Cast your anxiety to God 把憂慮卸給神

遇到困難時,你是用放大鏡看你的問題,還是用望眼鏡,看榮耀大能的上帝呢?
下次遇到問題時,先來到上帝面前,把一切憂慮告訴祂,讓祂來告訴你,那些問題是該注意的,還是該忽略的。

「你們要將一切的憂慮卸給神,因為他顧念你們。」(彼得前書5:7)

“It’s not a big deal”. I often comfort my kid when she is panic at some trivial things.

We often magnify the problems with the magnifier, instead of seeing God’s almighty grandeur with the telescope. So, while facing the trouble, our weapon is to cast all our big or small anxiety to God and let Him tell us what we should pay attention or what we should ignore and let go.

“Cast all your anxiety upon Him, for He cares for you.” 
1 Peter 5: 7

2019 母親節 Mother’s day

上帝藉由孩子的口告訴我,他們看到我的改變。
我何等感恩能成為母親,從失敗到站起來,都是上帝的恩典。

我自己知道,孩子也看見:我的跌倒卻見證神的扶持。

只有上帝能使水變成酒,使不好的變為好,叫萬事互相效力,使愛神的人得益處。

When I thought about my regrets and mistakes, my children affirmed me with the changes they see in me.

How thankful I am to God for giving me the affirmation from my children.

Falling is not the worst, but staying on the ground.

So, get up, for God of love and power lifts you up.

message from my child

2019 Taiwan trip with spiritual lessons

April 9– Have a heart of empathy by being empathized first

Before departing to Taiwan, I hesitated to ask my Moms’ in Prayer (MIP) group to pray for my luggage to safely arrived with me to Taiwan because it seemed so trivial for prayer. However, after I shared my concern about two times of transferring at different airports, MIP sisters not only related to my worry but also were more than willing to pray for that. Their attitude of casting the burden to God through supplication quenched my anxiety. Their faith to God and care to the weak also warmly encouraged my heart.

After flying from MN to Detroit, we continued to fly to Korea for transfer. The airline counter called me up and confirmed our luggage has been safely transferred from Detroit airport. I felt God was so kind to give me a peace of mind to not worry about the luggage.

As I felt relieved, I noticed my husband, daughter and I didn’t sit together on the plane. The airline staff told me it’s ok to ask other passengers to switch the seats by ourselves. I prayed that someone would be willing. After we got on the airplane, my daughter’s seat was between two big men. She was so tiny and looked like being squeezed. I was on the right side of the plane with two other ladies by my side. My husband was on the other side with two other men by his side. I asked the man next to my daughter if he was ok to switch with me but he preferred the aisle seat. Then I asked the lady close to the window side but she didn’t like to sit between two men either.

My heart was a little bit down for thinking that my daughter would be alone for 13 hours with two strangers. I prayed to God. My husband waited for the passenger next to his seat to come and then asked him. The man sitting next to the window said that he can relate to our feeling because the same thing happened to his daughter too. He was kind to switch with my husband. So, I got to sit with my daughter but my husband went to sit with two ladies by his side.

I feel God wants me to empathize people by having me experienced being empathized first.

April 11–Get rid of ego by thinking about emptying ego?

We flew from Taipei to Peng-Hu island, my husband’s hometown. His family welcomed us with a big plate of crabs, which I thought about eating just before coming to Taiwan. God is so kind to fill my heart with joy before my asking.

Crab

I shared a true story about a Muslim couple who saw Jesus and converted to Christianity with my husband’s big sister. As a Buddhist, she was polite to listen but didn’t feel much interested. At lunch time, my husband’s older brother and his wife joined us. It’s not the first time we shared gospel with them. To my surprise, the couple mentioned their experiences similar to Christianity, like feeling peaceful or touched by reading the Buddhist scripture; or feeling their characters have been more mature after practicing their belief. Instead of preaching the gospel to them, I decided to ask them questions to understand their belief. The more I listened to them, I was convinced that Satan is telling them many lies.

Satan acts like a bad translator, adding many ambiguous ideas to the original plan created by God. They are caught with the lies so that they cannot see the truth. They are fooled by the appearance of the fool’s gold because they have no truth to identify the real gold.

In their belief, there’s no loving Father to restore the relationship with them, no assurance of going to heaven and no absolute truth to follow, but only self-reliance to try to be perfect. One of their confusion is that their ego is the center of their universe because they believe they can emit positive energy from their ego to change the situation; meanwhile, they often try to empty their ego to gain pure hearts. In my opinion, constantly thinking about emptying ego might be another trap of being egoistic. 

We could meditate on religious words and try to emptying ourselves. But the ego is still in the self because that’s the subject who meditates.
Old Ally in Peng-Hu

 

Cactus flower sorbet in Peng-Hu

April 13—Fight against the lies in Buddhism

We flew for 20 minutes to my hometown at Kaoshiung in southern Taiwan around noon. After being welcomed by my family, I set out to meet my high school classmate, Mei. I haven’t seen her for 30 years after graduation. But I learned about her survival of breast cancer last summer when I met with my other two high school classmates. That’s why I contacted her this time.

Her face looks the same as before but just becomes a little bit chubby. She rode a little motorcycle and decided to bring me to her house. When I went into the living room, a big table with the female Buddha image occupies one side of the room. I know there would be a battle.

I asked her about her life these years and she was very open to share. I also shared about my deliverance experience by God. I spent some time to go through the main things in Christianity using BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) booklet. With the knowledge about Buddhism I learned from my husband’s brother, I directly pointed out the myths in Buddhism.  

For example, Buddhism doesn’t tell people when they can be delivered to heaven—the world of extreme joy in their term; even no assurance after going through the six or seven rounds of reincarnation. However, Jesus Christ can deliver us from darkness to light, death to life once we believe in Him, who was sent by God to die for our sins and to resurrect from the death for our righteousness. I continue to tell her that our God is the heavenly Father, who is willing to suffer for His children, just like any earthly good parents would do. And that’s why God sent Jesus Christ, His only Son to bring heaven and salvation to us, which displays His great love.

