20-22 Covid-19 Daily Reflections

  Power is seductive and destructive. How often do we see leaders succumb to the dangerous alluring of power? We have seen presidents, prime ministers, well-known evangelists, great entrepreneurs, faith leaders, and many others who have failed into that trap. Most of the time, the apologies they made to us are not sincere ones. Maybe it is not a mistake because it is done dishonestly. When we make a mistake in dishonesty, we don't know how to say "sorry". Maybe some of them have a sickening sense of entitlement and a false sense of being invincible. People who abuse their power have betrayed the very same foundation that put them into that power position. Somehow they have lost touch with their commitments and obligations to be in such a place. They fail to understand that people supported them because of the ideas they represent. However, that is not always true. When people idolize their leaders, they are now granting them open tickets to abuse their power. ...

I am bothered by the fact that there has been no official statement from the Government of Canada concerning the destruction of historical landmarks that involve Sir John MacDonald Statues. Where do we stand as a nation and people concerning the history of Canada? I refuse to believe that one specific group of people should have the only and complete say about who we are and what we do because we don't even know their whole agenda either. For us to move forward, we need to appreciate history and its context. We need more than shaming and blaming slogans in order to bring about real changes. There has to be room for conversations with different options and ideas. Are we going to replace racism with tyranny? I detest racism because of my own Christian conviction. However, I find recent events that claim to fight against racial tension have been cruel, oppressive, and intentionally arbitrary toward some people. Fundamentally, crying out "police brutality" is as general and u...

  Engaging speakers are good storytellers. They can use stories to capture the audience's attention and to make their points. A significant body of recorded teaching of Jesus is also consist of many parables (Stories). Many cultures have a narrative (storytelling) approach to communicating. In my study of the nature of narrative tradition, I came across Native Hawaiian, Western African, Jewish, Irish, American, Canadian Indigenous and many other Asian storytelling cultural heritages. Why Storytelling? There are many reasons, but a few seem to make sense the most. Stories bring people together and create a sense of belonging. Good ones help to build trust and welcome listeners to come into the context of the stories according to their own personal history. Storytelling is inviting and nonjudgmental. The parables of Jesus present multiple ways of learning about who God is and who we are. Parables can convey a spiritual truth despite its complexity. Most importa...

I listened to a webinar recently, and the presenter was talking about the need to show up for ourselves before showing for others. He was coming from a different perspective, and that was good for me to learn about what others see things. I have been thinking a bit about that topic because I have met a few people who have not shown up for themselves and eventually become their worst enemy in their struggles with life. We fail to show up for ourselves due to our past behaviour. The common saying is that we all have our "hidden closet", and we choose to hide in it. We don't show up for anyone. We become fearful of being exposed, so we hide away completely. We think that we can run away from what is damaging us only to discover that we are running in circles. We fail to show up for ourselves because we are avoiding the truth. We fail to show up for ourselves when we have not learned to develop what God has given us. We will become lesser than whom we can be if we are n...

  Our raspberry bushes are not doing well this year. They looked so promising in the early summer. Anyhow they slowed down at the beginning of August. Maybe the three hailstorms we had in July. It could the roots were damaged last year when we fixed the fence. It does not look like we have a corp this year. I am not that well versed in the art of gardening, so I won't venture into explaining why. My wife told me that it could well be the variety of berry, and they only last a few seasons. The only thing I know is that there are a lot of similarities between that and how our churches are doing spiritually. Sometimes we see a much promising beginning of a church. There seems to be life and power to push forward and to make a difference. As it grows, we gradually discover the growth is not outwardly but inwardly. It turns inward so much that it chokes itself to death. When that happens, church members tend to be critical of one another. They start finding the faults of o...

Encouragement is what is needed these days. People are tired of this new reality. Some are physically tired because of the stress level they have to encounter or are banged up emotionally because of the absence of human interaction. So how do we go about encouraging one another? Celebrating God-given gifts in people: God has gifted us differently. If we take time and look around, it is not that hard for us to appreciate God's gifts of others around us. I always enjoy good carpentry work, and honestly, sometimes I am jealous of those who have that talent. It is more than just a work of art. It is an expression of human spiritual beauty. I envy those who can express themselves via a musical instrument. It is as if they have another language to express their longing, their joy, their sorrow, and hope. Listen to them playing can take me to a place where I would have a taste of original beauty in creation.  Remove barriers: Barriers based on fears and jealousy. We shut one another...

