Before the holidays, I was working on a customer situation at my working place. We had a team assembled together to deal with the situation that customer has just experienced. After all, customer’s satisfaction is always the number one priority to my company :-). Depending upon how big the impact is, sometimes, this could consume a lot of resources and time before we could calm down the customer. In some rare cases – when the customer is extremely dissatisfied or just grouchy in nature – we would need to grant a “field return”, per his / her request. This lets me think of an interesting phenomenon.

After Christmas, my wife and kids decided to stroll around the local mall for relaxation, and may be, finding a good deal. The parking lot at the mall was packed with cars. There were many deal seekers filled with various department stores and interestingly, there were “lines of product return” in their customer service areas too – I could see piles of “returned products” around the service areas. Apparently, customers returned the products they purchased before Christmas, due to various reasons. They could due to the product is defective or it is not favorable by the receiver.  If you were the storeowner, what do you think or how do you feel? This could mean “reduced revenue and income” inevitably 🙁

In all honesty, I think you would agree with me that there is no “perfect” man made product in the market. Statistically speaking, there always exists a “buyer risk” in buying a product that could be potentially out of specification or is defective.  Therefore, the producer would need to implement a “field return” process to warrant ‘satisfied’ customers.

Now let’s look at ourselves. Why nowadays there are so many complaints against our physical or outward appearances in this world? Thus, there are numerous methods and products in the market to teach us how to get thinner, to have better looking, or to project better image, etc.  You may ask, “Is God messing up His creation? Can we file a ‘field return’ request against Him?” Well, not really! The book of Genesis told us that we were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). In addition, it was very good when God saw everything that He had made (Genesis 1:31a). Therefore, we can conclude that we were created “perfectly” from the beginning.  It could because of the fall of Adam and Eve that damages us – God’s creation 🙁

The ‘perfection’ in the creation hinted us two aspects. Apostle Paul told us that we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. 我們原是他的工作，在基督耶穌裡造成的，為要叫我們行善，就是神所預備叫我們行的‧(Ephesians 2:10). Paul indicated to us that each one of us is “unique and precious” in God’s eye because we were created in Christ Jesus. In addition, each one of us was created to have a purpose – to do good works. If we understand these two aspects, then we know that we are perfect in God’s eye, as long as we are ‘in Christ’ and follow His command to do good works. We may not be satisfied with our outward appearance now, but there is no need to ask for a “field return” because we will be returning to be “perfect” upon Christ’s second coming.

My dear brothers and sisters, at the end of year 2012, let’s setting a goal to be perfect in God’s eye in the year of 2013. May He bless your resolution and not asking for a ‘field return’ by the end of 2013!

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In the later part of last week, parking lots at my working place were a lot less crowded than usual – many of my colleagues started to take vacation days. “Happy Holidays” became a common greeting around the hallway of buildings.

Yes, it is a holiday season. We use this occasion to express our love or appreciation to our friends and families – this could be as simple as a greeting card or an oral expression. Alternatively, it could be a present or gift. However, we also need to remember that ‘Jesus is the reason for this season’. We are celebrating His birthday and He gives us an opportunity to spend time with our friends and families. Without Him, we have nothing. For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him (Colossians 1:16) 因為萬有都是靠他造的，無論是天上的、地上的，能看見的、不能看見的，或是有位的、主治的、執政的、掌權的，一概都是藉著他造的，又是為他造的。

In this season, my wife and I decided, as a gift, to upgrade our kids’ cell phones in ‘hoping’ them would communicate with us more easily and certainly, more frequently. For those of you having youths or college kids, you may know what I meant. 🙁 If we look at current smart phones in the market, they all equip with many bells and whistles that we – the outdated folks – couldn’t imagine in our days. No wonder we have the “head-down” generation phenomenon – everyone is heading down to browse and texting his / her cell phone all the time.

During the upgrading of our kids’ phones, we need to choose a phone plan carrier. Incidentally, I find that among many others, there is a cell phone plan carrier called “Straight talk” in the market. The company touts as a “contract-less and pay as you go” plan carrier. The name ‘Straight talk’ catches my attention and let me think of a question, “Do we like a straight talk or something with flurry and fanciful words?”

Many times, flurry and fanciful words are likely to impress someone instead of a straight talk. It is, however, good to hear but bad to listen, if those words are NOT sincere from his / her heart. This kind of talking – smooth talk and in-sincere words – seems commonly accepted in the political arena and public. Nevertheless, the Bible taught us that we have to speak truthfully with love. And, we can have a “straight talk” with our God, any time and under any circumstances. What a privilege!

