Last weekend, I had a chance to “skype” with my in-laws from my hometown. It is great to talk to them face-to-face through network, even though the network is sometimes, a little bit moody – voice and facial expression tend to be out of phase, once a while. In the past, we relied on phone lines to call them. Not only we couldn’t see their faces, but also they would rush to end the call due to the pricey minutes of the call. This reveals the fact that there is always a price, could be either monetary or non-monetary, to pay when communicates with others.

Last Friday night, we had a small group gathering at a friend’s house, discussing a topic called “win-win communication”.  I was the one supposed to bring in “necessary” equipments for the discussion; due to the nature of presentation was using a video. Before the gathering starts, the host family called me and checked to see whether I have the equipments ready, most importantly, if I have a computer. I told them, “yes”.  The bad is I didn’t even bother to check the equipments loaded in my car since I assumed the equipments have everything ready. Not until the gathering was about to start and I was setting up the equipment, I then realize that I forgot the computer. So, we were forced to use a different set-up in order to start the meeting. I apologized to them for doing such a “lose-lose communication” demonstration from the beginning.

In the video, the hosts focused on sharing their personal experiences and views on how to achieve a good communication in marriage and family life. According to the hosts, we need to realize that:

1. God establishes the marriage. (Genesis 2:20-22)

2. Spouse is one’s bone of the bones and flesh of the flesh, not the children. (Genesis 2:23)

3. A man has to leave his parents and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. This does not mean we should ignore our parents and don’t love them. (Genesis 2:24)

4. Husband and wife can be as frank as both were naked, and they felt no shame. (Genesis 2:25)

5. Husband and wife need to commit to cultivate their communication – nothing can affect their mutual relationship.

Most of us would agree with me that a healthy family would result in a healthy society and therefore a strong nation. Conversely, a dysfunctional family would cause a great harm to  children’s growth and results in a great damage to the society and weaken the nation. A healthy family is characterized by a win-win communication among family members. Because they are well communicated and having a strong relationship. Considering ourselves in the God’s family, do we have a win-win communication with our Heavenly Father? Are we committing to cultivate a good communication with Him? These are questions worthy of our pondering.

To “skype” with our Lord is always a hotline and is always available – There is no bandwidth limitation and therefore there is no stuttering like a moody network in this world. The only requirement is we need to come before Him and talk to Him face-to-face frankly. Oftentimes we may prefer to hide from Him because of our wrong-doing that is not pleased to Him. Please remember that He is waiting on the other side to “see” us. He promised, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 我們若認自己的罪 ，神是信實的，是公義的，必要赦免我們的罪，洗淨我們一切的不義。(1 John 1:9)”

My dear brothers and sisters, have you “skyped” with our Lord recently? Please don’t forget that He is waiting to see us and to talk to us.

Last Friday, before I left for the day at my working place, my wife called and told me that she forgot to bring in soy source and spice for tonight’s celebration of Chinese New Year at our church. I wrote them down and then rushed back to home to pick them up. After that, I went to pick up two young guests on my way to the celebration.  While traveling, I was still thinking whether I forgot something or not.  Suddenly, I remembered one thing that I lack: I need to bring in the non-slip liners for the hotpot stoves in order to prevent the stoves from gliding on the table. “Too bad, it is already too late. I need to figure out an alternative”, I told myself.

The likelihood of running such kind of “oops!” experience oftentimes is high, especially when we are in a rush. Its consequence sometimes may just cost us some nuisances or inconveniences; but on the other times, it could cause serious issues. Imagine that you are going to meet a person you love but forgot to bring something important. As a result, your plan was ground to a halt. How do you feel? One of such “oops!” news recently is the famous singer Taylor Swift’s boyfriend, who was rushing to see her after a long drive to airport, only to find that he forgot to bring his passport and therefore their romantic meeting was halted.

My friends, one way or another, you may encounter the same “oops!” surprise in your daily living. Have you ever thought about that when each one of us needs to stand in front of God to receive His judgment at the end of this worldly life, what will He say?”  The phrase “There is one thing you lack” comes into my mind. I agree that no one will ever be able to reach God’s standard. The question is “What is the one thing that you lack but is deemed to be the most important from God’s view?”

