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Most of you probably would agree with me that communication is a skill and is very important, especially when you are talking with youngsters. The other day, I had a chance to explain a math problem to my son that he couldn’t comprehend. After half an hour, he still couldn’t get it and he kept saying, “It does not make sense to me”. I got frustrated and told him that, “you can ask your teacher or classmates tomorrow, maybe the way I have learned from my teacher is different from what you were taught in school.”

Have you ever heard an acronym called “KISS”?  Initially, I thought it was some kind of joke. Later I find out it stands for “Keep It Simple, Silly (or Stupid)”. In fact, there are many variations of KISS now. Preferably, I like the version of “Keep it Short and Simple” better. The situation I had with my son is a reminder to me that my explanation could be excessively complex to him. In addition, I may have problem in my communication skill too 🙂

To keep something short and simple is always desired when you are explaining something to others. A lengthy and complex explanation would tend to confuse people even more unless it is intended – like the arena of politics. 🙂 Under my working environment, oftentimes, we were required to include a so-called “executive summary” in our presentation – to convey our message or points in the presentation, succinctly. In this moment, the principle of KISS is needed because it is what the management is interested most.

On the other spectrum, however, sometimes you would hear someone says, “Sigh, it is a long story…..” At this time, I bet you are prepared to listen to him attentively as it implies a kind of situation that could be difficult to explain. In the path of our life, there could be many hard to tell “long stories” and many “short and simple” encounters or events. Overall, it is a journey that God has prescribed for us – it is a journey of faith in reality. Without faith, we would have no strength and no will for the journey when we encounter hardships and difficulties.

Is Bible a long story to tell or to understand? It could be, if you read it persistently chapter to chapter, book by book, it will take some time to complete it since it has 66 books – it starts from describing God’s creation in the book of Genesis and ends with God’s eternal plan in the book of Revelation. Is there a short and simple introduction of the Bible? Yes, I think.  From my limited understanding, we can use the attributes of God to summarize the Bible: God’s holiness, God’s righteousness and God’s love. Because of the sin of Adam and Eve, we were separated from God. Apostle Peter indicated to us that, “without holiness no one will see the Lord 非聖潔沒有人能見主 ” (Hebrews 12:14b). And, Apostle Paul said, “just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned. 這就如罪是從一人入了世界，死又是從罪來的，於是死就臨到眾人，因為眾人都犯了罪‧ (Romans 5:12).”  The wage of sin is death, as apostle Paul indicated, because God is righteous. As God is love – He wouldn’t let us, the sinners, to be perished – He sent His only begotten son, Jesus to pay the price of our sin. This was clearly taught by the Apostle John, “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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 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‧ (John 3:16-17).”  What a great love!

I hope my explanation of the Bible followed the principle of KISS 🙂 Please let me know if you have any trouble to understand it. Please remember that the only path to reconcile with God is through our Lord, Jesus Christ, as it is promised in the Bible (John 14:6).

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Last week was a busy and intense week for me at my work. Some unexpected requests kept coming up to my team and me. On Friday, I decided to give myself a break – took a day off. I spent time in doing some over-due items from my “honey-do-list” and enjoyed spare time with my wife – we went to a local riverfront park and spent some time in hunting for striped bass. It is a time well spent even we didn’t get what we were searching for from the river. On our way back, we saw a couple sat there enjoying sunshine and their picnic sandwiches. Seeing their smiling faces, I told my wife that it is a beautiful picture and I hope we can be like them a few more years down the road 🙂

This experience lets me think of an interesting illustration from a recent radio broadcast program called “Bridge the gap”. I will try to memorize as much as I can. It goes something like this,

“A young couple just married. In the morning after their wedding day, the young wife got up very early to prepare their very first meal. When the husband woke up and saw the breakfast was ready, he was delightedly surprised. At this moment, the young wife started to say, “I was afraid that the meal wouldn’t be ready, so, I got up early to prepare it. However, I was also afraid that you would be disturbed, so, I was carefully minimizing noises on my preparation. After I prepared the meal, I was afraid that the meal would be cold when you are up, so, I kept it in the oven all the time before I dished out.”

