Trust in the Lord 11:04 PM

We continued the Series of Elijah in our Lifegroup meet today. Elijah had faith in the Lord and His prayers were answered even though the situation might not seem favorable at that moment.

What I have learned is that "Life is not a straight line". Although planning is good but we have to be prepared for some detours. Sometimes we may not end up in the place where we thought we would be but if we look back, it's almost certain that it's always better than we expected. God has been with us the whole time but we just not realized it when we were in distress. It's alright, that's where "faith" comes in. When things don't make sense or seem unclear, God wants us to trust in Him completely. Didn't we trust Him to save our lives? To give us eternal lives? Helping us through "life" seems like a much easier task for Him.

Trust God completely my brothers and sisters! Submit to Him, He has a better plan for us than we can hope for.

"5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." (Pro 3: 5-6, TNIV) My very favorite verses in the bible.

A Wedding Experience 11:11 PM

I was fortunate enough to film a beautiful wedding on this hot pre-summer day.  The father of the bride is the man I admire and also my pastor. The bride and groom are such an adorable couple. I knew quite a few guests as well which made me feel much more comfortable during the shoot. This wedding was just right, not too lavish but not overly simple. 

Wedding always has unexpected things happen to photographers and videographers. This was no exception but we scrambled and improvised to get through the evening. After an hour of prep and long 6 hours of holding the camera, my right arm was completely exhausted. My eyes were soared and I was starving. It was an intense workout. Although I did enjoy doing it, I ain't sure if I could do it when I am 60.

When I think of weddings these days, it's hard for me not to associate it with "production". We all have seen some down right outrageous weddings on TV. I remembered an ex-coworker told me his wedding costed him so much that he was still trying to pay it off after 7 years of marriage. It's so painful just to hear that.

One thing that God taught me is the true essence of wedding. God picked two very special people and join them together to become one because He loves them so much and wants them to live their lives to the fullest, so His name can be glorified. Through marriage, the couple can grow closer to God, to experience some of the wonderful joy Adam and Eve once did. So what is the true essence of wedding? It's about "love" – the love between man and wife and God's amazing love. It's a milestone that God had planned for them before they were born. A wedding really shouldn't be a production or be ashamed of if one couldn't afford a lavish wedding. After all, love doesn't require money or materials. If one labeled the concept of love around "money", "materials" or "production", one may be seeking for disappointment in the future.

Lois and I had a less than lavish wedding. We had no professional photographers, videographers, just some friends to take shots for us, no DJ, no big fancy hall, just an activity room in a church. No catering feast, both of our families prepared all the food. (I found it exceptionally blessed to have both in-laws getting along, making meals together even they had only met one time before.) We had only about 30-40 people attended but it was beautiful and peaceful wedding. 12 years later, our marriage is still growing stronger each day and we try to put God first as much as possible. He is the fountain of our "love".

Serving God 11:25 PM

I am so happy to receive an anniversary card from my parents today. Although it is a little late but it completely made my day. In the card, they recalled so many tidbits of experience with us from their first visit since Lois and I got married 12 years ago till their latest visit in 2007. Although we only spent very very little time together, we treasure every moments.

God blessed me with wonderful parents who really understands me and give me the opportunity to explore and walk with God even though it means we have to live in two different ends of the world. It is amazing to see how God brought me closer to my folks by being so far away.

One of the coolest thing is that we all serve God in different ways. My dad is leading 2 churches in Hong Kong while doing mission works in China. My mom teaches Sunday School and be my dad's right hand. My brother and his girl friend are leading a youth group. Lois and I are leading varies groups and a FPU class while serving churches on media ministries and marketing. We often share our experiences and stories over the phone where we encourage each other, pray for each other. I think this is what being a Christian family is all about. (It took us years to get to where we are but it's worthy.)

God is our common thread, our core and our life support. We are all in peace knowing – we really are in good hands.

My Mac is Back 11:57 PM

After 6 days in the Apple Store waiting for repair due to a faulty video component, my baby (17 in MacBook Pro) is finally home. I feel like my arms just got reattached. It was alright to borrow Lois' MBP for a few days but I couldn't do projects as fast and everything just aren't the same. Isn't it interesting that we attached to our equipments so much.

In these recent years, I have developed such a close relationship with my computer equipments that whenever they have problems, my body got sick pretty much at about the same time. I thought it's psychological at first but then it happened over and over again. They are like my "extended body" now.

