Dear Son,
It's been over a year since your Dad's last post. Our LORD has been faithful and blessed our family in many ways, especially your physical and intellectual growth. From crawling on your tummy to running around the house, from screaming/crying to responding/expressing yourself in words, you manage to amaze us every day. You could recognize places, faces, even commercials and theme songs on TV.
And you always need your Mom to be your sleeping buddy. Even though I've tried hard to give you company, most of the time you would still call "Mommy!" to come to your aid to give you that peace of mind to finally fall asleep. Did I mention the blows you deal at your Mom every night? Kick in the face, head blow in the tummy...the list goes on and on. Yet because Mom loves you so much, she's enduring all these so you could have good night sleep. (Dad, on the other hand, tried many times to be your sleeping buddy, but my snores managed to *always* wake you up in the middle of the night...and you could imagine the rest of the story...)
Son, maybe one day in the future you are at a fight with your Mom, and you would think that your Mom doesn't love you for whatever reason. Dad wants you to remember that it's simply not true. Remember and picture what I've told you above, and that's just a glimpse of all the love and sacrifice she pours out for you every day.
Today, Dad and Mom learned that, as illustrated in Ruth 2 by Pastor Bruce, God would bless those who honor their parents (which is also the 5th Commandment). We are learning to honor your Grandpas and Grandmas more according to His Words. Would you follow in our footsteps?
In Christ, your earthly father,
Dad
Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Father’s Journal: My Son’s first “Ba Ba”
Dear Son,
February 26, 2010 at 7:15 AM, when I was beside your crib trying to lift you up, I whispered to you ‘Say “Ba Ba”!’, just as I did for countless times before. Only this time, I could clearly hear that you actually said “Ba Ba” back to me!!! I was so overjoyed that I literally jumped up and down, and within minutes, I’ve brought you to your Mom and told her the good news. And since then, I’ve been hearing you saying “Ba Ba” every day, and you probably would not know how sweet this phrase is until you yourself become a father someday…
As you’ve grown from “baby” to “toddler”, it’s about time to recollect what a wonderful and miraculous journey Mom and I have shared with you prior to your birth…
December 13, 2009 at around 7:00 AM, your Mom woke me up and told me there’s something wrong. After a brief discussion, we’ve called the OB (Mom’s doctor) and was asked to head to the emergency room ASAP. Little did we know that this trip marked the beginning of a 12-week journey with you, our precious son…
The OB confirmed that Mom's water broke and would need to be immediately hospitalized until she gave birth. There’s a 50% that you would be born within 48 hours; 49.99% within 14 days; a very remote chance that the membrane would seal up and the pregnancy could continue.
You were only 26 weeks and 5 days old. At that stage, many major organs including brain, lungs and intestines were not fully developed. If you were indeed born this early, you would likely be admitted into Newborn ICU at birth for at least 8 - 10 weeks, with tons of complications/surgeries as we’ve seen in some of your buddies in NICU later on.
By His Grace, the hospital has sent many specialists our way to keep us informed on the entire situation and the caring provided from the nurse team was top notch. All doctors and nurses alike were very helpful and sensitive to address our concerns.
I’ve requested your Christian uncles and aunties from our church to pray for us, but my feelings were so complicated that I really didn't know how to use words to describe. I’ve decided to humble myself and lay down all my worries in prayers, and trusted that you and your Mom’s lives are all in the hands of Our Father in heaven, and that He would use this journey to mold us into better children of His. God has proven His faithfulness and love over and over again in this journey…
In Christ w/ Love, Your Dad
Saturday, April 18, 2009
God's hidden blessings
If I tell you, "poop is better than gold!", you must think I am either drunk or crazy. But yet, this is really how I feel ever since my son is born...
My son is only 2.5 months old and he's been having constipation ever since he came home. We've been following our pediatrician's "prune juice therapy" a little loosely because we worried that it may affect his digestive system even though we've been reassured time after time that this therapy is much more natural and have no side effect.
