I was young. As my mother was a close friend of them, I naturally started to attend their church because I had been a Christian since my birth. Sunday was the busiest day of the week for me. Since I hold various positions in the church—president of the youth group, manager of general affairs, secretary, etc., I had to go to church early in the morning and came back home around midnight, totally exhausted. Despite that, I loved working for the church. My only desire was to love God and do the work of God all my life. The church often got into trouble. There were many…

Yeong-ye Cha from Gimhae, South Korea

Just Like Him

Just as a lighthouse guides ships sailing in the dark sea, you need a guide to lead you to the right path in your voyage of life. Such a guide is often called a role model. If you have a role model, your goals become clearer and you can be more motivated. However, only having a role model cannot make you accomplish your dreams. Taking action is important. The most obvious way to become a person you want is to imitate your role model. After observing his attitude, words, and way of life, you can speak like him, think like him, and act like him. When faced with a situation where it is difficult to make a decision, you can…

Life-saving Invention

Jack Andraka was a teenage boy who created revolutionary pancreatic cancer detection tool. A close friend of his family had suddenly died of pancreatic cancer and Andraka was in great sorrow. Then he started reading about the disease. Pancreatic cancer has been showing the lowest survival rate of cancer; because it was difficult to diagnosis in the early stage, and outdated methods were hardly accurate, and a high cost was a problem. Finally, he discovered Mesothelin, a protein that responds to pancreatic cancer, by investigating over 8,000 proteins over three months, and he created a dipstick-type sensor by combining carbon nanotubes and antibodies with mesothelin. The diagnostic test he created takes less than five minutes to detect the early stages…

Filial Duty Starts from Love

Even little children know that they ought to carry out their filial duty for their parents. However, it is not easy even for adults to serve this matter 100% though they stand in the position where they teach their children about that. It is said that you can understand how hard your parents have worked for you and how much they have loved you once you have your own child, but there is a great difference between knowing something and putting it into practice. Most people put aside their filial duty on the pretext that they cannot help but care more about their own child than their parents, or that they are busy working, or that they live far, or…

At the Sound of the Daughter’s Cry

The only way of expression for babies is to burst into cry. So a mother is sensitive to her baby’s crying, and when her baby cries at night, she gets up reflexively. But there is a mother who woke up not just from sleeping but from a coma at the sound of her baby’s crying. Shelly Ann Cawley in North Carolina, U.S., lost her consciousness due to lack of oxygen in her brain during childbirth two years ago. Her husband was anxiously waiting for her to wake up from a coma, fearing that he might lose her although he got his daughter. But she showed no sign to wake up for a week. Around the time when it seemed hopeless,…

Assist in the Gospel Work

Penedo is a small town in the State of Alagoas, Brazil. In Penedo of which the population is less than seventy thousand, people spend time at home because it is difficult to get a job. Maybe because they have time, when we say that we are delivering God’s word, they willingly listen but don’t accept it easily. Despite the truth, they feel a sense of burden to change their church which they have attended for a long time. When we were about to be exhausted without leading anyone to Zion for a few months, we heard about the New Jerusalem Preaching Festival. Although my husband and me were the only members, we decided to enjoy the festival and started to…

Lee Hye-jin from Penedo, Brazil

Weight

A man carrying his load complained to God. “Why do you give me such a big and heavy load while giving others small and light one?” God took him somewhere. There were all kinds of loads piled up there. “If your baggage is heavy, I will change it to another one. Pick one of these as you want.” He was so happy that he did not know what to do. He looked for a small, lightweight load but it wasn’t easy to find the one he wanted. After a while, he was able to pick up a baggage he wants to carry. “I guess this will do.” The man was satisfied. Then God looked at him and said, “Look carefully.…

My Younger Brother’s Egg Dishes

When my brother was little, he wanted to learn to cook eggs. So my mom gathered us and said, “Please eat the eggs he made no matter how bad they are.” The first time, the eggs were undercooked slightly. When none of us could willingly eat them, he came and asked, “Do you like them?” “Yes, they are so good,” said Mom. After complimenting him, she gave us a look that said, “Eat them.” So we could not help but eat. When he tried the egg dishes again, my mom kindly explained to him how to tell if they’re done. With this new information, my little brother had confidence and overcooked the eggs. He seemed to be satisfied with his…

Bianca Papapietro from Atlanta, GA, U.S.

Just by Looking at Mom in the Photo

The University of Wisconsin-Madison in the United States conducted an experiment on children aged seven to twelve years. When they were asked to solve math problems before strangers, they were too nervous to solve them. After that, the children were divided into three groups. One group of children talked with their moms on the phones, another group saw their moms in the photos, and the other group was with their moms. When they solved math problems after that, all three groups of children had a rapid rise in oxytocin levels. Oxytocin is a hormone that helps feel closeness, stability, and happiness. Just by looking at their moms in the photos, children felt as if they were with their moms and…