Make Rest, Not War

“Come to me, all of you who are tired and have heavy loads, and I will give you rest. ” Matthew 11:28

Without rest, author and minister Wayne Muller writes, "we make war on our own bodies, pushing them beyond their limits; war on our children, because we cannot find enough time to be with them when they are hurt and afraid and need our company; war on our spirit, because we are too preoccupied to listen to the quiet voice that seeks to nourish and refresh."
Rest is a spiritual disciple. It’s something we must make room for. Yet we work so hard to make room for everything but rest. Then we wind up exhausted, irritable, and too often filled with regret. We mistakenly think we’re being excellent and efficient with our multi-tasking and our scheduled-down-to-the-minute days, but we are finite beings and we can only do so many things at a time well. Muller explains, “If we take on too much, we end up knocking things over and then spend our time cleaning up messes."

Everything God made runs in rhythms and cycles. The ocean, the solar system, the seasons, time, music, and the beating heart are just a few examples. Listen a moment to your own rhythm: Inhale… exhale. Thump-thump. Thump-thump goes your chest. Inhale… exhale. The fact is we were designed by our Creator to live in a rhythm – a pattern of alternating periods of work and rest just as He illustrated in the work of creation followed by a day of rest. Jesus urges us in today’s key verse to tune into Him and learn how to live this way. He offers us the unforced rhythms of grace God designed us for.

So why do we fight rest? Certainly our culture pushes us to accomplish more and more with our days. However, part of our problem stems from an inaccurate view of rest. All too often we view it solely as sleep, deciding as along as we get 8 hours of shut-eye, we can stay as busy as we want day-in and day-out. Soon we grow weary, even if we’re sleeping well, and begin “living for the weekend” or counting the days until our next vacation.

Once the weekend or vacation arrives, we confuse rest with leisure activity. We try to force a whole bunch of relaxing fun into a short period of time, assuming it will restore us. We cram our time for rest with shopping, playing, socializing, recreation, attending cultural events and so forth. Not that these aren’t good ways to spend our time, or that they can’t have some therapeutic, rejuvenating effect - they just aren’t going to provide real rest.
Rest is not just sleep, not just relaxation, not just a fun time, but a deep sense of hope and peace that will only abide in us to the degree that we abide in Christ and the grace He provides. Rest is not just punching out the time-clock and putting up your feet, it is resting in the fact that grace covers you, that mercy and protection are extended to you, and that your days are numbered and ordered of the Lord. That’s not something we typically find remembrance of while napping or knitting, but while tuning out the world long enough to plug into God’s amazing perspective.

How can we make for ourselves rest and not war?
By understanding we are made to live with regular rhythms of rest.
By remembering who God is – He’s mercy, He’s grace, He’s love, He’s provision, and He’s faithful consistency.
By becoming less rat-race focused and more eternity-minded.
By building into our days, regular periods of restful communion with God where we can hit the “reset button” and align with Him.

My Prayer for Today:
Dear Lord, I want to walk with You, watch You, and learn Your unforced rhythms of grace. Show me the way to take a real rest. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Powerful promise from HIM

The news from my girlfriend bout breaking-up with her boyfriend whom she dated for 3 years has struck me recently....

3 months ago, she told me they were planning to get married after completion of university. When she told me about how she and her boyfriend gone through a very serious consideration and lots prayers before starting the relationship, I was so convinced that they were meant to be together for the rest of their lifes. And now what has happened on them were totally unexpected by any of their friends, including myself. She said to me that it is a lesson of "submission" that she's learning right now.

I can imagine how she's experiencing right now, as I also went through such experience a couple years ago.....it's very tough, always full of frustration, confusion, disappointment, hopelessness and darkness in the mind. When can I see the light again? I do not know....

But I know I can depend on Him. As long as I have faith in Him, I know He has His plans and He will prepare the best for me. This faith is not illusion, rather it is as real as a solid. I tell you this based on my experience.

