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On the wall of my dinning room, there is a photo frame which was a gift from a dear family in Christ. Frequently, I would read its imprinted quote. It serves as a constant reminder to me of what kind of attitude toward life should be, especially when I was not in a good mood. The quote says, “Dance as though no one is watching; Love as though you’ve never loved before; Sing as though no one can hear you; Live as though heaven is on earth.” It is a “modified” version from Mark Twain’s famous quote of “Live Love Laugh” – “Dance like nobody is watching; love like you’ve never been hurt. Sing like nobody is listening; live like it’s heaven on earth.” Both of them have similar insightful meanings to life.

There are two pictures slotted on the frame, one is my graduation picture with my wife and the other one is a memory picture of my family taken on my 20+ years of wedding anniversary with my wife. To me, these two pictures remind me of how gracious our God is. It represents two milestones of my life journey. The first one is a personal endeavor to achieve higher education level, with my wife’s help (PHT = Push Husband Through). And the other is a reward of God for entrusting me with a family and 3 children. Is my life journey always smooth? Certainly not! Can I live like it is heaven on earth? Not yet. Can I dance like nobody is watching? Not sure, haven’t done that. Can I sing like no one is listening? In the bathroom, maybe. Can I love as though I’ve never loved before? This is a hard one. How about you, my dear brothers and sisters, what are your answers to those questions?

Last Sunday, Rev. P. C. Lo gave us a good encouragement from his topic of sermon: “Faith and Living Courage” (Psalm 3). He asked us: “Are your life journey getting smoother and smoother or getting tougher and tougher?” Oftentimes, we may be in a tough life journey, per Rev. Lo. He mentioned that there once a pastor said something like this when people meet together, “For people who are under age 30, they would talk about education degrees and resumes; for people who are age from 30 to 50, they would talk about experience and trials; for people who are over age 50, they would talk about illness and sickness.” This is a keen observation of our life.

Then, Rev. Lo used his recent experience in attending a wedding ceremony to illustrate that marriage life is supposed to be like a journey with love and encouragement between husband and wife. He indicated that first part of our life is accompanied by our parents while the second part of our life is accompanied by our spouse, which was a plan of God. How about King David’s life experience from Psalm 3? Is his experience worth us to ponder upon and learn?

Rev. Lo told us that Psalm 3 was authored by King David under a low valley of his life – his son Absalom betrayed him and wanted to kill him. Per Rev. Lo, King David would need a great courage to face the betrayal, and then he would need an even greater courage to face the difficulty in trusting God. Because, how can a prayer get a negative result – his enemies increased in multitude (Psalm 3:2). We could see a similar betrayal from mankind on Jesus, our Lord. However, it is quite a different story of Jesus from David’s because our Lord is sinless while David knows he is a man with sins. David felt powerless and distressful in facing difficulties because of his own sins. From Psalm 3, David experienced several difficulties in his life (Psalm 3:1-2):

• The betrayal of his own son
• The reconciliation between his faith and reality he encountered and observed
• His own sins

However, David’s faith sustains him through the difficulties – he believes that God has never departed from him and he trusted God completely (Psalm 3:3). That is a faith deserved to be pondered upon. During life difficulties, you may seek help from your friends and families or yourself. David was writing psalms to express his situations and difficulties to God. He was pouring out his soul to the LORD just like Hannah’s prayer to the LORD (1 Samuel 1:15). In essence, this is a faith that God will listen to our prayers and He will provide the best; regardless of we are in trouble or not in trouble.

Then, Rev. Lo shared with us his personal experience in facing difficulties. He prays consistently and earnestly every morning 6:00AM for the ministries in CCHC. He believes that as long as we keep doing our part – pouring out our soul to Him — He will protect and provide. Finally, Rev. Lo pointed out that we need to learn from David’s experience because his faith not only sustains him through difficulties, but also transcends malicious attack from others into forgiveness (Psalm 3:8). David’s faith reveals his essence of life during difficult situations. Let us all be reminded.

My dear brothers and sisters, can we live like it is heaven on earth? We should be if we could completely trust our Lord’s faithfulness. It is not easy but let us learn from David’s experience.

In the past week, I was entrusted to take care of a puppy from a friend. Walking the dog suddenly becomes one of my daily routines in the morning and in the evening. During this “routine exercise”, I had a chance to observe my neighborhood slowly. One of the neighboring houses was doing a home improvement. The owner of the house had someone come in to rebuild his stepped walkway between his driveway and his house entrance. The walkway was built using rocks instead of original concrete slabs. After a few days, the irregular shapes of the rocks were fitted perfectly by the hired hand, to form beautiful stone walls and steps. I was amazed how skillful the hired hand is, if you know how difficult it is to fit irregular shape of things together. In the building process, the worker has to dig a strong-enough foundation, to chisel out minor part of the stones, to apply cements to glue them together and finally maintains everything in straight line. This improvement project was quite fascinating. I believe for those who have such an experience would know what I am talking about.