I also mentioned about the power of Jesus Christ’s name, authority of prayer and the meaning of baptism. Finally, I emphasized on the credibility of Bible, which was written by more than 40 authors across the history of thousands of years. Taking myself working as a reporter as an example, I could have been easily make fake news if I was the only one who reported about a certain event. I learned that Buddha contemplated his thought and then one apprentice wrote it down. In my opinion, as far as Buddhism teaching is concerned, it’s from a personal philosophy and cannot represent the universal truth, which is like one plus one always equals two.

Mei cannot deny what I said. So I told her that if she cannot reject the truth, she can consider to accept the truth. Therefore, I asked her to pray the prayer on BSF booklet to confess her sin and acknowledge Jesus Christ. At that moment, Mei seemed to want to open her mouth to say the prayer, but she paused as something choked her from the chest. She looked at me and said she cannot pray. “It’s ok. Let me pray for you first.” I said. So I bound the evil spirit of rejecting God’s truth and released her spirit in Jesus Christ’s name as Jesus Christ taught in the Bible (Mark 3:27, Matthew 18:18).

Then Mei said the prayer on the BSF booklet. Just then, her husband woke up from the nap and got ready to go out to pick up their child from the school. She told me that her husband has been ill for more than ten years. In the end of our meeting, I prayed for her and her husband.

After two days, Mei texted me that she cannot leave Buddhism because Buddha helped her in the past. I told her that it’s ok and just let me know if she needs my prayer in the future.

In the beginning of our conversation, Mei told me that her parents didn’t die in peace and her older brother passed away before turning 50 years old. The continuous sadness overwhelmed her and then she was diagnosed with breast cancer. However, when she asked Buddha about her brother’s early death, she was told that it’s good for him to go to reincarnation and got out of this bitter life as soon as possible.

I feel compassionate for Mei and trust that God’s seed of life is planted somewhere in her heart. May God tear down the thorn choking her heart and bring forth that seed to life someday.

After coming back to USA, I sensed that there’s a spirit of fear in Mei and that’s why she doesn’t dare to leave Buddhism. I searched online and learned that Buddhism considered that gods and ghosts alike should be avoided. So I sent a message to Mei, informing her that our God is not the evil god mentioned in Buddhism; instead, our God is the Creator, who gives her life.

Pray for a lady with fear of eating meat

After Mei rode her motorcycle to bring me to the closest subway station, I rushed to the next stop to take the high speed train with my husband to go to Cha-Yi city to meet another couple.

Zhen and her husband received Jesus as their Savior when we visited them and shared gospel with them in our trip to Taiwan last summer. My husband strongly believed that Zhen’s husband will play an important role to pray for his wife’s healing. Zhen has been suffering with strange illness that no doctors really can find out the root problems. So we scheduled tonight to visit them again and wanted to encourage Zhen’s husband Chin. They kindly treated us dinner and Chin did open up more to share his childhood stories.

My husband found opportunity to share the story about Jesus (refer to John 6:21) who walked on the water toward the disciples. And the Bible said that when the disciples were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading. My husband encouraged Chin to have faith on Jesus, who can heal his wife and bring them through the roaring water to the safe shore.

While we were still eating, Zhen mentioned that why she could not eat meat but seafood. She recalled that when she was in school age, one day she saw a man riding on a bike, carrying a bleeding pig which was cut into half on the back seat. The dripping blood left such a dramatic impact in Zhen’s heart. When she arrived home, she told her mom that she decided that she would never eat pork.

Zhen gradually stops eating beef and other meat except fish. I recalled that disgusting feeling in my stomach when I ate beef in my husband’s home days ago. I wonder if there’s a spirit of disgusting meat in my mother-in-law’s house because she often fasts from eating meat due to her Buddhist practice.

Zhen recently moved to another town with her husband. And the nearby market makes pork sausage in the early morning. Zhen feels extremely disgusted with the smell. I know she needs to be delivered from the spirit of fear which got into her when she saw that bleeding dead pig as a child. However, we almost missed our train to go back to Kaoshiung. So my husband and I quickly prayed for her in the train station. I continue to pray that God will deliver her soon.

A boat without an anchor would be shipwrecked in the storm.

While listening to my husband sharing about Jesus’ disciples taking Him into their boat and they immediately reached the shore, I see there is a big contrast with the Buddhist teaching. My husband’s brother’s wife said that Buddhism is a tool like a boat to deliver people from this life to the other shore of heaven.

However, she also said this tool will disappear one day according to the Buddhist scripture. What a tragedy. If the boat would sink one day, and no one could be assured to get to the other shore due to going through unknown rounds of incarnation depending on your good behavior, doesn’t it imply that people on this boat would very possibly perish in the end? Isn’t that an important question to ask before getting on this hopeless boat of human religions?

On the contrary, our Savior, Jesus, is the anchor of our boat. In the midst of storm, when we take Him to our boat, He will hold us tight until the storm passes and we will find ourselves immediately reach the shore of peace.

April 14–Endure the hardship

Job’s suffering, Sunday’s sermon

The sermon this Sunday was about Job in the bible, who suffered from losing possession, children, and health.

Job endured the heavy pain to the degree of hating his life and wished he was never born. God didn’t tell Job why all the troubles happened to him. It could be that knowing the reason for the rational mind doesn’t necessarily give the sweet spiritual understanding about His love. In the end, the Sovereign God, the mighty Creator of the universe came down to meet Job face to face.

As Job got to hear God’s loving voice, Job’s eyes saw the radiant God (Job 42:5). In the presence of the awesome God, Job might felt so foolish that he considered himself to be qualified to ask God to explain Himself.

