Bike Riding Lessons

One night about three weeks ago, a good old friend messaged me, “How is OSU?” Without hesitation I replied, “It has taught me how to ride a bike!” Yes, indeed. In my first month at IFI, bike riding is not only a new skill, but also a new lifestyle through which God sent many blessings.

Friendship

After I moved in, I soon noticed my host housemate Bruce to be a mature brother-in-Christ and an avid fan of biking. Bruce gladly lent me one of his many bikes to practice and took me out for rides once I was able to keep the bike going. Had I not had Bruce as my housemate, I might not have learned to ride a bike. In addition to our continuous spiritual conversations that strengthen my faith, our biking tours bond us as close friends. My friendship with Bruce has become one of the best gifts from ISEED training.

I have also been on bike tours with two coworkers and two students, all of which turned out to be great bonding experience.

In the future, I pray to develop more friendships and ministry opportunities from bike riding.

God’s Perfect Timing

Growing up, I always have the privilege of living close enough to walk to school. I guess this has developed my habit and love of walking around. Although I always longed to ride a bike, life situation never forced me to learn. But this time around in Columbus, I tried hard because ride a bike to work could significantly reduce my commuting time. With some scratches, bruises, and mosquito bites, I finally learned. And once I could ride a bike, I fell in love with it. Whether it’s coasting on trails along rivers and fields, dashing downhill with breakneck speed, or enjoying the shadow of my flowing hair cast by street lights at night, I am in love with biking!  As a matter of fact, this blog post is dedicated to how God has been blessing me through bike rides.

I always wanted to ride a bike, but when God made it happen by bringing me to IFI in Columbus and my housemate Bruce, He also gave me so much more in this seemingly simple activity. Right now there are many uncertainties and longing in my life that I don’t even have the smallest hint of how to clear up and fulfill.  But this recent bike riding experience has reinforced my faith in God’s perfect timing and given me great joy in what he provides here and now.

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Attending Prayer

Attending Prayer is a wonderful class taught by Karen about how to hear from God. Bike riding has turned out to be great communication time with God. One night after work, I felt so distraught that I chose to ride to OSU campus, hoping some outdoor activity would lift my spirits. As I was riding aimlessly around the campus, I felt God spoke to me loud and clear.

Now in retrospect, I think riding on bike-friendly routes allows me to keep minimal attention on traffic and have a peaceful mind to pray to and hear from God. That night when I was riding a bike, God lifted my burden by giving me clear instructions. What a relief that was! Since then, I have been appreciating bike riding as prayer times more and more. As I paddle gently with the peace of mind, the Spirit fills me from fresh breeze and natural beauty, bringing me ever so intimate with Him.

Dependence and Thanksgiving

Since I started to room together with two other brothers-in-Christ in my sophomore year, Christian friends have become not only people I live life and follow Christ with, but also my English trainers, cultural advisors, drivers and housing providers. In June and August, the same friend drove me from Champaign, Illinois to Columbus, Ohio and drove back the first time with his girlfriend, and the second time by himself. Having long been on the receiving side of the relationship, I deeply wish to be able to do things for other people and to take better care of myself.

Riding a bike reduces my commuting time from 25 minutes to 10 minutes. With greater ability of transportation comes greater sense of independence, a false and alarming thought that I finally don’t have to dependent on other people to give me car rides. I believe our relationships with other people ultimately mirror our relationship with God. If merely being able to ride a bike could give me such an inflated ego, will I still put my dependence on God when I learn to drive a car, or when technology one day allows me to teleport with a snap of fingers?

In Attending Prayer class yesterday, Karen told us a painting about a father giving a puppy to his daughter. During this joyful event, the father’s attention is focused on his daughter, whereas the daughter’s attention is focused on the puppy. Often we, like the daughter in the painting, rejoice in our gifts, but not in the love of the Giver.

When God blessed me with bike riding, I almost treated it as a ladder to independence from other people. But in this experience, God has taught me to realize the gifts in my life are from him and I should be dependent and thankful.

