November 25, 2023

“The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want… For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” Psalm 23:1,4.

So one day, a few days after Sejin was born, Sebin and I went down to the Twin Cities to buy some Korean food. It’s about two and half hour drive one way. We came back pretty late and it was just right after midnight when we got home. Sebin was deep into her sleep so I took her out of her car seat. My goal is now to safely take my girl into the house. I think it was about 50-60ft. from the garage to the house. In the dark, as I was approaching the house door, I saw this big shade. The shade was darker than the night. In my terror, I realized it was a bear standing in front of my house door! I froze. A lot went through my mind so quickly. How can a bear be in this neighborhood? I’ve seen a few deer here before, but a bear? I had Sebin in my arms. At this time my only thought was, I need to keep my baby safe. I need to protect her. I ran back into the garage and shut the garage door down as fast as I could. I called 911 but all that the responder told me was to just wait until it goes away. (I have a feeling she didn’t believe what I was saying. Maybe she thought I was drunk to call at midnight to report a bear standing at my doorstep. But it was a bear. I double, triple-checked through my garage windows.) Eventually, it slowly walked away and we finally made it back home. All this time Sebin was sleeping and she had no idea what had happened.

It seems David was used to these kinds of situations. David told King Saul as he tried to fight Goliath that he had protected his flock from a bear or a lion. (Unlike David, the best I could do was run since the garage was only a few steps away.) From these experiences, David perhaps understood what God does for us. And perhaps that’s how he got to write Psalm 23. I thank God for His protection. He watches over us and keeps us. I am thankful to have such a Father.

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November 18, 2023

“Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Matthew 24:44.

Ttori ttori. That’s what Sebin used to say as a baby when she wanted to go pee. 

After some months of potty training, Sebin could go throughout the day without a diaper on. The only time she’d wear was at night when it was time for bed. She wouldn’t wear it during daytime naps because she can hold herself pretty well.

During the day while she is playing she would say “ttori ttori” and go to her little toilet and pee. But you know what happens when she is having so much fun playing? She will hold her pee as long as she can. She wouldn’t go even when we could tell that she wanted to pee. Her body language clearly said she wants to go. She would start twisting her legs or start running back and forth in the living room, but she wouldn’t go! We would tell Sebin, “Go ttori ttori right now!” And she wouldn’t listen. She was just having too much fun at the moment and she didn’t want to be bothered. 

At last, she could not hold it anymore. She would run to her little toilet and blast! But you know what, sometimes it’s too late and later I would find that her pants are slightly wet. Hyemi and I would always tell her, “You should have gone earlier. It’s ok go when you need to go because you can play again after!” 

We can make a similar mistake in our lives as we dearly await for Jesus to come. It may be just too much fun in the world that we wait and wait before we let out the sins of our lives. We hold it as much as we can, saying it’s not the time now, that we can hold it a little bit longer. Cleansing ourselves from our sinfulness must be done now. There is no time to wait. We should ask Jesus to clean us now. If we wait, we might just wet our pants and it’s too late…

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November 11, 2023

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation…” Romans 1:16.

Hyemi once told me a story of her friend from Los Angeles. So her friend had gone to her daughter’s school for a parent-teacher conference. When she got to the school, the daughter told the mom, “Mom, don’t speak to me in Korean at school!” We may think, what’s the big deal for a Korean mom to speak in her language to her daughter? It turns out that her daughter was ashamed of her mom for not being able to speak English well. So she ensured that her mom wouldn’t speak to her in Korean in front of other people at school. It’s a sad story. I wish this little one would have more pride in her language and culture. Moreover, she does not need to be ashamed of her mother for not speaking English that well. 

Sometimes, we may make similar mistakes as we represent Jesus in our lives. Being a Christian, a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, may not be easy among your peers. It may not be easy talking about Jesus to other people around us. But how would Jesus feel if we were afraid (or ashamed) to talk about Jesus and the Bible? There is no shame in being a follower of Jesus Christ.

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