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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

John Shin

The Hardest Commandment

So, the reason why I don't have a belt, and it happens to be the only belt I own here, is because I was interviewing yesterday in Texas at UT Southwestern.

For those of you who don't know, I'm a fourth year medical student and I'm applying for internal medicine residencies.

And I was interviewing and wouldn't you happen to know it, but a freak ice storm blows through Dallas just as I come in.

So I came in, I came in through Oklahoma where it was snowing and I flew ahead of the storm, landed in Dallas just in time for the snow to cover us.

And on our way out, when I woke up yesterday morning and checked the flight board, literally every flight was canceled.

And there were 55 applicants, and a majority of them had flown in, and as you can imagine, the majority of them were stranded.

And so the program coordinators and everyone were all in a flurry trying to, and wouldn't you know it, all the cabs in the city were not working that day.

Many hotel shuttle services stopped operating.

So everyone from residents and interns to the program director himself was offering rides to the airport.

1 of the chief residents drove me and 2 other applicants to the airport.

But all throughout the day, I texted Arden, I'm not Arden, Addison early yesterday morning saying, there's a chance that my flight's going to be cancelled, in which case you're going to have to find a pinch hitter real quick for Sabbath.

And he was like, I think I gave him a small palpitation.

And throughout the day he was sending me, you know, little texts that carried their nervous sentiment saying, hey, just checking in.

I was saying, Lord, if you want me to speak, provide me a way to get back to Loma Linda in time.

But if you have someone who has a more appropriate message to share, then Lord, leave me here and swap us out.

And all throughout the day, I was checking my flight and I saw every flight around my flight getting either canceled or delayed, and my flight still stayed green.

I should have taken a screenshot on my phone.

The entire flight board is red, cancel, cancel, cancel, on time, cancel, cancel, cancel, cancel, cancel, all the way down.

So I was 1 of the few people able to fly out of Dallas yesterday.

And I did have a delay, but the delay was with my connecting flight in Denver, which was a little ironic, but I would much rather have my connecting flight be delayed than my flight out of Dallas, because if you miss that 1, guess what?

And so when I got to my connecting flight in Denver, I found out that I could hop on a different flight that would get me here earlier, instead of way past midnight, but the problem was that it would take me to Orange County instead of Ontario, and my luggage would be going to Ontario at some wee hour of the morning.

So a lot of my toiletries and my belt and many other things are waiting for me at Ontario.

But I am here, and thank the Lord I was carrying my suit with me.

So, at least I'm not preaching in my jeans today.

So I'm happy to be here, albeit a little bit tired.

And you know, I don't want to take up too much time, but I just wanted to tell you a quick testimony I have from the interview trail.

But as I'm interviewing, I've received advice from people on how to interview, how to make an impression on the people who interview you at different programs.

And I remember when I was at the Mayo Clinic a few weeks ago, 1 of the residents at the dinner we had before the interviews, he asked me if he could see my paper that shows the name of my interviewers.

And he looked at it and he said, okay, this guy, he's a cardiologist, let me tell you all about him.

The way you wanna impress him is you wanna talk about this research that's going on.

And it's really cutting edge and if you just sprinkle that into your conversation, it's going to blow him away.

And it just sounded so gimmicky, you know?

But my prayer into all of these interviews has been, Lord, I want to stand unashamedly for you.

And I want to tell my testimony of why I'm in medicine.

And when I completely put myself out there and what I stand for, if the program likes me, that's a hint to me that this is probably a good program for me.

But if they're turned off by it, then that's a good hint to me that this is not the right program for me.

So I said, Lord, please use it as a filter.

And the Lord has been using it as a filter.

But when I went to the Mayo Clinic, I went in there, and the cardiologist who interviewed me, he started with a question that I love, which is, he asked me, so tell me about yourself.

And I love that opening question because it allows me to determine the entry point of the conversation.

So what I do is give my short testimony of how God brought me to medical school, starting with the death of my father and all the way bringing me into medical school, and what I want to do with medicine in terms of providing spiritual care, and treating it as a ministry.

And I don't know what the spiritual religious backgrounds of these people are, but I don't care.

I just put it out there, and I say, this is who I am, and this is why I'm here.

So after I gave that testimony, the cardiologist kind of leaned back in his chair and he looked at me and he asked me this question.

And I was like, Where did that come from?

And so I told him, well, probably he spoke Aramaic.

You are the first person I asked that question to who got that question right.

And he said, do you know what my last name is?

And he's like, and you know, the church I attend is something, the Aramaic Church of the Nazarene or something some some something like that and he said and And I am so impressed that you knew the answer to that question and from that point on we just talked about spiritual matters and At the end of it he ran out of time and he looked at his watch, he was like, oh, we're out of time.

And then he leans over and he says, John, you are precisely the kind of person we want to see here at this program.

He said, because you are not just coming to these residency programs to treat them as a stepping stone to advance your career, but you are here because you treat your career as a ministry and you want to minister to patients, and that is exactly the reason why you should be here.

And he said, and as a cardiologist, I would love to work with you next year, so I hope you choose to come here.

And he was shaking my hand as he let me out the door.

And all I could do was to think back to the night before when that resident was like, hey man, if you wanna impress this guy, tell him about this research, It'll blow him away.

And I was like, you know, Lord, I don't look impressive on paper, but I have my testimony.

And may you be lifted up and may I be decreased.

And friends, throughout my interview trail, I just finished interview number 10 yesterday, but I have never been put at a disadvantage for standing up for what I believe in and for sharing my testimony.

And my prayer has been, Lord, even if I don't end up training here, help me to use the short time that I have here with these people to be a witness to them of what you've done for me.

And if it does nothing else but to plant a seed, it was worth my time coming here and visiting this program.

So I've been treating my interviews as ministry opportunities to different programs around the country, and the Lord has been blessing.

So if you'll keep me in your prayers, and I'll tell you later on how it all turns out, but praise the Lord.

Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank you so very much for the immense privilege that you give each 1 of us of being able to share our testimonies and being able to shed your light to those who need it.

Lord, as I give this message, Lord, you know how inadequate I am to talk on the subject, and you know that my preparation has not been the greatest, but Lord, I ask for your forgiveness, and I ask, Lord, that you will speak through me anyway.

May your Holy Spirit fill this place and fill our hearts, and may we all hear what it is that you want us to take away and apply to our lives.

Thank you, Lord, for always being so faithful and for hearing our prayers.

These things we pray and ask in your name.

So the question I want to pose for you guys this morning is, what do you think is the hardest commandment that Jesus ever spoke?

If you had to think back to all the commandments he's given us in his word, is there 1 that strikes you as being the most difficult to carry out?

And when I asked this to various people, some people give me interesting answers.

So, you know, 1 person said, I don't know, they're all pretty hard.

And another person said, thou shalt not kill.

And I was like, we'll pray for you, brother.

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The Hardest Commandment

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