며칠전 21일에는 우리가 결혼한지 46주년이었습니다. 마침 우리가 사는 울산에서 경기도 고양에 있는 에스라성경대학원대학교로 올라갈 일이 있어서 2박 3일로 46주년 기념 여행(?)을 하기로 했습니다. 학교에 도착했더니 이미 게스트룸에 식당에서 봉사하는 집사님께서 여러 가지 과일이며 빵 종류를 준비해 두었기에, 우리가 준비해서 가지고 간 것을 펼칠 필요조차 없어보였습니다. 하지만 그날은 결혼 46주년이란 특별한 날인데 아무래도 저녁 식사는 외식을 하는 것이 더 어울릴 것 같아서, 식당검색을 했고 이태리 음식을 파는 식당으로 향했습니다. 어두움은 깔리고 비는 추적추적 내리고 있었습니다. 휴대폰의 길찾기 기능을 켜고 따라서 걸었지만 초보자에게는 무리여서, 결국 건널목에 자리한 약국에서 묻고, 파출소에서도 또 물어서 마침내 도착하여 식사를 했습니다. 온,오프라인을 다 동원했으니 하이브리드 시스템을 가동한 셈입니다.^^
비오는 어두운 밤길을 걷다보니 옛 기억이 떠올랐습니다. 부곡하와이가 유명해지기 전에, 아직도 창녕부곡으로만 통하던 시절에, 거기로 신혼여행을 갔던 그 저녁이 떠올랐습니다. 대구에서 직행으로 창녕까지 와서, 이미 어두워진 시간에 일반완행버스를 타고 가다가, 아무래도 잘못 가는 것 같아서, 어두운 시골길에서 내려, 다른 버스를 기다리며, 서툰 신혼여행을 하던 그 날 밤이 떠올랐습니다. 비록 신혼여행길을 찾는데는 서툴었지만, 그래도 농촌교회 조사(助事, 요샛말로 전도사) 마음속에 신앙의 불빛은 살아있었습니다. 그 때 신부에게 말한 적은 없었지만 “아브람아 두려워하지 말라 나는 네 방패요 너의 지극히 큰 상급이니라”(창 15:1)는 구절을 떠올리며, ‘내가 그녀의 큰 상급이 되리라’고 마음을 먹고 있었습니다.
그녀의 상급이 되어야겠다고 생각했던 이유가 있었습니다. 대학2학년 때 C.C.C.를 통해서 주님을 처음 만난 아내는, 학교를 졸업하고, 합천 초계중학교 쌍책분교로 첫 발령을 받았습니다. 산을 하나 넘고 뱃사공을 불러 강을 하나 건너, 발령받은 학교에 도착해서 숙직실에서 기다리며, 핸드백 속의 작은 기드온 성경을 펼쳤는데, 그 때 눈에 들어온 구절입니다. 교회도 성도도 없는 곳에 첫 발을 디딘 그녀를 위해 “참새 두 마리가 한 앗사리온에 팔리지 않느냐 그러나 너희 아버지께서 허락하지 아니하시면 그 하나도 땅에 떨어지지 아니하리라…누구든지 사람 앞에서 나를 시인하면 나도 하늘에 계신 내 아버지 앞에서 그를 시인할 것이요”(마 10:29, 32)라는 말씀으로 위로했고, 그해 새로 시작하는 중학교 분교에서 교사의 일을 시작했습니다.