  Now, Covid-19 hit me a little bit closer. I met a Filipino family a few years back. They were living with a friend of mine and his family in Canada. Their son suffers from a condition of mental illness. He and his sister somehow have chosen to keep in touch with me since they went back home. Well, to make a long story short, their mom contracted Covid-19 a few days ago when she went looking for her son, who lost at the time in another province. They admitted her to an ICU at a hospital in Manila. Her dad is working as a safety officer overseas. He cannot find his way home yet. The daughter is worried sick because of her mother's condition and her brother's situation as well. She asked me to pray for her family on Facebook Message. How do we pray when we are utterly helpless? That is the question I have encountered very often lately. We learn about how Jesus prayed before the crucifixion from John 17. It was an ugly and painful death that He had to go through. He affirmed the ...

  Now that we have passed through the stressful period when many elderly lost their lives due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. We might want to examine what happens to us as a society when it comes to caring for them. People Francis said this in March of 2019: "In a civilization in which there is no room for the elderly or where they are thrown away because they create problems, this society carries with it the virus of death. ... Where there is no honour for the elderly, there is no future for the young." Maybe we don't know how to appreciate life experience and wisdom: As soon as an elderly gets admitted to a nursing home or a senior care centre, he or she seems to disappear. All of what she or he knows doesn't seem to matter or to be appreciated. The accounts of various elderly abused cases in Quebec tell us that no one was really paying attention and not because of the pandemic. Much wisdom has been lost, and much life experience has been diminished. We migh...

  Yesterday the Progressive Conservative Party in Canada selected its new leader, who will lead the party into the next Federal election. I had been watching our various national news networks to discern the position of the power brokers in Central Canada and Quebec. As much as I am hopeful because I believe that there are good people who are running, I am concerned about the outcome because Canada is a lot bigger and more comprehensive than Central Canada and Quebec. The majority defines the democratic process and its outcome. Belong to a majority has never been my personal experience. Being Asian is one. Going to school in English in Quebec is another. Being in a cross-cultural marriage was a challenge due to my mom's reaction at the beginning. Becoming a Christian is another aspect of belonging to a minority. Being apart of a minority will give us the determination to try harder to prove ourselves. Some people might think the USA is a horrible place to live if you a...

  More and more Canadians have gotten deeply concerned about what is going on in the US. I know business folks who are worried about the lack of progress in managing the pandemic. I have friends in Asia and Europe who have voiced their dismay about what appears to be the lack of meaningful leadership from the US. When people are stressed, humor becomes a mean for a coping mechanism. We have seen more and more of that these days. Humour is a form of stress relief for what we are going through. When we realize we just did a stupid thing that costs us financially and emotionally, we use humor to process that out. Sometimes it appears to be self-effacing. Sometimes it sounds like exaggerating. It is a psychological display of dismay at oneself. Humour can also be used to portray a sense of superiority. People can use humor as a way to put some others down. We, Canadians, are guilty of this by making jokes at Americans about their rudeness and unawareness while we enjoy th...

Promises are made to be broken. That seems to be the case when it comes to people who are in power politically. We are struggling to learn how to keep our promises as well. Having a faithful friend who keeps her (his) promises is a blessing these days. Faithfulness and loyalty are rare nowadays, and they are more precious than gold. The word faithfulness has its origin in Latin (fides). It means to trust, to have faith, and to abide in. One of the major problems of the contemporary churches is the lack of faithfulness to God and His teaching. Trusting God is not an easy task to do. We tend to lean on our own understanding and ability to deal with the problems we have in life. When that happens, we end up having other lovers who deceive us and take us to the land of the lost. We have no idea how to trust God anymore because we just don't know how to begin. I met an accountant who lost his job and his family due to his addiction. The first meaningful question we had after...

  Have you ever had vegan ice cream? Well, I had the first one last summer with a niece who came to Calgary to work from Washington DC area. She is a vegan, so I didn't have much choice. We waited in line for about 15 minutes to get one. It was not bad as I had imagined. Sometimes we form our opinions about things, people and life events without any personal experience. Racism is one of them. People can form opinions about other people without having much direct personal interaction. When that happens, much of what we say or do is based on fear. Fear can exist without any real personal experience. It is in our minds with all of its imagination. We base our thoughts and feelings on what other people say or some specific images that we have seen. Judgment is another one. I have met people who seem to have some definite ideas about people of faith. Some would say that we are naive, narrow-minded, and backward. However, these folks tend to have a hard time to engage in dee...

