The Amazing Effect Of Teamwork

Last Saturday afternoon we worked together to paint the walls of church's Sunday school classroom. There were a lot of things to do. First of all we had to move all the heavy stuffs away from the walls. And then we needed to clean away the choking dirts as well as the bugs fleeing everywhere before we started to paint. In the very beginning I thought it's impossible to finish the job in just a couple of hours. However, streams of our Youth Group members came and helped anything they could do and eventually we really finish this mission impossible. That's the amazing effect of teamwork. Every one just did his part and the whole job was done.

The Essential Life Style for a Christian: Denying Yourself and Following Jesus

Matthew 19:16~22
Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?" "Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments." "Which ones?" the man inquired. Jesus replied, " 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,'and 'love your neighbor as yourself.' " "All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?" Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

In Matthew 19, a young man went to Jesus and asked what he could do to get eternal life. He may think that he had done very well because since he was young he had observed all what the law required. He may expected that Jesus would say "good job" or add something lighter. However, what Jesus replied was far beyond his expectation: "go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and .......then come, follow me." Every time when I read this story in the Bible, I had some questions in my mind. "What does Jesus want from us?" "Does he really want us to sell all our possessions and give to the poor?" "Isn't it a litte big too strick? It sounds unrealistic." Last week when I read a book " Jesus with Dirty Feet" and its first chapter makes the definition of being a christian as denying oneself and following Jesus. This definition gave me some ideas to interprete what Jesus' reply to the young man. As a christian for many years, we may think that we have being doing good at following all the principles we've learned about Christianity. We read Bible and pray on a regular basis. We go to church every Sunday morning. We may even do some services in our local church. Evry day, we do what we are used to do. Every day we are on the same routine, good but nothing different. However, Jesus may want us to leave our comfort zone and be different. He may want to give us a life full of challenges and passion, even suffering, but the process will benefit us. From it we see our ego, we humble ourselves, and we experience God's power on our weaknesses. It becomes a journey of denying ourselves and following Jesus. If you are tired of your good but boring life, let's response to Jesus' calling and start the adventure.

Beautiful Churches in Kinmen

The first two are the photos of Lieyu (little Kinmen) church and the other two are of Jincheng church. Both of them are so simple but so beautiful. They are not big fancy churches, however, I know God's hands never leave his children behind.

Bicycle Activity on October 10

These are some photos I took when our church youth group had a bicycle activity on October 10. We had a lot of fun athought such a long distance biking (approximately 45 kms or more)really made some of us exhausted. Most of us are school students (from elementary school to college) or young school teachers from the United States. Being with these young people who are full of energy always make me feel younger. I don't know how long I will still stay in Kinmen, but I really cherish every minute God gives me to be growing with them.

A Wish

Last Sunday, I went mountain hiking with some of my church members. Just like eveytime we climbed the rocks and reached the top, but what's unusual was the view. From the top of Mt. Taiwu, mainland China was so clear and beautiful, and kind of mysterious. When I now posting these photos, I feel lots of emotions within me. We should be so close, but for some reason we have ever been so far away. I pray that people on both sides across the strait will never forget the lesson we have learned durning so many years' tribulation and suffering. I wish that this generation will no longer experience the heart-broken storys shared by our fathers and grandfathers under the same sky.

Life principles quoted from a respectable friend's blog

There are four life principles I quoted from a respectable friend's blog. He is a professor and also a co-founder of my church in Hualien. The original text is in Chinese and I translate it to English.

I will be consistently lead a self-disciplined life to cultivate and improve my character.
I am willing to devote my time, talents and resources to God.
I will treat others with sincerity and compassion and try to help the needy.
I will make efforts to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that others may also share God’s grace.

The boring doctrine may save you

As a christian, how much do you know about what you claim that you believe? As a leader of the youth group in the church, I always need to remind the members to rethink about what we call christianity. In today's church, it becomes obvious that christians are far more focusing on emotion other than the boring doctrine. They enjoy a lot singing some popular christian songs, or listening to some marvelous personal story testifying how God's powerful hand rescure a desperate poor guy. But if you ask them to have some serious Bible study, some of them may lose their passion and begin to nod. This morning one call from my friend once again convinces me that some solid doctrine teaching is still necessary. He told me that he surprisedly found the church he joined for a long time is finally proved as a cult. The pastor teaches that salvation comes from following the good deeds of Jesus, who was just a man but had set a good example for us to follow God's will and if we follow his step we may even surpass him. Members in this cult have great enthusiasm preaching their "gospel" and be very active in colledges. They truely believe that God has given them special revelation and they are persecuted by other churches. I believe that a christian who are very familier with the Bible won't be easily fall into this trap, but it may sounds convincing to those with great fever but of little knowledge of truth. As a leader, it's a great temptation to please the crowd by giving them what they want. But I know that some stuff that make them bored may save them from the danger.