20-22 Covid-19 Daily Reflections

Have you ever doubted the existence of God while watching everything that is happening in the world today? Have you ever struggled with the overwhelming ungodliness that can be seen anywhere? Let us look at Psalm 1: 1-3 as we attempt to deal with our doubts. "Blessed is the man     who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners,     nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord,     and on his law, he meditates day and night. He is like a tree     planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season,     and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers." To whom are we listening? It is a lot healthier if we allow ourselves to be counselled by men or women who love God. The voice of the liar always brings shame, damnation, and destruction. The voice of the lover will restore, forgive and encourage. Our meditation on God's law will...

  Sometimes I like to fix things around the house because I want to learn how things work. When I consider the time I spend, it is not really about saving money. However, it is fulfilling when I can fix things. The last endeavor was my coffee drip. Somehow the machine just stuck. There was no water coming out. I turned it upside down and used a screwdriver to open the bottom cover. After studying the water flow mechanism, I opened up its cavity. I found almost half of a cup of crystallized minerals in it. It was kind of gross in some ways. I fixed it, and we are still using it today. I have written about the callousness of our hearts. What kinds of stones will God find when He goes into the cavity of our hearts? A heart of stone can be a sad and damaged heart. Many of us have experienced that in various relationships in our lives. It has no hope, and it has no strength to encourage and to be encouraged. It cannot feel because it is so numb. A heart of stone can be an an...

A young high school student asked me recently about how we know that God is with us. It was in the context of prayers. It is a common question that many people have. How can we be sure that God is there when we pray? Maybe the question should be the other way around. How do we know that we long for His presence when we pray? What is our real motivation in praying? We need to be aware of our pride. Pride can be a damaging barrier between God and us. It takes away our freedom to hear Him because we are so preoccupied with ourselves and our own issues. Pride also makes our hearts callous towards the suffering of others. A callous heart cannot feel what God feels. It is held captive by things that are outside God. A humble heart yields to the Heart of God. James 4: 6 - "But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud  but shows favor to the humble." We need to learn how to slow down so we might hear God. It is about taking the time ...

  I had a conversation with a police officer about what it takes for him to do about his daily duty considering the negativity lately about police officers and policing. We ended up talking about resilience in policing. He comes from a long family tradition of law enforcement. This picture summarizes our conversation in many ways. We need to know who is with us and whom we can depend on in order to have the courage to move ahead with our responsibilities. He mentioned the advice and the encouragement he has received from his family and his church family. He would not pay too much attention to the negative talks from those who don't know him and don't care about him and his family. We need to be aware of the challenges of the environment and find ways to work through them. There are always open doors when we search and work hard to find them. We need to take advantage of these opportunities. He talked about being intentional about building relationships with the comm...

It is hard to know how to deal.with the vast amount of information we get these days. It is not a bad idea that we become more and more aware of our own biases. It does not help when leaders have become self-serving. When the lack of trust becomes more prevalent, we dwell more on our skepticism. However, we should not give up and try harder to overcome our biases. We need to understand that the more we know, the less we know. Our behaviors might be simplistic, but that does not always tell the whole story. Simplicity can be the best approach in dealing complexity of the world. When we study further, we come to understand things are more complex than we perceive. Humility and honesty are essential in our quest for truth. We need to extend our social network and involvement with people we might not have much in common. We need to have the courage to listen and learn from these people. Sometimes, we might discover a new window of wisdom when that happens. Life is not about hav...

On July 20th, 1969, we witnessed a historical event in human history when Neil Armstrong took his first step on the moon. It confirmed our human ability and accomplishment in space exploration. We applaud such an endeavor because we are amazed by the courage and commitment of these astronauts. They are our space explorers. What would we do if we discover one day that there are other living creatures on another planet in the galaxy? Would we try to colonize them if they are less developed technologically? Remember that we don't speak their language. They don't look in any way similar to us. What if we have to settle on that new planet because we don't have enough space for everyone on earth? What if they cannot fight us off and we become new settlers there. They don't seem to want to have anything to deal with us. What would be a meaningful approach to understand them and to discover who they are? New settlers on this new planet have to face some of the very ...

