"Uncertainties"

A year after acquisition by a bigger firm, our company has finally and officially merged my team with the other team. Just recently, two of my team members got the ax (one in HK and one in Shenzhen), and another girl from the other team was also axed from her job. Many months before that, a few others also got fired.

Here, we celebrate as a team and to bid farewell the two members who got axed by having a very big Chinese Hotpot dinner. Let's see who will be the last one standing.

In life, there are plenty of uncertainties. It is life's way of giving us challenge and making us strong, and somehow a way of spicing up our life.

We don't ask God to remove our life's uncertainties, but we ask Him that He goes with us as we go through with it.

Parents Are Teachers

One day, a five year-old boy saw his father reading a book. To the kid’s interest, he asked his dad what he was reading. The father replied, “The Siege of Troy”. To the five year-old toddler’s curiosity, he asked again, “Dad, what is Troy?”

At this point, many fathers would reply, “Troy is a city in Asia Minor. Now run off and play.” But this father was different. There in the living room he built a “city” of tables and chairs. On top of the whole he put an armchair for a throne and popped the little kid on top of it. “There,” the father said, “That’s Troy and you’re the king. And let me see, here’s Helen of Troy, beautiful and sleek,” and pointed to the cat beneath the footstool. “Outside, you know, the big dogs in the yard are always trying to get in and catch Helen. They are attacking the kings, Agamemnon and Menelaus, and they are making a siege of Troy to capture Helen.”

This father told the story to the child in terms he could understand. 4 years later, his father gave him a copy of “The Siege of Troy” and encouraged him to start reading it.

Do you agree that parents are teachers? Parents, whether they like it or not, are always teaching their children. Whether beating, cuddling, worrying, loving or hating them, parents still teach their children. Children benefit from the examples and experiences with their parents. I always remember my Dad as a strict father. He used to have his leather belt as a tool to discipline us whenever anyone of us kids misbehaves. After my Dad came back home from his longtime absence at home due to overseas work, I remember him as the one who used to turn off the television right in the middle of our favorite evening shows. Then he will ask all of us to take out our Bibles and begun teaching us about different passages and stories. He did this on purpose everyday when everyone’s around. I always disliked my Dad for interrupting us watching our favorite television programs or while we’re in a middle of our playtime. Up to the point when many of us siblings find his voice monotonous and boring by evidently falling half asleep right in the middle of the studies – our eyelids felt like it weighed a ton. But my father tirelessly went on and on teaching the Bible and takes us to church every Sunday, and years had past until many of us completed our schools and he was already away working overseas again. My Mom carried on this legacy of my Dad since he left to work. But you know what? I ever wondered why my Dad would do such a thing, interrupt us for doing something we liked with something he thought was much more important? Why can’t he wait until we’re done watching TV, or done playtime? We criticize him for his way of discipline and training but in the end, we ended up not parting from it. What I thought was not so important before; today is something so valuable for me. And I thank my parents for that! I believe that even though my parents did not have that kind of wealth to give to us children, they have already given us the kind of wealth that not too many children had the privilege receiving. It is something of very high value which money cannot buy. It is the kind of wealth that cannot be stolen but can be shared and never runs out. It is the kind of wealth you can only get from the Word of God.

Now, what is that most valuable lesson you can remember your parents has taught you as a child? For those of you who are parents, I want to ask you this: What is the most valuable lesson you want your children to learn and practice? How would you like to be remembered by your children? Some of these lessons are perhaps about giving and sharing? How about patience? Obedience? Independence? Do you want your children to fear God and have more faith in God? (Proverbs 22:4). Children may criticize the advice and the kind of discipline they receive, attack it or even discard it for a time – but they will never forget it. You see, my Dad was teaching us through example that God should be first and foremost in everything we do. Whether our favorite show is on or our best buddies are around, God must always come first.

In these difficult days, parents have a greater responsibility than ever before for the spiritual training of their children. Give your children a firm foundation, a faith founded upon the rock, the rock Christ Jesus (Matt. 7:25). Parents, teach your children to love God and His ‘Word’, the Bible. The younger they are the better. “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6. Sit down with them tirelessly and tell them about God the way they would understand Him. They may find it monotonous, boring and unexciting. But in the end the seed that you have planted in your children will grow and eventually will bear fruits.

