Random Korea Reflections, 5

Those of you who've read this blog for a while, and have the gift of reading between the lines, probably can guess that I've had a really tough time this past couple of years. This trip to Korea was quite a restorative, for which I'm most grateful.

Seeing the sights and spending time with my wife's wonderful family for a month was enough of a treat. Yet, there were a few other incidents which stuck with me, too. I was told that one brother-in-law, a professor, had been praying for me for months. He found out which way America was, and prayed intently in that direction, for my benefit. Who wouldn't be touched?

And one evening one sister took us to a little storefront church in a humble little neighborhood. We climbed the stairs to the sanctuary, simultaneously small, cute, calm, and welcoming, and there met the moksanim, the pastor. He was a small man, with a luminously kind face. He chatted with my wife and her sister in Korean, he having no English, then prayed over me at length, again in Korean. He then spoke to my wife for about twenty minutes, while I tried to keep control of the fidgety kids. Finally we thanked him, and then left.

Later, I asked my wife who that pastor was, and why we had visited him. She gave me a disgusted look, as she does whenever I've forgotten something that she told me months earlier. She reminded me that this was a pastor that my wife's sister admired, and who had been praying for me the whole previous year. I had completely forgotten about that, and was sorry that I didn't thank him for it. But I won't forget the blessing his kindness imparted to me.