20-22 Covid-19 Daily Reflections

  Now let us look at the second verse of Psalm 51. Blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. I touched base on these three words in one of my blogs in the past. So let us revisit them. It is like going to an archery range to practice shooting some arrows. A target stands firmly in front of us and at a distance. Transgression: we know where the target is, but we have no intention to aim at it. We have some other target ideas in mind, and that is where our arrows go. We struggle with our rebellion against God and His people. We know that God desires for us to serve one another. Yet, we have a different plan. Our aim in life is not about loving God. It is self-serving and destructive. Iniquity: It does not matter how hard we aim at the target, our arrows can't go the distance to reach it. They felt flat on the meadow. We have experienced these moments in our lives as well. Sometimes we feel as if we are not good enough for God, our families, and...

This psalm describes King David's spiritual brokenness and hope for restoration after he committed adultery with Bathsheba and premeditated murder of her husband, Uriah. Remember that he was a chosen King to lead Israel. Today we are going to look at the first verse: Have mercy on me, O God,     according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion    He was crying out for God's mercy because there was absolutely nothing he could do to restore Bathsheba's purity and to bring Uriah back to life. It is one of the most horrific realizations in life when we are convicted of our wrongdoings. He was asking for God's compassion. He knew that God's heart was broken because of his action. Compassion in Hebrew is Rakham. It is the image of a mother's womb protecting her infant from all external harm. When we cry out for God's compassion, we believe that He wants to be with us in our misery and shield us from both self-destruction and external damnation....

We are on the Island of Vancouver to visit our daughter and son-in-law. We decide to make this trip our priority because we are concerned that the BC government might shut things down again. Here was the headline we saw on internet news before we left: "B.C. to introduce COVID-19 vaccine passport for recreational activities, access to non-essential businesses." I am not anti-vaccine. I am not comfortable with the notion of a vaccine passport. I am not a conspiracy kind. I just don't like to see what our society has become because of this virus. What is next? It is rather perplexing as we continue to call for equal rights and fight against racism while forming another kind of unjust response to one another. We don't ask for HIV Negative Proof when we grant people the right to get married (there is no cure for HIV either). Let us grant one another a choice even although we do not see eye to eye. Let us aim to protect one another from the health concerns caused by the vi...

  Have you got one of those scam phone calls telling you that the CRA (Canada) or the IRS (USA) is about to arrest you for tax fraud? I usually don't talk to these people and hang up. Well, I decided to entertain one of those calls a couple of weeks ago to see how they would handle it. The voice at the other sounded very stern with a very distinct accent from a region of the world that I know many people from there. He used all of the terminologies that we don't usually use in Canada. He had no idea that CRA usually communicates via email when it comes to serious matters. We don't just put people in jail without due process. He got very agitated with me and threatened me that he is going to arrest me. I wished him luck as he plans to travel to Canada to do that with all of the Covid-19 restrictions. Sometimes our politicians sound like that. They make claims that they cannot back up. They only talk about women's issues because they want to buy votes. They try very hard ...

It is a bit more than 40 years ago that we learned about this computer. I can still remember that we used to go to the computer room to do our work and print out our assignments. An average cell phone today is zillion times more powerful than that computer. It is hard to fathom that. Now we are entering the age where almost everyone has a second self. Somehow our smartphones have granted that ability. How many people on Facebook are showing their true selves? The second self phenomenon has become acceptable in our time. We have already struggled to try to understand the first self. The popularity of the second self might create more dysfunctional human behaviors. Social Media has provided us with a buffet of identity options with the help of the Internet. We have many optional characters during the process of creating that second self. We can disguise our emotions and alter our sexuality. We don't have to stick to the same self. Different days will bring alternate items to the menu...

I used to enjoy flying kites when I was a kid. We made them out of newspaper, bamboo, and rice glues. My friends and I would go to some empty fields and flew kites together. Sometimes, we played dog fights with our kites. Kite has a long history. As much as we can determine, kit started in China (475-220 BC). Now, many countries around the world have their own kite versions. We can use kites for many purposes besides having fun. We see its use in the military, meteorology, atmospheric research, sports competitions, and more. Our life is like a kite in many ways. We have different purposes because God created us differently. When a kite's design is more sturdy, the higher it flies. Some kites can resist the challenges of weather conditions. Sometimes God gives us gifts is to protect others. We are supposed to care for people. God grants us the ability to look beyond the obvious in others so we can help them grow and develop. Sometimes we are called to pray because God wa...

Now, this is a true story about Sir Winston Church and his wife, Clementine.     Some of us may laugh when we read it. There is a lot of truth in it. I don't like when people say: "Behind any great man, there is a greater woman." I prefer "Besides" instead of "Behind." A caring wife can always see or hear things that her husband misses because of his blind spots. A man will make better decisions when he is free to consult his wife. A loving wife can always see the traps miles ahead and warns her husband about it. If he is smart, he will learn how to listen to his wife carefully. These traps can be enticing. A capable wife can be a tremendous helper and relieve her husband from many stressful situations. She can eliminate some stress and elevate some conditions by doing so. A loving wife will be the source of encouragement and support to her husband. He feels that she boosts his confidence with her care and support. A committed wife will give her husban...

