May God make my lips close
To be silent and unable to rebuke,
Until You open my mouth,
To speak your saving word,
Least the righteous and sinners die of sins.
(Ezekiel 13:21, 26-27)
Author: admin
Deep calls to deep
Deep of God’s love calls to deep of my heart,
In the roar of Your living waterfalls,
Pouring out strongly into my spirit.
So I hear Your comforting voice:
“I see your love in small acts,
Even in making a hot honey tea concerning doing good to the family.”
Your voice like sonar wave transmits through the noise of evil accusation and self-pity,
Into the depth of my heart of adoring Thee.
As I confess and deny myself and push back the evil spirit of self pity,
Your voice comes quickly to search me.
Then, tears of joy from my soul echo your love in deep heart,
Crying: “Thank you for loving me and comforting me!”
O, my soul,
Put hope in God,
For He alone understands my deep thoughts,
I shall only desire His loving reward in heaven.
(Psalm 42:7, 1 John 3:18)
あなたの大滝の轟に
淵が淵を呼び起こし
あなたの波 あなたの大波はみな、
私の上を越えていきました
昼には 主が恵みを下さり
夜には 主の歌が私と共にあります。
私の命なる神への祈りが。
I know
I know that God is pleased with me,
For I have Jesus Christ in me,
I know that God is for me,
For the enemies cannot triumph over me.
In my integrity of Jesus Christ,
God upholds me and sets me in His presence forever.
Nothing can compete with God’s faithfulness to me.
(Psalm 41:11-12)
Be you
Dear saints,
I feel that God wants to encourage you to keep being free to be “you”.
You have been set free by the truth that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior.
You are no longer your old self, but a new person in Jesus Christ.
Your struggles in the past shall nurture you to become a stronger witness to Jesus Christ’s wisdom and love and grace.
Your learning in the shadow of death will not be wasted but encourage many others who need hope of light.
You are given the gift of speaking His truthful message in love and the Holy Spirit is your wonderful counselor to continue to lead you to the people, who need to hear God’s word for themselves.
God delights in you as His faithful and good servant to be obedient to speak out His truth with as much faith as He has given you.
You will continue to shine to those who hear God through you and they shall fear God and put their trust and hope in Him alone because of your testimony and role modeling.
Here is the verse I want to give you from Psalm 40:2-3
He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the Lord
and put their trust in him.
***
God is your Freedom Giver! May God’s light keep shining through you. Arise and shine!
Shalom, your praying comrade
合唱梅花… 明州榮光會 歡慶榮民節 感謝支持
明尼蘇達榮光會日前舉辦榮民節聚餐，有46名榮民、會員和家屬參加，駐美國退伍軍人代表處事務組組長倪邦臣、駐芝加哥台北經濟文化辦辦事處秘書林家銘、駐美退伍軍人事務組、曾任海軍大氣海洋局副局長的程國峰上校等人，均到場共襄盛舉。
明州榮光會會長陳迺杰在會中感謝會員與義工們多年來對明州榮光會的付出與支持。聚會中陳迺杰與理事吳孟軒還帶頭高唱軍歌與愛國歌曲，包括「黃埔軍歌」、「梅花」、「古月照金城」與「中華民國頌」等一首接著一首，使現場氣氛激昂熱烈。
倪邦臣致詞時表示，這是他第一次造訪明州，看到榮民弟兄們的熱情，讓他更珍惜在海外與弟兄見面的機會。倪邦臣說，他的主要工作是輔導海外榮光會推動國民外交、推動台美退伍軍人的交流，並加強台美關係。
當天還推出禮品抽獎活動，由倪邦臣上台抽出不克前來的駐芝加哥台北經文處處長姜森贊助的200元禮券大獎，也抽出台鄉經營的Bravo糕餅店與聯合食品老闆贊助的禮券。陳迺杰表示，將來會繼續舉辦活動聯絡台鄉與榮民，並參與主流活動，以積極提高台灣能見度。
明州燈光之旅 打造夢幻聖誕吸睛 12/26截止
自2009年聖誕節期以來，明尼蘇達州北邊的得路斯市(Duluth)在前灣節慶公園(Bayfront Festival Park)每年11月底舉辦名為「班特利斐爾的燈光之旅」(Bentleyville Tour of Lights) 戶外燈展，以各種主題、用價值20萬元的大小燈飾裝飾園內，估計電費高達1萬元。
該項燈展還有聖誕老人造訪，並提供免費餅乾、巧克力熱飲、爆米花與烤棉花糖等，大人小孩都能開心地度過夢幻般的聖誕夜晚。去年由於新冠疫情，活動僅開放開車通過(drive through)參觀，因此今年重新開放後，吸引大批民眾前往。
「班特利斐爾的燈光之旅」的歷史要追溯到2001年，33歲的班特利(Nathan Bentley)在聖誕節前夕裝飾自己在明州艾斯科(Esko)的家。之後他每年增添更多燈飾，他的朋友以蘇斯博士(Dr. Seuss)繪寫的童書中的胡斐爾(Whoville) 來戲稱他的家為班特利斐爾(Bentleyville)，而「班特利斐爾燈光之旅」從此誕生。
