Dad and son conversation

“And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.” Luke 15:20

Almost everyday I speak with my parents. I know they really want to see Sebin so we facetime almost every morning so they can see our daughter. I am really thankful for the technology we have today. We can see each other on the screen for free!

Well, here’s the thing. It’s mostly my mom that we talk to, since dad is usually traveling for work. So I get to talk to mom one on one a lot but that is not the case with dad. I can speak with dad when he’s traveling but since they have bad internet connection overseas we just don’t talk as much during his travel. We would talk when dad gets home and that is mostly when mom is there together. In another words, I don’t get to speak with dad one on one as often.

Last night, I was on skype and I noticed dad had logged on. So I thought maybe I’ll just say hi. We connected online and we had our casual conversations asking how we are doing and the usual stuff. 3 minutes later, dad had to leave so we said bye and hung up. Nothing serious. However, dad called back about 5 minutes later. He called back to say sorry for hanging up so fast and asked if I called because I had something to consult with him. I was bummed out when he asked me that. I realized that I had only called him when I wanted to consult with him about work. It was a sign that dad and I weren’t able to connect together in recent months. Due to our busy-ness we didn’t have the dad-and-son moment in a long time. So I when I had called him, just to say hi, he thought I had an agenda. As much as I was close to mom, it wasn’t the case with dad. That happened because we didn’t communicate as much recently.

I am sure dad was happy when I called him. I was happy, too. But I should have called him more often, not only when mom is around. If I had done that dad wouldn’t have called me back to ask if I called him to talk about something else. Dad is always waiting for His children to return back.

What's in a name

“And He said, ‘Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Genesis 32:28

My name is Myoung. Does that sound familiar? That’s right, I started my last’s week devotional message with that sentence and I said it again. I wanted talk a little bit more about my name.

Our family came to the US when I was in second grade. We lived here for about three and a half years before we moved to the Philippines. While we lived in America I kind of wanted an English name. Many Korean Americans had English names. My Korean name is difficult for many people (including some of you) to pronounce. It also seemed cool to have an English name, too. But I never got one.

I asked dad one time, “Why can’t I make an English name?” His reply was simple and clear, “Because I gave you your name.” If you recall from last week how dad made my name, you know that dad put a lot into my name. My whole identity of how I was born and who I am is all defined in my name that dad gave me. And dad was not going to let my identity be tampered by some random American name just because it looked cooler. That is how important one’s name is. And it was the case for people in the Bible, too.

Jacob lived a life of deception. After many years of running away, he finally surrendered all of himself to God. And God changed his name to Israel. Because Israel now had a new identity. It wasn’t just a simple name change. He became a new person.

Revelation 2:17 writes, “And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.” God has a name for us. God has changed us and we can call Him Father!

Arise and Shine!

“Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.” Isaiah 60:1-3

My name is Myoung. And my name comes from the Bible verse above. When I was born, it took my dad a full month in making my name. As all parents do my dad also wanted to give me a special name. Now back in those days in Korea it was illegal for the doctor to tell the parents what the baby’s gender was prior to giving birth. (There were ethical issues back then due to the fact that Asians only wanted sons. It’s different now.)

So dad (and mom) had to wait until I was born to find out whether I was a boy or a girl so that he can find a suitable name for me. (I kind of wonder why he waited because he could have thought of names for both a boy and a girl before I was born and name me after whatever I was.)

Anyways, so I was born as a boy. Dad started contemplating on what his son’s name would be. It was not easy for him to decide and it took him a full month. One day he was reading the Bible and he randomly turned to Isaiah chapter 60. As soon as he saw it he knew my name would be Myoung. Korean names are mostly named after Chinese characters. And Myoung is a combination of two characters which mean the sun and the moon. When put together it means ‘brightness’ or ‘to become bright.’

The context of Isaiah 60 is the restoration of the city of God for all people. I believe it was my dad’s wish that I would take part in ministry and be a part of God restoring His kingdom. God has a special plan to restore His kingdom once again. It is a promise that is mentioned in the Bible numerous times. As Daniel has said, “The dream (or the promise) is certain.” Let’s remind us of the promise we find in Isaiah 60 and let us ‘arise and shine!’

Bag of almonds

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven… Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For you heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” Matthew 6:19,20,31,32

Sebin likes to eat almonds. Since almonds seem hard and big for Sebin to chew and swallow we got her a bag of sliced almonds, you know, the ones you put in salad. When Sebin sees the bag of sliced almonds her face would glow joyfully and she would start following me.

At first, I would give her one piece at a time. No big deal to feed her. She would happily munch on it but you know that is not enough for her. Before she is done with it she would ask for another one and then some more.

Well now, she is smart and mobile. She doesn’t want me to feed her anymore. Sebin will put her small hand in the bag and grab a whole chunk of almonds! What happens next is really funny though. When I am about to think that she would be satisfied with what she has in her one hand, Sebin reaches the other hand into the bag to grab another whole chunk of almonds. She now has chunks of almonds in her two little hands. It’s really cute when you think about it.

But here comes the problem. Sebin tries to eat the whole chunk at once, but as you can imagine already, most of her almonds will fall to the ground! (And daddy has to pick it all up, that’s right!)

God tells us clearly that there is no need for selfishness in this world we live today. Do not worry about storing up treasures in this world. What you need God already knows and He will provide accordingly.