Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Thanksgiving Conference 2011 Brief, Brief, Brief Recap!

So you struck gold this week!

I will be posting two entries because this past weekend there was a marvelous conference in San Jose that I didn't get to go, but got to watch all the messages through the webcast.

First of all, let me say that this thanksgiving break was both awesome and sad at the same time. This was the first year that I was not able to go to the Thanksgiving Conference live, because it was too far. The last few years it's been at drive-able locations, Columbus and Indianapolis, but they took it away from us :( The good part was that I got to spend quality time with the families in Chicago. It was a great time hanging out with the Barker's, the Robert's, the Yun's, the Johnston's, and the Hall's. We ended up having 6 Thanksgiving meals in total.. a record in my life which I hope I never, ever dare to attempt again.

Anyway, enough of myself, time to focus on the conference! The general subject and the burden of the conference this year was: the focus of the Lord's recovery.

To be honest, going in, I had no idea what this phrase meant, or what it could possibly mean. So, let me do some assisting work for you. First of all, defining the words:

fo·cus

[foh-kuhs]  noun
 
a central point, as of attraction, attention, or activity: The need to prevent a nuclear war became the focus of all diplomatic efforts.

If our Christian living is a road, the center will be the stripes that divide the incoming and outgoing traffic. This conference made me realize how much of my living is in the outskirts, the edges of the road, if not even further, on the dirt on the side of the roads. Well, it's good to be re-calibrated and re-focused!

The Lord's recovery, is not the name of a group, nor an organization, nor a movement, it's something God has been doing ever since Genesis 3. After the fall, God has been doing a recovering work, bringing man from his fallen state back to the original state He had planned in Genesis 1 and 2. In Genesis 1 and 2, we see God's heart's desire and eternal purpose.

In creating man as a vessel in the image of Himself (Gen. 1:26) , God wanted to fill man with Himself. For what purpose? For the purpose of gaining His expression. This is consummated in Revelation 22 with the New Jerusalem. You look at the materials that compose the New Jerusalem - they are all pictures of the Triune God! The golden streets, the jasper walls, the precious stones... No time for me to get into those..

So, knowing the definitions of these words, what is the focus of the Lord's recovery? It is the testimony of the Triune God, which is simply a corporate expression of the Triune God, the testimony of Jesus.

Man failed in Genesis, and continues to fail throughout the Scriptures, and man's failure is constantly seen again and again carried out in our daily lives. Even in the midst of all the men who failed, there is one man who has fulfilled God's original desire, that is, the man Jesus! The Father calls this one His delight, and we should hear Him and see Him only. Jesus, in all His human living, lived for the Father's will and expressed the Father in His thoughts, feelings, intentions, speaking, and living. So you can say, that God's purpose was accomplished in one man. However, God doesn't just want a single, perfect (perfect in God's eyes, not ours) man. He wants a corporate expression - many ones who are just like Jesus.

This man went through a process of death and resurrection, to become the life-giving Spirit to enter into our spirit! He did this to make Himself available to us whenever and wherever. Now, when we contact this One in our spirit, to enjoy Him and partake of Him, we become Him. The phrase you are what you eat (John 6:57), is really true.

Anyhow, my prayer after this conference is "Lord, thank You for recalibrating me!" Also, I am encouraged yet again to read in prayer, Paul's prayers in Ephesians 1 and 3. And also, I really want to get into these messages again. I have to say, the few paragraphs I have put up here is very short, maybe 3% of all the riches in the conference. There is still much left to dig. Anyway, praaaaaaaaaise the Lord!

Monday, November 21, 2011

The Experience of Isaac (Part 5) - A Boy's Life

Oh SEK. How I miss thee.. You have to remember that this was the time I really began to remember things. I know I had friends in Korea during my kindergarten years, but Chile were the years I spent my adolescence. If I had to choose between Korea and Chile, I would visit Chile. Anyhow, I'll try to condense 3 years into one post, to make sure I wring out all the boring details and just give a good story line.