In the Gospel of Mark chapter 10, when the rich young ruler inquired Jesus about how he may “inherit” eternal life, Jesus told him that there is one thing he lacks. Jesus said, “Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me. 你還缺少一件 ：去變賣你所有的，分給窮人，就必有財寶在天上 ； 你還要來跟從我 。(Mark 10:21b) ”.  The point Jesus wants to teach us is we cannot rely on our own works, talent or wealth to receive the eternal life, the only one thing that is important is to believe that He is the son of God and only through Him we can be saved.

My dear brothers and sisters, we may constantly feel that we are lacking one thing in our life; either one pair of shoes or one piece of dress in our closet, or one tool in our garage, etc, but we need to remember king David’s experience, “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing (Psalm 23:1)”.  It is a very important insight that we should not overlook. Let’s be reminded from Jesus had reminded Martha, “few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her. 但是不可少的只有一件；馬利亞已經選擇那上好的福分，是不能奪去的”. Hope we all will be able to receive what is better in God’s eye (Luke 10:42).

Spent a few hours last Saturday to dig out from a foot of snow piled on my friend’s and my driveways, gave me a good work out.  The good things are we didn’t experience any power outage in our area and the snow was one day only.

As the historic blizzard hit the Northeast region, some areas received several feet of snow locally. It caused many damages and interruptions – schools, transportation, government offices and private companies, etc. were all impacted. Under such condition, personal daily lives are also having various detours and plan changes. Our church originally planned to have a hotpot gathering to celebrate Chinese Lunar New Year on last Friday night was forced to postpone. Many friends of us, who were longing for the gathering, were disappointed. I realize that God wants us to learn that He has His own idea and won’t always follow our little plan. God declared to us, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 天怎樣高過地，照樣我的道路，高過你們的道路，我的意念，高過你們的意念‧ (Isaiah 55:9)”

In our life journey, I am sure there will be many detours waiting for us. They could be as minor as schedule change to, as major as lost our endeared friend or family member. This morning, I had a chance to call my brother-in-law who just lost his wife, my sister, in last summer. I could perceive his sadness and heaviness through his voice. I was short of words to comfort him. He told me that he was so used to have my sister taken care of the family. Now in the New Year eve, he had to prepare the gathering meal by himself, knowing that he couldn’t even see her to sit with them. This is a detour in life that most of us would not in favor, I believe.

As detours in our life are unavoidable, the question is how we can pull through them without succumbing. There are at least three imperatives, I think. One is we should not complain and grumble about the situation like the Israelites during their exodus from Egypt . The second is we have to realize that God is in control over every situation – His ways are higher than our ways. The last one is we have to listen to His leading. Prophet Isaiah encouraged us, “Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it. 主 雖 以 艱 難 給 你 當 餅 ， 以 困 苦 給 你 當 水 ， 你 的 教 師 卻 不 再 隱 藏 ； 你 眼 必 看 見 你 的 教 師 。你 或 向 左 或 向 右 ， 你 必 聽 見 後 邊 有 聲 音 說 ： 這 是 正 路 ， 要 行 在 其 間 。(Isaiah 30:20-21)”

Sometimes we may feel that He is absent and He is not care about us. We therefore complain and question Him. However, our complaints and insubordination cannot undermine His love upon and sovereignty over us. He is always present even when we feel He is absent. He loves us even we are sinners. My dear brothers and sisters, assuredly our plans will not catch up with the pace of changes (計畫趕不上變化). All we have to do is entrusting our lives to the Almighty God – listen and submit to His guidance!

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Chinese Lunar New Year, which is coming in next week, is a holiday season oftentimes celebrated similarly to the Thanksgiving and Christmas celebration at the States. It gives families an opportunity to get together with members who may have been apart for a whole year. For those who are remote in the States and therefore couldn’t enjoy the family reunion time, may have mixed feelings.

One of the important elements in the Chinese New Year celebration is “food”. 🙂  I still remember those good old days living with my parents. Apart from fresh food bought from market, my father would prepare some delicacies by himself with his own secret recipes. One of his famous ones is “marinated pork liver” – in essence, it is a “hardened” pork liver with spices and wine. The process of making this marinated pork liver, as I recalled, is quite lengthy and laborious. A fresh liver would need to be marinated first, then hang it dry the 2^nd day, then re-marinated again. The repeated process of marinating and hang-it-dry would eventually harden the pork liver to a nice and good taste of meat. Throughout the process, there is no machine involved and it takes time with patience to make it. A success one is a hardened but still soft within one.

