Last week, we went back again to my friend’s house to install the ceiling fan and light kit. This is a new replacement of the last DOA (dead on arrival) that I shared with you last time. This time, the kit is from a different vendor with a simpler design. The installation went smoothly without problem. We were all joyful when we saw the light and fan come on flawlessly. I looked at my friend’s eye and saw a trace of disappointment. I knew that he likes previous one better than the current one because the previous one is fancier and looks nicer. I told him that it is more important to have a functional kit than a nice looking one.

This lets me think of a joke that I heard recently from a radio broadcast, based on my memory, though.

One day, an old man was walking in the field, alone. In the middle of his walking, he heard someone was calling him, “Hey, old man”. He looked around and found no one. Then, the calling came again, “Hey, old man, I am a frog just next to your feet”. The old man looked down and found the frog. He was shocked to learn that a frog is able to speak.

The frog continued to say, “I am a frog being cursed, if you pick me up and kiss me once, I will become a beautiful woman.” While is still in his shock, the old man didn’t move.

Again, the frog pleaded, “Please… please pick me up and kiss me once, I can become a beautiful woman for you!” The old man came to his sense and picked up the frog. He then put the frog into his coat pocket.

The frog started to yell, “Don’t you understand what I have just said? You just need to kiss me once and then you will have a beautiful woman!”

 “At this time of my age, I would rather to have a talking frog than a beautiful woman!” The old man replied.

How many times we fell into the same trap of “Outward appearance is more important than anything”? Probably quite a few times, right? This is because we live in a society with a culture emphasizing outward appearance – “looking good” is a key to everything. To become a “looking good” person, we may take drastic measures such as push our diet to certain extreme or wear beautiful dress with gold jewelry, etc. However, this does NOT mean that we should not be looking good. It is the “over-emphasis” part is the problem. Apostle Peter in his epistle instructed, “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 你們不要以外面的辮頭髮，戴金飾，穿美衣，為妝飾，只要以裡面存著長久溫柔安靜的心為妝飾‧這在神面前是極寶貴的(1 Peter 3:3-4)”. 

In the ceiling light and fan kit case, is it more important to have a nice looking but malfunctioned kit hangs on the ceiling or a truly functioning unit?  I think you know the answer. This actually applies to our spiritual journey too. We all know that Jesus dislikes teachers of the law and Pharisees and He scolded them as hypocrites like whitewashed tombs. Jesus wants us to learn that it is more important to follow Him by heart (a functional Christian) than by lips (a hypocrite).

May we be diligent to listen to His words and do what He says!

Yesterday, I spent a few hours in helping my friend install a new ceiling fan and light kit in his house. Initially, I thought it is just a direct swap with his old one. I found out that is not the case when arrived at his house later – it is a brand new and more complicated one actually. So, I have to figure out how to piece its components together. The installation took much longer than I thought due to the limited head-room clearance and complication in install. When it came to the time of power-on, we were all eager to find out its result. The light turned on and off properly but the fan would not spin. We were all baffled and thought there must be something wrong during the installation. Took down the fan kit and rechecked the fan for lockage and the wiring and then reinstalled, it is still no luck. We could hear the fan motor humming but its blades are not moving. Great, I told myself. How can a brand new fan being a dead-on-arrival (DOA)? Now what should we do? Finally, my friend and I decided to take the fan kit down and disassemble it back to its original form in order to request a replacement from store. You could imagine how disappoint we were after being labored so long 🙁

This is an interesting experience and it gives me a thought to share with you. Do you know that we are all DOA when we were born, my friends? This is of course from spiritual point of view, instead of from physical. When God in the garden of Eden commanded Adam, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die. 園中各樣樹上的果子，你可以隨意喫‧只是分別善惡樹上的果子，你不可喫，因為你喫的日子必定死‧(Genesis 2:16-17)”, He wants Adam (the man) to listen to His instruction and learn its consequence. This command becomes a verdict to mankind when Adam’s wife Eve listened to the serpent’s tempting words and Adam followed suit in violating God’s command. What a tragic outcome! As a result, we the mankind is separated from the source of life – God – become spiritual dead. That’s reason apostle Paul indicated to us that we were dead in our transgressions and sins (Ephesians 2:1). 

