PD Blog | FEB 2025
On Wednesday January 29th, we began the second book in the Navigator’s 2:7 Series entitled Deepening our Roots in God’s Family. Part of the curriculum requires us to have a daily log of our time spent with God and I asked the class to start from the book of Joshua in the Old Testament.
Saturday night we read from Joshua 4 and in my devotional entry I highlighted Joshua 4:20-24 and wrote the following:
There are questions I have had thinking about my ancestors and why certain traditions were left for us never to forget. This past Wednesday was Lunar New Year and the tradition of children bowing before their elders was practiced both at church and at my home that day. I just witnessed little children from our Kingdom Kids Christian Academy take turns bowing to our senior pastor and his wife along with Exhorter Sun-Hee Lee and me.
The Korean tradition of honoring our elders by presenting a respectful kneeling bow is an acknowledgment of how they have paved the way for us to live a blessed life (my personal interpretation). I just hope the next generation won’t forget the value of this tradition.
I then came home with my traditional Korean dress on to show my respect to my mother as I bowed and kneeled before her to wish her a Happy New Year by saying “May you receive many more blessings in the New Year.”
In Joshua 4, we read the amazing story of Joshua leading the Israelites across the Jordan River much like how Moses led the previous generation across the Red Sea escaping Egypt and the bondage of slavery. In remembering this mighty act of God, the water was once again held back so that the Israelites could cross the river safely. As the Ark of the Covenant entered into the river first, the presence of God led the way for all the Israelites to claim the promised land and God had promised.
After everyone had crossed over the Jordan River safely, Joshua asked the twelve tribes of Israel to pick up a stone and place it as a marker for all generations to never forget what God had just done for them.
For many of us whose parents immigrated to North America in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s, we also had pictures of the past that reminded us of how God’s faithfulness was shown to our families.
Much like the stones that were piled in Gilgal by the twelve tribes of Israel we also have markers to remind us of our ancestors. The picture of our parents when they first arrived in North America reminds us that they left everything behind to give us a better future. For me I can tell my children that their grandparents paved the way for them to have the life they now have because of their sacrifice.
That generation that crossed the Pacific Ocean and landed in a foreign place where the people spoke a different language and looked nothing like them. In the midst of discrimination and prejudice they had to swallow their pride by forgetting all their achievements and start all over again. That is why my generation that faces the reality of caring for our parents in their senior years will never forget their sacrifice and their story of how they survived.
The Netflix series “Kim’s Convenience” is one way that our parents' stories of survival were portrayed. This series plans to hit the live stage again as the creator Ins Choi wants to bring back more stories of our parents so that it will never be forgotten. Ins Choi is a dear friend of mine because his father was my pastor growing up in Toronto. Some of the stories featured in the series were adaptations of my family’s story.
My mother now lives with me in Shelby TWP and I have discovered that she is changing right before my eyes each and every day. The once proud and confident woman who stood in front of several thousand high school girls in Korea teaching them the Korean traditional dance is now repeating the same questions over and over again because she can't recall asking that question.
The once frustrated son who couldn’t accept the fact that his mother was no longer the brave woman who carried a new born baby on her back to immigrate to Toronto, Canada is now embracing the new reality that his mother struggles to walk from her bedroom to the kitchen to get a warm glass of hot water.
Today was extra special for this brave lady as she spoke with three of her adult grandchildren asking the same question over and over again. Bless their hearts as they all realized that Halmonee (grandma) has changed. Never showing frustration or impatience, each grandchild treasured the moment when she would finally ask the one last question before she hung up, “Do you have any prayer requests?”
As signs of dementia start to creep in, I am reminded once again to honor our aging parents by being more patient and answer their questions over and over again as if it was the first time. There was a moment when my mother recognized her forgetfulness and said, “I just wanted to talk with you because what else do I have left but to force a conversation with my own son.” She then returned back to her comfortable room to watch the same Korean documentaries on YouTube over and over again because she doesn’t know how to use the unfamiliar remote control.
Tonight I want to fear the Lord my God in making sure I honor my mother faithfully as she honors God with every breath she takes. 안녕히 주무세요 어머니.
Rev. David Ryu
