Korea Christian Gospel Mission - January Newsletter

January 2023 KCGM Newsletter from John Chae

My Dear Wonderful Friends,

According to the Chinese Zodiac calendar, 2023 is the year of the rabbit, which will supposedly be marked by tranquility and peace. Obviously, we don’t take horoscopes too seriously, but this year, we actually wouldn’t mind for it to prove accurate. We could certainly use some tranquility and peace at our orphanage. Things continue to be chaotic here. There is still much friction between us and government agencies, and we still have been unable to set ourselves free from this trouble-making employee who continues to frame us.

Still, we remain THANKFUL and HOPEFUL, which I suppose is what makes us Christian. It’s funny because as tough of a year it has been for us, looking back, I recall so many moments of joy. We baptized 7 of our orphanage children this last year. What a great victory that was! We finally moved past Covid and held vacation bible schools and orphanage-wide camps and trips for our kids for the first time in years. What an unexpected blessing that was! We thought we might lose some missionaries or close down some of the smaller churches due to the struggles with Covid, but we actually ended up adding another church plant this year! What an awesome surprise that was! No matter how much we worried and fretted and complained throughout the year, at the end of the day, God made sure to work all things together for the good of those who love Him (which is us!). I don’t know why we keep on forgetting that God is greater than our doubts. I can only say we certainly learned our lesson again in 2022.

SO, I think it’s only fair that as the new year begins, we start off by putting our full trust in Him! Most urgently coming up, we trust and hope that God will take care of the 4 orphanage graduates who are preparing to move out of our home in a couple of days. As you know, this is always a bittersweet time for us. In fact, I attended a couple graduation ceremonies today and couldn’t help but get a little emotional thinking about how far they’ve come. In the lives of all 4, there were instances in which we weren’t sure they would even make it to this point.

I’m especially proud of one of the graduating girls who really endured a lot of rough moments over the last couple of years. She was in a dark place for a long time. She even ran away from our home a couple times, only to be sent back. Even when she came back though, she did so begrudgingly. In fact, she spent the last year just completely shutting us out, and isolating herself in her room. We literally never saw her! She never came down for any events. She never came down for worship or bible study. She never even came down to the cafeteria for meals. The few times I saw her, she wouldn’t even respond to my greetings. I was so concerned for her. On the way to her graduation, I even considered the possibility that she would avoid us, but we still wanted to be there for her just in case, as we found out we would be the only ones there to congratulate her.

So… to actually see her smile today and thoroughly enjoy this momentous achievement came as quite a surprise and meant so much to all of us. She did resist a little bit. We told her we were going to have a celebratory lunch at a nearby restaurant, and she said she would rather spend the time with her friends. We insisted, and were surprised again that she gave in pretty easily! While we were eating, her demeanor brightened and she began to open up. I took the opportunity to cautiously ask her whether or not she would be willing to attend the graduation worship service we were planning for the following Sunday after she moved out.

I genuinely expected her to response to be something like, “No way! I’m never stepping foot in this hell hole again!” After all, that was the vibe we were getting from her the entire year. You know what she said instead? I couldn’t believe my ears. She said, “Of course! Why wouldn’t I? I want to come back HOME every chance I get!” What a shock this response was to me! I kept my poker face on, but a complex amalgam of emotions immediately started welling up in my heart. You won’t believe how much it meant to me that she referred to us as “home.” She thought of us as her “home."

Instantly, I thought of John 14:2-3. I’m sure you all know it. “My Father’s HOME has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” I always have felt that these verses perfectly encapsulate the spirit of this orphanage ministry. We all need a place to call home, don’t we? Well, we desperately want to be a place these children can call “home” and mean it. We want to be more than just a building, or an orphanage facility. We want to be a place and a people that the kids feel like they can always come back to and feel safe and welcomed, like the prodigal son. We want to know that there will always be a room for them here.

We acknowledge that in our sixty-year history, we haven’t always done a good job of this. I candidly shared this sentiment with the orphanage staff for the New Year’s devotion as well. I spoke of how sometimes, in the middle of audits and evaluations and fundraising goals, etc., we lose our way. It happens to the best of us. Sometimes, Korean culture convinces us that our job is to raise good kids, or studious kids, or successful kids, and we get disappointed when they don’t turn out that way. Sometimes, the culture of religion makes us think being a CHRISTIAN home is all about church service attendance and making the kids pray before they eat, and when they don’t, we feel like we failed. I told them that in my humble opinion, this is a misguided way of looking at things.

I believe that the TRUE measure of success when the kids graduate and leave our home is how comfortable and familiar they are with being loved. I believe the TRUE test is whether or not they can call us “home” and mean it in every sense of the word. Suffice it to say, I couldn’t be more relieved that at least this girl in this moment felt this way, despite the tumultuous time she had while she stayed with us. She called us home. What a big win to kick off the New Year!

I feel like that last paragraph would be a good point to end the newsletter, but it would be irresponsible of me to do so without first acknowledging how much I took the John 14 verse out of context. Obviously, Jesus was referring to our eternal home and not just a temporal home like our orphanage is for the kids. He is offering us a home of permanence, where rent is simply your willingness to be loved by Him and to accept the privilege of loving Him back! So, my reminder for you as you kick off your new year is not to forget that He has got a room ready for you too! Someday, I hope to see you there. See you at home. Happy New Year!

Yours because of Calvary,

John Woosik Chae