tellitslant

We’re literally on the eve of Christmas, with the clock just past twelve. My parents are probably sleeping by now at my brother’s place, in the room next to his newborn, Carter. (Ain’t he cute?) We’ve no snow here in San Diego and lots of the ordinary, but after we finally turned off the TV and let my mom’s home-cooked meals digest, and we started to laugh and swap stories, I felt one thing: we are family. (Sure, queue up Sister Sledge. I don’t mind.)

Earlier today, Jinhee and I were in a church that we dearly love and singing a Christmas hymn, “O Holy Night.” And when we were singing the third verse, I started to tear up and my cracking voice couldn’t keep up with the lyrics: Read the rest of this entry »

They had to act quickly. If they stayed on the mountains they were surely going to be caught. So, they went down to the Han River.

Since the bridges were blown, small boats attempted to shuttle the fleeing refugees across the river into relative safety, but when the boats landed on shore, the swarm of people would overload the boats so that their edges would be flush with the water’s surface. Inevitably, somewhere along their journey across the river, the boat would tip and sink and many would drown. Dead if they don’t cross, yet dead if they tried. After seeing the boats sink, other boats didn’t dare come to shore. It was a stalemate, and the Communists were close behind them. Read the rest of this entry »

My father’s side of the story is like a Hollywood movie script.

In the early part of the 20th century, Presbyterian missionaries found a receptive audience in northern Korea. But in 1945, in the aftermath of World War II, Korea was divided in two and the Communists took control of North Korea, and started to persecute Christians.

This was bad news for my dad’s parents, because they were leaders in the Christian movement. So when the Communists took over, they threw my grandfather in jail because of his faith. Read the rest of this entry »

Jinhee and I were up in the Seattle area spending some time with family and friends. Our first stop after arriving at Sea-Tac International Airport was visiting my grandmother, on my mother’s side. She lives in an apartment complex for elderly people near the International District in the heart of Seattle, and up on the 7th floor, we chowed down on some tasty Naengmyun — Korean cold noodles — and swapped stories about how my family survived during the “Civil War,” what Westerners call the Korean War.

For those of you who don’t know, my food tastes are a dead giveaway to my cultural background. While doing a pastoral internship overseas, my senior pastor asked me about my favorite Korean food. Without hesitation, I said that I loved Duk Mandoo Guk, or Korean dumpling soup. And with my reply, I unknowingly gave away my national identity. The senior pastor then asked, “Is your family from North Korea?” Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been playing a lot of tennis these days. (Check out my new racket on the left.) Sure, I played a lot in high school, but I belonged to the Bad News Bears of tennis. We were one of the worst teams in an inner-city league in Seattle — before the days of Venus and Serena. So to say that I’m playing lots of tennis today to recapture my glory days would be a gross exaggeration. I have no glory days to speak of.

But it’s been fun. And tennis is one of the few sports where practice can be more fun than the real game. Just going out there and hitting the ball back and forth is sometimes more gratifying that the double-fault ridden, approach-shot sailing games I’m usually a part of. Practice is more enjoyable.

And it’s here that I realized a huge difference between practice and the game. Read the rest of this entry »

A friend and I were walking on the beach a few weekends ago, and she told me about her daily life as a medical resident. Unlike the folks on “Grey’s Anatomy” who walk in through the hospital doors during daylight, she said that she often didn’t see the sunshine. She came in before sunrise. And each day, she had the lives of patients in her hands — that’s pressure. But she got through the day. Barely. Then she left the hospital way after sunset. And she wondered where God was in it all.

I can’t think she’s alone. Read the rest of this entry »

Who are the blessed ones? It’s a question my house church leader asked last week. When I call someone blessed, what do I usually mean?

In the past, I meant that they had God’s favor in some way. Or, in a more crass but honest way, God helped them get what they want. Tiger is blessed with golf skills to win major tournaments, eh? Or a neighbor is blessed because they got promoted or nabbed a raise. Or a student is blessed with smarts to get into the right schools. Or a couple is blessed because they got a deal on a new home or car. Or they have healthy children, or they found a great parking spot. Being blessed usually means they have all they want, and God is helping them get it. And they seem thankful. So they must be blessed, right? Read the rest of this entry »

As you can see, Tell It Slant just got a makeover, though not quite an extreme one. I was never fully satisfied with the previous look: the colors never looked right. So what you’re seeing is the fruit of some sleepless nights. (Insomnia sometimes has its benefits.) It’s essentially the same website with a few tweaks — and less space. I especially like the new “archives” page, which is the genius of some generous programmer out there. Read the rest of this entry »

Today was supposed to be the first day. Finally. After three months of stalling.

On Sundays, I go to church. And at the end of our service, anyone can come up for prayer. My pastor has always encouraged me to pray for others during these times, but I’ve always balked. Sundays, I reasoned, are my day off. As a vocational minister, I’d like a day when I’m not doing ministry. I just want to come. To relax and enjoy. To receive and not give. To rest from my labors.

Plus, prayer drains me. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday, I got a big dose of perspective. I didn’t know I needed the medicine, but it did start helping me heal.

It came when I had a chance to study some of the most beautiful literature ever penned with some friends. The author wrote to a highly gifted community that was prone to showing off or being overly critical, and wanted to show them a better way. In his words, it was “the most excellent way.” (Though not in a Bill & Ted kind of way…) Read the rest of this entry »