Faith & Life

The Solution

On a newspaper column for suggesting solutions to readers' problems, one teenager shared his personal problem. “My mom nags at me all day long. She tells me to wash my hands when I come home, do my homework on time, brush my teeth before sleep, and stay away from bad friends. How can I be free from my mom's nagging at me?” The counselor replied. “Wash your hands when you arrive at home, do your homework on time, brush your teeth before sleep, and stay away from bad friends.”

Become a Hidden Assistant of Your Family!

How will you feel if someone cares about you, pleases you, and is willing to help you when you have a hard time? You will be happy, encouraged, and reassured as well. You know that? You already have that person. It is your family. However, you may often forget that. Even after receiving love from your family, you might not appreciate it but grumble and complain against them. This month, rather than expecting something from your family, why don’t you become a “hidden assistant” doing good deeds secretly for your family? You will know that giving love brings greater happiness than receiving it. Tip Decide the mission period. Write each name of your family members on each paper and pick…

Good Deeds Open People’s Hearts

We, the Wolpi Church in Ansan, clean up streets every month. Since we don’t carry out volunteer services in a cursory way, residents, store owners, and street cleaners near the church compliment us. This time, we cleaned up Seongpo Art Park and Wolpi Park. We picked up garbage not only inside the parks but also on the streets where there are many stores. There were cigarette butts more than other rubbish. While we were busy cleaning, a driver who delivers live fish to nearby restaurants said something to the one who was smoking at a passenger seat. “Those who throw away cigarette butts should go to the Church of God. Why don’t you join the church?” I thought he said…

Yu Hui-sun from Ansan, South Korea

Enjoying Happiness & Recalling Happiness

Throughout our school days, we have many worries about friends, schoolwork, and future. But adults who have lived through those days say, “Now is the best time for you,” to students. Mothers who are concentrating on childcare after childbirth feel that they are going through a hard time. However, all parents without exception say that their children are their greatest happiness. If you ask a serviceperson in the military if he enjoys his time, few would say yes. But those who completed their military duty have passion in their voices whenever they talk about their military life; their episodes are ceaseless and they keep talking as if recalling a happy memory. Life seems like a heavy burden to young people…

Giving Thanks in All Circumstances

Dario Silva, who used to be a representative football player in Uruguay, lost his right leg in a car accident in 2006. Hearing the news, many people felt sorry for him, but he surprised people by saying unexpected words. He said he was thankful that he could experience brilliant moments in his football career because he did not go through such trials in the beginning of his career. He appeared at a charity match with a prosthetic leg in 2009, and received a standing ovation for scoring a goal; a happy smile broke across his face.

Something That You Know When You Do It

My parents died when I was young and I had to earn a living. So, my life was literally like a war and the world was like a battle field. In order not to get left behind in the cold-hearted world where no one could protect me, I worked tenaciously. Even after having a family at a late age, my life was the same. Doing the delivery service in the market, I had been working nights and sleeping days for over ten years. It was even difficult to see my children due to my busy daily life, so my only joy was to chat with the market vendors and get drunk. Since we had been living a tough life, we…

Ahn Byeong-chan from Seoul, South Korea

A Brilliant Challenge

Bobsleigh is a winter Olympic sport in which two or four teammates steer, running fast down narrow, twisting, banked, and iced tracks in a gravity-powered sled. Before, it was a sport for well-off classes because it costs a lot of money to make a sled alone. In short, it is a sport that requires cold weather and sufficient funds. But in the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, there was a surprise in the bobsleigh stadium. The Jamaican athletes showed up. Jamaica is a small island in the north of the Caribbean Sea, where it is very hot throughout the year due to the tropical marine climate. As the athletes from a snowless country, or a wasteland of bobsleigh, threw their hats…

You Can Do It Too

Jim Abbott is known as an American pitcher who overcame his limitations in Major League Baseball. He was born with a disability in his right hand. Abbott grew up, getting used to doing things with one hand, but there was one hard thing for him. It was no other than tying shoelaces. For young Abbot, it was the most embarrassing day when his shoelace tied twice at home was unraveled. The problem was solved when he was a third grader in elementary school. One day, his teacher, Donn Clarkson, came to Abbott and said in an excited voice. “I’ve got it! I figured it out. I know how you can tie your shoes.” Mr. Clarkson studied how to tie shoes…

When One’s Home Is Happy, All Goes Well! Happiness Begins at Home

When people are asked what their family motto is, many people say, “When my home is happy, all goes well.” A family is the basis of society and the nation, and the starting point of one’s life. Therefore, it is a given that society can be strong and the nation stable when families are harmonious. Secret to a harmonious family Mr. Kim’s family always argues with each other; not even a day went by without arguments. One day, Mr. Kim tied his cow on a hill to feed him grass, but as the rein became loose, the cow ran around the whole field and ruined the crops. Mr. Kim managed to seize the cow, tied him in the stall, and…

According to the Law of Nature

The animals in the Serengeti plain of Africa live according to the law of nature. Herbivores make good use of their excellent sight and running skills to escape predators, and carnivores use their sharp teeth and bravery to get prey. But no one can say that herbivores are good and that carnivores are bad. They just follow the law of the jungle. Predators do not show off their hunting skills. They do not even desire to catch many prey at once. No matter how good their hunting skills are, they go hunting only when they are hungry, and if they eat enough meat they hunted, they leave the spot. Then, the remaining meat is passed to hyenas the African scavengers,…

In Baton Rouge Where the Prophecy Is Fulfilled

It’s been almost a year since my husband and I came to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S. It would be a lie if I say we did not have any fear to come to this spiritually dry and desolate land, where the gospel had not been preached yet. Just as always, however, God was with us in this city, too. I realize the power of God once again, seeing the brothers and sisters revive through the water of life within a short time. Before we came here, one Korean sister had been preaching the gospel alone for five years. She was busy managing a gas station, but preached to her customers, regarding her workplace as the field of the gospel. Some…

Jeong Min-gyeong from Houston, TX, U.S.

