Back in the 1970s, I needed to support my family. One of the things that I had set my mind to do when I came back from Vietnam was to buy clothing for my mother. Even though I knew that my dad would scold me for doing so, I was determined to get her an outfit. However, my older brothers and my younger siblings had all prayed for me during my time in Vietnam, so I wanted to give all of them a small sum of money as well. But if I were to give them even a bit of the money, I wouldn’t be able to buy anything for my mother, and I would only be able to give half of what I had to the church… 

Ultimately, I decided to bundle up all of the money and take it to the church. The bundle of money was so huge that it wouldn’t even fit into the offering bag. I thought about what the money should be used for, and in the end, I used it to build Seokmak church.

However, I received harsh rebuke from my brothers:

“How could you do that? Even if it was just a tiny bit of money, you should have left something for your family when you gave your offering.”

A commotion broke out, so my family went to speak to the deacon about it.

My family complained to the deacon, “He gave all of that money as an offering, but he didn’t discuss it with anyone at home first! He shouldn’t have done that.”

But I had already spoken to the deacon beforehand and forewarned him that if my family were to take back any of the money, the responsibility would fall on his shoulders. I had instructed him thoroughly,

“They won’t take all of the money back, but don’t let them take even ten cents. If anything happens, it’s all on you.”

I remember warning him in this way.

As I returned home after offering all of the money, a strong feeling of sincere gratitude towards God sprang up inside me. The fact that God had kept me alive in Vietnam could not be exchanged for the entire world. When I thought about how God had saved my life on countless occasions, the money seemed so insignificant. What I had offered to the church seemed like less than one cent. 

“God, if You want the tape recorder, I’ll give it to You too. It’s all Yours. I’ll just keep it safe for You,” I confessed with thanksgiving to God.

After surrendering my television for God, I wanted to watch the news. But back then nobody in the valley had a television. Nowadays, with the passage of time, there is electricity in Seokmakri and no one is without one. However, at that time, there was just one house in Jinsan that had a television, but it was not as new or expensive as mine had been. That’s how few televisions there were. Nevertheless, after offering my television to God, I felt no regret.

Later, as I was reading the book of Proverbs in the Bible, I kept seeing a vision. As if watching television, I was watching what was happening around the world through the vision. In Proverbs 17:4-5 it says: