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Some of you may be very familiar with these two verses.  In fact, they are my favorite too.  They remind me of the journey of my family during the year of 2012 – the experiences of how to trust in our Lord with all our heart and lean not our own understanding.

In January this year, my wife and I had to drive our daughter back to her college. It was a day with heavy snow and roadway condition was bad. Based on this condition, we decided to use our small SUV, which has equipped with a 4WD function.  The trouble is we were asked to carry two additional students, who are in the same college with my daughter, in the last minute. As a result, our small SUV was fully loaded with passengers and luggage. This gave me an uneasy feeling because I knew the trip ahead is not going to be easy, in light of the snowy weather.  At this moment, I know I had to ask our Lord for protection because He is the Lord of the stormy sea (Mark 4:39). With an anticipated longer than usual travel time, we arrived at the college safely, even though there were some added thrillers along the road. We thank our Lord for His faithfulness in giving us a safe trip.

In the late June, I had to make an emergency trip back to my hometown to visit my hospitalized sister, whose condition was critical due to a comeback of her illness. It was a precious 10 days that God had granted me to stay with my sister in the hospital. The attending doctor was helpless to her condition and I was in distress when looking at her deteriorating condition.  I pleaded to our Lord earnestly hoping that He could show mercy on her. I remember Rev. Billy Graham used to say, “I am not afraid of death but I am scared of the process of dying”. I could imagine the fear of dying but I do understand that we, Christians, would not be afraid of death because our Lord has triumphed over it.  Realizing this, I decided that my #1 priority at that time is to win my sister over to the Lord. I used every possible opportunity to witness the life saving faith to my sister under that idol-filled environment. I spent a few hours every day with my sister to accompany her and chatted about my journey of faith. At the end of my stay, I asked my sister if she would like to accept the Lord. She said, “Yes”. At that moment, I was thrilled and asked her to pray with me. I thank our Lord for His grace and mercy.
In the early July, my elder son again attended a short-term trip to China — this is his third time to teach English for middle school students. My wife and I were encouraged by his heart in God’s kingdom. We are also very grateful to see our Lord’s protection and provision upon him throughout his trip. Later part of the year, we were busying in his college application. Even with prior experience in our daughter’s application, we were still having many hurdles. The first hurdle is my son’s ever-changing mind in selecting a major of his study – He couldn’t make up his mind to which field he would like to go. My wife and I almost got a heart attack in dealing with this situation. We learned that what is in a boy’s mind is quite different from what is in a girl :-). Then, we need to drive him around to visit different schools. We find that this is really a laboring and lengthy process. We are glad to see that he has been accepted by one of his preferred colleges, finally. From this process, we learned a lesson of parenting – impatience oftentimes could cause rebellions and subsequent heartburn situations. Most importantly, we realize that only God is in control not us.

This is the second year that my family attends this new church. We saw God’s hand is upon the church — several baptisms had been held and my son was in one of them. We are very grateful to have opportunities to serve our Lord in various capacities, alongside with our brothers and sisters, in this loving church.  We did see many new faces came to our church during the year. God opened assorted channels for us to reach new young people and new families came to this area. This reminds me of the development of the early churches in Jerusalem and I do believe that God is going to do miracles in this church.  He promised that He shall direct our paths if we acknowledge Him in all our ways.

In this Christmas season, may we remember, “Jesus is the REASON for this SEASON”. May He bless you and your family richly in the years to come!

Entering the building of my working place, I need to walk up two stairwells in order to get to my office. One morning in the last week, I was having the same walk again. In front of me, there was a heavy-build lady with a backpack and other stuff in her hands. I followed her footsteps with my backpack on my back, a lunch box and a water bottle in my hands. Moments later, I found that I had the same laborious sound as her because my back and my legs were not cooperating anymore. I sighed and thought, “I am not young any more, and no wonder my wife kept telling me that I need to do more exercise.  Even though I “did” walk everyday :-)” Then, I told myself, “Wait, I should not be too harsh on myself – my short-breath may have something to do with the things (load) that I was carrying”.

In general, the load that we are carrying could be either a physical one or a mental one, or could be both – it depends upon which type of work / job that we are doing. Sometimes, we may feel heavily laden by either one of them, or by both. You may agree with me that physical load is easier to handle than the mental one if you have a healthy physical. Oftentimes, mental load is heavier than the physical one, especially when we added it “unintentionally” by ourselves. For example, we were pressed for meeting a schedule or deadline; we kept ‘scaring’ ourselves by thinking “I will be in a big trouble if I didn’t finish it on time, or I am not knowledgeable enough to finish it because it is beyond my ability”.  These are types of unwanted mental load, called worry and doubt, of that we need to be aware. The side effect is they not only affect our efficiency at work but also affect our physical health.

In our journey of faith, we may create similar “unwanted” mental loads by having a worrywart or a doubtful syndrome. These mental loads could hamper our growth in faith. The question is how can we alleviate these kinds of “unwanted” loads? Let us ponder upon the experience of Joseph – Jesus’ father. Can you imagine when Joseph was informed by Mary that she conceived a child already (as is recorded in Matthew 1:18) before their wedding day, what kind of emotions that he may have had?

“This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 耶穌基督降生的事記在下面：他母親馬利亞已經許配了約瑟，還沒有迎娶，馬利亞就從聖靈懷了孕。(Matthew 1:18)”

The Bible didn’t tell us how long that Joseph had waited till he decided to divorce Mary quietly (Matthew 1:19). I think he must have gone through a tough time of emotional stages such as denials, worries, and doubts, during this period. These kinds of mental load, undoubtedly, are very heavy to him. However, God knows his situation – He sent an angel appeared to him and told him, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.「大衛的子孫約瑟，不要怕，只管娶過你的妻子馬利亞來，因她所懷的孕是從聖靈來的。她將要生一個兒子，你要給他起名叫耶穌，因他要將自己的百姓從罪惡裡救出來。」(Matthew 1:21)”

The important thing is Joseph submitted to God’s arrangement and I believe that his mental load was lifted accordingly (Matthew 1:24-25).  How comfort we shall be because our God “knows” — He knows our condition and difficulties and He has promised us, “Do not be afraid!”  This tells us that submission to God is a way to alleviate our unwanted mental loads and will enable us to face any situation courageously.

In this Christmas season, let us lift up our hope to our Lord and learn not be afraid of our conditions and difficulties because He is our savior and deliverer. He knows and He bears our burdens daily (Psalm 68:19). He promised us that:

“Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken 你要把你的重擔卸給耶和華，他必撫養你，他永不叫義人動搖‧ (Psalm 55:22)”

“Cast all your anxiety on him because He cares for you. 你們要將一切的憂慮卸給　神、因為他顧念你們 (1 Peter 5:7)”

A few years ago, my wife and I were attending a surprise birthday party for a friend. In the process of preparation, one of us had to ask my friend out pretending to have a need for his consultation until the others were all ready in my friend’s house. We were also required to park our cars far away and walked to my friend’s house, before the party starts, in order to avoid being detected. Then, as soon as my friend entered the house, we all shouted aloud, “Surprise!” The “million dollars scene” was the bright and shinny smile from my friends’ face. I think it is a great way to add color to our life.

Do you like surprises, my friends? I think the answer is it depends, because a surprise could have either positive or negative aspect. For example, we normally favor the birthday surprise, a surprise award, or a surprise promotion. However, when a surprise catches us unexpectedly which makes us uncomfortable, or in predicament, this would have a negative aspect. Sometimes, these could mean life storms.

Recently, I had another opportunity to experience a small birthday surprise, orchestrated by my brothers and sisters in Christ, in a friend’s house. It is a special one since it is the first time that I had my birthday with God’s family members instead of my own family members, as is in the past. Even with this case, I was still with a group of persons that I am familiar.  There is a surprise birthday party, however, that is very different from all of us — it is the birth of our Lord.

