In John 15:1-17, as long as we focus on His Words (verse 3 and 7) and love one another (verse 12) as the way He loves us. We bear more fruits and whatever we ask the Father, He gives us.

How precious His promises!!! I truly believe that it’s worth learning His Words earnestly and loving one another with actions in the rest of my life, though they’re not easy tasks. Actually since I became a Christian, I knew these cognitively; however,  I did not regard these as great importance to my spiritual life in oftentimes.

Lord, please forgive me. Give me strength to practise and humility to learn from You. Amen  

Once there was a man who dared God to speak.

Burn the bush like you did for Moses, God. And I will follow.

Collapse the walls like you did for Joshua, God. And I will fight.

Still the waves like you did on Galilee, God. And I will listen.

And so the man sat by a bush, near a wall, close to the sea and waite for God to speak.

 And God heard the man, so God answered.

He sent fire, not for a bush, but for a church.

He brought down a wall, not of brick, but of sin.

He stilled a storm, not of the sea, but of a soul.

And God waited for the man to respond.  And he waited … And he waited … And waited.

But because the man was looking at bushes, not hearts; bricks and not lives, seas and not souls, he decided that God had done nothing.

Finally he looked to God and asked, Have you lost your power?

And God looked at him and said, Have you lost your hearing?

(A Gentle Thunder, Max Lucado)

*****

     It seems to me that we have strong tendency to hear what we want to hear and sometimes limit His form of expression. Recently, I find that He ‘speaks’ in different forms, from people’s help, Bible verses, and even in the form we don’t want to have, such as from the loss, self or others’ tragic stories, personal struggles, and all unexpected events. I do hope that He speaks in a way that I have enough wisdom to comprehend, embrace, and, most importantly, HEAR.

       What God’s provision looks like?! How wonderful is His grace?! I can demonstrate His tremendous love by … um … He prepared Paula as my dear friend in the States …

I still remember the first time I sat on the driver’s seat of her van last October. She taught me how to drive every week. She often taught me every ‘how-to’ about being a good driver with humor. When I did not follow her instruction, she reminded me something important with great patience and laughter. Before the driving test, she let me drive the van to go everywhere I wanted. Furthermore, in the days of both driving tests, she accompanied us, Joey and I, to go to BMV (Bureau of Motor and Vehicle) and waited for the driving test result with us. In fact, except Joey, she was the first one and only one to know my stupid things during driving. When I passed the test, I did not know how to express my gratitude to her with words …

Besides, her hospitality made us as privileged guests and even family members, for example, she invited us to go to her house for the celebration of Thanksgiving Day and watching the Super Bowl. It seemed that she’s afraid us to have homesickness and loneliness. Actually, I was deeply touched by what she did. Our negative feelings, such as homesick, bored, lonely, and others were greatly relieved by her warm invitation and kindheartedness. One more example is that she and Susie, her friend, invited us to have a special activity at a night of a Christmas holiday- a ride in downtown with a horse-drawn carriage. I was impressed by the chilly weather, lighting along the street, and the Christmas atmosphere, though the ride was not very long.

In the first and second semester, she always encouraged me verbally in front of our classmates and lecturer. I think she does not know that her encouragements or nonverbal inviting facial expression acted like a cup of water for a thirsty. In ‘theoretical foundation of counseling’ class, Mr. Kondo, our lecturer, requested all classmates to split up into small groups for group presentation. My feeling was pretty strange at that moment. I felt embarrassed, shy, inferior, passive … it seemed like there was a voice: ‘no classmate would like to invite me to join his group’ and those thoughts popped up at the same time. However, Paula used her facial expression and sign language to invite me as one of her group members. I praised God very much and deeply thanked for her invitation since it appeared to me that she knew what I needed … Needless to say, I felt much safer with her presence in those classes.

I was really sad to know that she will not be my classmate in the next fall due to some reasons. That’s why I need to write down something here so that I can remember those unforgettable scenes, share the importance of helping people, more importantly, thank God for His provision – providing a chance for me to know her in the States. His promise never fails us.

Paula, please remember: We are friends no matter where you are. I really treasure our friendship J May His peace, joy, and love fill your heart ever.

     I can feel that the world is teaching us it’s absolute OK for us to focus on ‘ME‘, such as my desire, my way, my voice, my deeds, my pleasure, my right … They seem to permeate all levels of society and, understandably, we all are overwhelmed by this belief. It seems to me that ME becomes our own idol. On the other hand, I find myself there is very limited amount of love inside of me, though Jesus has set a good example for us. How can I respond to the following verses?

He said, “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself.”          Luke 10:27 (The Message)

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.            1 Corinthians 13:1-2 (The Message)

     Lord, please teach me how to  …

… love those who despise me and whom I dislike, including myself;

… accept the Chinese Government who does not confess what she did in June 1989;

… concern those who are being ignored and poor ‘with action’;

… and most importantly, teach me how to devotedly love YOU with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my strength, not in cognition but with passion. I am still selfish, arrogant, and keep focusing on ME. Please … please forgive me and turn my sight to YOU. Amen.