Our Daily Noodles - Morning Meditations from Amoy

2011-09-05T09:49:00.001-07:00

In Loving Memory of Dr. David Brainard Woodward Sept.2011

Happy Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival! We’ve much news this month, but we start by celebrating the life of Dr. David Woodward (1918-2011), who married Sue and I in 1981 in Taiwan. Even today, 30 years later, he continues to influence our lives, and many others, especially through one of those strange ‘coincidences’ that seem to pop up in our lives…

Coincidences or Father’s Hand? In early 2011, twoChinese reporters interviewed me about the amazing “coincidences” that have helped me pull together the history of the Amoy Mission (I was able to show them emails and other materials to document them).

Scientists have long tried to explain these uncanny coincidences. In the 1920s, Carl Jung dubbed it synchronicity. Even Einstein spoke of how his insights came not from logic but from unexplained inspiration. Some call it the Force (rather like Star Wars!).But I see it as our Father’s hand. He weaves the tapestry of our lives so deftly and gently that we usually go about our lives completely unaware of just how much we takefor granted. But sometimes we entangle ourselves so much that He reaches in to straighten out a knot or two—such as he did right after our honeymoon, and later did with a gift from Dr. Woodward...

The Magic Zheng While in Taiwan for our wedding, Sue bought a Chinese zheng for my wedding present. I had wanted one for years, and was delighted—and then I left it on a public bus in San Francisco while transferring to another airport. I was devastated, and halfheartedly threw up a hopeless prayer—more of a complaint than a plea for help, blaming my Father for allowing his child to be so careless. I had zero hope of ever seeing the zheng again because neither the instrument nor the case had any ID. It was not, I felt, an auspicious way to start married life—losing my wedding present before I even got it home.

A full month later, back in Los Angeles at grad school, I was called out of class to the office—and on the dean’s desk was my zheng—no note, no explanation! The bus company must have spent a month of detective work tracking down the owner of an instrument with no ID on it or in it. For me, it was a special delivery straight from heaven.

I thanked our Father for the returned zheng—and apologized both for losing it and for blaming Him for my loss, because the incident drove home two valuable lessons. One—we, not our Father, are responsible to steward what He entrusts to us. But two, and more encouraging to me, our Father really is there to help his children. And He continues to drive home this lesson even today in ways so amazing that some have made it into the Chinese newspapers! But one of my greatest lessons came through the book “Detour from Tibet,” which Dr. Woodward gave to us at our wedding....

Dr. Woodward, a grad of Princeton and Fuller T.S. (my alma mater), set off on horseback in 1945 for Tibet, and then served for decades with Betty in India, Hong Kong and Taiwan, where Sue knew the Woodwards while she was growing up (Sue’s parents were in Taiwan 30 years with TEAM, and she was born and raised there).

Marital Counseling—or Cautioning? Sue was thrilled that Dr. Woodward agreed to marry us at Taipei’s ChristChapel, but I was nervous when he said he had to first counsel me. My ears were still burning from the marital counseling of Chuck Saunders, my friend from Taiwan days. (Read more about the Saunders at: www.amoymagic.com/AM_Saunders.htm)

Don’t Do It, Willy! I met Sue at Chuck and Donna’s house in Pasadena on Easter Sunday, 1981, and after watching our love blossom, Chuck took me to a Mexican lunch and dispensed these words of wisdom: “Don’t do it, Willy!” (Only Chuck, and Art Velasquez, ever called me Willy—precisely because they knew I hated Willy).

Chuck was concerned not for me but for Sue. He knew me from Air Force days in Taiwan, and my time as a special agent in the U.S. and the Middle East, and he was worried Sue would not be able to handle the kind of life I was likely to live in mainland China. I of course greatly respected Chuck and his advice. He and Donna influenced me on everything from attending Fuller T.S. to going into business, and then leaving business to go to China. But when it came to Susan Marie, I was deaf! Happily for us, once they realized we were determined to marry, they embraced us like 2^nd parents, and Chuck was the first to visit and encourage us in China right after we arrived in 1988.

Marriage Counseling—the Sequel After Chuck’s insights on marriage, I certainly did not want a second round of marital counseling from Dr. Woodward. But Dr. Woodward did not dissuade me, perhaps because the wedding was only 4 days away (and Sue’s dad had my plane tickets and wouldn’t let me leave the island without his daughter in tow). But Dr. Woodward did advise me on how to keep the wife happy, and given that he was married to Betty for 66 years, I figured he must know what he was talking about, and I listened!

The Magic Book As we prepared for the wedding, Dr. Woodward delighted us with tall but true tales of entering Tibet on horseback, and he gave us a signed copy of his book “Detour from Tibet.” I treasured that book, which I read several times, and was one of the few books I took to China. So imagine my frustration when Sue loaned it to a Chinese student, who loaned it to another student, who lost it. I did not say much about it, but inwardly I stewed at losing yet another wedding present. And unlike the zither, I never saw that book again, but our Father used it to teach us a great lesson!

A year after losing my treasured book, we heard that some of our university’s Chinese students had volunteered to work in Tibet so they could also share their new Life there (Chinese tentmakers). And a year after that news, we had one of those “coincidences” that even today gives me goosebumps to think about.

Tibet and back. I was exhausted by the time we reached Lhasa,(Tibet) but the second day both body and spirit wereIn 1994, Sue, the boys and I drove 40,000 km. for 3 months around China, up the coast, through the Gobi Desert, to charged when a young Chinese said to us, “Are you Bill Brown? I’m a believer from Xiamen Univ. who volunteered to serve in Tibet. I was movedto do that because of your book, “Detour from Tibet!”

A year lesson, Dr. Woodward was delighted to hear that he was still touching the hearts of Tibetans half a century after he left the place. And happily for me, he gave us another signed copy of his book. I do hope to hold on to this copy, but I also pray that I’ll never again put books, or anything else, above people.

On August 23, 2011, Dr. Woodward ended his brief 93 year sojourn on this planet. And now, for the first time, he can view the magnificent tapestry of life—not from the knotty and tangled backside but from the beautiful perspective of the
Master Weaver, for whom even the smallest thread has both beauty and purpose.

Ping'an, Dr. David Woodward!

Bill Brown
Xiamen University www.amoymagic.com

An Amoy Tribute for Lorraine Pierce--Spiritual Founder of World Vision and Samaritan's Purse

2011-04-05T18:16:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown Xiamen University

Amoy (Xiamen, China), April 5th , 2011

One of the 20th Century's most influential Christian women just went Home. Two days ago, I learned of the failing health of Lorraine, wife of World Vision and Samaritan Purse's founder Bob Pierce. And as I was starting a letter to her today (my 55th B-day, by the way), I learned that she had already “returned Home”, surrounded by family and friends.

Grandmother of Millions The day before Lorraine went Home, she had smiled at learning she had a new great grandson, Taylor Anthony Ruesga. Today, Lorraine is learning face-to-face from our Father that decades of selfless and largely unsung sacrifice, and the ceaseless prayers of a faithful mother and wife, have made her a spiritual mother of millions, and helped change our world in ways we will not fathom until we too join Lorraine with our Father, face-to-face.

The Seed of WVI in Amoy As I wrote in February, 2010, World Vision was founded because of an incident here in Amoy in 1947. American missionary Tena Holkeboer challenged young Bob Pierce to not just preach but to give practical help to poor orphans. Bob gave his last 5 dollars to help "White Jade" and promised to send 5 dollars a month. And that was the seed that led him in 1950 to start World Vision, and in 1970 to found Samaritan's Purse (now led by Franklin Graham).

"Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God," wrote Bob Pierce in his bible after seeing the tragic conditions of orphans in Korea. And Bob devoted the rest of his life traveling the globe and building two organizations that would help countless millions of people. Bob literally spent his life and heart and soul to reach the poor, but in some ways, his wife Lorraine paid an even greater price.

In "Man of Vision, Woman of Prayer," Bob's daughter Marilee shared that after Bob began his global ministry, his family saw little of him, even though wife and daughters desperately needed some time with him at home. But though heartbroken by suffering in other lands, Bob could not see the pain in his own home, and he justified his long absences with yet another prayer that has become famous.

Bob's Jephthah Prayer   Like many others in his shoes, Bob struggled with how to balance the needs at home with the demands of a growing global ministry. So Bob said, "God, if you take care of my children, I will take care of yours."   The prayer is often quoted, and may sound admirable on the surface, but it was neither wise nor necessary. In Judges 11, Jephthah promised God that if he won a battle, he'd sacrifice whatever greeted him first when he returned home. To his horror, he was greeted by his daughter, whom he was then bound to sacrifice. Bob also made a Jephthah sacrifice.

Like Jephthah, Bob Pierce sacrificed his family by leaving his young wife Lorraine to raise their children alone while he traveled abroad for months and years—and the Pierce family suffered great tragedy.

Did God fail Bob Pierce? Bob did his best to care for God's children, so did God fail to keep his own end of the bargain by allowing tragedy to befall Bob's family at home? Obviously, God did not fail Bob, just as he did not fail Jephthah, because God never asked for such a prayer from Jephthah, or Bob, or anyone else. Bob's children were Bob's responsibility, and his family should have been not an obstacle but an opportunity to help him prepare for a broader work.

Small and Great Jesus taught, "He who is faithful in small things will be faithful in great things."   God uses 'small' things to prepare us for great things, and to teach us to rely not on our own strength but on His.

For example, honoring the Sabbath may seem unimportant, but it proves that if we trust our Father, we can do more in 6 days than 7. Tithing money proves that 90% of our money can go farther than 100% when wisely stewarded. But the brief time on earth with our family is a bootcamp for eternity, preparing us as nothing else can for our own unique roles in our Father's eternal Family.   Some, like Paul the Apostle, were called to be single. But if we are blessed with a family, then that family is our greatest God-given priority, from which all else springs, and faithfulness in this 'small' thing prepares us for the greater things to come.

Fortunately for Bob, and for the world, Lorraine Pierce did not succumb to bitterness and resentment. She continued to struggle, largely alone and unheralded, to keep her family together, and she continued to pray without ceasing for her beloved but absent husband—and I am confident that it was her prayers that moved both heaven and, through her husband, earth as well.

Samuel Chadwick wrote, "The one concern of the Devil is to keep the saints from praying. ... He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray. ... Satan dreads nothing but prayer. His one concern is to keep the saints from praying. ..."

Great works for the Kingdom are not successful because of the blood, sweat and tears of toiling spiritual entrepreneurs ready to sacrifice themselves and everyone around them. Their success is rooted in fervent, faithful prayer.    Hudson Taylor wrote, "God's will done in God's way will never lack God's supply." Though the China Inland Mission had thousands of workers to care for, Hudson Taylor learned that, through prayer and wise stewardship, he never lacked the resources to accomplish whatever task the Father put before him.

Hudson Taylor, George Mueller, and many others who have made eternal contributions to the kingdom knew the truth of Chadwick's claim that success is rooted not in our toil or in our wisdom, or in our bargaining with God, but in our prayer—the faithful, fervent prayer of spiritual warriors like Lorraine Pierce.

Man of Vision, Woman of Prayer. To learn more about the Pierce family, and the founding of World Vision and Samaritan's Purse, read Marilee Dunker's "Man of Vision, Woman of Prayer." Regrettably, the publisher later shortened the title to "Man of Vision," but it was the the prayers of a faithful mother and wife, and a Woman of Prayer, that helped make possible the vision that changed the lives of millions.

I have heard that Marilee is preparing a newer book about her parents and their work.   I trust that her new book will help us all to better appreciate and emulate the selflessness and faithfulness of Lorraine Pierce, the spiritual founder of both World Vision and Samaritan's Purse, and spiritual mother to millions.

Our prayers, and gratitude, go to Marilee and her sister Robin, and the entire family.

In closing—a family news update! Our oldest son Shan and his wife Miki just moved to Beijing, where Shan has a new and challenging job. And Matt at University of Arkansas has a very special friend Jessica (I hope to add her to the family cartoon!). She is in Argentina for six months. Lots of changes!

Bill Brown
       & family

www.amoymagic.com

Jabez Prayer Wheel--Guaranteed 100% Answered Prayer!

2011-03-26T00:50:00.000-07:00

Note: The Jabez Prayer Wheel "prayer guarantee" is void where prohibited by law, common sense, or lack of faith. Also: this blog is not criticizing the Jabez book itself, which is insightful if read in its entirety, and if the verse preceding Jabez' prayer is kept in mind. I take issue only with the notion some have that simply parroting this prayer always gets the answer you want from God. I think prayer is always answered, but not always as we expect. And thank God for that, because I've sent some prayers aloft that I was later thankful my Father had not answered in the way I'd hoped. Dr. Bill.

Toying Around When we first arrived in China in 1988, we could not buy good toys locally, so I made playthings from cardboard, paper, string, and wood. Even adults played with my 50 lb. wooden rocking horse (I threatened to publish a photo of the Foreign Affairs' Director on the horse if he didn't renew my contract!).

Shannon, 1992

I did my best, but I was not Santa's toy-making elf, so in 1992, both Shan and Matt were thrilled when Sue and I promised them a real store-bought toy when we returned from a Beijing meeting. But dear old mom had a trick up her sleeve.

The Black Lacquer Plate Plot Sue gave Shannon a beautiful Chinese cloth box, which the 6-yr.-old gleefully opened to discover not a toy but a black lacquer plate. Only Shannon's eyes betrayed his disappointment. He smiled, thanked us, and walked away with the plate clasped to his chest. I could have cried (and kicked his mom).
"Come back Shannon!" I said. "Mom's fooling you. We do have a toy for you!" Shan hesitantly unwrapped a second package. He laughed as he held up a plastic basketball game, then hugged, kissed and thanked us. He started from the room, prized toy under his arm, then stopped in the doorway and said, "But it really was a nice plate."

I did cry at that point.

Toys 'R Us—I want everything! A few months later, Shannon saw his first Toys 'R Us. He was overwhelmed by the towering shelves of toys and said, "I want this! I want that! I want…" and he stopped, thrust his arms out happily, and said, "I want everything!" (The Hong Kong Toy's R Us had a sign at the entrance saying "Please leave your values at the counter." It was a typo--but later made sense!).

Hong Kong Toys R Us

The World 'R Us—We all want everything! So which was the real Shannon—the one who accepted the plate, or the one who wanted everything? They were both Shannon, but even the 6-yr.old who hid his sadness at not getting a toy was easily led to exclaim, "I want everything!" And we've all been this way since Eden.

Adam and Eve did have everything—except for one tree. But they gave up their inheritance for that one forbidden fruit—and ever since, we have all hungered for everything, and used clever psychology and even theology to justify it.

Maslow 'R Us. Maslow's 'Theory of Needs' helps explain what drives us. He said we all seek first to survive (physical needs and security), and then to belong (to be with others), and then to have self-esteem (for those others to look up to us). But even Maslow could not explain the highest need, which he called "self-actualization" (SA).

Ultimate Drive or Desire? SA is our need for purpose and fulfillment, but Maslow admitted, "It is unfortunate that I can no longer be theoretically neat at this level." Unlike 'lower' needs, Maslow said SA is not a driving force but an unexplainable universal 'desire.' It is unexplainable because scientists cannot admit that our ultimate need is to fill what Pascal called the "God-shaped abyss" in our hearts—a spiritual silence we try to drown out by an endless and mindless accumulation of anything and everything, living a lifestyle that is all style but little life.

The Evolution from Simian to Shopper (Homo Ebaggit)

Consumer or Consumed Only two centuries ago, a "consumer" was a squanderer, or a wasteful person, but yesterday's vices are today's virtues. In 1955, the economist Victor Lebow said,
"Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction and our ego satisfaction in consumption. We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever-increasing rate."

Distressed Jeans or Distressed Consumer

Cult of Consumerism People who want everything are easily led to buy anything—such as a $200 pair of ripped and stained "distressed" jeans. But today, even churches reinforce Sony's Youniverse campaign, which says we are the center of everything and deserve everything.

Today's Tetzels

The church of the Dark Ages amassed a fortune by squeezing poor peasants for money to free loved ones from purgatory. As Tetzel said, "As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, another soul from purgatory springs."

In this even Darker Age, today's Tetzels amass fortunes by focusing not on the afterlife but on this life, promising an immediate tenfold return from God if we donate to their 'ministries.' (Why not bypass the middleman and give us the money so God can repay them tenfold?)

Seek Ye First—or Demand Ye First? Ironically, our Father does want to bless us—and is eager for us to ask! Jesus said that if earthly fathers know how to give good things to their children, how much more our Heavenly Father! (Matt. 7:9-11).

But how do we ask for our Father's blessings? Jesus said, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be given to you" (Matt. 6:33). And Jesus said to pray first for the Kingdom, and then ask for our daily bread. But today, we are taught better prayers than Christ's, and told to skip the Kingdom part of it and go straight for the desires. And now, we don't ask, but demand an answer.

The Prayer God Always Answers? The preface to the book "Prayer of Jabez" begins with, "Dear Reader, I want to teach you how to pray a daring prayer that God always answers!" This is followed by stories of people who succeeded simply by repeating Jabez prayer for months and years. Not surprisingly, an entire Jabez industry now caters to people who want a foolproof prayer to get anything and everything. You can now buy a dozen versions of the Jabez book and endless Jabez trinkets, from mugs, cups, ties, rugs, plaques, key chains, etc to $250 Jabez jewelry.

Magic Jabez God Box

Jabez Magic One ad promotes a Jabez Prayer inside The "God Box" pendant. The God Box is identical to boxes sold to hold spells and potions—which isn't surprising, because the Jabez Prayer is used like a magic prayer that God must "always answer." But the Jabez merchandise ignores the verse before the prayer, 1 Chron. 4:9: "Jabez was more honorable than his brothers."

As Jesus said, and Jabez demonstrated, 'Seek first God's kingdom and his righteousness and all these things shall be given…"

Dr Bills Patent Pending Jabez Prayer Wheel

The World-Changing Jabez Prayer Wheel! The Magic Jabez God Box reminds me of Tibetan Prayer Wheels, with written prayers inside that fly off to Buddha when the wheels are spun. Chinese temples take it a step further, with motorized prayer wheels that send prayers soaring heavenward 24/7.

The ingenuity of Tibetans, Chinese, and Jabezite Christians inspired my own spiritual invention, the Jabez Prayer WheelTM, a brilliant concept destined to change the world (I say this with all humility).
My wood-handled tin can prototype is adorned with plastic gems as a reminder we want answers in cash, jewels, etc. A backup Jabez Prayer in the swinging locket doubles the prayer's punch, and the locket swings faster than the can, so "The Prayer God Must Answer!"TM gets faster results!

Coming Soon! An electric Jabez Prayer Wheel, because "You Do Deserve Everything. 24/7!TM"

New Improved JP for Young Hearts 2.0

Jabez is Child-Tested! Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." So I suggest baby rattles with Jabez InsideTM so even toddlers can learn that they too deserve everything, and can get it by simply wielding, "The Prayer that God Must Answer!"TM

Does this sound farfetched? Then consider the half dozen Jabez titles for tots: PJ for Kids! PJ for Little Ones! PJ for Teens! PJ: Living Big for God! PJ for Young Hearts! And the Jabez industry is evolving rapidly. The cover of the first Jabez for Young Hearts' had what looked like a balding poster child for poverty. But JP for Young Hearts 2.0's new and improved cover shows a child opening a shining pot of gold. There may not be gold at the end of the rainbow, but Jabez for Young Hearts 2.0 will ignite any child's passion for his very own personal "Prayer Pot of Gold."TM

Millstones. But neither we nor our children need infallible prayers because our Heavenly Father is faithful and always answers our prayers—though sometimes the answer is not what we expect.


Backyard Millstone, Xiamen, 1992

I love giving to my sons, but I would not give them something I know would harm them, or something they would not take care of. In the same way, our Father hears and answers all of our prayers, but sometimes answers "no," or "wait." And sometimes, we have to just grow up and work ourselves out of a situation we've pushed ourselves into.

