Wings to Fly — 12

Memoir Index

Taking a Stand

I loved having an education business—Proevity. Tamara and I were partners, and we fit so well. Tamara took care of all the practical business and bringing clients to our company. I developed, designed, and produced education curriculums with help from speakers. I then submitted the programs to Medical associations to get a formal approval which can be translated into continuing education credits. It was exciting. There is a part of me that hungers for academic achievement.

I became the moderator who introduced speakers to our audience which comprised healthcare professionals and other interested people. To my surprise I did not get nervous in front of audiences of one hundred or more. In fact I loved it.

I found my work fulfilling. I dreamed of my company growing and having real impact on the health care industry by moving it toward preventative medicine. I worked with passion.

In 2002, Proevity was contacted by a human-potential school in New York. They wanted Proevity to accredit their courses so their students would earn educational credits. My first project was a two-and-half-week course. In order to see if the program was worthy of accreditation, I needed to participate in it.

I had never been away from home or from my Christian community that long. I asked the Lord to be my supply and reality during the two-and-half-week business trip. On the airplane I realized that I only had a small New Testament without any footnotes. At our church we all used the same daily devotional book, and I had forgotten to pack it.

I started to read the Bible without any notes. I said, “Lord, You must reveal Yourself to me. I don’t know how to interpret Your word.” I always relied on others’ exposition of verses. After each full day of the workshop, I would read and talk to the Lord. His presence was so dear and so rich. His word came alive.

As I would be amazed at the intricacies of biology and worship the Lord for His wonderful creation, I found myself totally amazed by the intricacies of the human psyche that I was learning about during the day, and I would worship the Lord for His creation of the human mind. Again at night I would come to the Bible. I would continue where I left off the previous night. Some nights I did not cover more than two or three verses in two hours. His riches, His speaking, His love, His wisdom filled me. I would fall asleep and wake up with the sensation of total immersion in the Lord’s love. This love overflowed from me and found expression in the public setting of the workshop sessions in a way I was not accustomed to. I was surrounded by unbelievers. I loved them.

There were about 30 of us. All the participants thought that I paid for the program just like them—$7000. The participants were business owners, physicians, politicians, executives, and other people who could afford such a program and who wanted to enlarge their human potential. There was one memorable event where my Lord manifested Himself through me. Two weeks into the program, we had a session discussing the topic, “Religion and Man.”

“What is religion?” asked our facilitator. Different people started to answer. “Religion is obligation and duty against your will”; “Religion is something someone created to appease man”; “Religion creates war”… I was fine with anything they had to say. But once they started to equate this religion with Jesus, something started to happen within me. I was experiencing God in such a real way that I had to defend Him. I thought of all the consequences of such action. I could see them leading me out of the room and slamming the door. As the discussion progressed, I was becoming infuriated with these people who were talking about my dear Lord in such a degrading way. I stood up without even realizing what I was doing. I started to speak. “Yes, religion is all these things that you are stating. However, don’t you dare connect Jesus Christ in these terms. He is not an obligation. He is not unwanted duty. He is not something created to appease man…” My voice was getting louder and louder. I was actually shaking. I don’t know how the words flowed from me. They just came. I was going through the chapters in the Bible, talking about the Apostle Paul who gave his life for this Jesus who empowered him inwardly. I talked about Peter who was not afraid to confront the thousands of Jews who had killed Jesus…. I did not know I had so much of the Bible in me. I must have spoken for ten minutes or more. Then I stopped.

You could hear a pin drop. Everyone was looking up at me. I was ready for any consequences. I was not afraid. Someone started to clap, then the whole room joined in. Then they all stood up and formed a line. They were coming to me. What were they doing? The first one came and gave me a huge hug. “Thank you that you stood up for Jesus. I am a Christian, and I was too afraid to defend Him.” The second person hugged me and said, “I was so afraid for you when you started to speak. I was praying for you desperately the whole time you were speaking. Thank you for your courage.” Every person in the room came to shake my hand or to give me a hug. Our facilitator said, “Let’s call it a day. Our quiet JaeHi has blossomed with our program.”