20-22 Covid-19 Daily Reflections

"Ripple Effect" was what I was thinking about while talking to a friend who shared how a conversation I had with her more than 35 years ago has influenced her life. She told me then she would love to work as a Dean of International Students. She is now one. She  told me that she still uses some of the lessons she learned back then. I have been reflecting on the many lessons (Ripples) we learned together with our students during the years I served as the International Students Ministry Staff at McGill and Concordia in Montreal. The ripple of being passionate: I was indeed passionate about reaching out to students from all over the world. It was not a job. It was a calling, and I went at it without any doubts. We were passionate about God's love for His people as we served international students who came from many regions of the world. The ripple of transformation: my time with international students ministry was one of my most significant spiritual transformati...

  Maybe it is time for us to learn how to be more gentle. It doesn't matter what we watch and to whom we listen to, there seem to be so many angry people around. We cannot watch TV news without hearing someone yelling and screaming. Hysterical behavior is a welcoming display on National TV. Gentleness brings about meaningful connection and communication when harshness builds walls. Gentleness breaks them down. Gentleness opens doors for us to go deeper in our relationship with one another. Gentleness is not a display of weakness but strength. It doesn't repay evil with evil. Titus 3: 2  says:  "To speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people." We don't have many examples of this verse these days. We are so quick to speak evil of one another. The whole process of dealing with Covid-19 is a significant case study for that. Somehow communication and willingness to work with one another are not there. We witne...

  I love this cartoon. So many people have suffered from the lack of sleep and rest because they end their days with troubling thoughts and angry hearts. Some of us don't even know to allow our minds to rest and our hearts be still. Being positive is more than just a mindset. It is a decision that comes from our relationship with God and with one another. There are many passages in the Bible about our thoughts. Here is one in Philippians: "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."  -  Philippians   4: 8 How often do we see the truth, nobility, purity, and admiration in the massive amount of communication around us? There is so much distortion in our quest for the truth. Our society has undermined nobility in our relationships. We don't even talk about purity because we have chosen compromise over i...

  Water has become one of the most needed natural resources in the world today. Clean water is now a precious commodity. More and more places in the world are dealing with the crisis of not having enough water for their people. We also need to deal with our waste and contamination of water. If there is a war between the US and Canada, it won't be about oil and gas. It will be about freshwater. What does water do? It refreshes and cleans our physical bodies. It restores our physiology. In many ways, it brings life and growth. In the Bible, there are also many various spiritual meanings and images about water. Let us look at a couple today. Ezekiel 36: 25-27 "  I will sprinkle water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse from all your impurities and from all your idols.   I will give you a new heart put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone give you a heart of flesh.   And I will put my Spirit you and move you to follow my ...

  These are conversations that a frog has with himself as he ponders on how the year has gone. Conversation 1: "Things are certainly more simple in some ways. There is not much to do and nowhere to go still. We have been traveling far, haven't we?" - This is the attempt to be content in the midst of discontentment. Conversation 2: "Things are more complicated in other ways. We have to plan for everything. We cannot decide to do things in the last minutes anymore." - This is the try to regain life perspective while hating it. Conversation 3: "What are we looking at? I am not sure that I see anything. Staring at the same thing for a long time takes away our appreciation for what we see." - This is an acknowledgment that we are struggling in dealing with boredom. Conversation 4: "Look! We are growing, just in the wrong dimension, that is. We will not be able to jump anymore. A rolling fog? That is what we, Asian folks, do with a wok." - This is ...

  So we flushed our hot water tank this weekend. It was something I wanted to do for a long time. It was fun to see how mineral sediments pushed out as we drained the tank. The tank is supposed to last a bit longer if we do that annually. The one thing we know for sure that it is a lot cleaner and more energy-efficient now. How about our lives? What does it mean for us to be spiritually flushed out? None of us is free from various sinful sediments of life. We slowly collect them over the years in the forms of resentment, jealousy, envy, hate, the callousness of our hearts, indifference, fear, and more. They impact our emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being negatively. When that happens, we need spiritual renewal. Here is a verse about spiritual renewal (the flushing of our lives):   Romans 12:2 , NIV:  "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good...

  It is hard when the weather keeps fluctuating at this time of the year where I am. We can have a beautiful sunny day one day and then a snowy and cold day the day after. The range of temperature difference is about 20°C or more. My body is not coping with that inconsistency all that well at times. Sometimes I wonder how God deals with our spiritual inconsistencies. Some days we can see God very clearly and have no issue going about His work. Some other days we can hardly understand God and have a hard time discerning how to go after what He has in mind for us. We can feel tremendously close to God sometimes. Yet, we can feel so removed from Him on some other occasions. Why? We might ask. Our lack of commitment in studying with the Scripture is one of the reasons. Scripture is where God reveals to us who He is and what He is about. Many Christians have been suffering from biblical illiteracy. Our understanding of God will be incomplete so we need to pursue Him more in our study of...