Besides, we don’t need to explain why people suffer on behalf of God. However, we learn the precious lesson from Job’s experience: our God is loving and faithful and worthy of our trust. He is the anchor of our boat waving in the roaring sea. When we fix our eyes on Him and trust His presence commands the victory for us in the spiritual war, we will not run away or retreat from the battle line; instead, we become strong to embrace the hardship for knowing it will bring us great reward. Just like Job,  “Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before.” (Job 42:10), we will reap spiritual blessing with songs of joy by sowing the seed with tears (Psalm 126:5).

Our reward after the hardship is not only in this life, but lasts to eternal life. As Jesus promises to those who believe in Him will live and will never die. (refer to John 11:25-26) Therefore, remember to praise God and thank God, as God’s will for us, is the powerful weapon to fight against despair and anxiety. And trusting God’s righteousness and love shall not open the door for Satan to deceive us to give up on ourselves.

How to develop the endurance for the hardship?

The Bible teaches us the secret of the victorious saints who “triumphed over the devil by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” (Revelation 12:11) Therefore, let’s open our mouths to proclaim that Jesus’ blood which covers us and our testimony to the gospel , along with a free will of crucifying our old-self to die with Jesus.

Shared gospel with a young couple

After church and Hakka-flavor lunch, we went to a French pastry cafe to meet a couple who finished graduate school in U of Minnesota and moved back to Taiwan for living close to their family. We asked about their work and life as a newlywed.

Then my husband and I respectively shared gospel with the young husband David and his wife Judy. Judy told me that her grandmother was a Catholic and asked me if a Christian can worship ancestors.  It’s a pity that the cafe was too busy to allow us to sit longer. So the couple gave us a ride and we prayed for them in the car before saying goodbye. May God continue to grow the seed of gospel in their hearts.

April 15–Jesus never says no to the humble who come to Him. It’s my job to ask God for help. It’s God’s job to answer in His best will for me.

We took high speed train to Taipei for about 1.5 hours compared with the greyhound bus with 4 hours. My husband spent five days in Taipei for a meeting with a group of Taiwanese Americans from USA, sponsored by Taiwanese government.

I read Psalm 130:5, 7-8 this morning:

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits and in the word I put my hope.”

“Put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with Him is full redemption. He Himself will redeem Israel (you) from all your sins.”

My husband shared the familiar Bible verses with me from Luke 11:5-8 and Luke 18:1-7 about perseverance in prayer. His divine insight is that Zhen’s husband will play an important role to pray for his sick wife’s healing.

But the Holy Spirit uses the verses to encourage me: Jesus never says no to the people who come to plead with Him. Jesus told his disciples two stories: the hesitant man who wakes up in the midnight to respond to his friend’s audacious knocking on the door; and the unjust judge who finally avenged for the persistent widow. What is Jesus’ point?

He wants to assure us one thing: Jesus is much kinder and nicer than those earthly people who are not perfect but still give help. Therefore, come to God with humility to ask for help. I am also reminded by Nehemiah who worked with one hand and held a weapon with the other (refer to Nehemiah 4:17). I want to pray and write for building the wall of kingdom, instead of listening to enemies and feeling despair by their threatening lies.

Moreover, our persistent prayer might be God’s way to refine and test our faith because God always works everything for good to those who love Him (refer to Romans 8:28). Therefore, my job with a given privilege as God’s child is to submit to God’s way and pray in His will. And it’s God’s job to consider my welfare and complete His work of my faith and others’.

April 16–Enter God’s holy place by His grace, not by my work in flesh.

My daughter helped me with direction on the map as I told her the Chinese names on the sign. We walked out of the subway station, through narrow allies, being squeezed to wait for taxi passing by our side, finally came to the bookstore I read on the magazine.

The bookstore is open on the top (2nd) floor in one of the array of antique houses. There is a flower-carved iron casement door with right-side door open halfway in the first floor, leading up to the store with narrow stairs. I looked at the open space in the doorway and thought: is this place only for people who are thin enough to get in?

Books cafe in Taipei

While I was thinking it’s hard for my trunk to pass through, my daughter pushed the left-side of the door and open up bigger entrance. How embarrassed I felt and laughed to myself.

However, isn’t that Christians often think about themselves: I am not good enough, hard-working enough, or faithful enough, etc. to enter God’s holy place. Until we push the door of grace, probably getting some help from other saints, we learn that we can come to God with confidence, setting aside all the self-judging rules, but only with confession of my weakness and desire to come to Him.

April 17–Plant the seed of gospel to a couple

The buffet style breakfast in the historic and inexpensive Howard Hotel is beyond my imagination. I got to eat everything only in my memory: steam meat bun, salty white carrot cake, fresh guava and starfruit, etc.  I noticed the restaurant prepares the grapes by cutting each one from the stem to wash it thoroughly. No wonder this hotel has good reputation for its restaurants.

Howard Hotel in Taipei

After breakfast, my daughter and I set out to the 105-year-old Taipei Zoo. The admission ticket costs only $2. My daughter was excited to see pandas, red panda, otters, penguins, even elephants for the first time, and many other creatures.

Panda in Taipei Zoo
Elephants in Taipei Zoo
Penguins in Taipei Zoo

There’s a gondola transporting visitors up to the mountain called Mao-Kong where grows tea plants. We got to the top of the mountain and were surprised with several food stands and cafes.

Gondola in Mao-Kong
Mao Kong view
Gondola stations

My daughter asked for a tea-flavored ice cream with a cat-shape cookie made of green tea on the top. Why cat-shape cookie? It’s because Mao-Kong is written with two Chinese characters: “cat (Mao)” and “empty (Kong)”. The name of this place derives from the pothole topography, which the local people describe it as “many small holes” in Taiwanese, which sounds similar to “cat empty” in Mandarin Chinese.

Pothole topography in Mao-Kong
Light Oolong-tea flavored ice cream

My daughter and I skipped the restaurants with tea-flavored dishes but went to the food stands for enjoying small delicacy like oyster-egg pancake, steam rice topped with braised pork, and stinky fried tofu. I was also excited to find the sugar-coated plum on the stick, my childhood snack, and proudly introduced it to my daughter as I often told her about it. She loves it!

