Greetings to my dear church family at Willowdale! I’ve been thinking a lot these days because, as you heard from Pastor DeSilva last week, the day is coming when I leave Willowdale. So, I feel that my days at Willowdale with you are especially precious, and so is this week’s Pastor’s Corner post. I believe this post will likely be the most personal I’ve ever written.
First of all, I must express my gratitude to you, my brothers and sisters in Christ, for your prayers and support for my little boy Isaac (Hyoshin). My family realized that his count of platelets in his blood was very low in January this year. We first visited Coretelluci Vaughn Hospital, and later, Isaac was referred to SickKids Hospital. We tried steroids and Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) a few times and watched him over, anticipating his platelet count bouncing up for more than five months. Meanwhile, many people prayed for and supported my family. At my latest visit to the hospital with Isaac on May 28th, the doctor told me that his platelet count was now in the normal range. That is, the number of his platelets returned to normal for the first time since January of this year. I can’t stop giving thanks and praises to the Lord and appreciating my dear church family. Praise the Lord!
Second, it is graduation season. I do not need to write about the meaning of graduation for Christian students, as Pr. Henry has already written nicely about it in the Pastor’s Corner on May 22nd (https://willowdalechurch.ca/pastors-corner-the-meaning-of-graduation/). Our church youth will lead this Sabbath’s Divine worship service, and various parts of the service will be performed by high school graduates, including preaching the Word of God. You definitely don’t want to miss this great chance to worship the Lord with the youth this Sabbath. Please join us and be blessed. I would also like to take this opportunity to extend my heartfelt congratulations to all of our graduates from preschool, elementary, middle school, high school, and college/university, and I wish you all the best as you celebrate your accomplishments and pray for your new beginnings. Dear graduates, please remember: God’s plans for you are much greater than you can imagine.
Lastly, I’d like to celebrate Father’s Day with the fathers at Willowdale. As you know, I am a father of three boys. I believe every father agrees that being a father is never easy. As fathers, we always dream of setting a good example for our children, having a character worthy of their respect, and providing for them without fail. But we are all aware of how difficult that is. In fact, sometimes children are hurt by the crooked character of their fathers and have difficulty in their relationship to their fathers, and it often becomes a vicious cycle that repeats itself when those children become parents themselves, again negatively impacting their own children. There are some legendary fathers such as Dick Hoyt who pushed and pulled his paralyzed son Rick through hundreds of marathons, triathlons (including Ironmans), and other grueling races swimming with Rick tethered to him, cycling with Rick in a seat on the front of his bike, and running with Rick in a specially designed wheelchair (for more information, check their website: https://teamhoyt.com/about-us/). However, most ordinary fathers like me are probably struggling to be a good dad even today. That’s why we need our heavenly Father and His Son Jesus all the more.
Our heavenly Father is the source of all good fatherhood, and His Son Jesus is the One who shows us how the Father is (John 14:7, 9). The more we fathers think of and fellowship with our heavenly Father through Christ, the more we will resemble the character of our heavenly Father, and the more we will be able to show our own children the heavenly Father. Father’s Day is truly a great opportunity to think about our heavenly Father. Dear fathers at Willowdale, I pray that you will be fathers who can show your children the fatherhood of God through your own fatherhood. We may not be perfect fathers, but if our children can see that their fathers are men who constantly trust and rely on their Heavenly Father, we will never fail as fathers. So, fathers, cheer up. Happy Father’s Day.
Pastor Dae-Eun Kimy