Apologetics in action

So I was looking a brother's display message from g-chat, and he linked this video:



This is so good. A rap from a conversation from a believer to a stranger (non-believer) about the gospel. As you can see, there are so many questions and objections that a non-believer has to accept to the gospel. As believers, are we equipped enough to share the gospel when we encounter these objections?

Apologetics is not the main thing. God is the one who saves, and by His power humans are saved. God chooses humans as vessels to make His gospel known to the lost. It is a privilege. We should equip ourselves with knowledge so that we can become more effective vessels for God. That effort to acquire knowledge is prompted by love, because we want to serve and glorify God, who has done wonders in our lives.

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." - 2 Timothy 2:15

it's all about Christ

First of all, a belated Merry Christmas!

It is a time for celebration, relaxing, enjoying, eating, and maybe some shopping. I personally like to spend some time meditating about my life. What are the things that really matter in life? What are the things that I have been learning from God? How should I invest my time the coming new year?

Though celebrating is good thing, I see the importance of meditating why we are celebrating. Because the reason for celebrating Christmas is to commemorate an event that will change the fate of humanity. That God sent His Son, Jesus, to live as a man who embodies the intent from God regarding what a man should be. Jesus taught us how to pray, how to love, how to serve, how to be humble, how to submit, etc. Thw

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." - John 1:14

Furthermore, Jesus died on the cross so that in Him we can be reconciled with God, and spent in eternity with Him. To love us, God paid a very costly price with the atonement of Jesus.

Some postmodern thoughts argue that Jesus is not the only way to salvation. And they like to categorize Christianity as been very exclusive. It's true, Christianity is exclusive, Jesus is the only way to God (John 14). But their thoughts are also exclusive themselves, as they are categorizing that Christianity is not the true. So in the end, every religion is exclusive. Out of all religions, I believe that Christianity (which in its core is about a God who gave up His life for the good of His enemies) is the one that can save me and can lead to a life of peace and joy. I know by experience that even if I attempt to achieve morality and do many good works, I always fail. Always falling short. Because I realize I am sinful by nature, and that even though I know what it is good to do, I end up doing what is evil. So, I cannot attain salvation myself. It's only through Christ Jesus, who lived the perfect live that I should live, and received the punishment of my sins that I deserve, so that I can be reconciled with God. This is grace, and that is the beauty of Christianity.

I can't help, but to acknowledge that I am in need of Christ, and that He is the only way to salvation. So I bow down and worship Him. Because it's all about Christ.

For those interested in digging more how to express the supremacy of Christ in this postmodern era, there are this series of lectures from Tim Keller (preaching Christ in post modernism) that are heavy but very helpful. I don't like itunes, but I willing installed it for this haha.


A few random facts about Christmas:

• The reason why Christmas is celebrated on Dec 25
• Not because Jesus was born on Dec 25. Winter in Israel is harsh, and the passages in Luke narrates that there were shepherds taking care of their sheep outside. This suggests that it is likely not winter
• Dec 25 is the winter solstice. It is a cosmic symbolism, the sun gives light, and Christ is the light of the world.
• Some pagan celebrations were on the same day, so installing Dec 25 as Christmas served to re-affirm the truth of Christianity
• The idea of Christmas trees was initiated by Martin Luther (no idea why)
• The sugar cane candy
• The red color symbolizes the blood of Christ that was shed for our sake
• The white color symbolizes the purity, blamelessness, sinlessness of Christ
• The cane refers to the cane of the shepherds
• The cane has a shape of a "J" of Jesus

Vector vs point

In physics we learn about vectors, and it can make a pain when you have to add/subtract vectors in x, y, z dimensions separately, and then use the sum of squares to get the resultant vector...

Even though calculations are a pain, I like the fact that vectors provide more information, because it consists of a "magnitude" (like how big or how small), and a "direction" (which is indicated by a positive or negative sign, and an angle to tell you where it is going).

I sometimes like to make an analogy of vectors with bible study. Why do we do bible study, when you can study the bible yourself? I believe that there is one correct interpretation for a given passage of the bible, but there can be many different applications. To a certain extent, every person might have a different perspective (and different way to apply) a passage, so each person has a vector. When we study the bible together, we get to hear the insights from others, so that we can grasp more from the truth of the passage. It's like vectors adding vectors, and the goal is to get a resulting vector that is aligned with the truth, which is only able when the Spirit give us discernment.

Ok, that wasn't my main point...

Many times I hear people asking, what are the requirements for a person "to be ready" for dating? And there are good ones mentioned in the 722 Love & Marriage series by Voodie Baucham (if interested, there are 3 more sermons from the series). And one starts making a list of things people should know, and a certain level of maturity one should have, before even thinking about dating. And then one goes to more details about specific traits a man should have, and specific ones that a woman should have. It's like setting a minimum threshold (like a point on the graph).

I certainly agree that there should be a threshold. But I don't think we should focus too much on the threshold itself, but to focus more on direction. Because if we want to become the man who can love his wife on the same way that Jesus love us by dying for the church (Ephesians 5:25), and if that is our threshold, then it is pretty much impossible. It is only by God's grace that we can strive to become more like Christ, and love with His love to others. So I think it is about a growing hunger and desire to conform in Christ's image, and that is a daily pursuit of God, a daily submission to Christ's lordship, and a daily purge of our sinful ways.

Reaching a threshold is good, but there is still so much more to grow! So I believe the most important requirement is the constant desire to grow towards God's direction. That is like a vector with a positive gradient (positively-growing vector). Because if we reach a threshold, and become complacent, it is really easy to fall back to our old ways, because our sinful nature is affecting us daily (like gravity). That's why I like to be like a vector to constantly engaging towards holiness in the pursuit of God.

David was a man after God's own heart, not so much because he reached a threshold. But because he always sought after God, even after he committed adultery, in Psalms 51, he expressed great remorse and a desire to be restored by God. It is continuing process.

"But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen." - 2 Peter 3:18

Bankai

This term God has blessed my good friend Jonathan and myself the privilege to present the CCF about the importance of apologetics, which is the "art" of logically defending our faith so that other people can be convinced of the truth of Christianity. If you are interested about the details, there is a doc.

Our primarily focus is to emphasize the important of learning about apologetics for every Christian, as this is not just something reserved for pastors or ministers. Also, we gave some examples of the existing apologetic arguments regarding different topics such as "does God exist?", "is the Bible reliable?" , "is Jesus the only way?", "is there an absolute truth?"

One particular thing that I want to point out is that apologetics is not about demolishing other people's arguments, and preach that Christianity is the truth. The reason is because a person can have a lot of knowledge, and able to logically defend the our faith so well that is flawless, but people might not still be convinced. Because knowledge isn't everything (1 Cor 8:1). We are commissioned to preach the gospel to make disciples of Christ, and the gospel is the "good news" showing the all powerful God pouring His love to save us by sacrificing Jesus. The gospel centers on the cross of Christ, where God showed the greatest display of love. So the gospel is the good news about the great love God has for us.

The point of apologetics is to convince to other people that Christianity is true, and it is something we do when preaching the gospel. Since this message is one of love, we as God's ambassadors (2 Cor 5:20) should present ourselves consistent with the message. Meaning that there is congruency between the message and the messenger. That's why Christians ourselves can be either the greatest hindrance for evangelism, or we can be the greatest tool to share the gospel (since God chooses to use humans to make His message known).

