I, Timothy Kwon, am a second son of 4 with a mother, Susanna Kwon, and a father, Joshua Kwon. I was born in New York and soon after I was born my family moved to California my parents having only my old older brother, Daniel, and I at the time of when I was 11 months old. We moved because my father was attending Seminary. During the time of when my father was studying, my two younger brothers, Stephen, and Joseph were born.
With a family of 6, my father finally finished all of his studies at seminary moved out to become a pastor. Being a pastor was not always easy. Money did not come in well and really the fact that my dad had to provide shoes, clothes, and food for a family of 6 was not easy. There was even a time when we were kicked out of an apartment only a couple of weeks after we moved in because 4 young boys were not always quiet and this brought many complaints. However, we settled in and my father found a church where he was able to preach at.
Ever since I was born, Christianity was always something that was mentioned and remembered in our family because I have parents who love God. Because I grew up with God always being mentioned in my daily life, I learned to ignore it because it seemed as if my parents were just setting rules up for my life, "because the Bible said so." My parents, I guess, were forcing me and my brothers towards Christ since we were young and were trying to drill the Bible and God into our heads but not our hearts. I knew all of the kiddy Bible stories and what they meant, but I never decided on my own to believe in God. I however, felt pressure since my dad was a pastor, it would be sensible that I also believe in God and follow in my father's footsteps.
After a while of being in the same church, God called our family to China to be missionaries. At the time I was nearly 9 years old and it was exciting for me, not to do God's work, but to explore another part of the world. My education in China began in an international school which was not Christian. I was homeschooled with a private teacher, I attended Chinese school, and went back to international schooling. During this time, our family moved once to another location in China. Soon after that I became an overseas dorm student in Korea while attending TCIS.
While my education was going back and forth, every year, there was a meeting for all of the missionaries in our area and we met there for parent training. While we were here however, it seemed like we were at a spiritual camp. We had this opportunity to get closer to God every year and for some reason, every year, I would go back home and think that I could put God off for another year. Well, only a couple of years later did those big meetings stop and so there were no more spiritual camps. While there were no more spiritual camps, I got farther and farther away from God.
In my Sophomore year of high school, I had the opportunity to go to a spiritual camp in Seoul and I applied for it and everything, but I dropped out of it because I felt like I was not ready for it. I thought that God wasn't all worth the time that I wanted to use on other things in my own selfish life. I put God off for about 8-9 years and during the first 7 years was the years that there were those week long spiritual camps where I could "feel" God.
Not until the middle of my Junior year did I go to a spiritual retreat that lasted 3 days did I realize that keeping in touch with God is something that should be done daily. Not only when you feel like it. After having been away from God for 2 years, I felt and urge to go and learn more about God and to find some answers to the many questions that I had with God. After the retreat, I realized that God is always just waiting for us but it's a matter of it we want to go to Him or not.
I think that the native culture of my life has been centered around knowing God but not having a personal relationship with Him. Through my native culture, I have always known God and knew who He was but never really relied on Him. I believe that my native culture has however, given me a strong base on God and what He can do for me even though sometimes it doesn't seem like it in the hardest of times.
With a family of 6, my father finally finished all of his studies at seminary moved out to become a pastor. Being a pastor was not always easy. Money did not come in well and really the fact that my dad had to provide shoes, clothes, and food for a family of 6 was not easy. There was even a time when we were kicked out of an apartment only a couple of weeks after we moved in because 4 young boys were not always quiet and this brought many complaints. However, we settled in and my father found a church where he was able to preach at.
Ever since I was born, Christianity was always something that was mentioned and remembered in our family because I have parents who love God. Because I grew up with God always being mentioned in my daily life, I learned to ignore it because it seemed as if my parents were just setting rules up for my life, "because the Bible said so." My parents, I guess, were forcing me and my brothers towards Christ since we were young and were trying to drill the Bible and God into our heads but not our hearts. I knew all of the kiddy Bible stories and what they meant, but I never decided on my own to believe in God. I however, felt pressure since my dad was a pastor, it would be sensible that I also believe in God and follow in my father's footsteps.
After a while of being in the same church, God called our family to China to be missionaries. At the time I was nearly 9 years old and it was exciting for me, not to do God's work, but to explore another part of the world. My education in China began in an international school which was not Christian. I was homeschooled with a private teacher, I attended Chinese school, and went back to international schooling. During this time, our family moved once to another location in China. Soon after that I became an overseas dorm student in Korea while attending TCIS.
While my education was going back and forth, every year, there was a meeting for all of the missionaries in our area and we met there for parent training. While we were here however, it seemed like we were at a spiritual camp. We had this opportunity to get closer to God every year and for some reason, every year, I would go back home and think that I could put God off for another year. Well, only a couple of years later did those big meetings stop and so there were no more spiritual camps. While there were no more spiritual camps, I got farther and farther away from God.
In my Sophomore year of high school, I had the opportunity to go to a spiritual camp in Seoul and I applied for it and everything, but I dropped out of it because I felt like I was not ready for it. I thought that God wasn't all worth the time that I wanted to use on other things in my own selfish life. I put God off for about 8-9 years and during the first 7 years was the years that there were those week long spiritual camps where I could "feel" God.
Not until the middle of my Junior year did I go to a spiritual retreat that lasted 3 days did I realize that keeping in touch with God is something that should be done daily. Not only when you feel like it. After having been away from God for 2 years, I felt and urge to go and learn more about God and to find some answers to the many questions that I had with God. After the retreat, I realized that God is always just waiting for us but it's a matter of it we want to go to Him or not.
I think that the native culture of my life has been centered around knowing God but not having a personal relationship with Him. Through my native culture, I have always known God and knew who He was but never really relied on Him. I believe that my native culture has however, given me a strong base on God and what He can do for me even though sometimes it doesn't seem like it in the hardest of times.
Tim, this is a beautiful post.You are so right about meeting daily with God. I know it is not always easy and what I love most about God is that each day - he gives us a new opportunity. If we didn't manage to spend time with Him today - He graciously gives us tomorrow.
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