I cannot imagine how I would feel if my sons tried forcing me to give them whatever they desired—yet we teach children magic prayers to force God to answer prayer! I am reminded of Jesus' warning in Mark 9:42, "And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck."

Heirs of "Everything" Jesus' life and teachings prove that we do not need 'trick prayers' because even tiny mustard seed faith can move mountains. Most importantly, Jesus taught that as God's children, we are already to everything—but we will not receive our inheritance until we have grown up.

Child, Heir –or Slave? Galatians 4:7 says, "So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir." But Galatians 4:1 explains, "What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate."

When we try to manipulate God with magic prayers, or even religion, we act not as heirs but as slaves trying to usurp what is not ours. We will never receive our inheritance until we have shown obedience and stewardship. As Jesus said:

"Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' Matt. 25:23

Prayer—a Two-Edged Sword God not only hears and answers our prayers, but he knows what we need even before we ask (Matt. 6:8). But blessings are a two-edged sword, because with answered prayer comes responsibility. As Jesus said in Luke 12:48b,

"From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."

One of my favorite passages is Jeremiah 29:11-13, "I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." But every time I read those verses, I am also careful to read what follows:

"Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

Heart or Lips? Do we seek our Father with all our heart or is our relationship just an endless plea for everything he can dole out? No wonder Jesus said in Mark 7:6, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me."

The Greatest Gift is Giving Jesus taught that the best way to receive is to give. Luke 6:38, "Give and it will be given to you…For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Or as God says in Malachi 3:10, "Prove me now…if I will not open upon you the windows of heaven, and pour out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it!" But even more important than giving is simple obedience (1 Samuel 15:22, 23)

God Answers All Prayers. If prayers seem unanswered, the problem is not God's but ours. Perhaps we are not acting as heirs but as children—or worse yet, as slaves to the spirit of this dark ,age that teaches we are the center of our own Youniverse and that we deserve everything, here and now.

Ironically, I have learned to be thankful even when my Father says "no," or "wait," because when I have stubbornly persisted in some prayers, and he has at length answered them, I have regretted it! But even my wrongheaded prayers were used for good, because they helped teach me faith and patience, and to trust that my Father knows not just what is good for me but what is best.

In closing, repeating Jabez' prayer or reciting Biblical promises is fine for encouraging ourselves, but we do not need infallible prayers because our Father is infallibly faithful. We all want everything, but our Father wants to give us even more than we can think or imagine! But His answer to our prayers may well be "no" or "wait" –at least until we show ourselves wise stewards of what he has already blessed us with.

Bill Brown
Xiamen University
Email: Amoybill @ gmail.com
Website: www.amoymagic.com
Noodles http://ourdailynoodles.blogspot.com/

Trapped Behind the Great FireWall

2009-06-25T10:50:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown   ... Xiamen University

Hi! Many have asked why I've not posted new "Noodles." The problem is that for the past couple months, the Great FireWall of China has been blocking blogspot, so I've not been able to access "Our Daily Noodles," or the other two blogs, unless I use a nonsecure Proxy.
    But it was fun while it lasted. I uploaded almost 200 over a six month period. So now...I'll work on other things, such as my Lin Yutang project.
    Blessings,
      Bill
www.amoymagic.com

How Eric Liddell UnLearned Profanity

2009-05-14T19:25:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown .. Xiamen University
"Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No," no, or you will be condemned." James 5:12 我的弟兄们，最要紧的是不可起誓。不可指着天起誓，也不可指着地起誓，无论何誓都不可起。你们说话，是就说是，不是就说不是，免得你们落在审判之下。雅各书5:12

Eric Liddell was the gold-medal Olympic athlete who refused to run on Sunday, and later became a missionary to China, dying in a Japanese concentration camp (his older brother Robert served as a doctor in Longyan City--Leng-Na--of West Fujian).

From watching the movie "Chariots of Fire," you'd never guess that quiet Eric used profanity in his youth--though not for long!

Eric was born in Tianjing, and Robert in Shanghai, but when Eric was 5 the family returned to Scotland, where for the first time in their lives the boys were free to explore on their own without a Chinese Amah to protect them. They quickly picked up some local profanity, which they tried out on their horrified mother.

McCasland, author of "Eric Liddell: Pure Gold," wrote,

'Once he understood that swearing was unacceptable, five-year-old Eric offered a simple solution. 'Just tell me what all the bad words are, and I won't use any of them.' Mary resigned herself to dealing with the problem as it arose, one word at a time.'

Can you imagine if Eric's mother had indeed given him a list of 40 or 50 swear words that he was neither to use, nor even to know? Just imagine Eric trying to not think of them, much less not use them!

As I blunder through life I sometimes think that a nice list of rules would make things simpler, but then again, I don't think I'd care to go through life weighed down by thousands of laws and rituals, like the Pharisees, or Confucius' 3,305 Laws. Jesus certainly rebelled against the rules and rituals, not only taking the whip to the moneychangers but giving a verbal lashing to those religious leaders who enslave people with burdens that they don't help carry.

Not Rules but Example Jesus came not to lay down more rules but to lay down his life as an example. He urged us to walk with him and learn from him, day by day, just as Eric learned from his mother. Jesus said,

"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:29,30 我心里柔和谦卑，你们当负我的轭，学我的样式，这样，你们心里就必得享安息。因为我的轭是容易的，我的担子是轻省的。马太福音11:29,30

The yoke is easy and the burden is light because He carries the bulk of the burden, allowing us to learn naturally and easily from our Heavenly Father just as Eric Liddell learned from his mother--one word at a time, one day at a time.

Enjoy your day--and learn from it.
See "Favorite Book, Moving, and Song"
www.amoymagic.com

The Fragile Folk

2009-05-12T19:43:00.001-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University

"What he trusts in is fragile; what he relies on is a spider's web." Job 8:14 他所仰赖的必折断，他所倚靠的是蜘蛛网。约伯记8:14

Last week a gate guard stopped an overloaded garbage truck that was spewing trash onto the street. The driver got out, looked at the mess, and then simply drove off. I've seen this before, so this time I decided to do something about it. I followed him to his destination and photographed the truck, the license plate, and for good measure the driver as well.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

"I'm writing to the Mayor's Hotline," I said. "You're supposed to pick the trash up, not redistribute it!" When he said he did not know there was a problem, I said, "Nonsense! I saw you get out and look at it, and then drive off!"

He shrugged and said, "I was going to have my wife and daughter sweep it up later."

I drove back home but just as I was parking the car, I remembered Scott White's comments a few years earlier about a bad waiter. "These people lead such fragile lives," he said. "Just one wrong look or cross word from a customer can cost them their job, and maybe ruin their lives. We need to be careful with them, because we've no idea what they're going through."

As I thought about these "fragile folk," my anger changed to remorse. The problem is not just the workers but the system--poorly designed trucks, too few workers, and too much litter thrown daily onto the lawns and streets by citizens who take our beautiful island home for granted. I asked a student at Xiamen University why he threw trash on the ground just a few meters from a trash can, and he said, "We pay sweepers to pick it up!"

I certainly don't take our own area's sweeper for granted. Like many others, he works cheerfully from dawn to dusk, seven days a week, to keep our area spotlessly clean and neat. And even though he works for low pay, he has dreams, and is saving his money, and has often proudly shared about his child in college.

I got back in my car and drove back to the Sanitation Center and apologized to the driver I had photographed. I told him that I'd still write to the mayor's hotline, but not use the photograph, or mention specific places or people, but just the general problem. And then I thanked him for working so hard to help keep our beautiful island clean, and said that I hoped we Xiamenese could work harder to make his job easier by not littering.

The man was surprised, and mumbled shyly, "I just do my job."But it is not just his job, but his life--and in my anger and pride I could have jeopardized it.

These people are fragile indeed--but so are the rest of us. None of us, from the Mayor on down, are so indispensable that someone higher up the ladder could not cause us grief.

Next time I see a problem, I won't ignore it, but I'll be careful to attack the problem and not the person, because lives are fragile--theirs as well as mine.

Related Blog: Judging Without Eyes and Ears
.www.amoymagic.com

Leaning Glass & 5-Pointed Snowflakes

2009-05-11T17:56:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." Isaiah 64:8
耶和华阿，现在你仍是我们的父。我们是泥，你是窑匠。我们都是你手的工作。以赛亚书 64:8

Susan Marie and I each have a set of our own breakfast glasses, but because I can never remember whose is whose, she bought me half a dozen unique, clear glasses that leaned like the Tower of Pisa (or Fuzhou's Black Pagoda). I loved them! But they broke over the years, and when I was down to my last one I asked Sue to buy another set of leaning glasses.

Susan Marie laughed and said, "You can't buy anymore like those. They weren't designed that way--they were just rejects!"

No wonder she'd so generously bought me six of them. They weren't Designer Glasses but Defective Glasses--rejects of cheap clear glasses, sold for pennies apiece by a street vendor. It was a bit of a letdown--but only for a few moments.

Then I thought about how much fun I'd had over the years with them, watching the milk or juice fill unevenly (I know: simple minds, simple pleasures). And I realized that whether they leaned by design or defect did not matter. In fact, my last leaning glass was even more precious to me now because I knew I'd never see another one.

I treated my last leaning glass as if it were exquisite lead crystal from Bavaria, but in the end it was broken, and I was forced to drink my breakfast juice from unimaginative humdrum vertical glasses like other mortals. But our Father has a sense of humor, and enjoys nothing more than surprising his children.

Just weeks after I broke my last leaning glass, Sue returned home with a surprise--another half dozen leaning glasses exactly like the ones she'd given me years earlier! I said, "Verily I say unto you, if you give a cup of cold water in my name, you shall not lose your reward--especially if it is in a leaning glass!"

It's all perspective. I thought my breakfast glasses were uniquely designed and it turned out they were just defective, but the end result was the same. It was not the glasses themselves but how I looked at them that gave me enjoyment.

Designer or Defective Lives? My life often leans a lot more than my breakfast glass. I can choose to complain about it, or I can appreciate the unique beauty and opportunities that my uniquely leaning life offer me. My life is not perfect but it is certainly unique--as one-of-a-kind as a six-pointed snowflake.

5-Pointed Snowflakes. Scientists say that with trillions and gazillions of snowflakes, no two are alike. Hard to believe. But if we did find a five-pointed snowflake, would we cast it off as defective? Of course not! We'd treasure it even more than a 5-leaf clover. We'd photograph it, enlarge it, and hang it on the wall as a reminder of its very unique but fragile and transient beauty, and the snowflake itself we'd enshrine in cryogenic storage with more care than they lavish on Lenin, Mao and other extinquished revolutionaries.

Each of our lives is as uniquely beautiful as a snowflake, and while it may be as "defective" as a 5-pointed snowflake, it is our very "defects" that give rise to our unique strengths as we learn and grow and overcome the constraints that we all face.

But like a snowflake, our lives are also fragile and transient. Enjoy it.

www.amoymagic.com

Perfectly Imperfect

2009-05-10T17:03:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown 。。。 Xiamen University
"Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded..." Philippians 3:15 KJV 所以我们中间凡是完全人，总要存这样的心。腓利比书3:15

"If others succeed with 10 efforts, use 100; if they succeed with 100 efforts, use 1000. Thus even dull become smart, and the weak, strong." Confucius, "The Mean" 人一能之，已百之；人十能之，已千之。果能此道矣，虽愚必明，虽柔必强。

Paul's "as many as are perfect" phrase worried me during my youth because I knew that I was far from perfect (完全)! Fortunately, it is clear from the rest of Paul's writings that he that even he himself was not perfect, and in the following verse he said, "Only let us live up to what we have already attained. "然而我们到了什么地步，就当照着什么地步行。腓利比书3:16

Or consider the preceding two verses: "Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13,14

Paul did not just "forget" what was behind, but was continually "forgetting" what was behind. This was because every day he made mistakes, so every day he "died daily," put his past behind him, learned from it, and pressed on--like James, who wrote so eloquently of such weaknesses as our tongue...

James said that "no man can control the tongue" [3:8 惟独舌头没有人能制伏，雅各书3:8], and that a person who was faultless in speech was perfect. But of course we cannot be perfect even in our speech, which is why I can start every day with a heaping bowl of Daily Noodles and Good Intentions, and end up not just eating my Noodles but eating my words as well (which aren't always so sweet).

Daily I am faced by the consequences of my many imperfections--my thoughts, my words, my deeds (or lack of them), but this does not discourage me because 1) I at least know that I'm imperfect, and 2) the fact that I am now imperfect means I am a "work in progress." I won't be like this forever because I am growing, learning, and becoming. And that gives me hope and purpose, and so I don't wallow in my regrets or compare myself with others but press on trying to "live up to what I have already attained"--as little as it is!

Like Paul, I will forget what is behind and press forward--and if I seem to have a harder time than others in reaching the goal, I will remind myself of Confucius' wise words: "If others succeed with one effort, use one hundred efforts; if they succeed with one hundred efforts, use one thousand efforts. This way, even the dull will become intelligent, and the weak become strong." 人一能之，已百之；人十能之，已千之。果能此道矣，虽愚必明，虽柔必强。

We of course rely upon His strength, not our own--but it is a partnership. We, not God, are the ones forgetting what is behind and pressing forward. Just make sure we're pressing forward in His direction.

it also requires OUR effort and persistence. As Paul said, WE are the ones who forget that is behind and press forward.

Related Blog: "Why Lao-Tzu was Wrong about the 1000 Miles"
www.amoymagic.com

The Mother of Mother's Day

2009-05-10T03:24:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
Happy Mother's Day from Amoy!
I wrote this article for Common Talk in 2006.

When Anna May Jarvis's mother died on the second Sunday of May 1906, Anna May wished she had heeded the warning to, “Lavish your flowers on the living, not the dead.” Driven by remorse, the gentle, easy going Anna May became obsessed with the desire to see her mother and motherhood honored throughout the world.

After a year’s planning, the first Mother's Day was celebrated on the second anniversary of her mother’s death, May 10, 1908, at St. Andrew’s Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, where Anna’s mother had taught Sunday School. A year later, Philadelphia became the first city to proclaim an official Mother’s Day. Three years later, in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed Public Resolution 25, establishing the second Sunday of each May as Mother's Day. And then, to everyone’s surprise, Anna May retired and spent the remaining 34 years of her life, and her fortune of over 100,000 dollars, fighting against Mother’s Day!

The problem was that from day one, Mother’s Day had become a great commercial extravaganza to boost the incomes of card and candy makers, and a salve to soothe the consciences of those who each May made mother a “queen for the day” but neglected her the other 364 days.

Anna May complained, “Mother’s Day has nothing to do with candy. Candy is junk. A maudlin, insincere printed card or a ready-made telegram means nothing except that you’re too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone else in the world. You ought to go home and see your mother on Mother’s Day. You ought to take her out and paint the town red...You ought to give her something useful, something permanent...Is she sleeping warm at night? Could she use an eiderdown? Maybe the stairs in her home need fixing...”

For 30 years, Anna May fought for the integrity of Mother’s Day. She finally died in a sanitarium — old, tired, deaf, blind, penniless, and having never married nor been a mother herself!

Sixty years later, mothers may be more neglected than ever. Statistics show one half of Americans, which of course includes one half of our mothers, live in poverty. Where are the children? More than ever, mothers deserve more than cards and candy one day a year and anonymity the other 364.

My appreciation of motherhood only began as I watched my wife, Susan Marie, in both sickness and health, unselfishly spend herself on her two sons (and her husband as well!). I also slowly came to better appreciate my own mother, and though she’s 12,000 miles away, I am now careful to not only send her the obligatory Mother’s Day card and flowers but also to regularly write and phone her.

Fortunately, most Common Talk readers are not 12,000 miles away from home! So as Mother's Day catches on in China, let us seek to make Mother’s Day not a card-and-candy substitute for well-deserved love but the crown and pinnacle of a full year’s expression of love and appreciation for the one who gave us life: our mother.
www.amoymagic.com

Spears & Shields: Faith & Works

2009-05-07T18:38:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do." James 2:17,18 这样信心若没有行为就是死的。必有人说，你有信心，我有行为。你将你没有行为的信心指给我看，我便藉着我的行为，将我的信心指给你看。雅各书2:17,18

"Heaven never helps the men who will not act." Sophocles

A Maodun in the Market The Chinese word for contradiction, Maodun, is made of the words "Mao" [spear] and "Dun" [shield]. In ancient times, a weapons merchant hawked both a sword that could penetrate anything and a shield that could stop anything. This of course led onlookers to ask what would happen if the unstoppable spear struck the impenetrable shield. It was a "maodun"--a contradiction, an impossibility--much like the maodun of "faith without works."

Faith without action is not merely dead but stillborn; it never lived. For how can faith not affect what we are, and what we are not affect what we do? Faith infuses us with the unstoppable force of life and direction. The visible manifestation of that unstoppable force of faith within us is the visible life we lead--our actions and works. Faith that has no power to change or direct is not faith (unless we claim that the unstoppable force of faith has been stopped in its tracks by the impenetrable shield of the world--but is that possible?

We of course need both faith and actions. Ephesians 2:19 says works are not enough (lest we boast in them). But if a changed life does not follow the birth of faith, then there was no faith, or else it was faith in the wrong thing--perhaps faith in religion, rites, rituals, or even faith in ourselves.

Jesus' life and message is summed up by two words: love, and stewardship. We are to love our Heavenly Father, and to love others as ourselves, and we are to be wise stewards and bear fruit during the brief years we are allotted on this little planet.

Jesus said it is impossible for a good tree to bear bad fruit, or a bad tree to bear good fruit. How much more impossible is it for a good tree, rooted and nourished, to bear no fruit at all! If the tree bears no fruit, it is because it never took root, it has not received nourishment, it has refused training and pruning--or quite simply it is dead.

What actions? Brother Lawrence, the 17th century French monk, said "And it is not necessary to have great things to do. I turn my little omelette in the pan for the love of God...When I cannot do anything else, it is enough for me to have lifted a straw from the earth for the love of God."

When Jesus said we would be rewarded for giving a cup of cold water in his name, he did not mean for us to make a ritual of everything we do--tacking a "in Jesus name" onto every act to rack up Brownie points for heaven. He meant that, whatever our deeds, great or small, do them out of love, and we will reap the rewards of love.

The Spear of an Unstoppable Life If that unstoppable force of faith wells up within us, there is no impenetrable shield that can hinder our lives from bearing witness more eloquently than words alone of whom we love and live for. So don't just have faith but be faith and live faith.

An Excerpt from "Adventures in Contentment"
by David Grayson (quoted in Lin Yutang, "Between Tears and Laughter")

[The man said], "I have been a botanist for fifty-four years. When I was a boy I believed implicitly in God. I prayed to him, having a vision of him a person before my eyes. As I grew older I concluded that there was no God, I dismissed him from the universe, I believed only in what I could see, or hear, or feel. I talked about Nature and Reality."

He paused, the smile still lighting his face, evidently recalling to himself the old days. I did not interrupt him. Finally he turned to me and said abruptly, "And now it seems to me there is nothing but God."

"Without God, man cannot; without man, God will not." Anonymous
www.amoymagic.com

Tiger Zhou & the Preacher

2009-05-05T19:00:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... ... Xiamen University
The beautiful South China tigers, or Amoy Tigers, in West Fujian's Meihua mountain reserve (in Longyan), remind me of the story of Tiger Zhou, from the 1930s (told in "Twice Born--and Then?" by Andrew Gih).

Tiger Zhou was a gang leader, and so hardened in heart that he threatened to kill his own father (unimaginable in China, a land in which filial piety is the foundation of society). After hearing a Chinese pastor in the countryside preaching, Tiger Zhou angrily told others, "He makes us all out to be sinners! If he keeps this up, I'll beat him." When the Chinese preacher heard this, he was frightened, so he prayed, but felt strongly to continue preaching the same message.