There were both negatives and positives that occurred in Chile that have shaped me to who I am today. I've encountered much racism as a kid, being the few yellow-skinned kids running around the school among faired-skins (Chileans are more European-like). Many times, I've been taunted for who I was, and how I spoke. Pronounciations were always things that kicked me in the rear. Anyhow, I feel like this really created an inward motive in me to excel academically and socially. I wanted to prove to my teachers and my friends that a different color made me no different. I had trouble in Language Arts, but that was excusable. However, everything that ranged from Math to Art, Sciences to Physical Education, I competed for the best spot. And it wasn't just about getting it done right and scoring high. It was all about getting it done right and scoring high AND being first. That was where all the social glory resided. Being the first one to get up from his chair and proudly walking down the aisle while everybody else watches you in the middle of the test was what I sought for. This may sound pretty competitive, but I made a lot of friends this way and gained a lot of respect from teachers and classmates. My best friend Christian and I would always compete to be in first in class and basketball, and we had this mutual respect for each other. The only person that I counted acceptable to finish before me was Christian, and vice versa for him as well. I guess this kind of environment really translated to the high-speed work I like to be under in the present. Anyhow, in elementary school, we were so guile. We gained popularity by being the smartest kid in class, not by being the rowdiest.

This kind of competitiveness translated onto the basketball court as well. Basketball was not the main sport in Chile, it was obviously futbol. But I somehow found a liking to this sport. Being at a young age, skill wasn't obviously evident, so being a hard-worker was what distinguished you in practice. I pushed and pushed and pushed, and was further encouraged by the coach who admired hard-workers. I quickly ranked to be the captain of the team, but sadly, that didn't turn out to mean much... I was never able to go to the games. The games were always so far, and not having a car or means of transportation, I never experienced the thrill of the competition. I would always be jealous to hear the stories of my teammates, but of course, these were just small exhibition games that kept no score.

The following year, I wasn't able to join the basketball club because of finances. My dad after giving up his pastorship, took up a job as a store manager with my mom selling needles and threads. It wasn't like we were starving, but needs were barely met. Coach would take me out of class to talk to me about joining the team again and again. I was ashamed to tell him that I couldn't join because of finances. I made excuses that we were going to move away soon, and other non-sense. He offered to cut the cost of the club in half, but even then my parents told me it was hard to afford. That was a heart-wrenching experience for me.

Another highlight of my time in SEK were marbles. This was a huge trend that all of a sudden skyrocketed some time during my stay there. There was this wall where there was a bunch of water fountains in front of the cafeteria. On the other side, there would be a line of kids lined up with their backs against the wall, with a certain formation created with their marbles. Other kids would come to challenge them. They would use their marbles to hit the marble formation. What you hit was yours. What you missed became theirs. I still remember very vividly those rowdy walls.

--

I want to talk about two more stories that are actually one whole story that was a big piece in my Chilean days. Outside of school, I went to Korean school. Surprisingly, Chile had a good number of Koreans - a good number to create a Korean Saturday school every week with every grade and teachers for every grade and even a principal. We used to take the bus in downtown which would take us to this worn-down property that had worn-down buildings. It was in Korean school that I met another dear friend of mine by the name of Sang-Hoon. I honestly don't know how we met, but we somehow met. He visited me in LA, a few years back, and from hearing the recounts, apparently, he thought I was really smart, and thus took notice of me. I did skip a grade in Korean school, since I came from Korea and spoke Korean with my parents. But honestly, I thought those grade levels were a joke.. Anyhow, he noticed me and then somehow, my mom and his mom somehow got in contact with each other. And then, the next thing you know is that I'm getting excited to go over to his place and to sleep over and hang out.