2004年班特利全家搬到克羅克特市(Cloquet)，他想為四個孩子建造更大的聖誕燈飾並吸引人前來觀看，當年他用了4萬5000 盞燈組成的78呎高城堡樣式的入口，還在院子裡的樹上掛著 500 多片發光的雪花，並增設數個取暖與烤棉花糖的火爐。
今年此活動截止日為12月26日，即起開放時間為周日到周四晚上5時到9時，週五和周六為5時到10時，入場完全免費，園內的停車費為10元。
另外，前來觀賞的遊客還可選擇不同的體驗，例如乘坐直升機從空中鳥瞰蘇必略湖畔燈火通明的美麗夜景；或搭乘北岸觀光火車(NorthShore Scenic Railroad)，從Fitger商城出發，沿著鐵軌前往班特利斐爾，途中可觀賞到當地的地標－空中升降橋，火車票每人10元，可上網預購：duluthtrains.com/event/bentleyville。銷售收入的 10% 將用於資助每年一度的「班特利斐爾的燈光之旅」。
Fly freely
The Holy Spirit moves,
And the living spirit of me moves,
Rose from the ground,
My body also moves.
For the spirit of me is in the body,
Where the Holy Spirit goes,
My spirit and soul and body go.
When He stops,
My spirit is still and my mind rests.
Until next moment His Spirit commands me
To rise up and go.
My desire is the same with His desire.
That’s how I can fly freely.
(Psalm 40:8, Ezekiel 1:19, Isaiah 30:21)
やりたいこと 好きなように
自由にできる夢
人生は紙飛行機 神様から願い乗せて飛んで行くよ
聖霊の風の中を力の限り ただ進むだけ
その距離を競うより
どう飛んだか どこをとんだのか
それが一番大切なんだ
心のままに 毎日
飛んでいけ！
My heart desires
God set me free,
To desire to do His will,
For His law is within my heart. (Psalm 40:8)
God set me free,
To proclaim righteousness in the great assembly,
So I speak of your faithfulness, salvation, love and truth.
May all who seek you,
Rejoice in their spirit and be glad in their soul,
For God is always our help and deliverer.
God set me free,
To feel His love,
My mind will never forget,
His saving me from dark,
Healing me from depression,
Leading me to the Light,
And maturing me to hope.
Live
I am joyful before I see my hope fulfilled,
For I know when I ask God and I shall receive it.
No need of finding any excuse in case of failing to succeed,
For I respond to His mercy in prayer,
Surrender to His sovereignty in humility,
Praise His glory in worship.
Then I am bold to thankfully proclaim His promise:
God has given me the spirit of power, love and self-discipline with sound mind,
So I may renew my thoughts and enslave my body.
I shall live my life with His wisdom, beauty and wellness.
Hallelujah!!!
Hope
Hopeless in despair,
Sparks a desire of searching for the hope of remedy.
The Hope is not flimsy wishful thoughts,
But assurance of God’s faithful promise.
Hope is as necessary to life as the air we breathe.
Hope is not just something we do,
But a joyful expectation we have,
Through Jesus Christ,
The foundation of Hope.
Hope is courageous. (2 Corinthians 3:12)
Hope is expectant. (Titus 2:13-14)
Hope is a source of stability. (Hebrews 6:19)
Hope has purifying effect. (1 John 3:3)
My relationship with God generates hope of eternity.
An initial hope in Jesus Christ spurs me up,
So I am motivated to persevere,
By Hope of God,
To realize a worthy goal,
To find joy and fulfillment,
To be assured to keep pressing on in the godly direction.
Best of all, I experience in perseverance: Grace, Protection, Provision.
Hope can be active or waiting,
Just like faith can be bold or quiet,
Just like love can be gentle or tough.
Let the catalyst of time do its amazing work,
Mature my life to sweet wine,
To bring a flavor of joy to my Father God.
I am born again to be the living hope,
Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
Who conquer the enemy of death on my behalf. (1 Peter 1:3)
Sin causes the pain and fear of death,
Law bonds the sinners under its power.
But Jesus Christ came to give us victory over law and death. (1 Corinthians 15:26, 57)
Hope gives me future heavenly perspective,
To shape my approach to life on earth,
And this hope shall lead me to His glory as His coheir. (Titus 3:4-7)
(adapted from Hope by Bill Crowder)