Dear Family and Friends,

As many of you know Aileen and I enjoy Korean dramas.

One of our all time favorites is a Netflix series called My Mister that centers on a platonic agape-love relationship between a middle-aged, middle management structural engineer and a young temporary office worker.

As you read their conversation below you may recognize that I shared this before, about three years ago. As you read the rest of today’s devotional you’ll understand why I’m sharing it again.

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As they left work after a long day, they had the following exchange.

“Engineer: I’m a structural engineer, not an architect.

Temp: Aren’t they similar?

Engineer: An architect designs buildings. A structural engineer is a person who calculates how to construct a building with what materials so it comes out safe according to the design.

Every building is a battle between external and internal forces. Wind, load, vibration. We calculate all the possible external forces, then design the internal forces stronger than that.

An apartment is designed to withstand 300 kg per pyeong. Schools and auditoriums where many people gather are designed to bear a much heavier load.

The internal forces must always be stronger than the external forces.

Life is, in a way, a battle between external and internal forces. No matter what happens, if you have internal forces, you’ll last.

Temp: What are the internal forces of life?

Engineer: [Long pause] I don’t know.”

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Why am I retelling this story?

The lead actor who portrayed the engineer was the victim of extortion last year. To pressure him the perpetrator went to the police and falsely accused the actor of using illegal drugs.

And to make matters worse, the actor was victimized by an overzealous police officer who rather than investigate the actor’s version of the story, leaked the drug investigation to the press.

In today’s unforgiving social media environment, the actor’s reputation and career were ruined.

The actor, Lee Sun Kyun, succumbed to the external forces of life and committed suicide three months ago.

It appears he didn’t have the internal forces to withstand the pressure and therefore lost hope. 

His suicide still saddens me.

What happened within the Oda family in Mānoa saddens me deeply as well. We may never know why it had to happen. 

But like SK Lee, it appears he didn’t have the internal forces to withstand the pressure and also lost hope. 

I hope everyone reading this devotional recognizes that you have the internal force to withstand the external forces that life throws at us.

It’s called the Gospel.

Good Friday will soon be upon us. It was the day Christ Jesus willingly went to the cross – for us!

And because of His sacrifice we who place our faith in Jesus were justified, made righteous before God.

Our relationship with the Almighty God was made right.

Our past and our shame were washed away by the blood of Jesus.

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”  ‭‭Romans‬ ‭5‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Our pain and suffering are no longer our burdens to carry. We now have the Holy Spirit!

We now have reason to rejoice. Our suffering now gives us strength – to persevere, to grow in character.

And hope for life everlasting with Jesus.

“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”  ‭‭Romans‬ ‭5‬:‭3‬-‭5‬ ‭ESV‬‬

My friends, this is why Good Friday is called Good. Sin and death were conquered. Peace between God and man was restored.

And because there was a Good Friday, the resurrection on Easter Sunday, and all the hope that comes with it, was made possible.

In love always,