Faith & Life

Corn Ripening with the Farmer’s Sweat

At the end of June when the sun blazed down and the heat persisted, the members of the Wonju Zion went to a tomato farm and a corn field located in Sillim-myeon to help with weed removal. To make things smooth, they made two teams, and I got in the team for the corn field. Corn, which is considered as a national snack, reminded me of my childhood memories and made me excited even before starting the volunteer service. When we arrived at the farm, well-ripened corns and tomatoes were waiting for us. June is the period when corn is in full ear. In the corn field about 1,650 m² [2,000 yd²], the grass had grown wild. From a distance,…

Shin Hae-yeong from Wonju, South Korea

Listening Carefully

In a survey of around 1,000 office workers about “communication,” 40% of them said that the most important part in communication is “listening.” An experiment where two people faced each other and had a conversation about a certain topic also showed the importance of listening: When people were told to listen carefully to what the other person was saying, they were able to have a friendly conversation, but when people were told not to pay attention to what the other person was saying, they could not continue their conversation even after a few minutes. Although you are sitting and nodding your head, it does not always mean that you are listening carefully. When you listen to somebody while thinking of…

Now Is the Time to Soar Up

It is well known that birds are devoted to their eggs from the time they lay them until hatching them. It is said that birds don’t let their bodies touch the ground. However, they attach their bodies to the ground closely, and pay attention to sitting on the eggs evenly. Once the young hatch, the parent birds become busy, looking for food. They bring food countless times every day, but they themselves hardly get to eat anything. Although the parent birds are dedicated to their young, they become cold-hearted when the time comes for their young to leave the nest. They no longer feed the young like before. If the parent birds give them food whenever they pester them, the…

The Debt of Love Paid Later

A girl who took refuge with her mother lived a hard life during World War II. She almost died malnourished, but survived thanks to relief goods from the Allied Forces and charity organizations. Later, she became a world-famous actress. After retirement, she actively supported many places of the world in need of help. “Now, it is my turn to pay my debt of love that I’ve received,” said Audrey Hepburn who was once called angel.

Must Be Broken

There was a proud young man. An old man who was cleaning up the flowerbed of the village called out when the young man passed by. “Young man, could you pour some water on this soil?” The young man wanted to pass by, but he was reluctant to do it because the man was a well respected elder in the village. But the soil was hard, so pouring water was of no use. The water could not get into the soil and kept running down the side. The young man’s face got darker and darker. The old man was watching. He went over to the young man and hammered the soil. Then he gathered the broken pieces of the soil…

Make Even the Hidden Place Shine Bright

Streets in Taiwan are very clean since the public order is highly regarded. Due to thorough management, people are forbidden to drink beverages including water after passing the subway ticket gates. If they violate the law, they are charged with a fine of about NTD 7,500 [USD 245]. The ASEZ team to Taipei, Taiwan, planned to clean up the street, but wondered if there would be enough trash since Hsinchu is a clean city nearby Taipei. However, when we actually went there, we could see some trash here and there. While picking cigarette stubs and trash on the street, we found trash piled up in a dark alley between the buildings. The alley was so narrow that only one person…

Kim Bo-ra from Gyeongsan, South Korea

Symbiosis

There is an agricultural method that the natives of America used in barren lands. It is the Three Sisters. Native Americans planted maize (corn) with beans and squash. This is because the three crops have much higher yields and better taste and quality than when one crop is planted. The principle is simple. The corn has a sturdy stem, allowing squash and beans to climb up on it, and the beans inhale nitrogen from the air and send it to the roots, providing excellent natural fertilizer to the corn, which requires a lot of manure, as well as to the squash. The squash covers the ground with its large leaves so that the soil does not dry out and blocks…

The Secret of Reconciliation

When there is an uncomfortable feeling in relationship with others, there is a river we must cross to put that feeling down. It is a river of reconciliation and forgiveness. If you cross this river safely, you will see Happy Village. If there are any cautions in entering the village, they are words you should not use while crossing the river. “It’s my fault, but . . .” “If that’s what you think . . .” “I don’t remember but . . .” Unnecessary conjunctives, subjunctives, or expressions show that you don’t yet acknowledge your mistake or fault, and make the listener angrier rather than make him feel to forgive you. Ostensible apology is better when it is not done.…

The Reason for Giving Me the Mission to Teach

It was the day when I went out to preach with my wife. When we told a lady passing by that we wanted to tell her about God the Mother who is testified in the Bible, she didn’t want to listen. When we asked her again, saying, “This message is very important,” then she stopped walking. As soon as I opened the Bible, her eyes were opened wide. Seeing the Spirit and the Bride who give the water of life in the book of Revelation, she asked us, “Who is the Bride who gives us the water of life?” before we explained. When we told her that the Bride is Heavenly Jerusalem, she asked us back, “Then who is Heavenly…

Lee Jeong-hyeon from Cape Town, South Africa

When There Is a Drought

Two workers went up to the mountain and cut a tree down. When the tree was cut, they saw growth rings on the wood. Then the younger worker said, “Look! These five rings are close to each other. It seems there was a drought for five years.” The young worker knew that the rings get close to each other when there is a drought because the tree grows slowly. Then the old worker who was listening to him silently said to him, “You’re right, but there is something more important. When there is a drought, trees send their roots down deeper to seek water and nutrients from the soil. Then their roots become stronger, and after the drought, the trees…

Give the Thumbs-Up: “My Family Is the Best!”

