RevKang.org

Funniest thing i heard: “that bike doesn’t have a climbing gear..”
I borrowed the bike i rode 160+ miles in from Jsuh (thanks sooo much!!).
as i was making it up the hills on the first day, i noticed that everyone around me was not pedaling as hard (but pedaling faster).. I tried shifting to find the gear that they were on.. trying to match them pedal for pedal.. but my pedaling always seemed slower and harder..
At the next stop i flipped the bike over and tried to find what could be wrong.. but didn’t see anything out of order. So at EVERY hill i would be dying trying to get up the hill in this difficult gear.
It was only at the End of the race, when i mentioned that i had such a hard time with the hills, that someone mentioned that I actually did not have a “climbing gear”!!! As in a HILL climbing gear?!!? ugh..

Second funniest thing i heard: So i called sanghee while entering Austin to see where she was.. she said she was still a few minutes out, so i slowed down and waited to make sure she and the girls could see me finish. After i finish the race, sarah comes running up to me and says “What took you so long?!” “You were the last one to come!”

Hey folks,

Why is this broken down 40 year old riding 150+ miles, over 2 days for the MS150?
Is it just to say i’ve done it? -i have no such ego..
Is it to challenge my body physically? -i have 3 kids, i need no more challenges
Then why oh why am i planning to take this ridiculous trip from Houston to Austin on a non-air conditioned, non-motorized bicycle?! on a bike (shoes, shorts, helmet) i had to borrow?!

My reason:
Several years ago, i had the privilege of meeting a energetic young lady who had a heart to serve the community and the world. Christine had come to join the church plant we had just started here in Houston. Shortly after, I had come to find out that she had a rare disease akin to MS called Devic’s Syndrome. This seemed like a devastating diagnosis to me, but Christine seemed to have a great optimism about her life and a desire to help others regardless.
Not long after joining the church, Christine had gone to a Summit conference where she felt inspired to reach out to those who were living with AIDS in Africa. She would come to eventually help lead a team of folks from our church  to Ethiopia in 2007.

It was during the training for this trip to Ethiopia that Christine’s health started to get worse from the symptoms of Devic’s. From decreased visions to shingles to various other ailments, life became ever more challenging. It became so bad that we questioned whether or not Christine should even take the grueling trip to Ethiopia. But like the trooper she is, Christine pushed forward and made the trip out with us to Africa. Shortly after getting to Ethiopia, Christine’s ailments seemed to flair up more and more. But no matter how difficult it became for her, Christine kept going! Truly she helped to encourage and inspire not only our team but others we would meet as well.
Even after returning from Ethiopia, Christine’s health continued to suffer from the disease. However, even with her sight almost completely gone, she managed to get accepted and start in a MFA program for writing, as well as play drums for the Worship team at church (she’s got great rhythm)!
As she looks ahead to her wedding this spring, i am continuously amazed by the strength she shows in her life.

So why do i ride this year? because over the years i have known Christine, i realize that there is not a whole lot i can do when she is in the grasp of this disease. I can’t make her pain go away.. i can’t restore her sight, i can’t prevent her from the pains she endures.. i can only try and be there for her when i can.. and pray for her as often as i can..
A month or so ago i heard this song by Rob Thomas. Like most songs I hear on the radio, I didn’t think too much about the lyrics of the song, but found the words interesting and the tune catchy (gotta love RT).  Eventually i got around to googling the video and lyrics and reading about the meaning behind the song.   It turns out it’s about his wife who has an autoimmune disease similar to lupus.. and some of the helplessness he feels in trying to help her..

Lyrics:
Oh what the hell she says I just can’t win for losing
And she lays back down
Man there’s so many times I don’t know what I’m doing
Like I don’t know now

By the light of the moon she rubs her eyes
Says it’s funny how the night
Can make you blind
I can just imagine

And I don’t know what I’m supposed to do
But if she feels bad then I do too
So I let her be

Chorus
And she says uuuh
I can’t take no more
Her tears like diamonds on the floor
And her diamonds bring me down
Cause I can’t help her now
She’s down in it
She tried her best and now she can’t win it’s
Hard to see them on the ground
Her diamonds falling down

She sits down and stares into the distance
And it takes all night
And I know I could break her concentration
Oooh but it don’t feel right

By the light of the moon she rubs her eyes
Sits down on the bed and starts to cry
And there’s something less about her
And I don’t know what I’m supposed to do
So I sit down and I cry too
Don’t let her see

Chorus

Bridge
She shuts out the night
Tries to close her eyes
If she can find daylight
She’ll be all right
She’ll be all right
Just not tonight

——

So why do I ride?