Except the mixed homesick feeling, you may wonder why I mention this marinated pork liver. In our daily Bible study of the book of Exodus, we may be amazed how God led the Israelites out of Egypt through ten miracles. Do we feel intriguing why God said, “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 14:4)”? Does this mean it is NOT Pharaoh’s desire, but God’s intention, to pursue the Israelites? If we read the Scriptures carefully, it reveals that is NOT the case. “When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” (Exodus 14:5). This indicates that the first cause of the “hardened heart” was Pharaoh himself, as God already knew it! The purpose of this hardened process is God will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that “He is the LORD.”

Now, let’s go back to the marinated pork liver process. How is it related to our journey of faith? If we consider the marinating spices are like the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, then the hang-it-dry process is as if we are drifting from God intentionally for a period. This process, as you can imagine, would produce a “hardened heart” eventually. It, in fact, becomes a “delicacy” to the evil one. Therefore, two things are worth our attention. One is the worldly desires and the other is drifting from God intentionally due to business. My dear brothers and sisters, let us be alert and be aware that this world and the evil one are trying every possible means to “harden” our heart. Only come to our Lord then we can be alive and well. No matter where we are, we can be sure that our God promised us that “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 我 也 要 賜 給 你 們 一 個 新 心 ， 將 新 靈 放 在 你 們 裡 面 ， 又 從 你 們 的 肉 體 中 除 掉 石 心 ， 賜 給 你 們 肉 心 。(Ezekiel 36:26)”. May He protect you and keep you.

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Last Thursday night, it was freezing cold and dark when I drove my car out of the parking lot at my working place. I immediately felt that there was something wrong with my car. I could hear a stream of strange noises was coming out of the right hand (passenger) side of my car, even with all the windows closed. I tried to ignore it initially and thought it might go away after the car was warming up. After three turns, I find it was not the case because my car was not responding to my handling. At that time, I had this hunch “Oh-oh, not good, a flat tire!” So, I slowly drove the car to a side road and checked the tire on the passenger side. Here it is – a flat tire!

As you can imagine, I was not a happy camper in that moment. Especially when I realize I need to change the flat tire under such a frigid winter night! With non-cooperating hands and fingers, due to the coldness, I struggled through for an extensive period before I put the spare tire on. When it was done, I slowly drove the car out but only to find that the spare tire was not quite functioning – tire was a little bit under-pressure and it was hesitating. However, I thought it could be due to the cold temperature and I continued on, eventually, I safely arrived at my home. Hooray! 🙂

A flat tire incident usually causes an unpleasant experience. It interrupts our original travel plan – it gives us hassles, additional expense, misery, and a possible life threatening situation. I thank our Lord for His protection during this encounter.

• Firstly, the incident was happening on me instead of on my wife. Had this incident happened on my wife, it would be a lot more panicking from her than I can imagine. 🙂
• Second, this incident was occurring on a parking lot instead of in the middle of a highway. If it were not the case, I might run into a risk of car accident at that time.
• Third, there is a spare tire ready in my car allows me to swap with the flat one. In my last flat tire experience, however, the spare tire was also “flat” since it was the very first time we use it! 🙁
• Finally, I had a hat and a pair of gloves to help me in resisting the cold weather.

I couldn’t help but to think that it would be a lot worse than I would have been, if I were not prepared for this kind of situation. It reminds me of the fact that God allows unexpected situations happen in our life. He sometimes uses various situations to remind us that we will have trouble in this world and He is still in control (John 16:33).

The flat tire symptom may occur immediately or gradually due to a puncture or small leaks, without our notice. In our journey of faith, will we run into a “flat tire” situation? You bet! In such a situation, it could be very damaging to our faith and sometimes it may cause many sorrows and difficulties to the church, if we are not aware of it.

My dear brothers and sister, “Do you feel your enthusiasm in serving God is fading? Are you loosing air like in a tire?  If yes, then you are experiencing a “flat tire” syndrome. As your brother or sister, we are your “spare tire” – we can help you to go through the situation, temporarily. However, please remember that the ultimate recovery and fix is to come before our Lord because He is our source of power and our ultimate repair station! He can fix our feeble arms and weak knees if we recognize our symptom and are willing to be repaired.