Sugar-coated plum on a stick

Tonight we met a couple and their 11-year-old son in the Brothers’ Hotel for dim-sum. They moved back from MN to Taiwan around 13 years ago. In the busy restaurant, we chatted to catch up the years we missed each other. Later at night, only two tables of guests remained in the restaurant and the surrounding became quiet, I noticed we have started to share gospel with them. The husband listened quietly with interest. We believed the seed of truth has been planted that night and we prayed to God for leading them out of fear and into the confidence in Jesus in His time.

I arranged to meet a young lady as my son’s age. She is my college classmate’s daughter. I felt compassionate for her when I know her parents divorced while she was little. She is a well-behaved lady and wants to please her parents by doing her best. I prayed for her and told her to seek the true God when she wants to know the meaning of her life.

April 18–Earthquake. Shine your little light to the world.

After shopping in the department store, my daughter and I went into the subway station and planned to visit a cat cafe. Before getting on the subway, the security guards asked people to leave the underground station immediately. I was puzzled until I received my husband’s text: are you ok?

From the broadcast, I learned that a magnitude 6 earthquake just happened. The epicenter was in Hualien in Eastern Taiwan, where I visited last summer. The magnitude 4 aftershock rippled to Taipei basin, as the biggest one in the recent ten years. There were totally 17 people hit by falling objects and a few cracking in an old building in Taipei. I felt the protection of God through prayer.

I recalled that on September 21, 1999, the earthquake in Taiwan caused more than two thousands people’ death. I was in Taipei and felt the strong shaking on the 4th floor. On September 11, 2001, the terrorists hijacked the airplane to crash into the Twin Towers in New York City. I was notified  to pick up my preschooler from school in upper Manhattan.

I remember that I was confused while rushing to the school. Both times, I was kept safe with the presence of God, my Prince of Peace. What a precious gift for Christians to entrust our lives in the almighty God’s hand when the unexpected crisis hit.

It’s close to lunch time. We walked a little distance from the station and chose a ramen restaurant.

Ramen shop

The staff kindly helped us order from the vending machine outside of the store for printing out meal ticket (this is also common in ramen shop in Japan). Since I was not hungry, I asked if I can just order one meal. The staff smiled and said yes.

While sitting in the restaurant, I tried to figure out the bus route to go to the cat cafe because I only know the way by subway. After two hours, the staff said the subway station was reopened so we went back to take the subway to go to the cat cafe for the afternoon tea.

Cat cafe in Taipei

At night, we visited the night market with my parents who came to Taipei from other city about 1.5 hour driving away. We tried a few small snacks and felt satisfied.

 

Ning-Xia Night Market
Rose garden in Hsiang-Shan, Hsin-Chu city
Yang Ming Mt with Calla Lily field
Calla Lily

After leaving the night market, I wanted to visit Da-An Forest Park in the city near the hotel I stayed because the website says there’s fireflies in the park.

We finally found parking place and walked into the park. Many people came to jog or exercise. I looked carefully but could not find any fireflies. How can such a busy city have fireflies? My dad asked a local residence feeding street cats in the park. She told us that there’s a little creek around the corner, where the fireflies are restored. We went there and searched.

While I bent down to look for the firefly, I saw one little light shining in the far distance. To my surprise, this firefly was not just blinking its light, but energetically emitting light as best as it can.

I was not only thankful for God to satisfy me by showing me this “only one” firefly but also inspired by His message: shine your light in the world. No matter how little you consider your light is, it’s visible even from far distance with one condition: darkness. I was greatly encouraged and asked God to give me this energetic motivation to shine forth His light through me to the dark world.

Da-An forest park, photo credit by TaipeiTravel

April 21–Choose the tree of life. Share gospel in the college class reunion.

The Easter Sunday sermon in Taipei’s church focused on Isaiah 53:3-8 about God has laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all. The pastor defines the death in a human: A person judges self and God by his/her self-centered knowledge.

When Eve and Adam chose to eat the fruit for having knowledge like God, their rebellious hearts were against having God’s way of life. As a result, they separated themselves from God, which is death, spiritually and then physically.

If the time could have been reversed, if Eve would have chosen to refuse eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge but chosen to eat the fruit from the tree of life, her eyes would have been enlightened to discern Satan’s lie. However, after the fall, as Adam and Eve’s descendants, humans were born as blind and naturally they cannot feel the joy of having spiritual eyesight.

I once interviewed a blind man from Taiwan, who came to USA to compete in the blind baseball game. He said that people often feel pity for him to be born blind but he said that he actually doesn’t feel that bad because he never knows what it feels like to be able to see.

That’s the condition of unbelievers who don’t know how much they miss the restored joy with their Creator and Heavenly Father. I feel great compassion to them by recalling my own spiritual blindness when I didn’t know the true God.

Hostel in Taipei we stayed. We love it.

After the church service, the brothers and sisters pray for us because we would host a reunion for our college classmates this afternoon.

We arrived at the event location earlier and met one of our college classmates, who received Jesus as her Savior a few years ago. She was kind to come to pray with us. She told me that she visits different churches these years and observes there are different focuses on doctrines in each church like emphasizing on truth teaching, God is love, and spiritual power of the Holy Spirit.

I agree that her observation reveals the reality of the churches nowadays. I personally stay in the same church for more than ten years. But my personal spiritual journey, guided by the best Teacher, the Holy Spirit, went through from doctrines about truth teaching, spiritual power experienced in the deliverance ministry, and then God is love through my personal encounter with God.

Therefore, I appreciate all the stages God leads me through because I learn more about God in each stage. In my opinion, if there’s a completely perfect church, it may include all of these three elements: God’s word, God’s love and God’s power.

My college in Hsin-Chu city

Emotional burden breaks out to depression and physical illness.

In the college class reunion, 20 people came and each of our classmates shared about their lives. One man said two of his co-workers have died of overwork. He felt the urgency to come to meet his friends in college in case it’s too late. Several men shared the fun memory in college and brought laughter to everyone.

