In the early morning while still in my bed, a church friend, who was staying with us during the weekend, woke me up. With my drowsy eyes, the friend said his roommate called him several times already regarding a forceful entry to their apartment. Though I was still in my half-sleeping mode, I agreed to take him back to his apartment to check it out. On the way to his apartment, the church friend was worrying that he may lose something valuable in this incident. I told him that you couldn’t do much now except call the police and report the incident. While I was there waiting for police officers to do a thorough check around the apartment, I had a chance to chat with my friend’s neighbor next door, she stated that she was surprised to learn this occurrence since she didn’t hear anything abnormal. Besides, “This is a nice neighborhood”, she emphasized.  

This kind of incident is just one of the many occurred across the country each day. Even with a nice neighborhood like the one where my friend stays, burglary and theft seem to find its casualty without exception. My friend’s roommate told me that he lost a laptop computer during this incident. Though the computer is not brand new, he still wants to get it back earnestly because it stores valuable pictures and music that he has collected for years. I think this is certainly not an enjoyable experience, especially when considering something valuable to him is stolen.

“Something valuable” sometimes can mean different thing to different people – it could mean significant monetary value or, it has great importance or, it is something being held dearly. In the analogy of “good shepherd” in the Gospel of John, Jesus told Pharisees, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep我是好牧人，好牧人為羊捨命. (John 10:11)”. Jesus indicated how invaluable we are in His eye – He gave His life to us.  The evil one, however, is determined to prevent us from receiving this precious gift. He tries very hard in every possible means to “steal” the most valuable thing – our heart – from us by using his treacherous tools: fame, position, wealth and others. No wonder Jesus said, “All who have come before me are thieves and robbers. 凡在我以先來的，都是賊，是強盜 (John 10:8a)”  In contrast to “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy盜賊來，無非要偷竊，殺害，毀壞”, Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. 我來了，是要叫羊﹝或作人﹞得生命，並且得的更豐盛”

So, what is the most valuable thing to us?  The author of the Proverbs taught us that “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it你要保守你心，勝過保守一切‧﹝或作你要切切保守你心﹞因為一生的果效，是由心發出” Apparently, it is our heart that is most valuable to us. The author also told us that a prideful heart would result in destruction, while a God-fearing heart would keep us from walking down the sinful path. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, guard your heart from anything that could tempt you away from God. Let us “Love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength.”

I took a few days off last week to relax and do some house repairs. The weather however wasn’t quite cooperating – a series of hot, humid and stormy days follows. I managed to finish a few things around the house and decided to take it easy. Later in the week, I need to drop off my kids and friends at the airport. After dropped them off at the airport, my wife and I thought it would be a good idea to visit our daughter at college because it was the July 4^th weekend. So, we drove up and brought a church friend along to accompany us since he has never been there.

It was a beautiful day while we were driving. The church friend is very talkative so we learned many stories from him that we haven’t heard before. He mentioned that there is a famous English cram school in his home country, which is good at preparing students for taking GRE exam. Whoever would like to get a good score for the exam, in a very short time period, they can assure him/her to achieve the goal. Essentially, the school purposely focuses on teaching students “crucial” techniques in finding the best answer to each question, efficiently and accurately. It is not her purpose, however, to increase students’ knowledge in English in the long run. It is much alike an automobile cram school – aim to get students pass the driving test instead of “how to drive properly” on the road.

In today’s impatient world, everything has to be quick and fast. “Patience” seems to be lost from most people’s dictionary. In order to achieve personal goal / gain in a very short period, shortcuts, insiders, cram schools, etc. are favored and selected. A lengthy learning process or development is therefore deemed dumb and inefficient. This kind of “seeking instant benefit (急功近利)” can be very destructive to a person’s life and to the society. The chilling fact is it is like a beautiful building with a weak foundation – crumbled quickly when face with an earthquake or a storm.