Satisfaction in what God gives

One afternoon when reading a book on cultural differences in the business world, I came across a brand name of a bike: Surly Long Haul Trucker. After work, I went to a local retail store to check the bike. At the bike shop, I was not surprised by the price of the bike, but surprised that the 1300-dollar price tag did not at all deter my material desire. Considering all the good things that had happened with bike riding, I could have easily rationalized a purchase. But as I was thinking whether to buy or not, something Karen had shared with me came to my mind, “Sin is to acquire by force of what God would give by grace.” Upon hearing this message again, I was reminded that if God had not assigned Bruce as my housemate, I might not have learned how to ride a bike. And none of the subsequent blessings were from an eye-pleasing bike.

In Bruce’s house, there are 6 or 7 bikes, just like in the 
Garden of Eden there are plenty of fruits. Based on what Adam and Eve did, and my personal experience, I modify what Karen told me to, Sin is not being satisfied with what God gives us freely and abundantly, but seeking in our own ways of what we think will satisfy ourselves. Later Bruce had his worst bike totally tuned up for me. The bike now is good as new. And I am so happy with what God gives me for free!  

Through it all, my eyes are on You

Through it all, my eyes are on You

Yesterday is a heartbroken day for both my wife Alex and me. When I got home at night, Alex was crying and couldn’t control her emotions. After I looked at the message on her phone, I was suddenly very depressed as well.

The message is from our puppy breeder. We ordered an Australia Blue Heeler from her two months ago when the dog mother was still pregnant. And after the mother gave birth to seven puppies, we went to pick our puppy two weeks ago. Together we found our favorite one, and named him Gaby. But since Gaby couldn’t leave his mother yet, we can’t take him right away and we need to wait for two more weeks. This coming Saturday, which is 10/7/2016, is the date we are going to take him home and invite him into our family.

We have already bought various dog food and toys for our coming friend, but the message from the breeder broke our sweet dream. She said that Gaby passed away on Sunday, and she is still investigating the cause, because there weren’t any obvious signs before Gaby passed away.

Alex can’t stop crying sitting by my side, and I feel the same deep sorrow in my heart. I begin a conversation in my mind. -Why does this happen? -Well, since this has already happened, it means that God allows this to happen. -Why? -We don’t know the reason yet at this point, but we are sure of one thing: God loves us, and he has a plan for us, and his plan is best for us. We just can’t see it right now. – OK, Lord, I trust in you. I believe you have your plan and authority. You have your reasons for this to happen, and your authority can’t be questioned. But I just ask you that please tell us the reasons, please reveal your intentions to us. Because we just don’t have the wisdom to see it through by ourselves. Lord, please comfort Alex and me, please wipe out our tears. We put our faith in you. Thank you, Lord.

Then I express my thoughts to Alex and we pray together, and she felt much better.  Together we sing out one of our favorite songs “It is well”: Let go my soul and trust in him, the waves and wind still know His name… Through it all, through is all, my eyes are on you. And it is well with me…

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. - 1 Chronicles 16:34

When Meals Are Not Just Meals

Now I'm sitting in front of my dest, working. It's almost noon and I haven't had anything yet except one chocolate chip and see salt cookie (from Sassafras and it's really good), and a cup of coffee. I'm staring at my computer screen but my mind is at somewhere else. I'm thinking about what I should have for lunch and who I want to eat with. Eating is one of the most important things in my life and sharing meals with someone is a way of showing my affection to them.

During my first month here at IFI, I learnt that meals are important on so many different levels. Particularly here at IFI, sharing a meal with someone shows hospitality. It is a gathering where the death and resurrection of Jesus is celebrated and where the message of salvation is communicated through food. I had so many good times at IFI and the most memorable moments so far are related to food and meals. 

