Pastor David shares some reflections following the Alaska earthquake.

<p>Pastor David shares some reflections following the Alaska earthquake.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Hillside O’Malley SDA Church

David Shin

Reflections After the Alaska Earthquake


Yesterday, after the earthquake, I decided to jump in the car and fill my gas tank. And as soon as I got on O'Malley, I was like, oh, everybody else has the same idea. And it was bumper to bumper traffic. And as I was sitting in my car on Abbott, never seen it like that before. And I had a lot of time to think and reflect.

I think it took me 2 hours to get gas, going out and coming back. So, you know, you're in the car just doing nothing, and I just started to reflect on life. I tend to get kind of philosophical in these moments, don't you? And there's certain times in your life that you have an awakening, and I think yesterday was 1 of those moments, right? You come to this time when things are crystallized to what is essential and what is core and what is peripheral.

Sometimes we get all bent out of shape over little things. And yesterday, it was like, Lord save me, right? Lord save my family. And you didn't know what was gonna happen next, especially when the tsunami warning came, all of these cars were headed up the hillside. I don't know if you saw that, but there was this back-to-back traffic coming up the hillside, and you could see in people's eyes as I tried to get into Home Depot, but they said, there's no way, and, but I could see in the staff's eyes, there was a look of this is not business as usual and uncertainty.

And we as human beings, we like security. And yesterday was a reminder how fragile our earthly security really is. Right? Just in a few seconds, everything that we hold onto as our security can be taken away just like that. And the question is, what do you hang to then?

What do you hang on to then? And I don't wish for another earthquake, but this is an opportunity, isn't it, For us to reflect on our lives and to ask the fundamental core questions of what is important. So I've changed my message after that wake-up call yesterday, and I got very little sleep last night. And so, these are some reflections this morning and some themes that have been in my mind for a little bit of time. And I pray that through this opportunity that we have in the aftermath of what took place yesterday, that all of us could be reflective and think about life's most important questions.

Psalm 90, verse 10 through 12, this is a Psalm of Moses. And he says, the days of our lives are 70 years, and if by reason of strength they are 80 years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off and we fly away. Who knows the power of your anger for the fear of you, so is your wrath, so teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of understanding." Moses is reflecting on life, and he says life is short, life is finite. We need to budget our life. We need to calculate how we are going to spend our life, our time, and this is an interesting statistic that I came across in regards to where we spend our time.

It says for the average American that leaves college at 22 and lives to be 70. Now, I'm just using this as a statistic here. The 48-year adult lifespan can be broken down into a few key activities. So from 22 to 70, 48 years, during that time, you will spend on average 16 years working. That's nonstop, without any breaks for eating, sleeping, or vacationing.

You will spend 15 years sleeping. The next biggest drain on your time is a shocker, it's media. You could spend up to 8 years watching TV on the internet and other sources of media. You can spend up to 4 years eating and then 2 years commuting for the average American. And then it went on to say that when all these activities are subtracted, you will have less than 4 years to do what you desire to do.

Like spend time with a spouse or loved 1, time with the children and grandchildren, outings and vacations, and it goes on to say that this is approximately 1 12th of your life. A maximum of 5 minutes every hour. Tragically, most of that time will be postponed to a period called retirement, when many people no longer enjoy the health needed to live life to the fullest. Life is short. And after you take out 16 years working, 15 years sleeping, 8 years on social media or television, I hope not.

You take away all of these elements and you have very little time to do what you actually want to do. The Bible reflects on the brevity of life. It says, for what is your life? It is like a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. James 4, 14, as for man, his days are like grass, as a flower of the field so he flourishes for the wind passes over it and it is gone And its place remembers it no more and the Reverend Billy Graham before he passed away said the greatest surprise to me is the brevity of life.

The brevity of life. Life is short. My grandmother, before she passed away, visited our home and took the opportunity to sit me down. She said, sit right here. And I said, oh, okay.

So I sat down. And She said, let me tell you about my life. And this is 1 of those moments that I will always treasure. Her passing on her legacy in a way, her story. She told the story of how she fled North Korea to South Korea with a diaper bag and my mother.

That's it, and a Bible. Penniless, after the war, then went to Japan as missionaries, then to America. And she worked her fingers to the bone to support her family. And finally, she said that when she came to the place when she could finally take a breath and say, now I can relax, She looked in the mirror, and she was almost 80 years old. And she looked at me and said, David, you're lucky.

You're lucky. And she said, take advantage of the gift you've been given. Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 2 says, "'Better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men, and the living will take it to heart.'" There are certain moments in which our life tends to crystallize and our values seem to emerge and yesterday was 1 of those moments when you suddenly have a distillation of values I Was talking with the conference president yesterday right before he made his public announcement about the Alaska conference. And he told me, David, it's interesting, because here we are arguing about policy. And suddenly, we have an earthquake.

And we suddenly realize what's really important. Amen? And I had the privilege of going to Africa a number of years ago. And this is me and my friend Chester. You can see that we're very excited to be there.