To my friend, I give her the following:

What we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will give us later....Now that we are saved, we eagerly look forward to this freedom. For if you already have something, you don't need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don't have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently. Romans 8:18-25

EMAS reunion @ Toronto

After 2.5 months, I met my friends from EMAS again tonight. PTL, I was so happy to see most of them again. There was a strong feeling holding us together, although we have no inter-connection in our daily lives. Again, our team leader is so kind and generous to provide his place to us to gather.

Some good sharings I had tonight with Candy, Ivy and Jeremy made me realize that it's really important to understand Him more in order to be a good servant to Him. Life would become tragical and meaningless if I don't find Him and live in Him. I lift up His name on high.

Candy, I will pray for you, as you pray for you everyday. God's promise never fails. Amen.

新的一頁

「忘記背後，努力面前的，向著標竿直跑，要得神在基督耶穌裡從上面召我來得的獎賞。」腓3:13-14

腓立比書再次使我的人生打開新的一頁。

我說再次, 是因為數年前有一位知深友曾用腓3:13-14 來 激勵我, 使我在一個旅程完結後, 有動力重新開始新的一頁。

今次腓立比書使我在邁向人生的標竿上, 打開新的一頁。我喜愛這卷書因它滿有信望愛。

如果你想找到"在任何情况下都滿有喜樂"的秘訣, 我推薦你看這卷書。

Today's special...Do not be afraid.

The Lord who created you says: "Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you."
Isaiah 43:1-2 NLT

If you know the animations "Heman" and "Shelagh", you would probably remember a curse that the main character always use before gaining energy and fighting against a bad guy. The curse is something like "XXXX, give me power". After then, the main character is full of power and defeats the bad guy.

Why am I saying this? Well, the verses of Isaiah 43:1-2 reminds me about this. Isaiah 43:1-2 to me is like the curse to Heman or Shelagh, after reading it, I am full of power and courage. I am not afraid of any troubles and difficulties no more for my Lord is always with me. A successful person is not the one who has never got into troubles and difficulties, but the one who can overcome them with no fear. It sounds so unrealistic because fear is a natural feeling we have since birth. But if we have faith on HIM and trust HE is with us and protect us, we will overcome our feeling of fear and have the power to overcome any troubles and difficulties.

Any comments are welcome.

God-family

Tuesday night is badminton night. Tonight is very special because my god-brother Sunny joined us. My god-mom introduced him to others as my brother. So now the other people thought I have a real brother. Hehehe, I am so happy that my family is expanding. I have a real family including parents, sisters, sister-in-law and niece. And then a god-family (in church), including god-parents, god-brother and god-sister. Now I have another god-family and Sunny is the new member of our god-family. I love Sunny. He's been my friends for many years. We see each other very often and we have several things in common, like dinning out and our favourite food is dessert. He is one of my best friends.

Here is one of the limitations for us human. When we are losing something or someone, we always focus on what or who we will lose but never think of what or who we will gain in exchange. This is very wrong. God is fair and merciful. HE never make us suffer. Taking example of my experience of breaking up with my previous boyfriend, what I saw was losing a boyfriend and the relationship at that time. But what I did not see was more love from others and better relationship with my family and friends. Because of them I could be able to overcome a lot of difficult times. From this experience, I have felt God's mercy and love.

Family, friends and lover are all important to me and they cannot substitute to one another. Now, I have families and friends. The last one is left unknown. So if any of you know or suspect who he is, please contact me directly.

May God's mercy and love cover you every moment. Amen.

Laziness, am I?

I have not updated my blog for a month! Am I lazy? Well, as I said, my laptop was broken and I cannot go online everyday.

But because of my EMAS trip, I will start writing what's happening about this trip from now on.

Preparation: I've done very little so far. But got my visa and shots done. Everything is still under control.

Notes: I bought a book for a friend on Saturday, but now I hesitate to give it to him...should I or shoud I not?

Laptop, are you that important?

I haven't updated my blog for a long time. Why? It's because my laptop is certified...

I truly believe that we people do not know how to cherish what we have at present. Just take my laptop as an example, since it's been broken down, I have had a lot of things that I wanted to do but couldn't such as updating my blog.

Cherish what we have is a life time lesson. Another life time lesson is to accept what we have lost. Which is more difficult? To me, to accept what I have lost is more difficult. So now I have to accept that I have lost my laptop....poor me.

