Belong

August 29, 2026

When I ride my bike on the road, I find many obstacles along the way. Commonly, there is roadkill that I have to go around. The road isn’t always smooth, and there is a lot of gravel, which can be very slippery if you don't ride with caution. There are also random objects on the road, likely dropped by vehicles passing by.

One of the random objects that I found on Road 18 was a pair of scissors with a red handle. At first, I didn’t think much of it, but every time I was climbing up this road, I would notice the scissors, and they were there for the longest time. This item was not where it should be, and it was not fulfilling its purpose, just as something placed in the wrong setting does not belong.

At home, I have a similar-looking pair of scissors with the same-colored handle. Every time I need to cut a piece of paper, I know exactly where it is and find my scissors. It fulfills its purpose because it is at home, and I use it whenever needed, just as something in the right place serves well.

The parable of the sower talks about the seed that is planted in various locations by the sower: the wayside, stony places, thorns, and good soil. In the first three places, the seed could not grow because it did not belong there. “But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundred fold, some sixty, some thirty.” Matthew 13:8.

Where I belong really matters. Just as the scissors belong at home and the seed belongs in good soil, when we are in the presence of our Master and allow the Spirit to work in us, we will grow, and our talents will be used for God’s glory and expand His kingdom.

Signs

August 15, 2026

A couple of weeks ago, I made the mistake of closing the garage door while my car trunk

was still open. The garage door caught on the top of the trunk door, causing the bottom

bracket to come off and the wires to spin out. I panicked for a moment, but after my wife

and I examined it carefully, we decided it was something I could fix. So, after a few

moments of struggling with my tools, which I hardly ever use, I managed to fix it.

However, there was something I had ignored while fixing it. I looked at the hook area of

the cable that had spun out, and it was getting thin from years of lifting our old, heavy

garage door. I knew it would break soon, but I didn’t want to deal with it right away, so I

hooked the cable back onto the bottom bracket. It worked, and I felt somewhat proud of

myself for fixing the garage door.

Every time I opened the garage door, I had a small fear that the cable would break, but I

didn’t do anything about it. Then, it happened. On Monday, Hyemi was returning home

when she opened the garage door, and only one side went up. I wasn’t home at the time,

and so she called me about it and sent me pictures and videos of what she saw. Sure

enough, that cable cut loose, and this time, the damage was far worse than the last time.

My neighbor came to help, but it was of no use. I had to call for professional help. This

could have been prevented. The sign was there, I saw it, and ignored it.

Luke 21:28 says, “Now when these things happen, look up and lift up your heads,

because your redemption draws near.” There are signs all around us today, and Jesus has

prepared for us through the Scriptures. One of the best ways to avoid ignoring the signs

and respond to them is to “look up and lift you

Imitate

August 8, 2026

“Therefore I urge you, imitate me.” 1 Corinthians 4:16

“Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.” 1 Corinthians 11:1

Many of you know me as a soccer fan, but I am also a basketball fan. I used to play basketball so much when I was in middle school and high school. I remember those days when, on Sunday, I would play basketball for hours and hours until the sun set. I remember those weekday evenings when I would sneak out of a personal study session (In Korea, education is very strict and competitive, so schools had mandatory evening study sessions where students were forced to do personal studies at school. For me, I was at school until 10 p.m.) just to play basketball with friends. On lucky days, we wouldn’t be caught by our teachers, and we would be spanked pretty hard.

Basketball was a boom in Korea in the 90’s, when I was in school, because of a popular Japanese comic book called ‘Slam Dunk.’ This series was a huge sensation among Korean boys like me. It inspired us to play ball. I remember studying the comic carefully to improve my basketball handling (dribbling) skills or my shooting form. I ‘imitated’ the comic book to improve my basketball skills.

When I was a freshman in college, one of the required classes was preaching. I don’t remember much from that class, but one of the few things I remember was that the professor told us to copy sermons from famous preachers. He was not teaching us to plagiarize. He wanted us to ‘imitate’ well-known speakers. That was one way to improve our speaking skills.

Paul tells us to ‘imitate.’ And we must ‘imitate’ Jesus Christ. There is no shame in imitating Christ. That’s what Jesus wants from us. It will help us to be like Him. Let us imitate.