Faith & Life

Life’s Choice

Life is a series of choices. Even for small matters such as deciding whether to eat toast or cereal, or which dress to buy, people think things over and over again to make a choice. There is even a vending machine that has a button that says, “Any Drink.” If the matter is about school, work, or your spouse, choosing becomes a serious decision. How good would it be if we could see our future? If we look happy in the future, it must mean that we’ve made good choices. However, we don’t have that ability. Then how can we make up our minds? Choosing one means giving up the other. If you give up without hesitation the things that…

Working Together Voluntarily

We, the members from the Cape Town Zion and the Bellville Zion, rolled up their sleeves to clean the streets in the downtown of Cape Town. When we went there, the downtown looked clean but there were lots of weeds and trash right outside of the downtown. The members made teams for the regions that the street cleaners usually could not cover. We picked up litter in the street in perfect order and pulled the thick weeds. We didn’t mind going into the storm drain to take trash out. After cleaning, we could see that the streets became so much cleaner that they couldn’t be even compared with how it was before. When the members of the Church of God…

Park Eun-gyeong from Cape Town, Rep. of South Africa

If You Laugh

Generally, people think, ‘I laugh because I’m happy; I shiver because I’m afraid; I frown because I’m tired.’ However, there is a contrasting argument. The American psychologist William James, and the Danish psychologist Carl Lange published a theory named the “James-Lange Theory.” According to their theory, you laugh or cry not because you are happy or sad; you become happy or sad because you laugh or cry. In other words, physical reactions are not triggered by emotions, but emotions are triggered by physical reactions. This psychological theory may be somewhat hard to understand, but it is a useful way for modern people living in stressful times to control their anger. When you’re upset, take a deep breath before release your…

What Is More Valuable than Competence

On September 16, 1976, in a city in the Soviet Union, a bus lost its balance and fell into the river. Then a man threw himself into the river without hesitation. He couldn’t see what was ahead of him because of the black smoke, and the water was cold, but he brought the passengers out of the river with all his might. He was a famous finswimmer named Shavarsh Karapetyan, who broke the world record eleven times and won European Champion thirteen times and World Champion seventeen times. By diving into the river more than thirty times, he rescued about thirty people and then he collapsed. He got pneumonia and septicemia from that day. When he woke up forty-six days…

The Love of a Shepherd

“Then Jesus told them this parable: ‘Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent’” Lk 15:3-7 When a sheep leaves the flock, it can hardly survive. The sheep is unable…

Practice to Become Happy

‘I wish I could sleep more in the morning,’ ‘I wish the weather would be better,’ ‘I wish the traffic wouldn’t be bad in the morning,’ ‘I hope my project will pass,’ ‘I wish my wife would stop nagging,’ ‘I wish my son would have better grades at school’... People want things endlessly. However, do things in the world go the way we want? Sometimes, you sleep through your alarm in the morning and leave the house in a hurry, but then, it is raining outside and the traffic is terrible. So you are late for work, and the boss who came to work earlier than usual that day yells at you about your project. You want to have a…

The Reason for Donating Blood

Before becoming a high school student, there was something I wanted to do most. It was blood donation. I wanted the souvenirs I could get after the blood donation, and liked the fact that donating blood once is acknowledged as four hours of volunteer service at school. After I became old enough to donate blood, I participated in the blood donation in earnest. Thanks to that, in my high school, I gained the honor of “blood donation hero,” a title given to a person who donates blood five or more times. Even until then, however, I was unaware that my blood saves lives. Meanwhile, the “Blood Drive to Give Life through the Love of the Passover” was held at the…

Park Min-ji from Seoul, South Korea

If You Want to Fly

Carpenter bees move from this flower to that flower to collect honey from early in the morning. Their bodies are bigger and chubbier than other ordinary bees. For the body size, their wings are rather small. From a perspective of air dynamics, their body structure is not ideal for flying. Then, how can carpenter bees fly with the wings which are not that helpful in flying? The secret lies in the flap of wings. Since carpenter bees can never fly if they flap their wings as many as other bees, they do it more diligently than any other bee. They flutter their wings more than 200 times a second. As a result, their flank muscles are developed that they can…

Finding Gospel Workers

Having the short-term mission to Keningau in Malaysia ahead, I was hoping many brothers and sisters would be found, so that Zion could be established and the gospel would spread more and more. Heavenly Mother gave us the words of blessing: “Find gospel workers who are healthy both physically and spiritually and build a house church.” Our short-term mission team left for Keningau in East Malaysia with great expectation of fulfilling Mother’s words. There was no direct flight from Kuala Lumpur to Keningau, so we had to fly to Kota Kinabalu first and then drive to Keningau which is about 100 km [62 miles] away from Kota Kinabalu. Throughout the three-hour journey on the serpentine and steep mountain road, we…

Micheal Tan from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Sensory Illusions in Aviation

As for flight operations, there are two types—conducting under visual flight rules (VFR) and instrument flight rules (IFR). Visual flight rules are a set of regulations under which a pilot operates an aircraft, seeing outside the cockpit, whereas instrument flight rules are the aircraft operations that totally rely on the instrument and get instructions from the control center. In case of VFR, even able pilots are likely to have a sensory illusion in aviation if he enters a spin or the aircraft turns upside down. Sea looks like a sky, night lights on earth look like starlights in the sky. Though the aircraft is taking a nose-dive, the pilot mistakes it as chandelle, which often causes it to crash on…