  Not too long ago, I twisted my ankle while walking back to my car after a meeting. It was some fall. I didn't just hurt the right ankle. I also scraped my left knee pretty badly. My First Aids knowledge came in handy. I used two face masks as my emergency bandage before getting a chance to walk (it took a while because the ankle was swelling up) to the closest drug store. I was surprised by the fall. It happened because of uneven pavement and a weak ankle. We can also fall into serious trouble in life when we don't have balance. We might be surprised by our lack of balanced priorities. Without proper priorities, we damage relationships, fail to perform well at work, become preoccupied, and cannot see things. The first temptation I had was to curse the sidewalk. We tend to do the same thing by blaming others for our life hassles. I was in a hurry to go to the next appointment and didn't pay attention to where I was. My thought was not about having a safe walk. ...

  Maybe I am not in touch with reality, or I am too idealistic. I am struggling with what happens in Afghanistan because it has revealed how selfish, ignorant, and pompous we have become in the West. Somehow we seem to be ok to grant ourselves to privilege to cause suffering to others and stand there and watch. We have all of the languages, and we have no substance. Watching the President's press conference this past week was distressing to me. If I am Korean or Taiwanese, I will find my way to move away sooner than later. Believing in American promise of protection is like drinking a cool-aid that has been under the sun for a few days. We need to pray for the Christians in Afghanistan. These folks are courageous, and many of them will die for their faith. They don't trust the President's promise of safe passage. They believe that Jesus has established one for them. Many Christians there are women. My knowledge of who they are in the midst of all of this has put me on my kn...

  My wife and I drove across town on Thursday to have dinner at an Indian restaurant. A friend of mine has referred it to us, and he highly recommended it. We rarely go to that part of the city because we don't have any good reason to be there. It was a delightful experience. The food was great, and the service was kind too. Somehow the simple thing of life now can mean a lot more. The place was quiet when we came. The young server greeted and apologized for the mess they had. They were getting ready for some festival this weekend. We didn't mind because they were making Indian desserts, so it was good to learn. We were wondering why it was so quiet. The only reason we can see is the fear of the Delta variant. As some people say, it is an Indian variant. After the meal, the young server insisted that he would take 25% of our bill. I told him that it was unnecessary to do that. But he would not give up. He told me he was so glad that we chose to come. This experience has shown m...

  There is a new form of discrimination. One that exists between the "vaccinated" and the "non-vaccinated" We are now entering a very tender phase of dealing with COVID-19, one that divides families, society, religious communities, workplaces, and more. Just imagine this is how we are going to greet one another: "Hey, How are you?" "I am good, and you?" "Me too. What's new?" "Not much, you know. It's COVID-19" "I know. By the way, are you vaccinated?" "No, we are not sure what to think." Then comes the awkward silence. We have allowed this virus to divide us and destroy human relationships more than any other political ideology. It is rather is distressing to see its power and control over our world. Somehow people who are not vaccinated are not welcome to participate in the normalcy of life. They will not be able to travel. They will not have the right to work. They will not be allowed to a communi...

  One of the Bible verses that brings me much hope and assurance during this time is the one from  Matthew 5:8: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." What is a pure heart? It is a heart that continues to draw nearer to God. It cries out for God's comfort and assurance when the challenge of the world seems to be overwhelming. It wants to rest in the presence of God. It is a heart that fights against double-mindedness. It is able to identify the pull of this world and fight to remain with God. The promise of the world will not compromise it. It does not practice deceit, and it is not deceived by falsehood. It understands the difference between life and death and has its pathway guided by the spirit of God. It understands God's prompting and discernment. It manifests the sincerity of faith. There is no pretension in its existence. It longs for whatever is true and noble. It defies the scheme of the evil one. Its beauty rests on its simplicity. It lifts...

  Something is sinister about the coming election in Canada. Our parliament has not had a full house meeting to discuss the conditions of our nation since March 2020. It is the first time a minority government has ruled by decrees in Canada. We as a nation have hardly recovered from the impact of COVID-19. Somehow the PM and his party in their infinite wisdom decided to call an election. What is the hurry when we are not even sure life will go back to normal? What are the needs of our nation to have this election on Sept 20th, 2021? How do we know whether we can cast our vote properly if the PM decides to shut down the country again? We have many other issues that governments need to pay attention to so that we can recover economically as a nation. Many small businesses have closed down. Many others are struggling and afraid of having to face another shutdown. Our health care systems are in serious disarray in many provinces, and our farmers are facing one of the most c...

  The news concerning the collapse of the government in Afghanistan is another example of how we cannot rely on political power to transform anything. It reminds me of what happened in Vietnam in 1975. The American government decided to pull out and withdrew from South Vietnam after more than 20 years of involvement. Soon after April 29th, 1975, we witnessed the tremendous display of human suffering and tragedies (concentration camps, killing fields and boat people). According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees,  between 200,000 and 400,000 boat people  died at sea. We don't fully know the accurate number of people who died after the fall of Saigon in 1975. It might be in the millions. What will happen in Afghanistan now the Taliban has officially declared a new government? How many people will have to die and suffer? We don't have the answer to that. We need to pray that the atrocity of war and hatred will stop. Raging a war against one another will never...

