Tribute to My Late Grandmother
An excellent wife who can find?
She is far more precious than jewels.
The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.
She does him good, and not harm,
all the days of her life.
She seeks wool and flax,
and works with willing hands.
She is like the ships of the merchant;
she brings her food from afar.
She rises while it is yet night
and provides food for her household
and portions for her maidens.
She considers a field and buys it;
with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
She dresses herself with strength
and makes her arms strong.
She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
Her lamp does not go out at night.
She puts her hands to the distaff,
and her hands hold the spindle.
She opens her hand to the poor
and reaches out her hands to the needy.
She is not afraid of snow for her household,
for all her household are clothed in scarlet.
She makes bed coverings for herself;
her clothing is fine linen and purple.
Her husband is known in the gates
when he sits among the elders of the land.
She makes linen garments and sells them;
she delivers sashes to the merchant.
Strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she laughs at the time to come.
She opens her mouth with wisdom,
and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
She looks well to the ways of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
“Many women have done excellently,
but you surpass them all.”
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.Proverbs 31:10-30
English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
Mother's Day is only a week away. Tomorrow I will be sharing at the monthly worship service at Sunrise Living Unionville. I was going back and forth and not sure what I should share, and recently I got to tell someone about my maternal grandmother, I just feel like retelling that story.
She may not have been a very "educated" woman, but she is smart enough to direct an army. There was a time when they lived in a company resident. Back then, women do not usually go to work, as their job was to look after the children.
We all know what happens when you have a small space with tens of families and the women are around all day sharing all common space and washroom: gossips, especially the mean ones. She had every right to exercise her power as my grandfather was, technically the boss of all the husbands.
She did not do that. Some of the gossips, she just ate it all up without even skipping a beat. For the few years they lived there, my grandfather had no idea that was happening. I was told she not only took those gossips with a stride, she made these people like her.
Fast forwarding a "few" years, and they settled in Brampton. My grandmother's English skill was still next to non-existent, but she managed to get herself to China Town Toronto for her weekly "English Class". There was little learning there, but she and her classmates went there for a social life.
She almost always visit 3-Level after class before she headed home. She loved shopping there. I still have not been there, but it is not the same place anymore. With her non-existent English skill, she managed to buy interesting stuff from there cheaper than the sticker price.
We still couldn't figure out how she did it.
Fast forward yet a "few" more years, and as her internal organs were shutting down after one too many strokes, the staff at the hospice comments on this old lady who can no longer speak nor able to move were: she is one brave, strong woman.
God has used her tremendously. Though she has had no formal education to speak of, she was wiser than many who managed to get a university degree back in the day. Her insight in wise living, drive to do the impossible, and strength to overcome her physical obstacles (with every stroke she had, she lost more and more of her mobility), teaches more about "how to live" than any professor can teach you.
Together with my grandfather, God not only shown them, but also all who knows them, that God is not only in charge, He doesn't only use those who are successful or powerful or smart beyond those around them. Just like how God has chosen those who represented him in the Bible, our idea of who should be chosen are often unlikely to be God's choice.
Their lives, especially my grandmother proves that. Our action and deeds speak louder than any credential we can pull out of our pockets.
She is to be praised for her fear of God was real. I pray that all the mothers will find the strength to have enough faith to trust God and follow the Spirit of God in all that she does.
Hope is Coming
The crowd of people stood, watching.
Authorities (mocking Jesus): So He was supposed to rescue others, was He? He was supposed to be God’s Anointed, the Liberating King? Let’s see Him start by liberating Himself!
The soldiers joined in the mockery. First, they pretended to offer Him a soothing drink—but it was sour wine.
Soldiers: Hey, if You’re the King of the Jews, why don’t Youfree Yourself!
Even the inscription they placed over Him was intended to mock Him—“This is the King of the Jews!” [This was written in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew.]
One of the criminals joined in the cruel talk.
Cynical Criminal: You’re supposed to be the Anointed One, right? Well—do it! Rescue Yourself and us!
But the other criminal told him to be quiet.
Believing Criminal: Don’t you have any fear of God at all? You’re getting the same death sentence He is! We’re getting what we deserve since we’ve committed crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong at all! (turning to Jesus) Jesus, when You come into Your kingdom, please remember me.
Jesus: I promise you that this very day you will be with Me in paradise.
Luke 23:35-43 The Voice (VOICE) Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
Yesterday was Good Friday. It was a day designated to remember that one dark day some 2,000 years ago during a Passover where The Son of God roam the earth with a purpose that was thousands of years in the making.
