Author: lastadamandeve

  • The Voice Contest between a Lion and a Blackbird

    The Voice Contest between a Lion and a Blackbird

    A blackbird challenged a lion to have a voice contest. “My voice is stronger and more powerful than yours,” said the blackbird. But the lion did not care about the blackbird. The blackbird kept flying back to the lion and annoyed him so much that he agreed to accept the challenge.

    Finally, the two of them stood next to each other and shouted with all their might. First, the lion roared at the top of his voice, which made the mountain shake and all the animals around the mountain fled silently and hid themselves as quickly as possible making no noise at all. And next the blackbird sang with the fullest volume of his voice and said, “Chirp, Chirp,” which was no match for the voice of the lion.

    The lion said to the blackbird, “Now you can see whose voice is stronger?” But the blackbird challenged again and said, “Let us go and find out.” So they crossed over a mountain and asked animals there. “Did you hear the lion’s voice?” All the animals said, “Yes, we heard.” And the lion asked them, “how about the blackbird? Did hear his voice?” And all the animals also said, “Yes, we clearly heard.”

    So they decided to travel further away to find out who was the winner. Now they crossed over five mountains and asked animals there if they heard the voice of a lion. Some animals with keen ears said yes, but others said no. But for the blackbird all the animals said that they heard clearly the voice of a blackbird.

    Now they decided to go farther so that they could know who had stronger voice. After crossing over ten moutains, they asked animals there if they heard the voice of a lion. All the animals said that they did not hear any sound of a lion. And the lion asked the animals there if they heard the voice of a blackbird. Surprisingly enough, all the animals said, “Yes, we clearly heard a blackbird’s voice.”

    The blackbird held up his head high and proudly sang at the top of his voice, “pippip~~pip.” The lion was at a loss and he went back to his home disappointed. Now do you know how this could be possible?

  • Our Spiritual Home

    Everyone on this earth is born in a certain place. And usually that place is called HOME which is one of the most beautiful words we cherish. There you have everything you love. You can find your father and mother there who loves you with the most altruistic love. You can find your friends there who greet you as if you are the most important person in the world regardless of your education, occupation, or social status. Everything there is familiar to you: the mountains and trees, the paths and the rocks, the streams and ponds. You remember and cherish even a small rock you used to sit on while you were fishing. That is your home.

    Maybe not actually the most beautiful place in the world, but the place where my heart can take a rest, that is HOME.

    That is the place that makes you long to return, that is the place that makes you sad because of the time you wasted, that is the place that makes you happy because of the memories of your old days, your first love, your childhood. This is the place your body can take rest and you can feel yourself perfectly blended in. You can become one with the things around you and you know what they are and they know who you are. That is why most of people think of going back home at the end of their journey on this earth and lay down their body in the familiar place so that you can truly take rest. In Korea, there is saying, “Even a fox at the time of its death puts its head toward the place it was born.” It means “even animals remember their home, and what about human beings?” We must remember our home.

    But sadly enough, how many people remember their true home? Do you know where we came from? Do you know where we are going after death? Our body goes back to its home, the earth because it was formed out of the dirt of the earth. It takes rest by returning to the dust of the ground. But is that all? The bible teaches that our soul exists and it also returns to its home, the spiritual hometown. Have you heard of it? Do you remember our spiritual home? If we know and remember, we will make effort to go back to the place, but unfortunately, we don’t remember and we don’t make effort to return to the place.

    Hebrews 11:13    13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance,admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a cityfor them. (NIV)

    Our spirit has its home and now we must remember where we came from so that at least we can have chance to go back. If we don’t remember, we will not have chance to return. Let us find out one by one to know about our spiritual home so that we can have the opportunity to return. That is the place where our Father and Mother dwells along with our brothers and sisters and friends. That is the place where you can find the holy mountain of God and the stream of the water of life where we used to play. Let us try to find the way back to our spiritual home so that we can get there.

     

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