Today's sermon is about being a miracle to somebody.

You know, in 1954, Maslow, a very famous psychologist, talked about the different levels, a hierarchy of meanings, what people need. And as you may recall, he talked about the physiological needs; that people need food, and that they need homeostasis, or breathing, then he talked about safety, love, and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization.

There was something very interesting that happened with Maslow. In 1970 he redrew this entire hierarchy. He actually added another level to this hierarchy. And that level that he added, he called, Self-Transcendence. And that was to pursue self-realization as well as help others achieve self-realization.

Now he talked about these individuals experiencing ecstatic joy and simultaneous cosmic sadness at the ability for human beings to foil their chances for transcendence in their lives and in the world at large.

When I think about my own life, and even when I think about maybe, today's event, the person that comes to mind is my brother that passed about 8 years ago.

Young-jin hyung, I remember one time very clearly, You know from a young age, I was not really the greatest student. My brother, he was always getting A's. He was a 4.0 student. I was closer to a 1.2. So I was not doing the greatest. So I was, you know, struggling constantly. I would hear people saying to me, "Oh that guy? He's an idiot! He's got the worst, lowest part of True Parent's genes! He's got the worst genes."

You know, so I ended up slowly starting to believe such words. I remember after graduating from high school and barely getting into college, I remember Young jin hyung, my brother called me one day. It was after a service on Sunday. Remember how we did the kyung-bae services back then?

He called me and he challenged me. He called me and he said, "You know what? You may be hearing from many people that you are a failure, that you cannot succeed, that you can only get C's and D's, that you are not capable of getting an A. You may hear from other people that you are dumb that you are not gifted, or that you are inferior to your brothers and sisters." And he said to me, "Don't you ever believe them."

He said to me, I remember so clearly that day, he said, "You have to believe in yourself. And make sure you show that that is not true; that those words of negativity are not true." And he asked me that day, he challenged me, he said, "I'm not only challenging you to start changing your thinking. I want to take a year off from school to work with you." That year, he took a year off,.he actually began to train me every day. The taught me all the tips that he learned; all the stuff that he developed.

How to read texts quickly or taking tests, training me in SATs; he spent and invested his time every day. It was 3 to 5 hours of his time every day that he gave to me. And of course he wasn't being paid for this, he wasn't getting anything else. I was just his younger brother. He was in Boston and I was in New York. And during that year he was taking care of me, spending every moment of his time, trying to build my confidence, trying to lift my self-esteem, trying to help me redirect my future.

I remember so clearly, that after the time that we spent, after a year, I returned back to school and for the first time in my life, the very first time, I got straight A's. I got a 4.0. And I can only say I made the Deans list and received honors, but I only can say I was able to do such things because of Young Jin hyung. Because he believed in something in me. Because he was a miracle to me.

We call him an angel now. And when I think about him, when I think about what he has done for me, how he directed my life, how he helped me, I believe from the spirit world, that he is continuing to give me good habits, and study habits, and that he eventually helped my going to Harvard. I believe that he was that catalyst, that miracle that changed the direction of my life.

I heard a story about one of our ministers and during the time of hometown messiahship, this Korean minister particularly went back to his hometown. It was a very countryside rural area. And he was very tired all day, he was working, sweating day and night just to try to witness, just trying to spread True Parents word.

I remember him telling me that he came back one day, he had chills in his body. He was getting a cold, he was out from 5 in the morning and late until 11 at night he was returning home. In this rural area where he resided, he was raising chickens and two dogs and such animals. And he recalled that on the night that he came back with chills, almost sick, so sick from the day that he had gone through, so tired and beaten from the entire day, he came back and he saw his two dogs running towards him.

And those dogs, in Korea, dogs are mixed breeds, and these are not like -- they're called dung-eating dogs in Korea. So he recalled seeing those dogs running towards him and he told me that he fell to his knees and he hugged his dogs, and you know, they kissed him and he kissed the dogs, and he was so grateful that he just started crying, because he couldn't witness to anybody.

There was nobody who would listen to him. But that his dogs came to him. They simply appreciated his presence. And he told me that he felt the presence, the concern of God working through those dogs. And he told me that really for him that became a real miracle.