But Thank God, it's just a laptop...

HELP

What other things can be more meaningful than helping others in their lives. Putting footprints in someone's life can be a beautiful thing. When you help someone like a friend, you do not lose but win. Why? By helping, you win a good impression, respect, admire, and more importantly friendship. I am not saying you should help blindly. Be smart and considerate when offering your help.

Help is a symbol of me to some of my friends. And in order to maintain this positive symbol, I am helping more people who are in need. My first target is Yun Nan, a province of my original country.

Decidophobia

Do you like to have choice? Have you ever felt confused, frustrated, annoyed, undecided when you have a choice? Take an example, a menu of a restaurant. Have you ever experienced such suitable:

Steak - too heavy
Pasta - too much carbs
Salad - too light and plain
Sandwich - too simple....
Dessert - too much caleries

Then a question comes up - what I should eat? (starring at the menu for +5 mins)

Are you the type of person who always cannot choose one thing over another? If you have had the above experience and yes to my question, be careful as you might have Decidophobia (fear of making decisions).

The Rosebud (669 queen street west, toronto) - my highly recommended restaurant.

Dinner with 2 friends both have birthday in March at The Rosebud. Our menu:
White wine - Lailey Riesling VQA 2004
Starters - warm bread and butter, pureé of leek and potato with truffle and mussels with white wine and garlic
Entree - baked crepe(s) with arugula, spinach, mushroom and gruyère (me), risotto p.d. (J) and naturally raised, bone-in pork loin with calvados sauce (S)
Veggie - rapini with roasted garlic and extra virgin olive oil
DESSERT - Vanilla bean creme bruleé and Hazelnut ice-cream like mousse
Coffee - Americano

I give 4.5 out of 5 for tonight's dinner.

The Rosebud is the one of the smallest restaurants I've ever been in TO. It has only around 10 tables, so reservation is highly recommended. Although it is small, it is excellent. Full house on thursday night is a sight of how well this restaurant is. The interior decoration is simply and classic - honey wooden walls with a wooden bar, small bench table for 2 - 4 people, plus a very very narrow corridor in the middle. Lighting mainly depends on the candles on the tables and around the walls.

Riesling is a very sweet white wine, well my friend S likes sweets. For starters, the white wine and garlic sauce is remarkable, the rich and creamy sauce brings the fresh taste of mussels.

Out of the three entrees, I like mine the most because it is special and delicious! The creamy sauce sparkles the mushroom stuffed crepe. I order a small portion but it's very filling. S's pork loin is very good too. The braised red cabbage matches so well with the pork loin. Lastly, it's the daily risotto, the sauce is good but since I am not a fan of risotto, I cannot give comments on it.

Dessert is the last course, yet it is the most remarkable one. We had creme brulee and hazelnut ice-cream like mousse. Both are very outstanding dessert. Our reactions are the same to both desserts - YUMMY!!! The creme brulee is the best I've ever have, very smooth and creamy. And the hazelnut dessert is so special and complicated. But the best thing is that both desserts are not too sweet, they are just perfect!

Food and service are outstanding. I am sure The Rosebud will not disappoint you. Click here for more details: www.therosebud.ca

Fresh Mixed Fruit Cake

I thank God for arranging such a wonderful opportunity for me to make the tropical mixed fruit cake again. Tonight, as usual, I went into classroom without knowing what to make. The chef told us he was planning to make strawberry short cake. But because of the supplier was stupid enough to mix up the order from 4 cases to 4 pints. Well, obviously we could not make strawberry with 4 strawberries for each student. So we had to change from strawberries to mixed fruit cake. Come to think of it, this is really a testomony for me to experience the amazing work God did for me.

As I said, I was disappointed on my mixed fruit cake I made on Saturday. There were some steps I did not do them right and something was missing but I did not know then. And tonight I realized what I did wrong and more importantly learn some tricks for making a beautiful fresh cream cake. This is the cake God gave me as an encouragement. I have gained back my confidence and learnt the importance of failure. Failure is the assistant to success.

Father, you are the BEST!! Amen.

