Faith & Life

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.

Time of Learning and Being Filled

After becoming a young adult, I got to know the warmth of Zion, attending gatherings full of love of leading sisters. One day, we watched a video and shared fragrances of Zion with the members. One sister shed tears, saying that she was thankful and sorry to Mother for sacrificing Herself for us. I too cried. I didn’t know why but I was touched by the sister who repented wholeheartedly and at the same time felt ashamed of myself for not paying attention to the precious words of God during worship services. Soon afterwards, I tried to change and be born again. Unlike in my student days when I used to go home right after a service, not wanting anyone…

Shin Nu-ri from Bucheon, South Korea

Senses Under Illusions

ⓒ Edward H.Adelson / http://web.mit.edu/persci/people/adelson/checkershadow_illusion.html / Copyrighted free use “What are the colors of part A and part B in the picture?” “Part A is gray and part B is white!” Most people may answer like this. Then, are they really right? The correct answer is “The colors of A and B are the same.” If it is difficult to believe, cover everything else and look at just the two parts without any surrounding colors. Among the senses of human bodies, the largest percentage of the sense that receives information is sight. But sometimes the sense of sight falls into an illusion. This is called optical illusion. One of the reasons that cause optical illusion is that the brain does…

Secret of Fine Speech

Former US president Barack Obama was the chief editor of the journal published in his college during his college years. In the process of editing, he tried editing the negative sentences as positively as possible. For example, he changed “If you do not change, you are in big trouble” into “Change to grow.” Even after he became President, he edited his speech by himself. The editing work was repeated a number of times. The words he uses sound humble and logical without being intimidating even if they are the same word, and he is regarded as the President who left numerous positive words from the media after his retirement.

Hoping to Be the Protagonist of the New Book of Acts

‘O God, I will do anything if I can go to heaven, so please give me confidence in salvation.’ This is what I always made sure to say whenever I prayed, because I wasn’t confident in my salvation though I went to church. Although I was young, I was so scared of going to hell that I went for all kinds of retreats, praise gatherings, and early morning prayer meetings. I also read the Bible every day, and waited to have confidence in going to heaven. One cold winter day, I met two angels who were preaching the truth, and I learned about the Sabbath day, the Passover, and many more. I received a new life immediately, and studied the…

Song Hye-ju from Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic

Beginner’s Mind

When you start something, you have certain attitudes toward it at first—pure and humble mind and eagerness. This is the beginner’s mind. An online job market information site conducted a survey of 960 employees on how long they kept their beginner’s mind at work. On average, it was less than a year. When a person gets a job, he rejoices as if he is on top of the world. The resolution to work hard and heart-throbbing excitement on the first day to work! As long as you do not lose the beginner’s mind, you will never be stuck in a rut or fall into a slump. Then, how can you keep the beginner’s mind? If you have an object that…

The Secret of a Great Flight

The biggest bird among the seabirds is the albatross. The Albatross, however, is not attractive on land. Its tottering steps with its long wings draped down on its heavy body looks rather funny. Some even call it “a dumb bird.” However, here’s a different story when it is in the sky. Its wingspan is 2 to 3 meters [8.2 to 11.6 ft] long when its two wings are stretched; and with these wings, it flies farthest and highest. It’s just a little difficult at first but once it ascends in the air, it can cover hundreds of kilometers for days without rest. The way it flies in the sky without flapping its long, outstretched wings is fabulous. The beautiful glide…

How to Help a Bereaved Person

All people experience big and small losses in their lives. The losses can be their friends, family members, co-workers, acquaintances, and so on. The grief and pain followed by such loss varies, depending on people, but the sadness of losing the loving family members is bigger than any other sadness. Sorrow of losing a family member is a kind of feeling that everybody wants to avoid, but anybody can experience it either temporarily or permanently. Little children lose their grandparents whom they are close to; dispersed family members cannot meet each other even though they want to; some sons and daughters miss their fathers who died after many years of struggling against diseases; some wives lose their husbands whom they…

Something Nicer Than a Luxury Car

Around an open market in Seoul, a boy was pulling a handcart instead of his grandmother. But he accidently scratched a luxury car that was parked. Seeing his grandmother being all in a fluster without knowing what to do, the grandson was about to cry. Passersby too felt so sorry for that. As the car was one of the highest quality brands, it seemed to cost too much money to fix it. If its owner knew this, it must have been obvious that he would get angry. One person who was observing this situation called the owner of the car and explained what had happened in detail. Soon, a middle-aged couple appeared and suddenly lowered their heads before the old…