Therefore, when we defend our faith and share the gospel, it is not all about logic or words. We also need to show credibility with our character, that we "walk the talk". So we should convey the essence of the gospel when we defend our faith, which is love, that God loves us, and we are filled with this love to love others, and we want other people to know God, because we love them.

So there needs to be this "harmony" between the message and the messenger to make the delivery of the gospel effective. It is similar to the anime Bleach, which is about people who fight with spiritual swords. And the closer the warrior get to know the sword, the stronger he becomes. If the warrior can call his sword by name, he attains a great portion of power from the sword. As he continues to train and grow, the harmony between the warrior and the sword become so great that the warrior can unlock the full potential of his sword, which is bankai.

In the same way, if we practice apologetics and share the gospel, our character and lifestyle needs to be very consistent with what we say :).

There is a caveat: many people use the excuse that actions of love are enough, and that words are not always necessarily to make the gospel known to others. And that knowledge is not that important. It is true that you need to "walk to talk", but you need "to talk"! Otherwise, it is still inconsistent as there is no message, and no sharing of the gospel. So my point is that both are necessarily, but that there is priority in love.

Here is a more eloquent post about apologetics.

3 in 1?

One attribute of God that is very interesting but very difficult to understand is the triune nature of God. We Christians believe in the Trinity, God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is something very hard to comprehend, one God who exists in 3 persons. Also it is not easy to defend since the word "Trinity" is not explicitly written on the bible. So many other religions and cults usually criticize the doctrine of the Trinity.

I am no expert in this subject, but if you're interested in knowing more, I recommend the following sermon by Mark Driscoll from the doctrine series: Trinity - God is

I kinda like analogies, so I want to use one here to explain the little I understand about the Trinity. You can see a simple circuit in series:
- V = voltage of the power source
- I = current flowing in the circuit
- R = resistance

So God is the perfect infinite power source, all powerful and infinite! Jesus is the way to the Father (John 14:6), so in this case the wire that connects the power source to the resistor, that path is Jesus. It is only through Jesus that we have access to the Father. As Christians, we believe in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which is when the Holy Spirit enters in us and transforms us. So the current that flow through the resistor, is the Holy Spirit. As expected, the believer is the resistor, because we naturally tend to resist to what the Spirit desires. 

For every believer, we want God to increase, and we should decrease (John 3:30). In the same way, the resistance should go downs so that the current increases (according to Ohm's Law, V = IR). We need to let the Holy Spirit fill our lives, while letting our old ways behind. As the current increases, the power (P = VI = RI^2) will increase in a quadratic fashion. When the Spirit is at work in us, it's true power:

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." - Ephesians 3:20-21 

I am an electrical engineer from Waterloo after all.

Passio

Nowadays, we often hear the word "passion" being spoken in many Christian events. It seems that the current definition means somewhere in the lines of "something I really feel excited about", or "something that I am emotionally attached to", or "something that I have the heart for".

I think these explanations are not bad, but they are not quite complete. And whenever someone uses the word "passion" in sentences like "I feel passion for this..." or "I am passionate about this ministry...", I am slightly bothered because many times the word "passion" is not fully understood.

Passion comes from the latin passio which simply means "suffering". The reason why the suffering of Christ on the cross is called the passion of the Christ is simply because passion means suffering. A similar usage is found in Acts 1:3 with the KJV, the greek "pathos" is translated into passion, while NIV translates it into suffering.

To have passion is to be willing to suffer, and this is accompanied with strong emotions. The catch is to not rely on emotions, because when discouragements and trials come, it will not persists. It is about willingness.

This is just my personal choice, so whenever I use this word I can't take it lightly because to have passion for God means that you are willing to suffer for His sake. And that is not an easy path, but I believe it is the right one.

"The passion of Christ is the victory of divine love over the powers of evil, and therefore it is the only supportable basis for Christian obedience. Once again, Jesus calls those who follow him to share his passion. How can we convince the world by our preaching of the passion when we shrink from that passion in our own lives? On the cross Jesus fulfilled the law he himself established and thus graciously keep his disciples in the fellowship of his suffering." - The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer


Another example, is that the word "passion" can be used to refer to the strong emotions a man feels about his wife. To really have passion for your wife means that you are willing to suffer for her, in the same way Jesus loved the church and gave himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25).

Back

It has been a while since I last blogged. Somehow, I feel overwhelmed with full-time work, and it is so draining and consuming at times, that it is hard to get time to gain insight in my walk and to properly focus on God.

I plan to make some adjustments to re-calibrate myself. By the grace of God, I want to continue sharing about the things He teaches me, in my joys and in the sufferings.

Good to be back.

Working under Grace

God is faithful and by "holy coincidence" a coworker asked me if I am a Christian. He saw in my online work profile that I put the "bible" as my favorite book. He is a believer and invited me to a weekly prayer meeting where I met other brothers in Christ at work. It was really good because I really need the prayer support to handle the challenges at work, to be more productive and to share my faith. Apparently my coworker knows a past chairperson from CCF.

It was interesting when my co-worker was sharing during the prayer meeting that he is struggling with understanding grace, and that he is pushing himself too hard. While another person shared that he is experiencing a lot of grace but that he is in the border of slacking in spending time with God.

Coincidentally, I am reading Prayer - Does It Make Any Difference? by Philip Yancey, and he mentions the paradox of how we need to leave everything to God, but at the same time we need to do our homework in the Christian walk. This is very similar to a famous quote that says "pray as it all depends on God, and work as it all depends on you". I like how our faith is so full of paradoxes!

How do we connect the dots between God's grace and our works in our spiritual growth? It is very clear from Ephesians 2:8-9 that our salvation is given by grace through faith. But if faith does not produce works, then it is dead (James 2:17). It is dangerous in one end to abuse grace and use it as an excuse to not work hard in our spiritual life. At the same time it is also dangerous if someone focuses too much on works to forget grace.

This can be extrapolated to decisions between setting a rigorous schedule for spiritual activities to discipline myself... versus waiting upon spontaneous spiritual goodness prompted by God. I was catching up with a brother, and we're talking about how some leaders abuse the concept of being "Spirit-led" to neglect preparation. Jesus spend a lot of time praying and being alone with the Father so that He can be prepared for the works of His ministry. We concluded that the more we prepare is better because we will allow the Spirit to work more as we understand Him more.

Ultimately, the Spirit is the one who works in us to transform and enable us to do good works for God's purposes because everyone falls short of His glory (Rom. 3:23).  At the same time, we have to work hard in knowing God more and prepare ourselves so that the Spirit can do more in us. It is really His grace that allows us to do works for Him, because God chooses to use us to make His gospel known to others.

"... continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose." - Philippians 2:12-13

In the bible we see characters doing many great feats, and some of us will like to accomplish big things. It starts with being faithful with little things in life, in working in your daily life, and God will add more and more. 

Rock Lee from Naruto is a character who lacks many talents in the ninja arts. He often see other talented ninjas who are considered genius, and he decides to strive to become strong like them. Since he lacks pretty much every skill, he focuses on training extremely hard in one skill that he is able to do (physical power). After intense training, he is able to fight on the same level as those who are considered genius because of his determination to work hard. And he is considered the "genius of hard work". Yeah, let's be genius in training hard for the Lord!