  The heatwave is on. The temperature, where we are, reached 34°C Tuesday afternoon. I have friends and family who told me it had been 100°F and more in California and Texas last week. Some people are crazy about the heat. I think I have become too Canadian when it comes to hot weather. It slows me down because I have got used to the cold climate in Canada. We get used to things as time goes by. Sometimes it is good, and sometimes it is not. We used to the idea that politicians will lie and abuse their power. Nowadays, we don't have to look very long and hard to see examples of that. We might make jokes about them, but we don't speak up. Sometimes we cast our votes as if our moral conviction has nothing to do with it. I am not sure we get used to things, or we just become indifferent toward what is evil. We get used to the fact that the laws in our nations can be immoral, and we resign to that reality. We complain among ourselves but do very little to voice our concerns. Maybe ...

  It is time to consider kindness considering what we know about the world that we live in sometimes. Having stress in dealing with many unknowns has impacted many working folks. I have decided that I will find ways to encourage people who have returned to work or have been working as different businesses have begun to reopen. These folks have their own worries and concerns as life is quite different now. I asked a young server at a Vietnamese restaurant about her parents this week. She was first surprised by the question and then found it hard to answer them. Her mother suffered from a stroke recently, and it has been hard not to be able to see her mom because of Covid-19. It was not a busy afternoon, so I asked her to sit down and tell me how can I pray for her family. She has a younger brother in grade 11, and he has no ideas about how the school is going to be like in the fall. Her dad left the family a few years back for someone else. You can imagine the rest of the story. I h...

    I envy those who can draw and paint. Artists who can bring images of what they see onto the canvas are special people. It is just amazing to see how they interpret the images in their mind with their hands and their conceptual engagement of colors. God ought to entrust in them these talents so that they can share the beauty of what they see with us. But natural gifts are not enough. We will have to make commitments to develop and hone them. God's gifts need to multiply. The more we learn how to grow our talents, more and more people will benefit from them. Developing them is our calling to reveal the beauty and the power of God. We no longer live independently from God. We become an integral part of God's action in this world. God's gifts to us are our endowment in the art of living. Nothing can be more exciting by believing that our lives are God's gift to the world if we learn how to live rightly. It is like a hidden beauty that being discovered as w...

  I had a meeting with a friend at a local hang out place last week. We had a conversation with our server after the meal. It was of those conversations that reveal how things are going for many people at this time. I found that she is a teacher who is waiting for a permanent contract. She taught last year really enjoyed it, but there is no certainty for this year due to Covid-19. Many young people who graduate from university this year might belong to a generation that has been damaged by Covid-19. Some will have to adjust to what they are looking for in terms of work. We were impressed by this young lady because she was attentive and kind in her service. I was impressed by her ability to communicate, and that was I ask her whether she attends university or finished her study. She doesn't allow the fact that she has to do something different for the time being to compromise her commitment to excellence. Some have decided to create their own job instead of looking for one. My daugh...

    I had a good conversation with a young mom about their life on the island of Vancouver recently. She and her husband have one boy and have been thinking about the second one. She was honest in sharing with me about their apprehension in thinking about bringing another child into this world, considering everything that has been going on. What is the world going to be like when the kids grow up? She is not alone in asking such a question. Maybe we have more fear about the future if we think that we need to be in control of our human destiny. Many things tell us that we are not in control. That doesn't sit well with us. We seem to assume that we should know better, and yet the evidence tells us that we might not know much about how human hearts work. We now face our dilemma. Our faith in humanity is fragile, and our need to believe that we are strong enough to correct any wrong. We might realize everyone has taken a step of faith, either in God or in people and ...

  Someone asked what I think about all of the restrictions that have been imposed by the government(s) concerning church public worship. Different cities, provinces and states have come up with their own regulations for churches. The way Christians and Christian churches have been treated in Canada, I am grateful that God has given us this trial run in dealing with Covid-19 as our preparation for more severe persecution in the future. If nothing is going to change in Canada, Christian churches need to get ready to face these possible accusations as we proclaim our faith in Jesus. A) The teaching of hatred: Expressing moral convictions can be seen as teaching hatred in Canada. Conversations about the human rights of the fetus and the nature of human sexuality are no longer welcome. We can see a "systemic accusatory politics" that has been applied against the Christian Church. There is no room for dialogues over some of the moral questions of the day. We either have to give up ...

