By God’s good and gracious hand, I have arrived safe and sound here at Handong. (The photo to the right is the new Library and at the far right is the connecting wing to the new "All Nations Hall" where the School of Law is located.)
Each stage along my flight travel path was marked with reminders of God’s presence. My connections from St. Louis to Los Angeles (LAX) and then along to Seoul (INC) Incheon were smooth sailing and on time. I even was able to sleep a total of 6 hours on the 12 hour flight across the Pacific – well actually, the flight path went north to Alaska and the over the Bering Strait to the eastern coast of Russia and down ultimately to Korea. There was hardly any turbulence and the flight seemed like the shortest I’ve ever flown from the U.S. to Asia.
Once I arrived at Incheon International Airport (one of the largest in the world and recently rated one of the best) very early Saturday morning (Korean time), I began to encounter those reminders I mentioned before. As I made my way through Immigration and Customs, I was directed toward an elevator that would convey me from the International terminal to the Domestic one, though, I wasn’t sure which way I was to go upon leaving the elevator. I was provided a guide in the person of Kim Jong Il (not the dear leader of the North but a pastor of a Presbyterian Church in the city of Daegu).
As we conversed during the elevator ride he asked me where I was headed, and I said that I was looking for the Asiana flight over to Busan and then from there I would be provided a ride up to Pohang where I would be teaching at Handong Global University. To my very pleasant surprise, Pastor Kim advised me that he not along knew of Handong, he had even met Prof. S.K. Lee while on a mission trip last year in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This was an amazing and wonderful confirmation of the Lord’s direction.
While back in St. Louis, it was not usual for me to experience two degrees of separation when I met a person for the first time (the person knew someone that I also knew – since as it is often said, that St. Louis is the biggest small town in America), but to experience two degrees of separation with the very first person I met in Korea was simply a wonder! As we continued to talk, Pastor Kim told me that he was also familiar with Covenant Seminary in St. Louis since he too was a Presbyterian. He had even heard President Bryan Chapel from Covenant preach at a sister seminary in Seoul a few years back. In short course, Pastor Kim had guided me to the Asiana ticket counter, encouraged me in the Lord, and even invited me to preach at his church in Daegu which is only an hour’s drive from Pohang. Any yet, the reminders of God’s presence and directing hand were only beginning.
As I sat down near the ticket counter, I noticed a sign indicating that the counter would not be open for over an hour. No problem, I had plenty of time to check-in and make my connecting flight to Busan later that morning, so I settled in a chair nearby and began to read. I soon noticed a young lady at the end of my row who also had an open Bible in her lap that she was reading in between times of closing her eyes and opening her palms upward it what I could only conclude was a posture of prayer. How often would you see that in an American airport? It was to me another gracious reminder of God’s presence in this amazing country!
Later, when I took my place in the ticket line, I was standing just behind a young Korean woman who turned to ask me, in nearly perfect English, where I was traveling. When I said that my final destination was Handong University in Pohang, a smile came over her face. She told me that she was on her way home to Busan from California (she had actually been on the very same flight I was on from Los Angeles to Seoul). She had just graduated from a small college in California where her aunt and uncle lived. Before college, she had also attended a Christian high school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania – totaling six years in the States and explaining why her English was so fluent.
Her smile, though, came from the fact that she was in the process of applying to attend Handong in the next academic year. I don’t know who was more encouraged by the encounter – her or me. The young lady’s name was Choi and she said that while she was very excited about the opportunity to attend Handong, she was a bit apprehensive because she did not know if she could meet the university’s rigorous admission standards. I encouraged her to seek God’s calling on her life and trust Him to lead and open the doors for her further education and service.
A few moments later, Choi struck up a conversation with a young, blond, mid-20ish looking American fellow standing behind me. He was on his way back to a town in the country side of Korea where he will be starting his second year as an English teacher. I was shortly brought into the conversation and learned that the young man had graduated from Colorado Christian University in Denver. He is also planning hoping to do graduate studies in international relations after he finishes his second of teaching.
I commended him for choosing a great “gap year” experience (though in his case, it was “gap years” – the year or two between completing one’s undergraduate studies and before going on to graduate or professional school) and then told him of my son Caleb and daughter-in-law Micaela’s experiences traveling around the world with Willing Workers on Organic Farms. Now, this young man now began to smile. His name was Caleb, too! While many might say this was just another “coincidence,” in my book of life experiences, it was yet again a small, yet wonderful reminder of God’s presence and guidance in our paths. And, those reminders were still to continue this day.
