Going Through Life Together

In August, my relationship with my mentor Guy has went up to a higher level through sharing life together.

During a Tuesday all staff meeting, Guy has shared that his wife Kathie is going through a cancer treatment. And part of Kathie’s personality is influenced by the medicine. Guy is so sad during the sharing that he stops and cries several times. My heart is deeply touched by what has happened to Kathie, and I go to Guy for more details after the meeting.

Guy tells me that sometimes Kathie will have many negative thoughts and think less of herself, which really hurts Guy’s heart a lot. I feel deep compassion for him, because I can’t imagine how sad I will be if similar things happen to my wife. So we pray together for Kathie, and suddenly I have an idea of making a video with my wife together to encourage Kathie. So that evening, my wife and I make a short 5-minute video. In the video, we show Kathie how she looks like in our eyes - elegant and beautiful. And we encourage her to be strong and not to be fooled by the lies of our enemies. Finally, we tell her that we all love her, and most importantly, God loves her. So don’t give up.

Then God arranges the timing perfectly when we send the video to Guy. Since at that moment, Guy, Kathie and their daughter are sitting and eating together, so they watch the video together right after we send it. Guy tells me that it’s such a huge encouragement to Kathie, and to all of them. I’m so happy and grateful that God gives me this wonderful idea to help Kathie.

We all have difficult times in our lives, and that’s when we need our friends the most. And through experiencing tears and joys together, our love and friendship will also be deepen. I pray that God can protect Kathie’s health and mind. And I hope that God can continuously use us to show his love for her.

Hello readers, Tony's here! August here in Columbus was pretty hot and my car a/c is retired from its work!! Anyway, me and all ISEEDers were involved in three IFI events: Welcome Picnic, OSU Involvement fair, and Welcome Party. We had a great time with international students and making friends with them. For me, I'm so happy to talk with one student and he said he wants a copy of the Bible and I gave him one. I pray that he will read it and the Lord will open his mind and work into his heart. I also talked with another student who was very shy, but now she feels comfortable with me and she has started teasing me a lot hahaha. Having good conversations with students makes me feel happy.

Like I mentioned earlier on my last post, I learned to trust God more and submit my anxiety and concerns to him. I feel exhausted and mistreated sometimes. I wondered why I reached out to students to join the Bible discussion but had very few positive responses. However, I remind myself that I’m working for God for his Kingdom and to please God alone. I feel and I know that there are many prayers from my brothers and sisters in Christ for me. I’m blessed. These two ideas makes me feel relieved and help me move on, focusing on work and to please the Lord. I pray for God to bless those who send prayers for me. God, you know who right?  

I had a good conversation with my mentor yesterday about his experiences with the Lord. He told me his past struggles and how he overcome it, how the Lord speak to him when he walked on the wrong direction, how the Lord pointed out that what he was doing to please the Lord was not really for pleasing Him. I learned from his experiences and I can adapt some to use on my own. I also received a prayer from my mentor. It was an encouraging prayer and I know God listened to his prayer.

During prayer, I read from Psalms 37 verse 3-7: Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. 4 Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this:  6 He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun. 7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.

God is really awesome!! Isn’t He?

QUALITY TIME WITH JESUS

QUALITY TIME WITH JESUS

Dear friends,
As the busy time of the welcome events has passed, the studying part of the ISEED program starts again. It has been a crazy time, with a very little personal time of reading and sharing with the group, and sitting again all together to discuss a book this morning was what I needed. New people have joined our team and hearing their insights is a way to get to know each other better. The book we started today is called “A meal with Jesus” and it focuses on the centrality of the meals in Jesus’ mission on the earth:

“In Luke’s Gospel Jesus is either going to a meal, at a meal, or coming from a meal”
Robert Karris

It stood out to me how He gives us a model that we can copy and follow in an easy way, just opening our hearts and homes. Our openness will show acceptance and inclusion.
In a time where we rush for everything, buy microwavable food, eat with people while chatting on WhatsApp with another friend, the key word that Jesus teaches is quality time. Time spent together is effective only if we focus on the people who are with us, just a Jesus used to do. Stop a second and think of that awkward feeling you have when, while driving, see people staring at their phones and walking, not even noticing all the others around. Or think the sadness you experience when you see a nice couple at a restaurant not talking but both focused on their phones.
Jesus loved the people he was spending the last years of his life with so much, that He even put His reputation at stake, being called “a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners”. He was (and still is) happy to link His identity to everyone else’s, to yours and mine! He knew that the table is an important place to open up, to share life on life, to become friends, to reconcile.
As a follower of Christ, my main desire is to be like Him, so the new semester resolution will be to start again the weekly dinners, hosting friends and students. The biggest challenge for me will be to conciliate the crazy daily routine with putting all this into practice and I pray that God will give us energy and love to be salt and light!

Italian meal with homemade pasta and caprese salad (tiramisu' is not in the picture, but was yummy!)

Quick thanks to our “Just in time” God

Hello readers! This July and August are the two busiest month for all ISEEDers and Volunteers because we host three events for OSU’s students: Welcome Picnic, Welcome Party and Family hosting for new international students. We have been planning, asking for donation requests for these two welcome events since June. We all prayed that God will provide all of food donations from restaurants, prizes from many stores, and enough numbers of volunteers and He answered to our prayers. I see many positive responses and willingness to help from stores that Samanta and I visited to request for donations to both of our events.

During the Welcome Picnic event at Highbanks Metro Park, one of my duties was to pick up 100 donated pizzas from the store. It was freshly baked and right just in time, the transportation back to the picnic was good, and the weather was cleared by the dinner time. (Before that it was rain like cats and dogs) I truly believe it was God our backstage helper. Sure we all give thanks to our “Just in time” God for the Welcome Picnic and we trust that He will do the same thing for our Welcome Party next week.