어느날 동네 꼬마들이 처음 나타난 ‘중학교 여선생님’의 자취방을 기웃거리며 관심을 보였습니다. 그들을 불러들여서 주일학교도 다닌 적이 없고, C.C.C.에서 배운 것은 사영리와 텐스텝이 전부였던 사람이, 일주일에 두 번씩 그 아이들과 주일학교를 자연스럽게 시작했고, 주 2회 방과 후에 학교 교실에서 제자들인 중학교 1학년 관심자들과 성경공부도 시작되었습니다. 또한 그즈음 이웃 마을에서 이 소식을 전해들은 한 자매의 쪽지편지가 동생을 통해 전달되었습니다. 어릴 적에 강건너 교회를 다닌 적이 있었지만 그 교회당이 불타 없어진 후로는 신앙생활을 못했는데, 선생님께서 저녁에 우리 동네에 오셔서 성경을 가르쳐주면 좋겠다는 부탁이었습니다. 그래서 결국 이웃마을 처녀들의 모임도 주 2회를 가다보니, 오후 5시 교사로서 일과가 끝나면, “마치 아침 잠을 깬 것 같은 새로운 힘으로” 주중 엿새 복음을 전하는 전도인의 사역을 하게 되었습니다.
그러다가 젊은 신학생들과 간호학교 학생들이 어느해 겨울에는 그 동네로 겨울성경학교를 하기 위해 찾아왔습니다. 오전에는 초등학생을 위주로 성경학교를, 오후에는 동네로 흩어져서 저녁 전도집회에 초대를 하며 축호전도를 하였고, 저녁에는 전도집회를 했습니다. 2년 후 새로운 임지로 발령을 받았을 때는, 이미 그 마을에 새로운 교회가 시작되었습니다. 그렇게 열심으로 월요일부터 토요일까지 6번의 사역을 하다가, 저와 결혼을 하게 되었으니, 그 사연을 아는 나로서는 그녀의 헌신을 위해서 뭔가 보상을 해야 한다고 생각하고, 내가 그녀에게 주시는 하나님의 상급이 되리라고 생각했으니, 자뻑 기질은 그 때부터 제게 굼틀거리고 있었나 봅니다. 하지만 46년의 세월이 흐르고 보니 그녀야말로 제게 주신 하나님의 큰 선물이라는 것을 깨닫습니다. 서로가 서로에게 좋은 선물이 된다면 결혼은 하늘 아버지의 뜻을 이루는 길이라고 고백하고 싶습니다.
A few days ago, on the 21st, marked our 46th wedding anniversary. Since we happened to have business traveling from our home in Ulsan to Ezra Bible Graduate University in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do, we decided to take a three-day, two-night trip to celebrate our 46th anniversary (?). Upon arriving at the school, a deaconess serving in the cafeteria had already kindly prepared an assortment of fruits and breads in the guest room, so there seemed no need to even unpack what we had brought along. Yet, because it was such a special occasion as our 46th anniversary, dining out for dinner felt far more fitting, so we searched for a restaurant and headed toward an Italian place. Dusk had fallen, and a steady drizzle of rain was coming down. I turned on the navigation app on my phone and walked along, but it proved too much for a novice; ultimately, we asked for directions at a pharmacy by the crosswalk, asked again at a local police box, and finally arrived to enjoy our meal. Having mobilized both online and offline resources, we had practically run a hybrid system. ^^
Walking down that rainy, dark night road brought back old memories. It reminded me of that evening long ago—before Bugok Hawaii became famous, when the area was still known simply as Changnyeong Bugok—when we went there on our honeymoon. We took an express bus from Daegu to Changnyeong, and in the deepening dark, boarded a local slow bus. Feeling that we were heading the wrong way, we got off on a dark rural road and waited for another bus—a clumsy, hesitant honeymoon night that came vividly back to mind. Although we were fumbling our way through our honeymoon journey, the light of faith burned brightly in the heart of this rural church helper (josa, akin to today's junior evangelist). Though I never confessed it to my bride back then, holding in my heart the verse, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward” (Gen 15:1), I had resolved within myself: 'I will become her great reward.'
There was a reason I felt I should become her reward. My wife, who first encountered the Lord through C.C.C. during her sophomore year in college, graduated and received her first teaching appointment at the Ssangchaek branch of Chogye Middle School in Hapcheon. After crossing over a mountain and calling a ferryman to cross a river, she arrived at her appointed school and waited in the night-duty room. Opening the small Gideon Bible from her handbag, a verse caught her eye. For this young woman stepping into a place where there was neither church nor believer, God comforted her with the words: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. . . Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven” (Matt 10:29, 32). With that promise, she began her teaching career at the newly opened middle school branch that year.
