Some time ago I received a call from Sister Shin Shin Kang, one of our shepherds. She told me that the renowned Dr. Kang Young Woo and his wife wanted to have dinner with me and asked if my wife and I would be available. (Sister Shin and Dr. Kang’s wife graduated from the same college.) I knew a bit about his life, such as how he overcome his physical handicap of being blind to become the highest ranking Korean American official in the U.S. Federal Government. So we willingly obliged. They say that behind every great man stands a great woman, so I was very interested in meeting his wife as well.
We ended up spending a wonderful evening at a Vietnamese restaurant. Dr. Kang’s wife had a unique way of helping her husband eat. Instead of feeding him herself, she told him where the food was situated and allowed him to help himself. So she said things like “Chicken is at the 10 o’clock position on your plate.”
I was so impressed by the testimony Dr. Kang’s gave at the dinner table that I asked him if he would come and share it with our church. I knew he was extremely busy, but he said, “If Seoul Baptist invites me, I will give the invitation my highest priority.” That’s how this weekend event came about.
Dr. Kang has two sons. The older one made a vow when he was 3 years old to become an eye doctor so he could cure his dad’s eyes. True to his promise, he received training from Harvard University in ophthalmology and is currently working at Duke University. The younger received a doctorate degree in law and is working as legal assistant to the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Dr. Kang’s success story in raising children is relevant to us because one of the missions of our church is to help
parents raise healthy Christian children.
Dr. Kang lost his sight during middle school while playing soccer. A soccer ball hit him in the eyes and permanently damaged his retinas. He spent a few years angry and depressed, but was inspired when he rediscovered the stories of Apostle Paul in the Bible. He decided to make Paul his role model and overcome all the hardships he faced. He graduated from Yonsei University in 1972 with a degree in Education and came to the U.S. for graduate study. He received a Ph.D. in Special Education from the University of Pittsburgh in 1976. His current position in the federal government is one of 500 that require approval from the Senate. He is also a member of a special White House Council which works to help 54 million handicapped people in the U.S. and make recommendations to the President and Congress.
This weekend event will be for our church members only because he recently spoke at another church in Houston. That event was widely advertised and many of the Korean Americans in Houston heard his testimony. Dr. Kang will speak 5 times over the weekend: Friday evening, and twice on both Saturday and Sunday.
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