A day worth to remember

Have you made a birthday cake for someone? I just did that yesterday. It was such an excellent experience to me. Am I am expert in cakes? Of course not, but I started to like it. It is because I have satisfactions from seeing the result and people's happiness and appreciation. I also learn a lot from many failures.

Just like yesterday, it took me the whole day to get all the ingredients and make the cake. Is the cake so fancy and complicated to make? Not at all. But for me who had never made a cake before...it was a big challenge. The hardest part was to follow each step carefully and accurately. I made several mistakes, some of them could be recovered but some could not. But in the process of making, I had joy. I really enjoyed seeing the outcome of mixing different ingredients together and applying different techniques to it. It was an interesting feeling. The most amazing moment was of course seeing the beautiful cake came out from the oven. It was full of satisfaction and joy.

I find that the process of making a cake (or cooking in general) can be comparable to being a christian and following Jesus. In order to be succesful, we have to study the recipe (Bible). We will have failures (sins, temptations, etc...), and yet, we learn a lesson from each failure and try not to repeat the same mistake again. Sometimes, we get hurts but in Jesus, we will get healed (bandage). Satisfactions are from God's love to us and His name can be glorified. Two most important elements in these 2 process are: companions and love. Cooking together with someone is much joyful than alone, same as a spiritual companion in walking God's way. Here I would like to give thanks to my friend, Mr. Lee and his father. They were a great help of me. Love is the most important element in making a delicious cake. Love is also the greatest command from Jesus. And Jesus' love never fails. I hope my love to people around me would never fail as well. Unless I make each cake with love, or I will not be able to make a delicious one.

Heavenly Father, thank you for giving me this chance to serve my family, especially my niece. Next month, I wil be serving some other people. May you be with me and guide me. Amen.

Praise the Lord, almight God!

One more chance for me to praise my Lord. He is the greatest for He loves me and heals me. This problem had been bothering me for over a year. It seemed that I could find no way to solve. With my faith and prayers, I trust that God would help me. And he never fails me. It is so real and true. I am telling you because I am experiencing it. My problem has just been solve at the perfect timing.

My dear God, no words can describe my feeling right now. It is unbelieveble. Although I do not deserve His grace, He always loves me and gives me what I need.

Have you experienced this greatest love? Do you want to?

A big challenge is forecoming...

Tonight, I had a date with my family. As normal, we decided the restaurant at the last minute, a steakhouse restaurant called THE KEG. It was the restaurant's policy that no reservations are accepted on Friday and Saturday. Some of us got there at 7:45 p.m. They were told that our table will be ready for us in 1.5 hours. No kidding, 1.5 hours wait for a table (that means we can have 2 meals time for 1 meal, 2 for 1). Anyhow, since it was Saturday, everywhere was also very busy, we ended up waiting....

The dinner was pretty good, red wine, filet mignon, mushrooms, mashpotatos, chololate pyramid, Italian smooth dessert, etc...

Oh, I forgot to say the purpose of tonight's dinner. It was for my sister's new job working at IXX in May.

As we were enjoying our dinner, we talked about my niece's birthday party coming this Saturday. Her parents are going to invite over 30 people to the party. My sister did mention to me that I could bake a birthday cake for my niece. At that time, I thought she was just kidding. Surprisingly, she was serious.

So my big challenge is to make an ever first birthday cake for a party of 30 people. I really have no confidence on it. You know, I am a very very beginner baker. Yes, I am taking dessert class and made various pastries and desserts. But classroom is totally different from home. I have no equipments that cost several bucks nor commercial ingredients that make magical tricks in the final products. I have also tried at home but failed.

This time I can't take a risk of failure, success is the only way out. Sigh....only a week of time left. Can I do it? We'll see.

Valentine's Day and Chocolate Mousse Cake

Have you ever made a chocolate mousse cake on Valentine's day? What is it for?

I have just made a chocolate mousse cake. However it is not for my honey. It is made for my dessert class. Tonight is chocolate night. We used a lot of chocolate.....yummy!