A special photo

A son is mischievously sticking out his tongue looking at the bathroom mirror and there is his dad looking at his son through the mirror pleased. They are standing side by side in a photo without their shirts on. Their father-son relations look nice in the photo. But if you look at it closely, you see something strange. A white tube is attached on their bellies. The son in the photo was born with a congenital heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot. So because he can’t eat orally, he uses a feeding-tube to eat. His dad cut and glued one of his G-tube on him on the same spot as his. To cheer his son who is suffering from a…

Respond Enthusiastically for Lively Conversations

How do you respond when you talk with your family? Aren’t you listening inattentively or putting off a conversation with an excuse that you are busy? Having a conversation with your family is important to understand each other. This also becomes the foundation for a harmonious family. If you respond enthusiastically while conversing with them, you’ll have a more joyful conversation. Showing your interest and respect will please the speaker. Thinking you are empathizing with him/her, the speaker will open up. Of course, love will overflow during the conversation. This month, listen to your family and respond to them actively! Tip Listen attentively when someone is speaking. Try to understand the speaker’s feelings by saying, “Yes,” “I see,” or “You’re…

You Can Communicate with Your Child

It is almost never quiet in a home with a child. Once a child begins to understand the meaning of what people say and express his opinions, the wrestle between his parents and him begins in earnest. Although a child is so lovely, when he acts so stubbornly and throws a tantrum, his parents might feel like leaving everything behind. Perhaps, it is natural for a child to act up. Since he too is a human being, he wants certain things and thinks in his own way. Although a child is immature mentally and physically and needs someone to guide him, you shouldn’t look down on him just because he is young; rather, you need to help him think and…

Standard of Tuition Fees

A young man who felt proud of his speech came to see a famous orator to learn about leadership. The young man self-confidently introduced himself to the orator and kept talking about himself. The orator silently listened to him until he finished. Then, he laid down a condition. “I think you should pay tuition twice as much as others.” The young man asked in puzzlement. “Why do I alone have to pay double?” The orator replied. “If you want to be a great leader, you must learn how to control your tongue first before learning how to use it properly. Since I have to teach you more than others, isn’t it reasonable to charge you double?”

Finding Our Brothers and Sisters Appointed for Eternal Life

On my way with a sister to do something, my eyes met a lady’s eyes. We stopped at her unexpected question. “Are you preaching?” She seemed longing for our truth. We stopped everything and started talking with her. She seemed very curious, when we told her that we were from the Church of God and that we were preaching about Heavenly Mother. Even her husband, who was repairing their house, seemed interested, so we began to let them know the Bible on the spot. Both of them were very amazed when they understood about the existence of Heavenly Mother, the importance of the Passover, and the blessing of the Sabbath day, which are the secrets of the Bible. They said…

Genevieve M. Joaquin from Iloilo, Philippines

Rescue Operation for One Man

In June, 2014, a scientist was injured by a falling rock and collapsed while exploring a cave in the Germany Bavarian Alps. The site of the accident was about 1,000 meters [3,200 ft] underground. Its depth was twice the height of One World Trade Center in New York. Between his two colleagues, one stayed with him while the other came out of the cave through narrow and steep, maze-like passages for twelve hours to ask for help. On learning the distress, the German government fully mobilized manpower and equipment. They made five camps and more than seven hundred doctors and specialists from five countries—Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Croatia, and Slovenia—participated in the rescue operation. As the inside of the cave was…

What Do You See?

A company was in crisis due to recession. Disheartened employees lost their willingness to work. One day, the company president gathered the staff and showed a piece of drawing paper. There was a large black dot on it. “Everyone, what do you see?” “A black dot!” At the staffs’ uniform answer, the company president cleared his voice and said: “Why can’t you see the white background besides the black dot? The difficulty we’re going through right now is no more than this black dot. Let’s not be blinded by the black dot and miss the white background which takes up a lot more than that.”


The Park Cleaned and Beautified by the Church of God

There are two small children’s parks near the church. One of them was almost abandoned. The rides and the exercise facilities at the park were too old to use, and the dense shrubs didn’t allow people to even look inside it. The residents were reluctant to go to the park. Although it was called “children’s park,” it was actually a crime-ridden area and a place for illegal littering. However, this park has completely changed as our Church of God participated in the “Decorating the Flower Garden of Our Town” policy conducted by the resident committee since last year. The dense scrub that surrounded the park was removed; the old stains on big slides, outdoor pull-up bars, swings, and other equipments…

The Seogu Church in Gwangju, South Korea

Following the Dream

There was a man whose dream was to become an actor. He went to as many auditions as possible to fulfill his dream. However, he was rejected each time for the reason that he had no distinct individuality or face. He auditioned more than eight hundred times for ten years. He had to have many jobs, working as a bartender, doorman, painter, and more, but he never gave up on his dream. One day, the critics complimented him after watching him act in a play. His future seemed promising. However, he received sad news like a bolt from the blue: he had a brain tumor. After a big surgery taking ten hours, his tumor was removed, but he became deaf…

Nudge Effect

If both stairs and escalator are equipped side by side, most people tend to use the convenient escalator. But at a subway station in Stockholm, the capital city of Sweden, the stairs are more popular than the escalator. Guess why? At first, here too, people rushed to the escalator like other subway stations. The Swedish government recommended people to take the stairs to avoid the crowded escalator and to improve people’s health, but it was useless. After much study, the government devised a piano staircase. When pressure is applied on each step, a musical note is played. So, many people from kids to the elderly, and even the disabled began to take the stairs. This is called Nudge Effect—inducing people…