The surprise birthday party of our Lord, who was wrapped in a manger, was held in a stable with a group of strangers – they were shepherds living out in the fields nearby. The preparation of the party, however, was orchestrated by God and was communicated by an angel of the Lord with a great company of the heavenly host to the shepherds. Isn’t this out of the common run (不同凡響)? The angel said to the shepherds, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 天使對他們說，不要懼怕，我報給你們大喜的信息，是關乎萬民的‧因今天在大衛的城裡，為你們生了救主，就是主基督‧ (Luke 2:10-11)

This “out of ordinary” birthday party tells me one very important aspect – “Who was born is more important than who were in the party and what kind of party being prepared”, because the angel of Lord said, “It is good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 一個大喜的信息，是關乎萬民的” Apparently, this surprise from God could give us great joy because Simeon said, “He is a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel是照亮外邦人的光，又是你民以色列的榮耀 。(Luke 2:32)”

My dear brothers and sisters, in this Christmas season, do we surprise our friends and families with the good news or gifts from this world? Let’s think it over, it is only the birth of our Lord a true surprise that we should celebrate!

Last Thursday was the joyful Thanksgiving Day. We had quite a few families come to our house to celebrate the beginning of holiday season. Preparation is certainly laborious but is rewarding. I got the assignment, from my wife, to clean up our stuffed porch and basement, in order to accommodate more people. Initially, we were not sure whether our house could fit that many of people.  Thanks to our friend in neighbor who was willing to accommodate all the young people in their house.

Sometimes, I was wondering what the meaning of thanksgiving is. According to the Encarta dictionary, there are at least three interpretations of the thanksgiving.  The first one is “a prayer that offers thanks to God”, the second is “an expression or an act of giving thanks” and the last is “a public acknowledgement of divine goodness”.  From these interpretations, I could say that the meaning of Thanksgiving is to express our thanks to God – either through a prayer or a public acknowledgement.

The questions we can ponder upon are “Do we express our thanks “only” when God says “yes” to our request, or, let me put it this way, do we feel “more compelled to” give thanks when our request has been granted?” In my recollection of my younger days, my parents always taught me to say “thank you” when I received a favor or something from others. On one hand, this was trying to teach me to build a habit of good manner, regardless whether I truly appreciate what I have received or not 🙂 On the other hand, this molds me, unintentionally, to appreciate or to give thanks ONLY when I receive. Consequently, it becomes more difficult for me to give thanks when I didn’t receive anything. Based on this mentality, in my journey of faith, I am more tuning to say thanks when God say “yes” to my request and unlikely to give thanks to Him when He says “no”.  Immediately, I know this is a problem and I need to back off from this mentality.

This leads us to the crux of my question: “Do we give thanks to our God, from bottom of our heart, in all circumstances – regardless He says “yes” or He says “no” to our request?”  Because this is the true meaning of Thanksgiving, as it was taught by apostle Paul to give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18).  Personally, I like a hymn “Thanks to God” by August L. Storm and John A. Hultman very much, as it depicts the attitude and meaning of Thanksgiving very well. Below is a glimpse of it.

Thanks for pleasant balmy spring-time, Thanks for dark and stormy fall

感謝神，賜溫暖春天，感謝神，蕭瑟秋景

Thanks for prayers that You have answered, Thanks for what You does deny

感謝神，禱告蒙應允，感謝神，未蒙垂聽

My dear brothers and sisters, can we still give thanks when God says “no”? I certainly hope you can. It is my prayer that we give thanks in all circumstances, as we know our God is good and He answered our prayers abundantly more than we have asked.

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In a marriage counseling support group meeting, the leader asked attendees around, “Do you have anything that you would like to thank, today?”  The room was silent. He surveyed the room to see if there is any volunteer. All he sees were blank faces and heads down. Suddenly a person popped a word, “I would like to give thanks”.  The leader was pleased and felt relief. Then the person said, “I am thanking for that I can attend this group of “quiet persons” because I have had enough at my house.” A burst of laughs rises in the room.