Analogously, our DOA is also like the humming motor couldn’t spin the fan – it can not function properly. Even my friend and I spent so much time in trying to make it work, it is still no success. Similarly, throughout human history, we could see tremendous efforts have spent in trying to use our own deeds and works in order to gain God’s eternal life. The end result, I would say, is completely futile. As apostle Paul said, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. 你們得救是本乎恩，也因著信，這並不是出於自己，乃是神所賜的‧也不是出於行為，免得有人自誇 (Ephesians 2:8-9)”. Realize the fact that we are DOA does not mean that there is no solution. God does offer a solution for us: to receive His Son, Jesus Christ, as our personal savior.

When we decide to take this action, God can make us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgression. This is by grace totally! Therefore, my friends, do you want to exchange your DOA status with a “live” status? Then, please come to our God to do the request!

Looking at the scene of impacted homes and roadways at my hometown from the TV screen, I shook my head thinking how could a tropical storm causes such damage – numerous home were flooded, many got hurt and some even lost their lives. The culprit, as many believe, is due to sudden rampageous rain compounded by insufficient and malfunctioned sewer drainage system, around the area. At this time, the usual scene of finger-pointing by local and central government officials appeared. Isn’t this similar to the scene in the book of Genesis among Adam, Eve and the Serpent?

This incident brings up many questions. Since most people acknowledge the mother nature of the storm is uncontrollable by human hands, the key question is then circling around “Who should be responsible for the sewage system problem?” To me, the root cause is truly a personal integrity issue. This includes both government officials and the general public – how commit is the government officials in performing their duty in protecting the general public and how well the general public would follow government’s regulations without blocking the sewage system / overdeveloping natural resource.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus teaches His disciples about the wise and foolish builders (Matthew 7:24-28). A wise builder is who listens to Jesus’ words and puts them into practice, whereas a foolish builder is the one listens to Jesus’ words and does not put them into practice. In the case of sewage system at my hometown, a person who is committed in doing his / her duty responsibly at his / her position can be called a wise builder. The end result, as is indicated by Jesus, is a house on the rock – when rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock (Matthew 7:25).

My dear brothers and sisters, as we are Jesus Christ’s followers, we need to ask ourselves constantly the question, “Am I a wise or a foolish builder?” One day, we will stand before Him and He can ask the same question from us. May we put His words into practice!

Last week, in light of my tingling fingers, my wife wanted me to see a doctor. Initially, I was trying to put off the appointment thinking that the tingling would go away after a few days. Under my wife’s insistence, however, I went to see the doctor reluctantly. Through this opportunity, I also did an annual physical check-up at the same time.

Entering the examine room, I sat on the examining chair and glanced through postings on the wall. A plaque titled “A doctor’s prayer” caught my eyes. Yet, I couldn’t see its context clearly from distance due to my aged eyes.  The doctor then came in and we chatted. Interesting thing is I find that the doctor and I shared the same lower back problem. As an experienced solider to the problem, the doctor offered me advises in how to minimize its pain and possible cure. After my check-up, I finally had a chance to read the context of “A doctor’s prayer”.  It says,

Lord Jesus Christ, you are the great Physician of our souls. During your life on earth, you healed the sick and even brought the dead back to life.

From your heavenly abode, continue to be the Divine Physician for your people and bless the noble work to which you have called me. Make me truly wise in my medical judgments and genuinely sympathetic in my dealings with patients. Amen.

I find that this interesting experience gives me things to ponder. Originally, I was trying to delay my doctor’s appointment, thinking that I can wait. The truth is without gone through the check-up, I really couldn’t know what is going on in my body. The likely result is a small problem could lead to a big problem. This reminds me of an advertisement, “This year, thousands of men will die from stubbornness. 有上千個男人今年會死於頑固”.  I think there is a moment of truth in the advertisement. 🙂 “How stubborn are you?” is a good question to ask yourself. Chinese has an old saying, “Refuse to be convinced until one is faced with the grim reality不見棺材不掉淚” gives us a vivid picture of one’s stubbornness.

My dear friends, do you perceive that you are healthy without any problem? My question to you is “How true is your perception?” To me, I may obstinately assume that I am healthy. Not until I gave up my stubbornness in order to be checked up by a doctor then I learned my own problems. Besides, even my doctor can’t be free from physical problems too.

The doctor’s prayer, described in the plaque, recognizes the authority and power of Jesus Christ – He is the “Jehovah-Rapha (Exodus 15:26)”.  Owing to His great love, He came to our world to take away our pain and suffering from sin. We have to realize that He is the ultimate healer to all our sickness, both physical and spiritual. When we are stubborn to our self-righteousness, we would not be able to see our spiritual sickness – a sinner in God’s eyes. This is the reason Jesus said to the teachers of the laws who are Pharisees, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. (Mark 2:17)”

If we didn’t learn that “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) 因為世人都犯了罪，虧缺了神的榮耀”  through God’s word, we wouldn’t know that we are having the spiritual illness. Therefore, my dear friends, when we humble before the greatest healer, Jesus Christ, we can be sure that we will be cured from all diseases. Because, the apostle John told us that “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. 神要擦去他們一切的眼淚；不再有死亡，也不再有悲哀、哭號、疼痛，因為以前的事都過去了 (Revelation 21:4)”.

