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點解我地咁怕神呼召我地去非洲宣教?

假若神真係要我地做d異想天開既野 其實我地唔需要驚呀
因為
1) 你知道神想你做乜, 證明你聽得到神既心意. Good.
2) 既然神要你咁做 佢就有辦法. Good.

所以結論只有兩個:
1) 我地唔明白召命
2) 純粹係藉口而已

Calling --- explained in a down-to-earth language

I have been listening to some sermons and reading a few books on this topic for the past month or so, and today while I was taking an extra long walk home through Canada Place and along the seashore, I have decided to put my thoughts down before I forget.

Hopefully all of us are no long blinded by the two myths about calling, that only the "professional" ministers are called, and that calling is a mystique experience. Of course God can get to us through strange dreams and visions, but most people do not experience this. For practical purpose, I will not elaborate on this.

Theologians have carefully defined and categorized "calling", but I will only introduce two concepts: providencial call and heart call. We can learn something about these concepts from Nehemiah.

Our story begins when Nehemiah heard the news of Jerusalem, that "those who survived ... are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire."
Since then Nehemiah was depressed for months. What could he do? He was far away from Jerusalem and it was unlikely that he was in the position to do anything about it! He fasted and prayed.

Months later even the King noticed that Nehemiah was not well. What is wrong? The King asked Nehemiah. Nehemiah made a short prayer - the Bible did not even record what he prayed - and he replied the King with his burden. He wanted to rebuild the walls Jerusalem and to bring his people back; but note that it was the same King who prohibited the rebuild of Jerusalem! Asking the King to rebuke his order was quite a risk, but to our suprise, the King allowed him to do so. He even provided the material and sent army officers and calvary with Nehemiah.

The story continues with the attack of enermies, rebuild of Jerusalem, return of the people, and a spiritual renewal, with some up and downs in between.

Nehemiah's story is a classic example of calling. He was living and working in a secular world, and then at the beginning of our story he heard that his people were in trouble, and his heart had no peace since then. Calling is like that, too (if you did not miss it). Do you see a problem with the world? Be it far away from you, across the pacific, or just within your circle of everyday life, when you see your calling, you see a problem, your heart feels it, and you have a desire to do something about it. In some cases, you have no peace until you do something about it, like Jeremiah. More often than not, you are called to do something bigger than yourselves, and so the natural respond for a Christian is to pray.

I had an opportunity to have dinner and to chat with my mentor last night, and at one point I asked him to tell me his personal story of his calling. It started in 1993 when he was buying lunch in north van. He saw these teenagers in the food court: They had nice clothes and $$$, and soon he saw that they had nice cars too. He told me that at that moment, a passage came to his mind: "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." (Mat 9:36). He felt that these youth have every material thing they needed, and how good it would be if they have the gospel too. It was a genuine caring for this generation's youth, but there wasnt any chinese churches in north van, and so he prayed about it for years.

Then 10 years ago, his local church saw the need to plant a new church in north van, and he joined. He wanted to be involved in the youth ministry, but he didnt insist on it. His attitude was just to serve in wherever he was needed as the pastor assigned, but he prayed about it. There werent any youths in the church at the beginning anyway. Soon after, my fellowship was founded.

To discern a calling, we need to open our eyes. How could we respond if we did not see the need at the first place? In many cases we would find ourselves lacking theresource and the opportunity to do anything at the beginning, and so we pray and wait patiently. Meanwhile, we can also confirm our calling with the people around us. Do they see what you see?

Very often we assume that calling equates to a need and a solution. We think of it as purely giving out to the world. But responding to our calling is also an action that will complete us. When we respond to our calling, we found ourselves. Not only do we need to know the one who calls us, who is God for the Christians, we also need to know the one who is being called --- ourselves! I like to use this programming analogy: we are like memory, and knowing ourselves is like having a pointer to this memory; this memory can only be called when it has a name. What is your name? Do you know who you are? If God made us who we are, then we should be able to find out something about what God's purpose for us by knowing ourselves.

A common misconception is that people think of calling as a career choice. This is not wrong, but it is wrong when we contain calling within a career choice. Responding to a calling could result in a career, but that is not the end of it. We see people constantly jumping from one job to another for a variety of reasons; maybe we could conclude it as one: they are not satisfied. They are discontent. We too will not be satisfied until we find our calling. When we find our calling, we find our place in God's world and we found our peace.

To sum it up, skipping many details, a calling requires us to keep our eyes open for things around us, to have a heart that feels, and to know our God and ourselves. Responding to our calling often involves risk and uncertainty, but this is when we trust in God's providence and ultimately it will results in benefit for the world as well as ourselves.