We sometimes may think wordings in our prayer are NOT good enough and consequently God wouldn’t grant it. I think this is just a scheme from the evil one. In the book of Mark, there recorded a miracle performed by Jesus on a blind man called Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52).  Bartimaeus received his sight by pleading to Jesus openly and loudly without shyness. He is very specific about his request and he presents his request with faith. These are points that we can learn from him when we are praying for ourselves or interceding for others – a straight talk, be specific and with faith. Our Lord will not be impressed by any flurry and fanciful words. It is the pure and sincere heart enables us to be pleased by Him. Someone once said, “The heart of prayer is prayer from the heart. (發自內心的禱告是禱告的核心)”. Just imagine how we can freely talk to our earthly father, we can use the similar fashion to pray to our Heavenly Father too. Let’s be reminded that be sincere and be specific with faith are all He wants.

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Some of you may be very familiar with these two verses.  In fact, they are my favorite too.  They remind me of the journey of my family during the year of 2012 – the experiences of how to trust in our Lord with all our heart and lean not our own understanding.

In January this year, my wife and I had to drive our daughter back to her college. It was a day with heavy snow and roadway condition was bad. Based on this condition, we decided to use our small SUV, which has equipped with a 4WD function.  The trouble is we were asked to carry two additional students, who are in the same college with my daughter, in the last minute. As a result, our small SUV was fully loaded with passengers and luggage. This gave me an uneasy feeling because I knew the trip ahead is not going to be easy, in light of the snowy weather.  At this moment, I know I had to ask our Lord for protection because He is the Lord of the stormy sea (Mark 4:39). With an anticipated longer than usual travel time, we arrived at the college safely, even though there were some added thrillers along the road. We thank our Lord for His faithfulness in giving us a safe trip.

In the late June, I had to make an emergency trip back to my hometown to visit my hospitalized sister, whose condition was critical due to a comeback of her illness. It was a precious 10 days that God had granted me to stay with my sister in the hospital. The attending doctor was helpless to her condition and I was in distress when looking at her deteriorating condition.  I pleaded to our Lord earnestly hoping that He could show mercy on her. I remember Rev. Billy Graham used to say, “I am not afraid of death but I am scared of the process of dying”. I could imagine the fear of dying but I do understand that we, Christians, would not be afraid of death because our Lord has triumphed over it.  Realizing this, I decided that my #1 priority at that time is to win my sister over to the Lord. I used every possible opportunity to witness the life saving faith to my sister under that idol-filled environment. I spent a few hours every day with my sister to accompany her and chatted about my journey of faith. At the end of my stay, I asked my sister if she would like to accept the Lord. She said, “Yes”. At that moment, I was thrilled and asked her to pray with me. I thank our Lord for His grace and mercy.
In the early July, my elder son again attended a short-term trip to China — this is his third time to teach English for middle school students. My wife and I were encouraged by his heart in God’s kingdom. We are also very grateful to see our Lord’s protection and provision upon him throughout his trip. Later part of the year, we were busying in his college application. Even with prior experience in our daughter’s application, we were still having many hurdles. The first hurdle is my son’s ever-changing mind in selecting a major of his study – He couldn’t make up his mind to which field he would like to go. My wife and I almost got a heart attack in dealing with this situation. We learned that what is in a boy’s mind is quite different from what is in a girl :-). Then, we need to drive him around to visit different schools. We find that this is really a laboring and lengthy process. We are glad to see that he has been accepted by one of his preferred colleges, finally. From this process, we learned a lesson of parenting – impatience oftentimes could cause rebellions and subsequent heartburn situations. Most importantly, we realize that only God is in control not us.

This is the second year that my family attends this new church. We saw God’s hand is upon the church — several baptisms had been held and my son was in one of them. We are very grateful to have opportunities to serve our Lord in various capacities, alongside with our brothers and sisters, in this loving church.  We did see many new faces came to our church during the year. God opened assorted channels for us to reach new young people and new families came to this area. This reminds me of the development of the early churches in Jerusalem and I do believe that God is going to do miracles in this church.  He promised that He shall direct our paths if we acknowledge Him in all our ways.

In this Christmas season, may we remember, “Jesus is the REASON for this SEASON”. May He bless you and your family richly in the years to come!

Entering the building of my working place, I need to walk up two stairwells in order to get to my office. One morning in the last week, I was having the same walk again. In front of me, there was a heavy-build lady with a backpack and other stuff in her hands. I followed her footsteps with my backpack on my back, a lunch box and a water bottle in my hands. Moments later, I found that I had the same laborious sound as her because my back and my legs were not cooperating anymore. I sighed and thought, “I am not young any more, and no wonder my wife kept telling me that I need to do more exercise.  Even though I “did” walk everyday :-)” Then, I told myself, “Wait, I should not be too harsh on myself – my short-breath may have something to do with the things (load) that I was carrying”.