After the next evening's message, furious gang members told the preacher, "Last night we did not talk to you, but now we tell you that if you do not behave yourself, we will attend to you tomorrow."

The preacher decided to preach anyway and put everything in his Father's hands. The next night the place was packed as people from all over came to see Tiger Zhou and his band pummel the preacher. But at the end of the sermon, the preacher heard a scream, and saw a man had fallen to the ground, crying, "My sin, my sin." He ran to him and found it was Tiger Zhou! He confessed to the preacher how he had threatened to murder his father, and on the Chinese preacher's urging, he walked the several miles to his home the next day and asked his father's forgiveness, and healed the relationship not only with his father but with his Heavenly Father.

Tiger Zhou returned to the services the following night, and Andrew Gih (of the Bethel Band) wrote,

"It takes the power of God to transform such a man's life. You may train the tiger; you may teach the tiger; but he will still be a tiger. It takes the power of God to transform livfes. Let us be faithful to God and to the souls before us."

You and I have probably not fallen as far as the murderous Tiger Zhou, but we still fall short in other ways. What can change us? We may faithfully follow the 3,305 rules of Confucius, but in the end, like the great philosopher himself, we will find that even a lifetime of faithful outward observances of ritual will not change the inner heart. We are still tigers--or worse.

Confucius resorted to systems and government to change people. The Taoists, such as Lao Tse and Mencius, appealed to principles. But as great as Confucius, Lao Tse and Mencius were, they all admitted that they were unable to tame the tiger within. No wonder that China's ancient classics wrote that the people anxiously awaited the coming of the "virtuous Prince" who would save them from the guilt and punishment of their failings.

Tiger Zhou met that Prince, face-to-face--and found that the Prince did not come to tame the tiger but to complete it.

No Tame Tigers We cannot change ourselves any more than the leopard can change its spots, but that is okay because our Father made us tigers for a reason. And our Father does not want "tamed" tigers but obedient tigers--and there is a big difference. Tamed tigers are cowed, listless, purposeless, and obey their master out of fear. But obedience is willful and purposeful, born of love and respect and, above all, trust. We obey not just a master but a Father, and we trust that our obedience will not only bring joy to our Father but also, in the end, greater happiness and fulfillment in our lives than if we went the way of Tiger Zhou.

So if you're a tiger, be a tiger! But don't waste your strength and purpose like Tiger Zhou. Be a tiger with a purpose.

Supplement

"Tiger and Fox"--ancient Chinese Story.
A tiger was about to kill a fox when the fox said, "Stop! You can't touch me! I'm king of the forest and all creatures fear me!" The tiger laughed in disbelief, so the fox said, "Follow me and you'll see that I am feared by everyone." So the tiger followed the fox as he wandered up and down the forest paths, and sure enough, all of the forest creatures shrunk back in fear.

"It is true!" said the tiger. "You are feared by all! You must be king indeed." And so the tiger left the fox, totally unaware that the animals had been in mortal fear not of the fox but of the tiger walking behind him.

We may be like the fox--a small creature in a vast threatening woods, but we can choose to walk with Him who made the tiger--or choose to go it alone.
www.amoymagic.com

Rev. John Sung: Gulangyu Miracles

2009-05-04T17:49:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Hebrews 13:8 耶稣基督，昨日今日一直到永远是一样的。希伯来书 13:8

John Sung (click here for biography & photos), the famous Chinese evangelist from Fujian, is said by many to have been the greatest evangelist of the 20th century--perhaps surpassing even Billy Graham. But like most famous figures, he was controversial. Chinese flocked to hear him, but many foreigners, including missionaries, were not so enamored of him, as I learned when I interviewed two elderly Christians (brother and sister) on Gulangyu Islet, who shared with me about the John Sung service they attended, and of John Sung's unique preaching style--as well as the controversial healings.

I have seen amazing answers to prayer, but even so, I am skeptical of the "professional healers," so this story was especially interesting to me, and is a good reminder that our Father is indeed "the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow."

Interview of two eyewitnesses of John Sung's Gulangyu Service (1930s), Bill Brown, 2008

Gulangyu Brother: "We were junior high students when John Sung preached here on Gulangyu in the 1930s. Foreign missionaries did not like his style. They said he was too theatrical on stage. He was animated, and waved his arms about as he preached. He prayed for hours, and then preached for hours, but people could never get enough of his preaching.

"So many people went onto the stage for John Sung to pray for them that it was like an assembly line. They went up the left side of the stage, John Sung prayed for them, then he touched their forehead, and they would exit the right side of the stage. But many of them fainted when he touched their forehead, and someone would catch them. And after his services, there were crutches left by those who had been healed."

Bill Brown: "This sounds like a modern televangelist meeting to me! Were any healings really documented? Did you personally see any people that you know for sure were healed?"

Gulangyu Sister: "We were just children, and did not know most of the people. But one that for certain was healed was our school principal's son, who could not walk because of childhood illness [I was just told it was congenital, and he'd not walked since birth]. They wheeled him in his chair up the left side of the stage. John Sung prayed for him as quickly as he prayed for everyone else, and touched his forehead--and the boy got up out of his wheelchair and walked off the stage! So we don't know about the other healings, but that one healing was enough to shake up a lot of people on Gulangyu Islet!"

Related Link: "Water From a Chinese Rock"

Mr. Lim, who is writing a dissertation on John Sung, wrote the following about this famous healing:
"Following up on your interview account, I have actually met and interviewed (2003) the older brother of the young boy healed by Sung. The family's name is X.., I was told the boy was five years old and his father taught at the Anglo-Chinese School (some literature say college, but i know it's a high school, can you confirm?). Apparently he walked home by himself. His grandmother, though a faithful Christian, doubted the news she heard that the grandson could walk. Upon seeing the boy walking towards her house, she suddenly found that she could not utter a single word (literally). Realizing she was much like Zechariah of old who was mute due to his disbelief, she quickly knelt to confess her sin of disbelief. She regained her speech after that...

[The rest I have discretely left out; needless to say, this made a big impact upon the family, especially upon the healed boy's older brother, who is still alive today. It helped give him courage during the difficult 50s and 60s].

"Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize... Philippians 3:13,14 "弟兄们，我不是以为自己已经得着了。我只有一件事，就是忘记背后努力面前的，向着标竿直跑，要得神在基督耶稣里从上面召我来得的奖赏。" 腓利比书3:13,14
www.amoymagic.com

Secret Giver at XICF Retreat

2009-05-03T20:33:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." Jesus, in Matthew 6:3,4 "你施舍的时候，不要叫左手知道右手所作的。要叫你施舍的事行在暗中，你父在暗中察看，必报答你。（有古卷作必在明处报答你）马太福音6:3,4

Susan Marie has been hard at work pulling together the annual Xiamen International Christian Fellowship retreat, which this year will be held in a remote town (the very area ZhangzhouLin Yutang was born).

Our XICF numbers almost 200 some Sundays, with upwards of 50 children in the Awana Sunday School program. And many of the adults are students from Africa studying at XIamen University on Scholarship, and could not afford even the minimal cost of the retreat this year, so XICF has given scholarships to make sure money alone does not deter them from joining in (unfortunately, I can't go because I have classes all day Saturday, and cannot change them!).

One family in XICF gave Sue 1,000 Yuan as an anonymous gift to help those who could not afford to attend the retreat. But to our surprise, as Sue was finishing up some last minute paperwork for the retreat, she was that this family is only taking one room for 3 adults and 2 children! So obviously they themselves are not burdened with too much money--or else they just choose to be very good stewards of what they have.

I wish I could share the names of this family, but they chose to give as Christ commanded, in secret--and their reward will come not from men but from our Father.

Thank you, secret giver, for being a blessing to many this coming weekend at XICF. And thanks to all of those in XICF who, weekly, give of their time and skills, as well as their money, to make this fellowship such a special place.

Taste of Heaven Yesterday, three women shared their experiences with us, and one noted that she had never attended such a fellowship anywhere else in the world, with so many people from so many countries worshipping together. As she said, "XICF is a taste of heaven!"

www.amoymagic.com

Success or Slavery?

2009-05-03T19:05:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—--also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic." Numbers 11:5 我们记得，在埃及的时候不花钱就吃鱼，也记得有黄瓜，西瓜，韭菜，葱，蒜。民数记11:5

"Things done don't talk of; things completed don't cast blame; don't blame someone for the past." Confucius, Analects (Bayi:21) 子闻之曰：“成事不说，遂事不谏，既往不咎。”

Were Those the Days? In the late 90s, an elderly Chinese neighbor lamented to me, "I miss the great days of the 1950s! Life was simple, you didn't have to lock your door at night, no one would ever steal your bicycle! Not like today!"

Numbing Nostalgia. Nothing numbs memories better than nostalgia! It is true that few people stole bikes in the 1950s, but one reason was because few people could afford a bicycle, so anyone pedaling about town on a stolen bicycle would have stuck out like someone today driving around Xiamen in a stolen Maserati (though we do have a few now!).

There was, of course, a heady, fresh spirit in the New China of the 1950s. The Chinese had, at long last, created their Promised Land, but they had no ideas of the two difficult decades ahead of them before then began the amazing reforms of 1978. I think that my neighbor who longed for the 1950s, would not have cared to repeat the 60s and 70s. And I suspect that, if pressed, he would have admitted that the China of the 90s, where people had bicycles, fridges and televisions, was much better than the China of the 50s, when most people had a tough time finding food, much less a bicycle.

[Of course, today it is again hard to find bicycles--but that's because most people now have cars.]

It is tempting to idealize the past when swamped by the complexities of today and the uncertainties of tomorrow, but the past was never as good as we remembered it--as the Jews learned the hard way.

Slaves or Victors The children of Israel spent 40 years in the desert on their way to the Promised Land because they still had the mentality not of conquerors but of slaves. They faced problems not as opportunities to learn and grow but with complaints, and longings for the "free" fish and vegetables of Egypt. But the price of those "free" fish and vegetables had been mindless but relatively "secure" dawn-to-dusk slave labor in the fields and brickyards, and barely subsisting upon the "free" fish and vegetables scavenged from river and fields.

Success or Slavery? Do we see adversity as an opportunity to grow, or are we slaves to a past that never really existed--or perhaps slaves to our fears of the future? It is our choice.

Regardless of what we face today, today is the best day of our life because it is the only day we can do anything about. Yesterday is but water under the bridge. We should learn from it but not long for it. And tomorrow offers hope and a Promise, but only if we prepare for it today. So don't be slave to past or future but seize this day, and be thankful that every day is a new day--lest we end up like the poor guy in Groundhog Day who lived the same day over and over. (I certianly would not care to relearn the lessons of puberty, my first date, Air Force basic training, or my first year in China!).

Learn from yesterday--and then move on.

See The Night After Groundhog Day

www.amoymagic.com

MacDonald's Secret of Life

2009-05-01T19:33:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11 耶和华说，我知道我向你们所怀的意念是赐平安的意念，不是降灾祸的意念，要叫你们末后有指望。耶利米书29:11

"The one secret of life and development is ..." George MacDonald (the rest is below)

When a Beijing radio station interviewed me a few months ago about my favorite book, movie and song, I easily picked "Lord of the Rings," (read the blog to see why). I could even narrow the movie down to my favorite line.

I was only nine when I first read the Lord of the Rings, and being one of the smallest kids in 3rd grade, I was heartened that the fellow chosen to save the day was an insignificant member of the smallest people of Middle-Earth, the Hobbits. Elrond said of these diminutive, peace-loving Hobbits, "This is the hour of the Shire-folk, when they arise from their quiet fields, to shake the towers and counsels of the Great. Who of all the Wise could have foreseen it?"

But of course my favorite part from the Rings film was:
Frodo: "I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened."
Gandalf: "So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you were also meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought."

Over a century before Lord of the Rings was filmed, George MacDonald, whose writings most influenced C.S. Lewis, wrote something quite similar to Gandalf's speech:

"No man can order his life, for it comes flowing over him from behind...The one secret of life and development is not to devise and plan but to fall in with the forces at work--to do every moment's duty aright--that being the part in the process allotted to us: and let come--not what will, for there is no such thing--but what the eternal thought wills for each of us, has intended in each of us from the first." George MacDonald [327]

Ring Bearers We, like Frodo, have not only been Chosen for a 70-year Quest, but also Equipped to carry it out. Our Father asks but one thing of us, and no other--to never give up. Our only task is to accept the Ring handed to us and to bear it, in His strength and wisdom, not ours, to the end--which for those who complete the quest is but the Beginning.

Refusing the Quest Of course, we are not made to accept the ring, but if we do not, someone else will. And if we refuse to carry out the sole purpose for our brief life on this spinning little planet, we may well share the fate of the fig tree in the vineyard (Luke 13:6-9). But that is for another day.

Note: The George MacDonald quotes above are from C.S. Lewis' George MacDonald Anthology (365 daily quotes).

http://ourdailynoodles.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-favorite-book-movie-song.html

www.amoymagic.com

What is YOUR Tea?

2009-04-30T16:47:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth." Isaiah 11:3,4

"Middling people are shocked at the wickedness of the wicked; Gibbie, who knew both so well, was shocked only at the wickedness of the righteous." George MacDonald [326]

Ironically, it was good intentions that led to the 19th century opium trade and the two Opium Wars that impoverished China and enriched the West.

Opium was forced on China at gunpoint so we could earn enough silver to pay for tea. And tea was popular in part because Christians had promoted it as a substitute for alcohol!

Tea Addiction Tea was not addictive but its profits were. And tea taxes were highly addictive to governments (they sparked the Boston Tea Party; the tea tossed into the sea was shipped from Xiamen; so no Xiamen, no USA!). And the tea taxes helped finance the armies that forced the opium trade on China to get the silver to pay the Chinese for tea, etc., etc.

Britain imported about 2 pounds of tea in the 1660s; this rose to 15 million pounds in the 1780s and 30 million pounds in 1830. Lots of tea, lots of taxes, lots of opium to pay for the tea to pay the taxes. Happily, America was the first Western country to make the opium trade illegal, and when the decision was made, the Chinese Viceroy said it was the first instance he'd seen of a "Christian country" acting in a Christian manner. (Sadly, the other nations kept up the trade for decades longer).

It was a vicious cycle, but in fairness to Britain, their entire Parliament opposed the 2nd Opium War! The Prime Minister simply dissolved parliament, told the common people they were fighting for the honor of the Queen, and the people supported him. Had they known it was over opium and not honor, I've no doubt the British common folk, like those in Parliament, would have opposed the wars, and the trade as well--and found something to drink besides tea--and alcohol. (In the 20th century, Britain's poor working class nobly sympathized with Gandhi, even though his fight for India's freedom cost many of them their jobs). It was a very small minority of Westerners who were behind the opium trade, but they made such immense profits that they wielded the political and military power to force the trade on Asia for a century.

The High Price of Low Cost I love tea but I would certainly not impoverish an entire nation to insure its supply. But are there other "teas" in my life? Consider the high price behind the low cost we enjoy in America. I marvel that I can buy something "Made in China" cheaper in the U.S. than I can here in China, where we make far less money to pay for those things.

And many of my friends back home complain that everything is made in China--yet our American companies make everything in China precisely so we can buy things more cheaply. We also complain that Chinese work for so little, but here's a news flash: Chinese would like to earn more! I've not met one Chinese who does not want to be paid a fairer wage, but they are paid next to nothing so we can continue to buy at the superstore that boasts "We sell for less" daily.

"When the harm is done and belongs to the past decades, when the sufferings and wrongs of the people are mere memories, pointing out mistakes is a luxury of the reminiscent historian whose voice is calm and tinged with an exquisite regret." Lin Yutang

As Lin Yutang wrote (back in 1943!), we can safely heave a sigh of regret over wrongs committed a century ago, but a thinking person should be able to see what is happening today as well--if the media did not distort world events. This is perhaps why the Prince of Peace will judge not by eyes and ears but heart and conscience.

In Isaiah 11, the "Prince of Peace," is described as judging not by what he sees or deciding by what he hears, but "with righteousness judging the needy." He judges by his heart, not his senses, because he knows what he sees or hears is but the tip of a very large iceberg--and given the nature of our media, probably only one side of the tip.

What is our tea today? And is it worth what we pay for it--or what we make others pay for it? It is no wonder that George MacDonald was surprised not by the wicked of the evil but by the wicked of the righteous--especially when the righteous commit evil in the name of good.

There are no easy answers but there is a correct answer. We must pray for wisdom and discernment, that we may not be driven by the rantings of either extreme Right or Left, but gently led from Within by that still, small voice that tells us that the price of tea or anything else is very important, because if we aren't paying, someone else most certainly is.

A Challenge: Read "Lords of Opium" (Opium Wars in China)

Very relevant quote from Lin Yutang, my favorite 20th century Chinese writer [Between Tears and Laughter, 1945, p.100]

"I am not convinced that all the idiots lived in the past and the great extraordinary minds live only in the present. History has repeatedly proved governments to have been stupid and wrong and the moral instinct of the people to have been right. If the governments could be wrong in the past decade, they can be wrong now. Be a gadfly, therefore,, and sting the governments.

But it is almost a law of human nature that we have all the rights and privileges to sting a dead statesman, like Neville Chamberlain, but not the living great of this earth. When the harm is done and belongs to the past decades, when the sufferings and wrongs of the people are mere memories, pointing out mistakes is a luxury of the reminiscent historian whose voice is calm and tinged with an exquisite regret. When the mistakes are being committed before our eyes, to point out the mistakes and errors of the living great is to arouse all the ire of the red-hot patriots.

In a democracy, however, there is always hope.

Lin Yutang on the "Futility of Force"

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Jesus on Chinese Busses & Banquets

2009-04-29T18:24:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
[Jesus said], "Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last." Luke 13:30 13:30 [耶稣说]"只是有在后的将要在前，有在前的将要在后。"路加福音13:30

"So the sage wishing to be above men puts himself by his words below them, and wishing to be before them, places his person behind them." Lao Tse V. 66 道德经: "是以欲上民，必以言下之；欲先民，必以身后之。"

Chinese have often remarked on my patience in boarding the bus last, while everyone else fights to get on first. But as I watch the arcane Chinese art of bus packing, I respond, "It's not patience but logic. Jesus said, 'The first shall be last and the last shall be first.' Those who fight to get on first are pushed to the back and get off last, whereas I, in taking my time, will be the last one to board but the first one to get off the bus!"

And thus I dispel any illusions of my sainthood. I board last not because I'm patient but because I'm too impatient to fight the crowd, and I can think ahead far enough to know that if I let them fight it out, and I board last, I will be the first off--and have fewer black eyes and bruised knuckles.

What is true of boarding Chinese buses is true of life in general, as Jesus' taught by both his life and his preaching. His common theme was to put others first, and if we want to lead, we should first learn to follow, and to serve. Jesus very last act before he was betrayed and crucified was to act as a lowly servant and wash his disciples' feet. If he chose this as his final act, the point he was making must have been very important to him:

"When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you." John 13:12-15 耶稣洗完了他们的脚，就穿上衣服，又坐下，对他们说，"我向你们所作的，你们明白麽。你们称呼我夫子，称呼我主，你们说的不错。我本来是。我是你们的主，你们的夫子，尚且洗你们的脚，你们也当彼此洗脚。我给你们作了榜样，叫你们照着我向你们所作的去作。" 约翰福音13:12-15

Jesus and Chinese Banquets Jesus' "The first shall be last" sounds like good strategy for Chinese buses. But he also understood Chinese banquets, which have elaborate rules to decide who sits at the host' right hand, or left, or facing them. Jesus said Pharisees "love the place of honor at banquets" [Matt. 23:6], but he warned that when we attend feasts, we should not sit at the place of honor, lest the host move us to a lower place and we lose face. Rather, we should choose the lower place, and perhaps the host will move us to a higher place, for "those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted" [Luke 14:8-11].