When I had a dog, a Shetland sheepdog, Soon-do --for our western viewers, you know the connection in the west that people have their dogs -- I had this dog for 16 years. I got him when I was 11 and he stayed with me until I was 27. For part of his life, for about 2 years, he was on the other side of East Garden. I remember I was really busy. I was in college, etc.

I didn't get to see him so much. And I remember one day, I was exercising, doing some jogging, and I passed by his cage. And I remember he was just so delighted to see me. He could hear my voice. He knew exactly who I was. And it was almost as if he didn't care that I hadn't seen him for two years. He just was so thankful that I was there.

I remember that day, like a crazy man, I went to that dog and started crying. And just hugged him and said, Soon-do, I am so sorry. I am so terribly sorry. I didn't see you for two years, but you not only forgave me, but you accepted me so heartistically. I remember, I came to Korea, and Soon-do was now at a very advanced age. In dog years, he was way over 100. And I remember I was in Korea and I went back to the States just briefly.

And Soon-do, at the time, for about a month he was not moving. He was not eating so well. He was very old and he was always lying down, I can see him even now. And I remember, I came back, getting out of the car and seeing him laying down there. I went over to him. I petted Soon-do, and I put my hand in front of his nose. It was very interesting because it was almost like he smelled his owner and said, "Now is my time to go. Now I can go."

Literally there right before my eyes, he took his last breath. I saw him breathe his last breath. He waited for me to get back from Korea. When I saw that, I really was so grateful for creation. God has created this beautiful world for us to have stewardship with, to walk with, and to have friendship with.

I was so grateful and I remember at that time really recalling in my own mind, thinking again, returning to my breath, returning back to my meditation practice and realizing how precious our lives are. And even I can say that even to this day, even in one small way, that Soon-do was a miracle on that day for me. Because it really made me think once again, how precious our lives are.

Today we had the inauguration ceremony and my brother came out. Kook Jin hyung came out. He has now for many years been working in the re-construction of the Tongil Group companies in Korea. And he's been doing so much work here in Korea and I can't say enough how grateful I am to him. He's been supporting me from day one.

He and I were very close to Young jin hyung, my brother who passed away. And even today when he came out, he was encouraging me the whole time. He's been encouraging me for many, many months behind the scenes. He's been encouraging -- you know to keep your hopes up. He's been encouraging me to just really kind of focus on loving members.

Try to give them your love. He's been always encouraging me, and trying to guide me, and talking to me. You know he always comes by and I make him tea. I practice the tea ceremony. And I really realized that each day I get to spend with him, each day I get to spend with each one of my family members, I got to spend time with True Parents when they came out today for the inauguration, that we really have to capture those moments of miracles.

That although for us they may be passing moments in our lives, when we look closely and if we can capture them and if we can incorporate them into our being, if we can see the treasure that is in that experience, we can see a miraculous moment that God is giving to us.

I heard a story about a young orphan named John. He was in an orphanage and he had a very interesting dream, a dream that many young kids have at that age. He was maybe 7 or 8 years old. And he had a dream that he wanted to fly. He said why can't I fly? I want to fly.

One day he was going through the orphanage and he met a guest that was just touring the orphanage. It was a young boy named Tom in a wheelchair. He had no legs. They ended up talking to each other and with Tom's father. And he asked Tom, "Do you have a dream? Do you have something that you wish you could do?" and Tom, the boy with no legs, said to John, "Yeah, I wish that I could walk and run like you guys. I wish I could simply walk and go around the park like all the other boys and girls."

John took that into his heart. He was outside the orphanage one day and he ended up stumbling across a little playground that Tom played in, and he saw Tom the young boy without any legs in the sandbox. And he went over to Tom and said, "Hey, remember me, the boy from the orphanage?" And they ended up talking and ended up playing together and making sand castles and making funny noises that kids make.

They just had a great time, a great laugh. And then about 2 hours later Tom's dad came and said, "Tom, we have to go home." And John leaned over to Tom's father and said, "Could I ask you something?" and whispered something into that father's ear. And the father said, "Sure, you can do that."