The first big gathering of all the ISEEDers, apprentices and our bosses (Phil and Russ) involved a lot of learning to pronounce hard Mediterranean food names and making tough decisions on what to order. More importantly, it served as a great opportunity for us to get to know one another and share the importance of meals in the different backgrounds we grew up in. It was interesting to find out that almost everyone viewed meals as something with significance. We also got to know more about all the staffs at IFI during the apple picking at Phil's uncle's house and lunch at Gene's house. It almost became natural to us to share about stories in our lives either related to Christ or not. I can truly feel that there are connections being made and relationships being built at the table. 

Just like what's written in A Meal With Jesus, Christian community's meals are for many things. It expresses God's grace, reinforces the community that God has created, and shows us what it's like to live under God's reign. Without God's creation, it's hard to imagine that any of these would even happen. 

There might be many ways to define the word meal just as the internet defines it as the food eaten on regular occasions. However, there are so many things other than food and other than its literal meaning associated with this word. 

It's really not hard to see that love, grace and community is deeply rooted in meals and they became inseparable parts. Jesus lives His life as a perfect illustration of it and we should too.

Good Afternoon readers,

Welcome to the first week of Fall. It’s chilly here today in Columbus and I love it. I feel I have enough heat from Summer. I feel like I have been blessed to make friends with International students. As I mentioned in my last post, I talked with one Chinese student who was very shy but as soon as she was comfortable with us (me and David’s Bible group), she began teasing me a lot. Our friendship with her continues to get closer. Each of us openly shared our own stories, both blessings and struggles. We pray for each other. Since she started showing up to our Bible group, she is eagerly wanting to know about God. I’m so surprised that she bought her new Chinese-English Bible and studies the Word prior to the Bible discussion on Friday. I feel like God is working on His plan for her by providing many people for her: She was invited to the campus Bible group, she has been provided rides to church on Sundays, and she told us that the sermon was very helpful for her. She said to me “God know what I need and tells me what to do”. She then showed me the scripture “Philippians 4:6 : Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God”. I also had a chance to share my testimony with her too.

Besides the story of the Chinese student, some of the ISEEDers were invited by Phil, IFI’s events director to do an apple picking activities at his uncle’s orchard. For me, I’m familiar with an apple but not an apple tree at all because we have very few apple orchards in my country. They’re all in the high elevation area of northern Thailand. I’m so excited to see the apple tree and excited to pick it and eat it fresh from the tree.  Of course, it tastes wonderful and sweetly fresh. I guess I ate about six apples while picking apples!! All of the apples were put into the squeezing machine powered by our labor to crank that machine - we saved the energy and having fresh-organic apple cider, which is so tasty!! I also took some apples to make a homemade apple pie, which my Mansfield host family taught me how to make from scratch. I taught the Chinese student how to make a pie too and now she can make it on her own!! Yay!

These are two activities in this month that makes me feel happy and rejoice in the Lord God Almighty! Looking forward for his blessings for all of us through his Word!

        

A life well spent

Our assignment for today’s ISEED meeting was to draw our life map. It is a way to put down into images our heritage, important events, people who influenced out path, high points, hard times and the experiences where we were able to see God’s hand at work.

So, yesterday I took some time, reluctantly, to do it. “Why reluctantly?” you ask? Because the point was not only to put black on white my life, but also be ready to share it with the others. You see, we all have things in our past that we don’t like, things that we wish never happened, things that let us burst into tears, but while thinking to all these a verse came into my mind:

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”  (Rom.8:28)

God is sovereign, He is in control. He used all of these things to make me the woman I am. There was not a moment when He was far, not a second when He looked at me with disappointment, but in each step of my life He was there waiting for me to choose Him, to walk with Him, to ask for His guidance.

Through the map I could clearly see the amazing people placed in the crucial turning points of my life, the growth that the terrible moments brought, the strong friendships born from the ashes of the betrayals and disappointments. I saw God’s grace toward me, the numerous gifts that I have received, and felt the joy and peace in serving Him. I know that if Christ is the center, this is a life well spent!

What do you see when you look back? Have you admired God’s work of art in your life? I hope this post will make you stop and acknowledge His goodness and the great plan He has for you!

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?