Barber’s slip-up opens door for Gospel presentation

Southwestern student Jae Kang Im was looking for a quick haircut when he entered a barber shop in South Korea on Aug. 2. When the hairdresser accidentally cut one of his ears, however, Im decided to turn the mishap into an opportunity to present the Good News of salvation.

Im was chatting with his hair stylist, Sun-ah, when the accident occurred. Sun-ah had been telling him about her unfortunate childhood. Her father was a violent alcoholic, and her parents had gotten divorced when she was in sixth grade. The drunkard father continued to visit her mother’s home and wield violence, however, until they finally moved away two years later. She had not seen her father since.

“This lady had a scar in her soul because of her father, and I told myself that I will share the Gospel with her when she finishes [her story],” says Im, a Master of Divinity student. “At that moment of thought, that lady cut my ear, and lots of blood came. In that moment, I prayed to God, ‘Thank You for cutting my ear.’”

While most people would have been preoccupied with the blood and the pain, Im sensed that the accident had occurred because God wanted to show His love to Sun-ah. Soothing the panicked staff, who wanted to call 119 (South Korea’s emergency line), Im told them to calm down and that he wanted Sun-ah to finish cutting his hair.

“Are you sure?” Sun-ah asked repeatedly. “Isn’t it hurting?”

Im assured her, “If I compare this pain with the pain that you had in living without your father, and the pain that your father might have had by missing you, this pain is nothing.” When Sun-ah heard these words, she began to weep uncontrollably.

“Her face was all covered with tears as my ear was with blood,” Im says. “I told myself that if I can save this young lady this afternoon, it is worthwhile to lose one whole ear.”

After Sun-ah finished cutting his hair, Im temporarily left the shop to clean up his bloody ear. That evening, just before the shop closed, Im returned. He found Sun-ah and shared his testimony of how he had lived a sinful life but met Jesus Christ and became a transformed Christian.

Im explained that Jesus died for Sun-ah’s sins and rose from the grave to save her. When he finished this Gospel presentation, Sun-ah professed that she wanted to accept Jesus Christ as her Savior.

Im is now helping Sun-ah grow in her relationship with God by introducing her to other women of faith and suggesting good churches for her to attend in the area. In retrospect, he says, “I thank God for using my ear to save one soul.”