Jacky Chan shared with me this awesome mathematical formula relating faith, work, and salvation:

God is always good

No matter what I do, the mistakes I made, the times I choose to disobey Him, God always shows me that His grace is exceedingly abundant. In the moments that my trust shakes, God's providence comes.

That I can always come back to Him knowing that there is no condemnation for those in Christ (Romans 8:1). As sin abounds, grace abounds even more (Romans 5:20). It is all because of Jesus. How can I keep from singing His praise!!!



Praise the Lord that I am blessed with the opportunity to work in where I am.

the Gospel in the postmodern world

I recently watched a Tim Keller's sermon on the Desiring God's conference about the "Supremacy of Jesus Christ and the Gospel in the Postmodern World". It is very academic and heavily packed, but I enjoy how Tim Keller uses the book of Jonah to teach us some important points about sharing the gospel.

He mentions that now is much more difficult than a few hundred years ago to share the message of Christ because in the past most people did believe in the existence of God and in the bible. So a lot of the outreach events consisted of reminders and encouragements to pursue Christ. But in the postmodern world is more difficult because people don't trust in the bible and the concept of absolute truth is debatable. Tim Keller went even further to say that some evangelistical techniques such as the four spiritual laws might not suffice in today's challenges.

Definitely sharing the gospel is a difficult task, sometime scary. I tremble at times. But God commanded us and empowered us to do it. We know that it is not with human wisdom, but with the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 1:17, 1 Cor. 2:13) that the gospel is preached. This is a partnership that God uses us to make His message known to others, so let's pray for opportunities and also prepare ourselves so that we can be ready to share about the hope we have in Christ (1 Peter 3:15).

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." - Matthew 28:18-20

This is an example of a challenge that Christians can face in sharing the gospel in the postmodern world:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfsljDzUuD0#t=7m00s .
(video is timestamped at 7m00s, watch till the end, but you can skip some parts when the elevator scene is interrupted)

I definitely enjoy the priest's use of words =).

Engage

One of the major lessons that I learned in the last 5 years (and I am still learning) is to engage.

Christianity is not just about a point in time when you decide to submit to the Lordship of Christ, but it is a lifelong journey of pursuing God and engaging in what He has prepared for you. My friend's post is full of truth as it is not only about avoiding sin, but it is to constantly run towards God.

I personally realized that it is so easy for me to feel complacent after learning many things while serving in CCF. The coop terms can be especially dangerous if I choose not to engage in doing God's work. It is not so much about "doing", but when I am doing things for the Lord I am often put in situations where I learn more about my faith, the Spirit develops gifts in me, a stronger character can be mold in me, and more importantly I am pushed to depend on God alone. Most of the spiritual growth I experienced have been due to God using me in ministering CCF and the people.

That is one reason why I love to ask people to serve, because serving does push me to know God more and grow spiritually. Serving also allows me to get to know more other brothers and sisters, to the point that I can develop with them a deeper connection (a partnership).

When I say engage, I don't mean that everyone has to be serving in an official role in fellowship or church. But to engage means to actively seek God and partner with Him in doing His work. Not everyone has to be in committee, nor serving in leadership. God will call each of us in whatever circumstances we are in, whether it's to minister to coworkers, classmates, homeless people. We are to respond to this calling.

There is a lot of danger as sometimes we can take serving and works as idols. There are two extremes I see in churches (especially Chinese ones), that people perceive Christian maturity proportional to the number of ministries involved, and the other side which prefers not to leave the comfort zone and thinks that serving are for those who are hardcore. There is definitely a Chinese issue of putting too much focus on the image and reputation, while it is also very Chinese to avoid confrontation and stay in the comfort zone. At the end of the day, serving is not about doing things as duty but an expression of God's love (1 John). So, if we are to do works without the proper reason, that it is useless (1 Cor. 13).

There is something called the bystander effect where people see a problem, but they rather not do anything because they think that someone else will fix it. If everyone thinks that way, then no one will step up. And that happens in CCF many times when people see a need, but they think someone else will fix it. A good friend of mine shared with me that "if you see a need, you are probably the best person to deal with it". Obviously, serving is not about fixing a need. But just as Nehemiah saw a big need in the Jerusalem to rebuild the walls, he was so broken to see the needs of his people that he cried out to God. The Lord opened the doors for him to address this need.

But whenever you engage in God's work, we are pushed to step out of our comfort zone and also inviting troubles. There are times when it can be tough, when trials and tribulations are along the way. Discouragement and exhaustion can come often. The beauty is that God puts you in tough situations, and He will provide what you need to go through it.

Christianity is not a static point that have reached a certain threshold, but it is a directional vector with a positive gradient (basically a continuously growing graph) towards God.

Engage.

"For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."
 - 2 Peter 5-8

Fullmetal Heart

As many know the famous manga Full Metal Alchemist has ended recently. It is one of the best series I have read, and talking to some friends we have concluded that we are slightly sad that it ended.

The very last page of the series shows this text:

A lesson without pain is meaningless.
For you cannot gain something
without sacrificing something else in return
But once you have overcome it and made it your own
You will gain an irreplaceable fullmetal heart


I won't say much, but the main characters went through a lot of pain, but in the end they realized that the suffering led to a greater lesson and a stronger inner character.

I started to link this to Christianity. I think of these following verses:

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." - James 1:2-4

"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."
- 1 Peter 1:6-8

It is really hard to share about Christianity to others because it is not an easy life. I remembered telling my home church pastor that "life is tough with much suffering" and he replied "you are a man of wisdom".

God does not promise a life full of comfort because we are so weak that we will take Him for granted. So we are given a life of trials because we will have no choice but to rely on Christ who gives us strength and joy to endure. The beauty of this is that even though God puts us in difficulties, He is the one who gives us what we need to go through them. There will be moment of sadness, but God's joy will fill your heart. There will be perplexing moments, but God's peace will be with you. There will be moments of persecution, but God will never abandon you.

Taking a step back, it is really "grace" that we are suffering. Because we are objects of wrath by nature (Ephesians 2), and we deserve not suffering, but the wrath of God. So, God taking His time to care for us and  planning trials in our lives is really part of His pouring of grace on us, so that we can be molded into a more beautiful person by conforming into the image of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Going back to the quote from FMA: you cannot gain something without sacrificing something, this reminds me that we are to die to ourselves everyday and follow Christ. Because if I want to gain Christ, I have to declare that He is Lord of my life and that means that I have to let go of the control of my life.

Why is that I get motivation to continue walking in this life of a Christian that entails trials and tribulations? Because of Christ, our hope of glory. I know that this life is temporal and that the troubles here are so little comparing with the greatness that awaits for those who trust and follows our hope of glory, Christ.

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Joy in the Simplicity

I recently finished an anime named ARIA. I find it hard to watch many episodes in one sitting because the mood and pace is way too relaxing. It is about three girls who are training to become professional gondola rowers, and it focuses a lot in character development and interactions. It doesn't seem that exciting. But after finish watching it, I find that this series is one of my top favorites because it presents a very simple yet meaningful message.

The main character often marvels at the simplest of the things and is able to enjoy whatever she is doing no matter what the circumstances are. For example, she was waiting for hours to meet up with someone in a bridge (turns out that the meeting was supposed to be next week) but she got entertained by just looking at the people around her, and pondering where they are going. Well, that is an extreme example I guess.

