Sweet Home _____ (fill in the blank)

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. - Philippians 3:20

A while back I visited Raleigh during my spring break. It was great to be able to spend time with some old friends, and to shop at those familiar stores. But I could also feel that my heart was stirred up again: "Oh God, why do you not allow me to live in Raleigh? Are you sure, absolutely sure, that this is the best plan?" So I asked two girls to pray for me that I would not trust in my feelings and emotions but continue to trust God and Truth. One of them prayed that God would make where I am now into "Sweet Home Alabama" for me, so I would not miss the "Raleigh home" so much. Then all of a sudden it shocked me - my sweet home isn't Raleigh either! My sweet home is above. It is part of God's perfect plan that we don't feel so "home" here on earth, so that we don't love this temporary home too much and stop longing for our real home.

God or Comfort?

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the suffering of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. - 2 Corinthians 1:3-5

Last week I told my "support group" a few "long-term" prayer requests, one of them being, choose God rather than comfort. I felt that comfort is one of the last few things I'm still struggling to surrender to God completely. Why did I want so much to go back and live in Raleigh? It's comfortable! It's large enough but doesn't have bad traffic, I can find all the stores and restaurants I like - all those are physical comfort. It's also emotionally and even spiritually comfortable - I love Grace and already have so many old friends there.

Yet Berk's talk at Faithwalkers 2012 shocked me: when Lot chose comfort rather than God, he not only brought his family into a lot of trouble later, but his daughters learned it from him and continued to way worse choices. I told myself at that time, "My addiction to comfort needs to go. PS @ God: thank you that I don't have children yet!"

When is God near and when is He far away?

"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God." - Luke 18:14a

By God's grace and provision, I moved into a new state with a job I love. My initial impression of the new place was great - this little southern town in the "Bible belt" seems to be one of the few places left in the US where public prayers are not only allowed but encouraged. I was very shocked during the first school meeting/seminar because we actually open and close in prayers! However, I gradually found out about the flip side of the coin - when everyone claims to be saved, it's hard to tell when is God near, and when is He far away? Earlier this week, two storied happened right in front of my eyes, and they again made me ponder the same question.

Tempted Beyond Control

"If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." - Genesis 4:7

This is another story from the Christian conference I was at last weekend. One afternoon, we were given about two hours of free time to "do whatever you want" between many hours of teaching, so we were all discussing what we could do. Then all of a sudden a thought came to me about leading a Bible study for the few people that just got saved on how to pray and how to have a quiet time each morning. So I brought up this idea among other ones we were talking about, and immediately the girls agreed to join me. But there was one guy who said, "I'll do it." Then all the other guys decided that they were going to play basketball, and tried to talk this guy into going with them. "Come on, there's plenty of opportunities to do Bible studies in future! There's always more than you'd want to go to." But this new believer said firmly, "But I want to know how to pray and how to study God's words - NOW!" I was really encouraged because I knew how big a temptation it was when all the other guys were going to play basketball.

Later in the evening, when we were having a tie-down/sharing time, I used this example and shared about all the temptations we face. Someone said that we always hear two voiced, one from God and the other from Satan, but we are confused many times because both voices says "This is God, and I'm suggesting this for your own good..." yet they suggest completely different things. We are confused because we don't know which voice is from God. Then the perfect example came...

Do You Love Me and *HOW* do You Love Me?

The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep." - John 21:17

I was at a Christian conference this past weekend with friends from a different church, and we were very blessed to witness many ones came to Christ. One afternoon when we had some free time, I invited a few new believers to study the Bible together with me, and we talked about how we could love God back, since our love is so tiny compared to His infinite love. I shared two simple (but not easy) ways with them: Jesus said "If you love me, obey my commands" (John 14:15) and "If you love me, feed my sheep" (John 21:17). I was honestly only expecting them to remember them and perhaps start to demonstrate their love for God by obeying some of His commands (let's be honest, which one of us is capable of obeying all His commands and never do wrong?!), but one of them surprised me...

It Was Just Like Yesterday...

...he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. - Philippians 1:6

As I just mentioned in the last post, we had three mission teams coming to share on campus and help out with our new college ministry in the past two weeks. It had been an amazing experience and such an encouragement for me. One day when I was practicing evangelism with Ivette and Michal (I was pretending to be a typical college student they met on campus), Ivette looked at me and said, "Wow, you're so good at this!" I was shocked at first, because it wasn't too long ago when I was on my first mission trip! Here comes the memory...