  It was refreshing to walk through a park and saw children playing yesterday. The city built it early this year. I decided to try the swing out and see whether I still can make it go high. Next to me were two boys on a teeter-totter. They were trying to knock each other off. It was fun to see kids playing outside and get away from the electronic devices. How often have we seen parents used electronic devices as a tranquilizer? We don't want to be bothered by our youngsters and prefer not to engage them in conversations. So here comes a tablet. That is when we hand our kids to strangers. Tablets use the internet to access information and applications. Would we take one of our kids and leave him (her) by the side of a highway so anyone can pick them up? It is not about anti-technology and anti-progress. It is about understanding what it means to grant our children a more balanced way to grow up. Learning to have a meaningful conversation with one another is very good for...

  Today is my oldest daughter's birthday. She has grown up to be an incredibly gifted and caring daughter and wife. Being a father is an ongoing learning exercise for me. It is not about being perfect. It is about discovering the nature of God as my Father while realizing that I still have a lot to learn. By the way, just to be sure you understand the intent of my use of the word "Father" in referring to God, I don't mean that He is Male. That is the limitation of any language when trying to describe God. One of the significant aspects of being a father is to have the freedom to grieve with your children. Although we try to protect our kids, they will get hurt. That is the reality of life. Sometimes we don't understand the pain that our children might have to go through. We have never experienced it before. I came across this plaque at a small family business cafe in my city, and I have been thinking about it quite a bit. When we grieve for the loss of someone, we...

  Abusive relationships are more common than we think. People abuse one another in many different ways; in marriages, dating relationships, business partnerships, friendships, and more. We begin to see more problems in abusive relationships surface as Covid-19 restrictions are no longer there. Intense shutdown reveals the magnitude of abusive relationships more strikingly. As I listened to a young person who shared the emotional bondage that she experienced with someone she broke up with a while ago, I decided to put some of my thoughts down for this edition of my blog. Damaged people damage others: emotional bondage can be passed on from one generation to the next or from one group of people to another. Somehow the whole notion of loving someone is twisted around the idea of having control over the other person. Jealousy, guilt, fear, and anger tend to be displayed often in these relationships. People incline to second guess themselves and God in these relationships. I...

  Writing is not that easy for me. Sometimes I struggle to find words to express my thoughts. I pray that God will speak to me as I put my thoughts together. It is a spiritual discipline for me to write. Some people might write to make money. Others might do that to make a name for themselves. I feel a sense of duty to put my thoughts down on paper. In Chariots of Fire (1981), there was a meaningful conversation between Eric Liddell and his sister when she was mad at him for running on Sunday. He said to her: God made me for a purpose. God made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure." I understand some of that pleasure as I write. I have the pleasure of communicating with people whom I have never met. The world is so big, and the internet has given us the opportunities to reach out to people who we will never get the chance to meet personally. It is pleasing to God when we do that. I have the pleasure of using words to express God's beauty and purpose for the world. Some...

  The heatwave left us for a short time and then came back. It is getting harder to breathe where we are because of the intense smoke from forest fires in BC. I tried to walk outside in the early morning, and it felt as if I was walking into a designated smoking room. It was not very comfortable. It has been abnormally hot for the last few weeks. Whether we believe in Global Warming or not, one thing we know for sure is that nature is groaning because of human sin. We believe that at the beginning, everything God created was good. So it is not God who fails to keep His creation in good order, then it has to be us. Maybe it is good that we become uncomfortable with the heat because we have been so accustomed to our selfish ways of life while thinking that there are no consequences. Many farmers are now worried about their yield for this coming harvest. Should we be concerned about our lack of godliness when waiting for the coming of Jesus? More than ever before, we see some striking...

  An Instagram post of a church camp says: "I am free. I am no longer a slave to fear". That reminds me of something I read recently about how negative emotions can affect our health: Fear weakens our kidneys Stress weakens our hearts Worry weakens our stomachs Grief weakens lungs Anger weakens our livers We can see how our emotional and physical well beings are intertwined. When we look at things closely, we might see that our spiritual well-being is overarching everything. We, as a society, have been trying to deny the reality of sin. It is not comfortable for us to talk about the notion of sin in general. It makes people uncomfortable. Have we ever considered that fear, stress, worry, grief, and anger also make us uneasy? In fear, we should put our trust in God, not man. Fear of man will lead us to more fears. Fear of ourselves will isolate us. Fear of God will set us free from ourselves and others.   Psalm 56: 3:   “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.” ...

