Skip to content My Sister, Chung-Hae Oct 29 · 7 min ...more
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In this video 0:00 Chung Hae as Surrogate Mother5:09 Chung Hae's Radical Conversion5:57 Discipleship and Family Legacy
Chung Hae as Surrogate Mother 0:00 Chapter 3. My sister, Chung Hae, my surrogate mother and friend. My sister, Chung Hae Ahn, now Kasler, was born on February0:11 9th 19 54, 2 years before me. From the start, she exhibited a maturity that far exceeded her age. She was smart, responsible, and steady in a way that made adults trust0:23 her. My mom relied on Chung Hae heavily, especially to watch over me. Today, people would call us latchkey kids, but back then, my parents simply didn't know that it was illegal to leave a0:35 7 year old caring for a 5 year old. For us, it was simply survival. It was what immigrant families did to make ends meet. From my earliest memories, I thought of Chung Hae as a 2nd0:47 mother. She often prepared dinner when both my parents were working. I remember once when she used leftover rice and poured milk over it. She'd heard milk was good for us. It was terrible.0:59 Thankfully, she agreed, and we threw it out. Too bad she didn't add sugar to make a rice pudding. Chung Hae protected me, comforted me, and unfortunately became an enabler. She1:11 felt so sorry for me that she even did my homework. My sister was big for her age, strong and confident, while I was small and often teased. She saw how much I1:23 got picked on at school, and she went out of her way to protect me. We both attended Forest Grove Elementary School in Montgomery County, Maryland. The county was known as 1 of the best school1:35 districts in the country. Supported by the overflow of government funding from Washington DC, Montgomery County and nearby Fairfax County in Northern Virginia stood at the top of the1:46 nation academically. And even today, they remain among the wealthiest counties in America. However, excellence in academics didn't mean diversity in the early sixties.1:58 As far as I can recall, we were the only people of color attending Forest Grove Elementary in Silver Spring. I don't remember any black families, Hispanic families, or Asians,2:10 except the 2 of us. It wasn't until I reached 5th grade that another non white student arrived, a girl from Afghanistan whose father was a diplomat in Washington.2:22 Until then, we were truly alone in that space, and my sister bore that reality. It wasn't until 19 65 under president Lyndon Johnson that a new flood of immigrants2:34 came into the US, primarily from Asia. Today, white students would be in the minority at Forest Grove. Chung Hae's brilliance followed her through school. She2:46 earned straight a's her entire life, never a single b, except in 1st grade when she didn't know English. When she graduated high school as valedictorian, she had her choice of top2:57 universities and Ivy League schools. She chose Smith College, which at the time was considered 1 of the finest women's colleges in the nation. Her academic future seemed assured.3:09 To me, Chung Hae was more than gifted. She was my protector. When I got into fights on the playground and I got into many, my sister would come charging in to defend me. She3:21 would literally jump into the middle of the chaos, beat up the kids who were hurting me, and stand over me like a shield. To a small insecure boy who got picked on regularly, she3:33 was nothing short of a hero. Because both of our parents worked long and exhausting hours, my sister really ended up raising me, and that forged a bond that has lasted our3:45 entire lives. 1 of the greatest honors of my life was witnessing her come to Christ. After my own radical conversion in 19 73, she came home3:57 that next summer from her junior year in college. She had strayed from her early faith as a girl in Michael's Sunday school class, swayed by the existential philosophies she encountered in4:09 college, becoming very depressed. She now saw the joy and the change in me, which was unmistakable. I was even cheerfully taking out the garbage without being asked.4:22 1 day, as she was hanging sheets in our basement, Chung Hae, weighed down by her depression, demanded God to reveal himself to her. Immediately overcome with fear4:34 and trembling, she humbly asked him to take her back. She says she saw a vision of Jesus opening wide his arms to her saying, come. Her depression4:46 lifted, and she felt lighter than air. She quickly ran upstairs to tell me, and I told her she needed to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and prayed for her. Jesus met4:57 her. In that profound moment, she completely surrendered her heart, and she has been a faithful believer ever since. After I became an ordained minister, Chung Hae looked to me as herChung Hae's Radical Conversion 5:09 pastor, and I poured into her life to help her become a devoted disciple of Jesus. I had the honor and privilege to lead her future husband, John Kasler, to the Lord. At5:21 that time, both were students at Johns Hopkins University. John came up to me 1 day and asked what it would take for him to date Chung Hae. I told him that he had to become a follower of Jesus5:33 since my sister wouldn't date a nonbeliever. So John gave his life to the lord right there and then. I had no idea that he would become my brother-in-law, let alone a great Christian medical5:45 doctor. He became chair of otolaryngology head and neck surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center among other military hospitals. After retiring from the military,Discipleship and Family Legacy 5:57 he became the head of the department at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, quickly becoming chair over all surgery at all 3 of their campuses. John, I wanna thank you for serving our nation6:09 as a military surgeon for 27 years. Once again, I am deeply grateful for the armed forces that liberated my dad from communism in the 19 fifties. Our family would not have been6:21 able to live the American dream if it were not for the US military. Today, Chung Hae and I remain close. More than siblings, we are linked not only by our humble beginnings, but6:33 also by the grace of God that has shaped both our stories through the decades.
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Dr. Ché Ahn is the Senior Pastor of Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena, California, and President of Harvest International Ministry (HIM), an apostolic family of
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