There is always something that we can thank for even sometimes, we don’t feel like to do so. Someone said, “Thanksgiving is an attitude and a life style even when time is difficult”. No wonder James indicated to us that “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds我的弟兄們 ，你們落在百般試煉中，都要以為大喜樂(James 1:2)” Apostle Paul also told us that “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 應當一無掛慮 ，只要凡事藉著禱告、祈求，和感謝，將你們所要的告訴神 。(Philippians 4:6)” Apostle Paul’s teaching enlightened us that we should not be anxious about anything because God granted us a privilege to access Him with one condition: we need to carry an attitude of thanksgiving when we plead to Him.

In the Gospel of Luke, we read the scene of Jesus was welcomed to the city of Jerusalem as King – People spread their cloaks on the road. The whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen. (Luke 19:36-37). However, some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” Do you know what Jesus’ response was? He replied, “I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out. 耶穌說：我告訴你們，若是他們閉口不說，這些石頭必要呼叫起來。(Luke 19:40)” This is a powerful message to us, as Christians.  We need to offer our praise and thanks whenever we can.

Yesterday we had a great Thanksgiving celebration. A lot of friends and families joined our gathering. The greatest joy, to me, is to see so many kids came to give thanks in front of everyone. John Clayton once said, “Christians were instructed to serve others, and the thanksgiving was for the grace of God and the fact that God offered a way for man to return to a positive relationship with Him.” I believe most of us would be delighted to see our own kids having an attitude of thanksgiving and this would lead them to have a positive relationship with God in the future. After the testimonials session, we enjoyed a great dinner and fellowship together. We saw a lot of new faces and old friends in our midst. It is just like a family!

My dear brothers and sisters, in this thanksgiving season, we not only need to learn how to give thanks but also need to learn how to serve others. It is my prayer that each one of us would have a serving heart and a thanksgiving attitude toward our journey of faith.

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Last Tuesday morning, I just came back from a one-day vacation. As soon as I entered my office, my next-door colleague stopped over my office immediately and said, “Tell me that this is NOT true – Bill told me that you took a vacation day yesterday in order to help the presidential campaign.”  “Ha…ha…ha, certainly not, I need to decide which side I am on first!” I answered.

This past election must have driven many of us nuts because of so many campaign surveys and calls have bombarded us.  It was finally over and the result came out on last Wednesday. No matter which side you chose, either Republican or Democratic, I believe you would hope the candidate could live through his promises and steer the country from her predicaments. An interesting observation was the Dow Jones Indices plunged more than 300 points the next day. It seems to reveal that a promising hope is not there as national problems continue to loom and financial budget cliff is imminent. This generates a question in my mind, “Did we choose the right side?”

In many situations, we were asked to choose sides. Frequently, however, we are afraid of choosing it because we are not sure which one is better – based on our limited knowledge, experience and information we received, we can only make an “educated guess”. This tells us how limited we are, as we couldn’t foresee the future and our crystal ball is always cloudy 🙂

There is a famous quote from President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War period. I believe most of you are very familiar with it. When President Lincoln responded to an inquiry about his view of the War in freeing the slavery, he said, “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right”. This is an enlightened view of making a right decision in choosing side – all we have to concern about is on God’s side.  The fact is if we were on God’s side, then, we can be sure that even we were in the same situation as Joseph’s predicaments in the Egypt, we shall be successful and prospered.

The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. 約瑟住在他主人埃及人的家中，耶和華與他同在，他就百事順利‧  (Genesis 39:2)”

Do we know we are choosing the right side? This is a question puzzles many of us. I think it should not be that difficult. As Bible told us that we Christians have the promise from the Lord – He will send His Spirit to dwell in each one of us and help us to understand His truths (John 14:16). Therefore, if we can learn to listen to His guidance in every situation, I am sure we will be on God’s side all the time.

