When I was serving in the El Paso church, I had almost no income from the church, but my monthly social security tax was $300. I think it was because the house that we lived in was on my name and receiving a salary from the church. So I decided not to pay the social security tax. This benefit was only given to evangelists or pastors who started receiving a stipend from the church. However, after retirement, I cannot receive the social Security pension. But God does not let me starve. When my wife retired, I could receive half of her pension, so I could not starve in my old age.
I will continue to write books in the future. 24 hours are not enough for my day. In the evening, there are many times when I regret not having a day. Praying for 2 hours, writing books, reading books, practicing musical instruments, exercising, etc.
Let me tell you about the marathon. The Apostle Paul mentioned the marathon many times in his words. He compared the life of faith to the marathon. The most representative Bible verse is 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. ‘24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may receive the prize. 25 And everyone who competes is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I fight like one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.’
I participated in my first marathon at age 60 (2008). Before I started my ministry in Los Angeles, I didn’t even know there was a marathon. On the day of the marathon, they block off all the roads leading to the marathon. The marathon was on Sunday. On that day, the roads were blocked so I couldn’t get to church. Every highway was blocked. That’s when I learned that there were marathons in the world.
One fall, I came home from my ministry and there was an advertisement in my mailbox recruiting first-time marathoners. All the big marathons are on Sunday. As a pastor, I couldn’t participate in a marathon on Sunday. But the advertisement said that the next marathon would be on Monday, President’s Day. My heart began to move. The LA Marathon started on Monday at that year only at Grand Ave in downtown and went across the city and back to the starting point. Therefore, the churches in Korean town could not hold services properly, and Korean churches and other ethnic churches were in an uproar.
At that time, the company that ran the race also changed. The race management team suggested that they change the date of the race, so they tried to change the race from Sunday to Monday. I joined the first marathon training team in October. The training site was Griffith Park. There were about a hundred participants. The team leader instructed them to run 3 miles at a speed that allowed them to talk to each other while running, and to form groups in order of arrival. I joined Group 1. However, there were about 5 months of training before the race, and the race management team thought that since the marathon was a business, there would not be many spectators on that day, so they changed the date of the race to Memorial Day in late May.
President’s Day is a public holiday only for government offices, so they thought it would be difficult for the general public to participate, so they changed it to Memorial Day. Our training team secured sufficient training period because the training period was extended from 5 months to 8 months. However, other participants started complaining. They said that the Christians made the marathon participants run in hot weather. So I thought that this would be the first and last time I would participate in the LA Marathon. I prayed to God. God, these complainers are slandering the church. I prayed that it would be cloudy on that day, but the weather became cloudy starting from Sunday afternoon the day before the race, and on Monday morning, the day of the race, it became cloudy enough to drizzle, so I was able to finish the marathon.
Since then, I only participate in Saturday marathons. Saturday marathons are usually held in small cities, so there are few participants and no spectators. There is nothing to eat because you run through valleys and fields. Only water is provided. Those who run ahead eat up all the bananas and simple snacks, so people like me don’t even have any thing. Since you run in the scorching sun for more than 5 hours, you get very hungry. When you fill your stomach with water, you can regain some strength.
I regret participating in the marathon because it is so difficult 3-4 miles from the starting point. However, as you progress a little further, dopamine is triggered, and you feel good, run faster, and run farther. I think athletes run marathons for that feeling. Of course, the feeling of crossing the finish line and getting a medal around your neck is also exciting.
The marathon is a fight with yourself. It is a training to overcome adversity and persevere. Hebrews 12:21 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Just as a marathon runner endures hardship toward the finish line, the finish line of our life of faith is the right hand of God where our Lord sits. Just as there are spectators surrounding a marathon race like a cloud, our predecessors who have run ahead of us are cheering us on as we run.
I hurt my right hand. My thumb can’t bend, and my index finger is bent in the shape of a “ㄷ.” I tried to play the violin with this finger for two years, but I gave up because my right hand was weak to hold the stick. I learned drums for two years, but my hand got hurt because of the stick, so I put it off. I can’t hold the guitar pick, so I use a pick that I put on my thumb. I started playing the saxophone, but my second finger is bent like a “ㄷ”, so I can barely press the F key with second finger, but when I try to press the F# key with my third finger, my second finger presses the F key together, so I can’t play, so I put a thimble on it so that I can spread my second finger a little. Now I play three instruments: the alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, and tanner saxophone. The instrument that I feel most comfortable with is the harmonica. I don’t know when I started playing it, and I didn’t think I practiced hard, but one day I realized that I was good at playing the harmonica. In order to play the C Major harmonica, I changed all the keys to C and memorized and play about 20 songs. I can memorize and sing about 30-40 songs with the saxophone.
The song that I like to memorize and play on the saxophone is Holy City (G). This is a song that I have memorized and practiced since I started playing the saxophone, and I have practiced it hundreds of times for more than 7 years. And there are also songs like Amazing Grace (A-F-G), The Bright, Heavenly Way (C-G), O Holy Night (A), You Raise Me Up (C-D), and dozens of songs like Noh Sa-yeon’s Wish (A), Taepyung Ga(Song of Peacefulness) (D), Danny Boy (C-A), Red River Valley (C), Sail along silvery moon (D), Virgins digging pearl shells (G), Star spangled Banner(G).
When I was in COVID-19, I started growing cacti in my backyard to relieve my depression. I choose cacti from Home Depot or Walmart Garden and buy them. I also buy rare cacti from all over the world through the Internet and grow about 400 cacti, and their flowers are so gorgeous. When I first started growing cacti, I didn’t know that they bloomed. That’s because when I was young, I read in a Korean comic book that cacti bloomed once every 100 years. But many Koreans know the same thing as me. Some Cacti bloom only at night, and some they bloom two or three times a year, and they vary depending on the type. It’s easy to grow because you water them about once a week, but you have to endure the pain of getting your hands pricked by the cactus thorns to take care of them.
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