The Sunrise of Your Smile

I nearly lost it this afternoon. Not my temper . . . that would be very American of me, though, in the midst of this peaceable culture where the influences of Confucianism are still prominent in the ordinary daily attitudes of most Koreans. No . . . it was not my temper that I almost lost, it was my composure.

[Caveat: I am about to violate the Second Cartier Commandment for bloggers: "Thou shalt not give too much information." -- so if you would rather not hear of my struggles, you may want to wait for the next post -- I'm hoping to write something on the fun and games that balance out the lives of Handong students; they don't just read, study, listen respectfully to lectures, pray and sing all the time -- no matter what impression I may have given in my earlier accounts.]

I had sat down in my office after a short walk through the yellow woods and started to review my emails. For some reason I thought of a Michael Card song about the Lord's Supper -- its entitled "Come to the Table" -- I wanted to send a link for this song to the elders back at West Hills and encourage them to consider it for a future communion service -- either having it sung live by the worship team or just playing the music video that someone put together with Card's soundtrack.

While perusing the Micheal Card songs on YouTube (there's a bunch!), I stumbled across one of his that I hadn't heard for many years. Its called "Sunrise of Your Smile." I started listening to it and within the first verse nearly lost my composure completely. The song speaks of the parental wisdom that Michael and his wife, Susan, are trying to convey to their children (four of them; two boys and two girls) through both their words and their lives. It spoke to my heart as I sat there -- as far away on earth as you could be from your wife, children and grand children.

Alright, I've written too much. Just take a listen to Card's song and ponder how many weary miles you would wander to see the sunrise of their smiles . . .



Fortunately, I was all alone in my office and I was enabled, by the grace of God, to regain my composure before I had to leave that solitary place and rejoin my students for the day's lecture in Business Law. Teaching has a way of bringing you back down to earth, I guess.