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In the past Christmas, my wife had this loving idea to gift me a certificate for a local exercise club. She wants me to join a short program called “Healthy Back” in light of my problematic back. The intent is to strengthen my weakened back by using the instructed program offered by the club. Inevitably, this exercise program becomes my New Year resolution, as she suggested. 🙂

The first session I had was with an instructor in the club. Its purpose is to evaluate my current condition in order to see how the program could help. In the process of evaluation, I had to sit on a “strange” machine and the instructor would lock down my lower part on the machine – this prevents me from using leg portion to err the evaluation. Then, I had to use my back to push a back lever on the machine, back and forth, to test the strength of my back. Not sure how accurate it is; the prognosis is my back is not as strong as others are , according to the test result. So, here we go, I need to stay in the program. 🙁

“How healthy is our back?” is always an important question to ask ourselves as we are vertebrate in nature. Without a healthy back, we would not be able to stand up and walk. As a result, severe illness could be developed and they would hamper our physical body to function properly. For years, I have this problem in my back and it causes me to loose sleeps during the nights and have to take extreme care in doing various physical actions. It is by God’s grace that I could continue to function normally. I constantly remind myself, “One day at a time, don’t over-do it!” 🙂

If we look closely to our faith living, there is a “healthy back” element too. I would think “a good relationship with our Lord” is the “healthy back” to our faith journey. Let’s recall it. How many times do we loose sleeps during the nights because we want to satisfy our own desires and ambitions, without considering how God would think? How many times we would go astray because we think we can do it all due to our pride? We have seen many symptoms of our “unhealthy back” in our journey of faith. However, we still don’t want to confess our transgressions to Him. Jesus’ brother, James, taught the brothers and sisters in the Jerusalem that anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God (與世俗為友的 ，就是與神為敵). In addition, God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble (神阻擋驕傲的人 ，賜恩給謙卑的人James 4:4, 4:6).  This tells us that we need to humble ourselves before Him and spend time with Him consistently in order to build up a good relationship with Him.

My brothers and sisters, without the healthy back in our faith journey, we are likely to fall into the traps made by the evil one, inattentively. May we encourage one another and remind one another that our enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Let us not to become one of his victims.

Once a while in the morning rush hour, many things would occupy me. Under such condition, I would tend to be absent-minded and as a result, left the power strip for my laptop computer behind. The trouble is not until I enter my office and pull out the laptop from my backpack the very first time, I then realize that I’ve forgot the power strip at home. The remedy is I need to make a special trip back before the laptop would cry out “Critical battery condition, 10% power is available!” Incidentally, in the past week, I had to make such trips twice! Sigh…. What a drag for a new year!

Looking at the power strip of my laptop, I figure it could serve three purposes. The first one is it can provide enough power (juice) to start up the computer, if there is no backup battery installed. The second one is it can convert incoming AC power to DC power and “regulates” it to a correct voltage level that the computer can function properly. The last one is it can be used to charge the installed backup battery, if any, in the computer at the same time. Without the power strip, the laptop would soon run out of juice and render it to be useless, even there is a backup battery installed. Therefore, to maintain a laptop to function properly for an extended period, it would need a good power strip, or a “properly charged” backup battery.

As we are so depending on computers and electronics in our daily life, the lack of power source is becoming intolerable to most of us. If we view our faith journey, questions come to my mind immediately are “Where is the source of power for our journey of faith? Have we been properly charged by that source in order to ‘function’ properly?” If we recall, the very first source of power to the humankind is God’s breath of life when God created Adam (Genesis 2:7). Adam, as a living being, can communicate with God and work and take care of the Garden of Eden – Adam is fully functional with God’s breath of life, the infinite source of power. However, when Adam decided to act upon his own freewill to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, his connection to God’s breath of life is unavoidably broken, because God has said, “When you eat from it you will certainly die. (Genesis 2:17b).”

When we came to know Jesus personally and accepted Him as our personal Savior, the connection to God is once again ‘restored’.  The author of the book of Hebrews said it is a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body. (Hebrews 10:20). The questions are “Do we realize the importance of the connection, and, do we use the connection to properly charge ourselves?”