Praise can make even a whale dance. Praise makes the listener feel better and lift up those who are in despair. Praise is another food people eat. “Good!” “Excellent!” “You are the best!” If you raise your thumbs with the words of praise, the effect doubles. Sometimes, a powerful gesture of thumbs-up makes the other person more pleased than many words. Dale Carnegie said, “There is nothing more touching and moving than praise. We may soon forget how we praised someone else, but the person who was praised may keep it in his heart all his life.” This month, praise your family generously with your thumbs up. The listeners can feel energy surging up when they are exhausted, and happiness…

Promise

This is the definition of “promise.” However, since no one knows what will happen to them tomorrow, though they make a solemn oath, they often break it unintentionally due to unexpected circumstances. And if it is impossible to reach the condition of the promise, one side breaks it without reserve. “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” Nu 23:19 God’s promise is fulfilled without fail. Though you may think it lingers, there is a reason. God waits for the other side who has not made himself or herself ready yet, so that he or…

Scarcity Error

Such advertising terms as “Limited Offer Today Only,” “The First Hundred People Receive,” or “Only While Stocks Last!” are a strategy to promote consumer confidence. The fact that there’s limited time to purchase assigns scarcity, and people think getting rare things is special. If scarcity is used as a sales tool, errors may occur. To a customer who is hesitating to choose his clothes, if the shop clerk says, “Another customer has looked at it and liked it a lot. What about you?” the customer is likely to purchase it. But actually the value of the clothes has nothing to do with the previous customer. Rolf Dobelli, the author of The Art of Thinking Clearly, says, “The typical response to…

If We Deliver the Love of Mother

A special event was held in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. More than a hundred members from the Church of God gathered to clean up street for the first time. They divided teams; the male adults gathered the trash with big brooms, and the young adults, the students, and the female adults followed the male adults by picking up the trash into the trash bags. Under the scorching sunlight and the wind mixed with sand and dust, the five-hundred-meter-long street became clean by the hands of the members who did not forget to lose their smiles all the time throughout the day. It is rare to see a church activity in Bangladesh because there are not many Christians. But on…

Jo Su-bin from Incheon, South Korea

The Role of One Person

A few years ago, an unprecedented incident occurred at a marathon held in the U.K. About 5,000 runners were all disqualified except only one person. The story goes as follows. The first-placed runner was quite away from the second-placed runner. Then, the second-placed runner took the wrong direction. This resulted in making all those who followed take an incorrect route and end up running 264 meters short of 42.195 kilometers. Eventually, only the lead athlete completed the correct course and became the winner, and the other runners were all disqualified though they crossed the finish line, which was not so funny. Through this happening, we can realize once again how important the role of one person is. We too can…

Once You Start

Do you happen to know Writer’s Block? It is a condition where an author cannot start a new work because of the fear that he might not create a great one. The best way to break down this barrier is to start writing a sentence. When you put off things that you want to do or that you have to do, you say it’s hardly even thinkable. To speak more precisely, it’s not that you’re unable to start because it’s hardly thinkable, but it’s more like you don’t get motivated because you haven’t started yet. According to Work Excitement Theory reported by Emil Kraepelin, a psychiatrist, once you start doing something, a certain part of the brain become excited and…

Probability of Success

Picasso, the best painter in the 20th century, drew about 20,000 paintings, and Einstein, the world-famous physicist, wrote about 240 theses. Bach, a German composer and musician, composed a choir song every week, and Mozart composed more than 600 works. The Inventor Edison applied for a patent 1,039 times. Kim Yu-na the Queen of Figure-skating fell on her backside more than 3,000 times to learn one jumping skill. A survey by a professional consultant of creativity shows that first-class poets have written more poor poems than second-class poets. Since the first-class poets write more poems, they have more poor poems as well. Dean Keith Simonton, a professor of University of California, stated in his book, Origins of Genius, as follows:…

“What Is Love?”

“When you tell your friend you like his shirt, then he wears it every day.” “During my piano recital, I felt scared on a stage. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn’t scared anymore.” “Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.” “Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.” “When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis, too.” “When you love somebody,…

True Filial Duty Starts from Understanding

Whenever I read a Bible verse, “Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me” (Mk 8:34), I was reminded of my family. My father, who received a pastoral education in a Protestant church in his youth, opposed my faith when I said I attended the Church of God. Even my mom, who wasn’t interested in religion, stood on my father’s side; an invisible wall was built between my parents and me. When I was about to get married, there was a change. To prepare for the wedding, I had to talk with my parents frequently. While conversing with them, I realized that I had mistaken my parents; I felt through their words how…

Lee Si-won from Incheon, South Korea

In Order to Save My Brother

In April, 2013, a primary school girl and a boy, who are siblings, were on their way home from a study room in Seoul, Korea. They saw some children jumping up and down on the plate of a flood pumping station near a playground. Then, the boy too began to jump on the same spot after all others left. Seeing him doing that, his older sister came near to him to take him out of there. Suddenly the plate tilted and both of them fell into the pumping station which was eight meters (26 ft) high. The depth of water in it was 130 centimeters (4.3 ft). Fortunately, the girl was 153 centimeters (5 ft) all that she could breathe…