  Numerous people asked me recently about my retirement plan. I haven't thought about it much because I am still enjoying what I am doing. After all, I am not sure that retirement is a biblical concept. As long as I am still healthy and cognitively aware, I will keep ongoing. It is also challenging for someone in my type of work to retire because it is all about human relationships. Working for me is my privilege in participating with God in His ongoing act of creation. As long as I can still see God's hand in my work, I will continue to expect his marvelous revelation and involvement in people's lives. It is about living out what God has intended for us in the world. Work is about acknowledging our true vocation, and that is a high calling. That does not mean that we don't feel tired and stressed at times. We are not free from our own temptations. We are constantly fighting between the will of God and the desire of the flesh in everything we do. We claim that we care a...

Time seems to pass by so fast in some ways and to go by slowly in others. It is like watching the vortex of life. Things move slowly when they are further away from the center. They will go faster with an increasing speed as they approach the center until they disappear under it. It eventually swallows everything. For some of us, life moves very slowly lately. There is not much to do, no place to go and no people to visit. Life seems to come to a halt. We know about the virus, and yet not all of us have a personal experience. Not too long ago, someone told me that he doesn't know anyone who is Covid-19 positive. Some people, who are fortunately still working, might feel a bit closer to the center of that vortex of life. They learn about people who get sick, businesses send people home, people get tested and have to stay home. They are also more aware of all of the new safety protocols at work. Some have to go through the Covid-19 questionnaire every time they start a new shift. Som...

I spent this past weekend reorganizing my workroom at home. I needed to do that because it had taken me a long time to find my tools and remember what I have. I also threw out some stuff because I had no idea why I kept them. I ended up doing more than I had initially planned. New ideas came up, and I could not resist. Salespeople at hardware stores were happy just to see me coming back. Sometimes we reorganize our thoughts and worries when we decide to spend time with God. We begin to remember what we have experienced with him. We recall experiences how we feel and understand Him. We are able to discern what we really need spiritually. We then need to go through some priority exercises. I was able to see my way clearly in the workroom and had a definite plan. When we spent significant time with God, we will be able to have different perspectives about our lives and others'. I can be excited about building things now because my workroom is in much better shape. We will gain a bette...

  A young man came and talked to me about his lack of faith in believing in God's love for him. Somehow he has also learned how to sabotage any good things that come his way. The struggle began many years ago when his father walked away from his mother and two sons. He can still talk about that moment with some intense emotion because he was seven when that happened. His story is not unique by any means. He is one among any young man who has grown up fatherless. There are many studies about the impact of children who grew up without a dad. A) Emotional security: this happens to both young men and women. Somehow their feeling of being rejected by their fathers has destroyed their emotional security. They feel worthless in some cases. They don't believe that they have any gift or talent. They are constantly seeking approval only to find ways to further destruction in relationships. B) Social adjustment: Some are angry. Some feel awkward. Some feel like the world is against them. ...

  As we observe what is going on in the US these days, it seems the country has become unraveled. Things are happening today that are unimaginable. It feels as if there is a force that is trying to take it apart. It has nothing to do with external forces. The turmoil is a battle from within. President Abraham Lincoln once said this about America: "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." How would Americans destroy America? God is absent in many aspects of life. What we see about God today might not be of God. It is a hologram. We start to believe in ourselves and our plan for the redemption of the world. We cry for human equality without acknowledging that God creates all of us. We fight for the environment while disregarding the core of our contamination is one that takes place in our hearts. We talk about grace as if we own its essence. We talk about freedom when we continue to nurture...

  On Friday, the Premier of Ontario asked other provinces in Canada for help. Although it is not clear whether he is asking for medical professionals' help or medical equipment, I am a bit baffled by the responses Ontario has received from the rest of Canada. It is a straight-out "No." I understand that we are dealing with our own challenges in Alberta as well. So what happened to the slogan "We are in this together"? We might want to see how God does great things in our nations by learning how to be sincerely gracious to one another. We don't just give because we are able. We do it because it is the right thing to do, and we should do that sacrificially. Christians claim that God has been gracious to us by giving us Jesus the sacrifice for our sinful condition. Remember the well-known saying: "What Would Jesus Do?" It might sound corny, but it is important to ask that question with sincerity in our hearts. When our lives reveal the reality of the ...