Upon my arrival in Busan, I was met by the smiling face of Professor Seong Hoon Kim, who directs the undergraduate international law program in which I will be teaching as a visiting professor this year. During a beautiful two-hour drive north along the eastern coast of Korea, I learned that Prof. Kim and I shared a number of professional experiences. He too had practiced for a large law firm before leaving the practice to teach. One of his main practice areas was, like mine, business litigation. His area of special interest in his teaching focuses on Antitrust and other unfair competition laws. The course I had taught at Handong International Law School back in the summer of 2004 was U.S. Antitrust law.
And the parallels don’t end there. Not only is Prof. Kim engaged in full-time teaching at the University, he is also a PhD candidate at a university in Seoul where he travels each week to attend one class a term. For the past three years while teaching at Fontbonne, I’ve been a PhD student at Concordia Seminary, taking one class a term. And, while his studies concentrate on Korean business competition law and my studies revolve around the intersection of law and theology via ethics, we both need to gain a competency in the German language – for him, because German law has been the greatest influence upon the development of Korean business (commercial) law and for me, so that I can read Bonhoeffer in his the language in which he wrote.
Are you saying “coincidence” again? Well, maybe – but when so many are added one upon another in such a short space of time, I can only say that they have been an amazing series of touches to my heart and mind as I undertake this new beginning in a place half-way around the world from those I hold so dear who I’ve been called, at least for a time, to leave behind. And, you might say that the reminders I’ve experienced thus far in this day should be more than enough to encourage any doubting heart, but God was not finished reminding me that he not only was now directing my path but that He has also been directing it to this place at this time for many months and years past.
This final reminder came after Prof. Kim had treated me to a great Korean bar-b-que lunch (known as “galbi”) and then shown me to my apartment in the University’s faculty guesthouse. As I was settling-in to the apartment, I noticed that there were a few items I needed from the campus convenience store. So, I took the short walk to the store and began searching for the items I needed. I walked up and down several aisles and then turned to the next only to nearly collide with a young man – a student – in fact, a law student from Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I had met Samnang there in January, 2008, when I was with Prof. S.K. Lee teaching a seminar to both Cambodian and Korean law students at the Royal University of Law & Economics. Sam is the first of the RULE students to come to study at Handong International Law School. His smile was the biggest of all that had greeted me this day!
My first day here at Handong came to a delightful conclusion as Prof. Eric Enlow (also from St. Louis) and his young son, Gunner, came over to my apartment with their arms full of treats and household items – a warmer welcome wagon gift has never been given! We enjoyed an encouraging conversation as I recounted to Eric how God has been extending His gracious hand of blessing through reminders of His presence throughout the past 24 hours. The verse from Psalms came often to mind: Let us give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, and His mercy is everlasting!
Once I arrived at Incheon International Airport (one of the largest in the world and recently rated one of the best) very early Saturday morning (Korean time), I began to encounter those reminders I mentioned before. As I made my way through Immigration and Customs, I was directed toward an elevator that would convey me from the International terminal to the Domestic one, though, I wasn’t sure which way I was to go upon leaving the elevator. I was provided a guide in the person of Kim Jong Il (not the dear leader of the North but a pastor of a Presbyterian Church in the city of Daegu).
As we conversed during the elevator ride he asked me where I was headed, and I said that I was looking for the Asiana flight over to Busan and then from there I would be provided a ride up to Pohang where I would be teaching at Handong Global University. To my very pleasant surprise, Pastor Kim advised me that he not along knew of Handong, he had even met Prof. S.K. Lee while on a mission trip last year in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This was an amazing and wonderful confirmation of the Lord’s direction.
While back in St. Louis, it was not usual for me to experience two degrees of separation when I met a person for the first time (the person knew someone that I also knew – since as it is often said, that St. Louis is the biggest small town in America), but to experience two degrees of separation with the very first person I met in Korea was simply a wonder! As we continued to talk, Pastor Kim told me that he was also familiar with Covenant Seminary in St. Louis since he too was a Presbyterian. He had even heard President Bryan Chapel from Covenant preach at a sister seminary in Seoul a few years back. In short course, Pastor Kim had guided me to the Asiana ticket counter, encouraged me in the Lord, and even invited me to preach at his church in Daegu which is only an hour’s drive from Pohang. Any yet, the reminders of God’s presence and directing hand were only beginning.
As I sat down near the ticket counter, I noticed a sign indicating that the counter would not be open for over an hour. No problem, I had plenty of time to check-in and make my connecting flight to Busan later that morning, so I settled in a chair nearby and began to read. I soon noticed a young lady at the end of my row who also had an open Bible in her lap that she was reading in between times of closing her eyes and opening her palms upward it what I could only conclude was a posture of prayer. How often would you see that in an American airport? It was to me another gracious reminder of God’s presence in this amazing country!
