Joe's Table - A True Story E-Book

Stephanie Chung

• Herausgeber: BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLC
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Seitenzahl: 179

Beschreibung

Hi, my name is Joe. What is your name? You will see these words on the wall inside a unique café called Joe's Table, named after Joseph Chung. Joseph was diagnosed with autism at a young age and was also afflicted with a seizure disorder. Because Joseph loved to socialize in his own loving and harmless way, Dr. Stephanie Chung and her husband envisioned a job where Joseph could experience the joy and self-esteem that come from having meaningful work. Joe had a talent for engaging people by greeting them. A coffee shop seemed like the perfect place for that gift. In Joe's Table, Stephanie shares her story of: - a son birthed in joy and later diagnosed with autism. - a long battle raising an autistic son, and the journey that made her understand God's providence and compassion. - heaven's comfort for mothers who struggle and grieve because their children are different than they expected. - a disability that became a blessing to teach God's love. Joseph passed away unexpectedly in September 2012. Stephanie had to face despair and frustration once again as she sent her child to heaven before her. In that moment, she met the heart of God. Joe's Table continued to evolve and had its grand opening on June 24, 2013. Now it is a one-of-a-kind coffee shop that serves the community and opens employment opportunities for those with different abilities.

Leseprobe

My friends, Peter and Stephanie Chung, are faithful servants of the Lord. They have held on to their faith in times of suffering and hard times. They are the true definition of what good parents are. The couple brought up Joseph, who had autism, with love and strong faith in God. When God called Joseph home, Peter and Stephanie did not remain in grief over their son’s tragic accident. They transformed it into a God-given vision to establish a social enterprise called Joe’s Table. By hiring people with handicaps at the cafe, the couple opened windows of opportunities for them to take part as members of society. The story of their son, Joseph, in Joe’s Table will provide deep comfort and healing to other parents around the globe.

—BILLY KIM, chairman,

Far East Broadcasting Company

Stephanie Chung’s Joe’s Table, which is about her and Peter’s first son, Joseph, is a testimony to the love of a mother for a son who had attributes and gifts that surpassed those of others—gifts of love, joy, and encouragement—that far exceeded his capacities in other areas of life. What a joy to see how the Chung family was enhanced by each of their children! The truths of this life story will encourage and touch many families who share in this special pilgrimage of challenge and comfort, knowing that God loves them and in his special grace fulfills his loving plan and purpose.

—WILL GRAHAM, vice president,

Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

This deeply spiritual memoir about an extraordinary boy and a resilient and remarkable mother will offer hope to all who read this truly remarkable story. Stephanie’s late son, Joseph, suffered from autism and seizure disorder throughout his life. Readers will experience Stephanie’s heart-wrenching yet beautiful journey as a mother of a child with complicated health needs and be inspired by her profound spiritual transformation.

—JIM PATTISON, CEO and chairman of Jim Pattison Group

The Psalmist reminds us that God “prepares a table before us,” even though we may be surrounded with formidable challenges. The words of Stephanie Chung in Joe’s Table encourage our hearts as she shares with us how God can use the challenges of the challenged to bring light and hope to the shadows of our times. Her son, Joseph, was a shining example of the surprises God has in store if we allow Him to set the tables of our lives.

—HONORABLE STOCKWELL DAY, PC, ICDD

No mother in the world should have to bury her child. It is against the laws of nature. But such unspeakable tragedies happen. As a friend and spiritual sister of Dr. Stephanie Chung, I have come to understand the source of her strength and resilience to rise above the immeasurable pain of the loss of her first-born son. It is her faith in God, our Creator, who made Joseph in his own image and sent him into this world. Joseph is her angel and her inspiration in death as he was in life. By the grace of God, Joseph lived a life of joy and devotion while challenged with autism and seizures. Stephanie’s courage, deep faith, and unbounded love for Joseph gave birth to this book, Joe’s Table. And this book is her gift to you. May this book touch you deeply and bless you with the grace of God.

—THE HONORABLE YONAH MARTIN, Canadian senator

As a child I sang the hymn “Faith Is the Victory,” and I could not help but be reminded of that truth after reading Dr. Stephanie Chung’s Joe’s Table—a personal and touching story of sweet Joseph. This intimate history of a family’s love and devotion to one so innocent and good is nothing short of inspirational. It is a must-read for parents in need of encouragement and for anyone else whose journey has left them lonely and even afraid. Stephanie Chung and her husband, Peter, shine a light for the rest of us.

