阿比-艾莉爸爸 成長歷奇

Stories about me, my family and my daughters, Abigail & Eliana.

Abigail Jackline--Father's joy. To Connie and me, Abigail is a wonderful blessing from God, our precious jewel. God blessed us with Abigail as Connie and I went through the journey of infertility.

Eliana Faith--God answers. God hears our cries and heals us not only emotionally, but He also gives us Eliana, a precious gift, as a sign of his faithfulness.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

我心內的敗犬呼喊


The theme of the recent sermon series is "The wholeness of life". It touches on one important issue the unmarried Christians (singles) are easily misled nowadays: Singleness is less than truly human.

I am grateful to hear from the pulpit that the wholeness of life is to live a Christ-centered life (click for a revision). The biblical teachings never defined a person in terms of being married or not. What an important truth that is easily forgotten nowadays!!

Yet even among our congregation, I confess it is easy to be insensitive to brothers or sisters who are struggling with "being single". Our un-intentional words/gestures/actions may like salt sprinkling on the wound. As I reflect more on such struggles, I acknowledge it's not easy to go through the mixed emotions of being lonely, shameful, and regretful. The dynamics of loniness and yearning for intimacy play an important mood factor within. The feelings are so real to my past experience.

I notice a process of grieving should be involved in order for one to move on. The video made by the Art Dep (Click to view) well triggered the frustration one may face. I recall my own frustrations that overwhelmed me years ago that I found myself indulged in pornography and masturbation. Only when I realize the notion behind was about longing and intimacy, then I begin to see my real needs. Man, thank God for such a gracious revelation back in my days of struggle. It helped me to go through the grieving process quicker.

The recent Pastoral Care class on sexuality echoed with this sermon series. I was deeply touched by identifying the needs behind the issue:

A brief note from the lecture:
On Longing…a longing of intimacy with God…all our longings are symptomatic to our longing for God…if it’s not fulfilled, we will put expectations on other longings; and often the expectation is so much that you can’t be satisfied.

On Intimacy…we were made into intimacy…not just relationship, but also sharing of our inner selves…a quest to connect with right intimate relationships:
Relationship with creation / relationship with self / relationship with others / relationship with God

But twisted…e.g. longing for the relationship with creation becomes Mother Earth…‘Mother Earth’ (We should called it ‘sister’ or ‘brother’ earth instead ^_^)

Even now after getting married, I understand that the yearning for intimacy and longing is still present. Yet I thank God for giving me the chance for experiencing true relief in Him. For the past term at Regent, I see the reality of brokenness from sin, the grace that God has been showing, and the wholeness of life that can only be found in Jesus alone.


In practice, I'm learning to be intimate with God. Moreover, I'm learning how to be relational with others. I guess it takes my whole life to learn and experience well. I wish that WE can go further together.

Monday, November 09, 2009

從鬼王節到天堂門: A One-of-a-kind Halloween Party


This year, we had a one-of-a-kind Halloween this year in Vancouver.

How it all happened......
One October morning, I heard from the Chinese radio broadcasting about the coming of Halloween...in fact, I was surprised to hear the way Chinese people call it here: 鬼王節
Isn't it called 萬聖節 in HK? What's going on?

In fact, I had been wrong for a long time. Oct 31 was really a pagan festival. People used to believe a lord of death who sends evil spirits into animals to trick people; so people wore disguise to escape them and got involved with cruel ceremonies. That's why I hear the Chinese name 鬼王節 here. In contrast, historically, Christians attempted to change the event into a festival of joy. Nov 1 became ‘All Saints’ Day’ to remember the dead whom we love. Oct 31 then became ‘All Hallows’ Eve’. 萬聖節 (All holies / all the saints) In HK, 鬼王節 is packaged as 萬聖節 for commercial purposes.

This year, we had a chance to see something different.
Thanks to Oyan, my buddy at Regent, for inviting my family to an event held by his church on Halloween. We made a visit to heaven!! ^_^ Please take a look at the album, and you'll have a glimpse of our experience (Click me). The night was filled with one-of-a-kind activities that let us see the reality--Jesus is Lord.

Back in HK, we would see Halloween as a really commercialized event. In a spiritual sense, I even think of it as a connection with the evil spirits. Thank God for giving me a new perspective to see Halloween.

Reflection:
Does heaven look like this? The setting of this party may seem a bit Platonic and may not seem theologically/biblically 'right'. Yet I appreciate the thoughts behind this event. Historically, Christians have been countering culture by ‘reframing’ it with Christian’s perspectives. How can one respond to our culture nowadays? I would say this is all about how we can reframe it, like what we do in a pagan funeral / Ching Ming Festival. Instead of offering incense, we can pray for the family or have a moment of silence.

With our children, we can surely remember our loved ones who are actually alive with Jesus. Being thankful for God’s grace to our family/friends, we can take this opportunity to celebrate with our kids.

Other Christian groups (e.g. Lutheran) take this opportunity to tell the reformation story. They’d invite children and families to church to celebrate about their history.

What a great way to witness together as a community!

Abby's Adoption Story on TVB