My dear brothers and sisters, do we have a similar situation in our journey with our Lord? Do we consider the catechism class like a cram school – after we have been baptized, we think we are done? If this is the case, then, we are in trouble. The famous lesson “The Wise and Foolish Builders” from our Lord to His disciples, in Matthew 7: 24-27, teaches us that the difference between the wise and the foolish builder is to “listen” to His words and put them into practice. Without putting His words into practice, our faith is like building a house on sand.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, we are in Christ’s school instead of cram school. In Christ’s school, we learn how to be obedient in following our Lord. He allows situations and trials to test us and let us to learn His will and to live a life that is worthy of His calling. This is what apostle Paul said, “all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). 萬事都互相效力，叫愛神的人得益處，就是按他旨意被召的人” And, we are predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, Jesus Christ. Consequently, our journey to conform to the image of Jesus is a “life-long” process and we can’t achieve it instantly.  May God grant you persistence and patience to put His words into practice!

Walking around the buildings at my working place during my lunchtime break, I rant into an old acquaintance. We chatted a little bit on topics such as family and work. He told me that he was shocked from this RA (Resource Action) in his department. They were hit hard and consequently he has to pick up more workloads from his let-go colleagues. Worse thing is now he has to work on weekends. So, he sighed, “There is no fun in working here anymore, I would retire this time if my kids were not still in college.” “Me too!” I responded.

Thinking about retirement is a natural thought as we progress through our journey of life. When I came to the States for my study, my wife gifted me a book titled, “How to be successful in your age of 40”. I was laughing at it and told her that you will probably be disappointed because at that time, I was still searching for my direction of life.  Many years have passed, I finally have a better sense of where my direction of life and where my success should be – it is in Him, my Lord Jesus.

During my son’s graduation ceremony, one of his Board of Education members gave a speech titled “How to be successful in your life journey”.  She used her experience, as a foreigner came to the States for study, to encourage the graduates. Her speech focused on self- motivation and persistence in achieving goals. I shared her experience but I find that is a painful human effort. George MacDonald, a Scottish novelist, poet, and Christian minister, once said, “In whatever a man does without God, he must fail miserably—or succeed more miserably若人所作的沒有神的同在，不是慘遭失敗，便是悲慘地成功。”My life experience says all.

In this world, we feel less useful when we are getting old – our physical strength decays, our health degrades, our brains are not sharp anymore. You may be “successful” in climbing corporate ladders and you may have good wealth accumulated, but can you carry them to your after life? Job, after receiving all the trials and tests from the evil one, realized that “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised. 我赤身出於母胎、也必赤身歸回．賞賜的是耶和華．收取的也是耶和華。耶和華的名是應當稱頌的 (Job 1:21)” Isn’t this a realization of our life too?

My dear friends, in this world, we may feel less useful in our old age or let go from our position at work, it is however a totally different picture in God’s kingdom. The question is do you want to fail miserably or succeed more miserably. Psalmist told us “The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green義人要發旺如棕樹，生長如黎巴嫩的香柏樹‧他們栽於耶和華的殿中，發旺在我們神的院裡‧他們年老的時候，仍要結果子‧要滿了汁漿而常發青‧(Psalm 92:12-14)” May you have the opportunity to know Him personally. He promised that He will love you and will never forsake you.

Last weekend, my family went to attend our son’s senior send-off and graduation celebrations. We had a great time. Seeing his talks and acts, suddenly I realize that he has grown up so much and is soon going to leave us for college. My wife and I have our sentimental moments a little bit.

In the send-off gathering, my son reflected that he is thankful for us to be there all the times and to look after him throughout these years. We are glad to learn that he is a person who knows thanksgiving. We also realize that from now on, it is going to be very difficult for us to be with him all the times “physically” as he is going to be in college. My wife asked him to “call” us, instead of “text-messaging”, whenever he wants to talk to us. At least this way, we can be with him virtually, “on demand” 🙂

In the graduation ceremony, the school counsel gave an enlightened speech. She said, the modern generation “thumb drives” everything from their gadgets and the longest text they can read are only “146 characters”, not 146 words. Therefore, “patience” is one thing that they are definitely lacking. Thus, she challenged the graduates to have patience in dealing with everything.  As she is in a profession of counseling people, she also challenged them to meet people and to talk to them face to face whenever is possible, don’t just text-messaging. This way they can know others better and improve relationship with them. In the course of making any decision, she advised the graduates to “think twice and cut once”, as this is her father’s advice, because a reckless decision can be costly afterwards – including time, money and people relationship. I think the counsel gave them some good advices and challenges. I do hope that they can learn them by heart.