Brothers and Sisters from Afar

For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. - Matthew 12:50

This past couple of weeks have been a life-changing experience for me. Our church hosted three mission teams from different states, and a total of 40+ college students who decided to honor God with their spring break time. It was my first time taking the organizer's responsibility for such a huge event - although a lot of them looked at me thinking that I must be a pro, this is actually a brand new experience for me.

Do You Pray for Comfort or Grace?

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” - 2 Corinthians 12: 7-9

If I were sick, I would pray for healing and health; if I were financially broke, I would pray for money and provision; and if someone broke my heart, I would pray for love and comfort from others. It all sounds like what we should do anyway, until yesterday when we did a word study on "grace" and looked at a few verses from the Bible that talks about God's grace. 


At the end we had a profound question: some verses talk about grace being given to everyone, even before we were born (for example, 2 Tim 1:9); but some other verses talk about God giving more grace to some than others (for example, James 4:6) - how is that not conflicting each other?

The "Never-ending" Surgery

He must increase, but I must decrease. - John 3:30

For twenty something years, I have been able to proudly claim "No I have never been through any surgery." whenever I was asked (mostly for medical reasons). Now this luck is about to come to an end, with my scheduled surgery in a couple of weeks, to take out my wisdom teeth. Many of you might still say, "Well, if that is the only surgery you will have in this life, you are still very blessed!" Quite true. Unfortunately, I have just discovered lately, according to the Scripture, this will NOT be my only surgery in this life; in fact, I am probably "doomed" for a never-ending surgery!

The Biggest Reward HERE

I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. - Genesis 15:1

So we all know what our rewards are in heaven, but have you ever thought about your rewards here on earth, before you get to heaven? I know I have. A lot more often when I first started "doing some work for God", rather than just enjoying His "free gifts"; but even now, I still wonder every once a while, where is my reward HERE?

The Best "Pain-killer" (Aug 16th, 2011)

A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. - Proverbs 11:25

This past Friday, I started having a horrible toothache because of my wisdom teeth. Since surgery is the only solution, and there is no way for me to get it done on Friday, the medical doctor I saw decided to give me a strong pain-killer on top of regular antibiotics, so I could survive the weekend. It's such a strong pain-killer that I needed to provide my license number to the pharmacy before picking it up. Nevertheless, one particular wisdom tooth still kept on swelling - by Friday evening, I could not eat regular food, and could not even talk in a normal way!

The next day, our church has an outreach scheduled to a nearby nursing home. We have discovered through previous trips that the elderly people there really like to hear the hymns, so now we would just go there once a month to sing the hymns for them (and with them - quite a few of them will jump right in).

For those of you who know me well, you know how much "gift" I have gotten in music. ;-) Try to replay in your mind one time you heard me sing in church or home group, then add in the new twist - I could not talk normally with a swollen cheek.

Faith Walkers 2010 Has Changed My Life...(Dec 31st, 2010)

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" - Isaiah 6:8

This was my first time attending Faith Walkers. Many people had given the testimonies that Faith Walkers had changed their lives, but I wasn't quite expecting such a dramatic effect on me, since I have already been saved more than four years ago. Nevertheless, it still changed my life, much more dramatically than I would have ever expected...

It Might Just Be What You Did in a Split Second...

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. - Hebrews 10:36

A few years ago, I wasn't a believe, and I hadn't even heard about the gospel. I just move to a city in US to get a further degree. One day as I was walking across campus, someone stopped me: "Hey, would you like some free pizza?" Nothing special - I had seen plenty of Christian groups doing this on campus - free something in exchange for your contact info, and at that time, even though I didn't really like these groups, I had learned that they wouldn't abuse your contact info, or that they were at least not dangerous.

Unfortunately, pizza is not my thing (same as donuts, eggnogs, and all the "traditional American goodies"). So I told this guy, "Sorry, I don't eat pizza." But this guy was a little bit stubborn - instead of going for someone else that eats pizza, he went on and said, "How about a freeT -shirt?" Unfortunately, I only wore Victoria's Secret and a couple of other brands at that time. (Until now I still am not a big fan for freeT -shirts, unless it's something I feel representing for.) So I told him, "Sorry, I don't wear no-brand-name T-shirts." You would think that by now this person should have given up? Nope.

A Follow-up Lesson on Suffering

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. - 2 Corinthians 4:8-11

In an earlier post back in June, I talked about how I learned to trust God's timing more because most of the times, it does not take decades to find out that God's right, so that whenever I suffer yet do not see a reason, I could at least find the comfort that five years later, I shall see His purpose clearly and be grateful for what He did today.

Shortly after that, I have learned a brand new lesson on suffering by reading Elisabeth Elliot's book: A Path Through Suffering. So this is just some follow-up thoughts on the topic of suffering...