There are two experiences I would like to share with SH. The first is that I really miss those creative activity sessions we used to have. Of course, we didn't call it that. We were just explorers that made use of benches, swings, sand, grass, skateboards, scooters, walls, pavements, sticks, and anything we can find outside the apartment complex. These were awesome times that, of course, anybody who is older will look down at. But I believe these sessions constituted in me an eternal kid-heart that loves crazy ideas. Our adventures would be part-Pokemon, part-Digimon, part-pirates, and mainly-whatever. We would jump over hedges, sleep in benches, heal fake wounds, destroy enemies, find and hide treasures, and a bunch of other crazy stuff. Anyhow, I know it's silly, but I really account these times with Hoon to the perpetual kid in my heart that can come out whenever he wants to. Growing up, I'm learning to balance this.. and I believe it's an extremely useful skill.

Another account I like to share is very negative actually, but an extremely rewarding experience that benefits me to this day. Sang-Hoon was very rich. His parents owned a very good clothing business that had several(?) stores in Chile. So, he would always get the latest Pokemon cards and the best of the shiny cards. I, on the other hand, couldn't really afford to buy any Pokemon cards. All the cards that I owned I got through trading or by having it handed down to me from older kids that didn't play anymore. One weekend, I slept over his house, I took a few of his shiny Pokemon cards and put them in my deck. I thought he would never notice since he had so many, and I could just hide them in my room. If it came to the point that he wanted to search my room, I would sell them, and buy new packs of Pokemon cards (yes, I am really evil). Well, he called me the night after I went home after the sleepover and asked me if I had accidentally taken his pokemon cards. Of course I lied, and pretended to not know about anything.

I thought the plan went accordingly and I was all safe now. But of course, I didn't think it over thoroughly enough. What if SH told his parents who then would end up telling my parents about it? And of course, that's exactly what happened. My mom denied it at first, not willing to believe that I would do such a thing. She came home, and asked me, and of course, being in shock and not knowing what to do, I lied. At this point in stage, it was easier to lie to continue my storyline. Otherwise, if I told the truth, I would have looked like a loser to SH, whom I orginally told that I didn't steal his cards. Anyhow, my mom let my dad know about it and when they both confronted me, I had to lie again. Man, one event in sin just brings in another and another to an endless cycle... I think it must have been a Saturday or a Sunday, or some time during the summer, because I remember we were eating lunch when they inquired. And lunch time that day was awfully quiet. Too quiet that I can hear my own heart pound, and my conscience speak. I guess before that I unconsciously knew that I had a conscience, and experienced it. Whenever I would lie, or hit my sister, I felt this painful moving in my heart that told me that I was did the wrong thing. But, oh man, never this clear. That experience definitely brought me to a definite experience of my conscience.

Soon enough, I couldn't help it. The guilt that was building up, the awful feeling of my conscience crying out, and the silence in the dinner table. I went to my room and brought the stolen Pokemon cards and showed them to my parents. My parents were in shock and angry at the same time. I was punished (which I won't go into details) and it was good that I was punished. I, for that short moment of time of stinging punishment, hated my parents. If only they had given me money to buy Pokemon cards, this would have never happened. Looking back, I appreciate and treasure this expereince. That same day, we went over to SH's place, where I made my entrance of shame. To my surprise, SH forgave me really quickly, and we went back to playing again. Oh, kids.

Anyhow, I would never trade this experience. This matter of listening to the conscience is so crucial in the Christian race. Also, having and bearing to have a soft heart to be forgiven is also essential. It's easy to forgive others; but to be forgiven is a galaxy away. (Of course, this situation varies depending on which side of the equation you are in...). Anyhow, enough dwelling in all this philosophical talk. I like to give you a verse! 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness!"

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Christians on Campus Kankakee Outing - November 12th, 2011

Last Saturday, November 12th, 2011, we had our first gathering of all the Christians on Campus clubs throughout Illinois & others. And I just have to insert this: it was awesome! So good to blend with other fellow brothers and sisters in the other campuses!

The topic of this time was the Lord's recovery of His Building.