One day, local village children peeked curiously into the boarding room of this newly arrived 'female middle school teacher.' Having never attended Sunday school herself and having learned only the Four Spiritual Laws and Ten Steps at C.C.C., she warmly welcomed them in and naturally began holding Sunday school twice a week with those children. Soon, twice a week after school, Bible study began in the classroom with interested first-year middle school students. Around that time, a sister in a neighboring village heard the news and sent a handwritten note through her younger sibling. She wrote that she had attended church across the river as a child, but had been unable to live a life of faith ever since the church building burned down, asking if the teacher could come to their village in the evenings to teach the Bible. Thus, visiting the gathering of young village women twice a week as well, as soon as her 5:00 PM duties as a teacher ended, she ministered as an evangelist sharing the gospel six days a week, “with renewed strength, as if just awaking from morning sleep.”
Then, one winter, young seminarians and nursing students came to that village to run a winter Bible school. In the morning, they held Bible school mainly for elementary school children; in the afternoon, they scattered throughout the village going door to door to invite residents to the evening evangelistic service; and in the evening, they held the gospel meetings. When she was transferred to a new post two years later, a new church had already been planted in that village. Having served so faithfully six times a week from Monday to Saturday, she then entered into marriage with me. Knowing her story, I thought that something ought to reward her devotion, and felt that I would be God's reward granted to her—it seems my streak of self-conceit was already wriggling inside me back then. Yet looking back over 46 years, I realize that she is, in truth, God’s immense gift to me. If husband and wife can become good gifts to each other, I want to confess that marriage is truly a path of fulfilling our Heavenly Father's will.
’n Paar dae gelede, op die 21ste, was dit ons 46ste huweliksherdenking. Aangesien ons toevallig van ons tuiste in Ulsan na die Ezra Bybelse Nagraadse Universiteit in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do, moes reis, het ons besluit om ’n driedaagse reis vir ons 46ste herdenking (?) te onderneem. Toe ons by die skool aankom, het ’n diakones wat in die eetsaal dien reeds ’n verskeidenheid vrugte en brode in die gastekamer voorberei, sodat dit nie eens nodig gelyk het om ons eie voorraad uit te pak nie. Aangesien dit egter ’n besondere dag soos ons 46ste huweliksherdenking was, het dit gepaster gevoel om uit te eet vir aandete, en ons het na ’n restaurant gesoek en na ’n Italiaanse eetplek gestap. Die skemer het reeds gedaal en ’n aanhoudende fynreën het uitgesak. Ek het die roetesoeker op my selfoon aangeskakel en begin stap, maar vir ’n beginner was dit te veel gevra; uiteindelik het ons die weg gevra by ’n apteek op die straathoek, weer by die plaaslike polisiekantoor navraag gedoen, en uiteindelik daar aangekom om te eet. Omdat ons sowel aanlyn- as vanlynbronne ingespan het, het ons feitlik ’n hibriede stelsel gebruik. ^^
Terwyl ons op daardie donker, reënerige nagpad geloop het, het ou herinneringe by my opgekom. Dit het my herinner aan daardie aand lank gelede—nog voor Bugok Hawaii bekend geword het, toe die plek nog bloot as Changnyeong Bugok bekend gestaan het—toe ons soontoe gegaan het vir ons wittebrood. Ons het ’n snelbus vanaf Daegu na Changnyeong geneem, en in die reeds donker aand op ’n gewone plaaslike bus geklim. Omdat dit gevoel het of ons die verkeerde rigting inslaan, het ons op ’n donker plattelandse pad afgeklim en vir ’n ander bus gewag—’n onbeholpe, huiwerige wittebroodsaand wat weer helder voor my oë verskyn het. Al was ons lomp met die soek na die pad tydens ons wittebrood, het die vlam van geloof helder gebrand in die hart van hierdie plattelandse kerkassistent (josa, soortgelyk aan vandag se evangelis). Hoewel ek dit destyds nooit aan my bruid genoem het nie, het ek die skrifgedeelte onthou: “Moenie bang wees nie, Abram; Ek is vir jou ’n skild; jou beloning sal baie groot wees” (Gen 15:1), en ek het my in my hart voorgeneem: ‘Ek sal haar groot beloning wees.’
