31. 100 won and 100 times blessing
32. Eternal Suffering, Eternal Happiness
33. Riding a tricycle joyfully in the autumn wind
34. The Power that raises me up, ‘Conviction’
35. Hand In Hand
31. 100 WON AND 100 TIMES BLESSING
I was on the way to my atelier(*A place for teaching arts to students). I happened to look down and found something on the ground which was shiny. I wondered what it was and found out it was a 100 won coin(*About a dime). I bent down and picked it up. “Argh, it’s just 100 won, what 100 won of all things, what is this 100 won used for…” Even though I found money, it’s only 100 won. I grumbled with dissatisfaction and talked to myself. In former days when I was in elementary school, I could have Ddeokbokki(*spicy stir-fried rice cake) and other various snacks with that 100 won. Nowadays it can’t buy anything. That’s why I didn’t get an pleasure from picking up that money. There’s no other way but to put it in my pocket.
While I was touching that 100 won coin in my pocket, I suddenly thought a different idea. ‘No, it’s not easy to find money on the street, even it’s just 100 won. How miraculous it is to find money. It’s hard to find even one 10 won coin in a year. I found 100 one. What a lucky day it is!^^ (ha-ha)’ With a different idea I suddenly became happy. Then I got the coin from my pocket and stared at it, holding it in my fingers. ‘Is it a good sign? A natural revelation? Does it mean I‘ll receive 100 times blessing? Those ideas came to me. As soon as I had those good ideas, they immediately became strong conviction. ‘Right, Right! It’s a revelation which symbolizes 100 times blessing. Wow… How come… Amazing.^^ (ha-ha)’ Thoughts connected with other thoughts and became the bigger imaginations and I had a big smile. Instantly imagining getting 100 times blessing and happy my future, I was fully thrilled. It seemed like I could have those days instantly like tomorrow. With this experience, I realized how important positive thoughts were. When I considered that the 100 won coin was nothing I grumbled even though I got free money. However when I considered that finding was a lucky thing, I got really happy. Good thoughts magnified into considering finding money is a revelation which symbolizes ‘100 times blessing.’ And then it results in conviction and hope of 100 times blessing in the future. Moreover I felt happy and resolved my mind to live diligently today. So I realized again that Good thoughts and positive thinking decide a good life.
‘Positive thoughts’ are like good seeds scattered in the field of life so that they bear good fruits which is a good life. We can notice a lot of cases that show those who succeeded in life stepped upon their difficulties and others who gave up and collapsed under their difficulties, in the same circumstances. It all depends on their thoughts. From last week’s sermon, I realized how the word is correct. It’s “How you think determines your destiny and determines whether you will receive misfortunes or blessings.” I made up my mind that I’d live with positive thoughts and work diligently. That 100 won coin really seemed to cheer me up as if it was smiling at me.
32. ETERNAL SUFFERING, ETERNAL HAPPINESS
Among my art students is a ten year old boy who is talkative and naughty. One day just after arriving, he talked to himself while putting his bag down. “Ah~ Animals must be so good because they don’t have spirits! whew ~~” He looked strange while bending his head down and talking to himself in low voice. He attends church with his entire family including his grandmother, mom and dad.
I looked at him and asked “Dear OO~ Why did you say that animals must be good because they don’t have spirits?” He answered in a slightly angry voice like this. “Animals don’t go to the hell even though they do the worst evil things!” “You know, people go to the hell if they commit evil things. Animals can do whatever they want. They are better than people. I want to do bad things – whatever I want, anytime! However I feel afraid I might go to the hell so I can’t do them. Ah~ annoying!”
The boy seemed very annoyed by enduring something, like he was in an unbearable situation. I was wondering what to say for a while and I asked these questions. “Dear OO~ There must be bullies who speak bad words and bother your friends in your school. Do you like them? Do you think their behaviors are appropriate? And do you want to copy them? “No way.” “It’s much more joyful and happy to live in good ways than to live in bad ways every day. To do bad things fully seems to be cool but actually you won’t feel good when you do bad things. And then it can’t be easy to do bad things every day. Think about it. If you bully, punch and fight with someone every day… don’t you think it’s hard to constantly live that way? With your bad behavior, you might feel cool at that moment but you can’t be happy continually. To live with good behavior is real happiness even it is sometimes hard to live. And why do you think only about eternal suffering? Haven’t you thought about eternal happiness? You must be so happy when you can get the things you want as presents and fulfill what you have dreamed, right?” “Yes~” “Imagine that the happiness continues every day. Isn’t it so awesome? That imagination makes you feel happy, right? In Heaven, eternal happiness continues. Let’s put it this way. You should choose more appropriate behavior in order to be gain amazing heaven, not because of the fear of the hell. Isn’t it a better idea?”
