Hello! My name is Sabine Lee and I volunteered to go to the Children Shepherd conference at the Orlando Vision Church as a 예비 목자 to remind myself about how to be a Shepherd. Honestly, what I was looking forward to the most was to hang out at Orlando and have fun with my best friend. I’ve been to three conferences/lessons about being a children Mokja but what was different this time was that I was not really excited about learning about it because I thought that they would teach things I’ve already listened to.

안녕하세요. 저는 이 사빈입니다. 유스 예비 목자로  올랜도 비전 교회에서 열리는 어린이 목자 컨퍼런스에 자원하여 참석하게 되었습니다. 솔직히 제가 가장 기대한 것은 올랜도에서 놀고 가장 친한 친구와 즐거운 시간을 보내는 것이었습니다. 그리고 저는 어린이 목자가 되기 위한 컨퍼런스나 강의는 세 번이나 다녀왔기 때문에 이미 들어왔던  내용을 가르칠 것 같아서 별로 기대가 되지 않았습니다.

It’s been two years since I retired as a Children Mokja and all could remember was that it was really hard and tiring … So as a youth member, when pastor Jang asked me if I wanted to be a youth shepherd, I didn’t really want to do it and i was trying to avoid the situation. After going to the conference I remembered that the main responsibility of a shepherd is not to just be the leader and tell them what to do or take care of them while they are playing, but to serve them and to love and understand them. Understanding. After listening to one of the pastor at the Orlando church, I realized that understanding was a key word to being a shepherd because it is one of the essential things to do. When you understand, you have to look up to that person instead of looking down at them. So after learning this, I was a bit disappointed at myself for only remembering the hard parts about being a shepherd and not the amazing parts about helping and serving people to be a good Christian. 

어린이 목자로  섬기면서  기억나는 건 정말 힘들고 지친 것 밖에 없었습니다.  그래서 청소년부에서  장 목사님 이 유스 목자를 해 보는 것은 어떻냐 고 물으셨을 때,  정말 하고 싶지 않았고, 피하려고만 했습니다. 그런데 컨퍼런스에 다녀와서 목자의 가장 중요한 역할은 리더가 되어 아이들에게 무엇을 하라고 지시하거나 놀고 있는 아이들을 돌보는 것이 아니라, 그들을 섬기고 사랑하고 이해하는 것이라는 것을 깨닫게 하셨습니다.  컨퍼런스에서 목사님의 말씀을 듣고 난 뒤,  [이해]는 목자가 되기 위해 꼭 해야 할 일 중 하나이기 때문에 목자가 되기 위한 핵심 단어라는 것을 깨달았습니다.  이해한다는 것은 상대를 내려다보는 것이 아니라 올려다보아야 한다는 뜻입니다. 저는 이것을 알게 된 후, 목자가 되는 것에 대한 힘든 부분만 생각했지 사람들을 돕고 섬기며 좋은 그리스도인이 되는 것을 생각하지 않은 제 자신에게 조금 실망했습니다.

Another thing I learnt were the words agape and filial love that Jesus used to ask Peter. Jesus asked Peter if he agape loved him which meant that he loved with his whole heart but Peter always responded that he filial loved him which means that he loves him as a brother. I realized that after a while, my love towards Jesus was becoming the filial love when it should be the agape love. So I decided that as a 예비 목자 that I would try to agape love Jesus and other people and to remind myself to serve my neighbours and try to want to become a good Mokja to others. Thank you!

또 하나 깨달은 것은 예수님께서 베드로에게 물으셨던 사랑의 두 단어 ‘아가페’와 ‘필레오’  였습니다.  예수님은 베드로에게 ‘마음을 다해 사랑한다’는 뜻의 아가페 사랑인지 물으셨습니다. 그런데  베드로는 항상 ‘형제로서 사랑한다’ 뜻의 필레오의 사랑이라고 대답한 것입니다. 예수님을 믿고 신앙생활을 하며,  예수님을 향한 나의 사랑이 아가페적 사랑이 되어야 하는데 필레오의 사랑이 되어가고 있다는 것을 깨닫게 되었습니다.  그래서 이번 어린이 목자 컨퍼런스를 통해 청소년부 예비 목자로서 예수님과 다른 사람들을 아가페적으로 사랑하고, 이웃을 섬기고 다른 사람들에게 선한 목자가 되고자 노력해야겠다고 다짐했습니다. 감사합니다!