Faulty Me
Sometimes I feel like this is my relationship with Jesus. If I don't read the bible that day, or not doing the things that I am suppose to; I would have a very uneasy and weird feeling. (Holy Spirit must be trying to guide me back on course.) But one thing that I am sure of is that Jesus would feel much worse because of how much more He loves me than I did to my "extended body".

Through this experience, God teaches me not to be a "faulty component" but to take good care of myself and live according to His words. As 1 Corinthians 12:27 said, "Together you are the body of Christ. Each one of you is part of his body." (CEV)

Apostle Paul showed us the right perspective on life: " I honestly expect and hope that I will never do anything to be ashamed of. Whether I live or die, I always want to be as brave as I am now and bring honor to Christ. 21 If I live, it will be for Christ, and if I die, I will gain even more." (Phi 1:20, CEV)

Amen.

Unhappy Workers 11:44 PM

We went to a library to retrieve some information with a client today. The 5 minutes process took us almost 2 hours but what really surprised me were how unhappy everybody were (both volunteers and staffs, except the one receptionist who sat at the entrance). Although we were being treated unprofessionally, maybe a little disrespectfully; I couldn't help but feeling sorry for those people.

As a small business owner, I know how important it is to keep the morale of the company high. If the workers aren't happy, so would the customers; and unhappy customers would mean, needless to say, less businesses. But when I think deeper, the side-effect could impact each employee's personal and family lives as well.

God taught me about joy through this verse just now, "You have shown me the path to life, and you make me glad by being near to me. Sitting at your right side, I will always be joyful." (Psalm 16:11, CEV)

Finding joy in life is not something we can earn. It's a gift from God but we have to open our hearts and minds to receive it also.

I pray that God will open their eyes and their minds to see "joy" and the love of Jesus Christ.

Behind An Award Winning Project 11:54 PM

Today I am excited & blessed to receive 2 Communicator Awards (the leading international awards program honoring creative excellence for Communications Professionals) of a project. I remember vividly of the interesting story behind this project.

When this project first started, we were facing some tough challenges of rude criticism from one of the contributor of the client's side who looked down on us. (Being in the industry of over 20 years, I have never encounter anyone criticize my work that way.) Lois and I were very upset and unsettled at time because we knew what we were doing and we poured our hearts and minds to the project. We did not give up, we did not let this negativity get to us, instead we determined to use that as a driving force to make our design even better. We did more research, focus group survey and marketing studies, we poured in extra time to fine tune the design again and again. At the end, the client all give us the thumbs up to start production. But I didn't end there, I put more thoughts into the product even during production, coming up with new ways to present information, added extra features... All I was thinking about was to make a web site that would ultimately benefits my client in different ways. When the product launched, Lois and I not only relieved but also very proud of what we accomplished. And the clients? They were extremely happy with our work. I think they will be very excited when we tell them about this good news over the upcoming thank-you party as well.

Now when I look back at this process, I realized how important it is to be steadfast, to keep my cool, to have faith in Him with all my hearts. But more importantly, I now am in awe and very humble because of the faithfulness of my Lord and His grace upon me and Lois.

Psalm 109 said, "...When my enemies see me, they say cruel things and shake their heads ... I don’t care if they curse me, as long as you bless me ... You help everyone in need, and you defend them when they are on trial."

Botanical Garden 7:36 PM

Lois and I went to the Botanical Garden in the downtown of Oklahoma City today. Although it isn't at its best, we did enjoy the wonderful landscape and the awesome collection of cactus and succulents. They really are my favorite plants. Check out the 10-footer aloe on the right. For some reasons, these two species give me a very exotic out-of-space feel but more importantly, they remind me of the desert – the training places, testing ground of many bible stories. I must go through testing and trials in order to be fully trained and equipped so God can use me in ways to bring Him glory.

Walking through the green house reminds me of how much God likes gardening. He did create the garden of Eden after all. Oh and the first human profession: Not doctors or lawyers or teachers or scientist but simply gardener. "The Lord God put the man in the Garden of Eden to take care of it and to look after it." (Gen 2:15) A humble profession that God appreciates.

I have been taking close-up photography of variety of plants for a few years now. And I continue to be amazed of how attention to detail God is and how His creativity is beyond my wildest dreams. He truly care about His creation. How much more He cares about us?