痛

從一個較為哲學思想既層面, 有時感覺到 痛 都係一件好事, 始終呢個感覺都係由神造出黎比我地. 就好似我地既視覺咁, 紅橙黃綠青藍紫, 少左一隻你唔鐘意既顏色, 我地既視覺就變得不完整.

從一個處境既層面, 我某程度上可以了解你既坎坷, 所以我願意為你分擔. 當你痛既時候若然搵到一位朋友願意同你把酒談天, 天堂又何嘗唔係o係左近?

看著自己的血流出來的時候, 想起當日主耶穌捨己, 完完全全是為了救我們.

祂原是 神的獨生子, 卻甘願為我們受鞭打, 受悔辱, 最後連生命也捨棄了.
祂受的傷豈止一支針插入血管而已?
相比起耶穌, 我們捐血簡直是微不足道, 然而人們卻因為我們捐血而對我們恭敬有加.
很諷刺對不對?
捐一包血連救一個人也救不了, 我們卻受貴賓式招待
而耶穌基督, 直到今日也仍然被人悔辱. 祂為我們捨的豈止一包血而已?!

我這樣說是不是叫人不要捐血呢? 絕對不是!
我想, 捐血可以暫時延長某人的生命, 所以我為這個不認識的某人祈禱, 希望他及早接受永遠的生命.
捐血其實可以捐得很有使命感, 大家踴躍地去捐血吧!

hmm.. 雖然讀完summer..但係e+好似比之前重忙咁!
忙搞NSPGMBC既野 AFC既野 CCF既野 重有幾個websites等緊我去理, 同埋一疊書等緊我去讀 重有一個試等緊我去考!!

如果我無超自然能力 我實burn out晒lu... 我突然記起:

40:29 疲 乏 的 、 他 賜 能 力 ． 軟 弱 的 、 他 加 力 量 ．
40:30 就 是 少 年 人 也 要 疲 乏 困 倦 、 強 壯 的 也 必 全 然 跌 倒 ．
40:31 但 那 等 候 耶 和 華 的 、 必 從 新 得 力 、 他 們 必 如 鷹 展 翅 上 騰 、 他 們 奔 跑 卻 不 困 倦 、 行 走 卻 不 疲 乏 。

好奇呀真係好奇 通常人地寫一個list出黎未越來越勁既? 但係點解呢節聖經好似越來越"ja"咁 --->

1) 如 鷹 展 翅 上 騰
2) 奔 跑 卻 不 困 倦
3) 行 走 卻 不 疲 乏

原來內有乾坤

飛當然容易 飛呀~~`` 咁就搞掂
行走先難 因為行會越行越累 而且......而且d人腳短行得慢..! "行走"既難處在馬拉松式艱辛.

所以原來 "行走卻不疲乏" 先係最勁 因為咁最顯到神既empowering! 新約都有咁講:

他 對 我 說 ： 我 的 恩 典 夠 你 用 的 ， 因 為 我 的 能 力 是 在 人 的 軟 弱 上 顯 得 完 全 。

我諗就係因為咁 所以我地 越做越有勁 越燒越有火!!!!

CCF 不能取代教會的團契

待續

昨天突然被Edward和Alan擺上檯, 嚇得我也沒好好說清楚我在CCF查經的經歷和感恩

話說CCF查經小組今年二月開始時是另一個人帶的, 小弟多數只是負責organization的工作.
這位帶查經的大哥後來比較忙碌, 所以到五月時便由小弟負責帶.

記得第一次帶時, 真的十分緊張. 一來自己沒經驗, 二來我得知平時會出席的八個人中, 有三個比較多分享的兄弟姊妹也不會出現. 取而代之是六七個之前從來沒參加過查經的人..
我心想, 神啊不要耍我好不好 我帶查經你便叫這麼多新人來 我心臟要是弱點,到時暴斃在雁婷家怎辦?

可是就是到這些日子才察覺到神的安排和身邊兄弟姊妹的支持.
我一個人帶查經, 背後竟有五個人在為我祈禱. CCF今年也只有二十人吧? 四分一人作我的後盾了. 從這而來的信心和感動我不懂得表達出來..
好啦, 到了查經的日子, 這個新的group又出奇地有頂好的group dynamic: 有問題少年(很多問題的少年), 有樂於回答的兄弟, 有擁有很多故事分享的學姐, 又有幾個思路清晰, 神學根基穩固的同學在我們當中. 我們每個人也有些特點, 可是只是走在一起才發揮到這完美的group dynamic. 奇妙的是, 我們這班人真的走在一起, 而且都把自己的優點發揮得淋漓盡致了. 這是我安排的嗎? 不! 這是神的安排! 這從祂而來的供應都是超出我所想所求的!

這也只不過是故事的一部份, 不過只是以上這一點我已完全看得見我們"如一"!

God is GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!