Went to the cafeteria at my working place for lunch, I ran into my old manager who just came back from an overseas assignment for two years.  

“So you are back! Do you like there?” I asked.

“Yes, that place is great, but I need to be back to the cold, right?” He responded. We laughed… I know what he meant by “back to the cold” – it is a cold winter this year and there is more snow than we would like to have.

“Cold winter” may be welcomed by some of you who like to have fun in the snow or ice. Personally, I am not a cold climate person. I don’t particularly like activities under cold weather except the beautiful scenery during the season.

Talking about seasons, an idea dawned on me. I think our hearts are sometimes like changing season – a fervent heart can be like summer time, a cold heart can be like winter and a lukewarm heart can be like the season of spring or the season of fall. Under this view, a person who is having a “cold heart” would be difficult, if not impossible, for us to embrace him since we can’t feel any warmth of care from him. This reminds me of a story that I read before:

A minister was concerned about the absence of a man who had normally attended services. After a few weeks, he decided to visit him. When the pastor arrived at the man’s home, he found him all alone, sitting in front of a fireplace. The minister pulled up a chair and sat next to him. But after his initial greeting he said nothing more.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes while the minister stared at the flames in the fireplace. Then he took the tongs and carefully picked up one burning ember from the flames and placed it on the hearth. He sat back in his chair, still silent. His host watched in quiet reflection as the ember flickered and faded. Before long it was cold and dead.

The minister glanced at his watch and said he had to leave, but first he picked up the cold ember and placed it back in the fire. Immediately it began to glow again with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.

As the minister rose to leave, his host stood with him and shook his hand. Then, with a smile on his face, the man said, “Thanks for the sermon, pastor. I’ll see you in church on Sunday.”

The story tells us a danger of backsliding, if we don’t recognize it. The backsliding may due to various reasons and it will become prevalent at the end of this age, as is indicated by our Lord Jesus. He warned us, “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold 「那時，必有許多人跌倒，也要彼此陷害、彼此恨惡，且有好些假先知起來，迷惑多人。只因不法的事增多，許多人的愛心才漸漸冷淡了。」(Matthew 24:10-12)”. From this warning, we learned that people would grow cold-hearted because of the increase of wickedness. If we look around our current world, we could see the coming of increasing wickedness. Isn’t the end of this age near? As Christ’s followers, I certainly hope that we can stand firm and keep our hearts as fervent as possible to the end. Instead of being back “to” the cold, we should be back “from” the cold. At that time, we will be saved and standing in the house of our Lord!

Disclaimer: The sharing is pure from my personal view; therefore, please don’t take it to be absolute. Thanks.

During the past week, we encountered several surprises. I almost want to scream out, “What is going on?” As the week ended, however, I am glad that everything works out fine. This reminds me of Apostle Paul’s teaching, “all things God works for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28)”. 🙂 Here let me share with you two of the surprises.

Last Tuesday night, my friend called us from out of the area, asking us to check upon his house for a NO house heat problem. He was informed by his house-sitter that room temperature in his house is abnormally low. In light of coming sub-zero temperature during the night, we stopped by his house immediately after got the key from the house-sitter. After spent time in researching the problem, I was able to restart the pilot fire in the furnace. However, the furnace still wouldn’t re-start. So, we have to call an emergency furnace service in order to minimize the risk of a potential pipe-burst around his house. It was a long night after the service technician finished and the furnace restarted.

Then, on last Thursday late night, we were supposed to pick up a friend at a local train station. Due to a heavy snow storm blanked the area, my friend’s arrival schedule was delayed and as a result, her arrival time was scheduled well after midnight. When it is time, I backed my car out of my garage. Without noticing the heavy accumulation of snow in my driveway, the car quickly came to a screeching halt and there it went into the snow piles. So, I had to get off my car and began to shovel. Suddenly, we discovered that there is no way José for us to make to the train station since all streets were not even plowed yet. Hence, we have to call our friend up and told her that we couldn’t pick her up and she needed to find an alternative means for transportation. Ugrrrr…

This cold and snowy winter in the Northeast region has been a culprit for problems to many house owners. These two surprises I just mentioned are closely related to this bitter cold winter season too. From them, I learn two lessons. One: it is ideal for me to “be prepared”. Two: I have to know my own limitation before helping others.

One of the key issues for my friend’s no house heat problem is his furnace was not regularly maintained, according to the furnace technician. As a result, a blocked vent switch of the furnace was tripped and needs to be replaced. This teaches us the importance of a proper winterizing preparation. The truth is we may be able to get away with no preventive maintenance during good weather but definitely not in a critical weather like this winter.  When we choose a “cutting corners” approach, we must be prepared to bear its consequence in the future.