“The vine and the branches” parable recorded in the Gospel John is a lesson for us to learn the importance of tapping into God’s infinite source of power through the connection. Jesus told His disciples, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 我是葡萄樹，你們是枝子‧常在我裡面的，我也常在他裡面，這人就多結果子‧因為離了我，你們就不能作什麼‧人若不常在我裡面，就像枝子丟在外面枯乾，人拾起來，扔在火裡燒了‧(John 15:5-6)” This is a lesson that is critical to us and the evil one has attempted viciously to sway us from it.  Thus, we need to be alert and constantly ask ourselves, “Have I attached to Him today? Do I have sins and spiritual pride that could prevent me from receiving God’s charging?”

If Lord is willing, may the sharing here could benefit you…..

Last week during holidays, we had an opportunity to meet with our previous pastor’s family. Both husband and wife are still shepherding. We had a great time in sharing and fellowship with them.  It has been 10+ years since the family left the area and we are happy to see them in good spirit and in good shape too. 🙂

The pastors shared with us their journey of faith and reminded us that we need to tell good news to others and learn how to enter the “the Most Holy Place” everyday. Because in there, we are entering the rest – confess our transgressions, seek God’s face and ask for mercies. This is similar to Andrew Murray has said, “… The Lord Jesus will every day from heaven continue His work in me. But on one condition—the soul must give Him time each day to impart His love and His grace. Time alone with the Lord Jesus each day is the indispensable condition of growth and power.”

Talking about “entering the rest”, in the piano music, there is an important symbol called “rest”. A “rest” marks the absence of a note, and indicates there will be no note played in the measure for its duration. It does not mark the end of a song or movement but serves two purposes. One is to “rest temporarily” and the other is to “adjust and prepare” for the coming music measures. Sometimes, it could have a change in dynamics of the song after the rest or starting a brand new measure with different intonation. Thus, it is imperative for a song or movement to have rests in order to present its music dynamics and intonations.

Chinese has an old saying, “To rest is to prepare for a longer journey (challenges) ahead 休息是為了走更遠的路”. It indicates to us the importance of rest as it can prepare us for challenges ahead. When prophet Elijah was afraid and ran for his life, after his great triumph over Ahab and Jezebel, he came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. It is the angel of LORD provided him bread and water and told him that “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you. 起來吃罷 ！因為你當走的路甚遠” So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 他就起來吃了喝了，仗著這飲食的力，走了四十晝夜，到了神的山，就是何烈山  (1 Kings 19:1-8). Apparently, Elijah’s source of energy was provided from God.

In fact, after God created the heaven and earth, He also designated a day to rest. It does not mean God is tired after 6 days’ work but He wants to set an example for us to set apart a day in order to enter His rest – to fellowship with Him. The author of the book of Hebrews also instructed us to “make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. 我們務必竭力進入那安息，免得有人學那不信從的樣子跌倒了. (Hebrews 4:11). Therefore, it is very important in our faith journey that we learn to enter the rest and to receive heavenly source of power, everyday. Without entering the rest, we will be spiritually depleted and burnout quickly – we couldn’t face challenges ahead. Let’s set apart a period of time everyday to seek and to fellowship with Him.  May He continues to impart His love and His grace in you!

Before the holidays, I was working on a customer situation at my working place. We had a team assembled together to deal with the situation that customer has just experienced. After all, customer’s satisfaction is always the number one priority to my company :-). Depending upon how big the impact is, sometimes, this could consume a lot of resources and time before we could calm down the customer. In some rare cases – when the customer is extremely dissatisfied or just grouchy in nature – we would need to grant a “field return”, per his / her request. This lets me think of an interesting phenomenon.

After Christmas, my wife and kids decided to stroll around the local mall for relaxation, and may be, finding a good deal. The parking lot at the mall was packed with cars. There were many deal seekers filled with various department stores and interestingly, there were “lines of product return” in their customer service areas too – I could see piles of “returned products” around the service areas. Apparently, customers returned the products they purchased before Christmas, due to various reasons. They could due to the product is defective or it is not favorable by the receiver.  If you were the storeowner, what do you think or how do you feel? This could mean “reduced revenue and income” inevitably 🙁

In all honesty, I think you would agree with me that there is no “perfect” man made product in the market. Statistically speaking, there always exists a “buyer risk” in buying a product that could be potentially out of specification or is defective.  Therefore, the producer would need to implement a “field return” process to warrant ‘satisfied’ customers.