The boy was nodding with sincere eyes, looking at me. His face, which previously frowned in a grumpy way, looked bright and gorgeous like an angel. He seemed to calm down and started to draw in a pleasant mood. I thought through the conversation I had with him. ‘There’re lots of Christians. There must also be a lot people who believe because they’re scared and afraid of the Hell. So they endure not doing bad behavior to avoid going to the hell and suffering eternally. How amazing it is to have faith because they love God and live with God eternally, not because they don’t want to go to the hell. If they struggle and make an effort to have the eternal happiness of the heaven, not because they want to escape of suffering of the hell, how pleasant and valuable a struggle and effort it is! It can’t be an unendurable and painful struggle with force.’
I wish everyone will love God and live a righteous life to change their spirit into a heavenly form, with the hope of heaven’s eternal happiness all the time.
33. RIDING A TRICYCLE JOYFULLY IN THE AUTUMUMN WIND
I was walking along a road lined with trees. It was an autumn day in November, which is scenic with many fallen leaves on the street. While I was walking in the midst of the autumn mood, one little girl riding on a tricycle passed by me. She seemed to be outside for fun with her mother. She looked younger than kindergarten age, like Korean age 3 or 4. That little girl riding a tricycle looked so adorable. While She rode the tricycle with difficulties, her mother walked slowly with her arms crossed. Even though she stepped on the pedal hard, she couldn’t make the bike move fast. She could hardly manage it with her effort, so she shouted to her mother. “Ccccaaaaaannnn’t ma—ke it. Ccccaaaaaannnnn’t ma—ke it.” She looked so cute, with her frowning face and shouting with slightly awkward pronunciation.
Her mother didn’t care and responded sternly “Come, Hurry up!!” And then the mother kept walking slowly in comfort, still with her arms crossed. I felt a little odd for the mother not to help her little child. However, the mother seemed to cast a side glance at the little daughter to check, instead of making eye contact with the child. Without help from her mother, the child started to push the pedals again. The child couldn’t move fast but instead moved little by little. With the unbalanced power of her legs, she moved in zigzag manner. Her struggling looked quite serious even though she was a little girl. The mother who had gone for a while turned around and flashed her big smile. Then the mother started to push the bike behind her child. The child looked so excited with her bike’s speedy movement while drying her sweat in the wind. The mother pushed her joyfully while singing. That seemed like giving the child a present for her earlier struggling alone. The giggling sound of the child spread everywhere and even I could smile.
Watching the child reminded me of the word, ‘Responsibility’ and I was moved calmly by the thought that God’s mind is the same as that mother’s mind.
- God who watches us calmly when we do our responsibilities, even when we are not good enough.
- God who always cheers us, watching while we fulfill our responsibilities.
- God who wishes we will get stronger and awesome through the training of Responsibilities.
- God who feels happy with us when we do our best, as much as we can, to the end.
- God who helps us with bright smile at the ‘extreme point’ while we’re doing our best.
If the mother just helped her child, she wouldn’t have tried on her own. I thought that the mother’s educational mind was really deep. Letting the child do her best to solve the problem so that she felt challenged then rewarded, even though the mother felt pity on her child. Giving the child bigger happiness by helping after the kid’s best effort. I thought it’s real love. I realized deeply that God helps us happily when He sees our best effort without expecting God’s help first. Even though we are not good enough, when we do our best, God is willing to help us more and more.
34. THE POWER THAT RAISES ME UP, ‘CONVICTION’
There is a time that we collapse under various difficulties when we work on something. Especially during the work that we carry on with religious conviction, we sometimes have unexpected evaluations by different people. We might face criticism and misunderstanding. I also, often experienced such situations by doing Lord’s work.
I think the most valuable knowledge in the world is ‘the Knowledge about God.’ That’s the most precious thing we must learn because it decides our life and eternal life. I’d like to let people know correctly about God’s Love, the world of ‘Sin and Punishment’ and the world of ‘Righteousness and Blessing’ toward mankind. The most urgent thing among them, which I want to report about is that there is an eternal world, Heaven and Hell. All lives who were born with physical bodies have their own spirits, whether they admit or not. Everyone will go to one world, which is Heaven or Hell, according to the deeds of his or her physical body. Heaven and Hell exist according to countless levels, like better heaven and more horrible hell. So many people, even though they love God, they go to the hell. We inevitably should do righteous deeds because we can’t go to Heaven with only a mind of believing in and loving the Lord. To know what are righteous things, it’s really important to learn perfect Words. I want to testify about all these through ‘Arts’ which is my talent. It’s not for compliments by anyone and not for gaining fame. However, with just the reason for doing my mission, there are times I should pay for it unexpectedly. They are pseudonymous criticism, swear words, curses and so on. “Hwabi Jung is anti-Christ! She is a satan, devil! You’re the heroine of the hell! Shame on you. You ruin our country. Go Hell….” Besides these, there are worse swear words which I can’t dare to write here. Whenever such people who swear at me, I think ‘How human beings who resemble the image of God be so scary and evil?’