… i ride because i hate the disease that affects so many wonderful people .. I ride because i can’t stand it when she’s in pain.. I ride because my heart dies a little when i see her cry.. i ride because i feel i need to do something… anything!

So this year.. I ride the MS150.

Perhaps you know someone affected too? If you can, i encourage you to ride as well.. but even if you can’t this year.. Would you join me through a small pledge/donation?
The ride is April 17-18 so i know i only have a couple of weeks to raise the funds… but it’s something that we can do together..
you can Donate Here

or pledge through my facebook (there’s a ms150 section on my profile)

Thank you and mayGod Bless you

Shawn (Hyun) Kang

Non biker…

So i share this not because i feel i was deserving of such niceness.. but simply to share what an amazingly blessed person i am and how thankful i am for the wonderful community we have..and perhaps how gullible i can be…

Background (not really important, but interesting to me (man am i gullible).. you can skip to what happened Sunday)

2 months prior – There was an unplanned Steering Committee meeting while i was out of town. I kept asking.. “what was this meeting for?” why couldn’t it wait till i got back?
They said it was about some committee work.. but were very vague…  So i ask pastor Sunny what the meeting was about.. again, very vague mention of committee work… somehow that was annoying to me…

1 month prior- Julie W. asks me if a pastor from a different church could come and preach Jan 10th.
“umm ok, but with retreat and my out of town meeting i would be missing 2 sundays already and i felt bad asking someone else to fill in for me when i am in town and already missing so many sundays.”  So i ask if he could preach a different day.. she is again oddly insistent.  Finally, i convince her to let him preach Jan 31 when i am out of town.

Few weeks ago – run into heesoo at Barnes and nobles and talk about cameras, I comment that Sanghee and I might get one perhaps that or the ebook reader i had been eyeing…

Last week - Julie W. says she is getting an ebook reader for her husband for their wedding anniversary and asks my opinion on the best ones.

Last Monday – P. sunny asks to preach Jan 10th as a precurser to her retreat planning! (i thought “man are you sure you want to preach right before your retreat?”)
she is oddly insistent and said something about the Holy spirit moving in her.. so i said sure! (don’t get in the way of the HS!)  But she says i need to preach for children’s worship service (yay!)

So…

Sunday

As i am leaving the door for church, Sanghee says to dress better with a tie etc. I comply only because it’s picture day at church and i know she wants me to dress nice for family photos.
i get to church and the tables are decorated with table cloths and SB coffee cups with flowers in them and coffee beans all around..
i think to myself “wow they really take this picture day thing seriously!  and why are we wasting good SB coffee cups?
I go to do Children’s worship and they have a birthday song for Sarah and myself (it’s sarah’s actual birthday.. mine is wed)
it was nice to stand with Sarah and share in that moment!

I leave to go back to the adult worship service and…
soojin meets me at the door to say “where’s Sanghee? can you get Sanghee?” in an urgent tone

so i run to get sanghee, but then run back to ask “why?!” after all she was standing in the hallway! sanghee was only 30 ft further down the same hall!
i get stopped by heesoo to talk about cameras for a sec,
then open the doors to service.
Whereupon everyone yells.. “surprise! ”
and i truly was surprised… because it was still middle of service time!!
i see a ginormous sign covering the back of the stage and all these birthday decorations on the tables!!
Pastor Sunny invites me to sit and Sanghee and the kids and all the children come in.
and for the next 30 minutes..
an amazing message by pastor sunny on community..very powerful and eloquent as usual
A wonderful prayer for me and the family by the congregation and laying on of hands by the Steering committee. So blessed.
slideshow of the past several years.. with such nice words.. very moving
Then a cake shaped and printed on like an iphone!  sooo creative and funny.
Then a photo album with photos and comments from sooo many folks in the ministry!

One of my favorite parts of the day was reading all those comments and seeing the photos… soo moving!!
on top of that.. some very generous and nice gifts

i was so stunned, i did not know what to say.. but i do know that i felt so amazingly blessed.
the only reason i did not jump up and down or burst out crying was because all the while this was going on..my little sarah was crying because she was not getting a surprise part too     (breaks my heart to think of it)
but really she had a celebration the day before on  saturday!
so i am trying to console her even as all this is going on … and i tell her that we have a surprise for her after church…
(we did end up doing something special for her=)

That was my sunday..
i feel … overly blessed!!
definitely not deserving of so much love and blessings.. but thankful and humbled…

Thanks to all who helped plan, contributed and celebrated .. it was the truly a moving day!