  Have you ever asked what this man is thinking? It looks like he is ready to call it a career. We don't see his facial expression, but we can guess he is just pondering on what's left in his life. I have met many people in his position. They worked hard all their lives, and then everything came to a stop. What he is thinking about might have to do with some of the following. Relationships that he has made and lost over other years. He thinks about people he will miss for a long time, and people who have lost contact with him. He is thankful for many people who have taught him many lessons both about life and work. He might also have some regret about how he treated some of them. He looks back so that he can look forward. He still wants to contribute to society. He is retired at sixty-five, but he also starts a new journey of life. He wants to be active and involved. He has some sense of excitement and apprehension at the same time. He might be thinking about how to use his exp...

Reading is a discipline that many people have not yet learned how to appreciate. Indeed, some folks cannot read well because of their disability. However, that is not the main reason. Life is just too hectic to read. Reading requires a time commitment and a desire to learn. I am going to share with you what I commented on a Social Media Posting recently. Having the willingness to understand different perspectives somehow has become a lost art. Our culture has forced many of us to live in conformity with thoughts and ideas. We are experiencing a new form of brainwashing in many ways. Our unwillingness and inability to entertain diverse opinions are more harmful to the stability and health of our society. Learning from different people is a gift. However, we have pushed it away by our unwillingness to read and learn from others. We would rather attach ourselves to "politically correct slogans" than have a deeper understanding of human motivation and reasons for our ...

One of the verses that remind me about what it means to live a Christian Life is from Micah 6: 8 : "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" The question is what God asks of us. We learn that there are three aspects of walking with God. To do justice: we cannot be just if we can only think about ourselves and consider ourselves before others. To do justice is to love others as God loves us. It is unconditional and sacrificial love. There is no room for condemning others while calling for justice. Self-pity and victimization have no room in living a just life. We cannot think about justice without the acknowledgment of our sinful condition. Seeking justice in life is to search for solutions for human brokenness. To love kindness: kindness is the condition of our hearts that overcomes personal offense and anger towards others. Sometimes the absence of kindness is roote...

  Canadian Forces Snowbirds flew over Calgary on Wednesday this week. The name of this operation was Inspiration. It was the way for the team to honor one of the comrades who died last year in an accident. It was also how they expressed their appreciation for healthcare workers. For some of you who might not know, the snowbirds are iconic symbol in Canada as a flying acrobatic team. They have represented Canada all over the world for many years. They are the symbol of Canada's pride. Symbols are important in many cultures and many groups. They signify what we are about and what we stand for in terms of values and convictions. I went to a school that has a flame as its symbol. Many of us have taken pride in that flame. It reminds us that we need to be a flame that provides hope, clarity, and direction. It is also about a desire to make a difference. As a Christians, the cross is also an important symbol to me. It is a reminder of how God has reached out to the world with...

I am dictating this block while driving down to Lethbridge. It is sunny on my left as the sun is trying to break through. However, it is smoky on my right as the smoke from various fires from British Columbia coming over to Alberta. It will be a hot day. It is like our life with God. We know that God wants to have a breakthrough with us. We think we want the same, but we find ourselves hiding from him. It is a challenge sometimes because we see Him, and yet we are afraid of seeing Him. We are waiting for some clear indicators that He is there with us. We live between what we know and what we do not know. We see the Light, but we don't want the benefits of His presence.  Then we looked over the other side we find all the confusion and uncertainty. The haziness of my mind and the unsettledness of my spirit seem to dominate our hearts and minds. It is heavy, and we find it hard to breathe. We want to get out of it, and yet it is so pervasive in the horizons. We cannot see,...

