Merry Christmas!

When I was growing up, Christmas was all about receiving gifts. I looked forward to getting up early Christmas day to open the wrapped gift. Usually they were books and candies. They were so special because back in those days, my family could not afford new books and goodies everyday.. It was a very special treat we had once a year.
What does Christmas mean to you? I am sure that Christmas means different things to different people. For most people it is a time of fun and parties, a time to give and receive gifts.

"Dad, what do you want for Christmas?" My kids don't need to ask this question this year because I already bought a laptop sleeve for myself and brought the receipt to them.

Every year we knock ourselves out trying to find the perfect gifts to give and we call that Christmas. But it is not! It's not really Christmas at all. The true meaning of Christmas begins with the Christ Child who came as a vulnerable baby, grew up with the marginalized people, and died for all of us. He GAVE himself for us.

Do you know that Christmas is a time for giving, giving ourselves to God? We can give our gifts to God by looking around and finding God's precious people who are in need of love. AND reaching out to them in person...
Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving!

I remember when my daughters were little, they didn't like it when every time someone did something nice for them and we prompted them by saying "Now what do you say?". They knew what to say. We all know what to say but unfortunately we sometimes forget to say it. 

My brother used to bring brand new toys for them whenever he visited my family. I discovered a pattern among my children. They were so happy to receive the gifts from their uncle and became so busy playing with their new toys. They were not really aware of their uncle who came to see them and spend time with them. "Sorry Uncle, I am so busy with MY toys. Maybe later.. " 

I often do the same thing. I get so busy with the things that I have received in my life and work  that I forget to spend time with the Provider who provided all things in my life to bless me and to have a deeper friendship with me.

Am I coming back to the Giver, the Healer, and the Redeemer to say "Thank You!"? 

A short Camino de Santiago 2018

It was a short walk from Saint Jean Pied de Port to Logrono. We walked and traveled together as a family for a week Aug 7-13. All three girls, Joy Jane & Jubilee and Lydia walked 20-25 km each day . Although it was my second time, I felt very different. It was a completely different journey from the solo walk I did last year. What a blessed journey it was with God and family! There are so many things I learned from the walk but just wanted to share some pictures for now.
Buen Camino!

Jane's 18th B-Day

Eighteen years ago, June 19, 2000, Jane was born at BC Women's hospital in Vancouver. I still remember the moment in the delivery room when she came out to the new world. She was very pretty and small. I gave her two names: Jane Yeeun meaning God's grace. Just like her name she loved to share God's grace with others. She grew up as a middle child and maybe had minor, so called, middle child syndrome, but never complained about her sisters or family. Jane was always caring and loving.

I can't believe she is eighteen. She drives my car and is more and more independent now. In a couple of months she is going to move to another city to study nursing. I will miss her...

I pray that God will always keep watch over her life and give her strength and wisdom. I am looking forward to walking the Camino de Santiago with her this summer for one week. I already bought her a backpack and hiking boots as her graduation gifts. 

Jane, Happy Birthday! You are always my princess!
Love, Daddy
제인이 벌써 어른이 되었네... 주님의 은총이 늘 함께하길 기도한다. 항상 사랑한다. 아빠가

(Jane's 18th Birthday Letter from Daddy, June 19, 2018)

                                  

Mission Trip to Malaysia Part 1

Two weeks ago I took a trip to a small village called Balak located in  Banggi island in Sabah Malaysia. Banggi island is located off the northern coast of Sabah Malaysia. I traveled to Balak with seven other members from UPC. The journey was not easy at all. It took us three days to reach Balak from Toronto Canada. 

We first flew from Toronto to Seoul, South Korea for fourteen hours and then changed to the second plane at Incheon airport to fly another five hours to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah Malaysia. We arrived at Kota Kinabalu international airport the next day. It took exactly twenty four hours from Toronto to Kota Kinabalu! We stayed at a budget hotel for the night and the next day we drove for three hours to Kudat located at the northern end of Sabah. We were supposed to take a ferry from there to the island the same day but could not find tickets for all of us. We slept another night in the Kudat area. 

On the next day the ferry took an hour to reach Banggi island. At the ferry terminal in Banggi island we loaded our luggage to two trucks and drove over an hour to finally arrive at a roadside entrance to the village. Once we got off the trucks and unloaded our bags a real adventure was waiting for us. The village was about   twenty to thirty minutes walking distance from the road. The only option was to carry all our luggage and walk to the village. It was very hot and humid. We were so tired, exhausted and hungry!!! The path to the village was narrow, wet and muddy. It was a very very difficult trip. Three days just to come to this small and tiny village..

For the entire journey to Balak I thought about the pioneers who came to the village a hundred years ago to meet the indigenous people living there. They did not have trucks or ferries. Once they got off their boat they walked three days to reach this village. What motivated them to take such a long journey? Why did they give up their own comfort and come all the way to the Banggi people in Malaysia?  Was it LOVE?

April 27, 2018  A New History!

