The Project
Recently, I was asked if I could design a wall covering for the Chapel at GGIS. One of my hobbies is woodworking and I do a lot of stuff with pallets in the US so the idea was to make a pallet wall behind the stage. I asked my friend, Tim, to help me think it all through and to build it with me, the whole project took about 25 hours between drive time to get the wood, staining, then prepping the wall and putting everything up.
Here is the chapel before (pretty ugly, right?):
The Purpose
Previously, I had built the stage, pulpit and the cross that you see on the new wall with my friend, Pasha, who moved back to America last year. It was a fun project and great to reminisce about what we’ve been doing at the school. As Tim and I were leaving the building after finishing, we started thinking about the chapel itself and how much use it gets. It’s home to two churches (including my Korean church) and is also used for both the elementary and high school chapels (assemblies) every week. I wonder how many people have been in that room. I wonder how many of them have gotten saved in that room. It’s interesting to think about.
The Message
I had the opportunity to speak in the high school chapel last Friday. This was the first time I have ever done a chapel in my four years at GGIS. I talked about how we have to make a conscious choice to love people. If someone hurts me I can choose to love them, not because they deserve it, but because I can give it. I didn’t deserve love and God loved me, therefore, I can love people with that same love. It was interesting because yesterday, at the Korean the Pastor spoke about the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6. If you look through those verses, you see that the prayer starts with being fed by the Word of God and knowing the Word allows to forgive. Then, living in the Word is what sustains us through temptations. The Word is also what allows me to love people. When I have the Word in my life, when it’s my daily bread, I am able to live right, to live clean. I don’t get distracted by other “food” that I am offered (politics, anger, money, relationships, pride, etc.) because I have something better which produces an effect, not just on me, but on those around me. I can love because of the Word in my life. I need to think with God’s Word continually.
-Jon Cook
