Fifteen Years of Playing the Guitar Was a Blessing to Me
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December 20, 2009 |
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 Elder Changsu Yoon (Senior Board Director, Seoul Central Insurance of Shinhan Life)
Around 8:45 p.m., a man is walking toward the front of the sanctuary of Manmin Central Church. Those who attend the Daniel Prayer Meetings every night can always see him here, exactly at the same time every day. He is Elder Changsu Yoon, who has been playing the guitar for 15 years during Daniel Prayer Meetings.
When Elder Yoon was a teenager, he wandered quite a bit because of his family problems. He went ventured out into the world at an early age and made all kinds of efforts to survive. But even though he worked very hard in his workplace, he couldn't find the true meaning of life. As a music lover, he always carried a guitar by his side for comfort. But even that didn't fill the void in his heart.
"How should I live?"
The only pleasure he had in his life was drinking after work. Most of his paycheck was spent on drinking.
"At that time, I drank strong alcohol every day for 10 years. Finally, I became an alcoholic. My face turned dark and my hands trembled."
He had already become a wretch at a young age. In 1994, when he was totally exhausted with his life, someone handed out a hopeful hand. She was Deaconess Junghee Park. She introduced Manmin Central Church to him. Standing at the dead-end of his life, he wanted to rely on God. He wanted to hear the gospel she told him. The message of Dr. Jaerock Lee was strong enough to transform his life. Day by day, he began to find the meaning of life. Whenever he could, he bought sermon tapes at the book store and listened to them, and after work, he came straight to church and prayed. His hand stopped trembling, and he was cured of his alcoholism. He even quit smoking.
By the recommendation of President Boknim Lee (Manmin Prayer Center), he started playing the guitar during Daniel Prayer Meetings in 1995. At that time, he was running a restaurant specializing in breaded cutlet. He could make ends meet only when he worked until late at night. But because of his God-given duty, he began to close his restaurant early. Since he felt his duty before God was more precious than anything else, he did not hesitate to do.
Sometimes Elder Yoon felt overwhelmingly tired and thought, "I wish I could take a rest today." But every time he changed his mind by thinking, "No, I must not!" Then he experienced God filling him with the Holy Spirit during every Daniel Prayer Meeting. When he praised God playing the guitar, he felt like he was in heaven. The designated seats for the performers near the front also became very precious to him. As he prayed with all his heart and strength, his faith grew stronger. This helped him to easily overcome the trials that he faced from time to time.
Two years after he began playing the guitar for the church, his restaurant made a big profit. He expanded his business, but he soon had to shut down his restaurant during the Korean financial crisis of 1997. He only had a few hundred thousand won (a couple hundred dollars in US currency) in hand. But he offered all of them as construction offering. He often felt weary and exhausted in his heart. However, despite his difficult situation, he didn't depend on the world, but diligently fulfilled his duty at the Daniel Prayer Meeting relying only on God. Making a positive confession of faith, he faithfully attended the Daniel Prayer Meetings.
"It didn't matter if God blessed me or not. I considered my God-given duty as all the more precious, and relied only on God."
It was only by the grace of God that he could fulfill his God-given duties without wavering for the last 15 years. After seeing his faith and deeds, God blessed him with a new workplace. He began to work as an insurance planner for an insurance company. Being an introvert by nature, he wasn't very eloquent. But from the very beginning, he had high sales figures. Thanks to an unchanging life of prayer, he was always filled with the Spirit, and one day, he even made a profit of ten million won. The amount of monthly tithes increased from 3 hundred thousand won to 4 hundred thousand ones, to 5 hundred thousand won, and finally to one million won (about 1,000 US dollars). This was all the result of walking in the right path and keeping Dr. Jaerock Lee's advice in mind.
And he was also faithful with other God-given duties in the church as well. When he received financial blessings from God, he joyfully planted mission offerings and construction offerings. Then God blessed him to be able to give two million won (about 2,000 US dollars) as monthly tithes and he was promoted to Senior Board Director of the Seoul Central Insurance of Shinhan Life.
This year he was blessed to be ordained as an elder. As he began to change, his family also came to be evangelized. "All of this was by the grace of the Lord and the teachings and love of the shepherd." He confesses, "From now on, as an elder, I wish to love church even more, and run passionately toward New Jerusalem."
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Manmin News 