—ANDREW K. BENTON, president and CEO,

Pepperdine University, Malibu, California

It has been a great honor for me to meet Stephanie and to have fellowship with her. When I see her encourage others and care for them as a wife, a mother, or a friend, I see Jesus. The love that she extends to everyone, even when she is going through a difficult time, gives us a glimpse of God’s character. Her evident courage and passion has made a deep impression on me. Joseph’s life has left us with beautiful and unforgettable memories that will remain with us and all who know this admirable family. Joe’s Table will be a comfort and encouragement to those experiencing adversities in life, and it will bring all readers hope and peace. This book is like a beautiful song to our Lord who is vast and good.

—MARIA GLORIA PENAYO DE DUARTE,

the former first lady of Paraguay

BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLC

Racine, Wisconsin, USA

BroadStreetPublishing.com

Joe’s Table: A Place Where Disabilities Become Gifts

Copyright © 2018 Stephanie Chung

ISBN-13: 978-1-4245-5600-7 (softcover)

ISBN-13: 978-1-4245-5601-4 (e-book)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Unless otherwise marked, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright © 2000; 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Any italics in Scripture quotations are those of the author.

Stock or custom editions of BroadStreet Publishing titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, ministry, fundraising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected].

Cover design by Chris Garborg at garborgdesign.com.

Typesetting by Katherine Lloyd at theDESKonline.com.

Printed in the United States of America

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Contents

Prologue

1Three Questions

2My Weak Fingers

3With Newly Awakened Eyes

4Hope in the Wilderness

5Praising God

6Joseph Is a Missionary

7Independence and Faithfulness

8A Stepping-Stone

9Count Your Blessings

10Bearing Fruit

Epilogue: Rising Up

About the Author

Prologue

This book is the story of my family. It’s also a confession of faith. My faith testifies to the presence of God, who works through every person’s life.

To be honest, it wasn’t easy for me to write about my firstborn son Joseph’s life, cut short at thirty-two years. Even though I know Joseph was a true blessing and is now in God’s kingdom, he will forever be buried in my heart.

Whenever I remember our time together—both the happy and the difficult moments—I am overcome with grief and pain. The sight of his bedroom, the letters he wrote, his handwritten book of the Bible’s Psalms, and the photos of his smiling face make my yearning for him deeper and more desperate, and I can hardly control my emotions.

As I have re-created the moments with Joseph for this book, I have been pushed to depths of deep regret and elevated to heights of extreme gratitude. Ultimately, what compelled me to write this book is the unfailing love of God. Though Joseph’s death was in God’s plan, I relentlessly questioned him. I couldn’t understand or accept it. Throughout this emotional journey, God’s love was so sincere. He made me realize that he wanted me to testify of his amazing love, even with my immense sorrow.

My hope is that this book conveys the message of God, who has turned pain into victory through Joseph’s life and death. This story has not yet ended; in fact, it should always be told in the present tense as a work in progress. That way, the story will be open-ended, just like God’s infinite love. While writing this book, I rediscovered this verse: “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24). The symbolic meaning of this verse has resonated with me, especially during this time.

To my parents and my husband’s parents, who have devoted their lives to pray persistently for our family: I am so grateful and moved to tears whenever I remember your love and sacrifice.

To my husband, who has shared every painful and joyful moment with me: I love you and admire you from the bottom of my heart.

To our four surviving children, Samuel, Hannah, Esther, and Christian, and our daughter-in-law Sujin: you are my fortresses of great blessing. I love you all. Special thanks to my daughter Esther, who translated my earlier Korean version of this book into English.

To the many great pastors who have supported my family and me: your faithful intercessory prayers have blessed and encouraged us.

To the beloved Bethesda mothers, who are now as close as blood relatives to me: your love strengthens me.

To Joseph’s teachers, who helped him mature wonderfully: I will never forget your love and the sweat and tears you poured out for Joseph.

I extend my thanks to my editor, Bill Watkins, and publisher, BroadStreet Publishing Group, for their assistance. Without them, it would have been impossible for me to organize my thoughts and memories into a beautiful book.

Finally, to all those who are suffering now or are family and friends of those who are suffering: I pray you will be able to feel the living breath and tender touch of God in your lives through this small book.

Stephanie Chung

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

1

Three Questions

It’s a boy! Our first baby is a boy!”

A smile filled my husband’s face as he gazed at our baby boy for the first time. His tiny little face looked just like his father’s.

