convenience store ministry

One of the great benefits of having a ministry in a place like a convenience store is that you get to see the same people over and over.  Usually it's for cigarettes or lottery, but sometimes it's something as innocuous as cold drinks or ice cream.

I've seen God move here, in the faces of the people I serve.  I truly feel blessed to be God's servant and to be able to minister to the lives around me.

Today's day was Jessica.*  She is an older woman, about 65 or 70.  She always comes in to buy cigarettes. It's clear she feels incredibly guilty about it, too.

Last time she was in here, I was singing a Christian song or saying Praise the Lord.  She said, "I knew it!  I knew you were different!"  She asked me if I was a Christian, I said, "Yes, indeed I was saved and a follower of Jesus!"  It made me so happy that I hopefully did shine some of God's light in a place of darkness.

Today she came in and was visibly upset.  She started sharing about her grandson who was acting out, and I got a chance to pray with her and lend her my book, titled BOUNDARIES.

What an incredible blessing to ME to be able to let her release her fears and let HER pray for JESUS to take control over her life.  To encourage HER to live in FAITH rather than fear.  Really, I feel so blessed to be an evangelist and a prayer warrior for my neighborhood.  God, you are so good.  Thank you for dying for your sons and daughters so we can be free from our sins, chains and bondage.  Jesus, I pray in your name that many people in Coolidge Corner can give their lives to love you and serve you and receive heavenly salvation!

What can you do to be salt and light?  Just be an open vessel to be used by Jesus.  Pray with strangers, co-workers, family members and friends.  Listen to this AWESOME sermon.  It will move you and change you!!!!

https://ptv.org/radio/radio-broadcasts/?utm_source=Pathway+to+Victory+Newsletter&utm_campaign=fe6acae242-Seven_Days_of_Prayer_Politics_Day_1&utm_medium=email&mc_cid=fe6acae242&mc_eid=c3b7184bbf

*name has been changed to protect people's identities.

Comments are welcome! Email me at sungyun320@gmail.com if you don't want to make your comments and suggestions and replies public.  God bless you and thanks for your prayer for my ministry.

Hanging out with non-believers

I think I realize how much of a Christian I truly am, and how far I have come in the 7 years I've become a believer in Jesus Christ.

I love Jesus so much.  He is amazing, beautiful.  He gives me so much love, life and hope.

Even if Jesus were a delusion and this was all a lie, which it's not, I think I would choose to believe anyway.  I feel so much love and hope for life that I can NOT imagine returning to a life without God and a belief and love from Him, for Him.

Chains are broken, but it's tough to be around non-believers who rail against your beliefs as though you are foolish, imbecilic, ignorant beyond all doubt.

But the truth of the matter is, if none of us know the answers, then they don't know either, so why are they trying to convert me back?  They are just as guilty of trying to convert me to be a non-believer.

Conversion is only evil if a Christian is attempting to share their faith and love of Jesus?!?!?!?!  If you're a non-believer trying to convince someone of atheism, then OH MY GOSH, that's okay and has nothing to do with conversion.  What's wrong with conversion?  Everyone has an opinion and is entitled to believe what they want and share what they want.  How come everyone else is allowed to share except Christians?  You call us hypocrites, but the mirror is staring at you in the face.

I love being converted to a bible believing Christian.  I embrace it.
I love that I'm saved.  I'll share my beliefs until the day I die and I'm taken up to heaven.

If I'm wrong, I'll have lived a fantastically full and exciting life filled with LOVE, PEACE, HAPPINESS, and CONVICTION.

I never want people to feel that I didn't try hard enough with them.  That I didn't love them enough to share the reality of heaven and hell.  Oh, we can only live our lives with the love of Christ, and share the Gospel, that Jesus is the son of God, sent to die as a human on the cross to be the ultimate sacrifice for all of the sins of mankind once and for all.  He died and resurrected (there are many witnesses) and he eventually returned to heaven.

It may be a delusion.  But to me, it's real.  And my life is the better for it.  And yours will be too.

I see the lives of people around me who don't believe, and money, lust, success, careers....it does not satisfy.  People want something more.  How badly do you want to know God?  All you have to do is get on your knees and pray, and crack upon the Bible to the book of John or Psalms.  I invite you, stop looking at the superficial things of Christianity that turn you off.

You don't believe in the Bible because some people think fornication is okay or don't think gays should be able to get married, or something like that...eternity is a long time to base your decision to choose God on something like that.  I'm just saying.