Now let’s look at ourselves. Why nowadays there are so many complaints against our physical or outward appearances in this world? Thus, there are numerous methods and products in the market to teach us how to get thinner, to have better looking, or to project better image, etc.  You may ask, “Is God messing up His creation? Can we file a ‘field return’ request against Him?” Well, not really! The book of Genesis told us that we were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). In addition, it was very good when God saw everything that He had made (Genesis 1:31a). Therefore, we can conclude that we were created “perfectly” from the beginning.  It could because of the fall of Adam and Eve that damages us – God’s creation 🙁

The ‘perfection’ in the creation hinted us two aspects. Apostle Paul told us that we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. 我們原是他的工作，在基督耶穌裡造成的，為要叫我們行善，就是神所預備叫我們行的‧(Ephesians 2:10). Paul indicated to us that each one of us is “unique and precious” in God’s eye because we were created in Christ Jesus. In addition, each one of us was created to have a purpose – to do good works. If we understand these two aspects, then we know that we are perfect in God’s eye, as long as we are ‘in Christ’ and follow His command to do good works. We may not be satisfied with our outward appearance now, but there is no need to ask for a “field return” because we will be returning to be “perfect” upon Christ’s second coming.

My dear brothers and sisters, at the end of year 2012, let’s setting a goal to be perfect in God’s eye in the year of 2013. May He bless your resolution and not asking for a ‘field return’ by the end of 2013!

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In the later part of last week, parking lots at my working place were a lot less crowded than usual – many of my colleagues started to take vacation days. “Happy Holidays” became a common greeting around the hallway of buildings.

Yes, it is a holiday season. We use this occasion to express our love or appreciation to our friends and families – this could be as simple as a greeting card or an oral expression. Alternatively, it could be a present or gift. However, we also need to remember that ‘Jesus is the reason for this season’. We are celebrating His birthday and He gives us an opportunity to spend time with our friends and families. Without Him, we have nothing. For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him (Colossians 1:16) 因為萬有都是靠他造的，無論是天上的、地上的，能看見的、不能看見的，或是有位的、主治的、執政的、掌權的，一概都是藉著他造的，又是為他造的。

In this season, my wife and I decided, as a gift, to upgrade our kids’ cell phones in ‘hoping’ them would communicate with us more easily and certainly, more frequently. For those of you having youths or college kids, you may know what I meant. 🙁 If we look at current smart phones in the market, they all equip with many bells and whistles that we – the outdated folks – couldn’t imagine in our days. No wonder we have the “head-down” generation phenomenon – everyone is heading down to browse and texting his / her cell phone all the time.

During the upgrading of our kids’ phones, we need to choose a phone plan carrier. Incidentally, I find that among many others, there is a cell phone plan carrier called “Straight talk” in the market. The company touts as a “contract-less and pay as you go” plan carrier. The name ‘Straight talk’ catches my attention and let me think of a question, “Do we like a straight talk or something with flurry and fanciful words?”

Many times, flurry and fanciful words are likely to impress someone instead of a straight talk. It is, however, good to hear but bad to listen, if those words are NOT sincere from his / her heart. This kind of talking – smooth talk and in-sincere words – seems commonly accepted in the political arena and public. Nevertheless, the Bible taught us that we have to speak truthfully with love. And, we can have a “straight talk” with our God, any time and under any circumstances. What a privilege!

We sometimes may think wordings in our prayer are NOT good enough and consequently God wouldn’t grant it. I think this is just a scheme from the evil one. In the book of Mark, there recorded a miracle performed by Jesus on a blind man called Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52).  Bartimaeus received his sight by pleading to Jesus openly and loudly without shyness. He is very specific about his request and he presents his request with faith. These are points that we can learn from him when we are praying for ourselves or interceding for others – a straight talk, be specific and with faith. Our Lord will not be impressed by any flurry and fanciful words. It is the pure and sincere heart enables us to be pleased by Him. Someone once said, “The heart of prayer is prayer from the heart. (發自內心的禱告是禱告的核心)”. Just imagine how we can freely talk to our earthly father, we can use the similar fashion to pray to our Heavenly Father too. Let’s be reminded that be sincere and be specific with faith are all He wants.