Chill out, I got it!

I was chatting with my friend from seminary for the first time on Facebook, she asked me how we were doing in Aberdeen. Since we have been friends for 16 years, I did not hesitate to tell her that financially, we are tighter than ever. We need student loan to pay for Dan's tuition, the support of faithful churches and individuals to our ministry does help to pay the monthly rent, however, everyday expenses is still an uncertainty. It depends on the exchange rate, sometimes we have enough, sometimes we don't.

About a month or so after I shared it with my friend, she wrote to me saying that she is going to talk to a few people at her church to see if they would like to support us. I was quite surprised at her initiation, and extremely thankful, however, I was highly skeptical, wondering who in the world would support someone whom they have never heard of!

In fact, Dan and I were wondering if we should continue with this ministry, we would love to continue, because if only just one person is saved, it is all worth it. But if the funding is not sufficient, we just don't know how we can continue.

About a month after that email, she wrote to me again, telling me she has talked to three people and asked me to pray while they were making their decisions.

Not long after that, she told me one of the three potential supporters emailed her a list of questions, so I answered them all. My friend said when he decides that he is going to support us, he will write to me directly. A few days later, I got his email, he is going to support us! Not only that, he has made a 3 year committment, (depending on yearly review).

Now the interesting thing is, just days earlier, Dan and I were figuring out how we are going to pay for the ReachGlobal European Conference, which all missionaries in Europe have to attend.

Our account with ReachGlobal has two categories, one is our monthly salary, the second is ministry expense. The expenses of the conference can be taken out from the ministry expense, however, it can only be reimbursed when our overall account has over 4,000 USD in it.

The end of last year, our support level was low, and we had to stop our monthly salary for two months in order not to dip further down into the red. Since then, God has provided through various faithful supporters, and we are able to be paid monthly again. However, for another two months more, we cannot reimburse our ministry expenses, because we didn't have more than 4,000 USD in our account. What that means is that whatever ministry expenses we accumulate, we have to pay for them out of our salary. We are thankful that we do have enough to cover our ministry expense now, but paying for the whole trip for three people? That would put us right back into the hole!

However, ReachGlobal requires that we let them know our travel details before April 15th. Which means we have to book our plane tickets, train tickets, book hotel rooms, etc, with no time to figure out where the money will come from. Dan and I spent days online trying to get the cheapest plane tickets, we booked hostels, etc, but still wondering if, for the first time in my life, I will have to owe the credit card company money!

I was worried, my heart unsettled.

Little did I know, at the time when all those worries were overwhelming me, God has already prepared this supporter from afar, someone whom I have never met, never talked to, not even one direct email exchange, since we have been communicated once only, through my friend.

I didn't tell Dan about my friend's proposal because Dan tends to get quite stressed out when it is related to support. When I told him yesterday, he just laughed and said, "You have to thank Ella and tell her now we have money for groceries."

Then Dan started to wonder if our newest supporter knows "everything" about our ministry. I told him I think he knows as much as Ella knows, and as much as our newsletter has talked about. Then Dan said, "I wonder why he would support us without knowing EVERYTHING." (If you know Dan, you know how thorough a person he is.) I then answer him, "I think because God wants us to know it is not our efforts, our talks, our persuation that caused our supporters to support us, it is Him, and Him alone."

Not only God has provided financially, through Ella and this supporter, He is telling us that this ministry is to be continued. Keep on going even though the response might be slow. This is the biggest confirmation for me that we are to charge ahead, no matter what the outcome is.

When I thanked my friend Ella for what she has done, for her taking the initiation, for her not to say, "Go in peace, my sister," for her to follow up with actions. She wrote back and said, "Money is of so little significance in the God's kingdom."

I am surprised at how much worries I have gone through, while all these years, God has not failed, not even once, in taking care of us in every way. This has proven again that I am a person of little faith, but God doesn't condemn me for that, rather, He opens His arm and embraced me and tell me,

"Chill out, I got it!"
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Nothing says Easter like...

A Tesco (UK grocery store) commercial says:

Nothing says Easter like a warm, toasted hot-cross bun.

Well, of course you know Easter is more than that, Easter is also about colorful eggs, and kids running after them, cute bunny baskets, bunny chocolates, cards, flowers and everything that might put a smile on your face.

No one wants to remember Good Friday, who wants to remember the pain, the heartache, the betrayal, the isolation, the insult, the beatings, the thorns, the blood, the hole that was poked in Jesus' side, of course, please don't mention the three long rusty nails that held Him there until He suffocated.

Well, as for what happened next, it is just a story that was made-up. Jesus came back to life again, won over death? Easter bunnies are real. Jesus? Hmmm...

It is really really sad, that the majority of the people have forgotten, or in fact in most cases, choose to ignore, the meaning of Easter. The victorious resurrection of the Son of God is reduced to eggs, bunnies and chocolate. Jesus is totally out of the picture.

Don't get me wrong, I like hot-cross buns, colorful eggs, (still trying to find a egg dying kit for Kioni), chocolates and flowers. But minus Jesus' glorious victory over death, the colors on the eggs fade.
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Paid

The crime show last night was about the Green River Killer - Gary Ridgway, one of the most notorious serial killers in the United States. In November of 2003 he pleaded guilty to 48 counts of aggravated murder, although he says he actually killed 90 women or more, almost all prostitutes. He started the killings in early 1980s, and for almost twenty years, he was able to evade the police. He has an IQ of 82, however, he was doing all the 'right things' to not to get caught. In exchange for not receiving the death penalty, he pleaded guilty to all those accounts of murders and disclose the location of some of the women he has buried.

At his sentencing, many family members were allowed to make statements in court to the killer of their beloved family members. One by one, they walked up to the stand and looked him in the eye with utter hatred and despise, cursing him with the worst possible words and thoughts.

"You belong in hell, and you will never come out of it."
"I hope you have a long, horrible, painful death, just like what you did to my sister."

Gary Ridgway sat there, listening to all of them with a stone cold face, not one ounce of remorse, not one of his face muscles moved.

Until the father of a young girl who was murdered stepped on the stand.

"There are many people who hate you in this room, but I am not one of them. Although you have made it very hard to live up to what I believe. My belief in God asks that I forgive you, and I do. I forgive you for killing my daughter. You are forgiven."

Before the father even finished, Gary Ridgway's mouth turned down, then he buried his face in his hands and started sobbing in the crowded courtroom.

This is the most dramatic scene I have seen on how powerful forgiveness is.

The lamb's blood covering us, and we are forgiven. What that father did was only possible because he knew he was forgiven himself, his own sin was paid in full when Jesus died on the cross.

Isn't this what the Chinese word 義 is all about? 羊 (lamb) over 我 (me), and it is 義 (justified).