Communion at home

 

Would you believe it

I once witnessed with my own eyes how a lady was told by a stranger what she did in secret. A stranger who prayed for her said, "You have been going to fortune tellers. Please stop." She burst out crying and said, "I thought if I didn't tell anyone, no one would know." After I saw that, I thought, "This lady is going to have super-faith for sure." But it's not true. Three to four years later, she's still struggling to trust God to meet her needs.

And the funny thing is, I saw it with my own eyes, and I too struggle to believe that God will meet my needs! I can just imagine Jesus shaking His head at me. Smiling, but shaking His head.

"You saw that with Your own eyes, so why don't you have super faith??!"

For the record

Unprecedented times. Will our generation ever forget this?

Details, details, details

I checked with Kaz who ordered the orchids and she didn't understand the significance of the day the flowers were delivered. The girls didn't remember, but God did.

My wonderful, sensitive, kind, and tender Father who is never too early or too late.

#nancy
#hannah

Gut punch

I am not on FB much these days but keep it because that's how I keep in touch with old friends. It's like an address book as long as people keep their accounts. I scrolled through my wall and found this.

Karuizawa

2 years and 5 months ago ....

I didn't know it was possible to feel this happy.

Truth.

Jan 2, back in the office

I wasn't very happy about coming back to the office on JANUARY SECOND and thinking about all the work that I have to do. But I came back to this email in my inbox, time-stampped at midnight, Jan 2:

Dear Dr. ___,

Hope you are having a wonderful winter vacation and a festive new years celebration. This is S____, and I recently graduated from ____  majoring in psychology and comparative literature. I took two of your courses in my senior year - C____. I was in Hong Kong for a few days a month ago for the graduation ceremony, and ran into you near the mtr station. As I briefly mentioned then, I recently got admitted to a few graduate schools in Korea, and am currently waiting for the military service to commence in a few months. I wanted to express my gratitude for everything you taught me through your courses last year, and for guiding me to become a better writer and scholar. You were one of my favorite teachers from ___, and I sincerely enjoyed all of your lectures and class discussions. Thank you again from the bottom of my heart, and best wishes to everything you do in 2018. Happy New Year!

Best Regards,

______

When I woke up, the Holy spirit brought a memory to my mind. It was of the cross-country drive I took with mother and sister after I finished my PhD. That is a happy memory but it was also a stressful trip at times because mother got anxious and scared when we drove. 

I hadn’t made the drive before but I had every route planned out, down to the hotels, camping, and where to do laundry. Literally, every detail was planned and I had AAA coverage, insurance, etc. If I may say so myself, I’m actually a good planner and I wanted to show mother and sister a good time. How many people get to go on a drive across the US??

But mother got anxious and angry at points because she was worried as we made our way over. We passed bright cities but also long stretches of empty, desolated land. Yes, of course, some parts looked so lonely. 

But it was part of God’s creation and He sees it as beautiful, and I wanted my mom to enjoy it. Yes, of course, it seemed dangerous at some times (mother was afraid of bears at Yellowstone!). But everything was under control, and even if something happened, help would have been available.

My journey right now looks a long like that. There are long, desolate stretches in my journey but God is entirely in control, and He wants me to enjoy those parts too—because He is there! 

Life can seem precarious right now, but He wants me to enjoy the ride—because He has everything planned out!

My mom was anxious because she didn’t know what I had planned, and she didn’t know help was literally, just a call away.

I’m anxious now because I don’t know what God has planned, and I didn’t know help is literally, just a call away.

But my experiences last week, and yesterday too, showed me that every time I call, God answers. sometimes He takes a little while, but He always answers. So I need to sit back, relax, and enjoy the journey because God knows full well where I'm going. 

I stand by my words.

Childhood memories

Some of my aunts start to tell me stories, but they eventually tell those stories to one another. That is, they start telling me stories in English, then they switch to telling those stories to one another in Hokkien.

Things old folks say

If someone curses you and you don't say anything in response, the curse goes back to them.

That's one way to stop a fight. Pretty smart.

Mini family trip

Ipoh

♡

Almost at the one year anniversary

It helped to hear about her last days. And I am not worried about him anymore.

Dad

My father and his mother often buy the lotto, especially when something significant happens or if an event occurs. Today, he told me that he bought 0505, the number of the hotel room in which we stayed over the weekend. Unfortunately, the first prize was 2008, the number of my sister's hotel room.

My father's stories are always stories of  missed opportunities.

Maternal grandad

Tua ee said that ah kong was a traditional Chinese man who was stern and silent, especially with his children. But he loved his wife and cared for her. Once, tua ee was reading her books to prepare for her high school exams next to ah mah, and didn't realize that ah mah had fainted ("beh jin lang"). She thought ah mah was asleep. Ah kong came into the room, saw what had happened, then grabbed tua ee's book and flung it across the room, saying, "someone's about to die, why are you still reading?!" (Lang ai si liao ko thak hami chek?!)

He rented rooms in various houses around Taiping for his growing family before finally building his own home out of scrap wood (discarded pieces and edges after trees were cut into straight planks), but was forced to take down his house and move to a New Village called Pokok Assam during the Emergency. Tua ee was five then. Most of the house still stands there today although tua ku has renovated parts of it since.

Since there were so many children, they all took turns to eat and tua ee and tua ku were careful to take only a little of the dishes so the younger children had some to eat too.

Tua ee once took a few of the younger children out to a nearby Hindu temple during a festival, and along with other merry makers, picked up pieces of coconut when they were thrown to the ground to bring home to eat. But when they got back ah mah pinched her thigh because she took the other children out to play. She's still miffed.

Once, in a confrontation with a younger sister's husband who had beaten her until she had to be sent to the hospital, tua ee had to be held back from punching the guy by tua tiau. (Apparently, just a few months earlier, tua ku had been transferred from his school because he punched the headmaster and tua tiau didn't want his wife to be transferred from her school.)

Whenever tua ee is accosted by estranged spouses or their families around town, they would complain to her about this or that and ask tua ee to say something on their behalf. Tua ee would calmly smile and nod and say yes, but never said a word to her younger sisters or their families.

Once, during my parents' younger days, my dad called tua ee to complain about my mom, and tua ee told him, "my sister is not round. She's shaped like a square, so she has edges. She can't fit into your life without poking you." After that, he never called her with his complaints.

Memories

Tua ee, who is 79 this year, said that I was an easy kid to have around. When I visited, I sat quietly with a book and didn't make a peep. She has a set of children's encyclopedias in her home and apparently I was the only one who read them out of all her children and grandchildren.

She also said that the best place in Taiping to buy fabric to make clothes was my grandfather's shop.