Dropping off my son at the main entrance of his high school, I started to pray as usual – I used the wordings from the Lord’s Prayer to pray for him. Specifically I asked our Lord to “lead him not into temptation, but deliver him from the evil one.” Recently, I also asked our Lord to give him patience and wisdom in dealing with situations, as I was concerning about his attitude toward teachers and students when he got frustrated.

I still remember my nervousness about my children’s faith and well-beings when they left for college. As they are away from us, we couldn’t do much when things happen. Then I remember apostle Paul’s teaching to the Philippians, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 應當一無掛慮，只要凡事藉著禱告、祈求和感謝，將你們所要的告訴神。神所賜出人意外的平安，必在基督耶穌裡保守你們的心懷意念。(Philippians 4: 6-7). I started to recite part of the Lord’s Prayer for my children everyday because I know they are in a worldly environment that is controlled by the evil one. There is no doubt in my mind that without our Lord’s protection, they can easily fall into prey of temptation and peer pressure. “Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer“, per John Bunyan. You may ask me how effective my prayer was. I would say it is very effective because it is God’s words – the best weapon to resist the evil one!

Talking about prayer, we all know that prayer is a conversation with God. It is the easiest thing to do and also is the hardest thing to learn in our journey of faith. D. DeHaan once said, “Our prayers ascend to heaven’s throne regardless of the form we use; our Father always hears His own regardless of the words we choose.” He told us that when we pray, it’s not the words we pray that matter, it is the condition of our heart. Jesus taught us that we need to seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness. Only when we are “right” with God, then we can communicate with Him smoothly and effectively.

Every time when I recite the Lord’s Prayer, I always feel re-assured by God’s faithfulness and provisions. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, let’s pray – pray for those who closest to you; pray for those who teach you and your children; pray for those who are in authority; pray for those who are in trouble or suffering; and lastly pray for yourself ! May you experience God’s mighty power and peace!
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Disclaimer: The sharing is pure from my personal view; therefore, please don’t take it to be absolute. Thanks.

Last Friday, I had a chance to have lunch with several retirees. I find that it has become a tradition for some of us to dine with them, once a while. Each time, we do have a good time. Seeing their physical ages over time, I couldn’t help to think what I would be when I retire. 🙂

The usual topic for the gathering was as always, focused on “What is going on?” – Every one reports their latest status and any new news. Then, it evolves to “Do you remember so and so”. Anyone can bring up a person’s name that he used to work with from old days. When a name was brought up, others would chip in starting to recollect his / her past position at the company and what he / she has done during that period. It is a fun game to have. Besides, it is a good exercise to one’s brain too, because as time goes our memory does fade. This collective exercise does help everyone to refresh his memory.

How important is to remember a person’s name and what he / her has done? I think it is very important because it gives you an evidence that there is an intersection between your journey of life and his or hers – there exists a relationship that is worthy of remembering regardless of good or bad. Apostle John, in his advanced age, wrote letters to the brothers and sisters in Asian Minor. He shared his experience with our Lord Jesus to them. He said, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 論到從起初原有的生命之道，就是我們所聽見、所看見、親眼看過、親手摸過的。 這生命已經顯現出來，我們也看見過，現在又作見證，將原與父同在且顯現於我們那永遠的生命傳給你們。(1 John 1:1-2)” Because John had heard, had seen and had touched the Word of Life – who is Jesus – he proves to them and us that his experience is real and therefore his teaching is true. Throughout the letters, he recounts what Jesus has done to this world and for his life. He developed a good relationship with Jesus and became the disciple whom Jesus loved.

Do you remember what Jesus has done for your life, my dear brothers and sisters? Can you say that you have a good relationship with Jesus? Only through constantly refresh our memory by reading His words, staying close to Him and witnessing to others, we can then develop a good relationship with Him. We know that our Lord has done marvelous things to our life – He saved us, He delivers us from the penalty of sin. Therefore, His name is the one that we should always remember in our hearts! Don’t forget Him!

