² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,^[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. ⁶ But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷ That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

The message that stuck in my head was that when going through down times, we could ask God for endurance, the ability to hang on.  Dickson used an example of silver mine abstraction process.  How can we get the shining silver out of the little dull-looking mineral rocks?  It was only through the repeated burning processes in the furnace. The high temperature gets rid of impurities. Similarly, difficult times make us more mature and complete in Christ.

Then what was my point of mentioning my dancing Christmas tree?  I have used a string of musical lights that brightens and dims as the rhythm of the recorded Christmas carols changes; thus, it creates this dancing effect.  However, I can only see it dance when the ambient lights around the tree is shut off or dimmed.  Similarly, Christ’s characters brighten people’s eyes and give joy during dark times.  Do you have some of the characters?  Not sure what God’s characters are?  Read the bible! As we are celebrating the birth of Christ, the son of God, take the time to get to know who He is.

Daniel Chan 11/10/2010

 In the last 2 months, there are two passages I come across many times. They are Romans 1:16 and Matthew 7:21-26. Both of the passages are frequently quoted and I have heard these two passages numerous times in my 14 yrs Christian walk. Not until recently, God is using those words as if He were speaking to me.

Be Courageous on Spreading the Gospel

Spreading gospel in words is not an easy task for me. Few years ago, we went to Chinatown to give away flyers. I did remember Johnny challenged me why I hesitated to talk to those people after giving out flyers. For a simple reason, I care how people look at me and don’t want to offend people or be labeled as Jesus freak.

But, God uses these words to encourage me to live out and speak out my faith recently. It is not what I can do but the power of His words. As I recently traveled back to Macau , I do see the precious of Gospel. In US, there are many people exposed to gospel but never really know Jesus. Be courageous to live out my faith.

Build our Foundation on Obeying His words

The first time I notice this was from Ark ’s retreat. The second time I encounters this is when I prepare bible verses for a recent worship session. If the theme of 2010 Ark is on discipleship, this is the message for us. A Jesus follower is the one that obeys His words completely and wholeheartedly.

I can’t tell how long I can remember the teaching of this passage. As of today, this is the take-home message of 2010.  

Kit Wong 11/09/2010

Do not Worry

 Brothers and sisters, this is actually my first testimony that I write. Even when I was baptized, it was not required, and I would like to take this opportunity to share to everyone.

I had listened to many testimonies from many people, and most of them were exciting with many twists and turning points in their lives. Looking back to my own, mine is very boring compared to them. Or rather, I should say that I’m very blessed, and don’t have to go through many stages to accept Christ. When I grew up in Hong Kong, I had the chance to go to a Christian school and learnt about Chris at the age of 5 or 6. Everyone in the school was required to take bible classes. As a child, I studied mostly the gospels and the “good” stories about Genesis, David and Solomon. During the time in elementary, I began to join fellowship with friends. The seed of Christianity was planted when I was young, and I didn’t question much about it. I believed there’s a God by then and slowly accepting learning about Christ when I was a kid.

However, when my family moved to the United States, I did not continue to seek God as my family worships traditional Chinese idols. Also, when friend invited me to church, I just let the opportunities slipped through. I didn’t go to church until I was about to graduate from UT Austin. I was invited, and started attending on a regular basis. It took me about a year to accept Christ as my savior, and baptized the following year. The whole process was straight forward compared to most of you.

The challenge for me is actually the spiritual growth and become a better Christian. I would say I’m a pretty rebellious person deep inside me, so there’s a lot of resistance for growth. This is especially true during hardship. As many of you know that I got layoff last year. It took me about a year to find a full time position, and my faith to God was greatly challenged.

During the first phase, it was more like a vacation mode where I tried to enjoy the free time. Three months just flew by and not having any feedback from job search, the anxiety began to build up. Slowly, my faith for God decreased gradually. Around the March 2010, it’s one of the low points in my life. I just woke up and did not have much to look forward to in job search. I knew eventually, the job search will be over. However, it’s just the waiting period and not knowing when the suffering will end that bears the most pain. During the time, one section from the Bible always reminds me God’s watching over me. It’s from Matthew 6:25-34,

Do Not Worry

    25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?

   28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Things started to get better by around mid late March, my previous boss called me for a 3 months contractor position. I accepted the position and continued on my job hunt while working as contractor. I had a couple interviews around July before my contract expired, but still no full time yet. I felt frustrated again and not going anywhere. By that time, brother, Daniel, asked me to have a routine bible study and prayer. That helped to keep the spiritual from going lower :P My boss at IDT extended my contract for another 3 months, and by the time I was about to find a full time position, he offered to extend my contract indefinitely. It was a blessing from God.

Matthew 6:25-34 are the God’s words that help me to have faith in Him. Now, I can say it with confident and faith that God’s words are living words. Although the experience was not an easy one, but God provides. I believe the unique experience helped me to grow, and maybe God wants me to relate my experience to help others who had lost hope, and bring them to God’s kingdom.

Thanksgiving is approaching in about 3 weeks. I think it’s important for us to give thanks to the wonderful things in our lives, and not taking things for granted. I would like to take this opportunity to give thanks to the brothers and sisters who prayed for me during my job searching period at ACC. Actually, my mom was very supportive during the time. Even I sometimes am not behaving as the good son, but I can feel the love and kindness from my mom. My girlfriend, Christy, was also very supportive in the process :) Although I did not directly influence her to become Christian, she accepted Christ as her savior on Easter Sunday. I have to give thanks to God to open her heart.