I remember the day when the Berlin wall came down. The fall of the Berlin wall paved the way for German reunification. A city which had been divided for nearly 30 years was reunited in 1990. I watched the celebration of the wall being torn down on TV. It was quite a trembling moment for me to witness the wall coming down.

Sixty five years after South and North Korea signed a treaty suspending the war between them, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and South Korean president Moon Jae-In crossed the border line at the border village of Panmujum in the DMZ this morning, April 27, 2018! The handshake between them was just the start. Kim Jong-Un stepped across the border for a historic meeting. He crossed the border into South Korean-controlled territory. They spent almost 12 hours together today. Reunification of the two divided Koreas is everyone's prayer in Korea. I don't know when that day will come but one thing I am certain of is that God is in control. 

Now in Berlin, it's nearly impossible to see where the wall was. And Christ demolished the wall that separates us from God. We are no longer foreigners, aliens, but citizens of God's kingdom and members of God's household. 

As I watched the historic summit this morning I offered my sincere prayer to God. My prayer this morning is for reconciliation and restoration among all the people in the world. My prayer is to see the perfect peace, Shalom. May the Lord bless One Korea. May the Lord bless One World. 

우리의 소원은 통일... 통일을 위해서 기도 합니다. 땅끝마을 해남에서 두만강 백두산까지 자전거로 갈 수 있는 날이 어서 오기를..

Kim Jong-Un and Moon Jae-In holding hands crossing the border between the South and North Korea 

A Week after Easter 2018

They went out for fishing. They had seen their teacher tried and sentenced to death. They had seen him nailed to a cross and die, they had seen him taken down and buried. Three days later they saw him alive and they talked to him and ate with him. Later after all of this happened their teacher appeared to them in a little bit of a different setting. They were hanging out and all went out in a boat for fishing but caught nothing all night!

At dawn, their teacher was standing on the beach. He called out, "Friends, Amigos! have you caught any fish?" "No" they replied. Then he said, "Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will get some!" So they did, and they couldn't haul the net in because there were so many fish in it, 153 of them"

"For all my hard work and all the stress I've endured, it is NOT working! I have caught NOTHING!" 
This is what I say when nothing seems to work in my life and work. But my teacher and master says to me "Follow my teaching, throw your net on the other side.."

All I have to do is follow the directions of my master. I am in the right waters just not in the exact location. And the blessing is right there on the other side of the boat.

If we would just put our net where God directs us, God will pour out blessings that we won't have room to contain.  Happy Easter!

Good Friday 2018

Last year, my first daughter Joy carried this backpack walking the camino with me. The pack became heavier each day of the walk but finally she could let it slide off of her back at the end. What a wonderful feeling it is when you take the backpack off your back. Life is full of burdens, worries, fears, shame and sorrow.. We carry the burdens, all of the things which weigh us down to sink us. It's like carrying your heavy backpack for the rest of your life. How can I be free of the burdens? I have found the way! 
"Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest" said Jesus. 

Do you feel burdened with the pressures of life? With sorrow, with heartache, with pain? Do you feel pressed on every side? Perplexed? Hunted down and knocked down? Here are the words from 2 Corinthians 4:8-10.
"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body"
Jesus is waiting for you to let it go then to walk away free and whole. Come just as you are..  
Buen Camino! 
Good Friday 2018

50 Years!

Yes, It's my 50th! 

Last week I took a time off to retreat from all the busyness and to walk alone with God. It was my 50^th birthday. Yes, I spent my 50^th birthday alone in a salt flat called the Sala de Uyuni in Bolivia. It is a huge salt flat that becomes the largest mirror in the world when the rain water fills the whole place during the rainy season. For many years I had been planning to go there alone on my 50^th birthday. I wanted to reflect my life in the mirror of God’s grace and faithfulness. So I flew to Lima, Cuzco, and La Paz, Bolivia. From La Paz I took an overnight bus for 11 hours to reach Uyuni. 

The place is about 4000 m above sea level. I suffered from high altitude sickness and later food poisoning. The sun was so close that I had a sunburn. The skin on my face got peeled off.. There was no birthday cake, birthday song or birthday dinner but God’s presence and me. When I stood there I felt so tiny but blessed.

And I really felt that my time was ticking.. 50 years has gone just like a wind. In 10 years, if God willing, I will be 60.. and then 70.. 80.. 90 .. 100.. 110.. if God willing.. The bottom line is that today is the time to prepare for eternity. I wrote in my journal “I want to be a clean vessel..”  To be a sacred and pure vessel to be used by God for God’s kingdom, that’s my goal for the rest of my life..

Thank you, my family and friends, for your prayers.

Asian, Caribbean, and the Latin American Christmas Joy 2017

Our members from Asian countries led service on Dec 10. The following Sunday (Dec 17) was led by sisters and brothers from the Caribbean and Latin American countries. What an exciting and joyful time we had! I truly appreciated every presentation and food. I felt heaven in our midst, a place where people from all different cultures and languages living together in harmony!

각나라와 방언이 함께 어우려져 서로에게 기쁨을 주는 시간이었다.