Everyone has a story (by Paul Kim)

As a kid, I had a lot of anger towards my father. Like Will’s character in this clip, I was angry and hurt by his actions, specifically his decision to become a pastor and move us around. I had a lot of questions filled with bitterness towards him, like Why did I have to attend 6 different schools from middle school to high school? When was he going to do ministry right so we didn’t have to keep moving around? Why was he so stubborn and proud to stick to this thing called ministry?

 

Recently a series of events led me to open up to hearing my father’s story. I will share two with you. One story was from 6 months ago when my mom fractured her ribs slipping in the shower. My dad couldn’t afford insurance, so they had to wait six hours before she got any treatment. My parents kept this from me until one day my mom told me over the phone. My mom told me that she saw so much shame in my father’s eyes while waiting for those six hours. She said it was because of not being able to take care of her–shame she had never seen before.

 

The other story was an older one.  I learned that my dad’s older brother kicked him out of the house when he was 15 because he had accepted Christ. My dad had to live in an apartment by himself. At the time, my dad knew his calling in life was to do ministry, so much so that he was willing to be separated from his family.

 

Everyone has a story–we just have to be willing to listen.

 

I’m sharing this because there is a ministry that we partner with as a church that allows us to listen. Once a month, we serve the homeless men staying at the men’s shelter at Breakthrough Ministries. This ministry shifted my perception of the homeless. Like my father, these men have stories worth listening to. This video explains what this ministry is all about.