12th Anniversary 11:59 PM

Today is my 12th anniversary with Lois. We are enjoying a short trip to OKC. We didn't have a hotel booked or any activities planned but God mysteriously lead us to a wonderful new hotel in Bricktown and we got a great price and a great room that overlook the ballpark as well. We had a nice dinner with the thickest steak we've tasted and got to watch a cool flick together in the biggest theater seating in town.

Isn't God wonderful. If we didn't follow His guidance and went to Frisco, we would have missed out all these gifts and fun that God had planned for us.

Lois and I didn't trade any gifts. At this stage, material things don't mean much to us anymore. She did wrote me a wonderful letter and my heart was completely melted. It's the most precious gift that I could hope for.

Lois is the most wonderful person that I know who cares for me so much. We are so different but yet so compatible in a way that is just hard to describe. She said in her letter, "our 12 years of relationship which started from excitement, passion and then steady and then being challenged. Now is so calm and sweet." The peace that we haven't had before. I can't describe it any better.

Through out this 12 years, God had granted us "forgiveness" when we do wrong to each other, He gave us "love" when we needed it, God gave us "grace" to love each other unconditionally.

We don't have much to give, but today, we want to give our marriage to God – to honor Him and to glorify Him. We look forward to how He leads us each day and how our marriage will continue to grow and thus our love.

Having Christ in our lives really aren't boring and constrained; He helps us to put to right perspective in life and learn the value of the purpose driven life. It's awesome. Otherwise, how would I deserve such a wonderful wife as Lois.

Honey, I thank you and I love you so much. You continue to "glow" in me. Happy 12th Anniversary!

Didn't Expect That 11:55 PM

I was excited to go onto a trip to Frisco Texas for the weekend to celebrate my 12th year anniversary with Lois. Lois stayed up very late last night to do research and find fun things to do while I was reading some books and trying to get some sleep.

9:30 – I choked myself awake, felt like vomiting. My body wasn't aching much but my head was spinning and felt horrible. After some hot water Lois gave me, I went back to sleep again. Lois went ahead to cancel the hotel booking.

1:30 – I felt much better and everything was almost packed. We went ahead to try to book the hotel again through Lois' computer, only found out that in order to get the good deal, we need to have the member's number which was in my computer. So I then turned on my Mac and then ... the unexpected happened. No display. The hard drive was working but the display card failed. I went to tell Lois about it and at that moment, we knew the trip wasn't meant to be.

To make the long story short, we took the sick Mac to the Apple Store to wait for it to fix up by next week.

We felt God had helped us along. The whole process began with us helping our friends to move yesterday and one thing lead to another. We are amazed of how each action causes another and somehow we are blessed to find out that the Mac was sick before the vacation then after we get back which will cause much more chaos in the office.

In know if it's many years ago, we would have been very upset that we couldn't go to the long planned vacation and the computer was broken down at the same time. Because of Him, we didn't get defeated by that but give thanks to God and had a nice and day with peace.

It's fantastic to have Jesus in my daily lives.

Fragile Body 11:34 PM

Lois and I helped a couple of friends to move tonight. Although it was not a large scale move but the weather was muggy. I was soaked and exhausted after the trip.

I have to admit that I have aged through the years, my years of office life and in-activities granted me the belly that I am ashamed to admit. But little did I know – my physical shape is much worse than I realized.

However, we are glad to be able to help someone. Isn't it what fellowship is all about?

God told me again that live is short and or body is just a temporary rental property which becomes more fragile through time (kinda like a flower). Like all things, it will decay and someday will return to dust.

How we use this property to really live a meaningful life, to do the right things (things that glorify God) are up to us. Don't waste it.

Turducken 11:26 PM

Today I went to a local meat market/restaurant to try out some "turducken" for lunch. I have heard about it for years now but always too busy to go there for lunch so Lois and I have decided to make a lunch meeting out of it so we have more motivation to go.

Much to my surprise, the store is neat and clean but the "turducken" couldn't live up to the hype. The piece was small yet the turkey and chicken were quite dry and not smooth in texture, and the duck was so little that I could hardly taste it. However, the disappointment quickly turned into enjoyment because the other foods were tasty and the deco of hundreds of Tabasco products really spice things up nicely. I haven't seen bottles of Tabasco that big (see photo). All in all, we had a nice lunch.

I remembered God told us to focus on "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy..." (Phi 4:8, NIV); if we linger in the negative side of things, our anger would lead us to disappointments and frustrations.

There's always something for us to appreciate if we're willing to open our hearts and minds.