May you meet the greatest healer, Jesus Christ, personally!

It is back to school time and we dropped off our kids back to college on last Friday. Due to the registration time and move-in time are early in the morning, we chose to stay in a hotel the day before in order to avoid any possible traffic jams on the road. Our car was packed with luggage and passengers, including two of our in-laws – it was a full load ride. Thanks to our Lord, we arrived at our destination safely and smoothly. 

This year we are happy to see my son moved in a two bedrooms townhouse which has a nice kitchen and dinning/living room. After seeing the kitchen, my son asked my wife to give him a short lesson of cooking. My wife told him that it is too late now since we couldn’t stay there too long. Later we found out that his roommate brought in good cookware and utensils to share. We then chatted with his roommate’s mother and learned that her son is a good cook. We thank God for His arrangement.

My son has a not-so-good habit – he likes to do / ask thing at the last minute. Oftentimes this gives us headaches, especially when it involves us to be ready for buying something for him, or taking him to somewhere, etc. I repeatedly told him that he needs to give us time before we can react to his requests. I certainly hope that he can change the habit during the school years before it is too late.

I am sure we all have our sheer experience in doing thing at the last minute. To me, it is painful and carries a lot of mental pressure. The worst nightmare, I think, is to find out that you missed a lifetime opportunity or an important deadline – “It is too late”.  In a letter that apostle Paul wrote to his dear co-worker, Timothy. Paul requested Timothy “Do your best to come to me quickly你要趕緊的到我這裡來 (2 Timothy 4:9)”.  On the surface, it may just like a normal request. When you look it closer, you will find that is a heart-felt and earnest request that Paul made to Timothy. As Paul’s life is entering the last chapter, his death is imminent. He would like to see his spiritual son, co-worker, and dear brother Timothy one more time. The opportunity for Paul to see him was heavily depending upon timing before winter, as it is not sailable on the sea during winter time. Unfortunately, as is commonly known, Timothy missed the opportunity due to various reasons. I am sure Paul would feel greatly disappointed.

In our life journey, there exist numerous opportunities that we can pursue and may take a hold of it. However, opportunity vanishes when timing is missed. The author of the book of Ecclesiastes told us that “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens凡事都有定期，天下萬務都有定時 (Ecclesiastes 3:1) ”. We may see tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, thinking that there is always tomorrow. We may see the season comes and go repeatedly, thinking that there always another season to come. But, have you ever thought about that there is ONLY one opportunity that is the most important to our life, my dear friends? It is the opportunity to know God and receive His precious gift – His son Jesus Christ – as your personal savior. May you grab this lifetime opportunity before it is too late!

As summer is winding down, kids’ vacation time is also approaching to an end.  I realize that we didn’t get a chance to have a whole family vacation or outing yet, as there were always millions of things pull us apart. Yesterday, we finally had the opportunity to have a whole family outing. We went to a local state park to enjoy the warmth of beautiful sunshine, beach and row boating.

Sitting in a row boat with my kids, basking under the sun, I watched them row the boat and thought this is really a nice and pleasant day!  My elder son, however, seems not quite in the mood of this activity. I asked him what is going on. He said he prefers to hang out with his friends. I then became aware of that his peers’ attraction is more than us – the whole family. I don’t blame him as he is still young. I think he will understand the importance of family relationship when he is getting older. I find this fact was reflected on my eldest daughter who chose to reschedule her lunch meeting with her friend in order to join us with this family outing.

A family usually means a group of people who are closely related by birth, marriage, or adoption.  They usually live together and function as a single household with parents and children as a hierarchical and relational structure. Thus, when a group of people lives together without relationship as was described previously, we don’t usually view it as a family.

Last time I shared with you about a big family which is from God. I emphasized that it is love that really matters to a family as it is the foundation that is based on God’s truth. Bible told us that God establishes the marriage for a man and a woman to join together in one flesh in order to start a new family. When we chose to ignore this truth, the foundation of a family shattered. The consequence is chaos in the society because God has been excluded from our daily living – there is no restraint in our sinful desires in the flesh. Apostle Paul indicated to us that God gave those who exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones over to shameful lusts. The results are receiving in themselves due penalty for their error (Romans 1:24-27). May we be solemnly reminded, my dear brothers and sisters.