So this past Wednesday night my son had a "big one" and we kind of let our guard down a bit on Thursday. Then my son's condition progressively got worse: he could not sleep, and he would spit up and scream and cry like crazy in the middle of a feeding. This has never happened before. Yesterday, he started to lose his appetite and was eating maybe less than 50% of what he would normally take in. We finally brought our son to the pediatrician. Her diagnosis was that most likely it's because of constipation as it would greatly affect the reflux or could even cause acid reflux. That would explain why my son stayed up for 12+ hours on Friday because the discomfort, and would scream and cry during the middle of a feeding.
The pediatrician then performed the necessary procedures but yielded no results. Then she gave us some guidelines of what to do after we brought him back home. I remembered at least prayed for my son a few times during that afternoon that he could "poop". Then finally at around 10:00 PM the "poop" finally came. My wife and I were praising and thanking God while we cleaned up the mess. Yes, the scene was pretty disgusting to us(what could you expect?) but yet we saw that God was able to bring out the dirt from our son so he could become healthy again.
Likewise, how are we handling disappointments, betrayals, tragedies, hardships, difficulties that come our way? Are we able to see God's hidden blessings behind these "dirt" and be able to thank Him and give Him praises?
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
My son is only 2.5 months old and he's been having constipation ever since he came home. We've been following our pediatrician's "prune juice therapy" a little loosely because we worried that it may affect his digestive system even though we've been reassured time after time that this therapy is much more natural and have no side effect.
So this past Wednesday night my son had a "big one" and we kind of let our guard down a bit on Thursday. Then my son's condition progressively got worse: he could not sleep, and he would spit up and scream and cry like crazy in the middle of a feeding. This has never happened before. Yesterday, he started to lose his appetite and was eating maybe less than 50% of what he would normally take in. We finally brought our son to the pediatrician. Her diagnosis was that most likely it's because of constipation as it would greatly affect the reflux or could even cause acid reflux. That would explain why my son stayed up for 12+ hours on Friday because the discomfort, and would scream and cry during the middle of a feeding.
The pediatrician then performed the necessary procedures but yielded no results. Then she gave us some guidelines of what to do after we brought him back home. I remembered at least prayed for my son a few times during that afternoon that he could "poop". Then finally at around 10:00 PM the "poop" finally came. My wife and I were praising and thanking God while we cleaned up the mess. Yes, the scene was pretty disgusting to us(what could you expect?) but yet we saw that God was able to bring out the dirt from our son so he could become healthy again.
Likewise, how are we handling disappointments, betrayals, tragedies, hardships, difficulties that come our way? Are we able to see God's hidden blessings behind these "dirt" and be able to thank Him and give Him praises?
Romans 12:1-2
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
3rd Commandment - Do not misuse God's name! (2 King 5)
Out of the 10 Commandments, I've used to consider the 3rd one to be very easy--simply restrict myself from swearing or misusing God/Jesus names would do the trick. Little did I know that there's a much deeper implication than these superficial acts of obedience. Thank God that He reveals to me from one of the sermons recently.
2 Kings 5 is about Naaman healed of leprosy (a terminal skin disease back in the old days). I've studied this passage several times and getting familiar with Elisha, the servant girl, even the king...but I really wasn't paying attention to Naaman until I listened to the sermon at Sunset Church. The pastor pointed out that in verse 11 it's a classic example of breaking the 3rd Commandment - Do not misuse God's name:
9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed."
11 But Naaman went away angry and said, "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?" So he turned and went off in a rage.
One would probably think that Naaman was being unreasonable. But if we dig deep into verse 11, what Naaman was expecting would seem humanly "reasonable", as Naaman's expectation was actually resembling how Jesus and other prophets cured diseases in the past. What actually went wrong?
The root problem is what I would call "spirtual fantasy", a state where a person paints a "spiritual" picture of how things should work according to this person's own or other's "spiritual" experience. For Naaman, his "spirtual fantasy" of healing of leprosy is "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.". When God's answer via Elisha (verse 10) contradicts Naaman's "spiritual fantasy", Naaman got angry and refused to obey.
Did Naaman got cured by his "spiritual fantasy" way? No. Naaman got cured when he finally obeyed God's command:
"14 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy."