Three of our classmates who came to the reunion are Christians. One of them shared honestly about his journey of being rebellious to parents, hard time of getting a child, and the cancer treatment for his wife, who suddenly died of acute leukemia within one day. These hardship brought him to know God.

The last classmate shared his personality and frustration along the young years. His past emotional burden finally caused depression and physical dysfunction. After long time of treatment, he pursues Chinese herbal medicine and he agrees that most of illness is rooted in mental and emotional issues as I told him that the joyful heart is the good medicine mentioned in the Bible. He said he felt not belonging when he goes to the church. We hope to continue to pray for him and may God grant him peace for his soul.

Mailboxes in Taipei bent by Typhoon in 2015. Near the hostel we stayed.
Hsin-Den city

April 23–Every day is a good day. Teaching is another way of learning.

“On a rainy day, listen to the rain with your whole being.

On a snowing day, gaze at the snow.

In summer, feel its heat.

In winter, feel its coldness.

Every day is a good day.”

The poem is from the Japanese movie I watched on the airplane, called “Every day is a good day.”

Japanese movie: Every day is a good day.

The main theme is living at the moment. The story is about a young lady who doesn’t have particular direction to pursue for her life. One day, she was asked to go to the class for traditional Japanese tea ceremony (Sado) by her older sister.

After a few years of learning Sado, she gradually appreciated more about it. The teacher often asks the young lady to observe from the painting, calligraphy or nature. More than ten years passed by, she grew mature with patience and confidence. The aging teacher finally told her to consider to teach Sado to others because teaching is another way of learning.

The Chinese idiom, “Teaching and learning grows together.” conveys the same idea. My spiritual journey is like this lady learning Sado. In the beginning, I was immature and impatient. I often worried if I was a good Christian and tried in my flesh to obey God’s commands but felt more frustrated. However, God’s mercy is new each morning. God reminds me:

“Some things are quickly understood. Other things take time to understand. The things are easily understood only need to go through once. But those other things, you can only understand them little by little through time.” said in the movie.

I am thankful that God gives me time to learn those things which are hard to understand, little by little, day after day, season after season, over and over again. Then one day, I find that I move on to another stage of life to learn more about God by serving others to know Him.

Cherry blossom in Ueno park, Tokyo
Asakusa, Tokyo

Read God’s love letters every morning.

Talking about learning spiritual lessons over and over again, another Japanese movie called “The 50th first kisses” serves a good metaphor to describe my spiritual struggle.

Japanese movie: the 50th first kiss

After a terrible car accident, the female protagonist suffers the brain injury and only can remember things on that day and then forgets all about it after waking up the next day. The male protagonist falls in love with her but cannot gain her trust to love him because she forgets all about him the next day.

After pursuing her for a long time, the man found a solution to remind her who he is by recording a DVD to show her each morning. In the video, he tells her who he is, what he knows about her, how much he loves her, etc. Finally, the lady trusts him enough to let him kiss her and she always shouts, “The first kiss is amazing” day after day.

I feel I also have “short term memory loss” in my spiritual learning. For example, I have been organizing the summer camp for five years now. But every year I feel uncertain about many things from inviting the teacher, searching for the location, to finding students, etc.

It seems that I didn’t remember how God always provides and comes through for me and I always feel so joyful during the camp and never regrets to do it after the camp. But the degree of being panic is getting less over the years like this female protagonist.

In the movie, the female protagonist keeps a diary about her lover so that she wants to break up with the man for supporting him to go after his own dream in another place. She rejects him by burning up the diary she keeps about him. However, after they break up, she sees his face in her dreams at night. Then she paints his face on the canvas day after day.

I am wondering: when humans reject God, their conscience still remind them about their Creator. That’s why they create religions to worship gods. However, this loving God pursues us patiently and give us His love letters in the Bible to remind us who He is, how much He loves us and what He knows about us.

Each morning, I love to come to read His loving words and fall in love with Him again. Even though I might have short term spiritual memory loss, thank God for His loving letters written in the Bible and in my heart through the Holy Spirit.

The movie has a happy ending.

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結合傳統與科技 台灣野台布袋戲驚豔明州

台灣新勝景掌中劇「隨光搖滾吧!野台布袋戲」,日前到明州聖保羅市的踏石戲院(Stepping stone theater)演出,結合台灣傳統布袋戲文化與新的科技,將傳統戲台改用動畫製作投影至螢幕的全新視覺效果,讓在場的華洋觀眾驚豔。

1996年創立於台灣台中豐原的新勝景,目前由畢業於雲林科技大學的朱祥溥擔任導演,他的父親朱清貴在2015年過世後,從國三跟著父親表演的哥哥朱勝珏繼承父志,不過,隨著手機及網路興盛,布袋戲表演逐漸沒落。

朱勝珏說,他常常在台下空無一人時,仍盡責地演給神明看,之後弟弟朱祥溥受到「夢想動畫」公司老闆林家齊支持,希望將布袋戲轉型,促使他寫企劃案向文化部申請經費,然後聚集各界人才把布袋戲加上動畫,製作成全世界首個「光雕投影布袋戲」,並2018年於台灣推出首演。

在夢想動畫負責市場行銷的李虹賢說,「南俠翻山谷」是五十、六十年代很紅的布袋戲,計程車司機為了看戲而不做生意載客,這也是朱清貴最愛的戲,所以這次選擇把此劇改編成「南俠一生傳」,由布袋戲大師蕭添鎮擔任顧問。

除了幕前的團員外,幕後的製作人員有許多來自「夢想動畫」的原畫師、美術設定、建模師、動畫師、燈光師、合成師、剪輯師,而雲林的張政森則負責刻偶,南俠主角的本尊花了1萬美元打造。

蕭建平電視木偶劇團的蕭志偉負責該劇動作設計;陳家和操作木偶;23歲的林昇耀,在由阿公開始的桃園泰興樂劇團擔任配音,生旦淨末丑的角色都能說;最年輕的20歲團員張維新,來自高雄的正五洲掌中劇團,是第四代的操偶師;夢想動畫的軟體工程師的吳品興負責軟體設計與投影;吳家宏負責硬體設備。