To Seek Souls More Precious than Pure Gold

By God’s grace, our Kota Kinabalu Zion was blessed to have the very first short-term mission in 2017. The first trip was to Paparand in February and the second trip was to Tuaran in March. Paparand is one of the districts in Sabah. Preaching in Paparand was my biggest hope after I received the truth several years ago because this is my hometown. Just as the Bible prophesied that the gospel of the kingdom would be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations (Mt 24:14), now is the time for the prophecy to be fulfilled, and what made me amazed most was that God chose me to join this short-term mission. Heavenly Mother had blessed us…

Steffy Aquiline Adelbert from Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Give Thanks to God!

In order to commemorate the passing of Thomas Edison, the inventor of the century, people throughout the United States turned off their electrical power for a minute. It was to be grateful for bulb his invention. Then, have we ever given thanks to God for His operating the heavens and the earth? According to a virtual scenario made by a professional documentary channel, if the earth that spins on its axis at a speed of 1,600 kilometers [994 miles] per hour stops completely, days last for six months and nights too last for six months. During the daytime when scorching sunlight beats down on the surface of the earth, the temperature rises up to 55℃ [131℉] and by night it…

“I Want to Become Old”

Just as no one can stop the flow of time, no one can stop aging, either. In order to hide the traces of aging, people dye their hair or get facial Botox injections. Maybe no one would accept their aging pleasingly. However, there was someone who wished to grow old. Charlotte Kitley, a mother of two kids and an ordinary housewife in the U.K., was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer, and she keenly realized how grateful it was to wake up her children every morning and have a cuddle and kiss them. She had many things to do; she drank coffee her husband brewed every morning and braided her daughter’s hair, and found her son’s lost toys. But the…

Something Much More Valuable than a Jewel

A woman bought a coat in a store. She came back home and tried on her new clothes again. When she put her hand inside the pocket, she got surprised. A jewel was in it! “I can keep this because it was inside my clothes I bought, right?” “No, it’s not mine. I need to give it back to the owner.” These two thoughts wrestled in her mind. The woman was troubled, and so she went to the sage in her village. The sage heard the story and said, “It is right to return it because you didn’t pay for it. But I suggest you take your child with you when you go to the store. Then, you’ll be able…

Dad’s Most Concerned Child

I am the third oldest one of four daughters. There is an old joke in Korea, “The third oldest daughters are so pretty that men are willing to take them as their wives without even seeing them.” However, I was my dad’s most concerned child in my family. When I was a kid, I had a high fever from polio. I survived, but I was at a risk of becoming paralyzed from the waist down. Thanks to my parents, who even sold their farms and fields to cure me in any way possible, I was able to walk though I became lame. My dad felt sorry for me, so he raised me as a dear child without spanking me even…

Ha Jeong-oh from Jinju, South Korea

Though Living a Single Day

As we don’t need to teach fish how to swim, so we don’t need to talk about a short life before mayflies. Mayflies live for a very short time as an adult. Their lifespan varies by species; the maximum time is two weeks. Do you know how long they wait in order to come into this world? It is as long as a thousand days. While living in water as nymphs, they cast skin over 20 times until they become imagoes. As if they show that no life, though too short, can come into this world easily, they come out of water after repeating molting patiently for a long time and then fly busily for the mission to breed. They…

Better Is Two than One, Three than Two

You can often see trash and graffiti in many streets of Recife, Brazil. Regular cleanups were needed, but it was more urgent to change the way people think about the environment. That’s why we visited a TV station before the cleanup. The broadcasting company viewed our event positively that it decided to cover our street cleanup. A reporter came on the day of our cleanup. We cleaned streets diligently, hoping to raise environmental awareness and to encourage public participation, which was captured on camera. The next morning, however, the news was not broadcasted at the scheduled time. We were disappointed, thinking it had been edited. But that evening, we got all cheered up; the news was aired in the evening…

The Recife Church in Brazil

What Was Most Difficult

One reporter asked a runner who finished a marathon. “What was most difficult during the run?” then an unexpected answer came back to him: “What was difficult more than being thirsty and controlling my breathing was the coarse sand that got into my shoe.” Sometimes, a small problem that seems nothing can dominate your whole body.