Low Seas, High Places Jesus was from Asia, not the West, so it is no surprise his thoughts and teachings remind me so much of ancient China's philosophy. Consider Lao Tse's comments on putting others first:

"Rivers and seas can receive the homage and tribute of valley streams because of their skill in being lower, thus they are kings of all. So the sage (ruler), wishing to be above men, puts himself by his words below them, and wishing to be before them, places his person behind them. In this way, though he is above me, men do not feel his weight, and though he is placed before men, they do not fee it an injury to them. Therefore all in the world delight to exalt him and do not weary of him. Because he does not strive, no one finds it possible to strive with him."66 道德经: 江海之所以能为百谷王者，以其善下之，故能为百谷王。是以欲上民，必以言下之；欲先民，必以身后之。是以圣人处上而民不重，处前而民不害。是以天下乐推而不厌。以其不争，故天下莫能与之争。

Standing on Tiptoes And in closing, Lao Tse also said that "He who stands on his tiptoes does not stand firm; he who stretches his legs does not walk (easily). (So), he who displays himself does not shine; he who asserts his own views is not distinguished; he who vaunts himself does not find his merit acknowledged; he who is self- conceited has no superiority allowed to him." 道德经24 "企者不立；跨者不行；自见者不明；自是者不彰；自伐者无功；自矜者不长。"

Early Worms Today, whether boarding a Chinese bus, attending the banquet, or simply going about your daily job, put others first, because the first shall be last. And if that doesn't convince you, then don't forget that "The early worm gets eaten by the bird--so sleep in!"

Related Links:
Arcane Art & Science of Chinese Mini-Busing

Famished at the Feast

Turning the Tea Tables (a Cross-Cultural Confrontation)

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Teacher for Life in China

2009-04-28T18:17:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet." John 13:14 我是你们的主，你们的夫子，尚且洗你们的脚，你们也当彼此洗脚。约翰福音13:14

"According to the custom of ancient China, a teacher was a master for life,a member of the Confucian trinity of "emperor, father, and teacher." Lin Yutang

A group of people in their mid-20s were posing for a photo in front of the 1,000-year-old temple on top of N. E. Fujian's beautiful Mount Taimu (in Ningde). When they told me they were on a class reunion, I asked, "What college?"

"Kindergarten!" they said. "Not college! "We're paying our respects to our kindergarten teacher who helped set us on the road to college!"

It is no wonder that Lin Yutang wrote, "According to the custom of ancient China, a teacher was a master for life,a member of the Confucian trinity of "emperor, father, and teacher."

I can't even remember my college professor's names, much less grade school, but this group was reuniting to show respect for a teacher they had not seen in almost 20 years!

Teacher's Day is celebrated the world over, but only in China is every day Teacher's Day. Only in China do stationery shops have rows of "For my Teacher" cards on sale twelve months out of the year.

But being a teacher incurs not only great rewards but also sobering responsibility. I receive letters from students I've not seen in fifteen years, and it is gratifying to know they are working on companies or universities everywhere from Australia to Finland. And judging by the letters, I had a good impression on many. But I also remember that, far too often, I was impatient with students. Some were, of course, lazy, but others that I thought were lazy or careless simply did not understand (or perhaps did not believe) the crazy foreign teacher's requirements, and his warnings of a slow death if they failed to finish their assignments. I hope that over the 21 years here I've mellowed somewhat (though I still make latecomers sing a song, regardless of their excuses).

Fortunately, my Chinese students have a forgiving nature, perhaps because they know that "once my teacher, always my teacher," so they'd better learn to put up with me, just as they put up with their parents (there is, in fact, an old Chinese saying that the teacher is like a father).

But over the years of teaching in China it has also become painfully evident that all of us are teachers for life, leaving and impression, for good or ill, on each person we encounter. I hope we can all become better teachers and students, both in and out of the classroom.www.amoymagic.com

Our Spiritual Software & Hardware

2009-04-27T18:22:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ..Xiamen University
"For physical exercise is of some value, but godliness has value for all things..."1 Timothy 4:8 4:8 "操练身体，益处还少。惟独敬虔，凡事都有益处..." 提摩太前书4:8

"Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?" 1 Corinthians 3:16 "岂不知你们是神的殿，神的灵住在你们里头麽。" 歌林多前书3:16

I just returned from my morning spiritual exercise. It was not a Jesuit "Spiritual Exercise" but an hour walking the beautiful Xiamen Boardwalk with my best friend, Susan Marie. This is a daily ritual that does wonders not only in keeping body and soul together but also husband and wife!

Why Walk? Paul said that exercise was only of "some" value because in his day people did not live sedentary lives. Only athletes training for competition needed to push their bodies further than the demands of the day. But today, most of us engage in little physical activity, and it shows not only in our physical health but our spiritual as well, because the two are usually related.

We cannot compartmentalize spiritual and secular activities (being holy on Sunday and a holy terror Monday through Saturday). In the same way, we cannot nourish our spirit while ignoring our physical well-being, which influences our emotional and psychological outlook, which in turn can affect our spiritual walk. This is inevitable because our Father created us as spiritual beings but for now has encased our spiritual software within the hardware of a physical body, and he expects us to care for both.

Heavenly Bodies Many people cling to Paul's "exercise profits little" comment as an excuse to neglect their bodies, but Paul also asked us, "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?" 1 Corinthians 3:16 "岂不知你们是神的殿，神的灵住在你们里头麽。" 歌林多前书3:16 If our body is ineed God's temple, then we had best be good caretakers of it, because in this life we only get one. And the best way to keep the body is to use the body.

Use it or Lose it. Scientists have shown that one of the greatest aids to combating cancer, heart disease, obesity, depression--just about everything!--is exercise. And it doesn't mean we have to join the Xiamen International Marathon! A simple daily walk will work wonders in keeping body and soul together--and keeping them functioning as our Father intended. But in today's world, it is so easy to give our physical temple the short end of the deal.

The Vicious Cycle I can easily spend ten hours a day in the classroom or at the keyboard and exercise only my mouth and my fingertips. But when I don't take time to exercise each day, I tire easily, lose energy and enthusiasm, and cannot sleep well. The lack of sleep only worsens the vicious cycle, and before long my teaching, writing, and relationships with my loved ones, and even my Father, are affected. The solution for me is a morning walk with my wife. And after enjoying the Xiamen Boardwalk's brisk sea air and scenery, or the trails or our home in Reedley, California, I can be much more confident that I will hit the day, rather than have the day hit me.

The Daily Road to Emmaeus. Today, go for a walk--but let it do double duty. Don't just look at the scenery. Look within, and listen, and let that daily walk become a daily road to Emmaeus, nourishing the soul even as it restores the body.

In closing, some of the greatest people in history were productive even well into retirement because they disciplined themselves to begin each day with a healing and restorative walk, followed by a time of quiet reflection and prayer. They also took mental breaks through the day. During the horrible height of World War II, Churchill still took time off in the afternoon to paint in his garden--and I know of a Chinese billionaire in Hong Kong that does the same,
www.amoymagic.com

Tugging Rice Plants

2009-04-26T19:22:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." Jesus, in John 15:5 我是葡萄树，你们是枝子。常在我里面的，我也常在他里面，这人就多结果子。因为离了我，你们就不能作什么。约翰福音15:5

“Pulling rice plants to make them grow." Ancient Chinese Proverb 拔苗助长

Pulling Rice Plants In ancient times, an impatient Chinese farmer tried tugging his rice plants to make them grow faster. But the next day he found the plants withered and dead because he had pulled their roots loose from the soil. Ever since, Chinese have used the phrase "tugging rice plants".

Like the foolish farmer's rice plants, we must grow naturally from within, nourished and pushed up from the roots, rather than pushing ourselves, or allowing ourselves to be pulled prematurely from without. There are seasons for growth and seasons for bearing fruit, and we can't rush either one--though we may undergo some painful pruning if we forget that growth must be followed by bearing fruit.

Growth or Fruit? I fed and watered my fruit trees faithfully (peaches, plums, nectarines, oranges), and they sucked up all that I could give them, but they used it not on bearing fruit but on just increasing their own size. They were large, beautiful, and shady, but unlike a Chinese silkworm, I don't eat leaves, so after the third fruitless season I pruned them back almost to the trunk.

I could almost hear their woody whining of complaint as I whacked and hacked. When I finished they looked dead, and probably felt it. But the next year they came back fuller than ever, and the vibrantly green new branches produced more fruit than we and our friends and neighbors could eat. And so I learned that the trees not only need to be well rooted and well nourished, but that they also must be pruned, lest they expend everything I give them on themselves and give give me nothing in return.

We too must remain rooted and grounded, and centered on our purpose--which is not to grow for the sake of growth, but to grow that we may bear fruit. And if we fail to bear fruit, we may undergo a painful pruning to remind us of Why we are here.

Of course, unlike the rice plant or the grape vine, we can refuse the pruning, or even separate ourselves from the branch in our attempts to accomplish too much too quickly. But then we simply do to ourselves what the foolish farmer did to his rice plants--and with the same result.

Related: Sown in China (In Memory of Steve C.)

拔苗助长 ["Tugging Rice Plants"]
Click Here for Source: ICIBA Salon
古时候宋国有个农夫，种了稻苗后，便希望能早早收成。

每天他到稻田时，发觉那些稻苗长得非常慢。他等得不耐烦，心想："怎么样才能使稻苗长得高，长很快呢?想了又想，他终了想到一个"最佳方法"，就是将稻苗拨高几分。

经过一番辛劳后，他满意地扛锄头回家休息。然后回去对家里的人表白："今天可把我累坏了，我帮助庄稼苗长高一大截！"

他儿子赶快跑到地里去一看，禾苗全都枯死了。

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Eternally Empty Jars of Clay?

2009-04-24T17:09:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." 2 Cor.4:7 我们有这宝贝放在瓦器里，要显明这莫大的力，是出于神，不是出于我们。歌林多後书4:7

"Clay vessels' usefulness is in their emptiness. Doors and windows in the walls are useful for their empty space." Lao Tzu, Daodejing v.11埏埴以为器，当其无，有器之用。凿户牖以为室，当其无，道德经:11

Lao Tzu, founder of Taoism, had a good point when he said a clay vessel could be filled only when it is empty. The problem was that he urged us to empty the vessel of vain or useless philosophies, but then offered nothing to actually fill the empty vessel.

In his distrust of vain philosophies, Lao Tzu sounded somewhat like the Apostle Paul, who wrote in 1 Tim. 6:20, "Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge." 提摩太阿，你要保守所托付你的，躲避世俗的虚谈，和那敌真道似是而非的学问。" 提摩太前书6:20

Eternally Empty Vessel? Lao Tzu, like Paul, warned us against filling ourselves with wrong knowledge, but unlike Paul, Lao Tzu lacked an alternative to fill men's hearts, so his solution for achieving peace and happiness throughout the country was to keep people's minds and hearts empty and their bellies full. He wrote,

"So the wise, in governing, empties their minds, fills their bellies, weakens their wills, and strengthens their bones. He tries to keep them empty of knowledge and without desire, and if some have knowledge, he keeps them from using it. Inaction brings universal good order." Dao Dejing v.3 道德经3: "是以圣人之治，虚其心，实其腹，弱其志，强其骨。常使民无知无欲。使夫智者不敢为也。为无为，则无不治。"

It may well have brought stability, but mindlessness and emptiness seems a heavy price to pay for it--and a waste of our 70 years of life.

Moving Full Vessels. Lao Tzu also said, "It is better to leave a vessel unfilled, than to try carrying it full." Lao Tzu Daodejing v.9 9 道德经: 持而盈之，不如其已； Again, he is correct. But if minds and hearts are empty, people would not be carrying the empty vessel anywhere because they lack purpose, goal and direction. So Lao Tzu's point is philosophically piquant but practically speaking rather irrelevant if the vessel is eternally empty.

Empty Vessels Going Nowhere. Lao Tzu was, needless to say, a brilliant man, with penetrating insights into humanity on both individual and social levels, but in the end he could counter the formalistic and deadening systems and rituals of Confucianism only with a philosophy of nothingness (which, however, has very many practical points to it--so I do not throw the baby out with the bathwater).

Full of ourselves. We often say an arrogant, self-centered person is "full of themselves". We do need to empty our vessel of ourselves, but then we need to be filled with a new self--a "new creation in Christ." And we will learn that a vessel filled with Light is not any heavier to carry than an empty vessel, and even if it were, we are not the ones carrying it.

Light Yoke As Jesus said, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:29,30 我心里柔和谦卑，你们当负我的轭，学我的样式，这样，你们心里就必得享安息。因为我的轭是容易的，我的担子是轻省的。马太福音11:29,30

Empty Vessel or Full? Our threescore and ten years of life are too brief to pursue it without meaning, purpose or direction. Fortunately, we do not have to. Put your empty vessel to use; and discover that a vessel filled with light is truly useful, and easier to move towards the Goal than either an empty vessel or a vessel filled only with ourselves.
www.amoymagic.com

The Prophet Within

2009-04-23T06:33:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
[Mistakenly posted in "Off the Wall", and relocated here]
"I see that you are a prophet." John 4:16

"I give up! I've not yet met one person who could look within and see his own faults and accuse himself!" Confucius, Analects 5.27 子曰：“已矣乎，吾未见能见其过而内自讼者也。

The Samaritan woman at the well asked Jesus for his "living water" and Jesus replied, "Go get your husband and return." When she said she had no husband, Jesus shocked her by saying, "That is true. In fact, you've had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband. So what you've said is true." John 4:16

Deflecting the Spear. When the Samaritan woman asked for Jesus' living water," he tried to open the well within her by prodding her to look within.
But like many of us, she skillfully redirected the focus of the conversation. She replied, "I see you are a prophet....should we worship on this mountain, as Samaritans do, or in Jerusalem, like the Jews."

Like the woman at the well, we too often focus on other issues--perhaps "greater" issues--when we should be looking within. No wonder Confucius said in the Analects, "I give up! I have not yet met one person who could see his faults and accuse himself!"

We don't need prophets to help us see afar, because the root of our problems lies close at hand. We only need open eyes, hearts and minds to see within.

In responding to the Samaritan woman's question about whether to worship on the mountain or in Jerusalem, Jesus said, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem....Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." John 4:21-24

The Prophet Within Today, we do have a prophet at hand. The prophet is our conscience, and if we look within and listen, we will see the future, because we are writing our future today.

Today, I will not look afar for answers, but look within, and if I don't like what I see today, I'm quite sure I'll care even less for tomorrow--and I'll ask my Father to help me write a different future by what I do this day.
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Secret of the Universe in 3 E-Z Steps

2009-04-21T19:39:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... .Xiamen University
Life in 3 Easy Lessons?

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17 各样美善的恩赐，和各样全备的赏赐，都是从上头来的。从众光之父那里降下来的。在他并没有改变，也没有转动的影儿。雅各书1:17

Life is a class, the earth is our classroom, and we are here to learn and grow--but as the days, years and decades fly by, it is easy to forget just what we are here to learn--and that the Final Exam is fast approaching.

Life in 3 Easy Steps Although our cultures, languages, and individual lives and experiences are endlessly diverse, we are all learning the same lessons. Unfortunately, many who would be our earthly "teachers" have complicated the course beyond all recognition. It reminds me of my wife's book, "Flatten Your Belly in 3 Easy Steps." The author spent over 300 pages describing those 3 easy steps. And I have a book that, right on the front cover, promises to teach me piano "in no time at all." Yet I had to read 180 pages of history and technical details before I even reached the page that said, "And now, we will learn to play a song on piano."

Likewise, many claim to have the E-Z Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything, but they couch that E-Z answer in endlessly verbose volumes of philosophy, religion and science. Even as a child, I read volumes on Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism, and Islam. How often I wished I could find a simple summary of what it was all about, but usually I just found myself even more confused. Even the very name of God was puzzling.

Laozi, founder of Taoism, said, "The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name. Having no name, it is the Originator of heaven and earth." [道德经:道可道，非常道。名可名，非常名。无名天地之始.]

The "I Am" Moses actually asked God his name. God's answer would not have surprised Taoists. God gave no name! He simply said, "I am that I am." Exocus 3:14 ["我是自有永有的。"出埃及记3:14], and told Moses to tell the Jews, "I AM has sent me." But those two words, "I am," summarized all that the ancient philosophers could learn about the eternal, unchanging, and unknowable principle. That, of course, did not stop the Taoists, Buddhists, Jews and everyone else from writing endlessly about God. Much more can be written about the unknown than about the known and verifiable.

Back to Basics. It is interesting that Jesus reserved his strongest words (and anger) not for the cruel Roman occupiers, or even the sinners, prostitutes and tax collectors, but for the so-called spiritual leaders who complicated God all out of recognition and laid heavy religious burdens upon people. Jesus said God is unchanging Light, and Love. And most importantly, Jesus said that God not only can be known but wants to be known because we are his children.

Perhaps Jesus made things too simple, because for 2,000 years we've been trying to complicate it, but for Jesus, life boils down to 3 E-Z steps.

The Secret of the Universe in 3 E-Z Steps
1. Know the "I am." Lin Yutang said finite minds cannot grasp the infinite, but that is okay because we don't have to understand God to know and love him, even as a baby can love and trust its father without understanding him.

2. Love God. The Bible says "God is love," and He wants our love not for his sake but our own, because we cannot receive love unless we ourselves learn to love. [There is a paradox here, for it is also true that we cannot love unless we have been loved; love must grow]. And how do we love God? Not through religion and rites and sacrifice but through obedience, and step 3:

3. "Love Others." God wants us to love Him, and love others as ourselves. This, of course, assumes that we love ourselves too (not because of what we are, but because of Whose we are).

Great Works, Small Mind I still reread the great religious and philosophical works because each offers interesting insights, but they can be bewild.ering. So as I am tossed daily on the seas of a very busy and often perplexing life, my compass is simply Jesus' 3 E-Z Steps: Know God, Love God, Love Others as Myself.

Not that I live up to any of those, but it is a start. And that is all that this life is anyways--a start.
www.amoymagic.com

In Heaven's Way or Ours?

2009-04-20T21:51:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"...Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God." Acts 5:38,39 "...不要管这些人，任凭他们吧，他们所谋的，所行的，若是出于人，必要败坏。若是出于神，你们就不能败坏他们。恐怕你们倒是攻击神了。"

"Those who follow Heaven are preserved; those who rebel against Heaven perish." Mencius "顺天者存，逆天者亡。" 孟子,高楼句上

When furious Jewish leaders hauled Peter and the apostles into the synagogue, and wanted to kill them, the Pharisee teacher of the law, Gamaliel, wisely urged caution. He reminded them that Theudas had claimed to be great and gathered 400 followers, but after he was killed, his followers had dispersed. Judas of Galilee also gathered followers for a revolt, but was killed, and this too came to nothing. Gamaliel urged the leaders to leave the Christians alone, for if they were not of God, nothing would come of it, but if they were of God--then the Jews would be guilty of fighting God.

Ironically, of the countless militant Jewish revolutionaries came and went, Few left any mark upon history. But Jesus was a revolutionary who refused to fight because the battle is within us, not between us. He entered Jerusalem triumphantly not on a war horse but on a donkey of peace, and he is still changing the world 2,000 years later. As Zechariah 4:6 says, "not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit," says the Lord Almighty." [万军之耶和华说，不是倚靠势力，不是倚靠才能，乃是倚靠我的灵，方能成事。撒迦利亚4:6

When Confucius was detained in Kuang, he said, "As long as Heaven does not let truth perish, what can the people of Kuang do to me?" ["天之未丧斯文也，匡人其如予何"] That was assuming, of course, that Confucius was following Heaven's Way.