I find that it is a very important lesson for me. I find myself in a society that pursues immediate gratification, entertainment, wanting to do big exciting things, etc. It is easy for me to get bored when nothing is going on. For me particularly, I always like to do things, and when I am not doing anything, I get quite bored. I start to think what people in the past did, when there were not many sources of entertainment, what did they do to pass the time? There are probably many other ways, but I think one big thing is to have appreciation for the simple things. For example, the weather, food on the table, having a roof, scenery, flowers, cool breeze, birds singing, sunrise, sunset, etc.

I find it very challenging to pay attention to these little things and often take them for granted. In my 3A work term (Summer 2008), I was working in Ottawa, a very cozy and beautiful city during summer. I started to learn a bit about how to appreciate the little things that God has given to me. I will spend a lot of time walking in the parks, contemplating the scenery and nice weather (appreciating His creation), and thinking of how satisfied I am with knowing that life is good because God loves me. This realization accompanied by constant prayer definitely edified me. It's wonderful because I realized that God is already blessing me so much with these simple little things in my life, and how can I keep from singing His praise??!!

I learned to be joyful, and that rejoicing in the Lord comes hand in hand with glorifying God, because all the joy I experienced is because and for the praise of His glory.

Life is full of difficulties and we often get stressed out, but we are to rejoice always:

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Life is a gift from God. We should already be thankful because we are alive in Christ, and it is to be lived at the fullness. Sometimes we like to expect big things from God, that He can use us to do powerful and exciting things. I agree that is good, we must have faith that the Spirit can do great things through us. But we also have to take joy when life seems simple and even monotonous. Because God is constantly pouring our His grace to us.

Stargazing is one of my favorite activities, because I think of Psalms 8. God formed the stars and heavens, and He still takes care of little human beings. Our God is so wonderful!

God does not control only the big things, but also the little things, and we will see that even the simple little things can become meaningful and be reasons of joy because of God.

Everything is for the praise of His glory!

Domination vs Efficiency

Besides the great goals, favorite teams, surprises, excitement, controversies, it is very interesting to analyze the playing style from different teams. There is a lot of tactical decisions behind every game and it is not just the good players who determine the outcome of the game. That's why whenever failure occurs, the coach is the first one to go home.

The World Cup final is between two historical big teams that have never won before. Netherlands went to two finals (74 and 78) but lost. Spain was only able to go to semifinals in one occasion.


Netherlands

The dutch were considered among the favorites. They sweep every team during the qualifiers and they have killer players in great shape like Robben, Sneijder and Van Persie. All of them are coming from a great season in their respective clubs. They are the only team able to win all of their games in this World Cup.

But the dutch are not playing that wonderfully considering the quality of their players. I was watching the semifinal (Uruguay vs Netherlands) and I saw that Van Persie barely gets any balls. Even though Sneijder has been scoring a lot, he is playing a bit disconnected from the rest of the team. Only the lightning-paced plays by Robben entertains me.

The goalkeeper surely showed some insecurity (especially in Forlan's goal) and the defenders seem slow. I personally think that they got lucky in the quarterfinals, because Brazil should have kill the game. Netherlands tied thanks to a free Brazilian meal (own goal + goalkeeper mistake), and then Brazil self-destructed, and Netherlands did what they have to, score. That is commendable about the dutch, that they are efficient in scoring. They might not played too wonderfully, but in simple ways they score and win the games.

In the game against Uruguay,  Netherlands converted the goals even though Uruguay was attacking more and getting more chances. I have to say that Uruguay played a very good game. Even though the "charruas" (Spanish slang word for Uruguayans) don't have that many world-class players like Netherlands, they played a man-to-man game without fear. I like that. Some of their key players were suspended or injured, but they managed to make this game challenging for the dutch. But that does not take out any merit from this dutch team.

Spain

Spain was considered the top favorite team to win because of the great shape of most of their players and for the recent success in the Eurocup. But they started shaky by losing their first game against Switzerland. Perhaps Spain was affected by the pressure of favoritism and the so famous "curse" that has been depriving them from a World Cup success. In many past world cups, Spain usually had a very strong team but they tend to fail in the key moments. But after the first game, Spain seems to be improving.

Spain is a fearsome team because like 70% of their players are from Barcelona. That means, these players have been playing together for a lot of years, and also Barcelona has been doing great in the recent seasons. Their midfield is really scary, and is commanded by Xavi who is the engine of this team. He pretty much dictates the pace and flow of how Spain plays. Adding to that, there is the great form of David Villa who has been scoring almost every game. Moreover, the goalkeeper and the two central defenders are high-hands (Chinese for high level).

Since there is so much quality in the midfield, Spain plays a lot with short passes, always retaining ball possession (they usually get 65-70%) and dominating the rival. They kind of "suffocate" the rival by passing the ball so much, that the rival might just get desperate or have no choice but to defend and wait. Through passing they can unlock the rival's defense, but I think Spain tend to "abuse" of passing too much that leads to predictability in their offense.

It is interested to note that Spain has been winning 1-0 in their last three games, and it shows that even though they can dominate the game, the percentage yield is low. The toughest game they had so far was against Paraguay (quarterfinals). Paraguay came so close to win the game if they didn't miss the penalty shot. They played a very courageous game against Spain to the point that the local press qualified the Paraguayans as "dying standing up".

During the semifinals, I was thinking that Spain would probably dominate the game, but Germany will win because they are more dangerous. But Spain didn't let Germany do much, at the same time Germany seems to have chosen to defend and wait instead of imposing their game and pace as they did against England and Argentina. It is interested to note that the Spanish goal didn't come from passing and passing, but it came from a corner kick (made in Barcelona from Xavi to Puyol).

Spain vs Netherlands

Definitely it is a clash of styles between domination and efficiency. I think Spain is better as a team. I historically like Netherlands because of their past team in 1998 (Bergkamp, Kluivert, Overmars, Davids) played a beautiful soccer. I historically dislike Spain because I had this futbol-rivalry in elementary school with two Spanish friends, haha. I personally think Spain should win it. Spain needs to continue playing as they have been doing, but needs to be more assertive in the offense. Netherlands needs more collaborative play among Robben, Sneijer, and Van Persie, and needs to somehow stop Xavi as much as possible.

In the Uruguay vs Germany game for the 3rd place, it is more psychological because losing the semifinals can be very demoralizing. Germany seems a bit more affected because at some point they were considered the favorite to win the cup. While for Uruguay it is already a success getting to semifinals. This game can be attractive because usually there is less tension (since for some, 3rd and 4th place doesn't really matter) and more fun.

At the end of the day it is very hard to predict the outcome of a soccer game because there are so many unpredictable factors that make this game so beautiful and exciting. El futbol es bello.

Not a good day to talk about soccer

So today my favorite national soccer team, Argentina, lost very badly against Germany by a score of 0-4 in the World Cup quarterfinals. It was quite a humiliating defeat, and of course I am sad. I remembered that I was almost crying when Argentina was disqualified in the first round in the 2002 World Cup when they were the top favorite. But yeah, I am not in the border of crying now. Not yet haha.

It is frustrating because "on paper" Argentina definitely has one of the best teams. If you look at the list of players, there are 5 top class forwards who are shining in the European leagues (Messi, Milito, Tevez, Aguero, Higuain). Only teams like Spain and Netherlands portray similar power in that aspect.

