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1. God's grace in 2014

In spring we learned the book of Romans. It was hard to study Romans. God strengthened us so that we were able to finish the book. Though the book was a little difficult to study, we learned how profound the truth of the gospel is. After that, we studied Mark's gospel. Since I came to the United States, I referred to several reference books and messages written by others to prepare Bible study material and Sunday worship messages. One of the reasons was that my English was not fluent enough. This effort was helpful to understand the passage, but I lost the joy of thinking about the word of God. Preparation of message became a big burden and I was very tired. At the end of the year, God helped me deeply meditate on the word of God itself. It restored joy to my soul. It also restored to me the zeal to share the word with others. I found out I must receive the word of God itself rather than collecting more information about it.

Missionary Grace and I spent most of our time taking care of the children who are high school students. We couldn't afford to send them to private or charter schools. They went to public schools near my house. They were lonely in schools. High school courses were challenging to them. My daughter suffered a lot from dehydration and exhaustion. She became depressed. She was absent from school for many days. My son was physically strong but he was often emotionally unstable. He was under a lot of stress and anger. We often thought of coming back to Korea for children. But, we were not sure if returning to Korea was really better for them because they had already learned in American schools for many years. In the dilemma, we did our best to take care of them and asked God for help. God listened to our prayer and worked in them. My daughter recovered physically. My son became more stable. They found some joy at school. God helped them win victory in difficult situations. I thanked God for helping them.

Our green card process had been stuck or delayed for years. And our visa would expire in January 2015. We joined together in prayer in the morning and at night, asking for God's mercy. At the end of the year, finally God helped us receive PERM, extend our visas and renew our driver's license. I thank God for teaching us prayer with patience in this matter. I had worked at home for many years. Due to the change of company policy, all the employees had to go to the office starting June 2014. Going to the office everyday was a burden to me. But, it turned out to be God's grace. I came to understand Americans more. I became more familiar with American culture, food and lifestyle. The green card and visa extension made big progress thanks to working at the office. And by God's grace, I got a promotion.

Two UCCS students, Aeones and Jeonghun, maintained a relationship with us for years. After they became juniors, they were very busy studying and working. They skipped Bible study quite often. They went to their own churches. They have never attended our worship service. I planned to help them closely last year so that they could grow into Bible teachers. But things went against my plan. Jeonghun could not keep up with his major, mechanical engineering. He stopped going to school after taking a leave of absence. One of his legs was longer than the other by about 2 inches because of a car accident long ago. He went to Korea and received surgery to shorten the longer leg. The surgery was successful. Now he is worried about his future security and is busy working a part-time job. Aeones was faithful to Bible study. But, after he became a senior last fall, he could hardly study the Bible. I felt the cold reality the college students face. I think I should have helped them further with their practical problems. Now it is difficult to meet them on a regular basis. May God give me faith, wisdom and compassion to serve them.

Tom Higel is older than 70. He majored in archeology and he is still a strong atheist. We have been meeting each other every week for 6 years. Every time I preached the gospel, he refuted it. To avoid argument, I stopped talking about Jesus for months. I felt guilty for not telling him about Jesus. Recently I resumed preaching the gospel to him, though he did not like it. I believe the gospel is the best gift I can give him. I pray God may open his heart.

In the fall semester, I visited the UCCS campus quite often and met many new students. Yet, none of them joined the Bible study. I blamed students for their indifference to spiritual things. But, when I thought deeply about Jesus' grace of becoming flesh during the preparation of Christmas message, I realized that I am to be blamed. My heart was not humble when I approached them. I often looked down on them because the campus is low-profile. I invited them to Bible study out of a sense of obligation. I really lacked love and compassion for them. I pray I may follow the example of Jesus, who humbled himself to serve sinners. I pray I may have Jesus' compassion in my heart, humble myself and make friends with American college students.

The marriage between Jeremiah Park and Yejin Moon in UIUC was one of the greatest events to us. There were many obstacles to their marriage. Many servants of God prayed and worked hard to fulfill their marriage. God listened to our prayer and solved all problems. They had a happy wedding in June. My family drove to the place and attended the wedding. In the past Jeremiah had made a firm decision to live alone. It seemed impossible for him to build a house church. But God performed a miracle in his life. Thank God for giving him the most suitable helper. I thank all servants of God who prayed and worked for their marriage, especially Dr. Samuel  Lee and Grace Lee, and Missionary Jose Ahn.

2. Plan and Vision for 2015

There has been no visible fruit in the ministry in Colorado Springs. I can make many excuses. But I admit that the loss of passion for the word of God should be the main cause. No one can serve the work of God properly unless he is filled with the word of God. The word of God is alive and active. The word of God is the source of what the servant of God needs. It gives us faith, vision and wisdom. It gives us God's heart for dying souls. As the founder Dr. Samuel Lee emphasized, I must come back to the Bible. My key verse in 2015 is Hebrews which says, "For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." May the word of God be alive and active in my heart. I pray I may serve the work of God by absolute faith in the word of God. 

Prayer topics

1. To serve the ministry by absolute faith in the word of God

2. To raise one Bible teacher among UCCS students

3. For Anna and Yohan to accept Jesus deeply and to be well prepared for college

4. To receive a green card

One word: "The word of God is alive and active"