In my own experience, school life is one of the best years in my life. With young and energetic physical and inquisitive mind, it is always a blast for me to meet new friends and to learn new things. As I grew older, I find my learning curve starts to flatten out. One thing I finally realize is:  “Knowing people is more important than learning knowledge”.  As the school counsel indicated, it is the frequent interaction builds good relationship and therefore creates a good people networking. This lets me remember an old saying, “在家靠父母，出外靠朋友 i.e. Friends are as important as parents when you are away from home.”

That being said, from my experience, there is no way, even our best friend, can be with us “all the times”.  The only exception I learned is our Lord, as He is omnipresent. Apostle Paul, in his journey to Athens, indicated to the people of Athens that God is not far from any one of us (Acts 17:27b) when we really want to seek Him. The author of the book Hebrews also taught us that we could come before God’s throne with confidence to receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16). What a great comfort to learn the promise.

As I encouraged my son to stay in connection with people and making friends in college, I also encouraged him to find a good Christian fellowship to continue his journey with God. I feel this is the only guarantee that he can survive from today’s peer pressure and numerous temptations. As I am certain that knowing the Lord is the most important thing in one’s life and I urge you, my friends, come to know Him personally and He will be with you “all the times”.

Last Wednesday, when I came back from a brother’s memorial service, I logged in my working company’s network to check my emails. My co-worker pinged me, “Are you affected?” I told him, “I don’t know there is a resource action occurring and I don’t know my condition yet”. Then he gave me a long list of people who have been affected by this round of resource action that he has learned so far. My reaction was WOW! it looks pretty serious.

Later on, I had a chance to talk to two of the affected colleagues whom I have been working with for quite a long time. Even though this is an unpleasant situation, I find that one of them is positive while the other is certainly not in a good mood. Both of them have been with the company since their young age, therefore, their agonizing feeling in separation is certainly understandable. As the perceived practice of this resource action seems to be targeting older age employee, both of them quickly became easy target – the endangered species – in this action.

While I am not encouraging people to stay in his post in old age, unless necessary, the reason I called the old age employees the “endangered species” is due to my observation of “eroding” respect from current industrial companies, unless you are in a high-level management position. In my mind, I always perceive experience is one of the precious assets that a person can accumulate and offer. However, oftentimes, an old person’s experience may not be appreciated by younger generation.

For those who have raised children, do you appreciate experience from others, especially from your own parents? Chinese has an old saying, “養兒方知父母恩，觀老方知己未來”. In a paraphrase, it means we learn parents’ heart and efforts when we go through the same parenting process. And, we learn how we will be in the future by seeing our parents’ life. This is a vivid picture of knowledge and experience transfer.

In the Bible, there is a good example of knowledge and experience transfer too. Before the Israelites entered the land of Canaan, Moses reiterates God’s commands, decrees and laws to them. He said, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 以色列阿，你要聽‧耶和華我們神是獨一的主. 你要盡心，盡性，盡力愛耶和華你的神‧Deuteronomy 6:4-5”  Moses wants them to know the LORD is “truly” their Lord of life and they need to love Him wholeheartedly. This is ultimately important because the land of Canaan is a place full of idol worshiping.

Then, Moses urged them, “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates. 我今日所吩咐你的話都要記在心上，也要殷勤教訓你的兒女‧無論你坐在家裡，行在路上，躺下，起來，都要談論‧也要繫在手上為記號，戴在額上為經文Deuteronomy 6:6-9”.  This example tells us how important it is that we need to explain things to our children, and if we don’t, they end up learning the hard way.

In celebrating the Father’s day, let me wish all the fathers in this world a “Happy Father’s Day”. To all others, please don’t let your parents become endangered species. You should cherish the time and opportunities that you can spend with them. And, you should learn from their precious experience. Ultimately, parents are God’s gift to each one of us….

Last Wednesday, we had a chance to attend an award ceremony held at my son’s high school auditorium. The auditorium was packed with parents, students and teachers when the ceremony starts. It was a “long” ceremony, if I have to say, because there are numerous awards rendered – they were used to recognize seniors and some juniors for their academic achievements and contributions to the school and local communities. I was amazed to see that there are “so many awards” were given out and admittedly, I was ignorant to most of them.

During the ceremony, some students received more than one award while others seem to receive none. In addition, some awards seem to be more “valuable” than others are. Overall, it is an interesting ceremony. From this experience, I was pondering….

