October 7, 2023

“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10.

Years ago, my family and I were shopping for Korean food in the city on the weekend. I get really excited when we shop at the Korean market. I mean, it’s Korean food! I feel overjoyed to know that our kitchen will be well-supplied with Korean food, at least for the next few weeks. I reached into my pocket for my wallet to pay, but it wasn’t there! I freaked out. I looked all over the floor, went through the aisles, came back out to the car, and looked all over. I couldn’t find it. All sorts of thoughts went through my mind. I was about to call the credit card companies to report my loss. I reached for my phone, and guess what? My wallet was in the pocket of the inner shirt I was wearing. I felt foolish, but I was relieved to find it on me!

When I was a little boy, my mom lost me once in the market. Back in the days, Korean markets weren’t like Walmart or Target. It was outdoors, crowded with people. It was like a farmer’s market with thousands of people all over the place. Mom was paying attention to something else, but then I guess I slipped out. She panicked at the thought that she couldn’t find me. She looked all over the marketplace, and eventually, Mom had found me. Imagine the fear and joy she must have felt through the experience.

I wonder if that was how God felt when He lost us. And the joy He feels when He finds us again. Perhaps that’s why we read the three parables in Luke 15: the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. Lost-and-found. There is great rejoicing in heaven when we are found again. God our Father is pleased to have us back. Praise God!

#pastorsblog #waukeshachurch

September 30, 2023

“But the very hairs of your head are numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Matthew 10:30,31.

Do you have personal items that you frequently forget or lose? Well, I do. One winter, I had a pair of gloves that I wore to a Bible study. When I returned home, I realized that my gloves were missing. I went back to the garage and looked all over inside the car but I couldn’t locate it. A week later I went back to the Bible study, and lo and behold, they were there! It happens that the following day I was making a visit and I wore my gloves again because it was a cold day. When I got out of the car, I realized that it was missing. But this time I couldn’t find it anymore. Two times in two weeks, I lost my pair of gloves.

When you look around there are many items around us that we easily forget. They are not needed all the time but there will be times when you need it and you cannot locate it. One of them is an umbrella. If you noticed, people always lose their umbrellas. People take it out on a rainy day. As the rain clears up and gets sunny during the day, people forget to retrieve it and bring it back home. Does that sound like you? We have a tendency to forget. In fact, God knows and remembers everything about us that He does not forget. He even knows and remembers the number of hairs on each one of us! And we should be thankful that He did not forget about us. That is why He saves us! Because He remembers.

But you know what the best part about this is? God says in Jeremiah, “For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Jeremiah 31:34. When God remembers us, He forgets our sins. He completely erases them! How can this be? It only happens when we accept God and allow Him to put “(His) law in (our) minds, and write it on (our) hearts.” 

#pastorsblog #waukeshachurch

September 23, 2023

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9.

Sebin loves reading books. When she was little, my mother and Hyemi’s mother shipped us many Korean books, so we still have many at our house. And Sebin just loved to read! But she didn’t like reading them by herself. It’s kind of obvious because she couldn’t read at that time. So whenever she wanted to read, Sebin would pull out a book from the shelf and bring it to either one of us, and we would read to her.

This was just the beginning. When we were done with the book, Sebin put the book away and went for the second book. She was not done yet. She would go for the third book, and so on! She wouldn’t stop! When it was time for bed, we would tell her that we needed to stop reading and go upstairs. She said no! Then we tell her, “Let’s read two more books and go to bed.” So Sebin brings a book. We say, “Two more books.” We read and then say, “One more book. This is the LAST book.” It seemed Sebin didn’t fully understand the word ‘last.’ When we were done with the last book, Sebin said, “One more last book!” We tell Sebin that is not what ‘last’ means, but she didn’t care. She would have to read at least three more ‘last’ books and then finally go to bed!

I wonder if that is God the other way around. To God, ‘last’ doesn’t mean ‘last.’ God is patient with us. He is ‘longsuffering’ toward us. He wants to give it another try with us because He is loving, merciful, and patient. God dearly wants to be with us that, even though when we mess up, He says, “OK, one last time…” again and again. We should look back at how much God has been patient with us in our mistakes and count the times He has said, “Ok, one last time.”

#pastorsblog #waukeshachurch