Our pastor pointed out that we Christians, like Naaman, are often forming and dwelling into our own "spiritual fantasies", and equally frustrated at God when God's answers are in contrast with our predetermined expectations. As a result, we are missing out a lot of God's blessings due to our disobedience and pride.
I've given "spiritual fantasy" some thoughts and come up with some ways to identify them in our lives:
-Is this "spirtual fantasy" inline with the God I know from the Bible?
-Are there things/actions in this "spirtual fantasy" directly contradict the Scripture?
Consider the following scenarios:
-A young Christian college student claims that "God could only prove His care for me if He helps me an A out of this class", despite this student missed half of the classes as well as assignments and failed the midterm and final exam.
-A desperate homeowner who's facing foreclosure claims that "God could only prove His care for me if He helps me to pay my mortgage payment and avoid foreclosure", despite the fact that this homeowner was dishonest about his income when he applied for the mortgage for this house.
-A church leader chooses to remain silent while other church leaders are committing premarital sex, adulteries, bearing false witnesses (lying) and attacking each other in church ministries, all in the name of "keeping the unity of the church because the unity of the church pleases God".
Which of the above are actually biblical? Which ones of the above are "spiritual fantasies"?
By now we should realize we are breaking the 3rd commandment much more times than we could have imagined. Could you identify any "spiritual fantasy" in your life or lives of others? Let's all repent and go back to the Bible and obey His words. Remember what Jesus says in John 15:
10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.
14You are my friends if you do what I command.
A humble sharing from a brother in Christ
2 Kings 5 is about Naaman healed of leprosy (a terminal skin disease back in the old days). I've studied this passage several times and getting familiar with Elisha, the servant girl, even the king...but I really wasn't paying attention to Naaman until I listened to the sermon at Sunset Church. The pastor pointed out that in verse 11 it's a classic example of breaking the 3rd Commandment - Do not misuse God's name:
9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed."
11 But Naaman went away angry and said, "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?" So he turned and went off in a rage.
One would probably think that Naaman was being unreasonable. But if we dig deep into verse 11, what Naaman was expecting would seem humanly "reasonable", as Naaman's expectation was actually resembling how Jesus and other prophets cured diseases in the past. What actually went wrong?
The root problem is what I would call "spirtual fantasy", a state where a person paints a "spiritual" picture of how things should work according to this person's own or other's "spiritual" experience. For Naaman, his "spirtual fantasy" of healing of leprosy is "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.". When God's answer via Elisha (verse 10) contradicts Naaman's "spiritual fantasy", Naaman got angry and refused to obey.
Did Naaman got cured by his "spiritual fantasy" way? No. Naaman got cured when he finally obeyed God's command:
"14 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy."
Our pastor pointed out that we Christians, like Naaman, are often forming and dwelling into our own "spiritual fantasies", and equally frustrated at God when God's answers are in contrast with our predetermined expectations. As a result, we are missing out a lot of God's blessings due to our disobedience and pride.
I've given "spiritual fantasy" some thoughts and come up with some ways to identify them in our lives:
-Is this "spirtual fantasy" inline with the God I know from the Bible?
-Are there things/actions in this "spirtual fantasy" directly contradict the Scripture?
Consider the following scenarios:
-A young Christian college student claims that "God could only prove His care for me if He helps me an A out of this class", despite this student missed half of the classes as well as assignments and failed the midterm and final exam.
-A desperate homeowner who's facing foreclosure claims that "God could only prove His care for me if He helps me to pay my mortgage payment and avoid foreclosure", despite the fact that this homeowner was dishonest about his income when he applied for the mortgage for this house.
-A church leader chooses to remain silent while other church leaders are committing premarital sex, adulteries, bearing false witnesses (lying) and attacking each other in church ministries, all in the name of "keeping the unity of the church because the unity of the church pleases God".
Which of the above are actually biblical? Which ones of the above are "spiritual fantasies"?
By now we should realize we are breaking the 3rd commandment much more times than we could have imagined. Could you identify any "spiritual fantasy" in your life or lives of others? Let's all repent and go back to the Bible and obey His words. Remember what Jesus says in John 15:
10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.
14You are my friends if you do what I command.
