We took this photo (see above) at a small cafe named Hemingway in Songdo, Incheon city, South Korea, on a beautiful Spring day in 2000. I think we were the only customers then because it was a bit early for lunch. So, the owner of the cafe gladly took our photo when asked. It really is difficult to believe that it was 24 years ago, and we never imagined then that we would be living in Canada in 2024.
By God’s grace, we became one flesh on May 19, 2001. I will never forget this day when Lynn and I entered a covenant relationship before God. I said my vow with all my heart: “I, John, take you, Lynn, to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life, until death do us part.”
Within the next four years, God blessed us with two beautiful children, Sue and Kyum.
God led us to some great places for Bible translation work. Having decided to join the North Eurasia Group of SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics), we spent one year in St. Petersburg, Russia, learning the Russian language and culture.
Our assignment was to a small country called Azerbaijan in the Caucasus region. We served a small language community on the Caucasus mountains until we returned to South Korea in 2013 for a one-year home assignment.
After my thyroid cancer surgery in January 2014 in Seoul, however, Lynn and I decided not to return to Azerbaijan because I wanted to pursue an advanced degree in New Testament and Greek linguistics, which brought the entire Lee clan to Hamilton, Canada, in 2015.
I must say that our past eight years in Canada (2015-2023) flew by. Both Sue and Kyum graduated from high school and have become independent university students.
Looking back, I cannot thank God enough for his ruthless grace and unswerving faithfulness. He so powerfully and impeccably led our family adventures in different countries and made it clear to us all that he was with us and that he would never leave us alone. God was good all the time. However, despite the obvious goodness of God–and although Lynn has been such a wonderful wife for me–it is with deep regret that I admit that I haven’t been the best husband (and father). My own immaturity and, most of all, shallow understanding of the gospel of the grace of Christ made me end up grieving Lynn (and Sue and Kyum) so many times, more than I can possibly remember.
All I can confess now is that life is a beautifully humbling mystery and that God my Creator and Redeemer is calling me to a holy and redeemed life. Lord, have mercy upon me. Lord, lead me by your holy path. Lord, teach me to love my wife (and my children) “as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25).