This is 1 of our rides that we had in the van. And we were in this Toyota van Going around a blind corner on the wrong side of the road, there's a local driver, he's very, very good, and we're going around this corner, and I'm just bracing myself for a head-on collision. And I turned to Chester in the midst of that corner, and I said, Chester, we're going to die. I'm very dramatic, right? I said, Chester, we are going to die in Africa.

We are going to die. I was just waiting for that impact, And he turned to me, very sympathetic by the way, he turned to me and he said, David, if we die, we die. I was like, thanks a lot, man. And it was just 1 of those things. And anyways, I got bitten by mosquitoes a lot.

I told this story a little bit before and they seemed to like me more than anybody else. Welts all over my body. Came back to America and it was around December in Virginia and I started getting these flu-like symptoms and there was a flu bug going around, so I thought it was just classic cold flu and went on for 6 days. Finally, I went to my parents and I told them, something's wrong, This is not normal. So I go to the hospital and the doctor that had been on duty that night happened to have been a missionary to Africa.

So he took 1 look at me and said, David, I'm not going to even wait for the blood test to come back. He said, at the top of my list is malaria. Malaria. And I found out very quickly what malaria was. A mosquito bites you and takes your blood and leaves a gift.

Leaves a parasite that goes into your bloodstream and then into your red blood cells. Well, actually, it incubates in your liver for a little bit and then they go into your red blood cells and then They infiltrate and they multiply and then when they get to a certain tipping point, that red blood cell bursts. And I found out later that I had a fatal form of malaria. There's falciparum and Vivax, I forgot the name of it. 1 of them reoccurs.

I didn't get that 1. I got the 1 that kills you. It doesn't reoccur. And I had that 1. And he told me, he said, look, I'm not going to take a chance with this because if it is falciparum, people die around day 6.

And I'm sitting there Like, really? And talk about a wake-up call. And I'm sitting there just with my sweat-drenched robe, with the doctor sitting there with his clipboard, my parents with their concerned eyes, and I thought at that moment, this could be my last day. Talk about a distillation of values. Because I had a conversation with God, I'm like, God, I wanted to get married, and you know what I mean, all down through these things, and then suddenly got distilled to my relationship with God and my relationship with people.

That's it. Those are the 2 values that emerged. And that's why Solomon said these words, that it's better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of a wedding. Because there's something about a funeral that forces us to grapple with our own mortality, to grapple with what is essential and what is not essential. Better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, for That is the end of all men and the living will take it to heart.

Oh, by the way, I obviously made it, right? People always ask me what happened. And so, yes, a miracle, a miracle is The quinine they gave me was just in time. The drug was actually worse, had worse symptoms than the malaria itself. Lost a lot of brain cells, so if you ever wonder what happened, that's 1 of those things.

And so I had the healthcare official for that district give me a call personally, and he said, David, you are lucky. And I told him it's not luck. You know, he said, you are lucky because If you had met any other doctor, they would have prescribed to you some flu remedy, and you'd probably be dead today. And so It was 1 of those wake up situations there. It's interesting the psychology of what takes place on a plane.

I went out to Selawik 2 weekends ago. And that was an experience all itself. I did a layover in Kotzebue in the airport, if you can call it that, and then this guy comes out with this reflector vest and goes through the manifest and says, oh David, are you coming? And I said, yeah. No ID check, no nothing.

He's like, come on. So I get, and I'm like, in that thing? And it's this little six-seater, one-engine plane. Now I'm not from Alaska, I'm used to these. I was like, oh, wow.

So I crawl in right behind the pilot seat. And then the same guy that I thought was like the attendant or the receptionist crawls over the wing into the pilot seat. And he says, it's kind of bumpy out there. Here's the bag if you kind of, you know, and pats that. And I'm like, whoa.

And he said, it's bumpy. And so we take off. And I'm like, Lord, if I die here, remember I'm here doing ministry. Just please, please remember that part. And then we land, and you know when it's bad when the natives are nervous.

You know it's bad. So we're landing and we go into this skid on the Selawik runway and the natives are like, whoa, and I said, oh, this is bad, this is bad. He gets it straightened out and I'm like, I thought to myself, you know, we had Tandy Perkins here from Arctic Missions. I said, why did I ever open my mouth to Arctic Missions to go on this thing? Anyways, so I'll tell that story another time about my experience there, but there's certain moments that you just realize you have this coming to Jesus moment.

And airplanes are 1 of those moments in which when you start having a little bit of turbulence, everyone starts getting religious. The movie screen goes off and everyone starts saying their prayers. I think of September 11th and the circumstances that took place there. There was a 10 year anniversary they recorded on StoryCorps of taking testimonials of individuals that were, families that were left behind from 9-11. And there was this 1 widow who told her story that her husband worked on 1 of the towers and he gave her a phone call and said, honey, you need to turn on the television.

She turned on the television and he said, I'm above the explosion and I've tried every exit and I don't think I'm going to make it. And she said that they had a period of time on that phone call where they had this moment together. And it finally got to the place where they didn't know when the final end would be. And they said, they just kept repeating to each other, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, and then silence. And she said she just wished she could crawl through the phone and hold her husband in those last moments.