It is a lovely picture of marriage life. Throughout the Bible, we learned that God established marriage for humans. He prescribes an intimate and holy relationship between husband and wife as Adam said, “Eve is his bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh.”  Apostle Paul even used the relationship between husband and wife to imitate Christ and His church. He said, “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)

The illustration has a deeper meaning too, according to the radio broadcast. It can be used to illustrate the meaning of “God fearing”. Sometimes we may have a difficulty in grasping the true meaning of fearing God. The illustration of the young wife gives us a picture of revering God is out of loving Him. Did you notice that the young wife said, “I was afraid” three times? This is not because she is afraid of her husband. It is out of respect and her heart of love – a correct way of fearing God.

My dear brothers and sisters, the Bible teaches us to love our Lord wholeheartedly. As we are His beloved children, do we revere Him out of our love?

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Early in the morning on last Saturday, I need to drop off my son to an ACT test at a local high school. Before we left and sitting in the car, I told my son to again check things that he need to bring. He said, “Yes, I did”. While we are half way on the road to the high school, he said, “Dad, I just realize that I brought along a wrong calculator, because the instruction sheet said it has to be TI-xx model.” Tell you the truth I almost went ballistic at that time. I gave myself a deep breath and said slowly with a calm voice, “I thought you checked it already before we left. Now, why this happens?” He gave me a “sorry” look. Then, I continued to say, “Time is cutting close, it is not viable for us to go back home in order to bring the calculator here”. Then, he suggested that we woke up my wife asking her to bring the calculator here while we continued to head toward the high school. I said, “OK, this probably is the only feasible solution and hope she could arrive on time”

This incident teaches me several lessons. I felt parents’ responsibility is never being an easy one – In one hand, we need to train our children to be independent. On the other hand, we also need to teach them to follow instruction truthfully. Then, the work of preparation is very important for any thing to be undertaken. A thorough and detailed preparation would aid your success in any work you want to take. Finally, a back up plan is always good to have.

In recent daily Bible study, we read again the incident of “Moses’ Error at Kadesh – water from the rock”, from the book of Numbers chapter 20. In Moses’ frustrated and anguish condition after listened to so many Israelites’ complaint on top of no drinking water, he forgot God’s instruction – Speak to that rock:

“Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink. 你拿著杖去、和你的哥哥亞倫招聚會眾、在他們眼前吩咐磐石發出水來、水就從磐石流出給會眾、和他們的牲畜喝  (Numbers 20:8)”

Instead, Moses struck the rock twice again in order to bring forth water to feed the Israelites. The error he made caused him to be refrained from entering the land of Canaan – the land of promise by God. What a lesson to read your instruction carefully! If my son had read his instruction sheet of test carefully beforehand, we probably wouldn’t have to scramble around for his calculator.

In addition, Moses’ example also tells us that it is not wise to make any important decision when you are not in your clear mind. He was tired and furious against Israelites’ repeatable complaints. Therefore, he thought God would use the same instruction as last time – to have him struck the rock (Exodus 17).

I am not sure what would happen if I had used harsh word against my son when I find out that he didn’t even read the instruction sheet of test. However, I am glad that I didn’t and in the end, it did work out fine. This reminds me of the book of wisdom – Proverbs – teaches us that, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. 回答柔和，使怒消退‧言語暴戾，觸動怒氣‧(Proverbs 15:1)”  Hope I will remember this lesson.

My dear brothers and sisters, if I may, let me ask you, “What is our instruction of life?” It is Bible, right?  Then, what should we do about this instruction? 🙂

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Last Wednesday, I had an opportunity to take my kid to do a college visit. We attended a guided campus tour and then we sat through an information session. Both sessions were crowded due to Spring break for many high schoolers. The guide was a junior student and he talked a lot about how good the college is; and what kind of uncommon freedom or unique opportunities that they have above-and-beyond other colleges. It is always enlightening to listen to personal life experiences, though in this case, there is a slice of suspicion of “sales pitch” being mixed.