  I am not foreign to how mean and harsh words can damage people emotionally and spiritually. I sat down with a young fellow whose mother died suddenly from a stroke last night week. He was struggling with the conversation he had with her while dealing with her passing.  They exchanged some mean words, and he does not know how to deal with that. Unkind words can haunt us for a long time. Some people believe that they were unwanted because of what their parents or other significant people in their lives told them. Some people do not think that there is anything good about them because someone has told them so. These are lies, and yet they find their ways to corrupt lives for a long time. What can we learn about having kind words in the Bible? Proverbs 16:23-24 “From a wise mind comes wise speech; the words of the wise are persuasive. Kind words are like honey — sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.” Hurtful words happen when we speak in haste, anger, and conde...

I wrote about this before. However, there is a lot more to think about when we try to address the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Let us imagine wisdom is the core circle when knowledge is the one outside it, and the information circle is the one surrounding the knowledge one. When information is merely collected data, knowledge is how we apply that data in different aspects of life. Wisdom is having the discernment to discover the truth in life while attaining knowledge. Wisdom is not about having the ability to advance ourselves beyond others. It is about being able to see God within the core of other people's lives. Wisdom is about seeing things beyond the trivialities of life so we can discover the hidden beauty of God around us and within us. Wisdom is to have the freedom to acknowledge God's presence and activities when it is uncomfortable to do so. It will help us to embrace God's power as we grow in our knowledge and understanding. The ultimate ...

  Most people I know are law-abiding citizens generally. We don't purposely go out and disobey the law. However, Canadian regulations concerning traveling have been a bit baffling to me. People constantly find loopholes to travel because of the lack of consistency. So when a friend sent me this picture, it describes our situation perfectly. It is not about traveling only either. It is about the general state of being as nations worldwide are coming to grip with the many challenges. As confusing as this picture is, it describes what we are going through morally as well. We have put an end to the influence of the Judeo-Christian ethics as the foundation of our law and order. What we have decided to accept is open-ended. Some people call it being "progressive". Others might say it is outright confusing. It will be interesting to see how things turn out if we keep up with this rate of progressiveness. We might enter the new era of anti-human decency without knowin...

  We went for a walk downtown Calgary to see how things are as the Calgary Stampede is here. It will be interesting to see how it turns out. Some people are happy that we have one this year. Others are skeptical about it. We will be careful while trying to support it as much as we can. It will take some time for life to be back to normal. It is like someone got hurt physically, emotionally, and spiritually then he has to go through some intense therapy in order to recover. What kind of therapy might we need so we can recover from the impact of Covid-19? Trust: people will need to learn how to trust their governments again. The erosion of trust has been severe. We will need incredible leaders to restore what we have lost. The absence of credibility is very problematic for our nations as we try to navigate the post-pandemic time that comes with many economic and social challenges. Discernment: when we were going through shut down, we were bombarded with all kinds of information via s...

  Many of us have dreams about our life, our future, our hope, and our longing. Some of our dreams are more in line with God than others. Dreams can be ways of how God communicates with us. Seeking God first is essential in having a dream about the future. When we dream with a self-serving attitude, our dreams can be someone else's nightmares. We should be able to dream beyond our limitations and fears. "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." -  (Matthew 6:33) Having a commitment to who God is and what He is about can guide us in having meaningful dreams. We need to be people who can make a difference in the lives of others. Our dreams should be a part of God's plan of redemption for the world. "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans." -  (Proverbs 16:3) Our dreams should be a reflection of our prayer life. They should be free from anxiety. A prayer-cente...

  Waiting for God is not easy. Sometimes our urge to control our life circumstances rushes things up. Sometimes we want to make decisions independently from God. Sometimes we want to reign things in because we are afraid of the unknown. Sometimes we want to dominate one another by not waiting for God. Sometimes we are too proud to wait for God. What does waiting for God mean? Let us have a look at some Scripture passages. "But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience."  (Romans 8:25) There is an element of hope. We learn to depend on God because of that hope. We are willing to believe that there is much to come, and we cannot see it yet. Willingness to look beyond what we can see grants us the patience to wait for God.  "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still."  (Exodus 14: 14) We will not have to fight the most crucial battle, the redemption of humanity. We need to discover the stillness of our hearts so that we ca...