What about Brazil, England, Germany, Portugal, Italy, and France? Brazil has 3 fantastic players (Kaka, Robihno, and Luis Fabiano) but Kaka is not in his best condition after a so-so season with Real Madrid. England has two pillars in the midfield (Gerrard and Lampard) but their soccer relies on Rooney who wasn't able to do much. Ronaldo has good skills but besides his good free kicks, Portugal didn't transcend much. Italy definitely needs some new talented younger players, and France has to deal with its internal turmoil.

Germany gave a very good "leccion futbolistica" (soccer lesson) because they destroyed Argentina in every aspect of the game. Germany was very compact as a team, very collaborative and systematic, and their players were very focused. This led to a strong defense and good-paced midfield which allows them to use the gunpowder they have in the forwards. While Argentina was seeking to rely on their star players Messi and Tevez, who weren't able to surpass the Germany defense.

What is encouraging is that most of the key players in Germany are so young, not even reaching the 1/4 century. More so, the veteran forward Klose is about to break the record in becoming the top all-time scorers in the World Cup. They have improved in their game after a shaky first round, and was able to beat two "big" teams like Argentina and England scoring 4 goals each time. Definitely they have become a serious candidate to win the World Cup. Even if they don't win, I think Germany can rest assure that they have a formidable team for the 2014 World Cup, when their younger players will become more seasoned.

Also, Argentina lost the game in the technical sense (from the coach point of view). Diego Maradona is considered one of the best players in all history, but his coach career and experience is very limited. He wasn't able to make good tactical judgement in this crucial time. This is something that has been seen at least a year ago when Argentina struggled to qualify to the World Cup. But still people like him because of his charisma, after all he is like an idol in Argentina and perhaps he is able to relate better to the players and transmit the courage to them.

This match clearly says that you will need more than good star players and a charismatic coach to win the World Cup. Germany shows that you need to have good team play and good tactical judgement from the coach.

2 lessons to extrapolate:

Team work over individualities:

• Once in a while or for a short-term you can rely on key individualities to win, but for a long-term you need a team
• In the body of Christ, we cannot rely only on the leaders that they will do all the work. They are the ones who encourage and drive the vision, but we also need workers who can support and do the background work. Everyone has to take ownership so that we can see the body of Christ further God's Kingdom with the full potential.

Importance of applied knowledge (wisdom):

• Being a leader, you are to be influential to the people under you. It is important that you can relate to them as a person and encourage them. But you also need to be grounded in the knowledge.
• There are many influential Christian leaders today, and some of them are very good in captivating the audience with the way they preach. It is important for us to test everything (1 John 4) and to discern whether what they are preaching is aligned with the truth (Bible).

But yeah, today is not a good day to talk about soccer.

Remember your roots

It has been a while since I last blog... too much going on lately with convocation, parents visiting, and festivities. I am glad to be back in Waterloo and enjoy some quietness. 

Definite it has been a great privilege to study in UW, and even though there were many times that I complained about school... it is really a gift that I take for granted because the majority of people don't have access to this level of education. In my family, I belong to the first generation to study in an university, so there are many reasons of celebration, joy, rewards, and expectations. At the same time, I am reminded that I should be grateful for my dad who has supported me financially all these years. It is hard to really to give back to my parents who are wishing the best for me and sacrifice a lot for my well being.

Being at convocation, there is a lot of "self-praise" statements from people saying that all the graduates are to change the world, and have a lot of potential, and are smart, etc. In a way it is true =P, but I remember something that was taught to me at a very early age. 

My dad used to tell me a lot of stories about the living conditions in the past that my grandparents had to endure. I even went to China to visit my "homeland' which is a very small village. And there is a very small house (about the size of the living room or UWP) and apparently 10-12 people used to live in that house. Definitely, living at that time was tough for my family.

It is very natural to wish the best for the children and to hope that their living conditions will be better. I am definitely very privileged... I live in a room that is comfortable, I have food on my table, lots of commodities, etc. A lot of time it is so easy to take these for granted and to take pride in our worldly successes. But when I remember "my roots", the place where my family came from, I have to be humbled. I have to be thankful with what I have, and to walk in humility because God is the one who gives and takes away.

Similarly, we are to walk in humility always in midst of successes in ministries and spiritual battles. We are really blessed because we were once alienated from God, and we deserve all His wrath because of our sins. But the exceeding amount of grace from God is too intense that we are given a new life. I love the contrast that is shown in the next verse: 


"All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus." - Ephesians 2:3-6


Understanding how undeserving we are, and grasping how good God is is a way I get to "measure" the immeasurable grace. The pastor's wife from my home church wrote me an email congratulating me and also emphasizing in the same lesson:


This is only the beginning of your professional life...so remember to humble yourself before the Lord and before others, that you might continue to learn much and find grace before Him and men. Remember the life of Joseph, that in the face of trials and problems and dangers, he had never depended upon himself, but on the Lord for he knew to whom he belonged. As you advance in life, never forget where and when the Lord picked you up, and your humble beginning. Always give credit to Him from the bottom of your heart and be sincerely and humbly serving Him, for your every step and every breath you owe to Him. If He ever prosper you, remember your origin with a thankful heart to Him, and continue to be humble and walk with the Lord without departing from His side. Be careful not to allow fame nor fortune cloud your sight nor your mind, nor allow it to become lord of your life.

Obsession for Soccer

So the FIFA World Cup started today!!! I am so happy because I like soccer, I follow it, and it is the maximum level of competition in soccer. This event takes place every 4 years. It is such a big event, probably one of the largest sports event, very comparable with the Olympics in terms of popularity and attention (not particularly in Canada).

My favorite team is la Argentina! They are playing tomorrow, and they have a group of very talented players. But they have to work on "playing as a team" and not depending on their star players. One of the 3 things that makes my heart beats faster is seeing Argentina playing soccer =P. 

At this point, Spain is definitely the top favorite because of its recent victory in the Euro Cup. And also because they have players of high quality specially in the midfield. Besides them, Brazil and Netherlands are potential candidates, though they have some things to work on. Italy is relatively weaker, but they are a team that is made to win in adverse situations. England, Portugal, Germany are other big names, but I personally think that they are ok. 

Soccer is indeed the most popular sport in the world (once again, not in Canada). Since it is so popular in the rest of the world, it can exert great influence, both in good and bad ways. I was reading the National Geographic a long time ago, and I read that a truce was made for a night in a civil war in an African country because their national soccer team was playing. It is very interesting how a soccer match can unite a country despite the internal warfare. In many developing countries, soccer is the game for the poor (since you only need a ball, or make a ball out of newspaper), and it is perhaps the way for people to make a living or to escape from delinquency. 

It can be funny at times. For the current World Cup, the government of Honduras decided to give official leisure time during the time-slots when the Honduras national team will be playing to allow the workers to watch the game. Guatemala played the famous Brazil during a friendly match, and Guatemala tied the game in the very last minute, and it lead to a great celebration involving firecrackers all over the country. So funny because I myself was very happy when they tied, haha.

Also, obsession for soccer can lead to tragic outcomes. There are soccer fanatics that cause vandalism during the games that have cause people to die. There is a particular case in which a player got killed because of scoring an own goal. It is unbelievable. How can a soccer game able to infringe morality causing people to do such bad things?