In general, the load that we are carrying could be either a physical one or a mental one, or could be both – it depends upon which type of work / job that we are doing. Sometimes, we may feel heavily laden by either one of them, or by both. You may agree with me that physical load is easier to handle than the mental one if you have a healthy physical. Oftentimes, mental load is heavier than the physical one, especially when we added it “unintentionally” by ourselves. For example, we were pressed for meeting a schedule or deadline; we kept ‘scaring’ ourselves by thinking “I will be in a big trouble if I didn’t finish it on time, or I am not knowledgeable enough to finish it because it is beyond my ability”.  These are types of unwanted mental load, called worry and doubt, of that we need to be aware. The side effect is they not only affect our efficiency at work but also affect our physical health.

In our journey of faith, we may create similar “unwanted” mental loads by having a worrywart or a doubtful syndrome. These mental loads could hamper our growth in faith. The question is how can we alleviate these kinds of “unwanted” loads? Let us ponder upon the experience of Joseph – Jesus’ father. Can you imagine when Joseph was informed by Mary that she conceived a child already (as is recorded in Matthew 1:18) before their wedding day, what kind of emotions that he may have had?

“This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 耶穌基督降生的事記在下面：他母親馬利亞已經許配了約瑟，還沒有迎娶，馬利亞就從聖靈懷了孕。(Matthew 1:18)”

The Bible didn’t tell us how long that Joseph had waited till he decided to divorce Mary quietly (Matthew 1:19). I think he must have gone through a tough time of emotional stages such as denials, worries, and doubts, during this period. These kinds of mental load, undoubtedly, are very heavy to him. However, God knows his situation – He sent an angel appeared to him and told him, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.「大衛的子孫約瑟，不要怕，只管娶過你的妻子馬利亞來，因她所懷的孕是從聖靈來的。她將要生一個兒子，你要給他起名叫耶穌，因他要將自己的百姓從罪惡裡救出來。」(Matthew 1:21)”

The important thing is Joseph submitted to God’s arrangement and I believe that his mental load was lifted accordingly (Matthew 1:24-25).  How comfort we shall be because our God “knows” — He knows our condition and difficulties and He has promised us, “Do not be afraid!”  This tells us that submission to God is a way to alleviate our unwanted mental loads and will enable us to face any situation courageously.

In this Christmas season, let us lift up our hope to our Lord and learn not be afraid of our conditions and difficulties because He is our savior and deliverer. He knows and He bears our burdens daily (Psalm 68:19). He promised us that:

“Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken 你要把你的重擔卸給耶和華，他必撫養你，他永不叫義人動搖‧ (Psalm 55:22)”

“Cast all your anxiety on him because He cares for you. 你們要將一切的憂慮卸給　神、因為他顧念你們 (1 Peter 5:7)”

A few years ago, my wife and I were attending a surprise birthday party for a friend. In the process of preparation, one of us had to ask my friend out pretending to have a need for his consultation until the others were all ready in my friend’s house. We were also required to park our cars far away and walked to my friend’s house, before the party starts, in order to avoid being detected. Then, as soon as my friend entered the house, we all shouted aloud, “Surprise!” The “million dollars scene” was the bright and shinny smile from my friends’ face. I think it is a great way to add color to our life.

Do you like surprises, my friends? I think the answer is it depends, because a surprise could have either positive or negative aspect. For example, we normally favor the birthday surprise, a surprise award, or a surprise promotion. However, when a surprise catches us unexpectedly which makes us uncomfortable, or in predicament, this would have a negative aspect. Sometimes, these could mean life storms.

Recently, I had another opportunity to experience a small birthday surprise, orchestrated by my brothers and sisters in Christ, in a friend’s house. It is a special one since it is the first time that I had my birthday with God’s family members instead of my own family members, as is in the past. Even with this case, I was still with a group of persons that I am familiar.  There is a surprise birthday party, however, that is very different from all of us — it is the birth of our Lord.

The surprise birthday party of our Lord, who was wrapped in a manger, was held in a stable with a group of strangers – they were shepherds living out in the fields nearby. The preparation of the party, however, was orchestrated by God and was communicated by an angel of the Lord with a great company of the heavenly host to the shepherds. Isn’t this out of the common run (不同凡響)? The angel said to the shepherds, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 天使對他們說，不要懼怕，我報給你們大喜的信息，是關乎萬民的‧因今天在大衛的城裡，為你們生了救主，就是主基督‧ (Luke 2:10-11)

This “out of ordinary” birthday party tells me one very important aspect – “Who was born is more important than who were in the party and what kind of party being prepared”, because the angel of Lord said, “It is good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 一個大喜的信息，是關乎萬民的” Apparently, this surprise from God could give us great joy because Simeon said, “He is a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel是照亮外邦人的光，又是你民以色列的榮耀 。(Luke 2:32)”

My dear brothers and sisters, in this Christmas season, do we surprise our friends and families with the good news or gifts from this world? Let’s think it over, it is only the birth of our Lord a true surprise that we should celebrate!