지난 겨울은 길고 춥고 어두웠습니다. 매일 운동을 해야 하는데 에스라의 아침시간은 너무 춥습니다. 간혹 날씨가 영하에서 벗어나는 날은 용기를 내면, 점심을 먹고 대자산을 오를 수 있습니다만 당뇨인인 제게 가장 좋은 시간은 저녁을 먹고 운동을 하는 것입니다. 그런데 겨울의 어두움은 빨리 땅으로 내려옵니다. 아무리 저녁을 일찍 먹어도 먹고나면, 온누리에 어둠이 깔리니 결국은 거실에서 걷습니다. 감사하게도 좋은 분들의 설교나 영상간증을 시청하면서 열심히 걷다 보면 하루 기준 8천 보를 가까스로 채우기도 합니다.
그러나 오늘은 달랐습니다. 아침에는 여느 때처럼 거실에서 걸었지만, 저녁을 빨리 먹고 5시 반에 집을 나서서 대자산 산책을 다녀왔습니다. 벌써 봄이라 스치는 바람이 다릅니다. 아직 대부분의 나무들은 새움이 트지 않았지만, 잘 보면 늘푸른 나무는 색깔이 달라지고 있는 것을 알아챌 수 있습니다. 그리고 신관 앞 마당의 산수유는 꽃망울이 크지고 있는 것을 볼 수 있습니다. 날이 따뜻해지면서 새들의 지저귐 또한 달라졌습니다. 대자산 능선길을 걸으면서, 여기저기 더 자주, 더 유쾌하게 들리는 새들의 지저귐 속에 봄이 오는 기쁨이 온누리에 가득했습니다. 특히 오늘은, 대자산에 많이 서식하는 딱따구리들의 인사가 곳곳에서 자주 들렸습니다. 겨우내 조용했는데 …
학교 뒷산에 봄의 향연이 펼쳐지듯이 에스라에도 봄잔치를 기획하고 있습니다. 몇 년동안 이사회를 짓눌러왔던 고양시에 납부해야하는 신관개발부담금이라는 멍에를 떨쳐버리기로 지난 2월 이사회는 마음을 모았습니다. 설립자 되신 고 백정란 명예 이사장님께서 남편 이름으로 되어 있는 땅에, 교직원 용 숙소(현재 기숙사로도 쓰고 있는 학교 시설)를 지었기에, 지목(地目)이 대지로 변경됨으로 얻은 이익이라는 명목으로 고양시청으로부터 개발부담금을 통고받았습니다. 만약 땅을 학교에 먼저 기증하고 건물을 지었으면 개발부담금을 물지 않아도 되었는데, 절차를 잘 알지 못해 발생한 부담금이지만, 이번 모금운동을 통해 모든 에스라 가족이 감사로 하나되기를 기도합니다.
지난 2월 한 달동안 이사들이 기도문을 올리면, 모든 이사들이 “아멘”으로 동참하는 가운데, 이미 봄바람같은 하나님의 개입에 감격하고 있습니다. 개발부담금 약 3억 5천만원 가운데 작년말까지 준비된 금액이 5000만원이었고, 6월말까지 모금해야 하는 금액이 3억입니다. 그런데 기도하고 나서 모금계획을 정식으로 알리기도 전에, 다양한 사연이 담긴, 10만원부터 1억까지 다양한 액수의 헌금이 들어와서 2월말까지 189,260,000원이 달성되었습니다. 이제 남은 1억도 하나님께서 주님을 사랑하고, 에스라를 사랑하는 이들을 통해서 반드시 채워질 것입니다. (국민은행 585401-01-060129 학교법인에스라성경학원으로 후원하실 수 있습니다) 다만 단순한 모금을 넘어, 동문, 재학생, 교직원, 이사, 후원자가 성령으로 하나되는 축제가 되길 바라며, 이 잔치를 통해서 감사가 회복되고 기쁨으로 하나되는 에스라가 되길 소원합니다. (더 자세한 학교소식은, 투데이N(CTS) 오피니언에 들어가시면 정근두 총장 2월 칼럼에서 만날 수 있습니다.)
