The Publication of "Worship Through Novels"

Hello, my dear friends! 

I recently published my book titled "Worship Through Novels."  

You can search it at online bookstores, including Amazon.

"Worship Through Novels" is an adventurous journey to find the hidden Biblical treasures in 12 literary works.

The 12 stories that this book covers are among the best known as must-reads.

When it comes to fiction, just reading is not enough, and when you try to catch Biblical lessons from it, the stories will become the bread of your soul.

As you know, fiction is like a laboratory of real life. Experiencing a variety of lives through tales will give you valuable chances to practice Christian lives.

I believe that "Worship Through Novels" will guide you to "Worship Through Lives."

Christians More Beautiful Than Nature (Fiction)

The Stars, written by Alphonse Daudet, is a pure love story set in nature.

A shepherd took care of sheep alone in the mountain. His only friends were stars in the sky.

He got all the necessities provided from his owner's farm every two weeks.

One day, there was no one else to deliver, so the master's daughter, Stephanette, brought all the stuff loaded on the mule's back.

The shepherd was so excited because she was the girl that he had a crush on.

Once the delivery was done, she left the mountain but returned after a while for some reason.

It turned out that the rainstorm caused the river to swell and she couldn't cross over to the other side. 

At night, Stephanette was scared of sleeping in the dark mountain. She came out of the cabin to join the shepherd guarding outside.

He told the girl sitting by his side about the stars.

Stephanette, listening to the story, placed her head on his shoulder without realizing it and fell asleep.

The young man kept an innocent mind despite his burning desire for her. He recalled this moment later:

"I imagined that one of these stars, the finest one, the most brilliant, having lost its way, had come to settle, gently, on my shoulder, to sleep."(retrieved from EBOOK: THE STARS a tale from a Provencal shepherd di Alphonse Daudet)  

How do you like the story? Can you feel the shepherd's love? He had his affection for Stephanette with a pure heart.

1Peter 1:22 ESV says, "Love one another earnestly from a pure heart." The shepherd's love was in line with the Scripture. He never had the unclean lust toward her.

Nature is beautiful, but in fact, there is nothing more beautiful in God's eyes than a pure human being.

God created humans in His own image (Genesis 1:27), and the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed (Romans 8:19).

I used to go on street evangelism every weekend years ago. I tried to share the Gospel with passers-by, but in most cases, I was turned down.

In the middle of being rejected, I was so delighted when I received some warm responses from Christians. Each of God's children I encountered was my Stephanette.

In this spiritually dark city, I imagined that the believers would shine like jewels in God's eyes, just like stars in the night sky.

As the prophet Zephaniah sings, I believe the Lord rejoices in His beloved children.

"He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you but will rejoice over you with singing."
(Zephaniah 3:17 NIV)

(Faction) See Jesus First!

The youth in my church went on street evangelism to the city centre. Thirteen high school students joined the event. The teacher put me in charge of video recording.

All gathered in Aotea Square, prayed and scattered in pairs. Peter and Lydia met a Hindu who claimed that Christ was the same god as Krishna of Hinduism, judging from similar pronunciation. 

Peter asked him. "Did Krishna die for you?" Hearing him answering No, Peter said, "Then he is not Jesus."

Paul and Barnabas spoke to a beggar standing still like a statue in the middle of Queen Street. Paul asked him, "If you died tonight, would you go to heaven?" 

He remained silent, and Paul's next question followed. "Don't you need Jesus?" Finally, the beggar opened his mouth. "I need a coin, not Jesus."

Paul and Barnabas instantly had a hunch that the 'statue man' would be the game-changer for the outreach. So, they summoned all the members there. 

The student evangelists stood face to face with the motionless beggar and began singing a song titled "Lord, you are more precious than silver."

The number of bystanders increased, and they were enjoying this weird performance that combined song and silence. 

Finally, someone threw a coin before the beggar, and the crowd continued to throw it. As coins piled up quickly, the silent man's face blushed with excitement. 

Then Paul, capturing the tipping point, asked, "Do you not really need Jesus?" He replied in a hurried tone, shaking his head. "Yes! I need Jesus!" His loud answer made all the people around laugh and applaud.

I posted that dramatic video on Facebook. Lots of likes and comments followed. One of the comments was particularly impressive. "Do you need money? See Jesus first!"

 

(Essay) Two Enochs: Two Different Lives

There are two Enochs in the Bible. One is the eldest son of Cain, and the other ascended to heaven without dying. Let me look into the second Enoch first. You can see his story in Genesis 5:21-24.

 

At the age of 65, Enoch became the father of Methuselah. For some reason, his life was drastically transformed since then. Enoch walked faithfully with God for another three hundred years and was finally taken up to heaven.

 

Enoch's time was before Noah's Flood, and people were getting more and more wicked. Enoch might have been one of those. But he was changed and later known as a person who pleased God. (Hebrews 11:5b)

The name of Enoch is of Hebrew origin. Its meaning is "trained, vowed, dedicated; profound." (www.thebump.com baby names)

 

The fact Enoch walked with God implies that he had been living up to his name. He must have "vowed" his faith and "trained" to grow spiritually and "dedicated" as a man of God. 

