Psalm 23:1,4

“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 this one day, Sebin and I went down to the Twin Cities to buy some Korean food. We cam 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’s about 50-60ft. from the garage to the house. In the dark, as I am approaching the house door, I see 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! Like the first time I saw a bear in the wild some years ago, I froze. A lot went through my mind so quick. 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 is 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 can. 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.

Ttori ttori

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

Ttori ttori. That’s what Sebin says when she wants to go pee. It’s been some months since we potty trained her and now she could go throughout the day without a diaper on. The only time she’d wear it is at night when it is time for bed. She wouldn’t wear it during daytime nap 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 can tell that she wants to pee. Her body language says 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 tell Sebin, “Go ttori ttori right now!” And she wouldn’t listen. She is just having too much fun now and she doesn’t want to be bothered.

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

We can make a similar mistake in our life as we dearly await for Jesus to come. It may be just too fun in the world that we wait and wait before we let out our 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…

Romans 1:16

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

Hyemi told me a story of her friend from L. A. this morning at breakfast. So her friend had gone to her daughter’s school for parent-teacher’s conference. When she had gotten 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 so well. So she made sure 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 would have more pride in her language and culture. Moreover, she does not need to be ashamed of her mother for not speaking English so 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 are afraid (or ashamed) to talk about Jesus and the Bible? There is no shame in being a follower of Jesus Christ.

God loves us the same

“And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’” Luke 15:31,32.

My sister-in-law and her daughter was with us for a few weeks. They came to help out with Hye Mi recovering from her delivery and their presence was surely of great help. Sebin and my niece Gracie got along really well and that was a good way to get some load of work off since Sebin was occupied. And they returned back home a few days ago. The house really felt empty after a few weeks of busy-ness and the family fun.

For the first time, our family had the time of our own. The first time to be with just the four of us. It was different. It used to be 3 to make a complete family but now it was 4 now. While we were having our first lunch together at home, Hye Mi said, “It’s strange. We have two kids now but I love them both equally. Sejin has been getting more attention and work but it’s because she’s a newborn. I just love them both the same.”

This statement sounds like common sense, but with an addition to the family, this common sense helped me understand God better. I think the verse above made more sense now. When the prodigal son returned back home, the older brother was angry. He was upset. But when the father made the statement above, I felt that the father loved the two sons equally. God has billions of His children residing on this earth today and in the past. We are all His creation and His children. He loves us all the same. I praise God for that.