Last Friday in our jointed small group meeting at FCON, we were discussing apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians. One of the verses caught most people’s attention is apostle Paul’s pleading:

I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel …我勸友阿爹和循都基，要在主裡同心‧我也求你這真實同負一軛的，幫助這兩個女人，因為他們在福音上曾與我一同勞苦‧ (Philippians 4:2-3a)

From Paul’s pleading, we can observe that serving hearts from Euodia and Syntyche were not questioned here. It is the “same mind in the Lord”, however, that is to be emphasized. The eagerness in serving combined with personal preference and working habit is sometimes similar to fit irregular shapes of objects together – It is very difficult without a lot of shaping work. Someone used a term “同工？同攻？(Co-working? Co-attacking?)” to describe the difficulty of co-working phenomenon observed nowadays . I think it is very lively.

In fact, finding a church that is perfectly fit to us is rare the case, if not impossible. It has been said that “There is no perfect church in this world, if you can find it please tell me and I will be glad to join that church. Of course, after I joined, the church would become imperfect.” In any church, certain tradition, styles, people, or programs, etc. may make us uncomfortable. However, it is God’s will that He wants us to fit together with one another. From church serving and co-working, we can learn how to listen, to react, and to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. Apostle Peter encouraged us that we are like living stones,

“….. are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 你們來到主面前，也就像活石，被建造成為靈宮，作聖潔的祭司，藉著耶穌基督奉獻神所悅納的靈祭‧1 Peter 2:5”

Similarly, apostle Paul indicated to us that in Him, we are

“….. being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.你們也靠他同被建造成為神藉著聖靈居住的所在‧Ephesians 2:22”

My dear brothers and sisters, I admit that it is not easy to be built together because it requires personal commitment and sacrifices. However, in Christ, everything is possible. We just have to remember that He is the potter and we are His clay…..

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Last weekend, I had a chance to watch an old Billy Graham’s evangelistic crusade event from a TV broadcast. It is great to watch Rev. Graham’s heart-felt preaching in front of a huge crowd. In his preaching, one of the story illustrations impresses me very much and it prompts me to do a soul searching myself. I don’t remember all the details but the main idea goes like this (sorry if I misspoke some of the details, or you already knew the story):

A couple has planned for watching a Broadway show “My Fair Lady” at NYC for a long time. Finally one day, they got the life-time opportunity to go to NYC to watch the show. Due to its popularity of the show, tickets were not available for them to purchase from the ticket office. Under this dismay condition unwilling to admit to their friends and families that they didn’t get to see the show, they came up a “great” idea. They purchased a booklet in front of the theatre which has detail storylines and actors of the show. They also thought it is necessary to have additional proof in order to convince their friends and families. In searching for the proof, they saw there were torn “half-stub” tickets left on the ground – which were used by others to enter the theatre and were trashed by the ticketing clerk. They were quite happy to pick two of the half-stubs up. After thoroughly studied the booklet they purchased, they could recite clearly what was the show and who was the main character, etc. Back to home, they started to detail the storylines of the show to their friends and families. Aided with the half-stub tickets, their friends and families were totally convinced that this couple has seen the show…. 🙁

My dear brothers and sisters, this is a sad story with a solemn message if we view it from Christian belief perspective. Analogously, we can consider the couple as persons who have no “born again (born from the above)” experience from the Spirit, according to Rev. Graham. Their life experience would be imitating Christian belief only – he or she could recite Bible scriptures, attend all church services and programs, still, has no real life experience with and hope from the Lord. This is a soul-searching question worth to ask ourselves.

In the Gospel of John chapter 3, the same “born again” question was asked by Nicodemus, a member of Jewish ruling council, to Jesus. That conversation was very fascinating and enlightening. As Jesus indicated, “…no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again (or born from the above)” (John 3:3). It is evident that Nicodemus couldn’t comprehend Jesus’ teaching at that time. “How can this be” was a question repeatedly raised by Nicodemus. But, my dear brothers and sisters, we should be very clear in our mind that we were born from the above and we have the eternal hope that He promised us:

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

神愛世人，甚至將他的獨生子賜給他們，叫一切信他的，不至滅亡，反得永生‧因為 神差他的兒子降世，不是要定世人的罪，﹝或作審判世人下同﹞乃是要叫世人因他得救‧信他的人，不被定罪‧不信的人，罪已經定了，因為他不信神獨生子的名‧ (John 3:16-18)

