What's That Beeping, Creeping That I Hear . . . ?

(With deepest apologies to E.A. Poe)

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly sleeping, suddenly there came a beeping,
As of something gently creeping, creeping along my chamber floor.

No, I won't go any farther with this, but the beeping that pierced my nights for the past two days did nearly inspire a Homeric epic.  That beeping, beeping, beeping continued nearly every five minutes through-out the entire night!  What a way to be welcomed into your new apartment, though, I must say, the apartment that I've been provided this time is a great improvement over little (did I say little) studio apartment last year.

What could it be?  Was it the first faint taunts of a fire alarm or, maybe worse, a carbon-monoxide alarm that I had inadvertently activated by using the gas cook stove incorrectly?  Was it coming from the radiant heating system that warms my floors?  Was it my water heater?  Had I forgotten to turn it off?  I looked and looked, tried this and tried that, and I just couldn't get that beeping to STOP!

My only recourse was to go to bed and pack a pillow over my ears.  Thankfully I was still so exhausted from the re-ordering of my circadian rhythm that I was able to sleep though the beeping, beeping -- at least for a few hours at a time.  Yet, each time I awoke, I waiting anxiously, listening, hoping, and then the silence of the night was fractured again with that incessant BEEPING!

I just can't go through another day with this beeping.  I'll have to move into my office until I can get someone who knows how to make it stop.  Or, is it just in my head?  I'm I just imagining this or is it really real??  There's only one way for me to find out.  The way that any good foreign faculty member at Handong begins his search for true knowledge.

I must call my TA!  Now, as any regular reader of these postings might think, it would be a very difficult task for me to find someone who might have the potential to measure up to Mr. Mok.  He was my most excellent TA who served me faithfully during my two semesters as a visiting professor here in 2009-2010.  Now, upon my return to Handong, though, I did not have to look for a replacement -- for my new TA came to me. 

Ms. Han was the top student in my Legal Argumentation class last year.  She also was the driving-force organizing and directing the Law & Advocacy study group with whom I served as a faculty sponsor.  Over the past winter break, she and two other top law students from Handong traveled to the Netherlands for a research project at The Hague and the University of Utrecht.  A more outstanding student I could not find if I had tried.

So, I placed a call to Ms. Han asking her to investigate the piercing beeping that was pervading my apartment.  With just one short telephone call (in Korean) to the University's Housing Authority, she advised me that the beeping was a signal that the batteries powering the igniter for my gas stovetop were soon to lose power and needed to be replaced.  Amazing, all that needed to be done was to remove the old batteries from the back of my stovetop (they were hidden back there) and replace them with new.

Relief!  No more beeping, beeping throughout the night.  It is such a good thing to have an excellent TA!

A Good Place to Start -- Realizing Our End

I consider Prof. Richard Hughes a mentor though I've only met him twice -- once at a conference hosted by Baylor and a second time on the campus of Missouri Baptist University when he visited there as a part of the Rhodes Fellowship.  In his book on the vocation of the Christian scholar, Hughes explains that he has one primary objective in every course he teaches -- to convince his students that they are going to die.

I was vividly reminded of Hughes' principal objective yesterday when, in between my first day morning and afternoon classes, I attended the funeral of a 22-year old Handong student who had died while serving on mission trip last month in Israel.  The student, Ms. Park, was one of a team of Handong students who were in Israel to work on a kibbutz. She died as a result of a tractor accident. It was her second mission trip to Israel.

As I sat in the funeral service and listened to the words of encouragement, comfort and hope offered by our campus pastor, I realized that this was the third funeral I had attended in the month of February.  The first was my mother's.  She had lived a very full and meaningful life that had even exceeded the "four score and ten" of Psalm 90:10 by nearly two years. Her funeral was a celebration of the reality of Christ's promise of resurrection and life in him.

The second funeral was for a friend, Rodney -- the son of the Lutheran pastor who served the congregation where I grew up. I was confirmed under Rodney's father's instruction.  Rodney had also been my family's life insurance agent and financial advisor.  He died suddenly in middle-age of a rare brain disease.  As a follower of Christ, though, he and his family had a settled trust in God's wise and good care.  He peacefully yielded to his Lord's final call.

Then, within three days of my return to Korea, I was sitting in yet another funeral service -- this one, though, for a bright, energetic young person who had died at what most would readily say was the very beginning of her adult life.  From the testimonies of her fellow students and her professors, Ms. Park had a devoted sense of mission and commitment to living her life for others.  She was a psychology and counseling major at Handong and hoped to soon begin serving others as a counselor.

Her sudden death has had a significant impact upon the Handong community.  We have all been reminded of the brevity of life and the necessity of living each day to the fullest according the grace and calling of God.  There is a tradition here in Korea that is practiced as a memorial to those who have died.  A tree is planted to commemorate the person's life and a small memorial stone is placed near the newly planted tree. 

This morning during my reflective walk about campus, I stopped by the memory tree that had been planted yesterday for Ms. Park.  It is a beautiful 3-foot fir tree.  It reminded me of three lives that had all been rooted in Christ and continue even now to bear fruit in the lives of others.  May I be mindful each day of both the brevity of life and the certainty of death so that I might be living wholly and meaningfully today -- and, teach my students to do the same.

     So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.  ~ Psalm 90:12

An Emerging Korean Call

Today marks my second full day back on the campus of Handong University in Pohang, Korea. When I departed from here last June, I expected to be coming back sometime in the future, but not so soon.  I had returned to Missouri last summer first and foremost to be close to my mother whose health was failing.  I also returned to resume my teaching position at Fontbonne and to continue PhD studies at Concordia Seminary, both in St. Louis.

At that time, I believed that there would likely be a position opening on the full-time faculty at Fontbonne and the PhD studies were helping to bolster my credentials for that hoped-for appointment.  In early November, however, I learned that the position would not be available and so, I suspended my graduate studies at the close of the fall quarter.  Within days thereafter, my mother's health took a decided turn for the worse.

I spent most of December and January caring for my mother through three hospitalizations and intervening home convalescences. Earlier this month, Mom's time on earth drew to a close, and she entered her eternal rest on the 4th of February. Earlier in December, I had spoken to my mother about possibly returning to Handong and, even as her own health was fast fading, she was still encouraging me to respond to God’s call.

My decision to return, though, did not come in an inspiring vision nor a challenging dream. Instead, it has been developing over the past eight years from my first meeting with Professors Lee Kuk-woon and Lee Hee-eun at an academic conference in the fall of 2003 all the way through my months of service as a visiting professor just last year. It has been an emerging call that has, in turn, both gripped my heart and puzzled my mind.

Having once again left behind in the States those who are most precious to me, I am, none the less, now more convinced than ever that this is the time and this is the place where I have been designed and equipped to serve others through the gifts God has given me. So I’ve come in response to what might aptly be described as my emerging Korean call. May God’s sustaining grace keep and fortify me for each day. Classes start tomorrow!