An Encouragement 11:45 PM

I have been telling Lois how tired and how worn out I am these days. Work is a never ending task, there's always a client is in a urgent need, some codes that doesn't work, a vendor who couldn't delivered, machines fail... My small business is not immune to these challenges. Luckily, I have enough experienced (pay my dues) so I am more prepared. But it also tears me down so much. Thank God for 2 Corinthians 4:16 "So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace."

What an encouragement! Just want I need. 

24X7 Together 11:27 PM

Unlike most couples, we live in the same house and work in the same place – days in days out for almost 5 years now. Yes, we sometimes drive each other nuts and gentleness is out-of-the door. But somehow we always believed that God intentionally put us together this way for a reason. Perhaps we can share our experience to help the other couples.

24 hours together is a training of "Perseverance" and it also give us an unique opportunity to accept each other, embrace each other completely. I must admit, this is no easy task and it's hard to explain until you experience it yourself.

When I work, I always put all my focus onto it regardless of what's happening around me. As a result, my wife "Lois" is the one who usually emotionally suffered because of my lack of attention to her. Lately, I realized something is changing inside of me; I pay more attention to her throughout the day and try to do little things to help her whether she notice it or not. I think it's the result of spending more time with the Lord and submit more of myself to Him. 

I have learned the treasure of "gentleness."

Today Lois said she missed me so I ask her to sit by my side coz I missed her too. (It's hard to imagine we work in the same place all the time but we still miss each other, but it's true.) She was very stressed out because of something so hard that she has to tackle and she has no confident of accomplish that. I encouraged her, "As long as you did all you can, it's alright to ask for help. Nobody knows everything. You have to persevere, don't let it weight your spirit down. When God sent someone to do something, He always provide help along the way, sometimes with wisdom and discernment, sometimes through another person." I am happy to see her smile again.

Without God's help, I wouldn't be able to gear my focus out of my intensive work to encourage Lois with my time, love and care. The verse, "I can do all things through God who strengthens me." (Phi 4:13) embed in my heart stronger once more. 

Perseverance 11:24 PM

My Men's Group was studying the Book of James tonight and came across the topic of "Perseverance." I have found this a very good topic. God taught me about "perseverance" by allowing me to choose things for myself while I was a teenager. I choose my career, the place I rented, the university I attended to ... The bigger my ambition was, the more I had to endure in order to achieve the goal. I had to work on everything but sometimes, life loves to throw us curve balls. It's cool if someone gets your back but this isn't always the case. You have to face the challenge by yourself sometimes, but I know I was never alone. Jesus was with me. Even in my darkest hours, I have found rest and peace in Him. I was afraid to go to face another day but Jesus allows me to hide in His shelter. He lets me. My moment of weakness taught me to depend on Jesus, to totally trust Him. I looked back now and realized those times of perseverance built a better character out of me so I can be a tool to make His name glorified.

I finally completed my photography site (chrislophotography.com) today – beefed up & beta out. It was many hours of painstaking work and am very tired but I did it. "Perseverance" at work is just as important as in lives. I encourage you to give it a try.

My Turkey Leg 11:45 PM

I have moved to Tulsa for 11 years now and have never been to The Oklahoma Renaissance Festival. Today my little life group took a little trip to visit this castle (our first outing). The weather was nice and we got to do some casual browsing and watching some falcon performances. It was relaxing and fun. The most commenting are actually the people who works there, they are extraordinary nice and with professionalism that surpass many big theme parks. 

Turkey Leg

For me, I encountered a never-before seen experience. As many of you know, "turkey leg" is a very popular food item in the Renaissance Festival. Lois and I ordered one each to chow down 

as our lunch, but while I was working 1/3 of the way, I discovered the middle part of the turkey was still kind of cold so I took the turkey back to the food stand and see if I can have it heated up or a replacement. The lady took my turkey leg and gave me a beef eater sandwiches, all my money back and a new turkey leg on top of that! I totally didn't expect that. Of course, I wasn't mad to begin with but my heart was completely melted with their nice gesture.

This experience reminds me of how Jesus taught me to be nice to others. And now, I realized "nice" can have many different levels. I hope we all can do something nice to others, to encourage one and other, to love one another and perhaps to melt someone's heart once in awhile.

Rocking Lounge 11:06 PM

Today is a special day because we got out of the house and did something different. We went to check out MayFest after church and dine out in Texas Road House with a little shopping in Targets. It's a pretty good feeling to not work during weekend (it's a luxury for me.) 

