I will be gone from June 7 to 14 so there will not be a regular email until close to June 22. I realize that is only a week but the timing is from Saturday to Saturday which doesn’t allow me to prepare a mailing for June 15. I will be visiting Don and Mary Thomas in Wyoming.
Saturday afternoon I enjoyed the music and drama the Korean congregation prepared as part of their evangelism.
The drama was based on the true story of one of the members in the congregation. It is a brutal story of terror, suffering, guilt, meaninglessness, and despair. It would be a horrible story except in the end this lady came to faith in Jesus Christ. It was then that she realized God had used it all—the accusations of treachery against her parents and brother, imprisonment, torture, hunger, physical pain, a war, a turbulent marriage, poverty, death, migration, and unjust exploitation—to have her real burden (of sin) removed by her Savior, Jesus Christ. And He took more than forty years to accomplish His desires. It was a powerful reminder to me to not take for granted all that God has spared several generations (thus far) in this country from enduring in order to know and believe the Truth.
When did I learn to speak Korean? In my college days Bro. Jack Baskin urged us to learn Korean (and then go to Korea as missionaries). Like everyone else, I didn’t heed his advice. Thankfully, English subtitles were projected for my convenience (but not mine alone).
Prior to the drama, there were several musical selections from the choir, two ladies groups, a men’s chorus, an operatic solo, and dueling violins. One hymn sung was “Wonderful Peace.” As the words of the second stanza were displayed and I heard the tune, I had a few moments to pause and reflect on their meaning (what a novel idea to do with hymns, or the Scriptures).
“What a wonderful treasure I have
…buried deep in the heart of my soul;
So secure that no power can mine it away…
Peace! Peace! Wonderful peace,
Coming down from the Father
…In fathomless billows of love.”
Only the redeemed can find treasure in the rubble of a multitude of sorrows and call it “wonderful peace from the Father in fathomless billows of love.” It is a treasure I have, how about you?