Meditation has become more and more mainstream these days. It is no longer just a religious or spiritual concept. We hear about that in education, business, and sometimes politics. There are some different connotations when people refer to Mediation. Some use it as a form of stress management. Others might use language such as "being in touch with oneself" to describe the exercise. Some might stress the point of being able to let go of life's painful experiences. This cartoon is funny, but it also tells something about the human condition in the digital age. Our electronic devices have become so much a part of our daily life. Some of us find it impossible to separate ourselves from them. We have access to a tremendous amount of info, and much of it is not that useful. We want to delete our history and clear our cache so we can protect ourselves from unwanted viruses. Well, we are already contaminated, and they attack our soul, our emotion, and our physical well-being. J.I...

I usually don't get into politics with my blog because it is not the forum for it. However, I have been thinking a lot about vaccination passports. Many governments around the world are now either talking about it or doing it. I have mixed feelings about it. Please understand that I am not anti-vaccination. We have heard many people talking about having it for the greater good of society. Many of us have found it hard to believe that our governments are for the greater good of our nations. Some feel strongly that the governments have violated their privacy under the notion of "greater good". Sociologists, philosophers, and legal experts have been struggling with the definition of privacy, so we are not alone. Let us consider privacy by looking at its values, complexity, and impact. There are two main concepts that we might want to consider: The right to bodily integrity: Our body is a gift from God, and we do need to protect its integrity. However, in the teac...

I always admire people who can create artistically beautiful pottery kitchenware. The material is so simple, and yet a friend of mine can make these mugs. The colors are so vibrant and warm at the same time. The process to create them is very precise. One mistake, and she has to do it all over again. "But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand." - (Isaiah 64:8) . Why is it that we can admire the work of a pottery artist like my friend and yet have a hard time appreciating others as a creation of God's hands? I would never discard any of these mugs that my friend created. Yet, I am sometimes guilty of being indifferent to some people that God has brought into my life. When we fail to see the goodness of God in one another, we will mistreat each other. Each of the mugs is unique, and my friend prefers to make them that way. Our differences are the manifestation of God's creativity. Why do we...

We sing worship songs about the notion of emptying ourselves often. It is one of the essential aspects of the Christian faith. What does it really mean when we still have to go about life with all of its entanglements? In Christian theology, the word is  kenosis  (Greek: κένωσις, kénōsis, lit. [the act of emptying]) is the 'self-emptying of our will and becoming entirely receptive to God's divine will. We need to go through a process of emptying all of the evil contamination within us. It is an act of self-cleansing. We have stored up so much junk in our lives. We need to have the courage to name the poisons of life. Most religions in our world today would identify these three common dangerous toxins in human lives: Greed, Anger, and Ignorance. Greed is the desire to have more and more. Greed can be about our longing for material things or our need for power or emotional dominance over others. It doesn't exist alone. Jealousy and envy tend to follow it. It can b...

  Do we tend to make life more complicated than it needs to be? That is the question that some people have been asking. I have been thinking about that a lot these days because of the many complications that exist in life. There are many reasons for that, and not all of them are bad. God created our emotions when He created us in His image. We experience joy and sorrow so that we can identify with Him. We can appreciate both the beauty of God and the fallacy of the world with our emotions. We can differentiate between the righteousness of God and the injustice of the world as well. Our emotional responses to life can pose complications. We depend on one another for our well-being. Our dependency on one another would go a lot better without sin. Most of our brokenness in life happens within the context of human relationships. When we are not right with God, it is impossible to be right with one another. That is when complications in relationships start. We become impatie...

  Sometimes we are delighted by surprises. Sometimes we are baffled by them. Life is full of surprises as we tell one another. We perceive something as a surprise because we didn't anticipate it. Sometimes we don't think we deserve it. It is a surprise because it is outside our control. We are surprised by God because our imagination of what God can do is limited. We have not learned how to dream His dreams. Our struggles and fear limit our dreams. Sometimes we can't dream because we feel dead inside. Maybe we will dream better when we are free from our sorrow self. We are surprised by God because we are afraid to ask. Sometimes we don't have the faith to do so. When a relationship is not meaningful, we are not quite sure what to expect. We don't always experience the essence of our relationships with God. When He decides to show up in our lives, we don't know how to respond. We are surprised because we are fighting against His work within us. We act...

The truth about life is that we all are looking for something in life. Some talk about happiness. Others talk about success. Many might even mention relationships and the need for belonging. Security is also something many of us are looking for in life. In  Matthew 6: 33,  we are instructed to seek something totally different. "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." What does it mean to seek first the Kingdom of God? We cannot do that without the expectation that God is going to be there. It is about God's majesty, power, righteousness, and mercy. It is like allowing ourselves to be immersed in God. We have to do that more than once. We need to keep pushing forward so that we can truly understand what that means. Every day is a new day to discover something new about the Kingdom of God as we continue to live our lives on earth. What will be given to us? Our daily needs will be met. Our sense of who...