How to choose a right college that is suit for a high schooler is usually very challenging to both parents and students, I believe. It is a long and arduous process and it has to start early. In the end, however, its result may not be always what was desired. For my family, we went through the process for our first one and now it is our second one. Still, even with our prior experience, we are struggling in finding a match for our second one. Talking about parenthood, sigh…. 🙁

The difficulty in finding a “right match” is owing to its daunting nature – how to match desire from each individual with selection criteria from colleges. Sometimes the process is more or less like finding a spouse that is a match to you. Interesting thing is you can change school but less likely you would change your spouse 🙂

Is there such a thing called “universal solution”? For example, can a college satisfy everyone’s desire? Probably not! Otherwise, we don’t need to have so many colleges with so much diversity. How about a universal tool? Is there a tool that could fulfill everyone’s need? Again, I don’t think so either. At least I haven’t seen it, as of today. The trouble is this has been an idealistic goal for many companies in industry, including my company. At the end of the day, I think it is not the tool that is important, it is “employees’ knowledge and experience” that is more important. Since we are talking about people, let’s look at another aspect. Is there a universal solution to humankind’s problems, such as “the need to be loved”, “The need to feel significant or appreciative”, “how to live a meaningful life”, “how to relieve burdens of sins and guilt”, “how to relieve bitterness”, “how to free from fear of death”, etc.? Yes! This time I am positively sure that we have a universal solution to humankind’s problems – it is our Lord Jesus Christ!

My dear brothers and sisters, at this Easter Sunday, we are joyous but let us remember what our Lord has done for us – He gave us eternal life; He loved us and delivered us from the bondages of sins and guilt. As He is the universal solution to all our problems, can we love Him with all our soul, our mind and our strength?  He told us that “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.人子來，為要尋找、拯救失喪的人。(Luke 19:10)” Do we have compassion for “others” as our Lord did? Because “He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 愛惜自己生命的、就失喪生命．在這世上恨惡自己生命的、就要保守生命到永生”。(John 12:25)”

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Looking out from my porch window, I was captivated by the blooming golden bells plants (forsythia), populating along my neighbor’s fence. A band of breathtakingly yellow / gold color created by flickering backlight from the morning sun is amazingly beautiful. In a moment like this, I could slightly imagine what King David was describing in his psalm:

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. 諸 天 述 說 神 的 榮 耀 ； 穹 蒼 傳 揚 他 的 手 段 。(Psalm 19:1)

Certainly, the blooming forsythia is a handiwork from God and it is the earliest sign of Spring season around the area. It indicates the end of our lukewarm winter – green grass is coming up and tree leaves are sprouting all over the area earlier than previous year.  It is a beautiful and lively scene!

When we think of our life journey, I am sure we all have moments worthy of cherishing and remembering. However, how many of them you would consider as moments of instantaneous eternality (瞬間的永恆)? Not that many, right? How about the moment that you were proposing to your love one, or, the moment that you saw your very first baby was born …. etc. These are moments that he, she, or something of interest captured your attention undividedly – you would not notice anything even you were under a heavy traffic (車水馬龍) environment. In our spiritual journey, we have our “moments like these” too – The moment that we felt touched by our Lord, the moment we felt that we were sinful and overwhelmed by our iniquity…. etc. You may be very familiar with a hymn called “In moments like these”. Its lyrics are as below:

In moments like these I sing out a song, I sing out a love song to Jesus.

In moments like these I lift up my hands, I lift up my hands to the Lord.

Singing I love You, Lord. Singing I love You, Lord. Singing I love You, Lord, I love You.

The author’s response to “in moments like these” is to sing out a “love” song to our Lord. The author teaches us a way to express our emotions in moments that we are touched by our Lord. It is an adoration and exaltation to God’s love.

Today is the Palm Sunday – it is the day that our Lord was welcomed to enter the city of Jerusalem by the crowd even though He was crucified in the following Friday and then resurrected on that Sunday. But, let me ask you this, “Do you hear the shouting of “Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna!” by the crowd in the Jerusalem NOW?” Consider the moment when we received our Lord into our hearts, do we have the similar exhilaration as the crowd in the Jerusalem?  My dear brothers and sisters, there are moments that we may feel joy or may feel lost; do we have moments that we feel that we are eager to proclaim His good news to others?

Then, let us ask our Lord to grant us wisdom and courage to witness His love upon us.