My dear brothers and sisters, we may be bound to make mistakes in choosing the right side initially, but we should not be staying in that mode forever. As long as we are willing to listen to Holy Spirit’s whisper, whether we turn to the right or to the left, our ears will hear a voice behind us, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” (Isaiah 30:21). In this crooked and rebellious generation, may God have mercy on us in order for us to stand firm on our belief.

Many poems fascinated me during my younger days. One of them is Bai Lee’s (李白)“Meditation in the night (静夜思)”. Below is its Chinese part as I have no English translation:

床前明月光，疑是地上霜。舉頭望明月，低頭思故鄉。

It reveals an emotion of homesickness with a feel of serenity. Looking at the two actions of head-up (舉頭)and head-down (低頭),described in the second verse, a sharing idea came up to me.

Let me start with this question: “Have you ever heard a new slang / acronym / term called ‘Head-down group低頭族’”? I was not clear about its meaning initially. Then, my wife explained to me that the slang was trying to depict the odd behavior of current generation of geeks – with all the modern electronic gadgets and technology, such as laptop computer, cell phone, iPad, etc. – they are always heading down to read emails and text their messages, or browse the internet, or play games, or watch videos, etc. I realize that I am one of them too 🙂

The head-down scene is so prevalent that you won’t miss it if you have a chance to go to any public place, such as malls, schools or working places. You may say, “So, what is the big deal?” Well, the big deal is those gadgets captivate our focus and keep our heads down all the time. As a result, we may not pay attention to people around or any surroundings. Sometimes, this is also the case in my house – when I talk to my kids, they are either not listening or respond it because they are heading down to laptops. The addiction is what I am really concerning the most.

On the other hand, I am going to give you a new slang / term called the head-up group (舉頭族)。I still remember my Tai-Chi master’s teaching in the old days. He frequently said, “Head up and back straight! You can’t be skillful if you keep you head down and bent your back all the time 低頭彎腰，所學不高”.  Similarly, in our faith journey, all we can see are nothing but “troubles” and “difficulties” if we always keep our heads down.

The head-up group is a group that looks up to our Lord (仰望神), all the time. This good habit of looking up will keep us from “captivating” by the modern gadgets. Moreover, when we learn to look up, we can then see who is “enthroning” in the heaven as the prophet Isaiah. At that time, we can be as sure as the apostle Paul, said, “If God is for us, who can be against us? 神若幫助我們、誰能敵擋我們呢 (Romans 8:31b)” .

The addiction and captivation by the modern gadgets can sway our focus from God to worldly enjoyment. However, there is a means for us to transfer from head-down group to head-up group – We have to keep up good habits of daily devotion and prayers with our Lord. King David taught us that we have to seek God and pray to God while He may be found; consider Him as our hiding place and He will protect us from trouble and surround us with songs of deliverance (Psalm 32:6-7).  My dear brothers and sisters, are your head still down? It is time to look up!

Last Wednesday morning, I rushed to a local hospital to see a brother in the Lord who is in a critical condition. At the lobby, I ran into his son and chat with him a little bit. His son told me that he just talked to his father and his father is very peaceful. As I was not sure whether his father is still ok or not, I went up to see his father. Entered the patient room, there was no one around, I called the brother’s name several times and he didn’t respond. So, I went out to check around.  An attending nurse in the next door confirmed that my friend passed away about 3 hours ago. I realize that I was too late!

A few weeks ago, my daughter was in her Fall break and she went down to NYC with her friends. At the end of day, she was trying to get back from NYC by train and she wanted me to pick her up at the local train station. No sooner had her scheduled time passed, she called me and said that she just missed the train, even though she ran all the way to the platform. It was too late! She ended up has to wait for another hour in the Grand Central station in order to catch the next train. And, I have to wait another hour too 🙂

In our life journey, situation like this – It was too late – may not be foreign to many of us. However, there is always a consequence accompanied with it when we are late for something. In the case of my visitation to the brother in the hospital, my lateness makes me miss the opportunity to see him the very last time. In my daughter’s case, her lateness makes her and I wasted another hour of waiting. This lets me think of a story that I read long time ago. The story is like this:

Some time ago, there is a couple. Both of the husband and wife are scientists. The wife, however, has a habit of lateness.

