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By Rod Miller
Special to the UMConnection

On the way to Korea this summer, I was given the middle seat between a young woman who as a student at the University of California at Davis was participating in a two-week exchange with a student at Korea University in Seoul and a woman in her early 50s who was on her way to Seoul to meet her new husband. During the long flight, we had plenty of time for conversation.

The student was excited about living in a dorm and experiencing university life from the Korean perspective, while the other woman was excited and somewhat apprehensive about what was in store for her. She was originally from Korea, had met and married a man some 20 years ago and they moved to this country, which in time had become her home.

Living in Sacramento, she had a good job as an administrator for the California Highway Patrol. She was able to buy a nice house and a car, and to make a good life. For some time, she attended a Korean Presbyterian church where she served as the church organist. It was a small church, yet provided valuable cultural and spiritual opportunities.

Over the last few years, she drifted away from the church, yet I heard wistfulness in her voice as she talked about church and her faith. She felt it was God?s hand at work having us sit together at this moment in her life.

I don?t know what happened to her first husband, she did not speak about him. It was two years ago that she went on a trip to Korea where, to her surprise, she met a man and fell in love. They dated long distance, back and forth, they became engaged and were married in February in Korea in a very traditional ceremony.

Their decision was that she would move to Korea and that she would live with him in his home which was on Jeju-Do island in the southern part of Korea where he had an electronics store. Now it was time for her to leave her home, setting out with a head full of questions and uncertainties.

The longer she talked, the more I came to respect and to marvel at her faith and courage.

Her new husband was not a Christian, and realizing (somewhat to her surprise, I think) the importance of her faith, her desire was to share it with him, and so also to grow in her own faith.

So she purchased a set of CDs with the Bible in Korean, and another set in English. Her plan was to listen to a short section each morning with him, and then to discuss it together. They could also listen to the same section in English, thereby learning English together as well.

She was not sure how this was going to work out, and what she would say to him. Nor was she sure what it would be like living in a more traditional household. Yet she loved this man and felt that God had meant for them to be together. We prayed together about all of this, as I saw her soaking up the words as she prepared to get off the plane.

In the Seoul airport, I stood with the student until she met her new host with a hug and a smile. Just before I left, I saw the older woman, her arm around her new husband, and as he passed by, he took a glance back at me in a wordless exchange. And I said a silent prayer for the disciple following love?s call.

The Rev. Rod Miller is director of connectional ministries for the Baltimore-Washington Conference.