People go to MayFest to check out different arts and crafts from around the nation. One of the very creative thing that we saw was a "rocking lounge". This craftsmen took the concept of rocking chair to a totally different level. As you can see in the photo, it's like a ride you find in the amusement park, the whole family can site together and enjoy a cool drink in a hot summer day while the whole set can rock back and forth. (comes with a price tag of almost $3,000 though)

The creativity reminds me of something that I was reading a few days ago. 

We know God creates the beautiful world  (Romans 1: 20-21), but not many people talked about what Jesus created. Ah ... He was a carpenter for a number of years before He started to preach in different cities. I would think Jesus would appreciate that rockin' lounge. Jesus also very good at creating stories, check out the plenty of parables in the gospels. But I think the grandest of them all, is the creation of invisible bridge that fill the gap between mankind and God. So we all can have a chance to have eternal life. My Lord Jesus is quite an architect I must add. Wouldn't you agree?

Doing The Right Thing 11:12 PM

If you are a designer or a photographer like me, you would understand one of the hardest thing to do is to keep up with your own web site. I guess we are so overly critical of our works and tried to cook it to perfection requires a lot of time and energy. While we have business to conduct, projects to finish, administrative work to take care of; we always push the task of web update to the "very back-burner". It's not a good feeling because we know it is the right thing to do (afterall, we've all heard the phrase – we can't afford not to.) It's our responsibility.

I have been trying to update my photography web site for several years now. So I finally collect all my energy and courage to give that a shot. I put everything else on hold and dive into it. After many hours, I finally pushed my new (beta) web site (www.chrislophotography.com) out today and felt very relieved. Although I didn't make a dime for the hard work but I did accomplish something.

This experience reminds me of something that Jesus taught me. The value of doing the right thing is not measurable by cost / money. If Jesus decided to have a career as a public speaker, or a motivational expert, He would have been very successful and make lots of money. But He values the opposite of "fame" and "fortune". He choose to do the right thing instead and He knows that it's worthy in God's eye and that alone is enough.

I want to continue to seek His will and do the right thing. I think Jesus would like that.

Joyce Meyer Conference 2009 11:26 PM

Lois and I went to the Joyce Meyer Conference 2009 in Tulsa tonight. It was a fantastic event. Great worship, Delirious? was there performing their new songs (& we sang our heart out); great preaching from Joyce on "Obedience". It's a spirit filled evening. Many stood up to accept Christ to be born again, including a mid-age couple who sat behind us. So Lois and I touched his arm as we prayed together. Hallelujah! Thank you Joyce & Delirious?

I didn't know what would be in store for us on tonight's preaching but it turned out to be perfect for me. I have been studying/researching the subject of "discipleship" this year and a huge part of it involves "obedience". I'm just amazed once again how God feed me spiritually. It's so unpredictable and full of surprises especially in unexpected circumstances. He ties my encounters with scriptures to tell me how alive the Word really is.

Here are some highlights of what I've received tonight:

Radical in Obedience

God intends us to obey. If we do what He says, we'll be able to live the good, joyful and fulfilled life God promises us. But we have to be straight with God first, to make peace with Him. 

I have learned that when I totally give myself to Him, I am able to allow God to anoint me with gifts so we can shine. Deuteronomy 6:23-24 told us to keep His commandments for our own good. Sometimes I'm doing things, good or not so good things, from the wrong motives; the right motive is more important because God looks into my heart of who I really am, not anybody else. 

Pure in Heart

Matthew 5:8 said, "Blessed (happy, enviably fortunate, and spiritually prosperous – possessing the happiness produced by the experience of God’s favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His grace, regardless of their outward conditions) are the pure in heart, for they shall see God!" (AMP)  I have to to guard my heart from "the sin of pride - moral pride, spiritual pride, the sin of self-righteousness" because the closer I get to God, the more I realize I am nothing without Him, all the blessings are from Him. God promotes people with the right character with the right heart.

Grace is not Cheap

Grace isn't an excuse to live a sloppy life. There must be a better way then to continue the cycle of sinning and forgiving. I now realized God gives me the "grace" so I can resist temptations and live a holy life that glorify Him.

I will start by paying more attention on the little things, such as saying "I'm sorry" first to my wife regardless of who's right or wrong. Making peace in the house is far more holy and win an argument.