Spiritually, there is a similarity too. An attitude of “cutting corners” in the journey of faith may end up losing eternal life because Jesus told us that, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. 「你們要進窄門。因為引到滅亡，那門是寬的，路是大的，進去的人也多；引到永生，那門是窄的，路是小的，找著的人也少。(Matthew 7:13-14)”

Another lesson I have learned is to know my own limitation. When I was stuck in the snow, I realize that I couldn’t offer any more help to my friend, even though we were so worrying about her safety – the fact is “I am powerless” under that kind of situation. Analogously, if we look at our salvation, it is impossible for us to save anybody from sin because we are all sinners (Romans 3:23). Bible told us that only the Lamb of God – the sinless Jesus Christ – can provide the path of grace.  

Therefore, my dear friends, it is my prayer that you can learn your limitation and be prepared to accept Jesus as your personal savior.

Disclaimer: The sharing is pure from my personal view; therefore, please don’t take it to be absolute. Thanks.

Some of you may realize that we are creatures of habit. We tend to sit on the same seat in a meeting room or the same spot in our house, we put our keys at the same pocket, wear the same jacket day by day, and in favor of the same food, etc. As far as habit goes, this is where we always said, “I used to do so and so…”  Interesting thing is the phrase “I used to do so and so” could mean that I have either a good or a bad habit and now is gone. Or, I have some good old days and now they are gone.

Last weekend, we went to a Chinese New Year celebration party, locally. Apart from enjoying the food and programs, we had a chance to meet and talk to some of our old acquaintances. It is great to see them, but the bad is for a moment I couldn’t even remember some of their names. “Bad, this is really embarrassing!” I told myself.

I thought I used to be good at memorizing people’s names but now is not the case anymore. Then, in the middle of my conversation with one of my old friends at the party, my friend asked, “Do you still practice Tai-chi exercise?  I remember that you used to do it.” I told him that yes, I used to be but now is kind of “off and on” due to my back problem.  “Isn’t Tai-chi exercise supposed to be good for your back?” my friend pressed. “Yes, if you practice it diligently.” I smiled.

Oftentimes, we may give up a good habit in exchange of a bad one and it causes impact to our life subsequently. Therefore, “I used to do something” may hint a warning implicitly. This reminds me of what Apostle Paul indicated to us. He told us that we used to live in the ways of this world and we were dead in our transgressions and sins, because of our cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts (Ephesians 2:1-3). Paul revealed to us our “used-to-be” status which we used to have bad habits in following our desires and thoughts in flesh. He also told us that because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved (Ephesians 2:4-5). What a gracious deliverance!

Because of Christ’s gracious deliverance, we can proudly say that we used to be dead in sins and transgressions and now we were made alive with Him. This lets me remember John Newton’s “Amazing Grace” – I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now I see.

My dear friends, if you recognize the used-to-be status, which is not so good, and you want to have a change, then, here is a promise from God — if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17, NKJV) 若有人在基督裡，他就是新造的人，舊事已過，都變成新的了.  May you become a new creation!

Disclaimer: The sharing is pure from my personal view; therefore, please don’t take it to be absolute. Thanks.

Last weekend was the Chinese New Year, my family went to a celebration gathering with many families and we had a great time. According to Chinese zodiac tradition, this is a year of “horse” and therefore, the phrase “to win an instant success 馬到成功” was mentioned frequently among the Chinese community. This is a common phrase that is used for congratulating or wishing luck to others. Apart from good luck, it has a connotation of invincibleness too – it implies that when he or she comes, it will be an instant success.

Isn’t that great to be invincible? I am not sure about you, this was my attitude in my younger days. I thought I was invincible and I can do everything. I felt that there is always opportunity waiting for me. As I grew older, the reality kicks in – I find that there are a lot of things I couldn’t do. May be this is so-called “maturing” 🙂

How about those who are rich and famous? Are they invincible? It may appear to be so from surface but in reality, they are not. In fact, we saw numerous examples of the rich and famous become penniless and infamous in a brink of eyes. All in all, it is like the author of the book of Ecclesiastes said, “vanity of vanities; all is vanity! 虛空的虛空，凡事都是虛空 (Ecclesiastes 1:2)”

If we realize that all is vanity and we are NOT invincible, then we can learn to be humble before the one who is invincible – our God, as He is the God Almighty and He is our Creator. But, is there any possibility that we can be invincible, in any shape or form? Yes, only through His son, Jesus Christ because Apostle Paul told us that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 血肉之體，不能承受神的國‧必朽壞的，不能承受不朽壞的 (1 Corinthians 15:50)”. Only when we receive Jesus as our personal savior, then our corruptible flesh can be transformed into incorruptible and in Jesus Christ, as apostle Paul declared, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13). That is what I called the true “invincibleness”.

My dear friends, do you want to be invincible? There is no other way but through Jesus Christ because He is “the Way, the Truth and the Life”!

Disclaimer: The sharing is pure from my personal view; therefore, please don’t take it to be absolute. Thanks.