I too Have Seenthe Light!

A long while back, an elderly pastor attended one of our summer retreats. He was a Pyeongyang Missionary School graduate during the Japanese Imperialism, and was a veteran pastor who had ministered along side me and had retired. While I was sharing the words and having fellowship, he came to see me.

“Pastor Park, I’m leaving.”

“But pastor, the retreat isn’t even over. Why are you leaving already?”

“I came here to receive some grace, because I was feeling a bit insecure, but it’s like a Tae Kwon Do studio here. All these young’uns are flying around everywhere, asking me, ‘Did you receive salvation? Do you have sin?’ It’s getting me so angry that I can’t stand it!”

He then headed downstairs, away from the retreat venue. The retreat was held at a farm on a high hill, and there was a part on the way down that sloped down like a cliff. While following him, I started to think about his life. He was a very elderly person with death at his doorstep. If I just let him leave like this, it was clear that he would fall down the cliffs of eternal destruction. I felt that this is his last chance to hear the gospel! There was no time to care about him losing his face or his elderly position. Walking closely alongside him, I spoke to him.

“Pastor, are you really born again? Do you really have the sins in your heart washed as white as snow?”

After walking a while and listening silently, the pastor suddenly stopped. He then put his bag on the ground, took out a handkerchief, put it on his bag, and said, “Pastor Park, sit here.” He sat on the grass. I tried refusing, but he strongly insisted, so I sat on the bag and continued to preach the Word. Beginning in Romans chapter 1, we began a Bible study. At the retreat venue, the guest speaker failed to return on time, so the brothers and sisters continued to sing hymns. Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5- chapter by chapter, I explained it to him, and when I got to chapter 6, he suddenly stood up and shouted.

“Pastor Park, it’s done! It’s done! I’ve seen it! I’ve seen the light!”

Unable to hide his joy, he began to dance around. We then returned to the retreat venue. It was time for the afternoon service, and he gave a testimony. “I’m a pastor, and I sinned. When churchgoers sin, they go to the pastor. But if the pastor sins, who can he go to? For many years, I painfully cried to God, begging Him to wash my sins. Today, I’ve had all my sins washed away, and I’ve seen the light. Before, I always sadly sang, “Where dost Thou, dear Shepherd resort with Thy sheep to feed them pastures of love? Say, why in the valley of death should I weep, or alone in this wilderness rove?” I too have met the Good Shepherd now!”

Returning home from the retreat, that pastor gathered his children and told them, “Kids, your father Jeong Hae Kyu who left the house a couple of days ago is dead.”

He meant that he had been cruc-ified along with Christ on the cross.