Once I can handle the small things correctly, then God can put me onto bigger things.

I remembered an intense discussion in my Men's group in regards to why care if God's going to forgive us. The fact is: God forgives us if we ask Him but sin still has punishment. Grace doesn't relief us from the penalty of wrong doing. Don't we want to settle for sin and forgiveness so we can move onto deeper walk with Christ?

Mercy & Just

Quite often we remember God is "merciful" but forget He is also "just."

 "Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit [that stops bearing] He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit." (John 15:1, AMP) The more I know, the more responsibility I have to bear or I will open the door wide for the enemy.

As Joyce said, "Let's us get rid of excuses and get radical to live for God's glory." Amen.

I thank God tonight.

Delivery by Animals 11:22 PM

I am sure we have seen some amazing animal acts on TV or the web by now. My favorite amazing animal series are called, "Pankun and James" from Japan. Punkun is a genius champ and James is a "stupid bulldog". Together they venture into different places and do different things (human things). 

I remembered in an epsiode where Punkun was cooking some food (meat skewer) and deliver them to their distance grandma all by themselves. You have to watch this heart warming story in order to fully appreciate how amazing it is.

That video reminds me of a story that God showed me last Sunday. In I Kings 17, God kept Elijah alive by having the ravens brought him bread and meat two times a day in Kerith Ravine (east of Jordan -  a place without much of anything, especially during the season of drought) for a period of time. Isn't it amazing? Untrained ravens brought food to human on a regular schedule. 

Behind the truly amazing animal acts, we have an even more amazing creator.

God's Favor 11:57 PM

Today I have migrated my Quickbooks to an online version. It's quite a complex procedure since we've a Mac desktop version and they don't really support file importing from Mac. After a phone call to a sales rep. I began to download the PC trial version and get ready for the lengthy migration. Just as the file was downloading the phone rang, it was another sales rep (Lee) from Quickbooks who saw a question I posted through their web site a few minutes ago. He offered me a much easier way to migrate my files, he took care of the whole process for me (much to my surprise). It was late after 8 at night when he called back to me to finish the final touch up. I really appreciate he goes so far to help me and make my day a little easier.

This experience reminds me of how God shows favor to His people. I remember pastor Joe Osteen preaches this subject frequently. Perhaps we, as human, tend to overlook God's interest in our everyday lives because of our lack of faith or our pride.

Some may argue that my encounter was just an coincident or just luck. But it confirms me that my God loves and cares for me more than I often realized. If I can keep my eyes open, I can see God.

Evident of God's Almighty Power 4:27 AM

God has taught me many things today and I can't wait to share them with you.

I got a few minutes to watch a segment about ant in the science channel in the afternoon. The scientist discovered an ant can hang up side while carrying a leaf 100 times of its own weight. It instantly "wow" with the power of God and how He demonstrates His care for the small things, very small things. If He gives man the equivalent power compares with the ant, the earth will be destroyed long ago. Human's sinful nature has the tendency to exercise power of destruction, both physical and mental. God's provision really surpass all my understanding. In a moment like this, how can one not praise God and give Him the glory.

I have been drained from all the pressures and stress from the sickness of my dear cat and my wife at home and the overwhelming diligent requires for work. Then I keep reminding myself that Jesus said to come to Him if I'm weary, He will give me rest. So I have decided to go to the evening service tonight after my trip to Petsmart for some medical accessories for my cat. There aren't many people attended the service (Mother's day evening), so I got the whole row for myself. I have found the middle sit and totally drawn into worshipping God. Singing as loud as I could, opened my arms. I felt the closeness of God and that I had peace.

The sermon was about Elijah (I Kings 17) and it's very encouraging to learn that how God trained Elijah so He can do amazing work through him. The training process isn't easy nor fun but it's vital. I know that God broke me down each day so I can be transformed to become more like Him, to totally trust Him in every step that I take. So He can work through me.

Yes, I have found peace and rest (I did felt asleep for several hours after dinner - which is a gift for me.) and I am humble by the power of Go, His grace and His faithfulness.

Answered Prayer 1:35 AM

During my men's group today, I was so excited to hear that my friend (from post on May 9), who's having a very difficult time, is getting much better. God answered our prayer in that same afternoon, not only He lifted him up spiritually but He is showing him how much He cares for him as well. As soon as he walked into his office in the morning, a colleague handed him a done deal without him lifting a finger or saying a word! He worked as a salesman in an auto dealership for decades and it's an unheard of. I am so happy for him. Praise God and His glory.