Similarly, it is important for all of us not to be mastered by anything that will lead us to bad behavior. It is so easy to put God aside when we find something that we really like at the moment. And when we notice, our sinful nature takes over, and we forget to live in congruence with the Spirit. Many of the things that can distract us in such ways are very small harmless things like board games, movies, music, sports, etc. I am not saying that those activities are bad, but that we should continue showing our Christian character in every situation.

Abyss of Pride

Full metal alchemist is such a great manga, definitely one of the best I have read. All-time favorite. Very original storyline, strong and interesting characters, genius way in introducing the concepts of seven particular sins, and the portraying of the human nature in desiring more and more worldly pleasure no matter what, that will lead to their own destruction. The manga is ending soon, and I can't wait to see the epic end!

But yeah, pride is one of the sin that is talked about. And it is one of my biggest struggle. There are so many times that I refused other people's help because I wanted to rely on myself. There are times that I feel hurt when my efforts aren't recognized. There are also times that I don't want to admit that I am wrong when I am in edgy situations arguing with friends. There are probably more things that I might not even be aware of. At the end of the day, if I let pride consume me, exalting myself, it will eventually lead to my own destruction.

"Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." - Proverbs 16:18

Fellowship, DGs, accountability partners are so key to keep you on check, and to rebuke you when you're too full of yourself. But the focus is to learn from our Lord, Jesus, who taught that greatness is found in humility. Jesus became the perfect servant even though He is God, and He obeyed even to death on the cross for our sins. And now He is exalted on high! 

There is this interesting theological review from a pastor of Mars Hill Church about Iron Man 2:

Calibration

As students, we are familiar with the term calibration. When you go to a lab (either chemistry, physics, or engineering), there are instruments that are used to measure something. For example, a balance is an instrument to measure weight. It is known that after many uses, the balance needs to be calibrated periodically in order to keep its accuracy in the measurement.

We are prone to sin, and it is by the amazing power and grace from our Lord Jesus Christ that we can repent and are transformed day by day into his image, walking away from sin. But there is always a warfare in myself between the spiritual desires to please God and the fleshly desires to please me. I find that my sinful nature is like gravity, pulling me to do things I don't want to do. It is only by God's grace that I know Christ loves me and that by the Holy Spirit there is power to transform a wretched man like me.

That's why it is so important to be in constant alignment with God. It is essential that we know Him more and more, that we study His Word frequently, that we are rely on His power everyday. Also, personally I find very refreshing to spend time reflecting on my recent actions to examine myself and to realize that God's grace never ceases to amaze me.

Just like the balance needs to be calibrated periodically, our minds and hearts need to be calibrated constantly so that our minds are aligned with God's mind, and our heart beating at the rhythm of the gospel.

Importance of Defense

Since the soccer world cup is coming soon, I gonna share a bit about my second favorite national soccer team: Italia. It's a team that many people dislike because they don't play pretty (entertaining) soccer, they rely on their borderline physical play, they tend to exaggerate in front of the referee to the point of simulating fouls (which I think many teams do it nowadays). But I like them. Besides that fact that I like the blue color of the Italian jersey, I like their defense. There was a time when they had an all-star line of this line of defenders: Paolo Maldini, Fabio Cannavaro, and Alessandro Nesta. Their defense is so focused and strong, that it is their foundation to achieve victory by not letting the opposing team score.

Recently, two brothers and I were meeting frequently with a some mormon missionaries. It is funny because they saw me at Philip one day, and on the next day another brother found the same mormon missionaries at Lester, and we just decided to meet together (instead of separately). Another brother joined us too, and we met up 6 times during 2 weeks. During the last meeting, they gave up on us, saying that they had shared all their "truth", that it was up to us to decide, and that they need to spend time with other people.

It was a challenging experience for me because it was my first time that I have to defend my faith against false teachings. The mormon missionaries are well trained, they speak very well, they take control of the conversation, and the message they spoke was like 90% similar to what I believe. I am sure that they purposely hid some aspects of their "sketchy" beliefs. That is why it is so important for every Christian to know the truth, to know how to express it, and to know how to defend it. The importance of defense is to not let the opposing team score, and to eventually overwhelm them by our firmness.

During these 2 weeks, I spent time researching about the mormons and preparing to defend the truth that I stand for, and it was a very rewarding learning experience. In terms of biblical, archeological and historical facts, there is an overwhelming number of ways to defend the truth of Christianity against the mormons. Whenever we point out a biblical truth that contradicts the mormon doctrine, the mormon missionaries (they say they believe in the bible) will just tactfully comment on it, change subjects or go in circles, so it was a bit disappointing. Most of the things that they talked to us about don't even come from the book of mormons, but from other sources such as the words of their prophets and another document they have about covenants. In the end, I found it very hard to convince them that Christianity is true by arguing, but that my role is to let the Word speak with the hope that the Spirit will convict them about the truth from Scripture. I told them to read Galatians 1 on their own as my last words =P

Summary of the things I learned in interacting with mormon missionaries:

• Love and compassion: I felt anger because they are preaching a false gospel, blaspheming the Word of God, and they are very active on campus. I was all pumped to enter into arguments and debates with them. But I realized that will not go anywhere, and that preaching the gospel has to be done with love.
• Let the Word of God speak: I could use many biblical facts to bash their teachings, but a better approach to minister to them by showing them what the bible says and let them read it themselves.
• Don't go alone: Go with someone who can help you with prayer while you talk and support you, there is a spiritual warfare.
• Grace vs. works: the mormons believe that they need to do works to earn salvation. I was thinking, why is salvation by works so attractive? And I realized that there can be boasting in such teaching, while we as Christians only boast on the cross because it is not because of what I do, but of what Jesus did.
• Heart is deceitful: the mormon tells you to rely on your feelings while discerning the validity of the book of mormons, but we ought not do that because feelings are deceiving but we use wisdom.
• Pray constantly.

Protecting with zeal

I heard this funny and interesting clip from Paul Washer in this sermon:

The Purpose of Marriage (Paul Washer)
(the link automatically timed to 28:40, just watched for like 1-2 minutes)

I agree in the intensity in protecting the people who are dear to you. That includes our brothers and sisters in Christ =)

Fuerza Barca!

For those who have to endure the painful announcements that I made during CCF, I often like to use pictures from one of my favorite soccer team, Barcelona, as a reference of a point I want to get across. Barcelona just had two epic seasons. Even though they didn't get to the UCL finals this year, Barcelona won the Spanish Liga consecutively, beating their historic rival Real Madrid.

What I love the most about Barcelona is their game philosophy. It is about playing fútbol that is pleasant and entertaining. It is about circulating the ball with precision. It is about constantly going on the offensive and taking the initiative to score. It is not jut about winning, but about winning with style. It is an art. And this team is faithful to this game philosophy no matter what the score is, no matter who they playing against, and no matter whether they are playing home or away.

This makes me ponder if I am faithful to the lifestyle of a Christian disciple, whether I am living in congruence with what God has called me to and entrusted with. I also also myself if I am consistently having this lifestyle no matter what the circumstances are. Many times I do fail, and it is by His mercy and grace that I can get strength to persevere.

"Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you." - Philippians 1:27-28

Missionary Student

I found another cool article in the Resurgence: 7 Ways to Be a Missionary in College

For a long time the aspect of evangelism has been criticized in CCF. There has been suggestions about making Friday nights (fellowship) more evangelistic focused. There are questions about why we aren't doing evangelistic events such as Lifesong (big drama production) or Coffeehouses anymore. Also, why there isn't a single CCF poster on campus? It is not a secret that CCF is weak in evangelism.

