December 9, 2023

“And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than we first believed.” Romans 13:11

The country of Iceland was a huge sensation in the Euro 2016. This was the European version of the World Cup. 

Iceland has only a population of 330,000 people. That’s the size of a small city in a big country. The country is cold, and the grass wouldn’t grow well on soccer fields. They only have 100 professional soccer players. They had never passed the qualifying stage in the past. But you know what happened that year? This small country managed to join the Euro 2016 by winning in the qualifying stage. Also, they won games in the group stage, advancing to the round of 16. From there, they beat England (one of the best teams in the world) and then advanced to the quarterfinals. Their journey ended, thereby losing to France. They called it a miracle.

How did this happen? One commentator said that Iceland started preparing 15 years ago. They started investing in their infrastructure, investing in leaders and players, and building indoor soccer arenas so that they could practice. Of course, this infrastructure was still small compared to bigger countries with strong teams. Yet Iceland was determined. They were determined to win and advance. Hence the whole world had witnessed this miracle.

This shows certain spiritual implications for us. We must be prepared. Our growth cannot happen all of a sudden. It takes time and commitment. But we must be prepared for that moment. We must be determined. We call it faith. Unlike Iceland, Jesus has done all the important work. We have to have faith in Jesus that we can win. 

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December 2, 2023

“Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” Luke 5:4.

The story is found in Luke 5. It’s the story where Jesus calls the fishermen to be His followers. When Jesus spotted two boats by the lake, He got into one of them. Jesus simply sat down and spoke to the multitudes waiting at the beach. When Jesus was done speaking, He said, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

Simon replied and told Jesus that they had been working all night and couldn’t catch a single fish. But Simon eventually said, “Nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” You know the rest of the story. They caught so much fish that their boat almost sunk. Simon came to his knees at the feet of Jesus. Luke 5:11 says, “they forsook all and followed Him.”

What does this tell us? These men were pros at what they were doing. They knew what needed to do and followed their work by the book. Yet they had no results. It was only when they surrendered to the voice of Jesus that brought them abundance.

We may be making a similar mistake in ministry. We do our best. We do everything we can by the book. But the most important thing to remember is to listen to Jesus. Our skills and techniques mean nothing. There is nothing we can do on our own. We need to depend on Jesus and listen to Him.

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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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