It has been a busy two weeks for my family. Our regular schedule had been shifted around involuntarily because of my wife’s niece’s wedding ceremony in last week – this includes my weekly sharing schedule too🙂. In preparation for the ceremony, my family, naturally, became the host to all my visiting in-laws. And, unavoidably, we have to assume the task of receiving, cooking and chauffeuring. Though it is busy and laborious but it is also a joyful family reunion time.

During their stay, my in-laws have the opportunity to observe our daily living and especially, to see how the families of God work together in preparing for the wedding ceremony. They told us that they were very impressed on our arrangement and preparation and the ceremony was solemn and meaningful. I know it is not easy for some of them to take time off from their ever-busy day-to-day schedule. This temporary detour from their schedule, however, gives them a chance to have a refreshing experience and most importantly, an opportunity to learn what is the true meaning of a marriage defined by God.

From this experience, I do see how God provide and how He led two persons (the bride and the groom) together without the limitation of distance and cultural differences. He is really a great God! Also, I see brothers and sisters pouring out their time and resources to help us in making the ceremony perfect – what a love we have received! I thank God for giving us so many loving brothers and sisters to accompany us through the time of joy. This lets me think of what apostle Paul has said, “與喜樂的人要同樂Rejoice with those who rejoice (Romans 12:15a)”.  The sincere love expressed by our brothers and sisters makes us feel warm and also to our in-laws. They said: we look like a big family and they are happy to see the newly-weds are with us in the family of God.

As you may know, “small” family size has been emphasized and enforced by government and authority in some countries, because of the exploding population in their countries. So, the question is: Is small family size better or a big family size better? I think it depends. The truth is it is not the size of the family that determines its superiority. Instead, it is the love within the family that really matters – without the love, it is just a dysfunctional family. By knowing this truth, my dear friends, I invite you to join the family of God with us. This is a big family with God’s love and it is “the” family that will sustain forever under any circumstances.

Two weeks ago at my working place, we had a chance to meet our NEW ‘top’ executive. After his speech, he held a “Q&A (question and answer)” session for the employees who want to ask him questions. One of the questions being raised was, “You are given the job to come here, what is your directive from the above?”  He thought a little bit and responded, “Apart from ‘Don’t screw it up’, there is really not much I can say.” I was impressed by his answer.  This seemingly simple directive – don’t screw it up – represents an expectation from someone who is with authority and in addition, it needs a commitment and persistence from whoever receives it to carry out.

At my working place, our performance and conduct are assessed every year. It is a system being set up for employees in order to maintain certain standard of performance in the company. Are we always up to expectations without screwing it up? Probably not! Is the system always fair without fallacies? Probably not, either! Some people would feel that he / she is forced to accept the evaluation regardless whether he / she likes it or not.

Analogously, I am sure you have your expectations from your children, if you are given the opportunity to bring them up. Are they always meeting your expectations? Probably not! We call these are growing pains – for both parents and kids – in order to lessen our disappointment. Yes, it does bear some truth in it. However, this also brings us two possible aspects. One could be our incorrect expectation from our children and the other could be our children’ unwillingness to commit to our expectation.

2000+ years ago, there is a man who was given a directive from the above to sacrifice his life in order to complete a plan from the above.  His name is Jesus. When He was sent by God to this world, He was expected to complete the task of propitiation on humankind’s behalf. Has Jesus met God’s expectation? Certainly! Apostle John, in his recording of Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross, indicated to us that Jesus said, “It is finished. 成了！(John 19:30)”. 

Without Jesus’ commitment in submitting to God’s plan, we are still under the dominion of darkness. Apostle Paul told us that death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come 然而從亞當到摩西死就作了王、連那些不與亞當犯一樣罪過的、也在他的權下．亞當乃是那以後要來之人的豫像. (Romans 5:14). And, “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive在亞當裡眾人都死了．照樣、在基督裡眾人也都要復活” Because of Jesus’ commitment in completing His task, we – whoever believes in Him – are made alive in Him. What an accomplishment!

My dear friends, do you know what God’s expectation from you is? He is expecting you to believe that His son, Jesus Christ, has finished the task of being a sin offering for our sins. With that belief, you can then have redemption and He can rescue you from the dominion of darkness and brought you into the kingdom of the Son He loves. Please remember that there is a time limit to our journey of life in this world. And, there is no doubt in my mind that at the end of our life journey, we will be evaluated. At that time, my dear friends, can you say that “I didn’t screw it up” in front of God?