The common response is that the fellowship should start doing more evangelistic events to address this. I agree that this addresses the symptoms, but it doesn't target the root issue. I have seen that Lifesong is good by unifying the fellowship but it ends up being another CCF event lacking of a strong vision and failing to follow up with the very few non-Christians who attend.

The reason why events like Lifesong haven't happened for a while is because we were lacking in the fundamentals of our faith, so we wanted to focus on them. If we truly understand our faith, then evangelism should be more than natural. The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) should be in our agenda everyday. Understanding the gospel should make me realize how much love and grace has been given to me, and that God uses me to make this gospel known to the people around me. Because the gospel is so good, that I should be excited to talk about Jesus to others. If I am conformed into the image of Christ, then I should feel compassion for the lost.

I believe that the fellowship should teach and challenge all of us to understand the gospel and live according to the gospel. We meet so many people in university that we should not be too comfortable in the CCF bubble, but seek to invest time in our non-Christian friends.

Though actions of love can speak volumes, I feel that it is important to engage in discussions to share the reason for the hope we have (1 Peter 3:15). Because anyone can do actions of love, but we are ambassadors of Christ and we are given the privilege to share the gospel. And if we truly love our friends, then we should be more than compelled to share this message because it is about the salvation of their souls.

I am very weak in this area. It is not easy and it can be scary. But it's time for me to be more intentional and really live according to the gospel. I have been challenged by a brother who shared with me this quote from John Piper: "A silent servant-hood that never speaks the Gospel contradicts love."

I think personal evangelism is the way to go. I am not saying that evangelistic events are bad, but that instead of asking ourselves what the fellowship should do, first we should examine ourselves in our own lives.

Short clip from John Piper when he said the previous mentioned quote:

Variety in fellowship

I came across this video "Gospel 101" from the Resurgence.

Gospel 101 from Sojourn Community Church on Vimeo.

It made me think about the purpose of a body of Christ (like church or CCF) and also the variety of gifts that exists in a body. According to this video, there are people who focuses on:

• Bringing the message of the gospel out to the streets and on doing deeds
• Teaching the body about the truth of the gospel
• Emphasizing on the grace of God

I can see how in CCF, members can be roughly "categorized" into these previous three points. There are definitively people who are zealous on serving, there are people who are hardcore in presenting the truth in Scripture, and there are people who focuses in encouraging and caring for each other.

The beauty of this is that if we only emphasize in one of these three points alone, there is a danger of falling as we are not living out the complete picture of what a Christ-centered community should be. Part of being in a community is to spur one another, as one's strength and help other's weakness. This is how a body of Christ should work, everyone united focusing on the same goal and partnering in the gospel.

CCF has a majority of people who come from a conservative Chinese church background, and these members are usually focused on the Scriptures. Recently, we are blessed with having members coming from charismatic churches, and they are more focused on being filled by the Holy Spirit. An interesting discussion came out several times about what the focus should be. If we focus too much on the Scripture alone, the fellowship can become very dry spiritually. But if we only focus on the Spirit, then the fellowship can become "drunk" by the lack of truth. So it is important to have both together. Two passages (Colossians 3:16 and Ephesians 5:18) give a good indication that knowing the Word and being filled by the Spirit comes hand in hand.

you are you

I used to go to my friend's place back home to read the Slam Dunk manga. My friend came from Hong Kong and he bought the volumes in Chinese, so I had to just look at the figures and guessed the dialog. The manga is about basketball, and there is this particular game in which the captain of the main team (who plays in the center position) is getting owned by the opponent's center, and he is losing his confidence and making many mistakes. Then one of his past rival knocks the sense out of him, and he is reminded that "he is he", and "I am me" (reference). He quits comparing himself to his opponent, and starts doing his best for the team :D.

This reminds me of a struggle that some of us have in comparing ourselves with others. I see a lot of that among traditional Chinese parents who like to compare us with siblings or cousins in terms of academic performance and success in life. Some of us tend to compare ourselves with other members of the fellowship in terms of spiritual maturity, leadership, serving, etc. I personally think that is very damaging because low-esteem and feelings of inadequacy appear in one end, and resentment and envy appear in the other end. All these hurt the body of Christ.

We have to remember that each of us is a beloved child of God. And that we are one in Spirit, we share the same faith, we have one Lord, and we are united by His love (Eph. 4). Even though each of us are given different gifts and services, it is by the same Spirit (1 Cor. 12) and with the same purpose to glorify God and edify the body. Every good work that is done through our fellowship is to glorify God, and make His name known to others. Each of us is given a plate, and by God's grace we do our best to serve for His Kingdom with what we have been entrusted. At the end of the day it is between God and you.

So yeah, you are you, he is he, she is she, I am me. Don't compare, but do the best you can for our winning team to further God's Kingdom.

Mistakes

Now that I am done undergrad, it feels quite strange. It is good to be done, but it hasn't hit me yet the fact that I am DONE. It will take some time for emotions to kick in, but definitely there is a mix of emotions being sensed as my undergrad period ends. Though I was not feeling anything in particular when I finished my last exam. But when I walk on campus now, it is strange.

Anyways, some people asked me about the things I have learned during these years. There are so many, and I need more time to process my thoughts. But I have in mind mistakes that I made. There aren't regrets though since God has allowed my mistakes, I know there is a reason.

Every time I wake up, I am aware of how weak I am, and that I am so prompt to make mistakes. But it is only by the grace of God that despite these mistakes, He still do good things through me. It is because of His mercy that I am not consumed by His wrath.

So here are a few mistakes I made:

• Did not build relationships with classmates
• Rarely ate with housemates
• Felt frustration when I see a problem in the fellowship
• Too prideful to ask for help
• Isolated myself in times of struggle
• Too busy to take care of the people who needed me the most
• Failed to integrate in Christian communities in some work terms
• Too scared to share the gospel to the people around me
• Not much friends who are non-believers
• Relied on myself when I should have surrender to God
• Put duty over heart
• Passive in times when I need to speak up or rebuke

There are many more for sure, but these are the main ones.

True Greatness

About 1.5 years ago, I wrote an article entitled "True Greatness" for the CCF Fall 2008 Insight newsletter (page 12). I attempted (with God's grace) to express what I understand about the paradox of what God calls "great" in contrast to the world's views. I briefly extrapolated to include what God considers as truly great men and truly beautiful women.

Recently, a sister shared this link from a blog post that talks about the true beauty of a woman. Pretty intense.

God is too intense ("geng" in canto), and His calling and standards are details of the rich and abundant life that God has intended for us to live, which is truly beautiful. And with this beauty, Christ is exalted, glorifying our Father in heaven.

RAWR

Many people like to put "RAWR" or some similar variations in their g-chat display name during exam times... I really don't understand what it means :P.. but I assume it is an expression of stress and frustrations that is created by the roughness of exams.

I like acronyms :D, so let's play:

Rejoice

Always

With

Robustness

Philippians 4 is such a great encouragement about rejoicing always and in all circumstances as the peace that comes from God will guard our minds and hearts in Christ Jesus. For sure times can get tough, but it is God's will for us to (1 Thess. 5:16-18) to rejoice always. As we grow closer to God it is undoubtedly that trials and challenges will come, but it is a pure joy (James 1:2).