Being Acknowledged by God

If you have anything to boast about, you want to boast it. It’s human nature. Wanting to be acknowledged by someone is the most basic need for human. ...circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in…

Chocolate Milk

My husband bought banana milk on his way home. It was what he had not done before. Even when I wanted to have quality family time and asked him to eat out all together, he would say, “Three of you may go out.” He was such a blunt husband. So I was sometimes upset. These days, however, he often brings snacks, ice cream, and the like for our children. In fact, my children do not like banana milk, but I couldn’t tell him the truth because he thoughtfully bought it for them. So I just gave him a hint. “It’s good to buy variousthings. Our sons like chocolate milk or strawberry milk.” Even after that, however, he kept buying banana…

Hong Seon-ok from Seoul, South Korea

The Reason to Live

John Sain, 50, who lived in the United States, went into a deep forest alone for hunting which was his old hobby. On finding a big elk, he solely chased the running target. Unfortunately, he had his right leg broken. He was unable to move. With no cell phone service, he could not call the rescue team, either. As he had no hope for survival and the pain became worse, he began to write farewell letters to his beloved wife and two children. However, as he was about to lay down his life, something motivated him to persevere—it was the thought that he would never give up his family but return alive without fail no matter what a great pain…

Great Leaders, Successful Followers

A person who leads the members in a group or an organization is called a leader. The German word for lead leiden derived from Proto-Germanic līþaną, which means to bear, to endure and the undergo (some hardship). This can be interpreted that the role of a leader is not easy. A person who follows directions of the leader and assists him in a proactive way so that he can govern the group well is called a follower. The German word for follower fultum was derived from the Old High German follaziohan, meaning, “to help, be at hand, support.” So, we can say that a follower is a person who understands the difficulties that the leader goes through and supports him…

Ordinary Heroes

It happened at a crossroad, several years ago. Late at night, a cargo truck that was parked on the sloping road in front of a mall suddenly began to move. It was because the driver did not set the parking brake properly. The truck slowly slid down, began to accelerate, and stopped after hitting a woman in her 40s and a shopping mall. A lady who came to buy gimbap (food) with her son was laid under the truck without having a moment to escape. The citizens who witnessed the accident all rushed to the truck without hesitation. They lifted up the truck with all their strength and saved the woman. It took fifty-five seconds to rescue her. Seeing the…

We Share the Warmth of Love

My husband and I volunteered to deliver coal briquettes. I was filled with emotions as it had been a long time since I had last attended that volunteer service due to some reasons. On the day before the event, with great excitement I told our members that I would do the most work at the site. Then they replied, “You can say that when you get there,” with a knowing smile. The next day, after arriving at the site, I realized what their smiles meant. The village was located on a steep slope near the sea. I had to hold rails to walk up the stairs. It looked difficult to deliver even a single briquette up the slope. I saw…

Kim Hyeon-kyeong from Gangneung, South Korea

Sure Discipline

Hwang Hui was one of the most celebrated premiers of the Joseon dynasty of Korea. He had three sons, but one of them was an embarrassment. Every time his son went out, he came back inebriated in the late evening. Hwang hui agonized over his son. One day, Hwang hui came outside and welcomed his son courteously, wearing his official robes. “Good evening!” Surprised, his son persuaded his father to stop. “Father, why are you doing this?” Hwang Hui responded, “If a son does not listen to his father, he does not belong to the family. Simply put, he is a guest, not a son. So, I’m politely greeting a guest who’s visited my home.” Hearing what his father said,…

Respect Your Family’s Emotions!

We have many emotions-joy, sadness, anger, expectation, fear, gratitude, etc. We want to express these emotions in any way, and we feel stable and happy when our emotions are respected by others. Expressing our emotions in a healthy way, and understanding and accepting each other’s feelings are the basics of conversation. Even if you disagree, you can have a pleasant conversation if you understand the other person’s feelings first. How much do you listen to and care about your family’s emotions? Respect their diverse emotions and actively empathize with them this month because their emotions are as precious as your family.   Tip Read your family’s emotions. (“You look happy, today,” “Aren’t you tired from work?”) Listen carefully and understand…

Dusting Out Every Nook and Corner

The Delaware Zion members cleaned several playgrounds in Newark on the last Sunday of January. The playgrounds were located in a good neighborhood, and so we thought it wouldn’t take much work to clean up. But it turned out they were not sanitary at all. A few playground rides were covered with much dust and stains that we couldn’t tell what their original colors were. We immediately set out to clean up and disinfect the rides. Soon, they regained their original colors. The thought of children who would play in the clean playgrounds made us smile. While cleaning the playgrounds, we came to think that no matter how great facilities are, they become useless if not well taken care of.…

The Church of God in Delaware, OH, U.S.