A few centuries later, Paul wrote in Romans 8:31. " If God is for us, who can be against us?" "神若帮助我们，谁能抵挡我们呢." 罗马书8:31

Going His Way? What was true for Confucius, or Paul, is true for us today. If we are following our Father's Way, in the long run nothing can stop us. But if we're going our own way, in the long run there is no long run. Even if we appear successful, our brief lives are but writings in the sand at low tide. As James, my favorite New Testament author, wrote,
"Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." James 4:13, 14
[你们有话说，今天明天我们要往某城里去，在那里住一年，作买卖得利。其实明天如何，你们还不知道。你们的生命是什么呢。你们原来是一片云雾，出现少时就不见了。雅各书4:13,14]

Our days are brief; use them well, wisely, and in His Way, not ours.

"Ask not to be used but to be made usable." J.H. Taylor
www.amoymagic.com

Mencius' Bent Men

2009-04-19T18:17:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"Seek and you will find; knock and the door will open for you." Jesus, in Luke 11:9 我又告诉你们，你们祈求就给你们。寻梢就寻见。叩门就给你们开门。路加福音11:9

"It was written of old, "Seek and you will find; neglect and you will lose it." Mencius, Gaozi 1 告子上:孟子曰：故曰：‘求则得之，舍则失之。’

When Jesus said, "Seek and you will find," he opened a door that Chinese had been struggling with for centuries. Three hundred years before Christ, Mencius wrote about the tragedy of man's loss of heart, purpose and direction. And both the Chinese and the Jews sought answers by creating ritualistic religions and ceremonies that served, if anything, to deaden the heart, rather than awaken it.

Jesus deliberately healed a man on the Sabbath, and when the Jewish leaders complained about his breaking their religious rules, he replied, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." Matthew 12:11,12

Mencius was attacking the same blind hypocrisy in China when he wrote that men will seek lost fowl and dogs, but not seek their own lost heart and soul:

'Benevolence is the heart of man, and righteousness man's path. How tragic to lose the path and not pursue it, to lose the heart and not seek it again. When men lose fowl and dogs they seek them, but when they lose their heart, they do not know to seek it. The great end of learning is nothing else but to seek for the lost heart." Mencius, Gaozi 1 告子上: 孟子曰：“仁，人心也；义，人路也。舍其路而弗由，放其心而不知求，哀哉！人有鸡犬放，则知求之；有放心，而不知求。学问之道无他，求其放心而已矣。”

Seek & Find; Neglect & Lose Jesus said, "Seek and you shall find", and Mencius wrote, "Seek and you shall find; neglect and you shall lose." We must seek because we have lost, and because we are lost. As Mencius said, we have not only lost the path but do not even seek to regain it. This may have been in part because they had no guide to lead them back to the path.

Bent Men on Straight Paths Both Confucius and Mencius wrote of their inability to change themselves, much less change others. As Mencius wrote in Teng Wen Gong, "Never has a bent man made others straight." "枉己者，未有能直人者也。”

Fortunately for us, Jesus was the unbent man, and he said that he can make us, and our paths, straight. And like Mencius, Jesus said "Seek and ye shall find," but better yet, he also said "Ask and it shall be given to you." The answering to straightening our bent lives lies not within other people, or philosophies or religion, but in "asking" for help from the one unbent man.

Ask and it shall be given.

www.amoymagic.com

Why Pray?

2009-04-16T18:39:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown Xiamen University
"Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This, then, is how you should pray..." Jesus, in Matthew 6:8,9 "你们不可效法他们。因为你们没有祈求以先，你们所需用的，你们的父早已知道了。所以你们祷告，。。"马太福音

Why Pray? When Jesus said that our Father knows what we need before we ask him, he could have said, "So no need to pray," but instead he taught how to pray, for Jesus himself prayed often. But why ask God for what he already knows we need, and is willing to give him? Because prayer is more than asking; prayer is conversation with my Father.

Sadly, we call God our Father, but rarely talk to him except when we need something or are in trouble--like the child off in college, perhaps. He's less a Father than a rescuer, or a Heavenly Santa Claus. But we need to do more than just ask for things. We need to converse with Him. So our Father waits for us to ask before giving because prayer is two-way communication with our Father, our Creator. It is the time to turn inwards, for as Christ also said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you."

How Not to Pray In Matthew 6:7, Jesus said to not pray like the pagans, who "think they will be heard because of their many words." We don't need to talk loud and long arguing our case like a lawyer before a court, or like the elderly lady in Nanputuo Temple endless bowing and mumbling, hoping to placate an ancestor or deity or demon. We don't need to worry about using the right words or forms or rites and rituals. Simple, heartfelt communication (which includes listening) is sufficient.

How to Pray In Matthew 6:6. Jesus said, "But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." "你祷告的时候，要进你的内屋，关上门，祷告你在暗中的父，你父在暗中察看，必然报答你。" Prayer is not a time for public display of our piety or spiritual ascendancy (though there are of course times for public prayer), but the opportunity for one-on-one time with our Father. Prayer is the eye of calm in the midst of the maelstrom of modern life.

When you Pray... After discussing why and how to pray, Jesus taught the Lord's Prayer. Even this men have reduced to a magic formula, and repeat it as if in and of itself it will cover all bases and guarantee our success. But Jesus did not say to pray those words. He said "this is how you should pray."
Of course, there is great wisdom and beauty behind the Lord's Prayer (first addressing God not as some spirit or power or principle but as our personal Father, and going on from there!), but it is a guideline, not a formula.

All These Things... Our Father knows what we need before we ourselves know, or ask--but we still need to ask, because we need that time of communion with our Father--and He wants it as well. And it does not have to be prayer on our knees or in the closet. We can, like the 17th century French monk Brother Lawrence, converse with our Father throughout the day as we go about our Father's business, for this in itself is a form of prayer. But we still need the "quality time" alone. So do take time during the day to find a quiet place, look within, and listen to the still, small voice who knows us, and our needs, better than we do. And Jesus promised that if we seek Him first, "all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:33 "你们要先求他的国，和他的义。这些东西都要加给你们了。" 马太福音6：33

Why Should It [Prayer] Be Necessary?
George MacDonald (from C.S. Lewis' Anthology)
"But if God is so good as you represent Him, and if He knows all that we need, and better far than we do ourselves, why should it be necessary to ask Him for anything?" I answer, What if He knows Prayer to be the thing we need first and most? What if the main object in God's idea of prayer be the supplying of our great, our endless need-the need of Himself? . . . Hunger may drive the runaway child home, and he may or may not be fed at once, but he needs his mother more than his dinner. Communion with God is the one need of the soul beyond all other need: prayer is the beginning of that communion, and some need is the motive of that prayer. ... So begins a communion, a taking with God, a coming-to-one with Him, which is the sole end of prayer, yea, of existence itself in its infinite phases. We must ask that we may receive: but that we should receive what we ask in respect of our lower needs, is not God's end in making us pray, for He could give us everything without that: to bring His child to his knee, God withholds that man may ask.
www.amoymagic.com

No Painfree Thorns

2009-04-15T17:07:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"It is hard for you to kick against the prick." Jesus to Paul in Acts 26:14 [耶稣对保罗说] 你用脚踢刺是难的。使徒行传 26:14

"Others influence, but don't control, your advance or failure to advance." Mencius [孟子曰：“行或使之，止或尼之。行止，非人所能也。]

Head-on with Thorns. In English we say a "thorn in the side," but never a "thorn in the front," because most people with brains don't walk head-on into thorns. We get stuck in the side when we try to ease our way around thorns, and then we may pray, "Lord, deliver me from these thorns!" But maybe we aren't supposed to be in the thorn patch in the first place.

Once the Israelites had entered the land God had promised to them, they immediately broke their own promises to serve God, and to not worship idols or ally with the locals. So God said in Judges 2:2,3, "You want them, you can have them--but they will be thorns in your sides."

"Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be thorns in your sides..." Judges 2:2,3 “。。。你们竟没有听从我的话。为何这样行呢。因此我又说，我必不将他们从你们面前赶出。他们必作你们肋下的荆棘。。。” 士师记2:3,4

The Israelites repeatedly disobeyed God and waltzed straight into the thorn patch--and repeatedly begged God to save them. And He did help them, over and over, only to have them walk right back into the thorn patch.

If we have more punctures than a pin cushion, we may be in the wrong place. Our Father will help us out if we ask him, but if we refuse to leave the briar patch, He's not going to bless us with painless thorns because the thorns have a purpose--to goad us back into the right direction. As Jesus said to Paul, when he was persecuting Christians, "It is hard to kick against the goad" (a sharp thorn=like stick used to prod oxen; they hurt enough already without kicking them!).

We can keep kicking the thorns, or we can get out of the thorn patch. If we choose the thorn patch, we have only ourselves to blame, as Mencius noted of the sidetracked Chinese prince.

Sidetracked Prince When Mencius heard that a prince coming to see him had been sidetracked by a court favorite, he commented, "others may influence where you go, but ultimately no one has the power to control you. You make the decision."

Of course, not all adversity comes from disobedience. Jesus said, "In this world you will have troubles." John. 16:33 But we don't need to multiply our troubles through disobedience.

Today, I might get scratched up a bit, but before I kick against the goad, I'm going to find out who's holding the other end!
www.amoymagic.com

Chinese Prince's Foundation

2009-04-14T18:56:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, what about him?" Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me." John 21:21,22 [彼得看见他，就问耶稣说，主阿，这人将来如何。耶稣对他说，我若要他等到我来的时候，与你何干。你跟从我吧。约翰福音21:21,22]

"What does the great end result have to do with you, Prince? That is Heaven's business. Your business is just to be strong to do good." Mencius ["若夫成功，则天也。君如彼何哉？强为善而已矣。”]

Peter and the other disciples often asked Jesus about the future, and what part each person would play, partly because they were vying with each other for positions of importance in what they thought would be Christ's coming earthly kingdom. But Jesus' replies were basically 1), you must first serve if you are to lead, and 2), just do your own job, and leave the rest to the Father, who will weave it all together. Jesus' view reminds me of what Mencius said to a a Chinese prince:

"A prince lays the foundation of the inheritance, and hands down the beginning which he has made, doing what may be continued by his successors. As to achieving the great end result, that is Heaven's business. What is that to you, O Prince? Be strong to do good; that is all your business."

Foundations & Final Results. Mencius said that the "prince" lays the foundation for those who follow. In our case, Christ laid the foundation for us, his Family, and we are expected to carry on the work. Sometimes, of course, we may wonder just what is the point of what we are doing! But our job, for now at least, is not to understand how it all fits together but to be like Mencius' Prince, whose only job was to "do good" (just as our job is to do the best we can at the specific work our Father has given us).

My work may not seem very important, but I know that
1. My work is a small but integral part of the big picture.
2. Only those faithful in small tasks will ever be given greater tasks. Luke 16:10 [人在最小的事上忠心，在大事上也忠心。在最小的事上不义，在大事上也不义。路加福音16:10]
3. What I do today may help lay the foundation for those who follow--or it may weaken that foundation. I trust that today I am building up, not tearing down.

Today, as the shoe ad says, "just do it," with full confidence that if our Father gives us a task to do, it is not "busy work" but important, and he will "work out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will." Ephesians 1:11
www.amoymagic.com

Marmalade Tomorrows

2009-04-13T18:14:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34

"I got the blues thinking of the future, so I left off and made some marmalade. It's amazing how it cheers one up to shred oranges and scrub the floor." D. H. Lawrence

I can easily be overwhelmed if I brood over my weekly schedule. In addition to teaching over 200 grad students, I have numerous other activities and responsibilities, in spite of my efforts to escape the contemporary cult of busyness. The trick is to schedule the week, but then take it one day at a time.

Don't worry, but Plan. When Jesus said to not worry about tomorrow, he did not mean to not even think about it. I would be an irresponsible father if I did not plan ahead in caring for my family. Jesus was simply warning against continually wallowing in worry. We should plan ahead, but not worry ahead. Take life as our Father gives it to us--a day at a time.

Getting Away From It, or Getting Into It Like Jesus, we need quiet times away from the crowds and tasks to recharge. We can approach it two ways. We can either get away from it all, or we can get into it with a different perspective. We can seek a peaceful place for prayer, or reading. Or, like D.H. Lawrence, we can take our minds off of the "big" worrying activities by immersing ourselves, for a time, in the "small" routine activities that make up our daily lives--the activities that brought a 17th century French monk closer to his Father.

Another Lawrence, Brother Lawrence (birthname Nicholas Herman), had a unique perspective on work and peace, and the excellent little book, "Practicing the Presence of God", was compiled from his quotes. He left military service to enter a monastery and chose to spend the rest of his life as a simple kitchen worker, and repairing sandals in his later years. Though not well educated, he attracted many people, even those of influence and power, because of his wisdom and profound sense of peace.

Leafless Lives Lawrence's life had been transformed when, as a soldier, he had seen a leafless tree in the cold of winter. He was struck with the vivid realization that this barren tree was simply waiting out the winter for God to breathe life into it in the spring. This simple site supernaturally impressed him with the insight that he too was waiting for God to breathe life into his own soul, and later he entered the monastery.

Work for God, or God in Work? Lawrence's days in the monastery were packed from dawn to dusk with work, as well as rites and rituals and spiritual practices for drawing near to God. But this simple man decided that the best way to experience God's presence and peace was not through artificially contrived ceremonies but through doing everyday routine tasks for God, and with God. Lawrence lived life as if there were only Him and God, and did everything, from kitchen work to picking up a piece of straw, for the love of God. And this focus brought Lawrence both purpose and peace.

Marmalade for God. Today, when I get stressed out, I'll take a break, clean up a bit (not too much, lest I shock my wife), trim a hedge, play my guitar a bit, and then go back to work. And whether I'm wielding hedge shears or keyboard, I'll do it with my Father, for my Father, not worrying overmuch about the pile of tasks I have ahead of me tomorrow. I will enjoy today, and if I'm going through a leafless winter, I know Spring is coming.
www.amoymagic.com

"I Love You" in almost 200 Languages

2009-04-13T02:23:00.001-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
When I met Susan Marie, I could say "I love you" in 27 languages, but now I've forgotten most, which is sad, because after so many years with her, I should know more ways to say this most necessary of phrases. So from www.phrasebase.com , here is how to say "I love you" in every language from Arabic and Chinese (我爱你) to Vulcan! (I'll leave out McDonald's 'I'm lovin' it,' because I doubt they really do).

Afrikaans : Ek is lief vir jou
: Ek het jou lief
Akan (Ghana) : Me dor wo
Albanian : Te dua
: Te dashuroj
: Ti je zemra ime
Alentejano(Port.) : Gosto de ti, porra!
Alsacien (Elsass) : Ich hoan dich gear
Amharic (Aethio.) : Afekrishalehou
: Afekrischalehou
: Ewedishalehu (male/female to female)
: Ewedihalehu (male/female to male)
Apache : Sheth she~n zho~n (nasalized vowels like French, '~n' as in French 'salon')
Arabic (formal) : Ohiboke (male to female)
: Ohiboki (male to female)
: Ohibokoma (male or female to two males or two females)
: Nohiboke (more than one male or females to female)
: Nohiboka (male to male or female to male)
: Nohibokoma (male to male or female to two males or two females)
: Nohibokom (male to male or female to more than two males)
: Nohibokon (male to male or female to more than two females)
Arabic (proper) : Ooheboki (male to female)
: Ooheboka (female to male)
Arabic : Ana behibak (female to male)
: Ana behibek (male to female)
: Ahebich (male to female) : Ahebik (female to male)
: Ana ahebik
: Ib'n hebbak
: Ana ba-heb-bak
: Bahibak (female to male)
: Bahibik (male to female)
: Benhibak (more than one male or female to male)
: Benhibik (male to male or female to female)
: Benhibkom (male to male or female to more than one male)
: Nhebuk (spoken to someone of importance)
Arabic (Umggs.) : Ana hebbek Armenian
: Yes kez si'rumem
Assamese(Indien) : Moi tomak bhal pau
Basque
: Nere maitea (means: my love)
: Maite zaitut (means: I love you)
Bassa : Mengweswe
Batak (Nordsumatra) : Holong rohangku di ho
Bavarian : I mog di narrisch gern
: I mog di (right answer: i di a)
Bemba : Ndikufuna
Bengali : Aami tomaake bhaalo baashi
: Ami tomay bhalobashi
: Ami tomake bahlobashi
: Ami tomake walobashi
: Ami tomake vhalobashi
Berber
: Lakh tirikh
Bicol (Philippinen) : Namumutan ta ka
Bolivian Quechua : Qanta munani
Bosnian : Volim te
Braille : :..:| ..:| |..-.. .::":.., :.:;
Brazilian/Portuguese : Eu te amo (pronounced 'eiu chee amu')
: Amo-te
Bulgarian : Obicham te
: As te obicham
: Obozhavam te ("I love you very much")
Burmese : Chit pa de
Cambodian : Kh_nhaum soro_lahn nhee_ah
: Bon sro lanh oon
Canadian French : Sh'teme (spoken, sounds like this)
: Je t'aime ("I like you")
: Je t'adore ("I love you")
Catalan : T'estimo (Catalonian)
: T'estim (Mallorcan)
: T'estime (Valencian)
: T'estim molt ("I love you a lot")
Cebuano (Philippi.) : Gihigugma ko ikaw.
Chamoru (or Chamorro) : Hu guaiya hao
Cheyenne : Ne mohotatse
Chichewa : Ndimakukonda
Chickasaw (USA) : Chiholloli (first 'i' nasalized)
Chinese : Goa ai li (Amoy dialect)
: Ngo oi ney (Cantonese dialect)
: Wo oi ni (Cantonese dialect)
: Ngai oi gnee (Hakka dialect)
: Ngai on ni (Hakka dialect)
: Wa ai lu (Hokkien dialect)
: Wo ai ni (Mandarin dialect)
: Wo ie ni (Mandarin dialect)
: Wuo ai nee (Mandarin dialect)
: Wo ay ni (Mandarin dialect)
: Wo ai ni (Putunghua dialect)
: Ngo ai nong (Wu dialect)