Here's a tidbit of what I enjoyed - Our hearts can be very complex, because our living is very complex, and some times (or rather most of the times) our complex living causes us to lose sight of why we are really here on earth. I have somehow entered that kind of condition, and this weekend was very timely in bringing me back. Did you know that our God is a homeless God? Isaiah 66:1 says "Thus says Jehovah, Heaven is My throne, And the earth the footstool for My feet. Where then is the house that you will build for Me, And where is the place of My rest?" Isn't this striking? Even the lowest king on earth probably had a throne and a footstool. He probably also had a house where he can rest and dwell. But God Himself, the greatest and the highest One in the universe, asks, "Where is the place of My rest?"

What the Lord is after today is His house, His dwelling place. Speaking of a house, what is a house exactly? It's not just a rectangular formation of bricks that surround a space that contains your bed, your desk, your fridge, and your furniture. In fact, it's a place where you can throw up your feet on the couch and nobody can say anything. It's a place where you can have your bed upside down, and nobody cares. It's a place where you can be you. It's a place that expresses who you are. So, when we say that God is looking for His house, we are likewise saying that God is looking for a place where He can have the final say in the arrangements to fully express who He is.

So, what is His house? Christians throughout the centuries have had this desire to build something for God. King David is referred to by the Psalmists in Psalm 132 "How he swore to Jehovah and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob: I shall not go into the tent of my house; I shall not go up onto the couch of my bed; I shall not give sleep to my eyes, slumber to my eyelids; Until I find a place for Jehovah." What a sweet prayer. I was very touched by this verse, and a song that was written from this verse that we sang during the time:
  1. Recall how David swore,
    "I'll not come into my house,
    Nor go up to my bed,
    Give slumber to mine eyelids,
    Until I find a place for Thee,
    A place, O Lord, for Thee."
    Our mighty God desires a home
    Where all His own may come.
  2. How blinded we have been,
    Shut in with what concerns us;
    While God's house lieth waste—
    Lord, break through, overturn us;
    We'll go up to the mountain,
    Bring wood and build the house;
    We'll never say, "Another day!"
    It's time! We'll come and build!
  3. O Lord, against these days,
    Inspire some for Your building,
    Just as in Ezra's day—
    A remnant who are willing
    To come and work in Your house,
    Oh, what a blessed charge!
    Your heart's desire, is our desire—
    We come, O Lord, to build.
  4. Within those whom You'd call
    Put such a restless caring
    For building to give all—
    These times are for preparing;
    The gates of hell cannot prevail
    Against the builded Church!
    The hours are few, the builders too—
    Lord, build, O build in us!
  5. (Repeat the last four lines)
You can here the tune here in the link below.
Source: http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/h/1248#ixzz1e0cFngAG

Anyhow, as I was saying, Christians throughout the centuries have been wanting to build a house for God, and in good intention, built beautiful cathedrals that tower above the skies with jaw-dropping features and stained-glass. But is that really God's house? Isaiah 66:2 says "But this kind of man will I look, to him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word."

What God is after today is not a physical building, but man. In fact, Ephesians 3:17 says "That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith." God, who is homeless, is knocking in the door of my heart, asking for us to let him in. What is our heart? You can say that our heart is composed of our conscience, mind, emotion, and will. Our mind, emotion, and will are the faculties of man's soul that expresses man. Man thinks about something, loves that something, and chooses to do that something. Well, does God have the final say in your thoughts, feelings, and intentions?

To be honest, I was very much exposed how much I'm consider just myself, myself, myself, and become too busy to think about God's need, God's longing, and God's purpose. Well, I guess to kind of cap off the topic, I just want to repeat some practical application points some of the brothers shared:

To start off, here is a principle - the amount of heart-space a particular person of thing occupies, hinges upon the time spent on that particular person/thing. If you spend time playing, thinking, talking about basketball, your heart is full of basketball. I was encouraged and reminded, this last weekend, that I need to spend time with God!