    It was five months ago when the Covid-19 shutdown started in Montreal. I was there visiting my father, who was going through some serious issues relating to his Parkinson's. A hotel front desk clerk told me that I needed to stay in my room, and the lobby was no longer accessible to guests. From my hotel room, I was looking at one of the busiest streets in any city in Canada (St. Catherine), and it was quiet and deserted. That was a disconcerting view of Montreal.  I started praying and asking God what would be the most effective way to care for people when I can no longer have face to face conversations. "Write", was the message I got. That is the beginning of my Covid-19 writing. What have I learned since then? God reveals Himself via simple conversations. Even yesterday, while waiting in line to get some paperwork done for my business, a young lady asked me about my business. I told her that I provide Chaplaincy support and care for working folks. She ...

Have you ever got frustrated while trying to get your software updated or upgraded? Once in a while, I ran into that problem, and it drives me bonkers. So I got up one morning intending to get my office suite software ungraded before my first meeting. That was a mistake. Somehow the installed program decided not to play nice with my OS. Two hours later, the upgraded attempt failed. Many of us have tried the same thing when it comes to making our life better. We try to learn new skills, network with more people, to market ourselves, and to find ways to become relevant and present in the market place. We discover soon enough that not everything will try will be a success. Many years ago, I had a client who hoped to branch out from his automotive business and got into the RV business only to discover that almost put his entire business under bankruptcy. Our ambition and vision don't always work out the way we hope. However, the worse problem is when we have no vision an...

  Praying is a challenging aspect of life for me. I am not one of those people who kneel, close my eyes, and have to be at a specific location. Sometimes I sing but not out loud. I sing in my mind. Sometimes I go for a long walk so that I can sense that God is walking with me. Sometimes I sit still by a river and listen to the water flowing downstream. I tend to hear God better that way. Sometimes I read the Bible. Sometimes I write down what is going on in my heart. Sometimes I feel God's love. Sometimes I feel quite removed from Him. I am not religious in my prayers. A young man told me once that I had the shortest prayer for a meal for being a pastor. I know that it should be a time to listen to God, and yet I find myself talking too much. Sometimes I talk to God as if He has absolutely no clues of what I am going through. A family of a man, who killed his wife and kids, asked me to see him after he was convicted and before he was sent to another province to serve...

    My son and his wife just got a puppy a few months ago. We have to be honest that we fall in love with that dog faster than we thought. He has a peaceful temperament and enjoys seeing us whenever we come over. It didn't take long for us to consider him as a member of the family. How do I know that? Well, his name always comes up whenever we are shopping. It has been good therapy for all of us while dealing with all of Covid-19 unknowns and tensions. The latest news we have for Calgary is our employment rate hit 15.5% as the highest for urban centers of its size in Canada. My work has been busy because people don't see people like me that often when things are good. Many people are anxious, and some are getting more and more depressed. We don't have political leaders who are having the gift of being good shepherds, so the flock is pretty much scattered. Sheep of a scattered flock exposed to many predators and the shepherd is not there to protect and to warn...

    One of the newest addictions we have encountered is Netflix addiction. I have met people who missed work, neglected their family members, failed in their school work, had no interest in intimacy with their spouses, and more. These folks sometimes got involved in Netflix binges that last for many hours or days. Isolation and not being able to get out due to Covid-19 has not helped this phenomenon that much.  Some would say things started innocently enough. They just wanted to have the convenience of watching movies at home and had more options they needed. Eventually, that lead to a desire to escape whatever they needed to. It is not uncommon we deal with one broken aspect of our life by creating or searching for another. Netflix opens the door to having that opportunity. Others would say that their Netflix addiction feeds their fantasy. Some of them are more sinister than others. Some of the series they watch might play on these fantasies. It is not a co...

    A friend sent me a link about a new band, Switchfoot, and the new song "Selling the News"  It is a powerful song and a very observing one. Here is the link for it if you are interested in listening and studying the lyrics. https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/switchfoot/sellingthenews.html This message is to share my thoughts over some of the points the lyrics have pointed out to me. " Opinions are easier to swallow than facts":  It is not hard to share one's opinions these days, and I am fully aware that I am doing that as well. So for us to share our ideas and thoughts with some integrity, we need to study the facts. As a pastor, I need to be aware of how God is dealing with the conditions of our broken hearts. We also need to double-check our motives. I am referring to our attempt to have some reflection on what is going in the world. As we look at what is going on today, fact swallowing is becoming more common. We hear more commentary on the news ...