Corsican : Ti tengu cara (male to female)
: Ti tengu caru (female to male)
Creol : Mi aime jou
Croatian (familiar) : Ja te volim (used in proper speech)
: Volim te (used in common speech)
Croatian (formal) : Ja vas volim (used in proper speech)
: Volim vas (used in common speech)
: Ljubim te (in todays useage, "I kiss you", 'lj' pronounced like 'll' in Spanish, one sound, 'ly'ish)
Croatian (old) : Ljubim te (may still be found in poetry)
Czech
: Miluji te (a downwards pointing arrowhead on top of the 'e' in te, which is pronounced 'ye')
: Miluju te! (colloquial form)
: Mám te (velmi) rád (male speaker, "I like you (very much)", often used and prefered)
: Mám te (velmi) ráda (female speaker)
Danish : Jeg elsker dig
Dusun : Siuhang oku dia
Dutch : Ik hou van je
: Ik hou van jou
: Ik bemin je (old fashioned)
: Ik bemin jou (old fashioned)
: Ik ben verliefd op je
: Ik ben verliefd op jou
: Ik zie je graag
: Ik hol van die (Gronings a Hollands dialect)
Ecuador Quechua : Canda munani
English : I love you
: I adore you
: I love thee (used only in Christian context)
Esperanto : Mi amas vin
Estonian : Mina armastan sind
Ethiopian : Afgreki' (one of the Ethipians dialects, there are over 80 - see also under "Amharic")
Farsi (old) : Tora dust mi daram
Farsi : Tora dost daram ("I love you")
: Asheghetam
: Doostat daram ("I'm in love with you")
: Man asheghetam ("I'm in love with you")
Filipino : Mahal ka ta : Iniibig kita
Finnish (formal) : Minä rakastan sinua
: Rakastan sinua
: Minä pidän sinusta ("I like you")
Finnish : (Mä) rakastan sua
: (Mä) tykkään susta ("I like you")
French (formal) : Je vous aime
French : Je t'aime ("I love you")
: Je t'adore ("I love you", stronger meaning between lovers)
: J' t'aime bien ("I like you", meant for friends and family, not for lovers)
Friesian : Ik hou fan dei (sp?)
: Ik hald fan dei
Gaelic : Ta gra agam ort
: Moo graugh hoo
Ghanaian (Akan, Twi) : Me dor wo.
German (formal) : Ich liebe Sie (rarely used)
German : Ich liebe dich : Ich hab dich lieb (not so classic and conservative)
Greek : S'ayapo (spoken "s'agapo", 3rd letter is lower case 'gamma') : Eime eroteumenos mazi sou ("I'm in love with) : Eime eroteumenos me 'sena(you", male to female) : Eime eroteumeni mazi sou ("I'm in love with) : Eime eroteumeni me 'sena (you", female to male) : Se latrevo ("I adore you") : Se thelo ("I want you", denotes sexual desire)
Greek (old) : (Ego) Philo su ('ego', for emphasis) Greek (Arhea/Ancient) : Philo se
Greenlandic : Asavakit
Guarani' : Rohiyu (ro-hai'-hyu)
Gujrati (Pakistan) : Hoon tane pyar karoochhoon. : Hoon tuney chaoon chhoon ('n' is nasal, not pronounced)
Hausa (Nigeria) : Ina sonki
Hawaiian : Aloha wau ia 'oe : Aloha wau ia 'oe nui loa ("I love you very much")
Hebrew : Anee ohev otakh (male to female)
: Anee ohevet otkha (female to male)
: Anee ohev otkha (male to male)
: Anee ohevet otakh (female to female) ('kh' pronounced like Spanish 'j', Dutch 'g', or similiar to French 'r')
Hindi : Mai tumase pyar karata hun (male to female)
: Mai tumase pyar karati hun (female to male)
: Mai tumse pyar karta hoon
: Mai tumse peyar karta hnu
: Mai tumse pyar karta hoo
: Mai tujhe pyaar kartha hoo
: Mae tumko peyar kia
: Main tumse pyar karta hoon
: Main tumse prem karta hoon
: Main tuze pyar karta hoon ('n' is nasal, not pronounced)
Hokkien : Wa ai lu
Hopi : Nu'umi unangwáta
Hungarian : Szeretlek
: Te'ged szeretlek ("The one I love is you:)
: Szeretlek te'ged ("It's you I love, you know, you", a reinforcement) (The above two entries are never heard in a normal context.)
Ibaloi (Phil.) : Pip-piyan taha Pipiyan ta han shili (I like/love you very much)
Interglossa : Mi esthe philo tu.
Icelandic : Eg elska thig (pronounced 'yeg l-ska thig')
Ilocano : Ay-ayaten ka
Indonesian : Saya cinta padamu ('Saya', commonly used)
: Saya cinta kamu ('Saya', commonly used)
: Saya kasih saudari ('Saya', commonly used)
: Saja kasih saudari ('Saya', commonly used)
: Aku tjinta padamu ('Aku', not often used) (tjinta is the old written version influenced by Netherlands)
: Aku cinta padamu ('Aku', not often used)
: Aku cinta kamu ('Aku', not often used) (cinta is the modern written version since 1972; same for saya and saja)
Italian : Ti amo (relationship/lover/spouse)
: Ti voglio bene (between friends)
: Ti voglio (strong sexual meaning, "I want you" referred to the other person's body)
Irish : Taim i' ngra leat
Irish-Gaelic : t'a gr'a agam dhuit
Japanese : Kimi o ai shiteru
: Aishiteru
: Chuu shiteyo
: Ora omee no koto ga suki da
: Ore wa omae ga suki da
: Suitonnen : Sukiyanen
: Sukiyo
: Watashi wa anata ga suki desu
: Watashi wa anata wo aishithe imasu
: Watashi wa anata o aishitemasu
: A-i-shi-te ma-su
: Watakushi-wa anata-wo ai shimasu
: Suki desu (used at the first time, like for a start, when you are not yet real lovers)
Javanese : Kulo tresno
Kankana-ey (Phil.) : Laylaydek sik-a
Kannada (Indien) : Naanu Ninnanu Preethisuthene Naanu Ninnanu Mohisuthene
Kikongo : Mono ke zola nge (mono ke' zola nge')
Kiswahili : Nakupenda : Nakupenda wewe
: Nakupenda malaika ("I love you, (my) angel")
Klingon : bangwI' SoH ("You are my beloved")
: qamuSHá ("I love you")
: qamuSHáqu' ("I love you very much")
: qaparHá ("I like you")
: qaparHáqu' ("I like you very much!") (words are often unnecessary as the thought is most often conveyed nonverbally with special growlings)
Korean : Dangsinul saranghee yo ("I love you, dear")
: Saranghee
: Nanun dangsineul joahapnida ("I like you")
: Nanun dangsineul mucheog joahapnida ("I like you very much")
: Nanun dangsineul saranghapnida
: Nanun dangsineul mucheog saranghapnida ("I love you very much")
: Nanun gdaega joa ("I like him" or "I like her")
: Nanun gdaereul saranghapnida ("I love him" or "I love her")
: Nanun neoreul saranghanda
: Gdaereul hjanghan naemaeum alji (You know how much I love him/her.) : Joahaeyo ("I like you")
: Saranghaeyo (more formal)
: Saranghapanida (more respectful)
: Norul sarang hae (male to female in casual relationship)
: Tangsinul sarang ha yo
: Tangshin-ul sarang hae-yo
: Tangshin-i cho-a-yo ("I like you, in a romantic way")
: Nanun tangshinul sarang hamnida
Kpele : I walikana
Kurdish : Ez te hezdikhem : Min te xushvet
: Min te xoshwet (Southern dialect)
Lao : Khoi hak jao : Khoi hak chao
: Khoi mak jao lai ("I like you very much")
: Khoi hak jao lai ("I love you very much")
: Khoi mak jao (This means "I prefer you", but is used for "I love you".)
Latin : Te amo
: Vos amo
Latin (old) : (Ego) Amo te ('Ego', for emphasis)
Latvian : Es tevi milu (pronounced 'es tevy meelu') ('i in 'milu' has a line over it, a 'long i')
: Es milu tevi (less common)
Lebanese : Bahibak
Lingala : Nalingi yo
Lisbon lingo : Gramo-te bue', chavalinha!
Lithuanian : Tave myliu (Ta-ve mee-lyu)
: Ash mir lutavah
Lojban : Mi do prami
Luo (Kenia) : Aheri
Luxembourgish : Ech hun dech gär
Maa : Ilolenge
Macedonian : Te sakam (a little stronger than "I like you")
: Te ljubam ("I really love you")
: Jas te sakam ('j' sounds like 'y' in May)
: Pozdrav ("Greetings")
Madrid lingo : Me molas, tronca!
Maiese : Wa wa
Malay : Saya cintamu
: Saya sayangmu
: Saya sayang anda
: Saya cintakan mu (grammatically correct)
: Saya sayangkan mu ( " )
: Saya chantikan awak
: Aku sayang kau
Malay/Bahasa : Saya cinta mu
Malay/Indonesian : Aku sayang kau
: Saya cantikan awak
: Saya sayangkan engkau
: Saya cintakan awak
: Aku cinta pada kau
: Aku cinta pada mu
: Saya cinta pada mu
: Saya sayangkan engkau ('engkau' often shortened to 'kau', 'engkau' is informal form and should only be used if you know the person _really_ well)
Malayalam : Ngan ninne snaehikkunnu
: Njyaan ninne' preetikyunnu
: Njyaan ninne' mohikyunnu
Malaysian : Saya cintamu
: Saya sayangmu
: Saya cinta kamu
Marathi : Mi tuzya var prem karato
: Me tujhashi prem karto (male to female)
: Me tujhashi prem karte (female to male)
Marshallese : Yokwe Yuk (sort of multi-purpose, like Aloha, literally Love to you, my friend)
Mohawk : Konoronhkwa
Mokilese : Ngoah mweoku kaua
Mongolian : Be Chamad Hairtai (very personal)
Moroccan : Kanbhik (both mean the same, but spoken)
: Kanhebek (in different cities)
Navajo : Ayor anosh'ni
Ndebele (Zimbabwe) : Niyakutanda
Nepali : Ma timi sita prem garchhu (romantic)
: Ma timilai maya garchhu (less emphatic, can be used in a non romantic conext, too)
Norwegian : Jeg elsker deg (Bokmaal)
: Eg elskar deg (Nynorsk)
: Jeg elsker deg (Riksmaal: outdated, formerly used by upper-class and conservative people)
Nyanja : Ninatemba
Op : Op lopveop yopuop
Oromoo : Sinjaladha
: Sinjaldha
Osetian : Aez dae warzyn
Pakistani : Mujhe tumse muhabbat hai
: Muje se mu habbat hai
Papiamento : Mi ta stimábo
Pedi (related to Tswana) : Kiyahurata. (pronounced as: Kee-ya--hoo-rata)
Pig Latin : Ie ovele ouye (pronounced as: I-ay ov-lay u-yay.)
Pilipino : Mahal kita
: Iniibig kita
Polish : Kocham cie ("cie" is slangy polish and not commonly used)
: Kocham ciebie
: Ja cie kocham
Portuguese/Brazilian : Eu te amo (pronounced 'eiu chee amu')
: Amo-te
Punjabi (Indien) : Main tainu pyar karna
: Mai taunu pyar Karda
: Main teri fudi marni chauda ha.
: Mera lun ik huth lamba hai.
: Par fudi chari de vich marni hai.
Quenya(J.R. Tolkie) : Tye-meláne
raetoromanisch : te amo
Romanian : Te iubesc
: Te ador (stronger)
Russian : Ya vas lyublyu (old fashioned)
: Ya tyebya lyublyu (best)
: Ya lyublyu vas (old fashioned)
: Ya lyublyu tyebya
Samoan : Ou te alofa outou. : Ou te alofa ia te oe. : Talo'fa ia te oe. ("Hello, from me to you") : Fia moi? ("Would you like to go to bed with me tonight?")
Sanskrit : Anurag (a higher love, like the love of music or art)
Scot-Gaelic : Tha gr`adh agam ort
Serbian (formal) : Ja vas volim (used in proper speech)
: Volim vas (used in common speech)
: Ljubim te (in todays useage, "I kiss you", 'lj' pronounced like 'll' in Spanish, one sound, 'ly'ish)
Serbian (familiar) : Ja te volim (used in proper speech)
: Volim te (used in common speech)
Serbian (old) : Ljubim te (may still be found in poetry)
Serbocroatian : Volim te
: Ljubim te
: Ja te volim ('j' sounds like 'y' in May)
SeSotho : Kiyahurata. (pronounced as: Kee-ya--hoo-rata)
Shona : Ndinokuda
Singhalese (Ceylon) : Mama oyata adarei
: Mama oyaata aadareyi
Sioux : Techihhila
Slovak : Lubim ta
Slovene : Ljubim te
Spanish : Te amo : Te quiero
: Te adoro (I adore you)
: Te deseo (I desire you)
: Me antoj้s (I crave you)
Srilankan : Mama oyata arderyi
Suaheli (Ostafrika) : Ninikupenda
Swahili : Nakupenda
: Naku penda (followed by the person's name)
: Ninikupenda : Dholu'o
Swedish : Jag älskar dig. (pronounced: "Yag alskar day")
Syrian/Lebanese : Bhebbek (male to female)
: Bhebbak (female to male)
Tagalog : Mahal kita
Tahitian : Ua Here Vau Ia Oe
: Ua here vau ia oe
Tamil : Naan unnai kadalikiren
: Nan unnai kathalikaren
: Ni yaanai kaadli karen ("You love me")
: N^an unnaki kathalikkinren ("I love you") : Nam vi'rmberem
Telugu (Indien) : Neenu ninnu prámistu'nnanu
: Nenu ninnu premistunnanu
: Ninnu premistunnanu
Thai (formal) : Phom rak khun (male to female)
: Ch'an rak khun (female to male)
: Phom-ruk-koon (male to female)
: Chun-ruk-koon (female to male)
Thai : Khao raak thoe (affectionate, sweet, loving)
Tswana : Ke a go rata
Tshiluba : Ndi mukusua (I love you)
: Ndi musua wewe (I want you)
: Ndi ne ditalala bua wewe (I have love for you)
Tunisian : Ha eh bak
Tumbuka : Nkhukutemwa
Turkish (formal) : Sizi seviyorum
Turkish : Seni seviyorum
: Seni begeniyorum ("I adore you") (g has a bar on it)
Twi (Ghana) : Me dowapaa
: Me dor wo
Ukrainian : Ya tebe kokhayu
: Ja tebe kokhaju (real true love)
: Ja vas kokhaju
: Ja pokokhav tebe
: Ja pokokhav vas
Urdu(Indien) : Main tumse muhabbat karta hoon
: Mujhe tumse mohabbat hai : Mujge tumae mahabbat hai
: Kam prem kartahai
Vai : Na lia
Vไrmlไndska : Du är görgo te mäg
Vietnamese : Anh yeu em (male to female)
: Em yeu anh (female to male)
: Toi yeu em
Volapük : Löfob oli.
Vulcan (Mr.Spock) : Wani ra yana ro aisha
Walloon : Dji vos veu volti (lit. I like to see you)
: Dji vos inme (lit. I love you)
: Dji v'zinme
Welsh : Rwy'n dy garu di.
: Yr wyf i yn dy garu di (chwi)
Wolof : Da ma la nope
: Da ma la nop (da málanop)
Yiddish : Kh'hob dikh lib
: Kh'ob dikh holt
: Ikh bin in dir farlibt
Yucatec Maya : 'in k'aatech (the love of lovers)
: 'in yabitmech (the love of family, which lovers can also feel; it indicates more a desire to spoil and protect the other person)
Yugoslavian : Ja te volim
Zazi (kurdisch) : Ezhele hezdege (sp?)
Zulu : Mina Ngithanda Wena. (rarely used; means: "Me, I love you.")
: Ngiyakuthanda (pronounced as: NGee-ya--koo--tanda)
Zuni : Tom ho'ichema
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Mencius' Muddy Pool--or Living Spring?

2009-04-12T19:13:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." Jesus, in John 4:14 [耶稣说...我所赐的水，要在他里头成为泉源，直涌到永生。约翰福音4：13，14]

"Wash cap in clear water, feet in dirty water." 沧浪之水清兮,可以濯吾缨; 沧浪之水浊兮,可以濯吾足 Mencius

Mencius wrote of the futility of counseling princes who destroyed their own lives, families and kingdoms, and then years later complained that life was unfair to them when they "reaped what they sowed." As Mencius put it, "We muddy our own water."

The Muddy Water Parable Mencius wrote of Confucius' tale of a boy singing,
"When the Canglang waters are clear,
they are good for washing my cap strings.
"When the Canglang waters are muddy,
they are good for washing my feet."

Mencius said clear and dirty water had different uses--but we determine how we are used because we muddy our own water ourselves. If others despise and misuse us, Mencius wrote, it is because we despise and misuse ourselves first. Mencius quoted a passage from the Tai Jia, "When Heaven sends down calamities, we may still escape them, but when we cause them ourselves, we have no hope of life."

UnMuddying the Water? The great Taoist Zhuangzi said, "I lost sight of my real self. Gazing at the muddy water, I lost sight of the clear abyss." The Taoist solution to clearing up the muddy water is to be perfectly still, even as the Bible says, "Be still, and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10 [你们要休息，要知道我是神。诗篇46:10] But is being still enough?

Even Confucius and Mencius confessed their inability to live up to their own standards. In today's hectic age, can any of us be still enough to settle the mud today, much less keep it settled tomorrow? If anything, our frenetic pace just muddies the pool more with each passing day. But even if we could, by superhuman effort, still the mud--what keeps our little pool from stagnating?

Muddy Pool or Living Spring? The only way to clean the pool and keep it clean is to continually wash out the stagnating, muddy pool with a fresh, clear endless spring of living water. Jesus said, "Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:13, 14 [耶稣回答说，凡喝这水的，还要再渴。人若喝我所赐的水就永远不渴。我所赐的水，要在他里头成为泉源，直涌到永生。约翰福音4：13，14]

Our Choice. The child sang that clear water was good for washing his cap, and dirty water was good for washing his feet. What are we good for? Today, we can try to still the pool of stagnant muddy water that we have churned up over the years, or we can flush out the entire pool by tapping into the Source--the endless spring of living water.

Original Source for above Mencius quote:
离娄上: 孟子曰：“不仁者可与言哉？安其危而利其灾，乐其所以亡者。不仁而可与言，则何亡国败家之有？有孺子歌曰：‘沧浪之水清兮，可以濯我缨；沧浪之水浊兮，可以濯我足。’孔子曰：‘小子听之！清斯濯缨，浊斯濯足矣，自取之也。’夫人必自侮，然后人侮之；家必自毁，而后人毁之；国必自伐，而后人伐之。《太甲》曰：‘天作孽，犹可违；自作孽，不可活。’此之谓也。” Mencius, Li Lou 1
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Hewing the Heart of a Child

2009-04-10T17:40:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." Jesus (Luke 18:17 NIV) "我实在告诉你们，凡要承受神国的，若不像小孩子，断不能进去。路加福音18:17

"Great is he who has not lost the heart of a child." Mencius 孟子曰：“大人者，不失其赤子之心者也。”

Both Mencius and the modern Chinese writer Lin Yutang would have heartily concurred with Jesus' warning that only those with the heart of a child would enter the Kingdom of Heaven. In "The Importance of Living," (p.98) Lin Yutang wrote, "The ideal character best able to enjoy life is a warm, carefree and unafraid soul." And who is more warm, carefree and unafraid than a child!

A child awakens each day to a world of wonder, but over time the curiosity becomes caution, the wonder becomes worry, the carefree becomes careful, the warmth becomes aloofness, the fearlessness becomes fear. It is no wonder that as we age, we tend to become nostalgic for a past that time has dimmed and idealized. What happened to the child within us?

Hewing the Heart of the Child In "The Importance of Living," Lin Yutang wrote, "Mencius regards the effect of the artificial life of civilization upon the youthful heart born in man as similar to the deforestation of our hills:

'There was once a time when the forests of the Niu Mountain were beautiful. But can the mountain any longer be regarded as beautiful, since being situated near a big city, the woodsmen have hewed the trees down? The days and nights gave it rest, and the rains and the dew continued to nourish it, and a new life was continually springing up from the soil, but then the cattle and the sheep began to pasture upon it. That is why the Niu Mountain looks so bald, and when people see its baldness, they imagine that there was never any timber on the mountain. Is this the true nature of the mountain? And is there not a heart of love and righteousness in man, too? But how can that nature remain beautiful when it is hacked down every day, as the woodsman chops down the trees with his ax? To be sure, the nights and days do the healing and there is the nourishing air of the early dawn, which tends to keep him sound and normal, but this morning air is thin and is soon destroyed by what he does in the day. With this continuous hacking of the human spirit, the rest and recuperation obtained during the night are not sufficient to maintain its level, and when the night's recuperation does not suffice to maintain its level, then the man degrades himself to a state not far from the beast's. People see that he acts like a beast and imagine that there was never any true character in him. But is this the true nature of man?"

Not Childish but Childlike We need to recapture the inner child not just to enter the Kingdom but to live life, here and now, as our Father intended for us to live it. When Jesus' said "you must be born again", he meant a spiritual birth, but given his repeated emphasis upon regaining the heart of a child, it is clear that he also meant we need to be reborn not just spiritually but emotionally and mentally as well. Though a word of caution is in order. Jesus did not say for us to become children, but to be like children.

Snake Handling We should be childlike but not childish, because our Father does expect us to grow up. We of course need the experiences and maturity of adulthood to accomplish our purpose in life--and to survive. As Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 13:11, "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." [我作孩子的时候，话语像孩子，心思像孩子，意念像孩子。既成了人，就把孩子的事丢弃了。歌林多前书13:11]

When I was seven, I picked up a Texas diamond-back rattlesnake, thinking it was a giant worm. That is how I learned to fear snakes, but it was not healthy fear but debilitating terror. I even had nightmares of snakes. So during my teens I studied about snakes, learned to appreciate their beauty and purpose (they kill rodents, for one thing), and even forced myself to handle harmless snakes--though I use common sense, of course. Some rural Appalachian churches have snake handling in the services! (Chinese also handle snakes in some Fujian temples --and other Fujian folk even walk on fire!)