Later, when I took my place in the ticket line, I was standing just behind a young Korean woman who turned to ask me, in nearly perfect English, where I was traveling. When I said that my final destination was Handong University in Pohang, a smile came over her face. She told me that she was on her way home to Busan from California (she had actually been on the very same flight I was on from Los Angeles to Seoul). She had just graduated from a small college in California where her aunt and uncle lived. Before college, she had also attended a Christian high school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania – totaling six years in the States and explaining why her English was so fluent.
Her smile, though, came from the fact that she was in the process of applying to attend Handong in the next academic year. I don’t know who was more encouraged by the encounter – her or me. The young lady’s name was Choi and she said that while she was very excited about the opportunity to attend Handong, she was a bit apprehensive because she did not know if she could meet the university’s rigorous admission standards. I encouraged her to seek God’s calling on her life and trust Him to lead and open the doors for her further education and service.
A few moments later, Choi struck up a conversation with a young, blond, mid-20ish looking American fellow standing behind me. He was on his way back to a town in the country side of Korea where he will be starting his second year as an English teacher. I was shortly brought into the conversation and learned that the young man had graduated from Colorado Christian University in Denver. He is also planning hoping to do graduate studies in international relations after he finishes his second of teaching.
I commended him for choosing a great “gap year” experience (though in his case, it was “gap years” – the year or two between completing one’s undergraduate studies and before going on to graduate or professional school) and then told him of my son Caleb and daughter-in-law Micaela’s experiences traveling around the world with Willing Workers on Organic Farms. Now, this young man now began to smile. His name was Caleb, too! While many might say this was just another “coincidence,” in my book of life experiences, it was yet again a small, yet wonderful reminder of God’s presence and guidance in our paths. And, those reminders were still to continue this day.
Upon my arrival in Busan, I was met by the smiling face of Professor Seong Hoon Kim, who directs the undergraduate international law program in which I will be teaching as a visiting professor this year. During a beautiful two-hour drive north along the eastern coast of Korea, I learned that Prof. Kim and I shared a number of professional experiences. He too had practiced for a large law firm before leaving the practice to teach. One of his main practice areas was, like mine, business litigation. His area of special interest in his teaching focuses on Antitrust and other unfair competition laws. The course I had taught at Handong International Law School back in the summer of 2004 was U.S. Antitrust law.
And the parallels don’t end there. Not only is Prof. Kim engaged in full-time teaching at the University, he is also a PhD candidate at a university in Seoul where he travels each week to attend one class a term. For the past three years while teaching at Fontbonne, I’ve been a PhD student at Concordia Seminary, taking one class a term. And, while his studies concentrate on Korean business competition law and my studies revolve around the intersection of law and theology via ethics, we both need to gain a competency in the German language – for him, because German law has been the greatest influence upon the development of Korean business (commercial) law and for me, so that I can read Bonhoeffer in his the language in which he wrote.
Are you saying “coincidence” again? Well, maybe – but when so many are added one upon another in such a short space of time, I can only say that they have been an amazing series of touches to my heart and mind as I undertake this new beginning in a place half-way around the world from those I hold so dear who I’ve been called, at least for a time, to leave behind. And, you might say that the reminders I’ve experienced thus far in this day should be more than enough to encourage any doubting heart, but God was not finished reminding me that he not only was now directing my path but that He has also been directing it to this place at this time for many months and years past.
This final reminder came after Prof. Kim had treated me to a great Korean bar-b-que lunch (known as “galbi”) and then shown me to my apartment in the University’s faculty guesthouse. As I was settling-in to the apartment, I noticed that there were a few items I needed from the campus convenience store. So, I took the short walk to the store and began searching for the items I needed. I walked up and down several aisles and then turned to the next only to nearly collide with a young man – a student – in fact, a law student from Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I had met Samnang there in January, 2008, when I was with Prof. S.K. Lee teaching a seminar to both Cambodian and Korean law students at the Royal University of Law & Economics. Sam is the first of the RULE students to come to study at Handong International Law School. His smile was the biggest of all that had greeted me this day!
My first day here at Handong came to a delightful conclusion as Prof. Eric Enlow (also from St. Louis) and his young son, Gunner, came over to my apartment with their arms full of treats and household items – a warmer welcome wagon gift has never been given! We enjoyed an encouraging conversation as I recounted to Eric how God has been extending His gracious hand of blessing through reminders of His presence throughout the past 24 hours. The verse from Psalms came often to mind: Let us give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, and His mercy is everlasting!
Here's a photo of the Guesthouse where my apartment is located. My door is the one on the lower level at the right.
God's hand is so encouraging, and I know you need that right now! We're so glad to hear you've arrived safely!
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