Personally I would not make a cake for my honey on Valentine's day because a lot of guys do not like cakes. Just like K. Lee and A. Lai, they do not usually a slice of cake. Making a cake takes a lot of time and heart. Just like the chocolate mousse cake I made tonight. There were a lot of steps involved. I do not think I will make it again unless I know someone who reall likes chocolate mouse cake and I like him/her very much.

Talking about chocolate and valentine, they are always linked together. Why? Chocolate gives romantic feeling to people, especiall women. Chocolate is a combination of sweetness and bitterness, that are so similar to the taste of love. If we are comparing different kinds of chocolate and love, how would you describe yours? I would say my ideal love is like dark chocolate (60% cocoa). Yes, it is bitter but it is the best chocolate. I like dark chocolate over the other kinds of chocolate. The bitterness of dark chocolate is the "pure" taste of cocoa; the dark colour shows the strength, it is strong and hard; the bitterness brings the sweetness to stand out, sweet is precious; and dark chocolate is healthier and good to our body. To conclude, my ideal love is pure, strong, sweet and long lasting.

I trust my Lord will give me such love, as His love to me is the same.

To all, wish you find your true and long lasting love.

Happy New Year!!!!

Today is the first day of year of dog. Having said that, a lot of traditional customs and food are all around me. That remind me of my childhood .... New Year is a BIG day because everyone is happy and only good words are said to each other. Suddenly, I compare these good phrases and my prayers. They are mostly wishes, wishes of different things about different people.
Today's sermon has inspired me of praying. Especially the content of my prayers -
Prayer is a way of communication with God directly through the work of Holy Spirit in my heart. Purpose of prayer is to ask God for giving me wisdom and ability of Holy Spirit in order for me to know Him better. It is only through knowing Him better, we can immitate Him and walk in His way. In prayers, I can express my praise to the glory of my Lord, Jesus Christ; as well as my love to family, brothers and sisters, and my friends who have not accepted God. Pray for my brothers and sister in Christ about their relationship with God and their spiritual growth. Pray for my family and friends about accepting God. Starting this year, I will be putting these things in priority of my prayers.

Song of the day:

我以禱告來到你跟前
我以禱告來到您跟前，我要尋求您，
我要站在破口之中，在那裡我尋求您！
每一次我禱告，我搖動您的手，
禱告做的事， 我的手不能做！
每一次我禱告，大山被挪移，
道路被鋪平，使列國歸向您！



主我是軟弱及無助，您卻是我的力量，
以您親切的手引導我，那就是我的得勝！
每一次我禱告，我搖動您的手，
禱告做的事， 我的手不能做！
每一次我禱告，大山被挪移，
道路被鋪平，使列國歸向您！

Here is my prayer of today:

聖法蘭西斯禱文
使我作您和平之子，在怨恨之中使用您的愛，
在憂傷之中傅送您寬恕，在懷疑之中顯出您信實。

*幫助我不要單單求安慰，更願意努力安慰幫助人，
不求被瞭解，但求瞭解人， 接受愛，更加願意付出愛。 *

使我作您和平之子，在失望之處帶出您的愛，
在罪惡之中發出您的光，在難過心靈播下您的喜樂。 *

使我作您和平之子，願寬恕別人好像您寬恕，
願施與別人好像您施與，願燃燒生命得永遠生命。 *

Amen

[Click here for the midi music: http://herryhomepage.mysinamail.com/7_22.htm]

Life is not meant to be easy...

This is the name of the latest album by Thomas Li. This is so true, life is not meant to be easy. No matter who you are, what you are from, how rich you are, etc... there are a lot of ups and downs in your life. When is your deepest trough you have experienced so far? Failure? Separation? Sickness? How did you dealt with it? What have you learnt from there? We people always tend to choose an easy way, however, at the end, this way could not be the best way. We are so limited and weak. Only God who can help us to choose the best way. That way could not be easy from our eyes but it must be the best to us. Trust Him and we will be succeed. Depend on Him and we will be safe. Look at Him and we will be clear. Listen to Him and we will be wise. I pray for my family as they are still bind to my Lord. I pray for my friends as they are walking in a dangerous road. May God safe them, select them to be your children. I hope I can do my best to reflect the glory of God to them.