When apostle Paul was at the end of his life, he wrote a letter to his beloved spiritual son and co-worker, Timothy, stated that the time for his departure is near and he is ready being poured out like drink offering. He is confident that he has fought the good fight, has finished the race, and has kept the faith. Therefore, he told Timothy that “there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:8) 從此以後，有公義的冠冕為我存留，就是按著公義審判的主到了那日要賜給我的；不但賜給我，也賜給凡愛慕他顯現的人。” Paul indicated to us that there is a crown of righteousness will be awarded to whoever believes in Jesus Christ, as they were purchased by the righteousness of Christ. And, the award is “sure and precious” as it is Jesus’ life.

In my son’s award ceremony, I felt bad for those who didn’t receive any award. A question comes to my mind is, “At the end of our life in this world, do we have confidence to receive the crown of righteousness instead of the final judgment from God?” This is crucial because we can only have one chance in this world.

On the other hand, as my son’s award ceremony is mainly designated for graduating seniors, it therefore has the basic qualification of: whoever wants to receive awards would need to be able to graduate from the high school. This means one has to have a good standing academically in order to be able to graduate. Similarly, for Christians, we need to live a life that is worthy of the award.  Paul exemplifies us how he was longing to see Christ. He declared that he has fought the good fight, has finished the race, and has kept the faith. Then, the questions to us are, “Are we having the same “blessed assurance” as Paul”? “Do we understand that we need to live a Christ-like life before we meet Him?”

My dear brothers and sisters, no matter where you are now, let’s start from there. As this is our only chance to fight the good fight, to finish our race in this world and to keep the faith in the Lord. May He grant your wish to live a life that is worthy of the award.

Starting from this fishing season, I am getting more serious in fly-fishing. Though I purchased the fly-fishing gear last year but I haven’t had chance to try them out much. One of the reasons is I am still not good at casting a fly rod yet. It has a very different casting concept than spin-casting rods that I have. From high level, the spin-casting rod is throwing “weighted” bait or lure to a desired spot, while the fly rod is throwing out “weighted” fly-line, which carries a lightweight fly in the end.

With the need of a somewhat long line loop in the air, bushes and tree branches all over creek shore, you could imagine the difficulty I, as a novice angler, ran into in getting the fly line out to a location without hitting trees or bushes. No wonder professional angler would wade into the middle of river to avoid those hitting-the-branches frustrations. In addition to the frustration and embarrassment of “flies on the tree instead of on the water”, the biggest frustration I have experienced would be fish rejects the fly I presented – especially when it is a good cast after “several failed attempts”, sigh! 🙁

Generally, “rejection” has its many forms and it can occur in many aspects of our life – career, love, friends and family, church, etc. The feeling of hurt is probably the most difficult part to get rid of. Many of you may have courtship experiences before you get married. However, some of you may have the “lucky” opportunity to taste rejection when he or she does not want to continue. “How do you cope with the rejection” probably is a lesson always has to re-learn from time to time.

In the book of Genesis chapter 4, we see an incident of rejection – God did not look with favor of Cain’s offering. Cain was angry and downcast. God said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.耶和華對該隱說，你為什麼發怒呢，你為什麼變了臉色呢‧你若行得好，豈不蒙悅納，你若行得不好，罪就伏在門前‧它必戀慕你，你卻要制伏它‧。(Genesis 4:6-7)”

From this incident, we could see three aspects of it. Firstly, Cain’s reaction to his rejection seems to be normal. He felt hurts because God rejects his offering. Secondly, God knows one’s heart – in this case, Cain’s heart. Cain didn’t do what is right, according to God. The author of the book Hebrews gave us a hint and commented, “By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. 亞伯因著信獻祭與神，比該隱所獻的更美 (Hebrews 11:4a)”. Apparently, Cain didn’t have the same faith in God as his brother Abel when offered his sacrifice. The last aspect of this incident is the warning of “sin crouching at one’s door” that God indicated to Cain. It tells us what kind of result we may encounter if we didn’t have faith in God – we will be ruled by our flesh and can’t be a pleasing offering to Him. 