Daar was ’n rede waarom ek gedink het dat ek haar beloning moes wees. My vrou, wat die Here as tweedejaarstudent deur C.C.C. leer ken het, het na graduering haar eerste onderwyspos by die Ssangchaek-tak van die Chogye-middelskool in Hapcheon ontvang. Nadat sy oor ’n berg getrek en ’n bootsman geroep het om ’n rivier oor te steek, het sy by die aangewese skool aangekom en in die wagkamer gewag. Toe sy die klein Gideon-Bybel uit haar handsak oopmaak, het hierdie verse haar oog gevang. Vir haar wat haar eerste treë gegee het op ’n plek sonder kerk of gelowiges, het die Here haar getroos met die woorde: “Word twee mossies nie vir ’n sent verkoop nie? En tog sal nie een van hulle op die grond val sonder julle Vader nie. . . Elkeen dan wat My sal bely voor die mense, hom sal Ek ook bely voor my Vader wat in die hemele is” (Matt 10:29, 32). Met daardie belofte het sy daardie jaar haar werk as onderwyser by die nuutgestigte skooltak begin.
Eendag het plaaslike dorpskinders nuuskierig geloer na die huurkamer van hierdie nuwe ‘vroulike middelskool-onderwyseres’. Sy wat self nooit ’n Sondagskool bygewoon het nie en by C.C.C. slegs die Vier Geestelike Wette en Tien Stappe geleer het, het hulle binnegenooi en heel natuurlik twee keer per week ’n Sondagskool met daardie kinders begin. Boonop het Bybelstudie twee keer per week na skool in die klaskamer begin met belangstellende graad 7-leerders (middelskool eerstejaars). Omstreeks daardie tyd het ’n suster in ’n buurdorp van hierdie nuus gehoor en ’n briefie deur haar jonger broer gestuur. Sy het vertel dat sy as kind die kerk oorkant die rivier bygewoon het, maar nadat die kerkgebou afgebrand het, kon sy nie meer haar geloof uitleef nie; sy het gevra of die juffrou saans na hul dorpie sou kom om Bybelonderrig te gee. Omdat sy toe ook twee keer per week na die byeenkoms van jongmeisies in die buurdorp gegaan het, het sy, sodra haar werk as onderwyser om vyfuur smiddags geëindig het, “met nuwe krag, asof sy pas uit die oggendslaap ontwaak het,” ses dae per week as evangelis die goeie nuus verkondig.
Toe het jong teologiese studente en verpleegstudente een winter na daardie dorpie gekom om ’n winter-Bybelskool aan te bied. Saans en soggens het die bediening voortgegaan: soggens was daar Bybelskool hoofsaaklik vir laerskoolkinders, smiddags het hulle deur die dorp versprei om van huis tot huis mense na die aandaanddiens uit te nooi, en saans het hulle evangelisasiedienste gehou. Toe sy twee jaar later na ’n nuwe pos verplaas is, was daar reeds ’n nuwe gemeente in daardie dorpie gevestig. Nadat sy van Maandag tot Saterdag met soveel toewyding ses keer per week diens gedoen het, het sy met my in die huwelik getree. Omdat ek haar verhaal geken het, het ek gevoel dat haar oorgawe op een of ander manier vergoed moes word, en ek het gedink dat ek God se beloning aan haar sou wees—blykbaar was daardie tikkie selfvoldaanheid destyds reeds in my aan die roer. Maar noudat 46 jaar verloop het, besef ek dat sy waarlik God se groot geskenk aan my is. As twee mense vir mekaar ’n goeie geskenk kan wees, wil ek bely dat die huwelik ’n weg is waardeur die wil van die hemelse Vader volbring word.