Most people cry when overwhelmed with happiness, but we couldn’t stop laughing when we first met our son. An expression I’ve often heard is “It can only be a miracle if you’re so overjoyed.” If that is true, Joe’s birth must have been a miracle. We laughed so hard the doctors in the delivery room thought we were nutty.

On June 23, 1980, our child came to us, carrying with him a happy melody like the prelude to a musical score. He came to us as if he were our greatest blessing and God’s greatest gift. He illuminated all our faces with the light of his tiny but dazzling smile.

From that day on, our minds were filled with images of our son’s future. All parents hope for the best when bringing a child into the world, and I was no exception. I prayed our son’s future would be filled with blessings from God. I knew life could also be full of harsh realities and unexpected misfortunes, but looking at my son, I believed somehow we would be exempt from such things. How could I have known of the unspeakable trial this bundle of joy would later bring?

This story is about the extraordinary time I spent with my son. He gave me the whole world and shook me to my very core. He drove me to my knees, hung me by a single thread, and left me no choice but to find answers in God. Our son could be like someone you meet today or tomorrow. Someone who may look weak and insignificant, but is in fact God’s messenger.

Before I share Joe’s story, here is some background about me. My father first heard the Gospel from missionaries when he was twenty years old and was instantly born again. From that point on, he devoted his life to church music, which, in the 1930s, was rare in Korea. He sang hymns, conducted the church choir, and played various instruments. He often said, “Life’s purpose is to praise God.”

My father’s passion for music transferred to me, and at age five, I started piano lessons. From that point on, my passion for music and piano never ceased. My mother fully supported my music. “Your hands are to be used to praise God,” she would say. “Be careful not to injure your hands!” I was not even allowed to wash dishes out of fear I could somehow damage my piano-playing hands.

When I first met my husband-to-be, Moon Hyun (Peter) Chung, I was a music student who was several months away from graduating from university and a pianist at Suhyun Church in Seoul. He was a bachelor with an average salary who took a two-week vacation to find a wife in Korea.

At the time Peter journeyed to Korea in search of a wife, I was making plans to study abroad in America or Germany to pursue a master’s degree in piano. “If you’re going to go abroad to study, you must marry first! We will not send you by yourself,” my father declared. I would have made further plans to go abroad had my father not been so fiercely against it. During this “battle” with my parents, our pastor gave them unexpected news after a Wednesday evening service. He told them a young Korean man from America was visiting our church to look for a future wife. Unknown to me, my pastor was trying to be our matchmaker.

“Sungjaya [my name when I am being addressed in Korean], you should at least meet him once,” my mother said. Neither my parents nor I knew who this man was. Looking back, the fact that my parents wholeheartedly pushed me in the direction of a perfect stranger makes me think that our setup was simply God’s plan.

“Not only is he a faithful man of God, his parents are faithful as well,” my pastor added.

My parents were clearly enthused by our pastor’s introduction. They had lived through hardship both during the Japanese occupation of Korea and during the Korean War. They’d concluded no certainty existed in life, except faith in God.

“Thanks for coming,” Peter said as he approached us in the church’s fellowship hall. “We don’t have a lot of time. Let me cut to the chase and ask you three questions.”

This is the first thing my suitor said to me when I met him. Beyond his blunt words, his Korean was awkward. He told me when he first immigrated to the United States at age fourteen, he spoke only Spanish and English every day. He was from California and had a dark tan, which I wasn’t accustomed to seeing in Korea. On top of that, he spoke so earnestly and seriously with a deep Gyungsangdo (Southern Korean) accent that he seemed to be completely unaware of how odd he sounded to me.

“What do you believe is the purpose of life?” he asked.

His first question seemed rather inappropriate to ask a total stranger. But then I thought, He must have sincere intentions to ask me this. He must have prayed and felt led by God in this search. So I decided to answer the man who came all the way to Korea looking for a mate.

I remembered this question being asked during my Sunday school class when I was in junior high. So I replied, “You mean the goal of life? Isn’t it to glorify God and attempt to please God with our lives?”

His face showed satisfaction.

“Thank you. I will now ask you my second question. I originally wanted to be a missionary, but I didn’t become one. So I am asking …”

“Yes, go on.”

“I would like to go into business so I can become someone who supports missionaries. I believe God will bless me financially. If that is the case, then I’d like to use my money for God’s glory. What do you think about that?”