The past winter was long, cold, and dark. I need to exercise daily, but the mornings at Ezra are far too cold. On the rare days when the temperature rose above freezing, I could muster the courage to climb Mount Daeja after lunch. However, for a diabetic like me, the best time for exercise is after dinner. Yet, winter's darkness falls swiftly upon the earth. No matter how early I eat dinner, darkness settles across the entire world the moment I finish, leaving me with no choice but to walk back and forth in the living room. Thankfully, while watching sermons or video testimonies shared by wonderful people, I walk faithfully and sometimes manage to barely reach my daily goal of 8,000 steps.
Today, however, was different. Though I walked in the living room as usual in the morning, I had an early dinner and left the house at 5:30 p.m. to take a stroll on Mount Daeja. Spring is already here, and the passing breeze felt completely different. While most trees have not yet put forth new buds, a closer look reveals that the evergreens are quietly shifting their hues. And in the front courtyard of the new building, the buds on the cornelian cherry trees are visibly swelling. As the weather warms, the singing of the birds has also changed. Walking along the ridgeline of Mount Daeja, surrounded by the increasingly frequent and delightful chirping of birds, the whole world seemed filled with the joy of spring's arrival. Today especially, the woodpeckers that inhabit Mount Daeja in abundance could be heard calling out their greetings from all around. They had been so quiet all winter long . . .
Just as nature unfolds its spring banquet on the mountain behind our campus, we at Ezra are also planning a joyful spring celebration. At the board meeting this past February, our board of directors united their hearts to cast off a heavy yoke that had weighed upon us for several years—the development fee for the new building owed to the City of Goyang. Our founder, the late Honorary Chairperson Baek Jeong-ran, had built faculty housing (a school facility currently also used as a student dormitory) on land registered in her husband's name. As a result, the Goyang City Hall assessed a development fee under the premise of capital gains derived from changing the land category to building land. Had the land been donated to the school prior to construction, this development fee could have been avoided entirely. Though it arose from an unfamiliarity with administrative procedures, my prayer is that through this fundraising campaign, the entire Ezra family may be united in deep gratitude.
Throughout February, as board members shared their prayers and each answered in unison with a heartfelt “Amen,” our hearts have already been deeply moved by God’s intervention, which feels like a gentle spring breeze. Of the approximately 350 million won in development fees, 50 million won had been prepared by the end of last year, leaving a balance of 300 million won to be raised by the end of June. Yet, after praying and even before officially announcing the campaign, heartfelt gifts bearing precious personal stories began pouring in—ranging from 100,000 won to 100 million won. By the end of February, an astonishing 189,260,000 won had already been raised. The remaining 100 million won will surely be provided by God through those who love the Lord and cherish Ezra. (Contributions can be made to Kookmin Bank: 585401-01-060129, Ezra Bible Institute Foundation.) Far beyond a simple fundraising effort, my sincere desire is that this will become a celebration where alumni, current students, faculty, staff, board members, and supporters are united in the Holy Spirit—a festival through which gratitude is fully restored and Ezra becomes one in overflowing joy. (For more campus news, you may read President Keun-Doo Jung's February column under the Opinion section of TodayN/CTS.)
Die afgelope winter was lank, koud en donker. Ek moet daagliks oefen, maar die oggende by Ezra is veels te koud. Op daardie seldsame dae wanneer die temperatuur bo vriespunt gestyg het, kon ek my moed bymekaarskraap om ná middagete Berg Daeja uit te klim. Tog is die beste tyd vir oefening vir ’n diabeet soos ek ná aandete. Maar die winter se donkerte daal vinnig oor die aarde neer. Maak nie saak hoe vroeg ek aandete geniet nie, sodra ek klaar geëet het, sak die duisternis oor die ganse wêreld neer, en uiteindelik bly daar niks anders oor as om in die sitkamer heen en weer te stap nie. Genadiglik, terwyl ek na die preke of videogetuienisse van kosbare gelowiges luister, stap ek ywerig en kry dit soms reg om ternouernood my daaglikse mikpunt van 8 000 treë te bereik.