One of my morning breakfast time, I was preparing the breakfast by steaming a frozen meat bun on an electric steamer. After adding water into the steamer’s bowl, I set the steamer’s timer on.  After the timer is up, I was happy to see the meat bun puffed up nicely outside.  I started to enjoy the “hot” meat bun as my breakfast. In the middle of my tasting, I find that the middle of the bun is still cold. Two bites later, I decided to give it up because I didn’t feel like to have a hot bun with cold meat inside.

This interesting experience prompts me to think what I have done wrong. Apparently, I didn’t prepare it correctly – either the water in the bowl was too low or the steaming duration was too short for a frozen bun. The end result is, as is expected, a hot skin with a cold meat bun, which is an undesired one.

As I put the bun back to restart the steaming process, I was thinking: isn’t this undesired bun similar to the teachers of the law and Pharisees in Jesus’ time – looking good from outside but is not good inside? In the Gospel of Matthew chapter 23, Jesus used 7 woes to scold the teachers of the law and Pharisees. He called them hypocrites, blind guides, blind men, and whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. Obviously, Jesus was very dissatisfied with their inconsistent and self righteous behaviors, especially they are supposed to lead the Israelites to follow God truthfully.

Thinking about this, it makes me to examine my own behavior too. As a Christ’s follower, do I have the similar behavior as the Pharisees – serve God and others with my lips only? Do I look beautiful on the outside but on the inside is completely different? I have to admit that sometimes, I am guilty as charged. My wife oftentimes complains that I say a lot but have done little, including to my kids; in particular, she thinks I spend too little time with them. I guess I have to watch out myself. 🙁

My dear brothers and sisters, when we frequently didn’t do what we are saying, we quickly fall into the hypocritical state like the Pharisees. It is the state that our Lord has despised the most. Because He said the Pharisees are the descendants of the evil one – who is the father of lies (John 8:44). This is quite serious. Therefore, let’s encourage one another and be diligent to do what we are saying.

One late night in last week, a friend of us called and asked us to come over“urgently”. We wasn’t sure what is going on and thought they might just have something to share with us. Arrived their place, we found that their family was in the middle of “intensive fellowship”. It is kind of awkward and all we can do is assuming the role of listener, because we really don’t know how to resolve it, as Chinese has an old saying, “清官難斷家務事 Even a good judge has a difficulty in judging the family matters”. 

Coincidentally, in last Friday night’s small group meeting, we watched / discussed a video titled, “How to resolve conflicts, part 2” Most of us find it is very useful. The guest speakers shared with us several their own examples and taught us some practical methods and approaches in resolving conflicts within a family. The foremost principle, per the speakers, is based on “love”.  And in practice, we should discuss events and matters instead of people. These are good principles since our careless words sometimes carry detrimental power when we speak them without love. In addition, words concerning personal behavior, instead of events/incidents, may put one on defense mode and fuel negative emotions inadvertently. One of our group members commented, “These are easy to say than done”. Yes, sometimes it does appear like that; otherwise this world would be a “better” place already 🙂

God gives us the ability to speak and communicate with words, but He also knows how difficult it is for us to control our tongue. The Bible, therefore, taught us many lessons in speaking words in love and in proper manner.  One of the familiar ones is “Speak truth in love 用愛心說誠實話 (Ephesians 4:15a)”. And, apostle Paul in his well-known teaching of “love” (1 Corinthians 13) mentioned that a person who can speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, he is only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal (13:1). Similarly, the author of the book of James even warned us that the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. 舌頭就是火，在我們百體中，舌頭是個罪惡的世界，能污穢全身，也能把生命的輪子點起來，並且是從地獄裡點著的(James 3:6). No wonder king Solomon said,  “一句話說得合宜、就如金蘋果在銀網子裡Timely advice is lovely, like golden apples in a silver basket. (Proverb 25:11 NLT)”

Conflicts can occur when we insist our own view or opinions, without basing in truth and love. Sometimes it is better to calm down and rethink what we are going to say during confrontation. Someone once said, “It is better to bite your tongue than to make a biting remark. 與其出口傷人，不如緘口無言。”  It is very true!  We should learn how to control our tongue in all situations, especially when facing our family members. Perhaps you are familiar with the saying, “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people. 「君子論理，常人談事，小人議人。」” Hope we all soon become “great minds” in the future….