Furthermore, he became a "profound" prophet who had already prophesied the Second Coming of Jesus. You can hear Enoch's voice in Jude 1:14(NLT). "Listen! The Lord is coming with countless thousands of his holy ones."

But what about another Enoch? Genesis 4:17b(NLT) says, "Then Cain founded a city, which he named Enoch, after his son."

The other Enoch represented the city civilization which would later build the Babel tower rebelling against God. (Genesis 11:1-9) 

The lives of the two men with the same name Enoch were utterly different. This contrast teaches us what matters is not the name itself but the identity. I wish we all will live with the new identity which the Lord Jesus gives.

 

(Fiction) "Forgive Up To Seventy Times Seven!" by Regan Kim

Leo looked in the broken hand mirror that was dumped on the ground. His looks had become terrible in just half a day. It broke his heart.

Not far away was a cafe. A couple sat at a table, chatting. Each held a mug in their hand. The lovers looked happy, but Leo felt so miserable. This morning, he had been absurdly mistaken for a thief.

The incident happened while he was idling around town and came across an unidentified bag next to a rubbish bin. Curiosity aroused, so Leo immediately got into searching through the bag.

The bag owner, who was talking to someone a few steps away, soon realized what was going on. He jumped and kicked Leo mercilessly. Leo screeched and ran away frantically.

After wandering around aimlessly, Leo found himself on the beach. The roaring waves seemed to blame him. His curiosity had long been a source of trouble. He was losing his will to live. Leo took a step closer to the sea. The water he felt on his feet was cold. The time to make a final decision was just around the corner.

At that moment, Leo heard a church bell ring. The sound awakened his fading spirit. His steps unwittingly led him to the church on the hill. The main door of the church was closed. Leo opened a side door with a slight push.

It was dark inside, with only a small glimmer of light coming from the office upstairs. When Leo went up to investigate, the person sitting at the desk was about to switch off the light. Their eyes met as Leo approached, and the man shouted, "Oh, Leo!"

Leo couldn't stand it anymore. He barked like crazy, wagging his tail vigorously. Yes! Leo was a puppy, a one-year-old Schnauzer with a bushy beard. The person in the office was Leo's owner, a minister of the church.

The pastor hugged Leo's neck. "It's all right," he said. He already knew what had happened to Leo. When he went to town looking for Leo, he heard the bag owner's whole story and apologised.

He fed Leo first, then put Leo on his lap and began to pray. Leo heard the pastor's prayer. "Lord Jesus! Leo got into trouble again. But, let me forgive him up to seventy times seven, not seven times." Leo thought to himself, 'Hmm, it's weird. My pastor forgives me in the name of Jesus.' The name of Jesus gave Leo profound relief.

Leo fell asleep. In his dream, he faced the same bag again. Unable to resist, he began to sniff the bag. At that moment, the bag owner popped up.

Leo quickly escaped and exclaimed, "Jesus! Please forgive me once more! I still have seventy times seven minus one left!"

(Essay) If we were a missionary, shouldn't we accept hardship?

It's New Year, but our lives are still not secure. Even if it is peaceful at a specific moment, we know it is not eternal. Our lives are so fragile that they break easily.

God gives us his peace, but it will not last forever within us. God's peace is eternal, but our faith holding the peace is shaky.

Don't attribute the reason to that our faith is small. We are at war, and how can peace be maintained on the battlefield even if the belief is rock solid?

One of the reasons why we are at war comes from our mission. Act 1:8 commands us to spread the Gospel to Jerusalem, all Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. Remember that preaching the Gospel starts from Jerusalem, where our home is located.

We don't necessarily have to go somewhere to become a missionary. All Christians must live as a missionary, so our attitude about how to live matters, no matter where we are.

The life of a missionary accompanies hardship. The act of spreading the Gospel is not the only reason for the suffering that missionaries experience. When reading the testimonies of missionaries, we learn many of their difficulties from daily life issues.

If they are a jungle missionary, such little things as toilet or bedroom troubles are a challenging part of sufferings. A money problem is also a big issue as a missionary is a mere human.

Don't neglect the issues as worldly things.  A question should come first before devaluing.

What is my life aiming for?

If the centre of my life is evangelical, our daily life issues can be called missional ones.

Think of daily troubles, such as the coronavirus threat, high living cost, children's future path, housing problem, neighborhood noise, parking conflict.

As Romans 11:36 says, "from him, through him, for him are all things," all the living issues we go through come from Jesus, through Jesus, and for Jesus.

When such things keep happening, don't judge that my lack of faith causes them. All of this happens because I am in the mission field, which is at war.

Therefore we always face one crucial task. Make a victory over sufferings with the Gospel wherever we are because we are all missionaries who fight in the Gospel front.