Today also, I got one mail with extreme swearwords. I got so shocked that my heart seemed to stop. I hardly finished my work and walked back to my place. With my uneasy mind, I feel my heavy steps. Several years ago, when I first suffered this experience, I couldn’t sleep, and was tossing and turning the whole night. Now, I expected I would be okay after enough experiences, but I was still heartbroken with those words of thorns. While I shake my head to erase all those, one word ‘conviction’ popped into my brain. The power of countless ministers who preached in the middle of threating of death was ‘Conviction,’
- The power of Daniel who wasn’t afraid and stood firmly in the den of lions was ‘Conviction,’
- The power of Peter who died on the cross hanging upside down was ‘Conviction,’
- The power of Stephen who died without losing smile while stoned for criticism was ‘Conviction’, I considered all those cases were out of the power of ‘Conviction.’
With the thoughts of ‘God is on my side! I’m doing the things God pleased with!’ I’m doing my awesome mission!,’ I began to get power suddenly. And countless people, who cheered and gave power to me, were on my mind.
- The one who saw the video of Hell and repented sincerely for his sins.
- The one who thanked about making a reality of beautiful heaven and giving hope of heaven.
- The one who didn’t attend his church and lost his faith for a while but found his faith again.
- The one who was abused drugs d got back to the Lord’s love by realizing the reality of hell and sincerely repenting.
- The one who was moved and set his mind to become a minister after he saw the video of hell.
With my small effort and sacrifice, many people have received spiritual strength, live a new life and love God. It seemed that I can hear cheering sounds from all of them, even though I couldn’t see them once. The world is getting more evil. Evil-doers who commit horrible sins without hesitation are getting numerous. On the other hand, there are many hopeful people. I thought that’s why God doesn’t give up this world.
God gave me the power of ‘Conviction’ and raised me up. He cheered me up. While others bend and duck their head due to the cold, I look confident, that march powerfully through the cold wind while holding a smile. I feel pleasantly cool in the severely cold wind, wearing the strong coat called ‘Conviction.’
35. HAND IN HAND
In my last class, there are three 7-year old girls among my students. These girls are good at painting and they are lovely, polite kids. They live nearby. I felt I should bring them to their homes. After class, we walked together toward their places. It was very cold in January as the cold winter weather continued. However, they walked joyfully while playing and not caring about the cold. Their jumping around made me think ‘that’s why they are kids.’ It was getting dark. I felt afraid they might fall down. So I followed them slowly with a careful look. While I considered they would be okay, one girl fell down suddenly. I was surprised and ran to her and helped her to stand. Luckily she didn’t get hurt or injured. So I said, “Sweeties~ Let’s walk holding my hands!” I held girls’ hands on each side and the other girl held hands with her friend on my right side.
The girl on my right side talked to the next girl. “Now we won’t fall down, right?” Then the next girl replied in a confident voice. “Hey~ Don’t worry!! We are walking holding the teacher’s hands. She holds our hands. Our teacher will de~finitely protect us.” My heart was touched with their conversation which they had in a low voice. It sounded quite mature. As I heard their dialogues, I was filled with responsibility. I thought I should pay back their trust, as much as they believe in me. When I had that thought, I held their hands more tightly without recognizing. I checked whether they held their hands well due to worries of their falling down. And I had a special care when we got down the stairs. At that moment I had a thought that God and the Lord seem the same. ‘God will be with us as much as we depend on Him. He will care for me and protect me with strong responsibility as much as I believe in Him.’
While I was walking back to my atelier, I still had a feeling of holding hands with the kids. ‘Trust’ was held in kids’ tiny hands and ‘strong responsibility’ was in my hands which were holding their hands. Furthermore warm ‘Love’ was in our holding hands. The Love couldn’t leak out at all with no hole to find in our firmly held hands. This reminded me of another image. My small hands which hold God’s hands depending on Him and God’s hands which holds my hands firmly with strong responsibility and Love. And then… eternally unchanging ‘Faith and Love’ in it.