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Showing posts from December, 2011

Conversations with Mrs. L - Overcoming Confusion in the Church Life

I haven't added more posts on my series, Conversations with Mrs. L . Honestly, I didn't spend that much time with Mrs. L. During those two years in California, it was so busy that I only had time to visit Mrs. L maybe twice a month. There was this one day, I was sitting in Mrs. L's living room. I asked her concerning a semi-real scenario, "Mrs. L, in the event of a confusion in the church life, for instance, if there's someone dissenting against the leadership in the church, what should we do as sisters? - I mean whom should we believe and stand with?"  Like always, she never failed to smile and calmly answer, "Keep eating the tree of life. Just enjoy the Lord." Yes, it's Mrs. L. Her answers were always elegantly simple. She continued, "And just pray." It was like a heavy burden lifted up from my shoulders. We all know that there is only one Body of Christ in the universe and we have to keep the oneness of the faith at

Singapore: The Rainy City-State

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I wish it would stop raining. Po, I, and my brother are in Singapore. We're trying to visit as many places as possible in Singapore but the weather isn't cooperating at all. It's been five days since we got here in Singapore. The trip from L.A. to Singapore was remarkably filled with obstacles, due to Po's passport problem. United Airlines refused to fly us to Singapore because Po's passport is expiring soon. Long story short, our brother helped us from back home. So five minutes before missing the flight from L.A. to Singapore (via Tokyo), the airline cleared us to fly. Then we got stuck again in Singapore, trying to get Po to pass through immigration. It was the most difficult airplane trip I've had thus far. The encouraging part was we still managed to pass a gospel tract (which includes a free Bible offer) to the airline counter's staff in LAX. She was quite receptive, although we didn't get to speak about it much (we were in a hurry, almost miss

Christ, Our Life

This post was scheduled to be published right when I'm boarding to fly to LAX. I'm very excited to go home! We're going to lay over in L.A. and Tokyo, then Po and I will meet our brother in Singapore. We will spend about a week there in Singapore. I will definitely update you all. Coming into this winter break, I'm reminded again that I can't afford to take a break from the Lord. I hope that this break will be a season of refreshing , where the roots of my personal relationship with the Lord would go deeper and richer.  Going home is never easy for me. There are many complications of feelings, situations, and many more. However, I'm looking forward to be able to fellowship with my family. I remember my fellowship with Judy ( the wife of the older couple whom I met through Christians on Campus ) when I was a freshman in college. I was having a hard time being with my family back home because at that time we were having some family issues. 

From Texas to Southeast Asia

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I can't wait until the D-day. I'm going back to Southeast Asia this winter! Adios, wintry mix! We will spend our winter break on a tropical island. I have been waiting for the past two years - to go home. Po and I are going to bring tons of stuffs home. Our tiny dwelling here is too tiny to house all of our belongings. Usually we'll fly with some Asian airlines but this time, we're going to fly with United Airlines. Po complained a lot but I told her those were the cheapest tickets I could get for our trip home. Well, let's see. I've packed the sugar-free cookies and candies for my grandma, tie pin for dad, bag for mom, bunch of random items for my brother, and some cocoa mix for cousins. I told Po that we would not spend any more money on anything else, but failed. Today I went out with my awesome companions and ordered "chicken katsu bento" for lunch.  Random gifts for my family! Did you see that emergency freeze notice? T

Selah Moments

These days I've been so busy that I feel like I have a spiritual indigestion. I mean throughout the years, I've developed a habit to read the Word and to have a small morning time with the Lord on a daily basis. Yet I feel like my brain is cluttered with so many things during the day that I usually forget what I've read from the Word or what I've enjoyed in my morning time with the Lord. Even worse, often I already forget what I read as soon as I step out from the door to go start my activities out there. The Lord has been reminding me to stop and have some selah. The word "selah" is used in the Bible. In Hebrew, it can have multiple meanings but one of the most commonly accepted meaning can be found in the Amplified version of Psalm 46:3 . In this verse, selah means "pause, and calmly think of that." So that's what I need. Just to stop, to pause, from my busy mind, my busy soul,... And calmly think, consider, meditate, digest the Word of God tha

To Contend for the Common Faith & Not to be Contentious for Other Things

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"Concerning the faith , we must be definite. But as for doctrines such as immersion, sprinkling, head covering, foot-washing, eating, keeping days, and so many other things, we must be general. If we would not be so general, we will surely be divisive." - Witness Lee I had dinner with my friends and we got into this topic about why Christianity fell into an endless division, into so many denominations.  One of them read 1 Corinthians 1:10, "Now I beseech you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be attuned in the same mind and in the same opinion." In  verse 13 the Apostle Paul wrote, "Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?" My friend pointed out that divisions in Christianity contradicted these verses. I truly appreciate our time together that Friday evening. We all speak the same thing, t