A humble sharing from a brother in Christ
Monday, July 2, 2007
God is Faithful and He Reigns!!!
In case if you didn't notice, I've been worrying a lot lately. The fact is, my company isn't doing as well as it should, and I've been feeling pretty uneasy with my career. On the other hand, Amy is facing the same situation. We've been praying for each other on this issue, and frankly, it becomes very hard for us to obey the command in
Just a few minutes ago, Amy was sorting out the mails and there comes the INS notice. My Green Card Application has been approved! Consider that we first submitted our application at the beginning of April 2007, this is something very extraordinary--at least against all the Green Card stories we've ever heard. God once again demonstrated His Almighty Power and that we could really "Rejoice in the Lord always!". We could always be rejoicing no matter what the situation is. May God's name be glorified throughout the earth!!! Hallelujah!!!
Philippians 4:4
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!Just a few minutes ago, Amy was sorting out the mails and there comes the INS notice. My Green Card Application has been approved! Consider that we first submitted our application at the beginning of April 2007, this is something very extraordinary--at least against all the Green Card stories we've ever heard. God once again demonstrated His Almighty Power and that we could really "Rejoice in the Lord always!". We could always be rejoicing no matter what the situation is. May God's name be glorified throughout the earth!!! Hallelujah!!!
Friday, June 15, 2007
Praise the Lord!!!
We prayed pretty hard for today's Green Card Interview and God just showed His abundant grace upon us once again!!! We almost missed the appointment due to the traffic jam, and arrived only 20 minutes before the appointment. And we've spent last night to be as fully prepared as possible. It turns out that the appointment only took a little less than 15 minutes. No embarassing or hard questions! God is so trustworthy! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!!!
The only thing that's pending now is the FBI background check. Please continue to pray for us so this would also go smoothly by His grace!
The only thing that's pending now is the FBI background check. Please continue to pray for us so this would also go smoothly by His grace!
Thursday, June 14, 2007
A Few Thoughts To Share...
I've been reading "Angel Heart Monthly", a Hong Kong Christian magazine that's primary aim is to share Jesus Christ with Hong Kong people. Every issue so far is a real blessing. The articles are very contemporary and to the point, and I'm also amazed at how good it could be for God to pull His Children together to create such a great magazine that appeals both to believers and non-believers. It also comes with a free VCD, which contains some very good Christian material for us to enjoy, and possibly a tool to share the Gospel with our families. May God continue to bless and use this wonderful ministry!
To learn more about "Angel Heart Monthly", you can go to:
http://www.media.org.hk/magazine/
Tomorrow morning is a big day, as it's my Green Card Interview. Please pray that everything would go according to His will and guidance. I'll update you with the latest.
Let's not forget that this Sunday it's our "Graduation Potluck Luncheon" for all graduating middle school, high school and college students. Please make sure you bring some food/drinks etc. to share with others in this reunion. For the graduating students, please prepare a two-minute sharing of your thanksgiving and your future plans for your new stage in life.
Solomon Fellowship, please pardon me and Chester for not being to make it this Saturday. Chester would be attending the UC Santa Cruz's graduation ceremonty, while Amy and I would be attending a wedding. I'll try my best to make it back to Sunday School preparation.
Need to get back to work...leave me some comments and let me know how you feel (nothing inappropriate, please!)
To learn more about "Angel Heart Monthly", you can go to:
http://www.media.org.hk/magazine/
Tomorrow morning is a big day, as it's my Green Card Interview. Please pray that everything would go according to His will and guidance. I'll update you with the latest.
Let's not forget that this Sunday it's our "Graduation Potluck Luncheon" for all graduating middle school, high school and college students. Please make sure you bring some food/drinks etc. to share with others in this reunion. For the graduating students, please prepare a two-minute sharing of your thanksgiving and your future plans for your new stage in life.
Solomon Fellowship, please pardon me and Chester for not being to make it this Saturday. Chester would be attending the UC Santa Cruz's graduation ceremonty, while Amy and I would be attending a wedding. I'll try my best to make it back to Sunday School preparation.
Need to get back to work...leave me some comments and let me know how you feel (nothing inappropriate, please!)
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