Here are some practical ways you can give God more space in your heart: (1) consider your ways - confess your sins. You know, David had a heart to build a temple for God, but he wasn't able to build it. It was his son, Solomon, who became the one to build the temple. Do you know how Solomon came about? Here's the divine equation: man's transgression + man's repentance + God's forgiveness = Solomon, who built the temple. Nothing of ourselves can build God's house. (2) spend time in the Word! The word is where God resides, and you are sure to find Him there! After the children of Israel returned from captivity in Babylon, they needed a reconstitution of the Babylonian mindset, culture, tastebuds, and living. Ezra, a scribe that was skillful with the Word of God, was able to lead such a recovery in constitution.

Anyhow, we not only listened to brothers sharing, but also had a variety of activities - the weather was good enough to play ultimate frisbee, football, and volleyball. I really wish someone would post pics of that time. I would love to see them.

Another matter that I really enjoyed, was the singing and the exercise of our entire being - body, soul, and spirit - to enjoy the Lord and love the Lord (Mark 12:30)..

And I heard some rumors, that there could be another Kankakee some time this academic year. Awesome!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

The Experience of Abraham (Part 8) - Transitioning

The following weekend, my dad was ready to give his last sermon as the pastor of the Baptist denomination in Santiago.

I probably wasn't there, as we children would usually be running around upstairs after children's service had ended. I wish I was there. I wish I could hear what was said during that time -- what really made my dad give up his pastorship and follow this ministry, almost blindly.

I guess having heard it second-hand is pretty swell. I hope hearing it third-handedly for you guys hasn't watered down the original event. Anyhow, from what I remember hearing from my source was that my dad basically shared what I have been sharing with you guys for the last few weeks. All the events - kicked out of Korea, establishing something in Santiago, finding the Life-Studies, fasting for a week, etc... As he shared this, he basically told the congregation, that he had found this way and that this was the way he was going to take. He didn't coerce anybody from the congregation, nor uplift this way that he was going to take. He just left it open for the assembly.

 Apparently, it was a half-split. Half of the congregation followed my dad to meet with the Church in Santiago, while half remained.

I think from here I'm going to transition into my side of the story again.. I'll post some time soon as this post was fairly short.

The Experience of Isaac (Part 4) - My Turn Again

Okay. So I think I've moved enough with my dad's story to come back and catch up with mine. Being only 8 years old, I had no idea what was going on at that time. I did recognize how we moved from a nice 2-bedroom apartment to a 1-bedroom apartment, and then to that old-blue apartment I talked about a few weeks ago. I did remember how we had a car once a upon a time, and then we didn't all of a sudden. But yet again, I don't think I've lived life too long... I just thought that all this was part of life.

Anyhow, I want to devote three more series on my part to Chile, and then it's time to move on. I'm sorry if I've been boring you guys with personal details... The first one (this one), I'll talk a little bit about the church life in Santiago and some characters that really influenced me. The second one, I'll talk more on a human level with what happened at SEK (school life), and the third one I'll talk about the journey to America.

Since we no longer had a car, we had to journey ourselves to the meeting hall of the Church in Santiago. It was like an hour's worth of walking+train+more walking. I remember walking those hot, dry streets of Santiago that resembled nothing like something. Old buildings, untrimmed grassy areas, broken sidewalks filled with black gum patches. Anyhow, my parents, my sister and I would walk to the subway station (or was it a bus?) and after getting off somewhere we would walk for another half-an-hour to this one building structure. It had no cross or some symbol that resembled a church building. It was literally a box shaped structure that had a rectangular opening that was closed by one of those  steel roll-downs. No door. Just the roll-down. It was a very interesting open area that was still going under constructions. There were no long benches you find in large cathedrals that were grounded on the floor, just those single, white, plastic Sterlite chairs arranged in a neat semi-circle. No cross. No decorations. No statues. No flower arrangements. Just a simple gathering. For the most part, I went to the younger elementary group, which met upstairs right as you walked in the rectangular entrance. There we participated in a lot of the crafts and story-telling they do in a youth group. Except it was no longer all korean kids. Actually, we were the minority group.