A funny testimony of faith & the lottery

Two days ago, a customer came into the store and won 100 dollars on a scratch ticket. she didn't tip me and admittedly I was a little bit peeved. tips are not mandatory but a gesture of goodwill, kind of like when you go to a restaurant and get good service! it's the unspoken culture in the lottery world. anyway I was joking with my friend william and asked him, Hey, if you won 100 dollars, how much you would tip me? he said, 25 dollars. 25 dollars? That's so much money, I exclaimed! he said yeah yeah I would do it. So I enthusiastically started praying and ask God to send him a 100 dollar winner. he scratched a couple tickets and didn't win anything. I completely forgot about it yesterday when he came in again & asked me for $15 worth of scratch tickets. I ripped off a bunch without a thought and gave them to him. He came back to me with a funny look on his face & said, "I think I won 100 dollars!" I was like wow and I scanned the ticket. it was actually a red 10 that matched, so it was 200 dollars! I jokingly said, well since it's $200 are you going to give me $50? and he said yeah! The backstory is that my friend William completely refuses to believe in God. He lost his mother when he was 10 and I think he completely lost his faith. Since I met him 3 months ago, I've been praying fervently for his salvation. I said to him, you have to admit it's pretty amazing how God answered our prayers for a winner! He said, YOUR prayers, I didn't pray! I said, true! You don't have to believe in God in order for Him to bless you! William noted astutely, maybe God wanted to bless YOU! I said, DEFINITELY! But He wanted you to believe! There are many morals to this story. Most importantly, have Faith in God, he can answer any prayer. Secondly, you shouldn't gamble! But if you do; pray, and pray fervently! ; ) God can use any method to witness & testify to people, believers and non- believers alike. I believe God used that opportunity to show him how much prayer works and how much He loves William and how real He is. Sometimes, it takes a LOT MORE to prove the existence of God than a winning lottery ticket. But, that tiny answered prayer planted a little seed of hope in my friend's heart. And if it didn't do that... it surely shocked me and increased my faith! (Not to mention I was $50 richer!)

Mini miracle?

I had the most interesting dream last night. My chiropractor is right. I've got to lay off the melatonin. You have these really crazy trippy dreams that are so out there. Last night I had a dream that my friend John brought three of his friends and we were all in an auditorium. At some point, I look down and see that I have two Massachusetts Lottery BLACK tickets. I scratch one, it's a loser. I scratch the next one, and it's $15.00 but the code is ONE, and I get the feeling in the dream that it's One Million Dollars. So John comes into the store today and it reminds me of the dream. So, I tell him and he asks me what the number is. It's 007, the movie that we've been talking about all week. So I am debating whether to buy the tickets myself or not and he grabs it. Then I am debating on buying the next two with my friend Russell and then Tim comes in and buys one. He loses. So I tell him about my dream and so he buys the next one and then wins $100. Thankfully he tipped me $20. But I was kicking myself for not buying them. I could have won $100!!!!!! But the feeling of my dream coming true was worth every penny that he won.

Happy Medium

Living in America
There seems to be a gap
About a million miles wide
it's only here to there
But it's the Great Divide

There seems to be a gulf
Of complete isolation
Between me and you
On the brink of annihilation

is it possible to miss India?
the masses crowding at your door
In ur house, in your life
Always wanting more?

But though you have no privacy
There is no such thing as private
You get loved in close intimacy
All your needs get met

I long for people meddling
I long to break the isolation
The loneliness is overwhelming
The pain is quite desperate

No More Turning Away...a call to Christ?

"On The Turning Away" by Pink Floyd

On the turning away
From the pale and downtrodden
And the words they say Which we won't understand
"Don't accept that what's happening
Is just a case of others' suffering
Or you'll find that you're joining in
The turning away"
It's a sin that somehow
Light is changing to shadow
And casting it's shroud
Over all we have known
Unaware how the ranks have grown
Driven on by a heart of stone
We could find that we're all alone
In the dream of the proud
On the wings of the night
As the daytime is stirring
Where the speechless unite
In a silent accord
Using words you will find are strange
And mesmerised as they light the flame
Feel the new wind of change
On the wings of the night
No more turning away
From the weak and the weary No more turning away From the coldness inside Just a world that we all must share It's not
enough just to stand and stare Is it only a dream that there'll be No more turning away?

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

God bless you Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Thank you for changing our country for the better. We owe you & countless anti-racist freedom fighters civil rights activists a world of gratitude for giving their lives. Let's continue to fight for change so our country could know more racial equality, more justice, more peace!!!

Feel free to email me comments, suggestions, ideas on how we can improve race relations in this country sungyun320@gmail.com.