순례자의 샘터 Soonsam 2019 Summer | Page 10

EM Pastor's Column My son is 3 Rev. Jacob Park Some people who read SoonSam know about the story of our first born child. That it took 5 years for Flora and I to have our first son, Jedidiah. We were told by the fertility doctors in Massachusettes, that we would probably not have children, even with medical intervention... Fast forward 4 years after that, and we had our first son, Jedidiah! His name means “Beloved of God”. We felt very loved by God when Flora got pregnant. He was truly a blessing baby. And ironically (providentially?) his original due date was August 11-12... which was my 40th birthday! 40 is a very significant number. Moses was 40 years old when he first fled the king’s palace. The Israelites spent 40 years in the desert. Jesus fasted for 40 days and nights. The story of Jonah has the number 40 all over the place... it’s a number that signifies a period of waiting before being sent out as God’s blessing... So my first son, whom we were told by “experts” would probably not come, was to be born on my 40th birthday. How awesome was that? But he was not born on my 40th birthday. He came out 10 days late!!! He was born on August 21, 2014. I guess he was stubborn like his daddy. And much like many of the “blessings” in my life, from my perspective, he came late (but perfect according to God’s timing). Fast forward to the fall of 2016. Flora found out that she was pregnant... our 2nd. However, we were not trying to get pregnant. God has a sense of humor. We tried so long and went through so many different hardships/adventures 10 순례자의 샘터 www.soonsam.org