These authorities see themselves as the crusaders of God. Yet, they are so inlined with God that they missed the very person from God they have been waiting for, went to war with that person at all cost, conspired with their enemy to kill the person. Why? "God will never send us a person that does not meet the standard we have set to deem that person to be righteous.
Here we are, reading about two people who have committed crimes that earn them the privilege of being nailed to two pieces of wood butt naked for the world to see. They were nailed to the two sides of a Man named Jesus, who, unlike them, has been found to be innocent by, not one, but two government officials.
One of them decided to mock Jesus just like almost everyone around them are doing. The other, was, albeit a little late, resent what he has done, rebuked the idiotic fellow criminal, and pleaded mercy from the only person that matters.
Here, God is letting us know, it is not that we have to live a righteous life for x amount of time before we are "good enough". It is not that we have to follow a set of rules or law to be "good enough". It is our relationship with God that makes that determination. It does not matter who you are, unless you come to term with your sins, repent, and desire to have a relationship with God, nothing you do matters.
You are not perfect? Perfect. Recognizing the fact that you are not perfect and He is AND wants to be with God is what it takes to become one of the righteous of God. What about you?
Serving...who?
And they brought [the colt] to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as He rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As He was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of His disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
Coming Sunday is Palm Sunday, and it's remembering Jesus' march into Jerusalem for the last time. Before I continue, please first watch this video:
In Luke's account of Jesus' journey, it was not the whole city lining up the road leading into Jerusalem shouting "Hosanna!", but mostly just His disciples. Maybe the amazing fact that they walked away with a colt by simply dropping Jesus' name, in a sense.
These people who have been following Jesus for various length of time, suddenly just burst out with declarations that are reserved for a king. It was an action that is as bold as the Declaration of Independent the American founding fathers made. It was the same as a declaration of war to the Roman Empire.
In the past, Jesus would have told them to keep quiet, but not this time. When the Pharisees, who wanted no trouble with the Romans, told Jesus to shut them up, Jesus didn't.
Here is the thing. While these disciples were not wrong with their statements, every words they uttered were true and Jesus was worthy of every letter, they have absolutely no idea they were talking about.
If we keep reading, we will find these same disciples stunt as Jesus clearing out the mess out of the Temple, need to be reminded of the emptiness of the teachings of the teachers of the law, asking the wrong questions, one of them decided to betray Jesus, fought over who is the greatest amongst them, failed in their promise to be with Jesus even to jail but disappeared the moment Jesus was arrested, and so on and so forth.
They completely missed Jesus point of "follow me" is not so that they can tell people "Jesus was my Rabbi" to awe people. Or even "I'm with King Jesus" like they were crying as Jesus head down toward Mount Olive.
"Follow Him" is to lose their identity in Jesus. "Follow Him" is to be His representative on earth. Not as some superior being lording over the ignorant, but as a Servant of God serving those who are lost. If those who are lost have never or can never see God through us, are we actually with Him? Who are we serving? Us? or God?
Who Am I?
You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Today, I joined a tour that took us out to the San Andreas Fault Line. Not the beginning of it, but 20 miles northwest of it. The tour guide, as we were approaching it, taught us how to look for it: in the middle of this wilderness, where the ground suddenly pops up and have thrieving vegetation.
There we found this talcum-powder-like dirt, which is formed by the friction between two tectonic plates, which will eventually will explode with end-time scale quake is also life giving.
This fine dirt allows vegetation to grow by easily taking root and find the water and it allows water to stay underground and not evaporated because water cannot pass through this fine dirt.
Psalm 139 reminds us that there is no place we can hide from God, and nothing that happened in our lives can escape His eyes. That does not prevent us from being accepted by Him.
If God can allow a place that is storing up so much destructive power to have such life-giving characteristic, so will He with us; however, it is not by what we do. It is by what He does with our lives, if we allows Him by aligning our lives with His.
He knows exactly what He is working with before we are born. Nothing we do, good or bad, surprise Him. Yet, He has chosen to do everything He can to save us and give us a new identity.
So, who are you? I mean, are you defined by what you can, and have, and will do? Or, are you willing to let your life defined by Him? I am not asking because I already "got it." I am asking because it is a journey I am on, and I know the struggle is real. Think about it.
To Fast or Not to Fast, That is NOT the Question
And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Matthew 6:16-18 ESV
I grew up in church, but fasting was not something we have been taught much about. So, there was a time when I asked "why? What is it that we are supposed to do when fasting." The Bible was not really helpful in giving clear instruction of what to do when you fast.
This passage sure point to how it would be done incorrectly, and what would be a right attitude. Jesus' instruction here is found in a teaching session He did for His disciples.