Feeling hurt after receiving the rejection can be normal. However, without knowing what is the root cause of the rejection can be a problem and potentially be detrimental if you take it to a wrong direction. God instructed us that believe in Him and have faith in Him is the fundamental solution to rejections. Because we could entrust our life to Him – tells Him about our every frustration and being comforted by His words and promises. My dear friends, do you know how to cope with your rejection? My advice is to come before Him and accept Him as your Lord of life.

Last Friday, my wife and I went to pick up our daughter at college because we missed her. Though the rainy and windy weather was against us, by God’s grace, the trip went well. At my daughter’s summer apartment, I was astonished to see her living condition is not as clean as she was in school’s dormitory. She told me that this is just a temporary solution and is a good rental in terms of staying around the campus in summer. I didn’t say much but thought now she is thinking. 🙂

As I look back my old college days, I went through a similar condition as she did. I have to learn how to manage my very limited support from my family, finding a cheaper and convenient place to stay around the campus. As the tuition and expense are hiking each year, it becomes very challenging for families with limited resource but still have to support their college kids. We always sighed, “Life is getting tougher and tougher in these days”.  Then, a question comes to my mind, “Is our life going to get better and better in this world?” “I am not sure”, when I search for an answer.

You could argue that the advancement of modern technology does make our life easier, faster and convenient. The drawback is we become more like slaves of the technology – spending more time with our gadgets, TV and internet surfing without talking to people face to face. Under the similar trend, I observe that the used to be face-to-face meetings in my working place are also being replaced by conference calls and emails. The result is emotional indifference getting bigger and bigger nowadays.

Last Saturday, a supposed to be “outdoor” Memorial weekend BBQ turned into an “indoor” picnic gathering in our church, due to a persistent rainy weather. The weather, however, didn’t dampen everyone’s excitement who had attended the gathering. It is amazed to see so many new faces that we have never met before, around the area. Though it was busy for many of us, we were all very excited to talk to new friends, face to face. The emotions ran high when games and songs were played. From this experience, I realize that it is always preferable to meet people face to face since human is created in God’s image, having passions and feelings.

To express His love and to communicate His plan to us, God sent His only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to meet us “face to face” in this world. Without Jesus’ great act – the Word becomes flesh – we couldn’t realize how deep is God’s love and how holy He is. After Jesus’ resurrection, in one of the occasions, He met His disciples face to face by the Sea of Galilee (John 21:1).  Jesus’ action reinstates Simon Peter’ lost faith. Later in the book of Acts, he was filled with the Spirit and had the courage to preach to the crowd. What a transformation from a “fisherman” to a “fisher of men”!

When a man meets the glorious God face to face, he will immediately realize how incapable and how weak he is. This is the beginning of his transformation! A vivid example is from the book of Acts chapter 9. When Saul met Jesus in the road of Damascus, his life was totally changed – his name changed from Saul to Paul and he became an apostle of the gentiles instead of a Pharisee of persecution. My dear friends, it is an invaluable experience to meet the Lord face to face. May you have the opportunity to meet Him in person.

About two weeks ago, I spent one afternoon to install a new toilet to one of my bathrooms. The old one has developed an annoying leak, after decades of usage. I had it fixed twice but it didn’t last long. Finally, I decided to replace it by myself with a new one.

As you know, replacing a toilet is a smelly job but unfortunately, someone has to do it 🙁 Besides, the heavyweight toilet could be a problem to my back – because, I need to hold it steady in the air and align it correctly with the two dangling bolts on the flange of the drainpipe at floor. The tricky part is you have to do it right at the very first time. Any subsequent take-it-up and re-alignment work would otherwise destroy the wax ring that is supposed to seal the toilet to the drainpipe.

In light of this, my wife asked my son to give me a hand. You can guess how willing he is – it took a while for him to come down to the bathroom. 🙂 Then, he asked me what he could do to help. Due to the limited space in the bathroom, I didn’t ask him to do much but help me to watch the alignment and give me tools when I need it. After a brief stay, feeling he is not of use, he quickly lost his interest and disappeared. I continued to finish the installation work.

The interaction between my son and myself makes me think. I realize that my own spiritual walk with our Heavenly Father is sometimes, just like my son: not knowing His heart intimately, reluctant and not persistent in His ministry. Don’t get me wrong, I do appreciate my son’s help. However, this leads me to ask myself two questions.