My Father's Hand As long as I use the common sense and experience that my Father has given me, the world is a much less fearful place, because I know that I am in my Father's hand--and that too is part of having the heart of a child.

As a small boy, I was fearless as long as my father was right beside me. If my father said to do something, I implicitly trusted that 1) it was safe; 2) I could do it if he said I could, and 3) he would be pleased with me if I obeyed. But though my father loved me, and wanted only the best for me, he made mistakes, and errors in judgment. But I am infinitely more secure today as a child in my Heavenly Father's hand because he not only made me but everything else, and knows clearly the purpose he has for me. Above all, I know that I am loved--the "bright pearl in his hand" (掌上明珠；Chinese equivalent of "apple of my eye", from the Bible). With such child-like confidence and sense of security, the world once again becomes a place of wonder, and I can do anything my Father calls me to do. And that is when we truly have the heart of a child--when we truly trust our Father.

Our Father's Child--or Orphan? The world has hewed our heart like Mencius' woodsmen denuded the mountains of forests, but we can regain that childlike heart--but not if we go it alone. The world's a dangerous place, for children and adults, but it is forever a place of wonder when we walk it with our Father.

130 Common English Phrases from the Bible

Scientific Proof that Adam and Eve were not Chinese! In 2007, when I spoke to groups of Chinese in the Philippines (Rotary Clubs, Anchor Club, schools, seminaries, etc.), I told them that scientists had proven that Adam and Even were not Chinese, because if they'd been Chinese, Eve would have tossed the apple and eaten the snake. One Chinese business lady replied, "Not true! If Eve had been Chinese, she'd have eaten the snake and sold the apple!"

Oh well, everyday I learn something new--but that is part of having the heart of a child!

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Ancient China Awaited the Prince

2009-04-09T18:29:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles..." 1 Corinthians 1:22,23

"People flock to a benevolent ruler as water flows downhill, or wild beasts flee to the wilderness." Mencius [民之归仁也，犹水之就下，兽之走圹也]

Jesus was opposed by Jews, who wanted miracles and a political reformer, and by the Gentiles, who delighted in endless debates even while the world fell apart around them. But Jesus' message that "the Kingdom of Heaven is within you" would have been warmly welcomed in China because this was the central theme of ancient Chinese philosophers.

The Way of Heaven is spoken of in almost every ancient Chinese book. Upright and benevolent governments put in place by the one Emperor of Heaven led the people to live moral and fruitful lives. When the governments became corrupt, the people and the country fell--but the people continued to hope for a benevolent prince to restore their country and lives.

Waiting for the Prince China's ancient Book of History recorded, "We have waited for our Prince! When he comes he will deliver us from our punishment [for guilt, sin, etc.] [《书》等待我的王！王来了，我们使不再受罪了]. Centuries before the Jews crucified Jesus, the Chinese were hoping for a Prince who would change their country by changing people's hearts Mencius wrote that kingdoms were won or lost by winning or losing people's hearts, and he said, "If there was one prince who loved benevolence, all the other [corrupt] princes would drive the people to him, and he could not help but become Emperor."

Conquering Prince Not just the Chinese but all peoples have sought peace, hope and purpose, and Jesus came to offer hope--though not in the way that the Jews expected. The Jews demanded miracles, but Jesus downplayed miracles, even warning those he healed to tell no one about it [Luke 5:14], because he knew that miracles did not change hearts. And Jesus avoided politics, saying to "give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar" [Luke 20:25], because like Confucius and Mencius, he knew that political change did not guarantee a change of hearts. Jesus kept his focus on "the kingdom within us," and in so doing brought change that has lasted 2,000 years.

Peaceful Entry, Triumphal Exit Last Sunday was Palm Sunday, when Jesus made his "triumphal entry" into Jerusalem. Jesus was careful to ride not a horse of war but a donkey, which symbolized peace. But the cheering crowd did not want a "Prince of Peace," and when he refused to be king, their adoration turned to hate and they crucified him instead. Yet in choosing a cross over a crown, Jesus exemplified the ancient Chinese ideals of the benevolent Prince who would, by his example, deliver the nation not only from their punishment but from the ultimate punishment as well--death.

The Prince of Confucius, and Mencius, and countless others around the world, has come--and his kingdom is within you.

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Mencius' Mysteries Revealed

2009-04-08T17:46:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown 。。。 Xiamen University
"...according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed...." Romans 16:25

"From the birth of humanity until now, there has been no one more complete than Confucius." Mencius, 372-289 B.C. [自生民以来，未有盛于孔子也]

Cows & Feathers
Mencius was the most brilliant of Confucian scholars, perhaps even surpassing Confucius himself. He was also brave, and not afraid to confront kings and princes with their own hypocrisy. In King Hui of Liang Part 1, when Mencius heard the king had pity on a bull being led to the sacrifice, and switched with a sheep, he told the king, "Many say you did this because the sheep was cheaper, but I think you did it out of compassion for the bull." The delighted king replied, "How right you are! People don't understand me."

Mencius then said, "You had pity on the bull, which you saw, but not on the sheep, which you did not see." The king was silent, because he well knew Mencius logic could take him down some slippery slopes he'd rather not traverse. Mencius continued, "Would you believe someone who claimed they could lift 3,000 cattle but not one feather? Or had eyes sharp enough to see the point of an autumn hair but could not see a wagon-load of wood?"

"Of course not!" the king replied.

Mencius then said, "The king has compassion on a cow but not on his people. The feather is not lifted because the strength is not used; the wagon is not seen because the eyesight is not used; the people not loved and protected is because kindness is not used."

I marvel that Mencius was not beheaded! In 213 B.C., only 76 years after Mencius' death, Emperor Qin, who first unified China, built the Great Wall, and created the Terra Cotta Warriors tomb, did burn books, and philosophers with them, to avoid such criticism.

Mencius was brilliant, and brave, and yet this great man said that, from the beginning of history until his age, no man was more complete than Confucius. Mencius claimed this even though he knew that Confucius himself regretted that he preached the highest ideals while failing to attain the simplest standards. Confucius said a scholar who worried about comfort, food and clothes was not worth talking to, and yet Confucius himself was fastidious about his food, clothing and ceremony.

Yet Confucius admitted his faults and failures because he was wise enough to know that all men fall short, and no man has an answer. Confucius and Mencius both spoke of the Way of Heaven, but they both felt no man could well understand life, much less the mysteries of Heaven.

The more I read Chinese classics, the more I admire these ancients' struggle to follow the Way of Heaven by perfecting themselves, but they admitted that there was no way for finite man to grasp the Infinite. And that is why our Father sent a man to live amongst us--not to philosophize about life, or develop doctrines, but to live the Infinite life within a finite form, and to teach us to do the same.

Today, we face the same struggles as the ancients, and we are as powerless as Confucius and Mencius to change ourselves. Change must come not from external philosophies and religions but from an internal relationship with One who has been through it before us, and will lead us.

Many say, "Christ is a crutch," and many others retort, "Cripples need crutches." But Jesus is not a crutch propping us up from without, but a power lifting us from within, changing people in ways that still challenge the understanding of psychologists, doctors, scientists, and even the religious people (for Christ preached not religion but relationship with the Father).

The infinite remained a mystery to both Confucius and Mencius, but it has been revealed to us. What will we do with it?
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Salt-Free Christians

2009-04-07T18:59:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men." Jesus (Matt. 5:13)

Duke Ye asked about good governance. Confucius replied, "Those near are happy, those far away are attracted." 叶公问政。子曰：“近者说，远者来。” (Analects 13:16)

Jesus was very specific when he told his disciples they were the "salt of the earth." He said, very specifically, you are the salt. And he did not say "a" salt but "the" salt. But most importantly, he said they are salt, rather than becoming salt.

Being, not Becoming In his book, "Matthew," Frederick Dale Bruner wrote: "The Christian ethic is an ethic of "become what you are" rather than the Greek or Confucian ethic of "become what you should be."

I'm thankful that, on my own, I don't have to try to become something, because even great Sages like Confucius lamented that they failed to live up to even their most basic rules of conduct (and Confucius certainly did not measure up to his 3,300 codes).

I feel badly about breaking annual New Year resolutions, but the apostle Paul said that he "died daily" and started over again daily. Paul confessed, "What I want to do, I do not do, and what I don't want to do, that I do!" [Rom. 7:15]. No matter how "good" we are, our actions and deeds will not make us become salt, but fortunately our saltiness does not depend on what we do but Whose we are. Right actions do not make us salt--though if we are salt, it should lead to right actions. As Jesus said, "You shall know them by their fruit." [Matthew 7:20]

The disciples were not salt because of who they were or what they did but because of Who they served--and how. Morris wrote that the main thing about salt is that it is "different" from that around it. He wrote, "[Christians'] power in the world lies in their difference from it." But if Christians cease serving Christ, and cease being different from those around them, they have "lost their saltiness", and as Christ said, are worthless.

Salt-Free Christians I've heard many complain that about people who are anti-Christian, but does this mean they are against Christ as well? It is interesting that Jesus was rejected only by the religious leaders of his day, but warmly welcomed by the rabble--the drunkards, tax collectors, prostitutes. I suspect that today's common folk would also embrace him if they met him face to face. If Christ is rejected today, it may be because people do not see him in us. They are rejecting not Christ but salt-free Christians who have lost their saltiness because they are no longer different from those around them.

People need salt in their lives as much as in their food. Don't give them vinegar, or MSG. Walk in Christ, be different, and be salt. And then perhaps those around us will be like those of whom Confucius said, "Those near rejoice, those far away are attracted."
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Love Self, Love Neighbor

2009-04-06T18:12:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"Love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus (Luke 10:27b)

"Most people try to find themselves outside themselves. They seek fulfillment through work, wealth and status. Then eventually that route takes them to despair, in which their souls are broken. Only as their souls break do they turn upward to God, and then can see the way to the calm waters of his peace." Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855).

"Love yourself as your neighbor." To love ourselves as our neighbor is not narcissism but a logical necessity if we are to obey Christ's command to love our neighbor as ourselves. If we don't love what our Father has made of us, we can't love our neighbor--we can only resent our neighbor as we resent ourselves. But given the frenzy with which our paparazzi populace follows the lives of the rich and famous, or the rich and famous wannabes on American Idol, it seems that most people are not that keen on themselves, much less on others.

The folks on the cover of People Magazine do seem to have it all--until you look a bit closer. The media that places them on a pedestal even more eagerly kicks them off it, and revels in airing their misery before the world as these falling stars cope with broken marriages, addictions, failure. Some give up altogether and take their own lives--though by then their life is no longer their own anyway.

Plastic Britneys. Ever notice the change in folks as they move up the ladder? I remember the first photo of Britney Spears that I saw. She was an innocent looking, smiling teen in jeans. Then the music industry gave her a make-over and within a couple years she was a pouting, anoxeric, gyrating blonde sex symbol with the same moves and sounds as half a dozen other pop stars--and she didn't seem that happy about it.

To Be, or to Pretend to Be. The world may not be clamoring to become like you and me, but at least we are something that the plastic pop icons cannot be: we are 100% unique, and winners from day one (we are the product of the 1-in-500 million sperm cells that made it to the egg first). We started out unique, and then our Father placed each of us in unique environments to mold us for unique purposes. We each have unique abilities to build upon, and unique weaknesses to overcome and learn from. Our "success", and true happiness, lie not in simply emulating others (though we can learn from them) but in discovering the unique purpose for which we were created, and then having the patience to allow our Father to mold us to achieve that purpose. As Confucius wrote,

"Rare is he who after 3 years of study does not already want to be an official." [三年学，不至於谷，不易得也]

One Body, Many Parts Jesus own disciples, James and John, asked to be elevated above the other apostles and to sit at his side (Mark 10:27). And in the earliest days of the New Testament church, distinctions and divisions arose over who was "important" and who was not. But in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, Paul addressed this with a brilliant analogy, saying that a body has many parts but all are necessary because each is unique, and does something that no other part can do. As Paul said in verse 19, what would the body be if it were all one part--all one big foot, or hand, or--horrors--one big mouth!

It would have been a boring world, for our Father and us, if his children were all simply cookie cutter copies. Fortunately, we are each a Hand-signed Heart-felt original. And when we can appreciate how uniquely our Father made us, and love ourselves not for what we have made of ourselves but for what our Father has made of us, and is making of us, then we can love others as we love ourselves. Until then, we are simply resenting others as we resent ourselves.

1 Corinthians 12:12-27 One Body, Many Parts
1Co 12:12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.
1Co 12:13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
1Co 12:14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.
1Co 12:15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.
1Co 12:16 And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.
1Co 12:17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
1Co 12:18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.
1Co 12:19 If they were all one part, where would the body be?
1Co 12:20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
1Co 12:21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!"
1Co 12:22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,
1Co 12:23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty,
1Co 12:24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it,
1Co 12:25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.
1Co 12:26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
1Co 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
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Fahrenheit 140

2009-04-05T20:07:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"He who has ears to hear, let him hear." Matthew 11:15 NAS

"Am I going to do a good deed? Then, of all times--Father, into thy hands, lest the enemy should have me now." George MacDonald

A few days ago I reread Ray Bradbury's classic book Fahrenheit 451, in which firemen don't extinguish fires but create them. Their primary task is burning books, which for years went unread, and then were banned after the government realized the advantages of leading an unthinking, docile populace. Paper, by the way, catches fire at 451 degrees Fahrenheit, hence the name of the book. But given time, slow cookers can cook meat (and brains) at as low as 140 degrees....

America does not need to ban books because, as in Fahrenheit 451, book reading is a dying art. In August 2007, the Washington Post reported that in 2006, 27% of Americans did not read even one book (and 43% did not read a book in 2002). Many Americans do not read because they cannot read. Fully 1 in 5--21%--of Americans are "functionally illiterate", and the figure is 36% for Washington D.C. (perhaps because so many residents are members of congress?).

People are not only reading less but thinking less. They simply soak in whatever they are fed by TV and the internet. Even with the economic difficulties, we are still relatively comfortable and complacent, like a frog in a pot of slowly boiling water (meat, and brains too, I suppose, can cook at only 160 degrees). We're trusting that Obama or the G20 or the Z40 or someone will get us back on track--but was that the right track in the first place?

Actually, we're not on a track but a river, and it is raging towards a precipice, but we can't see it when we're floating on our backs, eyes shut, basking in the sun, brains cooking slowly. We need to raise our heads, open our eyes, and look about us!

Jesus said, "He who has eyes to see, let him see." With global news 24/7, and the internet at our fingertips, it's easier than ever to see what is going on around us, but we don't have to read news from the ends of the earth. Just a look at our own homes, neighborhoods and towns will tell us that, even in so-called good times, the current is carrying us in a direction that we really do not want to go.

Though individually we probably can't change the course of the river, we don't have to just flow with it.We need to think for ourselves, and pray for inner guidance, wisdom and discernment. Of course, the moment we try to slow down, or swim to the side, we feel the pressure of those about us to get back in line, to conform--to put our brains back in neutral and trust that Big Brother will take care of things. But Big Brother is as powerless as we are.

"To lead an uninstructed people to war is to throw them away." [子曰：“以不教民战，是谓弃之。”] Confucius

If a great oak tree is rotten to the core, we can prop up its branches but it will still topple. In the same way, if our nation's people are empty and mindless, without purpose or direction (other than being consumers to keep everything going), we can prop up the country economically and politically but it will still topple, and the enemy is not North Korea, Afghanistan or Iran but ourselves.

Today, I'll read a book--not for entertainment but to help get my heart and mind back in gear. And I'll pray. And I'll listen for that still, small voice within until its whisper drowns out the raging current about us, and guides me against the flow. Of course, the moment we start thinking for ourselves, the current will rage all the fiercer, but better to fight the current today than plunge over the precipice tomorrow.

Links
36% of D.C. Residents are Functionally Illiterate:

57% of Americans read a book in 2002:

Mortality Rate Reaches 100%

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Holy Braids, Brandy, & 8th Day Adventists

2009-04-03T17:20:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions." Colossians 2:18

"When 3 walk together, 2 are my teachers; I emulate the good and avoid the bad." Confucius [子曰：“三人行，必有我师焉：择其善者而从之，其不善者而改之。” ] Confucius

I love Xiamen International Christian Fellowship's great unity, in spite of our great diversity (2oo people from over 30 countries). In fact, our diversity usually seems to actually unite us. Even as we marvel at our Father's imagination in nature, we admire how different he made us, and our cultures, and our languages. I appreciate his sense of humor too (I'm reminded of it every time I face myself in the mirror to shave). But we also face the same conflicts that the very first church faced.

Holy Braids, Brandy, Veggies & Smokes In the local Chinese churches, some believe women must show their spirituality by wearing their hair long, in two braids. They do so humbly, of course, but in a way that those without braids know they're further down the spiritual rung. There are also the vegetarian Christians. I'm vegetarian myself, but for health reasons, not spiritual, yet some talk of nothing but their dietary disciplines. I'm also very strongly against smoking, and I don't drink--but many Christians (Americans, especially) are shocked to learn that famous Christians like C.S. Lewis and Spurgeon smoked pipes and cigarettes heavily (it killed Spurgeon), and Lewis ended every evening with his glasses of brandy.

8th Day Adventists Some folks' spirituality revolves around making sure everyone knows that they worship on a different day than everyone else. (I saw large highway billboards in America that urged folks to phone an 800 number for proof that worship on Sunday is serving the antiChrist). I don't understand all the theology here, but I asked one man why he didn't worship on Sunday since in China, the 7th day is Sunday, not Saturday, and most Christians were, in fact, worshiping on the 7th day in China. He said China had changed the days. days. [Note: I am not referring to most 7th Day Adventists, at least in Xiamen, who do some wonderful work here; the one who lectures me the most is not even an SDAer].

Don't Eat Don't Touch! There are countless other unique observances I've seen right here in Xiamen, amongst both Chinese and foreign Christians. These may or may not be important. I don't know! But I suspect that when we let any observance separate us from our relationship with God and our fellow believers, something is wrong. We may well be right, but in our attitudes and actions, we may be wrong. Almost 2000 years ago, Paul warned New Testament Christians about coming under bondage to manmade rules:

"Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. Colossians 2:20-23

Paul said these "religious" rules and rituals were worldly, not spiritual, and led not to humility but pride--as, I'd imagine, the ancient Confucian scholars felt as they obeyed their 3,300 rules of decorum. But I must be careful, because it is easy for me to become proud that I am not like those proud people! And as Confucius said, even those who harp on pet peeves can also be my teachers. They often have wonderful insights behind their wall of exclusive spirituality. I just need discernment to select the good and discard (not attack) the bad. And I hope others will do the same with me, because just about everything I post on the Noodles makes some happy and others angry--and today I'll probably annoy the vegetarians and smokers and teetotalers and ....

Well, as Confucius once said, "C'est la vie!" This is life! Life is exciting because people are so diverse. It would be pretty boring if we all thought the same way. It would be scary, in fact--like some of the cults I've encountered, where people all have the same plastic smile and spout the same lines. How happy I am that as we serve our Father, he wants us to be ourselves, and not some cult or denomination's ideal of what a holy person should look like. That's not to say that ideals and beliefs and doctrine are not important. Far from it! But I also remember that Lin Yutang said that not one Chinese ever became a Christian because of a foreign missionary's doctrine, but because of their love.