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

Have you ever had experiences in waiting, especially waiting for doctors? Last Monday, I had a doctor’s appointment. I thought it was an easy and quick one because it was a follow up visit. However, as soon as I entered the doctor’s office, I discovered that I was wrong – the room was packed with waiting persons. Immediately I said to myself, “Uh, uh, this is going to be a long day”. An hour later, a young lady with a young man who came in much later than me started to grumble about wasting time in waiting. She wanted her accompanying young man to check with the front desk inquiring the reason of delay. The young man reluctantly walked toward the front desk. An answer was given by the front desk, “doctors were running late in their schedules”. This is a useless answer that I kind of would expect, without asking. 🙂 Disappointingly, the young man has to come back and wait.

After waiting for an hour and half, I finally was called to see the doctor. The nurse explained to me the reason why there is such a delay. According to her, there are only 5 patient rooms. With 6 doctors are on schedule to see patients, nurses would have to scramble around stealing room for each attending doctor. She thought this is plainly a scheduling problem from the front desk. I am kind of agreeing with her. But, whatever the reason is, it is not an enjoyable situation to be in.

In 2000 years ago, there is another “No room” situation. When God sent His beloved son Jesus Christ to this world to save us from the penalty of sin, this world, however, has NO room but a stable for Him to be born. The situation signifies rejections against Him and His followers from this world. In fact, throughout Jesus’ ministry in this world, we saw incessant rejections from Jews and Pharisees and eventually, He was crucified on the cross. Before Jesus’ departure from this world, He told His disciples that “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 你們心裡不要憂愁，你們信神，也當信我。 在我父的家裡有許多住處，若是沒有，我就早已告訴你們了，我去原是為你們預備地方去。我若去為你們預備了地方，就必再來接你們到我那裡去，我在哪裡，叫你們也在哪裡。(John 14:1-3)” Jesus told us that we don’t have to worry, because, in God’s house there is a plenty of rooms available for whoever receives Him as personal savior, even when this world can’t accommodate him / her. What a great love and promise that we have received!

Therefore, my dear friends, in this world, we may have to wait for someone’ availability and we may run into situations like “there is no room available”. But, it is totally different if you are God’s children. There is NO “waiting”, whatsoever, when you want to communicate with Him because there exits a “direct link” between Him and you. And, in His house, there is always room available for you. Isn’t this wonderful? May you have such a privilege!

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

Labor Day weekend marks the official end of the Summer break – for BBQ season and for most of the schoolers. Life is supposed to be back to normal this week. Actually, today is the first day that I have to get up early to drop off my son to school. At the entrance gate of the school, I saw school principal and vice principal were standing there to greet every student. I was moved to see such a touching scene. Just imagine that you are a freshman to the school and this is the first day for you. What would you expect to see – a lot of new faces, new teachers, new class material and new classrooms, right? How do you feel? Nervous, right? I think so!

This makes me wonder what kind of scene is when you and I approach the gate of heaven after this life, as we are freshmen too! What do you expect to see? Do you expect to see friends and families at the gate? Do you expect to see Jesus standing at the gate to greet you? Or, do you expect to see the gate is closed and you can’t get in? The question is which one is your reality? The answer is it depends upon your choice in this life!!

If you are a true believer of Jesus Christ, then, you should have the confidence to see Jesus standing at the gate to greet you, because apostle Paul indicated, “In Him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. 我們因信耶穌，就在祂裡面放膽無懼，篤信不疑地來到神面前。(Ephesians 3:12)”. And, of course, you should expect to see your friends and families at the gate, IF they are true believers too! Now, it comes to the painful reality: IF you are NOT a true believer yet, then, you should not expect that you would see Jesus standing at the gate to welcome you – it is like the case that you haven’t been admitted to a school then you should not be expecting to attend the school. In this case, you are likely to see the gate of heaven is shut before you.

However, you may argue that there is NO life after death. The truth is there is a judgment waiting for us after death, according to the author of the book of Hebrews, “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment 按著定命，人人都有一死，死後且有審判 (Hebrews 9:27)”. Therefore, it is critical that you understand the implication of making the right decision in this life. A decision to receive Jesus as your personal savior will guarantee you seeing Jesus at the gate of heaven to welcome you. Hope you will make the right decision, my dear friends!

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