I was thinking, This man is earning a meager salary. He just graduated from college a short while ago and has nothing to his name, except student loans. For him to think he would be blessed with lots of money was pretty absurd. Yet he spoke with such conviction—it didn’t feel as if he were saying something just to impress me. (Attempts to impress often happened during matchmaking meetings.) His unwavering conviction displayed the kind of faith that would not be shaken in the face of an unknown future. Peter asked his questions with such innocence, like a child trusting wholeheartedly in his parents to provide the right answers.

“If blessed financially, of course, one should live the way you describe,” I answered. Perhaps he was pleased by the way I answered his question; he gazed at me momentarily, smiling.

I had no idea why he asked me these questions, but I understood once we got married.

Peter’s grandfather was imprisoned in Korea during the Japanese occupation for refusing to deny Christ and participate in Shintoism. He was tortured and beaten and then released in 1943. He was a pastor of a church in the southern part of South Korea in Saamchunpo in Kyungsangnamdo. After several lengthy prison sentences, he was thrown out of prison, wrapped in a straw sack and near death.

I also learned that my husband’s father inherited an unshakable faith in God. He was a high school teacher who taught Korean literature but left Korea for America to pursue higher education. That way, he could return to Korea to teach at a university.

However, during his time in America, he felt a calling to become a pastor of a church. He started a church with five other Korean international students, building the church from the ground up, while experiencing a life of poverty and hardship. This was my father-in-law.

Apparently, Peter had a lot of issues as a teenager growing up in Los Angeles. He spent those years rebelling against his father. When his father started his church, there were no more than three thousand Koreans in the greater Los Angeles area. Peter couldn’t understand his father’s decision to build a small Korean church and walk that lonely road with little promise of any future. It also didn’t make sense to him that a man with post-graduate level degrees would throw his future away, without hesitation, to start a church with no money.

More than anything, my husband couldn’t stand watching his mother work at a sweatshop twelve hours a day just to support the family. He didn’t understand his father’s indifference to the family’s financial state. He felt helpless watching his mother slowly deteriorate in health; she often held her bladder to avoid taking a bathroom break, rarely rested during breaks, and rushed to eat her lunch.

This also affected Peter’s attitude toward God. Up until college, Peter’s heart was filled with bitterness. “Why are you doing this to us?” he asked. “Do you really exist?” If God really existed, both his grandfather and father should have had better lives because they sacrificed everything for God. He didn’t want to place his faith in such a God—a God who was irrational and unfair.

Because he thought logically and systematically, avoiding emotion, Peter majored in math and computer science. At that time, he believed more in evolution than creation. He thought evolution was based on scientific data.

But his mother prayed early every morning, placing her hands on Peter’s and his siblings’ heads; they felt her tears falling on them as they rested. Perhaps God heard her urgent prayers every morning for her children.

In his freshman year in college, my husband accepted Christ as his Savior. It happened when he attended a public debate between a UCLA professor who was an evolutionist and an MIT biology professor who believed in the creation theory. After the debate, Peter believed the theory of creation was actually more credible than evolution. This was God’s grace and a miracle.

From that point on, my husband started to share the Gospel with other students on campus during his lunch breaks. From his witnessing, he saw many students come to Christ and found this miraculous.

He immediately went to his father and announced, “I want to be a missionary. I think it’s my calling.” He thought his father would be thrilled. Instead, his father responded, “Son, I’d like to see you become a person financially supporting the missionaries instead of becoming a missionary yourself.”

Perhaps his father responded this way because he didn’t want the same hard life for his son. Nonetheless, my father-in-law emphasized the necessity of donors to support missionaries so the missionaries can focus on God’s work.

Peter was then reminded of Ephesians 6:1, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” My father-in-law’s advice brought brief disappointment to my husband, but this motivated him to make real plans to become a successful businessman in the future.

“What is your third question?”

I decided to urge him on with the next question. I watched his soft gaze and small smile and wondered what his intentions really were.

“So I have four siblings, but now that we’re all grown up, it feels lonely. Five doesn’t feel like a lot. So, when I get married, I’d like to have at least five children. What do you think about that?”

At that time in Korea, there was a national campaign to reduce the growth of the population. The government urged us with public slogans like “Two Children Only” or “One Child Only.” It was a popular movement. For me, this question was unexpected since I had only thought about further pursuing my education. Also, I had not even thought about having children, let alone getting married. But I needed to respond. “Five children?” I laughed. “Well, if God gives them to me, I’ll take them.”