Vandag was egter anders. Hoewel ek vanoggend soos gewoonlik in die sitkamer gestap het, het ek vroeg geëet en om halfses die huis verlaat vir ’n heerlike stap op Berg Daeja. Dit is reeds lente, en die briesie wat verbywaai voel heeltemal anders. Al het die meeste bome nog nie nuwe botsels geskiet nie, kan ’n mens met ’n noukeurige kyk agterkom dat die immergroen bome se kleure stelselmatig verander. En in die voorplaas van die nuwe gebou kan ’n mens sien hoe die bloeiselknoppe van die kornoeliebome al hoe groter swel. Soos die dae warmer word, het die voëltjies se gesang ook verander. Terwyl ek op die kruinroete van Berg Daeja gestap het, te midde van die vrolike gekwetter van voëls wat al hoe meer en luider weerklink het, was die ganse skepping gevul met die vreugde van die aanbreek van die lente. Veral vandag kon die begroeting van die spegte, wat volop op Berg Daeja voorkom, oral en aanhoudend gehoor word. Hulle was die hele winter lank so stil . . .
Net soos ’n lentebanket teen die hange van die berg agter ons kampus ontvou, beplan ons by Ezra ook ’n lentefees. Tydens die raadsvergadering die afgelope Februarie het ons direksie hul harte verenig om ’n juk af te werp wat die raad jare lank neergedruk het—die ontwikkelingsheffing vir die nuwe gebou wat aan die Stadsraad van Goyang verskuldig is. Ons stigter, wyle erevoorsitter Baek Jeong-ran, het personeelverblyf (wat tans ook as ’n studente-koshuis dien) laat bou op grond wat op haar man se naam geregistreer was. Gevolglik het die stadsraad van Goyang ’n ontwikkelingsheffing opgelê op grond van die waardetoename wat ontstaan het toe die sonering na residensiële bougrond verander is. As die grond voor die bouwerk aan die skool geskenk was, sou hierdie heffing heeltemal vermy gewees het. Hoewel dit weens ’n gebrek aan kennis van administratiewe prosedures ontstaan het, is my gebed dat die hele Ezra-familie deur hierdie fondsinsamelingsveldtog in dankbaarheid verenig sal word.
Gedurende die hele Februariemaand, terwyl raadslede hul gebede gedeel het en elkeen met ’n hartlike “Amen” ingestem het, is ons reeds diep geraak deur God se ingryping wat soos ’n sagte lentebries voel. Van die nagenoeg 350 miljoen won aan ontwikkelingsheffings is 50 miljoen won teen die einde van verlede jaar voorsien, wat ’n tekort van 300 miljoen won gelaat het wat teen einde Junie ingesamel moet word. Maar nadat ons gebid het, en nog voordat die insamelingsplan amptelik bekend gemaak is, het bydraes met kosbare verhale—van 100 000 won tot 100 miljoen won—begin instroom, sodat daar teen einde Februarie reeds 189 260 000 won ingesamel is. Die oorblywende 100 miljoen won sal die Here gewis voorsien deur diegene wat Hom en Ezra liefhet. (Bydraes kan gemaak word aan Kookmin Bank: 585401-01-060129, Ezra Bible Institute Foundation.) Meer as net ’n eenvoudige fondsinsameling, is my hartsbegeerte dat dit ’n fees sal wees waar alumni, huidige studente, dosente, personeel, raadslede en ondersteuners in die Heilige Gees saamgesnoer word—’n viering waardeur dankbaarheid herstel word en Ezra as een liggaam in vreugde verenig mag wees. (Vir meer skoolnuus kan u Ds. Keun-Doo Jung se Februarie-rubriek in die Meningsafdeling van TodayN/CTS lees.)