News > North America

Lincoln Park UBF, USA

April 11, 2013

• Time:  Thursday, April 11 at 7:30 PM
• Place: Colonial Funeral Home at 8025 W. Golf Road in Niles, IL.

P. Mark Vucekovich's Farewell Message

THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD

Psalm 23:1–6 Key Verse: 23:6 “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

In the passage of Scripture we just read, David confesses that the Lord was his Shepherd. He had experienced many times in his life that the Lord was with him, taking good care of him. He had experienced many sufferings in his life, but he believed that the Lord was good and that the Lord loved him. Above all, he had a glorious hope that one day, by faith, he would dwell in the house of the Lord forever. This hope was his real security.

When we believe in Jesus, he becomes our Shepherd, too. We find that he is the one who created us. He is the one who really loves us. He is the one who is always with us. He is our good shepherd who laid down his own life for us on the cross (Jn10:11). He answers our prayers. He is at the Father’s right hand always interceding for us. And he promised that one day he will come back and take us to be with him in the Father’s house (Jn14:1–2). When we know Jesus who is our Shepherd, our hearts are not troubled, even by death.

Mrs. Soon Ja Cho was a woman who believed in Jesus. Because she put her faith in him, Jesus was her good shepherd, too. Mrs. Cho was born in a small village near Chin Ju City, South Korea on November 28,1929. She married at the young age of 19, and her husband was ten years older than her. He was a very responsible man who took care of everything. First they had a daughter, and then, four sons. But Mr. Cho died of stomach cancer at the age of 45. Suddenly Mrs. Cho became a young widow at the age of 35, with five children, who were about 15, 12, 9, 6 and 3 years old. She was totally helpless because she had always depended on her husband to do everything.

Her oldest daughter Deborah helped her by taking care of her four younger brothers, and she eventually went to nursing school to help support the family. But then Deborah studied the Bible in UBF, became a Christian, and began to prepare to go to America as a nurse missionary in 1973, eight years after the death of her father. It meant leaving her widowed mother and four younger brothers behind. It was hard for Mrs. Cho to accept what her daughter was doing, and she resented Christianity. But then God sent a devoted church deaconess to minister to her. Through the deaconess’ earnest prayers and diligent visiting, Mrs. Cho opened her heart to Christ. When her daughter Deborah was leaving for America, they both made a promise with each other: “Jesus will be my true husband.”

At that time Mrs. Cho had to learn how to depend on Jesus her good shepherd. She was very poor. She and her four boys were living in a shabby old house where the floors were heated by coals. One foggy morning, Jesus appeared to Mrs. Cho in a dream and woke her up, Jesus was saying, ”Why are you sleeping so late this morning? Get up quickly!”  When she woke up, she found that her house was full of coal gas (yeontan gas), and she was able to get her children out safely. She realized that Jesus really was her shepherd who was taking care of her and her family. She worried about her daughter in the USA. She was suspicious about UBF. But in another dream God showed her that her daughter was flying wearing white clothes like an angel in the sky, distributing Bible tracts to people. Through that dream, she stopped worrying and accepted that Jesus her shepherd was using her daughter to spread the gospel. Over the past 40 years God used her daughter Deborah to lead several American college students to personal faith in Jesus.

Mrs. Cho had attended elementary school only until the third grade; it was at the time of the Japanese occupation of Korea. So she never learned how to read. But she learned Korean letters by the help of her daughter. Then she began to really enjoy reading the Bible. After she came to America with her three sons, there was one son left in Korea. He also wanted to come to America, but he was too old to get a green card. Mrs. Cho had to have US citizenship to bring him. She didn’t know how to read English and wasn’t able to pass the test requirements. She prayed early in the morning every day. Then she prepared to take the U.S. citizenship exam, writing down the English words using the characters of the Korean language, and she memorized all the answers. In this way, she passed the U.S. citizenship exam and could invite her son to America.

Through Mrs. Cho’s prayers, her sons began to believe in Jesus. God provided a wonderful Christian son-in-law for her daughter, and good Christian wives for three of her sons. Mrs. Cho lived with and cared for her unmarried son for many years with God’s love and a sense of mission. She learned to pray to Jesus her good shepherd for all her practical needs. She also cared for her grandchildren in America, and even for others’ children. Mrs. Cho is survived by her loving daughter, four loving sons, six loving grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

David wrote about the Lord his Shepherd in Psalm 23:6: “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” These words are for Mrs. Soon Ja Cho also. In life she experienced the goodness and love of Jesus her good shepherd. And now, by faith in his grace, she too will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. At this time, we give thanks to God who gave his one and only Son to be our Good Shepherd. We thank God for his promise to be with him forever in the Father’s house, through our faith in Jesus. And we thank God for the life of Mrs. Soon Ja Cho, who experienced the goodness and love of Jesus her good shepherd, and who is now with him in the house of the Lord forever. Let us pray.