Recently, I was annoyed by a clunking sound developed under the engine of my car. As the day of picking up my kid at college is approaching, I decided to take last Friday off in order to check it out and repair it, if necessary. I end up spent a long day in order to get to the suspected rear engine mount – I couldn’t take it out because I “skipped” one of the procedures which should take down the exhaust pipe, for I fear the rusted pipe nuts would cause me regrets afterwards. But, this later proves to be my mistake and the root to all the miserable hours I have spent. In the next day, I decided to take down the exhaust pipe and this allows me to jack up the engine higher and actually gives me better access to the suspected mount. After got to the mount, I find that it is still in working condition. At that moment, I sighed, “What a fiasco! 🙁 ” In the end, I spent long hours again to put everything back, including the exhaust pipe. My wife then complained that I spent too much time on the car instead of on the family, what can I say? 🙁 This was really a “memorial” weekend!

Have I learned anything? Sure. Because of my “smart” decision in skipping a procedure, I suffered from the consequence of ungodly long-hours. This teaches me a lesson to follow the procedure completely, don’t try to be too smart. 🙁 The other thing I’ve learned is: there could be many surprises waiting for you when you are doing repair jobs, especially on an old car. Thus, you may easily get frustrated after a few difficulties surfaced. So, “be patient” and “knowing your own limit (i.e. admit your mistake and get some help)” are very important. You may ask me why I should perform the DIY repair? Well, the joy of DIY repairs lie on the sense of achievement, when everything is done and fully functional. Remember your kid exclaimed “I did it!” when he/she finish something? That is the feeling I am talking about. 🙂

In our spiritual journey, God gives us instructions to our life through His Holy Scripture. He also gives us free will to choose which way we want to go. We can either choose to follow His instructions truthfully or cut-the-corner and skip a few steps. In the beginning, it may seem to be no harm but in the end, the result is quite different. This was highlighted by Jesus’ parable of “The Wise and Foolish Builders (Matthew 7:24-27)”. Jesus said, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 凡聽見我這話不去行的，好比一個無知的人，把房子蓋在沙土上 (7:26)” Isn’t this serves as a warning to us? When we choose not to put God’s words into practice, we are like foolish men from God’s eye. Because, at the end of our life journey, we lost our only opportunity to become more like His son, Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, have you been following God’s words truthfully? If not, can you put God’s words into practice, please?

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

Last week, on one of the early mornings, I had to drop off my son to his school as usual. When I was on my way, my wife called and told me that she heard a loud noise in the garage after I left. She then checked and found that one of the safety springs for the garage door snapped. So, the garage door is now stuck. Hearing this news, I thank God for His protection not letting the garage door slammed on me, when I was backing out my car.

Apparently, material failure caused the spring to snap after repeated usage. Initial reaction I had was “How can this be? I thought I just changed it not long ago. Well, what can I say?” The premature failure does reveal two possible causes. One could be due to over-usage and the other could be “poor” product quality, due to manufacturing process variation. As the other side of the safety spring is still good for the time being, I have to assume the cause is because of poor quality.

The phenomenon of premature failure is a behavior that most manufacturing companies trying to prevent, as it would damage companies’ reputation and consequently revenue streams. In viewing our journey of faith, do we have the phenomenon of premature failure too? I think so. It is called “burn-out”. In a sense, the Christian’s burn-out would also damage God’s reputation and hinder the spread of His gospel too.

How do you know that you are at a stage of burning out? When you feel that you are out of energy in serving God and you like to complain more and more, you are at the edge of “burning out”. Theoretically, every Christian would encounter this phenomenon, regardless of his/her serving post. However, it may be more obvious on those who are heavily involved in ministry serving than those who are not. A notable example is Moses, who led millions of Israelites wandering around the wilderness for 40 years. As it is recorded in the book of Numbers, Moses had to put up with numerous complaints and slanders from the Israelites – the cry babies. In one of the incidents, we find that those cry babies complained about manna food they ate (Numbers 11:4-34) – they want to have similar food as they were in Egypt, instead. As a result, God became exceedingly angry, and Moses also was displeased. So Moses responded to God with several questions: “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their ancestors? 「你為何苦待僕人，我為何不在你眼前蒙恩，竟把這管理百姓的重任加在我身上呢？ 這百姓豈是我懷的胎，豈是我生下來的呢？你竟對我說把他們抱在懷裡，如養育之父抱吃奶的孩子，直抱到你起誓應許給他們祖宗的地去。(Numbers 11:11-12)”. At the end of his questions, Moses complained that he cannot carry all these people by himself. He thinks the burden is too heavy for him. Have you noticed the phenomenon of “burn-out” on Moses? I think he is giving up and wants to quit!