He began with how we should be so discreet with our giving, our right hand should not know what the left one is doing it. Last week I talked about how our mindset should be from the lesson on the Lord's Prayer. This week it's about how fasting is something intimate between us and God and not for anyone else to know.
To fast or not to fast would not make you a more, or less, sacred person. There are people who can have a perfect relationship with God without it. The right question is
Do you want to have an intimate relationship with God, or having people think you have is enough for you?
Seek First
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Matthew 6:33-34 ESV
Jesus was teaching about how our attitude should be in our daily living. He started with our giving, then prayer, then fasting, then wealth, and now, in conclusion, Jesus summarized His teaching with these two verses.
When God's Kingdom is at the forefront of all of our concerns, we truly understand what it means to call God "our Father". We can get pass getting what we want, what we think is best for us, or even for others. We will not take what we have for granted or even have the delusion that it is our doing.
It is when we won't be so concerned about if we have been vindicated of wrongs done to us, temptation would have no hold on us, we will not need deliverance from evil, as we are preoccupied with what matter to God.
Sounds "too-good-to-be-true"? Is it because we treat prayer as a chance to let God know what we want, no matter how noble we are trying to make it sound? Is it because we spend ⅔ of our prayer in telling God who He is and rush through the ⅓ of our time chucking request at Him hoping God will fulfill them because you "kissed His 'behind'"? There is the problem: you are still "doing" YOU!
If we are determined to learn to seek first the Kingdom of God through our prayer, by putting the needs of others first, by casting aside what we desire for ourselves, being able to live a life of a Kingdom Seeker will just become that much easier.
Reading God's Word
This week, our Lent focus is on the Spiritual Discipline of Scripture. I have come across people who question if we should read the Scripture on our own instead of reading what others are saying about God's word. It is wonderful that people want to think about what God has said, but it is more important that we read for ourselves what is said in the Bible.
Before I get into the nerdy discussion of "Reading the Bible for yourself", I would like to talk about something just as nerdy. I recently come across a video of someone presenting in a TED Talk that all these "Green Energy Effort" is not helping the environment. That led to a discussion I had with someone else that has something to do with our faith.
Solar energy is everywhere, but in order for us to harvest that energy, it takes a lot of solar panels. These panels essentially turn the sunlight into energy, but to-date, the technology is not there to efficiently convert that energy into substantial amount to supply a town, let alone a city. In order to even power a town, will take football fields of these panels to generate enough power to do so. The problem is that they would generate so much heat, birds has been known to be cooked alive while "accidentally" fly over these arrays.
However, if a collection of homes install small panels to cut down their demands on the grid by at least 30%, the demand on the grid is much smaller, which allows everything to become more efficient.
What does that have to do with our faith? If a Church body operates like that of the first scenario, Christians are relying on their weekly "filling" from the pastor, and the pastor has to blast them with a nuclear amount of teachings that hopefully will last them until next week. It is inefficient, and someone will get burn one way or the other.
If a Church is Spiritually Disciplined, they will be willing to generate that "energy" on their own which is supplemented by the weekly teaching of the pastor. When that happen, not only will they have more than enough energy for themselves, there is enough to share with those around them.
"Doing good" will only get us so far with those around us. Only when we live the life we learn from reading the Bible, knowing who we are, and where our centre is we can be more to the people around us.
Thy Word
Come Unto Me
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”Matthew 11:28-30 (ESV)
Sabbath is about rest. It is a day that God has set aside as a special day. It is a day of the week God has demanded to be His. It is so important to God, that it has its own place in the 10 Commandment.In Luke 6:1-11, Jesus, when faced with challenge by the Jewish leaders, made it clear that He is the Lord of/over Sabbath. God made it simple, but people has made it complicated. Why? Why are we people like to complicated things?Ever since the Fall, we have been trying to take charge of our fate. When Adam and Eve realized they were naked, instead of running to God to ask for His help, they tried to “fix” their predicament by putting pieces of leafs together to cover themselves. God search for them and gave them a proper solution: He clothed them with stitched skin of animal.Sabbath is not about rules. It is not about whether you “work” or not on a Sunday.Sabbath is about us coming before Him, yearning for Him, share our burdens with Him. He is the only One who can turn our burdens into His burden that is lighter. It is because, by us turning the control of our lives over to Him, He will do His work ahead of us.The alternative is that we try, and try, and try to take control. We will feel like we are doing something and have control over the situation; however, soon enough, you will find that burden have only become heavier and a bigger mess waiting for you at the other end. The only feeling we end up having is just feeling more exhausted.We need to trust Him and find rest amongst the storm of life.