  I am thinking about taking a training course on learning how to fly a drone properly. Yes, I must confess that I have some toy drones but they are not sophisticated enough. I first learned about the course when I watched someone doing surveillance for one of my clients' job sites by using drones. I learned a lot from watching him. It is just amazing how our view of the scenery changes. It gives us a chance to regain some perspectives and realize what we miss. Drones can go where automobiles and other regular modes of transportation can't. That is an added power and a chance to see things more clearly. We usually get upset when we cannot have the whole picture of what we are dealing with. We cannot make proper decisions because we cannot see. In my daily prayer, I ask God for similar help that He will lift me up higher so that I might see what He wants me to see. When we are in the dark intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually, it is a dangerous place to make...

A picture of a crowded high school hallway this week is not what many of us like to see. There is no observation of physical distancing and mask-wearing. I have many thoughts when I saw it. One is of frustration. One is of bewilderment. It is telling us that we live in a time when people would not trust anyone. Many years ago, medical doctors had some authority when they comment on health situations. Somehow we don't see the same response anymore. There is a total disregard for the threat of COVID-19 as the death toll continues to rise in the US.  Why? We might ask. Maybe there is no absolute right or wrong anymore, and that has granted some people reasons not to do what is right. The demand for personal rights continues to play at the forefront of the news, the absence of the desire to do what is right for others seems celebrated. We witness such a moral contradiction. We fight for racial injustice and the protection of folks who have been suffering from i...

  I have Lebanese friends, and you can imagine that many of them have been in immense emotional turmoil and stress after the explosion on Tuesday. It is a piece of news that we don't need these days. That nation has been suffering from an economic crisis, Covid-19, regional conflicts, and more. It will be challenging to cope with the aftermath, regardless of the cause. We don't know at this present time. We only know that many people are mourning on this day. Sometimes it is just hard to understand how and what to pray as we see the suffering around the world. Where is God in the midst of overwhelming human suffering? I know some people might have the worldview that God is an unnecessary hypothesis at this point in human history when we have made tremendous headway in our understanding of science. My submission is simple. When we have the freedom to combine both the physical and metaphysical truths of the world, we learn to see the world with a broader and deeper ...

      There is always collateral damage in a war or a pandemic. As I listen to people who come and talk to me, I have learned how stressful life has become for them due to Covid-19. We all know about implications on many health care frontline workers and their families. There are many others as well, and the damages they have to sustain are also costly and painful. It is about many single parents who have to stay home and work while having no support for their young children. Their work performance impacted negatively. Their relationships with the kids are challenging because the young ones don't know why mom or dad cannot be or play with them. These single parents have no other option. One told me she has to do her reports for work late at night after her kids go to bed. She is also worried about getting sick and not knowing who is going to take care of them because she has no family here. It is about a young police officer who is married to a friend of min...

      Falling in love is a thrilling experience. It is one that captures all of our senses so that we find words inadequate to express how we feel. Falling out of love is another story. Words came faster than we imagine, and they are insufficient to express our emotions. I am in a business that I witness both scenarios often enough in my counseling with people. Sometimes we can see many similarities between those relationships and our relationships with God. We don't have anything in common is what I usually hear from couples who are struggling with their marriages. What they really say is that they have no interest in one another and begin to live separate lives. It is even more challenging when one is trying, and the other is giving up. God is always trying to get our attention, but we would not pay attention and even condemn Him. The bible burning incident in Portland confirmed that. We don't talk to one another anymore is another statement. Some couples ...

  Many people I know have children during the last six months. It has nothing to do with Covid-19, and it is too early for those jokes anyway. All of them are excited and consumed by the presence of their new little one in their life. Some are more apprehensive than others about the world that their kids will have to face. It is time to pray more than ever before because I am not sure I can trust in any human solution. It is time to discover the true meaning of surrendering ourselves to God. In human experience, surrendering implies that we lose our freedom. In human relationships with God surrendering means freedom and restoration. Intimate prayers are the outcome of such surrendering. What is surrendering to God? We might seek for the real voice of God at this time. It is not a voice that demands privileges and proclaims power. It is not a voice that expresses jealousy and fears. It is not a voice that attacks others. It has to be the voice that manifests our humili...