Blessed Steps

One thing that really cheers my heart up is when I take my time reading the newsletter I receive monthly from my friends all around the world.  Who would have thought that by going to Texas, I will bump into fellow future missionaries, evangelists and ministers and become one myself.  The friendships that I have made in Texas don't just stop the moment I leave that land. 5 years down the road, I am still rejoicing at how God is working through the lives of these people all around the world. The challenges they face in life are unlike those I have here back home. The culture, the people, the context are entirely different but yet we still could relate to what each other is doing because we are all serving the same God.  Now I understand what Paul meant when he wrote these to the Ephesians...  " For this reason,  because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints,   I  do not cease to give thanks for you...

What we call 'being in love' is a glorious state, and, in several ways, good for us. It helps to make us generous and courageous, it opens our eyes not only to the beauty of the beloved but to all beauty, and it subordinates (especially at first) our merely animal sexuality; in that sense,  love is the great conqueror of lust.   No one in his senses would deny that being in love is far better than either common sensuality or cold self-centredness. But, as I said before, 'the most dangerous thing you can do is to take any one impulse of our own nature and set it up as the thing you ought to follow at all costs'.  Being in love  is a good thing, but it is not the best thing. There are many things below it, but there are also things above it.  You cannot make it the basis of a whole life.  It is a noble feeling, but it is still a feeling.  Now no feeling can be relied on to last in its full intensity, or even to last at all.  Knowledge can l...

“The rule for all of us is perfectly simple.  Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did.  As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets.  When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him…  There is, indeed, one exception.  If you do him a good turn,  not to please God and obey the law of charity, but to show him what a fine forgiving chap you are,  and to put him in your debt,  and then sit down to wait for his ‘gratitude’,  you will probably be disappointed.”  Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

耶稣基督， 你是我的全部。你真的是我的一切。有了你，我并不缺乏。 On hindsight.... "When I look back on this road i've traveled. i've seen so many times you've carried me through and if there's one thing that i've learnt in my life is my redeemer is faithful and true. My redeemer is faithful and true. everything he has said, he will do. every morning his mercies are new my redeemer is faithful and true Jesus is faithful and true." On hindsight... Only then that I realized, I've been through quite a few episodes in my life I have broken up I have left my job I have migrated countries I have changed and restructured so many perspectives in my life and it still remains true that MY REDEEMER IS FAITHFUL AND TRUE EVERYTHING HE HAS SAID HE WILL DO He is always trustworthy. He has never left me. I can forever trust in Him. AMEN. Click on the link below to allow God to minister to you as you reflect upon the lyrics: My Redeemer is Faithful and True - St...

《炼我愈精》 你若不壓橄欖成渣，它就不能成油； 若不投葡萄入醡，它就不能變成酒； 你若不煉哪噠成膏，它就不流芬芳； 主，我這人是否也要受你許可的創傷？ 你是否要鼓我心絃，發出你的音樂？ 是否要使音樂甘甜，須有你愛來苦虐？ 是否當我下倒之時，才能识「愛」的心？ 我是不怕任何損失，若你讓我來相親。 主，我慚愧因我感覺，總是保留自己， 雖我也曾受你雕削，我卻感覺受強逼。 主，你能不照你喜樂，沒有顧忌去行， 不顧我的感覺如何，只是要求你歡欣 如果你我所有苦樂，不能完全相同， 要你喜樂，須我负轭 ，我就願意多苦痛； 主，我全心求你喜悅，不惜任何代價； 你若喜悅，並得榮耀，我背任何十字架。 我要讚美，再要讚美，讚美何等甘甜； 雖我邊讚美邊流淚，甘甜比前更加添； 能有甚麼比你更好？ 比你喜悅可寶？ 主，我只有一個禱告：你能加增我減少。 （副歌） 每次的打擊，都是真利益，如果你收去的東西，你以自己來代替。 ---------------------------------- 主啊，难道没有更简单的路吗？ 难道真的要倒下后才能识爱吗？ 难道保留自己也是有错吗？ 你的雕削我又不是没有经历过， 可我现在真的觉得受强迫。 我自问：难道我有报名加入这痛苦之路吗？ 我起初的意念好像不是如此耶， 我只不过要更认识耶稣，好让我能更爱耶稣； 我好像没有如此的意念要成为牧者。 然后我心自我反驳： “佳乐，是你自己报上的名。” 我回想起了， 的确是。 是我自己报上的名； 报名情景还刻骨铭心呢。 为什么之前那么容易报上名呢？ 我还不了解真正背起十架的代价。 反而现在了解了后， 退缩好像已太迟了。 因我也了解了神的呼召， 那不可否认， 明显刻骨的呼召。 “佳乐，你已尝试到了我的甘甜，大爱，与真实， 你是否愿意把这些好消息分享给他们？ 好让他们也能真正尝试到我的甜美？ 把他们指引到我的方向来。他们迷失了的羊群，我所爱的羊群。” 我总结了， "如果我们和他一同受苦，也必和他一同得荣耀。 我想，现在的苦楚若比起将来要显于我们的荣耀，就不足介意了。” 罗马书8：17b-18

This has been a prayer I pray before leading worship or preaching or serving in any ways that may consciously or subconsciously boost my pride and steal God's glory. "Dear God,  May I be a mirror, reflecting all Your Glory back to You.  In Jesus' Name I pray,  Amen." A plane mirror. Such that I keep NO Glory of His at all.