In her account, she didn't want to go to sleep that night because as long as she stayed awake, she felt like it was going to be the last day with her husband. 1 quotation says, if we discovered that we only had 5 minutes left to say all that we wanted to say every cell phone would be Occupied by people calling other people to stammer that we love them Isn't that true When you're about to die Instinctively there's 2 things that you want to do. Pray and call your loved ones to stammer those 3 words. I love you. Why is that?

I mean, we don't call them and say, like, you know, remember to deposit my 401k into this account, and you know It's like that's not in our, maybe that's later, but it's not, make sure you wash my car. It's not like that. It's relational. I love you. And it's unfortunate that it takes a catastrophic event sometimes for us to tell our loved ones those 3 words.

It doesn't have to be like that. The famous businessman Lee Iacocca said, here I am in the twilight years of my life, still wondering what it's all about, and I can tell you this, fame and fortune is for the birds. Interestingly enough, Iacocca said, if I had to do it all over again, he would spend more time with his late wife and his children. Relationships. People.

As we reflect further on this reality of the end of life. Blaise Pascal said, I've learned to define life backwards and live it forwards. And Jesus said in John chapter 5, verse 28 and 29, do not marvel at this for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. Now, later in Revelation chapter 20, the Bible separates these 2 resurrections, indicating that they're separated by 1, 000 years. So there's 2 resurrections, a resurrection of life and a resurrection for the wicked.

2 resurrections. Everyone is going to be at 1 of those 2 realities and according to Revelation chapter 20, you have the resurrection of life and the resurrection of what we call damnation, or the resurrection of the wicked, in which you have not eternal burning, but eternal non-existence, which is also merciful too. Okay? Eternal non-existence. Now, we often think of death in certain terms, and there's a reason why the Bible calls death a sleep.

The Bible says death is like a sleep. There's a metaphor involved. Death is not exactly sleep, but death has some characteristics that are like sleep. When you have a good night's rest, not like last night, you know, when you're facing every, waking up every whatever, not like last night, but when you have a good night's rest, and you hit that pillow, I love that, you know? I cherish it even more after we had our newborn son, you know, and I was like What did I do with all my time before that and like what did I do my sleep time?

I mean so so you hit your pillow and then this is just glorious, you know and it's becoming rarer and rarer, but that you hit that pillow and it's like, bam! And the next thing you know, you're waking up, right? When's the last time you slept like that? Okay? But you have had that experience.

Boom, or like surgery. Knocked out. You know, I remember when I had my wisdom teeth taken out. It was like, knocked out, and I wake up like chipmunk. You know?

And the Bible says death is like a sleep. So if we die, or I should say when we die, from our standpoint, it is like instantaneous. So let's say I'm on a plane, it crashes, and I'm like, ah! The next moment, I'm, the next moment I know. The next moment I realize, in that instant, in that flash of like ah, the next time I open my eyes, I'm either going to wake up here or here.

Except I won't know how much time has transpired. I'm not going to know all the nice things that people hopefully say about me at my funeral and memorial service, right? I'm going to miss all that duration. I'm going to miss all that time and instantly from my consciousness, I'm going to wake up, hopefully at the first resurrection, the second coming of Jesus. So flash up and then you see clouds, you see billions of angels filling the sky, and you look around and you're like, oh, I must have died.

You go from being on Alaska Airline flight, I don't wanna traumatize you, all right? All right, Alaska Airline flight to Cloud second coming you're like oh, I must have died and Then you look around And you're like praise God. I'm on the right side. I'm on the right resurrection Hallelujah, and that look look how look how fragile this thing is right on a plane flash Resurrection from our consciousness Now the flip side of that is, on a plane, flash, wake up, you see a city, remember the story in the millennium, 20 years, I mean, Revelation 20, 1, 000 years, New Jerusalem comes down, wicked are resurrected. All right, you wake up, you see a city, then you look next to you and you say, hey, that looks kind of like Hitler.

No, that is Hitler. That looks kind of like Genghis Khan, Julius Caesar, oh, 0 my, you're going on, Nero, Caligula, oh, 0, that looks like the devil. That is the devil! Do you realize that people are dying every single day and From their reality from their consciousness from their perspective. They are waking up Second coming second coming second coming New Jerusalem New Jerusalem New Jerusalem That is a reality that is happening every single day from the perspective of the person that is dying.

Are you following me? That is taking place every single day. And the thing is that none of us in the in this room know when our time is coming to meet your maker 1000 years apart and yesterday was actually a gift, if it causes us to have more self-awareness and ask the fundamental question, how is it with me and Jesus? Amen? Amen.

It's a gift. Let's not squander this, amen? Amen. Let's not just let this moment pass and business goes on as usual and we're just lulled right back into security. Let's take advantage of this opportunity and to say, Lord, I want to accept the gift.

I want to say, yes, Lord. I want to give you permission to take my heart, to fill me, and to save me by His grace. How many of you want to say, Lord, save me? Amen? Let us pray.

Let us pray. Father in heaven, we pray that you would Be with us In the upcoming days and weeks May your Holy Spirit Touch our hearts To live life for the things that really matter most. Our relationship with God and our relationship with people. We ask these things in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.

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Reflections After the Alaska Earthquake

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