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It was two o’clock afternoon; my wife was not back yet due to a doctor’s appointment. I was nervous that we may miss the registration time for the Summer Conference at Hofstra University. An hour later, my wife finally came back. I asked my kids start to load their luggage and personal belongings. My wife was also preparing. I wasn’t paying much attention to whether we have everything ready or not because I was busying in checking the car and its tire pressure. Moments later in the car, I asked everyone if everything is ready to go. They all said, “Ready”. Here we go…

The traffic was heavy when entering into Bronx area and the Throngs Neck Bridge was packed with cars. With slight delay, we arrived at Hofstra University smoothly. After checked in, we started to drop off kids to their dormitories. At the Colonial Square in the campus, my daughter was unloading her luggage, my wife said, “That is daddy and mommy’s luggage, don’t get it out yet”. “No, it is mine.” My daughter responded. My wife and I suddenly realize that our own luggage which has the same style and color was left at home. At that moment, we were all laughing hysterically because of this embarrassing thing my wife and I did. We also realize that we had better find our necessities quickly since we planed to stay here for another three days.

This embarrassing experience gives me an interesting perspective. Not sure if you have ever been stayed in an apartment, my family did. At that time period, we restricted ourselves to buy only necessary stuffs because its space is limited. However, when we moved to a house, we started to cumulate furniture and a lot of things that may not be really necessary. Soon we find that we are out of space already. This leads me to ponder upon a question, “Do we carry too much unnecessary baggage during our journey of faith?” My answer would be “yes”. In fact from the apostle Paul’s letter to Timothy, we can see the similar concern. He reminded Timothy that it is imperative to be free from other civilian affairs in order to be a good solider of Christ.

No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer. 凡在軍中當兵的，不將世務纏身，好叫那招他當兵的人喜悅‧(2 Timothy 2:4)

Therefore, anything that hinders us from focusing on God can be considered as “unnecessary baggage”.  My dear brothers and sisters, do you still remember our Lord Jesus sent out the 70 others to harvest His field? Are you aware of how he instructed them?

“Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. 不要帶錢囊，不要帶口袋，不要帶鞋‧在路上也不要問人的安 (Luke 10:4)”

This is because our Lord wants the 70 others to remember that there is no need to worry about their daily needs – He will provide if they have faith in Him. And, they should not be wasting time in greeting anyone because time is precious in doing God’s work. What a promise and reminder to us. May God help us to learn how to focus on Him without carrying unnecessary baggage.

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Last Saturday my family attended my daughter’s high school graduation ceremony at the Civic Center. Overall, it was a good experience even though we have to wait for more than 40 min. to get in. The ceremony was full of excitement and speeches from guests of honor and student graduates. Among the student graduates’ speeches, the recollection of high school years and appreciations extended to school teachers and guidance counsels were good and interesting. Speeches delivered by the guests of honor – the school superintendent, a police detective, a member from the education board and the school principal – were very inspiring. Particularly, the use of wheelbarrow as an analogy, by the high school principal, to illustrate that student graduates have to learn how to strike balance between load and goal in the future was an enlightening perspective.

After the ceremony, it was Kodak time for friends and families. I find that it was difficult to find a clear space for picturing, especially when you need to gather a few persons together. There were two interesting phenomena that I observed. One is families were eager to find a good spot for this special occasion in order to have a picture with their graduates.  It competes, however, with the other phenomenon – the graduates were eager to find their classmates to hug and to chat, as this could be their last opportunity to get together. Thus, we ended up to grab whatever space was available at that time to take a picture. It seems to me the emotion of excitement and reluctance to part among the graduates was the real reason crowded the Civic Center. As a result, we left the Center around 8:00PM … 🙂

The affection among the student graduates is the one that I find very precious. I thank God for giving us feeling for others – as we are not robots with programmed rules and architected structures; we are human beings with God’s breath. We can share our life journey with others and build a relationship with them. The sharing experience of life journey essentially provides us a good memory and it supports our next step of our life journey.

When Jesus was in this world, He chose 12 disciples to follow Him. He lived with them and shared with them for three and half years. The caring love and life examples that Jesus gave to them is one of the key thrusts that strengthen their journey of faith.  Every time I read the Gospel of John, the conversation between apostle Peter and Jesus would intrigue me. Especially, the question from Jesus to Peter, “Do you love me?” was asked three times repeatedly. Of course, you may already know the purpose of Jesus’ question to Peter is to re-establish Peter’s faith. (John 21:15-17). Jesus’ encouragement to Peter let me think of the famous hymn: “What a friend we have in Jesus!”

What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and grieve to bear!

What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,

all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

My dear brothers and sisters, as we all love our children, oftentimes we also like to know whether they feel the same way, right? Therefore, let me ask you a question. What would you say if our Lord Jesus asks you today, “Do you love me?” Do you have an answer for Him?