這場布袋戲搭配中英文字幕與光影,木偶表演舞台的後方背景則用另一台投影機,使畫面可以往右方平移,製造木偶向左方前進的視覺效果。觀眾對此都感到十分新奇有趣。

明州州參議員森傑(David Senjem)在活動中,感謝台灣人社群對豐富明州多元文化的貢獻,此活動是由中華民國僑委會贊助,配合「美國台灣傳統周」及「加拿大亞裔傳統月」而巡演美、加多個城市。

現代諾亞 用鏡頭打造「動物方舟」

人生如果只選擇一件事做到最好,那麼你的選擇會是什麼呢?擔任國家地理雜誌攝影師超過27年的約珥‧薩多(Joel Sartore),選擇以照片打造動物方舟(Building the photo ark)。

方舟的意義,起源於聖經裡創世紀中提到大洪水毀滅地球前,上帝要諾亞造一艘大船,把各種動物帶到船上延續生命,NBC夜間新聞(NBC nightly news)稱大半輩子投入動物攝影的薩多是「現代諾亞」(A modern-day Noah)。

薩多所拍攝的動物,用「非常簡單的肖像攝影光線,表現動物的美與顏色;用單純的黑或白色背景,聚焦在單一動物上,讓人可以直視動物的眼睛」。

薩多從小受父母影響,喜愛大自然,更熱愛攝影,他多年來擔任自由攝影記者,後來受國家地理雜誌委託,到世界各地拍照,他除了採訪大型園遊會活動(state fair),還負責拍攝到各國食物等內容,此外,他更經常在叢林野外,不畏天候與蟲咬,日夜守候捕捉大自然及動物生態的精彩瞬間。

13年前,薩多的妻子被診斷出罹患乳癌。在妻子進行化療期間,薩多才開始學習扶養孩子,在此之前,他總是忙著追逐下一個攝影題材,但他如旋轉陀螺的人生就在妻子生病時剎那間暫時靜止。

薩多說,當時他40多歲,因為妻子的病也開始思想人生下半場的意義,「我想用攝影專業對世界有所貢獻」,「動物照片方舟」計畫也在這時逐漸成形,薩多說,他的座右銘是「一生只要選擇做對一件事,並專心去做」。

國家地理雜誌2017年的報導,地球上有一半的物種會在2100年以前絕跡,薩多希望用攝影,至少記錄1萬2000種保存在動物園或水族館裡的生物。

目前薩多已經在世界各地拍攝了9000種物種,他打算再花10到15年完成方舟計畫。

此外,他也與電視節目RARE合作,記錄地球上瀕臨絕種的生物,薩多認為「人類以為毀滅一個又一個的物種和生態,不會影響自己,然而這想法非常愚蠢」,他很希望藉著「記錄人類毀滅的物種,改變人的想法與行為來拯救動物」。

薩多說只要他還能走路、說話,他就會一直「拍」下去,薩多經常造訪明州的明尼蘇達動物園(Minnesota Zoo)、柯莫動物園(Como Zoo)、野生動物復育中心(Wildlife rehabilitation center ),他說在各地的動物園或保育中心看到志同道合的保育動物者,最能啟發和鼓勵自己。

明州亞裔文學組織 從書寫探討身分認同

明州街頭攝影師許永揚的「第三個地方」藝廊(Third Place Gallery),日前由亞裔文學組織(Asian American Literary Collective)舉辦了一場書寫創作討論會,許永揚在活動中,分享了自己曾因無法融入白人社會而失落,也因不了解中國文化及語言而愧疚,藉著接觸各種文化人們,終於逐漸釋懷的心路歷程,感動許多年輕與會者。

該活動首先由許永揚做簡短演講,他說,自己從1993年開始攝影創作,並按主題陸續集結成書,分別是「青蛙城」(Frogtown),拍攝聖保羅市的歷史城鎮和當中的苗族家庭;第二個專案「湖街,美國」(Lake Street USA)拍攝明尼亞波利斯市湖街上的日常生活。

第三個專案是「大學路」(University Ave.)將該區的人物攝影展示在店家外牆、公車和大型建築物上,近年他更走訪美國、中國訪談華人家庭的攝影報導,集結出版了「中國魂」(Chinese-ness)一書。

許永揚也提到自我探索過程,從想要融入白人社會的失落,到不懂中國文化和語言的愧疚,然後因訪談接觸各類文化人而逐漸釋懷,獲得在場許多亞裔共鳴。

父母來自香港的小琪表示,因父母頗費心思常在暑假帶她回香港,使她對父母的出生地文化產生好感,想更多去瞭解;另一個亞裔美國人麥可說,他小時候覺得自己不是白人而愧疚,而白人也覺得他不太友善,類似的心理掙扎可是第二代亞裔美國人的共同經驗。

許凱達(Kai Hsu)是亞裔文學組織的發起人之一,他目前在創作關心理疾病的治療方法書籍,許凱達說他和幾個明州的亞裔美國人,因寫作的共同興趣組成社群,希望透過寫作和文學欣賞來彼此鼓勵,並藉此多認識自己的文化背景和探索亞裔身份認同。

這些成員包括父母來自中國、寮國的雲妮(Victoria Virasy)在非營利團體工作,她認為內心有股驅動力使她藉由寫作來思考,並在書寫過程中得到療癒,她正在書寫自己感興趣的烹飪食譜;越南裔的陳丹尼爾(Daniel Tran)有工程背景,為了專心寫作,平時在餐廳擔任服務生,他寫詩和小說有七年之久;韓裔的真熙(Jinhee Cha)是公共衛生博士生,藉由書寫探索人生議題。

亞裔文學組織的進一步訊息,可查詢:www.asamliterarycollective.com。

Be delivered from depression and evil lies

Everything is possible with God.

