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There are several things burden our minds recently. One of them is my son’s college application. Even though we had gone through the process of my daughter’s application previously, it is still a painful process because it is for a boy 🙁 One of the key elements in the application process, as school counsel instructed, is to write personal achievements and an essay. The emphasis in the content, in general, is about one’s leadership and awards during the school years. In other words, you have to emphasize that you are “somebody” in your field. I realize that this is a culture prevailed under today’s environment.

This lets me think of an old Chinese saying, “寧為雞首，不為牛後”. A common interpretation is one should have the ambition to become a boss, no matter how small is your business. This mentality can easily be observed from our common greeting phrase “What is your profession 你在那裏高就 ?” Frankly speaking, there is nothing wrong with the pursuit of becoming a “somebody” in your field. It is, however, one’s inherent motivation should be examined – do you use it to brag or boast?

Dwight L Moody, an evangelist and publisher who founded the Moody Church and the Moody Bible Institute, once said, “Moses spent forty years in the king’s palace thinking that he was somebody; then he lived forty years in the wilderness finding out that without God he was a nobody; finally he spent forty more years discovering how a nobody with God can be a somebody. It is an insightful illustration of how a “nobody” can be “somebody” only when he is with God. This also reminds us that only God’s recognition is important!

Apostle John indicated to us that Christ was the Word and He is Son of God (John 1:1-3). In other words, He is “somebody” in God’s eye and through Him, all things were made. However, when “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us 道成了肉身住在我們中間 (John 1:14a)”, Christ became Jesus in flesh, i.e. from “somebody” becomes “nobody” from this world’s view, because Bible told us “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 他到自己的地方來，自己的人倒不接待他 (John 1:11)”.  This, nevertheless, didn’t prevent Jesus from completing God’s plan – the Salvation to mankind. His submission to God exemplifies us how a “nobody” from this world’s view could become “somebody” in God’s view. He also promised that to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12) – we can be God’s children (somebody) if we receive Him as our Lord.

Do you want to be “somebody”, my dear brothers and sisters? Then, let’s submit to God’s instruction and follow His will to live a life that is setting apart from this world.

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Ran into an acquainted manager in the hallway last week and we conversed a little bit. He told me that he is retiring from the company by the end of this month. I was a little bit surprised because he was not thrilled about his retirement. He shook his head and said, “The culture of the company now is quite different from it used to be and it is not fun to work for the company anymore”. I shook my head too because, before I met the manager, I just had another similar conversation with one of my department colleagues regarding our job situation. Our situation comes from our management’s perception – we didn’t do a good job in our area.

Someone once said, “How you treat someone is directly from how you perceive him.”  It tells us that we form a perception and then we act on it. One’s perception, in general, would be influenced by several factors. How we perceive are mainly from what we see and what we hear. When a perception is biased due to incorrect or deceitful information, it would then generate actions that could create hurts or consequences. The manager I acquainted thinks it is not fun to work for the company anymore hints me that there is a feel of betrayal in his encounter.  On the case of my job situation, we spent a lot of time in trying to change a perception that management had. This is certainly not a fun thing to do 🙂

From these two cases, I find that I need to be very careful in forming my perception. As I am very limited, I sometimes am easily to be misled from what I see and what I hear. In the past, this has been a problem for me – I know that I should not be doing that but my perception drives my behavior. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, as our Lord taught us that we should not judge or we will be judged too (Matthew 7:1-2), let’s examine it first before we act on our perception. I am sure God will be whispering to us, through the Holy Spirit, which way is correct, if we could wait for a moment to consult Him….

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It has been tough for me in the past two weeks. I was accompanying my younger sister at hospital. She is fighting for her life while her attending doctor couldn’t offer much help.Each day, I spent a few hours with her at the hospital. During my stay in the area, the weather was unbearably hot and humid. Fortunately, the hospital facility is relatively new and nurses are kind. Following my sister’s daily up and down condition, my heart also fluctuates. The blessed part is she was pleased and felt peace in her mind when I prayed for her. I still remember the first day when I entered her room at the hospital. I was shocked to see a very different appearance than the one I used to familiar with. The illness has tortured her so fast and so severe that I couldn’t even recognize her initially.

My sister’s condition reminds me of the image “in the valley of the shadow of death” that king David wrote in Psalm 23:4. King David hinted us that God is with him and therefore he fears no evil (不怕遭害) . I see this as a promise given by God to His children. For this reason, introducing my sister to the Gospel became my first priority. I do hope that God would be with her and His rod and His staff would comfort her in her situation. I do realize, however, that under the environment of prevailed Buddhism and folk religion, I would encounter much resistance in breaking loose the deep-rooted bondage in my sister’s mind. By God’s grace, at the end of my stay with her, I saw the Holy Spirit’s amazing work – my sister is willing to accept the Lord. As apostle Paul indicated, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved —you and your household. (Acts 14:31)”

In Psalm 90, a prayer of Moses the man of God, Moses indicated to us that “All our days pass away under Your wrath; we finish our years with a moan. 我們經過的日子都在你震怒之下 ；我們度盡的年歲好像一聲歎息(Psalm 90:9)。” It gives us a vivid picture of our life in this world – we are under the wrath of God because of our sins. The only way out is to recognize that He is our creator and He has devised a plan, through His son Jesus Christ, to deliver us from the wrath. Per apostle Peter, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved  除他以外，別無拯救；因為在天下人間，沒有賜下別的名，我們可以靠著得救 (Acts 4:12) 。”

The past weeks’ experience serves a good reminder to me that our Lord is gracious and He is in control over any difficult conditions. Our Lord reigns!