Merry Christmas

Thank you, Jesus.

Above all powers above all kings,
Above all nature and all created things,
Above all wisdom and all the ways of man,
You were here before the world began.

Above all kindgoms above all thrones,
Above all wonders the world has ever known,
Above all wealth and treasure of the earth,
There's no way to measure what You're worth.

Crucified laid behind a stone,
You lived to die rejected and alone.
Like a rose trampled on the ground,
You took the fall and thought of me.
Above all.

Click below to listen to the song Above All, written by Lenny LaBlanc and Paul Baloche.



Above all, Jesus, You truly are. Above All continues to be one of my heart songs. I cannot forget the image of a beautiful rose trampled on the ground, which was shown on the screen while we listened to the song during one Good Friday service at Lake Avenue Congregational Church (not the above video though).


"That man should be made in God's image is a wonder,
but that God should be made in man's image is a greater wonder.
That the Ancient of Days would be born.
That He who thunders in the heavens should cry in the cradle?"

~Thomas Watson

祝福桐城同學

「願 主 耶 穌 基 督 的 恩 、 常 與 你 們 眾 人 同 在 。
我 在 基 督 耶 穌 裡 的 愛 、 與 你 們 眾 人 同 在 。 阿 們。」

哥 林 多 前 書 16:23-24

"The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.
My love to all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen."

1 Corinthians 16:23-24

Calla lily

In the past I have experienced that God answered prayers of blessing said by others for me, so I wanted to practice blessing others as well as to share this experience of blessing others with my fellowship group through our Christmas program on Dec 22.

As the theme of the entire program was Peace Unto You, each attendee was to think of a blessing of peace in advance and prepare a gift to go along for an unknown someone designated only during the meeting. When I sought words of peace to accompany my gift, the idea that peace is not anxious as inspired by the sixth chapter of the Book of Matthew came to mind. I quoted part of it on the Christmas card.

²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

³¹ So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'

Matthew 6

That evening, I found out that my gift would go to Timothy, a new friend who's celebrating Christmas as a Christian for the first time. I don't know how God would use my words of peace to bless Timothy, but I can tell you how God uses them to bless me. While Timothy received a gift and my blessing, I received a gift from Chris. Chris urged me to unwrap my gift, a painting of calla lily, as she explained the meaning behind. Using the same passage of Matthew 6:28-30, Chris conveyed the message of peace by noting that God would care even the flowers of the field and thus he would care much more of His children.

²⁸ See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.

³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you.

I believe that I came across the same passage as a giver and as a receiver because God wants me to hear it twice.

溫柔

2007年12月 《華 人 基 督 教 真 理 報》的一 篇 文 章--「不 會 撒 嬌 的 女 人 最 吃 虧」，作 者 在 最 後 一 段 用 到 聖 經 中 溫 柔 的 經 文 去 支 持 文 章 論 點, 嚇 我 一 跳。 我 不 同 意 作 者 把「撒 嬌」與 聖 經 的「溫 柔」相 提 並 論﹐ 當 下 就 google search 溫 柔 的 解 釋，讀 到 沈 保 羅 一 篇「溫 柔 的 力 量 更 強」， 我 覺 得 他 解 釋 得 很 清 楚:

「溫 柔」一 詞，原 文 是 praotes，意 思 是 安 撫 的 良 藥，能 減 輕 病 情，使 人 安 眠；又 有 溫 和 微 風，使 人 舒 暢 的 意 思；亦 指 一 匹 經 過 訓 練 的 馬 十 分 馴 良 的 意 思。由 此 可 知，聖 經 上 所 稱 的 溫 柔 不 但 有 使 人 溫 和 舒 暢 的 含 義，又 有 強 而 不 暴、不 以 力 爭 的 意 思。一 個 人 遇 事 不 爭 辯、不 發 怒，寧 可 控 制 自 己，以 溫 和 待 人，這 就 是 溫 柔。一 個 在 情 緒 上 不 能 控 制 自 己 的 人 決 不 能 做 別 人 的 領 袖。強 既 是 力 量，柔 也 是 力 量，並 且 後 者 的 力 量 遠 超 過 前 者。

摘 自 沈 保 羅 的《基 督 徒 生 命 的 特 徵》

我 想 聖 經 中 提 及 的「溫 柔 」與「撒 嬌」並 沒 有 特 定 關 係。

Gospel tract & chocolate

Some guy came to vacuum-clean the wall-furnace, and we chatted. I wanted to give him a gospel tract toward the end. And to add a little more sincerity and hope that he won't trash the gospel tract right away, I gave him a small bag of chocolate along with the tract. He then told me that his daughter is a good Christian and he's a bad one because he doesn't attend church often.

Pray that he'll start going more often to church. And what's more important, he'll establish or re-establish a personal relationship with Jesus.

從麻雀論放下包袱

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows."

Matthew 10:29-31 (ESV)

「兩 個 麻 雀 、 不 是 賣 一 分 銀 子 麼 ． 若 是 你 們 的 父 不 許 、 一 個 也 不 能 掉 在 地 上 。 就 是 你 們 的 頭 髮、 也 都 被 數 過 了 。 所 以 不 要 懼 怕 ． 你 們 比 許 多 麻 雀 還 貴 重 。」

馬 太 福 音 10:29-31 (和合本)

這幾個月久不久就有guilt feeling﹐ 時會second-guess自己某些決定作得不對﹐ 雖然身邊的朋友開導我不應有這些想法﹐ 但卻不能令我放下心頭包袱。

今天讀以上經文﹐ 好像是天父對我說祂一直也在掌管。Hm....應該是時候放下包袱了。

Mom's legal guardian

That would be me. I filed some government paper work and have officially become my mom's legal guardian as of today. Think about it -- the label/title is an oxymoron. even though the idea of children taking care of aging parents is part of life. Nature has a way to make one recipricate.

I'll not be taking in more work than what I did in the past months, just that the term "guardian" stamps the responsibility as unshakable and serious.

Theology of work

As the academic quarter approaches to the end, I find Jonathan Dodson's How shall we then work? help me reflect my work theology.

Do excellent work, not to earn God's favor but as a faith effort, as an act of worship.

Our [work] ethics are not the basis of acceptance before God; they are an expression of our new nature and love for our Creator.

God calls us to rest in the foolishness of the cross for our identity. Our work should be a love offering characterized by excellence, ethics, evangelism and theological integration, but not as a basis for finding our worth before God or our acceptance from others. We work not for God to accept us, but are accepted because of God's work in and for us (Phil. 2:12-13). This is how we should then work.

Grace recipricating

The Master student I worked with is graduating. Her thesis got approved by the thesis filing consultant, which is one of the last processes. All she needs now is to print the whole thing on the good, cotton paper; and then get my signature. She came to my undergraduate class to tell me the good news. I congratulated her to help her absorb the fact that she's done. She broke into tears.

I recall my own hectic experience of having the written work read by my dissertation advisor then the entire committee, of defending the work and getting all the signatures, of getting the "look" of the whole thing approved by a thesis librarian/ filing personnel, of printing it on the cotton paper, etc. My moment of realizing that I was done happened when I was at my advisor's home to get her signature.

As my student thanked me profusely for my help, I thought of my dissertation advisor Susan McClary, who gave me tremendous assistance during my ordeal. Now that I'm the advisor, I simply recipricate or rechannel what I received in the past.

The upcoming Prince Caspian movie

Don't know about you.  But I can't wait till May 16, 2008.   Click here to watch the movie trailer.

Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media