  Charles Spurgeon is a well-known English preacher whose writing still impacts many Christian today. This quote from him is one of my favourite quotes from him. We can see in the light. There is no guessing about what we might not see. We can move forward with some certainty. We can stop and don't have to worry that someone might hit us from behind. It is not hard to trust God when there is no unknown. Life is pretty set, and we are in a good position. When the darkness comes, it is a different story. It impacts our soul and can be very troubling. Our soul can be so empty because of pervasive darkness. It feels as if no one hears our cry. We stare into the nothingness of life, and there is no echo. Darkness damages our interaction with one another as deception takes the front-row in relationships, conceit plays into the pomposity of life, and hatred masquerades itself as the pursuit of one's rights. Darkness takes over the airwaves day and night. It is the source of our severe...

  Since March 2020, we have been bombarded with charts and graphs to describe where we are in our fight against Covid-19. We became both intrigued and bewildered by what we see. We might be guilty of spending more time looking at these types of info more than praying. Watchman Nee once wrote: "They spend more time in analyzing, in collecting materials, and in hard thinking than on prayer, on seeking God's mind, and on waiting for the power from above." The temptation of seeking our own understanding has lessened our desire to depend on God for answers. We don't hear our leaders calling people to prayers. Our leaders talk about social distancing, standing together, and overcoming Covid-19 but no prayer. Our dependence on scientific data of the day has undermined the spiritual insights of what we are encountering. Night after night, TV news from various networks would have medical experts expounding on what they see and understand. What happens to spiritual leaders? We ...

I came across this quote from Billy Graham recently while going through some of my old books: "Explore with me not only the realities of life as we grow older but also the hope and fulfillment and even joy that can be ours once we learned to look at these years from God's point of view and discover His strength to sustain us every day." Life realities certainly can reveal to us many challenges and blessings. We might be able to look at our challenges as lessons we need to learn about who we are with God and blessings as lessons we need to discover who God is with us. Sometimes I ask this question: "Have I really made a difference?" I can see the answers through the transformation and hope in the lives of many others. Sometimes they are clear, and sometimes they are not. We feel joy when our relationships with God are fulfilling. It is fulfilling because He makes us strong in our weaknesses, and He reveals to us the power that will carry us through the ups and do...

"Have you got vaccinated?" Bird 1.  "Have you heard about Herd Immunity?" Bird 2.  "Which one comes first?" Bird 1.  "Well, one you can decide. The other you have to wait." Bird 2. "Which is which?" Bird 1. "It depends on how long we are going to be around. I guess." Bird 2. Just allow yourself to imagine a conversation you have with someone about vaccination. I think this is now one of the significant conversations people have. I learned recently that 38% or so of American marine members do not want to be vaccinated. "Where are we going?" Goose 1. "I don't know. I am just trying to catch up with the group." Goose 2. "Where are they going?" Goose 1. "The same place last year, I think." Goose 2. "The same place? Many of us got shot down that way. You remember?" Goose 1 "We have two choices, get shot down or be frozen to death." Goose 2. "How about a compromise...

In 1945, Hugh MacLennan wrote "Two Solitudes". He was addressing the lack of communication (both desire and practice) between English and French Canadians. I have been thinking a lot about divisions we have experienced this past year in the US and Canada as our nations are struggling to deal with Covid-19. There might be some differences. However, we can also see some similarities when it comes to the responses our people have had. There are many solitudes in confronting this virus. Some might have something to deal with the lack of clear communication from various governments. The absence of transparency from China where we learned about the first few cases. The unclear communication from WHO when it fails to comment on the seriousness of the spread. Our health professionals didn't always send out a consistent message while trying to learn about the virus. These solitudes have also been formed by the overwhelming amount of information online. Some sources of this informa...

  I have talked to many people since the last April online and in person. They have been in touch with me for different reasons. Most of them need to talk about relationship challenges. Some are finding it hard in dealing with their own internal struggles, their relationships with their families, and at work. So how can we help one another? Kindness is essential as we spend time talking about what people are going through. It is not always easy to understand, but understanding is not the most important. Being there in kindness is far more needed. Helping others to see how important they are in the lives of their loved ones will encourage them to find hope and meaning. For example, some people are dealing with doubts about their relationships with their children and spouses. Some want to discuss what they have learned over this last year and how that has impacted their lives. Sometimes we need someone else to validate our life lessons as we share with them. Meaningful conversations ...

We are tired of dealing with Covid-19. Once again, we are experiencing shut down as the Province of Alberta goes back to Phase 1 (the highest level of shutting down). When I start blogging at the beginning of this pandemic a year ago, I didn't imagine we are still in the middle of it. For a while, it was academic to think about Covid-19 because not too many people we know contracted the virus. Not anymore. We have some friends and family members who got it and suffered seriously from it. It is now just an ugly reality. I wrote a few days ago about how some people have mistreated others because they don't see the seriousness of this virus and shame others for taking vaccines and wearing masks. Earlier this week, I heard about an incident where a worker verbally harassed one of his peers for wearing a mask. The abused one was sick from the virus a few weeks ago. I won't write down the words I would use to describe the abuser. But I will share with you what I think about the b...