And do not just send them to church – take them. Remember parents your example speaks louder than your words – always. To my Dad, Happy Fathers' Day! You are the greatest...!

Bible passage to read: Proverbs 22:6

“CHILDREN LEARN WHAT THEY LIVE;
CHILDREN LIVE WHAT THEY LOVE.”

Parents' Wish

This is dedicated to all Mums and Dads, and their children.

This is how we, as their children, should treat our parents

as grown ups!

So far, one of the best reminders about life and parenting.

Please Click on below:

http://parentswish.com/site01/big.html

Under Construction

Many years back, I watched some of the overpass constructions done at Taikoo Place in the Quarry Bay area where I used to work. The small overpass that had been built in the beginning phases of construction appeared hopelessly disconnected to the entire office-building project in the vicinity of Taikoo Place. There where no other passages leading to or from the overpass. It was just a span of concrete that seemed to lead nowhere. However, when the project was completed, the seemingly misplaced overpass proved to be a vital link that serves building occupants to cross from one building to the other.

Sometimes our lives reflect in this way. We are not sure why are we working at that particular job, living in this specific place, or serving this particular foreign family. We simply do not see how it fits into God’s plans for us. But it is exactly at this juncture that we must rely on the sovereignty of God. For God knows what He desires to accomplish in our lives. He is aware of how this day, this job, this relationship is pieced together in His good and acceptable plan. You know, our wisdom has limits. We do not know what the day will bring. However, God’s wisdom is infinite and transcendent. He weaves every thread of our existence into a purposeful, productive, profitable plan.

When I first moved to Hong Kong over sixteen years ago, I left all my friends and the opportunity to get a job in the advertising career I wanted. I ended up with a bit of frustratrations in the beginning years waiting tables at a restaurant, serving food and drinks to people I have never met; spending half of my time in a garment factory removing threads on garments. I was a reluctant church member where I used to arrive half an hour before the benediction. It was stressful, a lot of pressure and struggle. However, I steadily grew and after many years, God opened a small door that made me exercise my commitment. Today, I rely only on Him in many situations of my life, whether in sickness or in good health, or whatever circumstances I am in.

Sixteen years ago I could never have foreseen both the struggles and triumphs I have in life. It was simply trust, dependence, and obedience – the key to bringing order and meaning to what seem like a hopeless, meaningless and misplaced construction of overpass of our lives. Somehow Joseph understood that principle thousands of years ago. At young age of seventeen he enjoyed the prosperity of a prominent Hebrew family. For the next thirteen years, he worked as a servant in a foreign land and spent time in an Egyptian jail. But in each experience, Joseph’s steady hand and diligence caused him to find favor with God. He did the best with what he had, did what he knew to be right, and trusted God. He did not know at seventeen years of age that he would administer the Egyptian kingdom at thirty.

God uses everything for good in your life when you entrust yourself and your circumstances to God’s providential control. No situation is hopeless if you trust Him. You may not understand your present situation of your life, but God does! Just rest in His efficiency and sovereignty.

Is any part of your life under construction today? Have you been trying to figure out where is it leading? You may not understand your present situation of your life. All you need to do is put your trust in God and rest in His efficiency and sovereignty.

Bible passage to read: Proverbs 20:24

(One of the finished bridges linking tenants from one office building

to another in the vicinity of Taikoo Place, Quarry Bay)

“Everything happens for a reason and a purpose, and it serves you.”

The Mother of My Heart

"The Mother of My Heart"

(In celebration of Mothers Day, Sunday, May 10, 2009...

A poem dedicated to my Mum and to all the mothers out there)

For all that you have done for me

All I could give you back is love.
You bound my wounds I never see
And hopes and passions bound.

For I have nothing but your love

Your unmoved faith that shakes the ground.

And many times I made you frown

But your quiet spirit has never worn.

You raised me up to be so strong

And patient as I grew.

You sing for me, you comfort me

Understand me when no one can.

You are the mother of my heart

The one whose always been around

Who loved me till I turned to love

That I became the soul am now.

But then I love you first of all,

And thank for all you do.

It means you mean a lot to me

And that I honor you.

(Me and my Mum under the Maple tree - 1993)

Happy Mothers Day!
Mothers are God's special gift to us!