My dear brothers and sisters, are you at a stage that you want to give up or quit? Are you feeling that you are all alone doing God’s work? Then, be alert! You may be at the edge of burn-out. Please don’t underestimate the power of destruction of burn-out. Let’s not forget that we have to remain in Him constantly because this is the only way to avoid the phenomenon of burning out!

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

In one of the Saturday mornings, I have a chance to take time relax myself a little bit. So, I decided to practice my fly casting skill at a local lake – as it is more spacious, less restrictions and less crowded than the river bank.

During my practice of casting, I was surprised by many hungry pan-fish. They seem to be fond of my flies. As a result, I have to keep releasing them back into the lake and my hand was getting smelly. Along the way, I caught one keeper size trout; though I wasn’t target her initially. I decided to keep her. After putting her into a grocery plastic bag, I went back to cast again. Then in the middle of my casting, I find that she broke free from my plastic bag. I checked the bag and realize that the bag is having a hole in it 🙁 I shook my shoulder and continued to cast. After a short while, before I was ready to leave, I caught another keeper size of trout. Guess what? I was stupid enough to put the trout into the broken bag again, thinking that I can close up the hole faster than the trout can get out. I was wrong again. The trout escaped! I laughed badly when I saw her escape scene. I told myself, “Oh well, I already achieved my purpose of practicing. Don’t ask too much 🙂 ”

I don’t know if you have ever encountered a similar situation likes me – I was giving a second chance to do it right but I blew it. Sometimes this kind of situation – like the escaped trout – is not much of importance; other times, however, it may be a matter of life and death. In the Gospel of Matthew chapter 26, it recorded an event of the last Passover dinner gathering that Jesus and His disciples had. And while they were eating, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.” They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?” Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 正吃的時候，耶穌說：「我實在告訴你們：你們中間有一個人要賣我了。」 他們就甚憂愁，一個一個地問他說：「主，是我嗎？」 耶穌回答說：「同我蘸手在盤子裡的，就是他要賣我。(Matthew 26:21-23). Then Judas said, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?” Jesus answered, “You have said so.” Isn’t this a “second chance” that Jesus gave to Judas to repent? Did Judas take it? No! The consequence, as we read along, is Judas committed suicide due to his guilt and most importantly, he lost the opportunity in gaining the eternal life! Isn’t this a matter of life and death?

We all know that we don’t always have a second chance to make thing right. And when we missed that exact opportunity, bearing regret probably is the only way. Bible told us that Jesus came to this world to complete the work of salvation. He gives everyone of us the second chance to be able to reconcile with God. By His work, whoever believes in Him would be justified before God. We have to realize that this second chance would be vanished as soon as He returns to this world. Therefore, my dear friends, it is absolutely critical for you to not miss this opportunity – it is a distinction between eternal death and eternal life!

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

Last Saturday, my wife and I had an opportunity to attend a dedication ceremony for my friend’s new church building. Looking at the beautiful building and spacious facility, we all thanked God for His provision.

During the ceremony, there were speakers to recount their 40+ years of journey in moving from place to place for gatherings and, in searching for a permanent location for worship services. I could see their emotions and joyful tears during their testimonials. It was quite touching. The one consensus I heard from them is “It is God’s amazing work!” Indeed, it is, considering how long they have been wandering.

The dedication ceremony leads me to recall the historical event of rebuilding God’s temple during the reign of Cyrus king of Persia (538 BC) – Ezra led the returned Israelites from captivity to rebuild the temple of the LORD. There was a dedication ceremony too, when the builders lay the foundation of the temple of the LORD. With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord: “He is good; His love toward Israel endures forever. (Ezra 3:11)” It was also a very touching moment when many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy (有許多祭司、利未人、族長、就是見過舊殿的老年人、現在親眼看見立這殿的根基、便大聲哭號．也有許多人大聲歡呼 Ezra 3:12). I can imagine that they would say, “It is really God’s amazing work, after 70 years of exile!”

Sometimes we are so easy to take God’s blessings for granted and forget that He is good and His love endures forever. Apostle Paul told us that we should “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.要常常喜樂，不住地禱告，凡事謝恩，因為這是神在基督耶穌裡向你們所定的旨意。(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)” Without giving thanks to the Lord, we steal glory from Him. We set ourselves to a direction of troubles and sorrows. Isn’t this serious?

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, let’s remember that give thanks in all circumstances to our Lord is an attitude that we have to practice, because it is God’s will. In addition, through incessant prayer, we can learn God’s will and we can rejoice regardless any situation we encounter. Isn’t this we need the most? Hope you can find something to thank for, during the week. 🙂

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