I prayed with my prayer partner this morning with Mom’s in Prayer format (Praise, Confession, Thankfulness, Intercession) and we both were lifted up by God’s grace. The attribute for today is God is truth. During praying time, I listened to what she prayed that God is victorious and I shall fix my eyes on Him, not my own negative defeated thought. I think about the Iran Muslim man I interviewed, who saw Jesus coming through the wall: Ah, it’s impossible with man, but everything is possible with God. So this encourages me to not judge people or their situations by worrying if they cannot believe God, but only trust that God is very kind and willing to save everyone.

See my enemies in Spirit.

After we prayed, I read Bible and suddenly I am reminded by my own prayer of discerning any lies in the light of God’s truth this morning. I saw there is a lie, telling me that it’s my freedom not to write even though I want to. I then see there’s a spirit of putting down myself. So, I confess to God by praying: God, I am sorry to let the spirit of putting down my value to lie to me and control me. Please forgive me. Thank You for forgiving me. In Jesus Christ’s name, I rebuke and command the spirit of putting down my value to leave me and go to the pit of hell right now. The spirit of putting down my value and lying cannot have any place in me and control me. I have released myself from your bondage. I proclaim that Jesus Christ has set me free from these spirits.

Then, I was eating my breakfast so I turned on the Youtube to listen to Derek Prince’s talk about God’s word. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sih_luu5a9I&t=2189s

Be delivered from a spirit of depression

His sermon speaks right into my need. He mentioned many people have poor image about themselves including him, who suffered from depression for a long time. After he prayed for a while without solving his problem, the dark cloud of depression was still looming over his head.

Finally the Scripture of Bible reminds him to heed God’s word which can deliver him from sin and death. And he believes that God not only give victory over our sins, but over our enemy, Satan (refer to Romans 8:1-2). He was reminded by Ephesian 6:17 to take helmet of salvation, which is hope (refer to 1 Thessalonians 5:8).

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2)

But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. (1 Thessalonians 5:8)

He feels that God reveals that there’s a spirit of depression in him. And he is encouraged by Joel 2:32 to call to God to deliver him from the spirit of depression and anxiety. Just like my prayer, he asked God’s forgiveness and rebuked the spirit of depression to go away. And he was delivered.

And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls. (Joel 2:32)

Take captive your thought to obey Jesus and be transformed to have sound mind.

Derek Prince said that he used to worry a lot because his family also often worry if they don’t worry. After asking God to deliver him from the spirit of depression, he also started to practice on putting hope for expecting good thing in God, and “replace negative thought with truthful thought and his old thinking pattern gradually got transformed to godly pattern.” (refer to 2 Corinthians 10:5) I can testify that this is my spiritual practice and it indeed has been transforming me as well.

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5)

Restore your image by looking into spiritual mirror.

Moreover, he mentioned how to restore our image by reading God’s word as looking self in the mirror. In the beginning, we may see our errors in the old self. But the more we see God’s glory in His word, and we apply them to ourselves through proclamation by faith, the more glory we shall become like Him because we were created in His image (refer to 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 ).

But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. ( 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 )

You are valuable in the sight of God.

Derek Prince said that people often pay for the thing with the cost they think how much it is worth. Likewise, my value is how much God pays for me, which costs Him the blood of Jesus.

Therefore, Don’t listen to any negative thought to put down yourself. Instead, proclaim in Christ: I am infinitely valuable in the sight of God because God bought me with the most valuable thing in the universe, the blood of Jesus, that’s how valuable I am.

I have a great feast through prayer with another saint and from God’s grace in His truth for my spirit today.

The husband’s wise affirmation 先生對妻子的祝福

先生參加的聖經研習團契(BSF)的小組長說,要用聖經箴言31章來讚美妻子,不要拿來要求妻子。何等有智慧的先生啊。因為先生說出來的祝福,將會塑造妻子變成箴言中的才德婦人!

The group leader in BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) my husband attends said that a wise husband would use Proverbs 31 in the bible to praise his wife, rather than request her to do the same. What a wise husband! Because the affirmation from the husband’s mouth will shape the wife to be the woman of noble character like in Proverbs 31.

不要以小人之心度君子之腹

我寫了電子郵件給先生,告訴他想和他帶小孩一起去教會看動畫電影「天路歷程」試映會。他回信只有一句話:那在south campus(南邊會堂)。
我氣沖沖地走下樓梯,到他身邊:
「南邊會堂在Duluth(明州北邊開車四小時的城市)嗎?」我諷刺地說。
「是你在電子郵件裡說在城中的會堂(downtown campus)啊。」先生淡定地回答,還打開我的電子郵件給我看。啊,我真的寫錯了,原來他是在糾正我。
我之所以氣沖沖,是把他的回答多想成:那裡很遠耶。
「對不起,是我寫錯,還用小人之心度君子之腹」。我立即認錯。
我彷彿看到自己像卡通裡那個走路有風的大野獸,突然栽跟斗跌在我先生面前。
先生哈哈大笑,問我是不是來興師問罪。我點頭承認。他笑得更大聲說,沒想到我一下子就漏風了。
有個讀理工科、不容易情緒化的先生還是不錯的。

Jesus reverses the destiny of Adam and Eve’s descendants

What is reality?
There are two realities in this earthly life: one is the life we all experience daily on the earth; the other one is in the outer space without gravity which only astronauts can go on the adventure. We cannot deny the existence of the outer space even though it’s unseen and intangible to our ordinary life.

 

Likewise, the visible reality in this finite life is temporary and partially real. Another unseen reality after death is eternal according to the Bible. We as mortal humans, cannot understand God’s eternity by our limited human senses. We cannot rely on any other man-made resources like religions, philosophy or even fortune tellers to prove our final destiny. Therefore, there’s only one way we can know about God: God needs to send a messenger directly from His heaven coming to earth and reveal the truth about Himself.