They are developing a medicine that could revive a person from coma ‘within an hour’. As the medicine is near the stage of testing, they realize that they need to have a guinea pig to test it out. The wife agrees to become the one. Thus, the husband gave his wife a drug that would put her into coma. After his wife went into coma, the husband immediately injects the new medicine into his wife and waits. As an hour has passed, his wife is still sleeping. Two hours later, his wife is still not waking up. He starts to panic and thinks that their medicine is NOT effective and his wife would never be able to come back. At this time, he is completely disheartened.  He took a large amount of sleeping pills and committed suicide himself.  Another hour later, his wife finally woke up and saw her husband lie down there without any breath.

The story illustrates the consequence of “lateness” could mean a “life and death” situation.  In this world, God gave each one of us an opportunity to live and we are responsible for our acts. Therefore, an important question that we have to ask ourselves is “Am I late for the kingdom of God?” This is critical because it is about whether we can receive God’s promise or not. In the case of my visitation to the hospital, I was disappointed for my lateness; however, I am confident that I can see the brother again in the future because he is in Christ and is NOT late for the kingdom of God.

My dear friends, the time has come, as the Lord Jesus indicated. He said, “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news! 日期滿了 ，神的國近 了 。你們當悔改 ，信福音 ！(Mark 1:15)” Apostle Paul in Athens also said, “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent世人蒙昧無 知的時候 ，神並不監察 ，如今卻吩咐各處的人都要悔改 。(Acts 17:30)” Therefore, let us be aware of the time has come and we don’t want to be late for the kingdom of God since the timing is a matter of “life and death”.

Last week, I had an opportunity to stop over a local Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) to renew my old driver license. Based on my previous experience, I would anticipate a crowd of people waiting for service. In fact, this was the case in that day. For the sake of alleviating the problem of waiting, the DMV provides a somewhat effective solution. You need to find a ticket machine first and then get a ticket number, based on the category of service that you need – they could be in the category of either getting a new driver license, or applying learning permits, or returning automobile license plates, etc. After that, you sit down and wait for your number to be called.

I found it is quite interesting to observe this rather noisy environment. Even though it is based on the “first come first serve” principle and there are various service windows, the “line of waiting” is still long. Everyone watched eagerly and closely for his / her ticket number to be called in order to stop by the correct service window. After waiting for a while, suddenly, a person who sat next to me stood up and protested to one of the service windows that his number was skipped. The lady from the service window responded, “It is not possible for the calling system to miss a ticket number”. After digging, they find out that the calling system was manually overwritten by one of the service windows incidentally – a lady who drew up two tickets at the same time but used one ticket number, which is later than the protested person, to be served.

For the person who was skipped unintentionally by the service window, I could see his puzzled face. As I may not be able to read his mind but I was sure: he might have to wait there and never been called if he did not pay attention to his ticket. This interesting experience of “getting a ticket and waiting in line” let me think of two possible scenarios in our journey of faith.

The first one is “Have we told our God to take a ticket and “get in line” waiting for our call?” This may seem to be wild initially and you may say, “What are you talking about, how can God take a ticket from me?” Let me give you my personal experience. I asked my self a question: “Have I ever forgotten my quiet time with God or missed my daily Bible reading because of my busy schedule and then ‘skipped it’ conveniently?” The answer is “yes”.  In these cases, it is like that I told God to wait for me but forgot to keep my promise.  As a result, God could wait there indefinitely because I skipped Him.