We have to remember who we are, our identity in Christ. We were once objects of wrath (Eph. 2) and there are so many reasons why we deserve the wrath of God. But God is His mercy and grace has given us forgiveness, reconciliation, adoption to become His children, and daily He gives us more and more. Even the current suffering that we have can be considered grace, because God promises that He works for the good of those who love Him (Rom. 8:28).

Some people might not know the word "robustness". It is an engineering term after all! It means to keep constant and strong despite the external disturbance. So, we are to rejoice always despite the external circumstances affecting us.

To rejoice all the time is challenging, and it can only be done by the grace and providence from our Lord. There is victory in Christ, so let's rejoice in all circumstances.

Pillar of support

I enjoy watching the anime Prince of Tennis. It is quite entertaining, and it is a living proof of how the physics I learned in class doesn't apply at all. But yeah, there is a phrase that I am attached with from this series, and I remembered including it (with proper reference) in a serious email that I wrote about CCF:

"Become a pillar of support..."

Basically, the about-to-leave captain says this to the freshman to encourage and challenge him to become an integral part of the tennis team.

As a about-to-leave leader, I feel very compelled to say that same phrase especially to the younger members of CCF. If you consider CCF as your family in Waterloo, I challenge you to become an integral member of this family. To generalize, become an integral member of your local Christian community.

Don't be just a bystander or someone who just attends, but be someone who gets involved, who actively engages, who gets to know other members of the family. Exercise the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given you in the place that God has placed you in to manifest more and more the new life in Christ Jesus.

It is very rewarding to actively partake in a community because we learn how to love, we are encouraged and challenged, we learned to be humble and vulnerable through the invaluable relationships we formed. God can use this community to mold us and make us realize the potential and the privilege we have to co-partner in His Kingdom. All for the praise and glory to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Become CCF's pillar of support.

(this video is automatically time-stamped at 4:15m)

Words of Hope

I know that it is exam time, and usually it is a challenging period. But looking to what life can offer in the future, it might not be as challenging as it seems... but nevertheless, I just want to share these encouraging words that I found from an anonymous source. Persevere with joy!

"Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." - Nehemiah 8:10

May God make your year a happy one!

Not by shielding your from all sorrows and pain,

But by strengthening you to bear it, as it comes;

Not by making your path easy,

But by making you sturdy to travel any path;

Not by taking hardships from you,

But by taking fear from your heart;

Not by granting you unbroken sunshine,

But by keeping your face bright, even in the shadows;

Not by making your life always pleasant,

But by showing you when people and their causes need you most,

And by making you anxious to be there to help.

God’s love, peace, hope and joy to you for the year ahead.

Anonymous

Righteousness through Faith

In my manga reading, I came across with a concept about the ancient Egyptian religion, which is about a balance that weights your heart against a feather (after you die). If your heart is heavier than a feather, then you are guilty and you will be punished. But if the weights are equal then you will be fine and proven to be righteous. There is probably more into this, but that is not the point of this post.

Many times I struggle with the guilty conscience from sin, and that can hinder from coming close to God. But then I am reminded that Jesus Christ already finished His work and my sins are already forgiven. It's craziness. Amazing.

"How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we maybe serve the living God!" - Hebrews 9:14

Without any doubt, we are all sinners (Rom. 3:23), but for those who are in Christ Jesus there is no condemnation (Rom. 8:1). Because when God sees us, He sees our heart being cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ, and we are forgiven and righteousness is imputed to us through faith in Jesus.

"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes; first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from the first to last, just as it is written: 'The righteous will live by faith.'" - Romans 1:16-17

Yeah, it is just so amazing that God's grace is so abundant, and that through faith in Christ we are forgiven and justified, not by our actions so that no one can boast.

Investment

5 years of Waterloo has taught me soooooooo much.... like being numb to any pain inflicted by the department of Electrical Engineering =P

One of the greatest lessons I learned is to invest in people. I have been graced by God to be part of this wonderful family in CCF. And it has been a privilege to serve in many leadership roles which has challenged me to depend on God more and more. Due to the nature of CCF, there are many meetings, logistics, emails back-and-forth involved in serving... and they can so distract me from seeing the main purpose of leadership. I believe that it is about people. Christian leadership is to influence people to move towards the God-ward direction. It is all about investing in people's lives. To encourage, support, challenge, rebuke, teach, guide, train, mentor the people who God has entrusted you with. One big reason is because Christianity is about faith expressing itself through love (Gal. 5:6), and this love is expressed and refined through relationship with people.

As leaders, we are to serve willingly as shepherds for the flock entrusted to us (1 Peter 5:2). I personally like to arrange to meet up with different people every week for a meal or coffee to chat and share how God has been working in our lives. Living at the CCF house (westcourt) gives me many opportunities to do that.

One key factor is to be intentional. It is so easy to get distracted, busy, or complacent with superficial conversations. It is important to have the intention to engage in edifying conversations.

After 5 years, an extra note of joy is to see how God has been actively working in the lives of the people who God has entrusted you with. You might not see fruits or results right away, but that's ok as God is who makes the seed grow. All the glory and praise is for God. It is really extra grace that we are vessels to be used by God to impact other people's lives. When you see that a person is bearing fruits from the Spirit and gaining more mature in Christ Jesus, it is a real joy.

Be intentional and mindful in your investment.

Contemplation

Sometimes when I do my devotional or prayer time, there are many thoughts and distractions that hinder me from focusing on God. This could be exams, anxieties, work that I need to do, life struggles, etc.

One "exercise" I like to do is contemplation. This is similar to my previous post about prayer-streaming, which is to have a constant awareness of God in your daily life. For me, to contemplate can be as simple as just staring at the skies and being marveled at God's creation, or taking a walk in the park and meditate on how much God has blessed you, or stargazing and thinking about Psalm 8, or closing your eyes and listening to a worship song. The key is to make yourself decreased, and focus on the awesomeness of who God is by experiencing Him through His work on creation and/or in yourself.

It is about bringing God in the center of all your thoughts. The struggles and distractions might not disappear, but God is in charge, and when you saturate yourself with His word and experience Him through prayer... all the external circumstances won't matter. Because God is captivating your heart in every devotional time.

Devotional time is not just about reading/studying a bible passage or praying, but to really set apart a time for God, and to experience Him, deepening your relationship with Him, and synchronizing your heart with His.

Prayer-streaming

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

What it means to pray continually? Is it literally meaning praying 24/7? Is that even possible? Perhaps this can be interpreted in praying very often. Personally, I think this also means to be constantly aware of God's presence in every second of your life. We might not be able to always think about God. But even when we don't consciously make an effort to think about Him, we can still be sensitive to what He is trying to show us throughout the day. Whenever we have time to think throughout the day, like commuting to work, taking a break, walking, etc, we can always talk to God. I remembered a brother sharing about talking to God in a g-chat window, we can always leave the channel opened to talk to Him so that we invite Him to every part of our daily life.

I think that prayer is not just about setting a specific time to talk to God, but a bonding time when we can share and bond closer to God, and He will also speak and show things that we normally wouldn't be able to see.

Prayer-streaming, a constant exercise of being aware that God is with you, and that He is showing you little blessing throughout the day :) and that He desires your attention as a Father. This will make even the most routine and simple days to be so delightful, because God is with you.