 

How is Christianity proved to be true?
No humans in the history ever predicted and fulfilled what they once said in their time. Only one man, prophesied with many signs in the Bible and all of the prophecy related to Jesus Christ  were fulfilled (see more information) from Jesus Christ’s birth from a virgin, His preaching and miracles, to His death on the cross. After Jesus Christ was resurrected from death, which was seen by hundreds of people in the historical time (see more information), His disciples were empowered by the promised Holy Spirit, who was sent to their hearts to give testimony and spread the gospel to the end of the world until today. It’s the victory Jesus Christ has done in the human history: destroy the devil and take back the lost souls to God.

 

How did the first human fall in the beginning?
Adam and Eve wanted to know the good and evil, the forbidden knowledge. They are created with a will to desire the tree of God’s life or choose to have the forbidden knowledge. Their desire of being like God is tempted and seduced by satan’s lie and they took the first bite of the fruit on the forbidden tree. Since then, their rebellious pride subjected themselves to satan’s dominion.

 

Along all the years, Adam and Eve’s descendants, all humans who inherit their DNA still reject God’s authority and want to gain the knowledge by their own power. They don’t know they are giving satan a legal foothold to dominate them. When they voluntarily walk away from the Kingdom of God’s Light of truth, they are in the kingdom of darkness whose main ruler is satan, the archangel.

 

What does the reality of living in satan’s kingdom look like?
Under satan’s illegitimate authority, a man/woman is like living in the prison. He may feel very comfortable with what he needs in his little cell. He can work hard, make a good living, enjoy earthly entertainment, look smart, have good reputation, manage a big firm, behave good virtues, religious, kind to the poor, successful in whatever he wants, etc. But he never feels satisfied with what he has. He needs to drive himself to pursue a dream or achievement. Even though he seems to give up pursuing anything, he longs for something deep in his heart, which makes him to crave, covet, envy, compare, regret, complain, etc. He may try to believe certain religion or philosophy to persuade himself to accept whatever reality he is faced with. He cannot tell what he is thinking is right or wrong because his feeling is controlling his thoughts: If he feels right, he believes it. If he feels wrong, he rejects it.

 

It’s like no one want to be deceived by the fraudster, who is so good at making things up to fool people to give up their possession. However, since he doesn’t know how to tell the truth, he either doesn’t believe at all, or believe partially. He thinks he is smart to guard his heart from being deceived by the fraudster. But in reality, he is insecure and uncertain. When everything is going well, he does not want to bother himself with questions about God and the meaning of life. But when the crisis comes suddenly like tsunami, he is panic and either complains about why he deserves such bad luck or demands to know where God is. He may seek some temporary relief in gambling, alcohol, drug or sex to numb his conscience. Or he may try to empty his mind by giving up the earthly desires to escape from the reality. No matter what he does, he never tastes the sweetness of genuine peace and joy.

 

When can a fallen human being be reversed?
Until one day, the gospel of good news comes to him: God sent His own son Jesus Christ to come to pay off his debt—his sin of rebelling God which causes him to come under Satan’s control and the wrath of God’s righteousness to punish sins. When he hears the truth from God’s word, God’s breath of life breathed into his spiritual nostril like oxygen to the body. His dead bone is awaken by the Holy Spirit’s breath of life. His conscience is clear and knows there’s Someone speaking to his heart. He feels God’s word is true and undeniable. However, the next step is critical for him: he either uses his will to believe or disbelieve, just like Adam and Eve were given a choice between the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of evil and good, being their own god to control.

 

When he wants to accept this truth, God gives him a gift of faith and he shall turn to the Light by walking away from the dark. And God’s Light gives life like sun to the plants and creature. However, if he doesn’t want to say yes to the truth, his heart automatically rejects the truth and he still remains in the darkness, just where he was.
Jesus Christ said he comes to save, not to judge. All sinful humans are in the hell of darkness. Without coming to the Light, they automatically stay where they are after death. But whoever wants to walk away from the darkness and receive Jesus Christ’s saving payment for his debt will ascend to God’s heavenly realm in eternity. Jesus Christ shed His blood on the cross to bear the man’s sins so that satan cannot accuse him anymore. Meanwhile, satan lost his power over this acquitted man. God sees Jesus Christ’s blood on the sinner and give him forgiveness because Jesus absorbs all the wrath and punishment falling on the sinner.

 

God pursues us.
Out of His mercy and patience, God may come back again and again to knock on the man’s door of heart and want to save him from the eternal death. However, the more he rejects, the harder his heart will become. Until the heart is hard like a stone, there’s no chance for him to want to leave darkness and satan is very comfortable to leave him alone because his destiny is for sure to be with satan and his companions, one third of angels, who all will be thrown into the lake of fire when Jesus Christ comes back (refer to Revelation 20:10).

 

What is happening with the new man after he believes in Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord of his life?

 

God will start His reversing process in this man. In his old life, he is in the darkness. So is his heart blinded. His conscience is guilty and impure. His spirit is dead. His heart deceives himself by agreeing with satan’s lies. Consequently, his heart influences his thought with false reasoning from the secular standard of values and against godly truth. His emotion is dark and cause him to feel gloomy, negative, depressed, obsessed, etc. He has no will of freedom to control his emotion but his will is controlled by his feeling. He is trapped and imprisoned.

 

When God starts the reversing process in him, God sends the Spirit of His Son into his heart to empower his spirit to obey God. Then his heart learns from the truth which sets his imprisoned will free. Then he can make up his mind to take captive his thought to obey the truth and the truth transforms his thought to think in God’s way. His emotion is healthy related to his godly thought. His old stronghold of ungodly thinking habit is broken and the Truth builds in him a new thinking pattern. This godly thought produces right emotion and bears the fruit of Holy Spirit such as peace, joy, love, gentleness, kindness, goodness, patience, faithfulness and self control (refer to Galatians 5:22-23).

 

You are transformed and victorious!
As a result, these fruits revive his spirit, restore his soul and nurture his body. He is healed and strengthened as a whole being, just like the one God created in His image in the first place. The whole process is reinforced daily and renewing his inner being until he receives a new body when Jesus Christ comes back.