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With All My Heart
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During my years as a educational professior, my goals did not change much. In 1975, I moved to teach at Dae Dong commerical high School. On my first day at the High School, the principal asked me to address the faculty of students which consisted of 3200 students.
When I began to address the students, I
announced to them that " I am here to serve you with all my heart and all my
strength."
After addressing the students, I received a visit from three students.
" Mr. Hong, are you Christian?" This
was the first question they asked. " How
did you know?" Because of the warm and touching greeting you gave us."
The students went on to tell me that I had no idea how many times they had cried while at this High School. The students were referring to the fact that the school's religious foundation was Buddhism. Because they did not share
the same beliefs, they could not express
their beliefs openly.
The students expressed an interest in my
teaching them about Chirstianity. At
the time, all I could offer them was prayer; there was not much I could do
regarding the matter.
I always emphasized to the students the
way to true life. " Love your neighbor
as yourself, serve each other."
Our class began to suffer no absences. During the first six months of my teaching, I overlooked their self-study. Three times a day from 7 a.m. to
9 p.m.; our class was full of trust and love.
On my third year there - also graduation due to our three year curriculum, all the students wanted to
find employment. I recommeneded four
of my student to Shin Sung Co., Ltd.
This company was very important and
recognized in Korea. After I submitted
my recommendation, the four students came to me and asked me to withdraw
their names. The company was known to
set high standards of excellence and
critique when hiring. The students felt that they could not meet the company's standards.
I rebuked the students and reminded them how many times I had said to them
" courage is man's faith." "Go ahead
and give it a try, you have nothing to
lose. The students obeyed me.
I was acting on my passionate and powerful faith in God and his work beyond common sense. The Lord was gracious in his favors; I received notification from the company that the
students had passed their interviews with flying colors.
Two months later, our local banker was
in need of an office assistant. They
asked us to select a student for an
interview. I selected a student, Mr.
Song ( Song Kwang Choon ). I set the
interview for Mr. Song and notified him
of his appointment.
On the date of the interview, Mr. Song
came racing into my office to tell me
that he had forgotten his scheduled interview. " How can you have forgotten such an important appointment?"
Other professiors had warned me about
the fact that they did not feel that Mr. Song was the best choice for the
interview. I nevertheless felt that
Mr. Song had a sincere desire to work.
I told Mr.Song to get ready and we hopped in a cab to attempt getting to
the interview on time. I silently prayed all the way to the offices. When we arrived to the building, we ran up 18 flights of steps. We arrived to the banker's office sweated and fatigued.
Once again, the Lord had successfully
intervened in our favor. Upon our arrival we were notified that the interviews were running behind schedule.
Nevertheless, I informed the banker that we had arrived late because I had
overlooked to tell Mr. Song of his scheduled appointment. The banker was
gracious and interviewed Mr. Song.
Mr. Song was employed by the bank.
On graduation day, Mr. Song honored me
with a special ring as a means of thanking me for assisting him.
Among the 65 students in my class, 63
managed to be employed. Of the remaining
two, one joined the miltary and the other became ill.
The principal was delighted with the
success rate of my class. I received
compliments from all the professiors and was asked if I had any special methods in encouraging my students. I
responded by saying that I was a servant of the spirit according to God's
word and that was my method.
I received a special citation and award
for my teaching services that year. I was honored in front of 3200 hundred students and 103 professiors. As I thanked them, I thanked the Lord, and
announced that the award was not mine
but God's.
As I looked around and saw so many of
my peers; some of which had better
academic backgrounds than me, I knew
that my force and success was due to
the Lord's guidance, support and love.
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