God proves to me once again that He answers prayers. He is also faithful to us that as long as we put Him first and give ourselves to Him, He will bless us beyond our wildest imagination.

1 Peter 5:6-7 said, "6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you." (ESV) I am being humble by this experience.

An Insight on Marriage 10:46 PM

I still remembered how devastating I was when my first love broke up with me in 1993. We dated for over 4 years and due to the change of circumstances, it ended in such a way that left a scar in me till more than a decade after. I didn't understand why it hurt so much, but I know the higher the value of that relationship is, the more it hurts.

I received a phone call from a brother (in Christ) this morning asking me to pray for him. He was having a really difficult day as he struggles to stay close to God while he misses his family so much. He and his wife are separated. He tired so hard to do the right thing, to love her but all he faces are road blocks after road blocks. It hurts me just to think about what he's going through. But I must keep myself calm and continue to encourage him to stay close to God and trust Him. We know the devil is trying to attack his faith, to shake him but "God is more powerful. Just stay close to Him and He will protect you." I said.

You know, God creates & values marriage so much that "8 He becomes like one person with his wife. Then they are no longer two people, but one. 9 And no one should separate a couple that God has joined together.” (Mark 10: 8-9 CEV). He cares about relationship and the people in it so much and that's why it hurts when one is trying to end (murder) a marriage.

When come to relationship, I think of my relationship with God. Do I know Him well enough? Do I do things that pleases Him? Do I treasure my marriage, that He join together, everyday? After all, I believe working on marriage is a training ground for better understanding the ideal of relationship, the wonderful eternal relationship with God.

Sin vs Peace 3:46 PM

When someone preaches about how "sin" separate one from "God", it sounds like something in the spiritual realm or some say it's so "out there". What would impact me directly or immediately anyway? I didn't experience it so vividly until very recently.

I like to take a form of escape sometimes when I got stressed out or too tired. You would think when you get tired, you go to bed but it isn't the case for me. When I work, my brain goes 150mph, hands-eyes coordination races against the clock. Then when I call-off the night, my thoughts continue to race while I was lying on the bed. So I pull out my iphone and find something to entertain me or to distract my mind. Sometimes, I ended up watching something I shouldn't and one thing led to another... you know what I mean.

All in a sudden, I felt so distant from God. It's like when you want to talk to your best mate and he closes his door and shut you out. It hurts. I felt "no peace". Even thought I true-fully prayed to Him right afterward, I felt the connection wasn't there. It's like a busy signal in His channel. When God isn't #1 in my life, I already know something isn't right. But with a busy signal... I can't even begin to describe the level of desperation that I felt.

I remember when I was young, I would just continue my business and put God out of the picture all together. My mind would reason: It's my personal time, I don't think you would want to be a part of that and when things get passed, I would let Him back into my life. I fell.

Apostle Paul said in Romans 6:19, "I am using these everyday examples, because in some ways you are still weak. You used to let the different parts of your body be slaves of your evil thoughts... (CEV)" So true.

Then the scripture continues, " 20 When you were slaves of sin, you didn’t have to please God.21 But what good did you receive from the things you did? All you have to show for them is your shame, and they lead to death. (CEV)"

Enough said.

"I want to please you Lord my God. You gave me hope, life and peace, without you I am nothing. Please forgive my sin. I am so sorry. Thank you for allowing me to experience this which I couldn't feel before. Thank you for teaching me this valuable lesson today. And thank you for your mercy and forgiveness towards me."

Wait No More 1:51 PM

God has opened my eyes to see His blessings upon me over the pass few months. I knew it, I thank God for every blessings that I realized but I didn't documented them due to laziness. But I can't wait any longer, all those little things that He taught me really adds up and I am afraid of forgetting of what I've learned. So comes this blog.

This morning while I was taking some time to catch up with paper works, entering the vendor invoices, I noticed one of the very usual vendor's invoice is missing an invoice #, so I went to their web site to pull up the order record. Guess what, I have discovered that the print job that I thought has been completed last week are in "pending" mode without my knowledge! Now, I can fix it.

God uses this missing invoice # on the receipt to guide me onto this little discovery. I am glad that I have learned the art of "Slow to Anger", otherwise, I wouldn't be able to receive His blessings. Who says God aren't involved in our daily work.

Thanks for teaching me Lord Jesus.