Abraham's Journey from the East

Linda and I have a lot of things to be thankful for. We have seen God’s grace especially as we are embarking upon some major changes in our lives. I want to share some of my background with you, my family, so you can rejoice along with me at how wonderful God is.

I grew up in Korea in the years following the Korean War. My father was a country farmer with six children to provide for, but my mother had a vision for her children that extended far beyond our simple country life: she wanted us to go to Seoul National University, the Korean equivalent of Harvard. Together, they realized the only hope for us was to move to Seoul if we were to survive and prosper.

So, when I was eight years old, we packed our belongings and took the train from the countryside near Pusan in the southern most part of Korea to Seoul, 300 miles away. When we arrived, we had no money and literally nowhere to live, but my father knew he had to put a roof over his family’s head.

As I look back, I realize that although my father was not a PhD or an engineer, he was a genius. He gathered odds and ends from the junkyard to build our home. We had no money to buy any supplies, so we made everything. My job was to be part of the team that made bricks from mud.

We had to work feverishly because the Korean authorities had a peculiar policy regarding squatters: if you built on property you did not own but could get the exterior of your home completed overnight, they wouldn’t make you tear it down. There were many times that we didn’t make the dawn deadline. Like clockwork, the authorities came and destroyed all of our hard work. But we were at it again the next night, and the night after that, until we accomplished our goal. My father never gave up, and he never let us give up either. It was a matter of survival.

Once our shelter need was provided, my mother turned on the pressure for us to get a good education. Since there was no public education past grade school in Korea, my mother had to find a way to pay for our junior high and high school years. She went at it like a woman possessed! Her conviction, perseverance, ingenuity and vision paid off and she found the way for us to go to school. We all finished junior high and high school, and four of us went on to fulfill her dream of attending Seoul National University. I was among the four.

Well, here I am, years later, and I realize that the seeds my parents planted in me as a child have produced a harvest beyond anything they could have imagined. From my father I learned to work hard, to persevere, to work with a team, and above all, to be creative. From my mother, I learned how to call on God in my time of desperate need and how to think wisely. I learned to see opportunity when others see only despair; and I learned how to make my vision a reality. Those values, etched indelibly into my bones by hardship, have guided me to this point in life.

I graduated with a degree in Music Composition and taught music in Korea for several years. I decided to come to the US in 1978 and arrived with the proverbial $20 in my pocket. I worked on the line at GM for 2 years and got laid off. During the lay off, I took some programming courses and entered the field in the early 80s. In 1984, I proudly became a citizen of the United States. A year later, my beautiful daughter, Kathy, was born. A few years later, I went to work for Delta Airlines and moved my family to Atlanta, GA.

I recognize that God has directed my path since my childhood. Each new step has built on the last in a way I couldn’t have designed myself. I especially thank God for introducing me to my wonderful wife, Linda, almost 13 years ago. Without her I cannot even contemplate the future.

In the past few years, I have been delighted to see our Lord unfold the vision that he has laid before us. As He closed the Atlanta chapter of our lives, he moved us to Tidewater, allowing Linda to fulfill her long-time desire to go to law school and me to accept an assignment with US Navy, where I have been able to contribute concretely to our nation during this crucial time in our history.

As I have gone through my life, memories of my motherly often come back to me. I often remember how she taught me how to think and how to praise the Lord. She often told me that I am Joseph and I have a special anointing gift of our Lord. That he would give me dreams with meaning—and he does. Sometimes, we were in the depths of despair, but through those, we found the depths of devotion. We were in the depths of failure, but we discovered the depths of faith. We were in the depths of hell but we believed and will receive the depths of heaven.