November 3rd marked two years since Kenneth Bae became a prisoner in the Democratic of Korea (also known as North Korea), and Kenneth’s family couldn’t really celebrate a normal Thanksgiving for the last two years. You can’t even imagine the pain this caused to Kenneth and his family. Their lives were held captive, filled with deep heartache and fear. As they were wondering when Kenneth would ever be free, on November 8th we all heard the news that he was freed and was on a plane from North Korea. He was finally coming home. At his interview, Kenneth said that he was grateful that he is back home now, and what he wants to do most was to spend time with family and friends he had so longed to see. This year’s Thanksgiving Day will be more meaningful than ever before for Kenneth and his family.
What does Thanksgiving Day mean to you?  How are you planning on spending your Thanksgiving Day?  The meaning of Thanksgiving Day has certainly changed over the years. Thanksgiving Day seems to get filled with more of watching football games and shopping for bargains.  Now this year, stores are saying that they will be opening at 6:00 pm on Thanksgiving Day and extend their special deals until Sunday evening to get people into buying more stuff.
It seems shopping has become more important than spending time with family and friends, and we tend to take our relationships with people we love for granted. We always see them so what’s the big deal? This kind of careless thought and lifestyle is chipping away at the true meaning of Thanksgiving Day. Yes, Kenneth was completely cut off from his family for two years. So when he said all he wants to do most now was to spend time with family and friends, we can say we would feel the same way if we were in his situation.
But the point is that we shouldn’t take the relationships we have for granted even if your relationships are perfectly fine with family and friends. For Kenneth, the relationship with his family and friends were cut off from him unexpectedly without his control. He said he learned a lot through this ordeal, and I could sense that missing his family and friends were the most painful and difficult things he had to deal with while he was imprisoned.
My youngest brother passed away last December unexpectedly. Since we were seven years apart, we rarely had deep and intimate conversations as we were growing up. But as we got older we began to share more about each other’s life, and when he was hospitalized for three weeks before he passed away, I had gotten to know more about him. I wish I had spent more time sharing with him before this happened. Well, it’s a little too late, isn’t it? Moreover, our Thanksgiving Day this year may not be the same as last year, especially for my aging mother.
Don’t forget to appreciate the relationships with your family and friends you have now. Don’t take them for granted. The relationships you have now could be interrupted without warning, and time will not wait for you either. Enjoy and cherish what you have now, and do your best to keep it while you have it!
Also let us not forget our God who’s always been so faithful and loving to us, and give utmost thanksgiving to Him.  Let us remember how blessed we are for having our God who loves us unconditionally and provides us with all good things.
I pray that all of you would have a wonderful Thanksgiving gathering with your families and friends, and enjoy spending time together.   Have a wonderful and a happy Thanksgiving!

From Pastor Neil’s Heart
November 23, 2014

I would like to use this time and space to introduce myself and my family. I am Eugene Cha, and I am the new Timothy/EC pastor at NCFC VA campus. It really seems like life has come full circle. For those who may not know, I grew up at NCFC. I was a part of Timothy starting from the sixth grade, and then joined Impact as I studied at UMCP (Go Terps!). After that, I ended up moving to Charlotte, NC to help my father who had become a senior pastor at a Korean church. What started out as just volunteering to help the youth group became my calling into youth ministry. I still remember praying and sensing God calling me into youth ministry. My first response was “Heck to the no.” However, as I kept praying, God placed in me a passion for youth that has been growing ever since.
It was then that I started attending Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary while serving at a church in Raleigh, NC.  Upon graduation, I had the opportunity to serve the youth in Sacramento, CA. Sacramento will always have a special place in my heart because that is where I “met” my wife. Let me explain why I have met in quotations. After I had moved to Sacramento, I got a call from my aunt who wanted to introduce me to a girl (my wife Sophia) who lived in Korea. So I sent her a message via Kakaotalk (thank goodness for Kakaotalk!). We got to talking and things were looking good. We both sensed that God has brought us together at the right time. She told me that she had a long list of things that she had been praying for while searching/waiting for her husband. She told me that I was the first one that met every single item on that list. To this day, she hasn’t told me what that list was in order to keep me humble (she’s a smart lady).
I flew out to Korea for a week, and we finally got to meet in person. I still remember seeing her walking towards me for the first time at Incheon Airport, and I was just frozen by her beauty. We had exchanged pictures, but she just looked so beautiful in person. On our second date in Korea, I proposed to her at Hae Woon Dae Beach in Busan. We got married in Korea almost one year after we first “met.” The first Kakaotalk message I sent her was on 11-11-12 and we got married on 11-02-13.
After I got my calling into youth ministry, I had always wanted to go back to serve at NCFC at some point because it was my home church. Not only that, but I was impacted by the youth pastors that I had there, and I wanted the opportunity to do the same for the next generation of Timothy students. Little did I know that it would happen so soon and so suddenly. My wife was 37 weeks pregnant with our son Andrew, and so we had no intentions of moving anywhere. In fact, we were busy setting everything up for the baby in Sacramento, but God had different plans for us. My wife ended up flying to VA ahead of me and waited while I finished closing up everything in Sacramento. It was truly the work of God that allowed us to move to VA. He took care of our apartment lease in Sacramento, insurance for the baby, and so many other things. One by one, He took care of them as we lifted them up in prayer.
Our son was born on Friday 11-07-14 at 6 lbs. 6 oz. at Fairfax Hospital. I think it’s so cool that he and I were born in the same hospital. We’re thankful that he is healthy and that he eats and sleeps like champ (gets that from his dad). We’re looking forward to getting to know everyone at NCFC and serving God faithfully here back at home. Home sweet home.

From Pastor Eugene’s Heart
November 16, 2014