In fact, for the adults, the Korean saints that followed my dad must have been quite a surprise for the Chilean saints. One day, this group of Koreans just decided to join the fellowship and they would sit at the right hand side of the gathering because most of them needed translation. One person would kind of sit in the middle as everybody would listen to the live translation.

Anyhow, we did this every week. And I really liked it. I don't remember much of what I did or what I heard. The few moments that still kind of remain vivid in my head are: that one craft where they gave us a pack of this clay material and we had to chip it with spoons till we "dug" out the dinosaurs in the middle (I thoroughly enjoyed that craft), the first day of moving up to the upper elementary class - we were moved to another room way in the back, in a creaky wooden upstairs room. One of my best buddies Manuel played the guitar and for a kid his age, he was really good. And we would sing together with our teachers some scripture songs. That one time when I kind of started realizing how competitive I was - we went out to the park to play soccer (or futbol) and I was paired with Esteban and I scored and we were up 1-0. Esteban wasn't as athletic so he would be kind of slow, and the other team scored the next two points. I was FURIOUS. I was so mad that I cried, screaming at Esteban to play some defense.. Thank the Lord that when my teacher saw this, he called half-time and we rested a bit to drink some soda. I calmed down. And I guess my screaming at Esteban kind of made him realize that I was pretty serious about winning. He started playing some more D and he stopped all the other team's goals in the second half (to this day I feel terrible for screaming at him). And being small and uncoordinated, it was hard to go through two defenders. I remember this one play though, through a combination of mostly luck and some coordination, I was able to pass through both defenders and score to tie the game 2-2. Then time ran out. I was a bit sore that we couldn't win, but I was elated by that one play that tied the game and Esteban's unheralded defensive abilities.

Two more events that are vivid in my mind -- we had a gospel trip once to a even more rural town than Santiago. The whole church participated in this week-long trip? We would stay in these hostel like commons while going around town to pass out tracts and preach the gospel. I was scared. But even at such a young age, I was surprised to see the openness of the people. We would travel in this huge bus that would carry all of us. It was so packed that sometimes, we little kids had to sit on the steps of the bus. Good way to get to know the bus driver and torture him to death by asking him how much time we had left on the trip.

It was during that time I met Jose, who has become a personal role model to me to this day. He was in the sixth grade, and was also really tall. To me, I thought it was going to take me ages to get to where he was going to be in height and in age. I thought he was the coolest kid ever. And he would take care of us. We stayed in the same room during our trip and we had so much fun playing tag. During the bus rides, we would ride together and just talk. He was an exemplar model, and I told myself, when I grow up, I want to be just like Jose, take care of kids younger than me, listen to them, play with them, and spend time with them, cause I feel very cherished and I want others to feel loved like I did. He even introduced me to cheese! When I first got to Chile, I hated cheese. It was everywhere and I didn't like the taste of it at first. I was grossed out by all the kids who ate Cheetos, and I kept loyal to my Frito Lays. Anyhow, we were on this bus trip going somewhere, and we had just stopped by this place. It was midnight so I was falling asleep by every step. Jose was getting hungry and he had prepared a snack for himself -- white cheese on bread, microwaved. I woke up by the smell of food and realized how hungry I was. I was hungry. He offered me melted cheese. And ever since then I have fallen in love with cheese. (It took me some time to break into Cheetos though..)

So the saints in Santiago had a few huge gatherings like these through our tenure in Chile. They were fun. Once, we went to this ranch where we had everything from horses to ping pong table. Anyhow, I've written a lot today.. I think. Please spare my fingers...

