Joshua 17:18, Philippians 1:27~28
Four days after the 9/11 terrorist incident, there was a United Airline flight from Denver to Washington D.C. The pilot of the flight gave an announcement that gave the entire nation an inspiration. The pilot said the following:
“Thank you for your courage to board onto the flight. The security check was reinforced for reasons. Once the door closes, and any incident happens within the flight, we are on our own. Since there is no gun or bomb aboard, use any plastic, wooden club or even a fork as a weapon.”
The captain of the flight also made another announcement of a rule he has made.
“If a terrorist says “this plane is hijacked”, I want everyone to rise and attack the terrorist. Then cover him with a blanket and restrain him / her. Then I will land the plane to a nearby airport as soon as possible.” He also added, “There’s only a handful of terrorist / hijackers, but the flight crew and the passengers are over 20. As the law of United States says, we will never surrender.”
As soon as the announcement was completed, many of the passengers had clapped and cheered, and some of them even had tears in their eyes.
During this year’s C&MA meeting, with many difficulties I was able to attend. The plane’s flight time was changed, and I had to arrive in the airport several hours before the flight, and since parking in the airport was impossible, I had to take a bus to get to the airport. For many of the pastors, it was a difficult experience. The person who picked me up also gave me many warnings. But despite all this, many pastors had made it to the C&MA meeting.
As I prepared for the 18 C&MA meeting, there was a small sad incident. The first pastor to give the form was Pastor MuGil Yu. But after the terror incident, because of reinforced security, he had to get to the airport several hours before, since his health was not good, he couldn’t. Furthermore, the pastor would have to deal with the luggage but since he was alone, it was impossible for him to attend. “Pastor Lee! I would love to go to the meeting, but the circumstances make it impossible.” I was moved by how much he cared for the C&MA meetings. While working as a supervisor, I had many blessings and one of them is seeing the work of God being in full swing through pastors’ life. Like the passengers of the United Airlines were inspired by the pilot, I thank God that many things like that happen to me in my work. So was the C&MA meeting that I had attended.
This year’s meeting theme was “Go and Plant!” As in the book of Joshua, when the sons of Ephraim complained to Joshua that their’ share of land was small. The sons of Ephraim were afraid of the iron chariots. But Joshua said, “but the forested hill country as well. Clear it, and its farthest limits will be yours; though the Canaanites have chariots fitted with iron and though they are strong, you can drive them out.”(Joshua 17:18) The Ephramites did see the iron chariots, but they had forgotten about how mighty God’s hand was. The path for them to find and conquer new land was through unity, and to have faith in God.
All of the pastors that had gathered in today’s meeting were to solve the immediate problem within the C&MA through unity. Within the Korean District alone, the community was able to step boldly in funding and in church planting, to the Great Commissioning Fund through great unity. Under the flag of the unity, Apostle Paul said to the Philippians church, “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit,[a] striving together as one for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27~28) In this year’s meeting, I was blessed to see the unity we were able to achieve and be able to run to our common goal together, and I am also very thankful of that.
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Unforgettable Names 
Fight in unity (October 23rd 2001)