I also gave thanks to God for the answered prayers for the host family who can host me until the end of this year. I was worried about that and trying to figure things out based on my ability and thinking. I shared this with of the good friend of mine who encourage me to trust God and pray. The friend was right – I prayed and I feel relieved and yes He answered my prayer “Just in time”. Also, back in Thailand at the same time, my good friend from church had concerns about her tuition fee. I encourage her to trust God and Pray about it and of course, God comes “Just in time” to help her out. The friend, during her prayer, she got a call from one American missionary who God telling her to help my friend’s tuition fee. My friend was stunned by the power of the prayers, me too! We all are not perfect as Him, Still He loves us anyway.

What I learned from the 2016 Welcome Picnic

Jesus sovereign on nature

                        “Then the wind died down and it was completely calm” Mark 4:39

“The Word of God is real”. How many times have you heard this phrase? Pastors preach it all the times and we repeat it when we share the Gospel with the unbelievers.

But what happens when you have been planning a huge event for months, all the food needed has been already provided, the location has been booked but something unexpected happens? Does your heart shake or you are able to keep the faith?
This is exactly what happened to us yesterday during the 2016 Welcome Picnic. God provided an amazing location (The Highbank Metro Park), a huge amount of food (not only brought by the volunteers, but also donated by Chipotle, Red Chili Asian Restaurant, Taste of Orient, United Dairy Farmers, and Starbucks), two buses donated by University Village to help pick up students, and a lot of activities prepared. The only problem was the rain. For almost one week the weather forecast had predicted thunder storms and on the day of the event it looked like it didn’t want to stop raining cats and dogs.  It was unfortunate, as all the main activities were supposed to be outside and we were expecting about 300 international students.

I started receiving emails and texts whether we would host the event or not due to the heavy rain.  “Rain or shine”, was my answer, but I really hoped that a back up plan would arrive.
One hour prior to the students arrival, I was walking through the park, praying. The rain was not stopping. Then a verse came to mind: “Then the wind died down and it was completely calm”. I immediately realized the most important truth: God is the same, yesterday, today, and always. If Jesus could calm the storm 2000 years ago, He can still do it today.
I knew that this event was according to God’s will and that He can use every circumstance for His glory. In fact we know that “ This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him” (1John  5:14, 15). I kept praying with confidence that He was hearing me.

The rain stopped right before the buses arrived: our God is sovereign on nature! We all had a great time and it was such a joy to see the smiling faces of the new international students, excited to meet new friends, roast marshmallows, and play fun games.They also had the opportunity to talk to the volunteers and get to know IFI better.

Beauty around me

Beauty around me

“The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”

Living in a city, I often forget to raise my eyes and look up. The stars, the moon and the deep blue sky offer a breathtaking view that forces me to stop and think. What an artistic creator we have! So many details  and, although He is the One who made the universe, he still cares for us, so small in comparison to all the rest. The psalmist says:“When I consider your heavens,  the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,  what is mankind that you are mindful of them,  human beings that you care for them” (Psalm 8: 3,4).

I had the opportunity to visit Arizona over the 4^th of July week end with my husband and that gave me so many opportunities to meditate on these verses. When you sit in front of the Grand Canyon, when you see for the first time the Horseshoe, how can you doubt of the Lord’s almighty hand?? My first though was “those who say there is no God have never been here!”. The same attention for details that our Father had in shaping the rocks was used to create me and you:

 “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.  Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139:13, 16)

 Isn’t it amazing news? The  Am I desires a personal relationship with us and wants to communicate His love for us in various ways. He “even put eternity in our hearts”! He even made a dream landscape for us to enjoy! Take a moment to seat outside one night this summer, turn all the lights off and contemplate the ones that are above you and let your Creator speak to you and surround you with His love!

Some Random Thoughts About the Past Two Months

Time goes by quickly. It has been two months since I joined the ISEED Program. I feel myself grow a lot compared to when I just came here.

From the work side, TT is a great patient teacher. In two weeks, she taught me all she had learnt about the accounting job in her past one year. Her experience and techniques are invaluable to me. After she left, I start from what she taught me, and think carefully about the logic and reason behind those working processes. Then, after I get very familiar with the routine work, I start to think about the places that can be improved in the existing process. Or sometimes, just some alternate processes that fit more into my personal working style. Thanks to Don and Karen, who are my great co-workers, they are willing to patiently listen to my opinions and encourage me to keep doing so in the future. I'm so grateful to work in such a productive and innovative environment. When Karen told me that I did a very excellent job in the past two months, I'm so happy and honored.

From the spiritual growth side, I'm so blessed  to have so many mature Christians working and living around me. I really enjoy the teaching from Russ and Phil every week. The Friday night bible study also gives me a great opportunity to learn from other strong believers, and share my own thoughts with them. Besides that, I'm very happy to have Guy as our spiritual mentor. We went through the book "Purpose Driven Life" together and had lots of wonderful discussions. During the reading, I truly experience the inner changing of myself. The book keeps reminding me that I should always put the Lord in the first place in every aspects of my life, which is very important. God gives me time, energy, wisdom and talent, and I should utilize all of those to serve God. It's very encouraging when I read the idea that when we utilize our talents in our daily work, we are actually worshiping him. Because God makes us the way we are, and he enjoys watching us utilizing the talents he gives us. Therefore, when I work everyday at IFI, when I'm using the carefulness he gives me to help other staff deal with accounting issues, I'm actually worshiping him. This idea encourages me to work with more passion and happiness in my heart.

There are so many meaningful, exciting and memorable moments happening in the past two months, and I believe more are awaiting in front of me. I'm looking forward to this incoming July. Trust in the Lord and do not fear about the future, because he is already there.

Tianbang Zhu