Thursday, November 3, 2011

The Experience of Abraham (Part 7) - Faith vs. Finances

My dad was a pastor even before I was born. He had worked here and there in other jobs before he became a pastor, but this was what he had gone to school for and have been doing for all his working life. I remember when we were still in Korea, I would go visit my dad's workplace at the edifices next to the denominational building. It was an office space full of cubicles and in one of those maze-creating boxes was my dad's cubicle. In his office were two picture frames of family pictures, a computer and a bunch of random things. When he was pastoring in Seoul Baptist, he was also an editor for the church newspaper, but besides that, not much else... maybe except for farming, since that's what my dad studied in college. But anyway, what I'm trying to say that giving up his pastorship meant giving up everything we have -- including our income and means of living.

As a pastor, my dad received financial contributions - a stipend, an apartment for us to live in, and a car. That was how we were able to maintain our living in this foreign land of Chile.

Wait, sorry, I don't think I explained why he needed to give up his pastorship. He continued to read materials from the ministry of Brother Witness Lee. And just to make a correction from last time, I think the points regarding local churches (one church one city) came from Revelation 2 & 3 for him, not Acts (although Acts also speaks regarding that matter as well). Anyhow, minor detail. The bible never mentions this matter concerning having a pastor. It mentions apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers, but not pastors. Maybe you are thinking, isn't a pastor and a shepherd and a teacher the same thing? In a sense, yes, a pastor does shepherd his flock and teach them. But on the other hand, you don't need to be a pastor to do that. The Bible, however, also speaks sternly concerning the works of the Nicolaitans. It mentions specifically how much the Lord hates the work of Nicolaitans. What the Nicolaitans did is what is commonly known as the "clergy-laity" system -- having an organizational hierarchy of ones being over others. Pastors probably started out with good intentions, but I feel that just having this title of being a pastor you unconsciously put yourself over others, and others unconsciously put you above themselves.

I do believe on one hand, we need to be under the care and leading of older and more mature brothers before us. On the other hand, God doesn't want a man to mediate His relationship with His own people, does He? Hebrews 4:16 says "Let us come forward with boldness to the throne of grace..." In the Old Testament times, Jehovah established some ordinances with Moses because man had become sinful due to Adam's fall. When man entered into God's presence with his present condition, the glory of God would consume him, because he would not match God's holiness. This is why there was one high priest who could enter the Holy of Holies once a year. However, now in the New Testament, the Lord had rent the veil that separated the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. Through the Lord's redeeming death, we now have the position to come to God, with no one but Christ as our Mediator.

I do also have a question regarding pastorship in today's society. When you go through seminary, do all your graduation requirements and write your thesis and turn it in to finally get your diploma and the "right" to teach the Scriptures, who is it that approves you? God? or the human panelists that review it?

Anyhow, I tangented again. So, my dad having realized this came upon a serious dilemma. Here was his family - a wife and two children - that he brought half-way across the globe to settle down in a foreign culture. Here was his job as a pastor that was putting bread on the table for his family and sending his children to school. But here was this reality that he had found and knew that this was it. Nothing else compares to this and comes close to this. In no other denomination or Christian group would he find such. This was truly the Lord's Recovery.

So my dad fasted.

And growing up back then, this period of a week or so still is very vivid in my mind. First of all, dad wasn't home. Second of all, I remember visiting him one day - walking down the steps to the meeting room of the congregation, seeing my dad kneeled on the floor with his face planted upon his hands on a foot-high raised platform. Seeing him and how he was unshaved, and hearing my mom saying "drink some water." Prior to coming in, I had some snacks in my hands that I was eating, but mom told me to leave them upstairs because the smell would have made dad feel hungry.

Of course, I had no idea what was going on at that time. But when I heard this part of the story from my parents later on, I really appreciated what they did. After a week's worth of time, my dad was finally made clear and had the peace to the direction he was about to take. He flew out to Korea, went to the head-pastor of the Seoul Baptist and basically, quit. I thank and praise the Lord, that despite of the fact that he had a wife and two children to feed, my dad chose the path of faith over the necessity of finance. Same with my mom, who knowing this was probably not a very wise decision from the point of view of the world, stood in oneness with my dad and followed his vision all along.