John went over to Tom and said, Tom, you know, I can't give you your dream. I can't fulfill your dream for you. You want to walk. You want to run like the other boys and girls. I can't give you that. But I can give you something else. And he asked Tom to jump on his back. And John started running around the playground. And he ran harder and he ran harder. And Tom's father saw that scene playing out and he started to cry, he started to weep. Because he saw his little boy Tom with no legs, flapping his wings in the wind, saying, "Look Daddy! I'm flying! I'm flying!"

When we are in a time of crisis, when we need to have something in our lives, when we need a miracle in our lives, just like Tom received a miracle from John, we can learn from that story. We can learn that when we need something, that we have to first be the one to give, to help another person; that when we want our dream to be fulfilled, we first have to help another.

We have to make a conditional sacrifice, so to speak, an offering. We have to help somebody else fulfill their dream. It doesn't mean that you have to give up on your dreams that you have to throw away and cast aside the vision that you have for your future. But you incorporate that part to help another achieve their vision and their dream.

When I think about True Parents, I remember so many little miracles, when we were growing up. I remember having a very nice time fishing with Father and that kind of activity -- I think everybody knows. I remember one time we were in the playground and Father was shooting basketball. That's not a scene you see too much of Father.

I remember that and I can remember how, he never played basket ball so he didn't really know how to dribble the ball, and he was shooting and it was so cute. And I could recall that scene and just remember being in that miraculous moment. Just something that I imbibed into my being: a snapshot of a memory that has a place in my heart.

It's so important in our lives that we become mindful and aware of these kinds of snapshots. You know we have all this kind of rich experiences during our life. Even in the course of a day, we have so many rich experiences. If we are able to open our eyes, to expand our awareness, we will be able to notice that each of those experiences is miraculous in some way. The fact that our lives, in and of itself, is a complete miracle.

So if we can learn anything today, if we can learn just a small thing, let us learn to be a miracle to somebody else. If we want a miracle in our lives, and need help in our lives, it's very important first, to be that miracle to somebody else. Young Jin hyung was that miracle for me. My older brother Kook Jin hyung, he is a real miracle for me.

People who believe in you, who encourage you, who instill faith in you, who say, "You know, you're not who people tell you who you are. You are somebody that will be great. You are somebody that's a champion in life. God believes in you." When we have that kind of encouragement, when we have that kind of miraculous person in our lives, that changes our destiny forever.

Now it's important in our lives. I truly believe that if we are able to do that for somebody else, that will change the course of your life. It will change your destiny. You can reach out to somebody who needs a miracle. It doesn't have to be somebody in an extreme circumstance. Sometimes people in extreme circumstances need a certain type of care, or even professional care. But I'm talking about somebody who may not have self-esteem, somebody who may not believe that God loves them. Somebody who may not believe that they can pass the next test, or who believes that they will never succeed at their work.

If we can be a miracle to them in a small way, I believe that God can make a big miracle, and create a great blessing in our midst. So if we can learn something today, lets try to become somebody's miracle. Let's also be our best, at the same time. Remember if we want to receive a smile, it's a very simple principle, the same principle as receiving a miracle: if you want to receive something from others, it has to be given first. That's what the principle teaches us.

It teaches us that in give and take action, the subject has to give first in order to receive. And in fact the subject cannot demand from the object to give, that he or she has to be the bigger person. Let's be that subject person, let's be that larger person, OK? We can do that in small ways, with a smile, with a thank you, with an encouragement, helping someone believe in themselves. If we do that, I do believe that each one of our days can be more enriching. That each one of our days will be more miraculous and that we will, I truly believe, become somebody's miracle. So brothers and sisters, if you can accept my offering today, what could you say to me? Aju?

As I remind you every week, let's remember, you are VIPs. We are not only Very Important People, we are Victorious. We are Illuminating. We are filled with Peace in our hearts. Let's always create that kind of image of ourselves. Let's not create the image of mediocrity, or the image of not being able to make it, and the image of failing.

I'm a failure. I don't see myself well. I have low self-esteem. Let's not see ourselves that way. Let's see ourselves how True Parents view us. They see us as more than important people. We are truly in their eyes the real VIPs. So if we can do that, I believe that we will truly live that life of blessing that True Parents give us the blessing and expect us to live the blessed life. I believe that we will if we can do such small things.

Let us join our hearts for the final prayer?