Corrie Ten Boom once said, “Don’t pray when you feel like it. Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. A man is powerful on his knees.” The attitude of keeping an appointment with God faithfully applies not only to prayers but also to every aspect of cultivating our relationship with Him. We need to set our priority right and we CANNOT treat God like the genie in the Aladdin lamp – to show up whenever I want him to and to disappear whenever I don’t need him. In this world, there are always so many things set to occupy our focus and consume our time. Obliviously, we are falling into the evil one’s scheme. The result is he pulls us away from God. Someone used to say, “BUSY is Being Under Satan’s Yoke”. It seems to bear some truth in it. 🙂

In the first scenario, we are assuming that God is the person who is asking for service and we are the service window. Now let’s switch the roles – we are the person who is asking for service from God (i.e. as the service window).  This becomes our second scenario. The situation is like this: “When you are asking help from God or interceding for others through your prayers, God told you to “get a ticket and wait”; worse yet, He forgot your prayer and let you hang there indefinitely, what is your reaction?” I bet you will start to grumble that He is not a loving god and He is not listening to your prayers.

The two scenarios I just illustrated give us two perspectives in our journey of faith. The truth is our God listens to and answer our prayers, according to His love and sovereignty of course. He is NEVER like the Baal god that prophet Elijah was taunting – who is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling, or sleeping and must be awakened (1 Kings 18:27). As the psalmist said, He will not let your foot slip — He who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 他 必 不 叫 你 的 腳 搖 動 ； 保 護 你 的 必 不 打 盹 ！保 護 以 色 列 的 ， 也 不 打 盹 也 不 睡 覺 。 (Psalm 121:3-4)” Therefore, we don’t need to worry about the second scenario because He does care about us and love us dearly. All I ask is let us be sincere and examine ourselves daily, “Do I want God to get in line and wait, or I want to keep my appointment with Him?”

After a series of rainy and cloudy days, finally, there was a break yesterday – it was a beautiful and sunny day.  Accompanied by several families, we took the opportunity to visit the Minnewaska State Park in order to see the famous Fall foliage. Apparently, this is on everyone’s mind too. We ran into a huge traffic jam trying to pass through the town of New Paltz area. Subsequently, we couldn’t even enter the park as all the parking lots were full when we arrived. We had to wait outside and circle around to search for any available parking spots. Finally, our friend called and informed us to enter a packed parking lot with few spots just became available. It was a grand occasion that we have ever had.

The view of the foliage and scenery in the park is spectacular. We enjoyed a lot while kids were busying in chasing and jumping. Even with the temperature was a little bit on the chilly side, everyone’s spirit was high. Seeing many people in the park hiking, BBQ-ing, and sightseeing, I was thankful that I could enjoy the beautiful scenery with them.

Some of you may have the experience in visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. It is a long graphite wall engraved with names who had scarified their lives for this country during Vietnam War period. The simplicity and elegance of the wall touched many people’s heart. As a result, it raised interest from the public to find out who is the designer of this memorial. The designer, Maya Lin, soon became a famous person all over the country. You may ask, “Why to learn who is the designer of this memorial has anything to do with the foliage in the park?”  Let me give you two personal viewpoints.

The first viewpoint is we should be grateful that we were created with an inquisitive mind – we like to search for answer when a question comes to our mind. The second point is more intriguing to me if not to you, “Why we are so eager to learn the designer of something is famous in this world but are reluctant to learn who is the designer and creator of this universe?” My possible answer is the god of this age has blinded the minds of people (2 Corinthians 4:4) – a scheme that the evil one has exercised successfully in the past to block our inquisitive mind. This may explain why we are more eager to learn famous person in this world than to learn the designer of this universe.

When we recognize that the beautiful scenery is a God’s handiwork and He gave us the opportunity to get pleasure from it, we then could learn how important He is in our life and His great love to us. This is an important first step for us to know our designer and creator. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, let’s be thankful for everything that God has provided for us. The more we know Him the better we can follow His will truthfully. May you have a great fellowship with Him!