The first question is, “Does God really need my help?” I’m sure the answer is “Certainly not!” He is omnipotent and He can do everything without my help, as He is the creator of this universe. Then, why He needs me in His ministry? There is a question in the Old Assembly’s Catechism, “What is the chief end of man?” could give us a hint. Its answer is, “To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” God created us and He gives us opportunities to serve in His ministry and to enjoy Him forever. Our responsibility, as His children, is to listen to His calling, learn His will and carry it out persistently in order to glorify Him.

The second question is, “Do I serve Him out of love or because of someone’s demand or order?”  I need to examine myself how often I serve God out of guilt instead of out of love. In other words, “Do I serve Him passionately or grudgingly?”  Admittedly, this is where I fall short most of the times.  I could understand my son’s reluctance in some extent because it would take his time off to help me and besides, this is not an enjoyable job. If he were not my son, he may not even show up. This is a good reminder to me.

My dear brothers and sisters, the author of the book of Hebrews told us that “In the past God spoke to us through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son神既在古時藉著眾先知，多次多方的曉諭列祖，就在這末世，藉著他兒子曉諭我們(Hebrews 1:1-2a) ”. Let me ask you, if I may. “When God speaks to us through His son, do we listen to Him attentively? Do we react grudgingly or passionately?” Hope your answer is, “Yes, I listen to Him attentively and I respond to Him passionately.” 🙂

 Almost all the questionnaires and surveys I received during my school days have a question, “What is your mother’s profession?”  I always had a hard time to fill that one out. So, I asked my father, “What should I fill out for the question?” “Keeping the house (家管)”, he answered. I wasn’t clear what it means at that time. As I grew older, the more I think it, the more I realize how insightful it is.

I would never forget, in my younger days, how my mom takes care of our family. She gets up early every morning, wakes my brother and me up and prepares meals for us in order for us to take early morning train on time to our schools. Then she would need to wash our dirty clothes at a river near us, clean the house, do the food shopping and prepare daily meals afterwards. In addition, she would need to feel our growing pains – we come to her with our joys, our hurts and our frustrations all the times.  I can’t imagine how our life would be like without her to keep the house taking care of the family. Her tremendous effort spent in laboring and comforting for the family, however, is easily being taken for granted by us. Are we always appreciative? Not really!

This lets me think of a story told by Max Lucado, a pastor and prolific author. The story is regarding how an unappreciative daughter, who is from a small village, feels her strict parents have cheated her out of the joys of life and runs away from them to the big city Rio, Brazil.  Her mother found out the very next morning and dashed out to find her. The mom posted her pictures around the city trying to find the ran-away daughter. To her dismay, she couldn’t find the daughter and had to weep all the way home. Months later, the daughter has already worn down by life and her brown eyes no longer dance with youth but speak of pain and fear. She was longing to go back home but thought it was too late to turn back. As she slowly walked down the hotel stairs one morning, she saw a familiar face posted on the lobby mirror. Her throat tightened and eyes twitching as she walked across the room to get the photo. On the back of the photo, it writes, “”Whatever you have done, whatever you have become, it doesn’t matter. Please come home.” And she did.

The mother’s great effort in getting her daughter back home tells us how great a mother’s love to her child is. This is exactly what God has done for us. The hymnal authored by Eliza Hewitt, captured the calling from God. It says like this:

“Give me thy heart, give me thy heart,” 將心給我將心給我, 聽見嗎

Hear the soft whisper, wherever thou art, from this dark world He would draw thee apart; Speaking so tenderly, “Give Me thy heart.” 這隨時隨地呼召, 祂要救你脫離俗世漩渦,慈聲向你呼召, 將心給我 

My dear friends, the prophet Isaiah told us that “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 我們都如羊走迷、各人偏行己路．耶和華使我們眾人的罪孽都歸在祂身上。(Isaiah 53:6)” God loves us and He prepares a way of deliverance – His only begotten son Jesus Christ – for us to reconcile with Him. Just as the mother wrote, “Whatever you have done, whatever you have become, it doesn’t matter. Please come home.“, we can boldly “come as we are 照我們的本相” to receive God’s love – acknowledge that we are all sinners and receive His son Jesus as our personal savior.

Someone once said, “Being a mom is a sacred partnership with God”, on this Mother’s Day, let’s remember our mother’s love and most importantly how great our God’s love is.