You can keep your answer to yourself, of course. But, please remember, our Lord knows our heart.

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As my age advanced, hearing ability started to deteriorate. Sometimes, I couldn’t follow my wife if she didn’t speak loudly. Recently, I heard an interesting story from one of the radio broadcasts that I usually listen to.

A marriage couple celebrates their 60^th year anniversary by inviting friends and families to have a gathering. Because of their advanced age, both of them are having hearing difficulties.

During the celebration, the husband starts to say:

“Honey, after 60 years of marriage, my love to you is still “try and true!””

“What?” the wife responded with loud voice.

So the husband has to say it one more time. This time he raises his voice by saying

“After 60 years of marriage, my love to you is still “try and true”.

“After 60 years with you, I am tired of you too!” The wife quickly shouted it back.

From the story, you can see that it is very important to listen carefully otherwise, confusion and misunderstanding could happen. In addition, the feel of “I am tired of you” should not be foreign to us and in fact, it is prevalent in today’s society, I think.

Marriage was established by God after God created Adam (Genesis 2:20-25) and felt that Adam needs a suitable helper. God then created Eve from Adam’s rib. Adam called her “Woman” as Adam recognized her as his “bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh”. “Man” and “Woman” were then united into one flesh – marriage.  As apostle Paul indicated to us, the relationship between the church and Christ is like husband and wife – holy and intimate.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her (你們作丈夫的，要愛你們的妻子，正如基督愛教會，為教會捨己‧Ephesians 5:25)

If the relationship of marriage is supposed to be holy and intimate, why after a few years of marriage, there exists such a feel of “I am tired of you”?  Why our love fades so soon? The probable cause, I think, could due to our limited and sinful flesh. The key is how we can emulate our Lord’s love to church onto our spouse.

How about within a church? Is our love to brothers and sisters fading too? Very likely! The good thing is our Lord knows our weakness (Matthew 26:41b). He encouraged us to remain in Him because He is the source of love (John 15). Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, let’s be reminded by the meaning of “Christ loved the church” when we have the thought of “I am tired of you” comes up. May our church be full of Christ’s love…..

Last Sunday, we had a great worship and gathering with our High School Seniors who are transitioning into a new milestone of their life – attending college. As I recall in my high school years, it was a period full of examinations and pressure. Started from 10^th grade, school already asked us to be prepared for college entrance exam (CEE). At 11^th grade, we had all kinds of simulated tests and subsequently at 12^th grade; we were at the most miserable and pressurized days in our life – more tests and intensive reviews. Everyone’s goal was set to have a successful test because the CEE was a means to determine our individual’s future. During those hot and humid summer days, relaxation was viewed as a sin to spend time on. The tension was so high to a point that I was about to snap, though I knew I should not give up. My mind, however, kept telling me that “it is easy to say than done”. When the day of test drew near, I felt I was completely exhausted and my head was spinning. As a result, I didn’t perform well on my test. Oh, well… I was glad it was over, however… 🙂

“Keep going, don’t give up” is an encouragement I used to tell my kids. I want them to realize that perseverance will help them sustain trials and difficulties. When I was serving in the Navy, my fellow-solider used to share with me his motto of success: “勉強自己，就是成功 (Push yourself means success)”. He encouraged me to push myself to get used to different environments or different situations in order to be successful. His point is we always like to stay in our comfort zone, status quo, without stepping out. Reality is the success wouldn’t fall from the sky automatically, he stressed.

After I professed my faith in Christ, I still think the motto has some merits. However, my view has since then changed, especially the meaning of “success”. I realize that if my goal is to be successful by the standards set by this world, then my faith is nothing but a religion. I would still subject to the same disappointment when I can’t arrive my goal. Our goal, as is set by our Lord, is to be like Him when we meet Him. A success would imply that we are mature in Him. To achieve this goal, we would need to have an attitude of “press on”, as apostle Paul instructed, and forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead (Philippians 3:12-13).

My dear brothers and sisters, while we are joyful to see our kids to attend college, it is also very important that we pay the price of praying for them – asking our Lord to guard their hearts without falling into temptation and deliver them from the evil one (Matthew 6:13). May our Lord lead them and protect them throughout their years to come. As brother George reminded us on his last Sunday sermon (Genesis 28:1-22), God’s ladder is the one which connects us to God. The ladder would give us a view above this world and God’s angels who were moving up and down on the ladder would be the messenger to report our status to Him and to carry His blessings to us.  Let the message of the ladder serves as a constant reminder to our High School Seniors and us.  May our Lord become their guide of life journey because He is the most loving and gracious Lord, He listens and He responds to our prayerful heart.

Let’s press on toward the goal of being mature in Him, my dear brothers and sisters!