I'm probably worshiping on the wrong day, eating the wrong food, and wearing my hair the wrong way, but my Father loves me anyway, and I'll try to love others, even if they are strange (and just about everyone except me is a bit odd).
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The Chinese Jabez

2009-04-02T18:15:00.001-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"Jabez cried... "bless me and enlarge my territory...And God granted his request. 1 Chronicles 4:10

The benevolent man helps others establish themselves as he wants to establish himself; he helps other achieve as he wants to achieve. Benevolence begins with shifting ones view from self to others. Confucius Analects 6.30 夫仁者，已欲立而立人，已欲达而达人. 能近取譬，可谓仁之方也已。

The highly marketed "Prayer of Jabez" has been touted almost like a magical Christian mantra. There are Jabez books, videos, audio tapes, coffee mugs, wall plaques and scrolls, bracelets, prayer shawls, wedding rings, bumper stickers and license-plate frames--and they all carry the same message: "Pray this prayer daily and God will (must) grant your desires as he did Jabez." This reminds me of the man who stood in his yard and yelled to the heavens, like a cop cornering a criminal, "All right God. We know you're up there. Come out with your blessings up!"

There is no doubt that our Heavenly Father does want to bless us, even as we want to bless our own children. Christ himself said that if earthly fathers give good things to their children, how much more will their Heavenly Father give to those who ask? But even as we earthly parents learn the danger of giving our children too much too fast, so our Father knows to exercise restraint, and to give us only what we have shown ourselves ready to receive.

Legal Precedent? Those who recite the "Jabez Prayer" as if it were legal precedent to be used against God should read the fine print in the preceding verse (which is seldom put on the Jabez mugs, wall hangings, key chains). 1 Chron. 4:9 begins with, "Jabez was more honorable than his brothers."

God did not bless Jabez simply because he asked but also because he was "more honorable" than those around him. In other words, he had already proven himself, to both God and man, before God "enlarged" his territory.

Jesus said that is we are faithful with small things, we'll be given greater things; if we can't handle small things, we'll never be given greater things. If you're just starting out in life, you may think you have little to work with, but even those on the lowest rung of the ladder can exercise their honor and integrity in their relationships with God and other people--as Jabez did.

Confucius said, in effect, "If you want success, make others successful." Confucius spoke of this as a worldly principle, not a spiritual law, but however you look at it, it works because that is the way our Father created the world. But if we do believe that there are not only laws of life but also a Lawgiver, then the rules of honor and benevolence become now just laws but promises. And we do not need to manipulate God's promises because our Father wants to honor them--but only when (and if) we're ready.

The CEO's Search No successful CEO of a company can afford to waste good talent. He continually seeks to "enlarge the territory" of those who can handle it because talent, integrity and dedication are rare. In the same way, our Heavenly Father wants to bless us, even as he did Jabez or countless others. But Jabez proved himself honorable even before he prayed for blessings.

Don't just pray for success. Put your hand to the plow and be wise and faithful stewards of what you already have. Jesus said that if we want to lead, we must first learn to serve, so put others first. And then trust our Heavenly Father, who promised that "the last shall be first."

(By the way, when He said "the last shall be first," He wasn't speaking of those who are last because they're lazy, but those who are last because they actively put others first!).
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Confucius 3,305 Laws--or Two?

2009-04-01T18:03:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it."James 2:10 ["因为凡遵守全律法的，只在一条上跌倒，他就是犯了众条。" 雅各书2:10]

"The sage's path... embraces the 300 rules of ceremony, and the 3,000 rules of demeanour." Confucius, Doctrine of the Mean. [大哉圣人之道！...礼仪三百，威仪三千]

Jesus complained about Jewish priests and lawmakers placing unbearable loads upon the people (Matthew 23:4), so just imagine what he would have thought of China's 3,300 Rules of Ceremony and Demeanour! But as Confucius found, even 3,300 laws of outer observance did little to change the inner heart.

The UnSuperior Man In Confucius' "Doctrine of the Mean," the sage confessed that he had failed to attain even the four most basic requirements of the superior man (serve father, prince, older brother, and friends). He failed to mention he was a poor husband as well.

UnSuperior Husband In the Analects (4:9), Confucius said that a sage who worries about food and clothes is not worth talking to ("子曰:士志于道而耻恶衣恶食者，未足与议也"), but the sage divorced his wife in part because of her cooking (the rice was never white enough, the meat was not tender enough, or cut in exact squares). Given that Confucius' son and grandson also divorced, we can see why "love of wife" never caught on as the "Sage's fifth rule."

Confucius: Judge Not Confucius' awareness of his own failures led him to warn against letting the pot call the kettle black. In the Analects (4.17), Confucius said, "When we see men of worth, we should think of equaling them; when we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves." [子曰：“见贤思齐焉，见不贤而内自省也。]

Confucius Gives Up. Confucius tried to live a noble life, but he never did find his "man of worth" to emulate. In the end the frustrated sage said, "I give up! I have not yet seen even one who can see his own faults and inwardly accuse himself!" Analects 5.27 [子曰：“已矣乎！吾未见能见其过而内自讼者也。”]

No Forgiveness Confucius did not find one "man of worth" who could obey the 3,000 rules of demeanor, or the 300 rules of ceremony, or the 4 rules of the sage, or even the 1 rule of "know yourself." (seen in Sunzi's "Art of War"). Confucius found no hope on earth--or in heaven either. He told Wangsun Jia, "He who offends against Heaven has none to whom he can pray." Analects 3.13 [获罪于天，无所祷也]

3,305 Laws or 2 Fortunately for us, God has given us far fewer laws than we have given ourselves. In fact, Jesus said we need follow only two laws: "Love your God, and love others as yourself." Matthew 22:37-39 [耶稣对他说，你要尽心，尽性，尽意，爱主你的神。这是诫命中的第一，且是最大的。其次也相仿，就是要爱人如己。]

Is Two Too Much? Two laws are better than 3,305 laws--but can we keep even two? All of history (and our own experience, if we are honest) shows that, on our own, we can no more change our own nature than we can change our height, or change our white hairs to black. And yet there must be an answer, or Jesus would not have given us those two laws and then promised, "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:30 ["因为我的轭是容易的，我的担子是轻省的. 马太福音" 11:30]

Outer Laws or Inner Light As the ancient Jews and Chinese found, the burden is crushing if we bear it alone. But the burden is light if we allow Christ within us to help bear it, because our only hope for change is not outer laws but Inner Light.

Pressing Forward Even with that Light, we will often fail, because life is about growth, and overcoming obstacles. But like Paul, we can begin anew daily, and "forgetting what is behind, press forward to the prize..." Philippians 3:13. [弟兄们，我不是以为自己已经得着了。我只有一件事，就是忘记背后努力面前的，腓利比书3:13]

And happily for us, with our Father, "mercy triumphs over judgment." James 2:13 [怜悯原是向审判夸胜。雅各书2:13
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I Talk, Therefore I am

2009-03-31T17:00:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." Philippians 4:8 NIV

"Man does not talk because he thinks, but thinks because he talks, because he has words to play with, and thinking is only the tumbling about with words." Lin Yutang

Words from Where? Lin Yutang said we think because we talk, but where do we get the vocabulary that molds our mind, influences our actions, and determines our topics of conversation and thought? We are increasingly a passive entertainment-oriented society. Rather than read, or converse intelligently with others, we are spectators, watching TV, sports, movies, internet. Society is not only spoon-feeding us our vocabulary but spoon-feeding us our thoughts as well.

Captured or Captive Paul said, "Take every thought captive;" 2 Cor. 10:5. We should take charge of what we read, and talk about, and think. But have you ever really tried to "capture" your thoughts? I pity the Zen Buddhist who, after years of meditation, rejoices that he has finally achieved the stage of nonthinking--only to realize that his realization of this is itself thinking.

As James noted (3:2), we cannot control our tongues, much less capture our thoughts. But what we cannot capture, our Father can--if we interrupt our ceaseless monologue and start listening.

Don't Just Talk, Listen. Above all, begin each day not talking but listening to the still, small voice of our Father, who will teach us through our daily actions and experiences how to think His thoughts, and to live a rewarding life with purpose and direction. And our sense of direction and purpose are a compass for our actions--which in turn will reinforce our thoughts.

I Am What I Do We know attitudes affect actions, but our actions also influence our attitudes and thoughts. In the military, I felt sharper and more alert when standing erectly at attention than when I slouched. During prayer, I feel more reverent when I kneel than when I sit or stand. At school, I feel more professional when I slip out of the T-shirt and jeans (which I prefer by far) and into the suit and tie. None of the above are necessary for me to be alert, reverent, or professional--but they do help.

Do to Others, or Don't Do? Jesus taught us to "love others as ourselves," but he also gave us the Golden Rule: "Do to others what you would have them to do you", because he knew helping others heightens our sense of compassion, even as hurting others deadens our conscience and compassion as we rationalize our actions or inaction.

Compare Jesus' "Do to others" with Confucius' "Do not do to others what you don't want done to you," which leads not to compassionate involvement but complacent avoidance.

Jesus said "Your heart will be where your riches are." (Luke 12:34 NIRV). If we give our riches (our time, talents and money) to others, even for the wrong reasons, it may influence our attitudes towards them. In the same way, if we don't help others, or if we hurt them, we end up justifying our attitudes and actions (the West with its Opium Wars, the Japanese in Nanjing, the Germans in Auschwitz--the Chinese during the not-so-Cultural Revolution...

As Paul wrote, "if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things." And then do such things.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." Philippians 4:8 NIV
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The Freedom of Limits

2009-03-30T17:20:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law." Prov. 29:18

"Christianity only added the seeds of decadence such as forgiveness...and the very denial of the evolutionary laws of survival of the fittest..." Hitler

I've only received a couple traffic tickets in the U.S. over my decades of driving, but I've received dozens in Xiamen, which is ironic because I drive much more carefully than the Chinese Darwinian Drivers for whom traffic really is the "survival of the fastest". But the Chinese Darwinian Drivers receive far fewer tickets because they know the rules (and the speed traps). They'll drive 90-to-nothing and then slam on the brakes and crawl--while pointing to the overhead cameras.

I usually obey the speed limit anyway, but when I receive a "revelation" (from "on high" or "on low") that the road ahead is teeming with cops and cameras, I slow down even further, in spite of ridiculous limits like the 15 m.p.h. highway exits. But I still get tickets now and then for not reading the "fine print."

The Fine Print. Just about every Chinese city has signs with small characters explaining local rules such as--I kid you not!--different speeds for different types of vehicles, on certain days, during certain hours, on odd and even days. And some places don't even use signs. I was ticketed once in Xiamen for disobeying a law that was not posted. The policeman said, "No excuse. It was posted in Xiamen Daily 18 months ago. I pity a driver from out of town who did not read the Xiamen newspaper (and did not have a very good memory of all he read).

But in spite of the ridiculous laws, I'm glad we have them, because if driving is bad with limits, it would truly be hell-on-wheels if there were no laws at all. And complaints and jests aside, driving is getting much better in China; though maybe it's just because the bad drivers are killing each other off? (I wrote in China Daily a few years back that all Chinese license plates should end in "007" because Chinese drivers are all licensed to kill).

The Law of Life Even as we need rules of the road, we need rules in life--not to limit us but to help keep us on the path (and to help us from running over the pedestrians). The Jews had laws, but like Chinese traffic police, they multiplied laws until they were not a benefit but a burden. Jesus' greatest anger was directed at the hypocritical law-makers, of whom he said, "They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them." Matthew 23:4

Jesus knew we needed law, but he revealed a new law, a simpler law, that covered every contingency: "Love your God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself." Such a law does not limit us but frees us; it does not burden us down but lifts us up. No wonder Jesus said, "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:30

No Law? No Restraint! For horrifying proof of the proverb that "without revelation, there is no restraint," turn to the writings of Hitler, who used Darwin to justify his slaughter of millions. Hitler wrote:

"Christianity only added the seeds of decadence such as forgiveness, self-abnegation, weakness, false humility, and the very denial of the evolutionary laws of survival of the fittest, the most courageous and talented."

Millions sought freedom in Hitler's call to throw off restraint. They were rewarded not with freedom but bondage and death.

In an hour I must drive across Xiamen, so I"m thankful I know a bit about Chinese traffic laws and Darwinian Driving. But as I hit the day, I'm also thankful that I not only know the rules of the road but also the laws of life, and Jesus has made it a simple law: "Love God, and love others as myself." Such a law is not a burden but a blessing. It does not restrict me but frees me to accomplish all our Father expects of me, but without stepping on others to do it.

And once we know our limits, there are no limits.
www.amoymagic.com

Coming & Going; Tao or Father?

2009-03-29T17:05:00.001-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going." Jesus, in John 8:14

"Far reaching implies returning to the Source." Lao Tse [Laozi, 老子], founder of Taoism.

We joke that a confused person "doesn't know if they are coming or going," but in truth most people have no idea where they are from or where they are headed.

Source, Force, or Father? When Taoism's founder Lao Tse spoke of man coming from and returning to a Source, he did not mean an impersonal, blind New Age or evolutionary "force" but a Spirit that actually cared for its beautiful creation down to such small details as forming the down of a bird in autumn (this reminds me of Jesus' saying that not one sparrow falls to the ground without our Father's knowledge; Matthew 10:29). The great Taoist philosopher, Chuang Tse [Zhuangzi,庄子] wrote eloquently of this "Spirit of the Universe":

"The Sage looks back to the beauty of the universe and penetrates into the intrinsic principle of created things....The spirit of the universe is subtle and informs all life. Things live and die and change their forms, without knowing the root from which they came. Abundantly it multiplies; eternally it stands by itself. The greatest reaches of space do not leave its confines, and the smallest down of a bird in autumn awaits its power to assume form."

Unknowable Source Taoists knew of the Source, but had no way to know the Source itself. Chuangtse wrote, "Whence comes the spirit and how did consciousness arise? The Sage's wisdom must derive from something...[but philosophers] seldom comprehend adequately the beauty of the universe and the ways of the spirit... Each man thinks what he likes and creates his own system. They shall never find the truth."

Chuang Tse concluded, "The creation lies spread before me, but in none of these things can be found the true source."

From Nowhere to Nowhere As Chuang Tse predicted, Taoists never found the truth, and over the centuries, Taoism degenerated into a religion of magic and alchemy. And 2,500 years of philosophy has not brought us any closer to the truth. Where Taoists once wrote of their inability to understand the "Spirit of the Universe," scientists and philosophers now simply deny its existence. Today we are to believe that the universe simply popped out of nowhere, and that mindless chance set everything in motion and guides us upward and onward. But if evolution is just a vehicle driven by a blind, mindless force on a randomly laid out road, logic says it could have no direction or purpose. We are truly from nowhere, and headed nowhere very quickly. We are all the Beatle's "Nowhere Man."

From Someone to Somewhere Fortunately, our lives are determined not by a mindless force, or even the Taoist Spirit or Principle, but by a Father. And how can we know Him? Chuang Tse was on target when he wrote, "Speech by its very nature cannot express the absolute." And because our finite minds cannot grasp the infinite, our Father sent his Son to show us the Way not through words but through example. As Jesus said quite simply, "If you know me, you know my Father."

The Way in the Beginning. One of my favorite verses in the Chinese Bible is John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word," [约翰福音1:1,"太初有道"] because 'Word' is translated as 'Tao' [道]. Tao means 'The Way,' and early Christians were called followers of 'The Way.' Tao is not the New Age 'Tao' but the original Tao of Lao Tse and Chuang Tse--the Tao they so revered but could not understand. But we can understand the Tao because John 1:14 said, "The Word [Tao] became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." [道成了肉身住在我们中间，充充满满的有恩典有真理。我们也见过他的荣光，正是父独生子的荣光]

Where Are We From? Jesus could say he knew where he was going because he knew where he was from. If we are mere products of blind chance and random evolution, then we are from nowhere, and going nowhere very quickly. But if we are from a loving Father, then we know that this life has meaning and purpose because he has put us here to learn, and grow, and to ultimately return to Him.

Where Are We Going? Today is not just one of 26,000 aimless, purposeless days between birth and oblivion, but an important stage in a Journey of discovery. Today is another day of class, taught by a Father who cares for me much more than Jesus' "sparrows of the field" and Chuang Tse's "autumn down of a bird."
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The Crucible of Praise

2009-03-27T17:17:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but man is tested by the praise he receives. Proverbs 27:21 NIV

Two of my Xiamen University MBA students' responses to my praise taught me that we must be very careful in both how we receive praise and how we give it. My praise encouraged one student to do even better, and they literally aced my course. But my praise of the other student seemed to suggest to them that they had already done enough to get by [like the rich man in Jesus' parable who decided to kick back and enjoy life], and they went downhill from there, in spite of subsequent warnings. And when they received a low grade, they blamed me!

Self-Esteem--Two-Edged Sword. As I teach in Organizational Behavior, to change actions we must change attitudes, and a pivotal attitude is self-esteem. Of course, some Christians have a knee-jerk reaction to the very word and quote, "I can do all things through Christ..." (Philippians 4:13. That is one of my favorite verses as well--but Christ also taught us that whoever is faithful in small things will be given greater things to do. Christ taught this because he expects us to learn, and grow. Life is about growth--spiritually, emotionally, and mentally.

God's Children Grow. We are children of God--but our Father also expects us to grow up. Paul wrote, "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." 1 Cor. 13:11 NIV Our Father gives us vision, skills and abilities, and then he gives us a task to use them. The more we can do, the more he gives us to do. True, we do all things in Christ--but it is still we ourselves that have to do those things. (Someone said, "Without God, man cannot; without man, God will not". That may be simplistic, but there's a point to it).

Part of growing up is expanding our awareness of what we can and should be doing, and increased self-esteem does not necessarily mean we esteem God less. Prince William in England obviously thinks pretty highly of himself--but he also knows that much of his position and power rests in his being a member of the royal family. If that family fell, he could be looking for work like other Englishmen. We too are royalty--children of the Father (and our Family will not fall). We should have confidence in our Father, but we should also grow up and have confidence in the abilities and traits that our Father has blessed us with.

Encouraged or Inflated? Whether we give praise or receive it, we must be cautious that praise serves to encourage and built up, and not just to inflate immature egos. Overly-inflated egos are as easily burst as the cheap Chinese balloons we used to buy for our sons' birthdays.

Praise or Flattery? We should distinguish between praise and flattery. Praise elevates the receiver; flattery elevates the sender, because the flatterer hopes their honeyed words will get them in their targets' good graces.

Always Growing We must be careful that praise does not make us complacent but instead spurs us on, because no matter how deserved the praise may be, life is about continued growth. If we cease growing, then we may very well cease living--like the rich man in Jesus' parable [ Luke 12:16-21].

The rich man said to himself, "I have so much wealth that I don't have enough room to store it. I must build more barns, and then I will sit back and enjoy life." And he died that night.

If you are praised today, be thankful for it, and be encouraged--but don't let it go to your head. A sportsman who receives a trophy does not sit on his laurels but places the trophy on his shelf and continues to train, because if he does not keep training and running, he'll be taken off the team and spend the rest of his life sitting on the sidelines, accumulating dust like his trophies.

Give praise, and receive praise. And then "forgetting what is behind, press forward." Philippians 3:!3
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The Mind is a Monkey

2009-03-26T20:42:00.001-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
[God] said, "I have chosen Bezalel, the son of Uri...I have filled him with the Spirit of God. I have filled him with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts. " Exodus 31:2,3

When God gave Moses and the people of Israel the designs for the beautiful temple and its artistic furnishings, he also gave them the "Spirit of God" so they would have the skills to build them. God, the Creator, wants creative children. In Exodus 31:4-6, he said, "He can make beautiful patterns in gold, silver and bronze. He can cut and set stones. He can work with wood. In fact, he can work in all kinds of crafts....I have given ability to all of the skilled workers. They can make everything I have commanded you to make."

God still blesses us with creativity and inspiration even today--to scientists' puzzlement. Much research has gone into trying to understand how great ideas, art, music and inventions seemingly pop out of thin air. Consider simultaneous inventions, for example. People in different countries have literally dreamed the same inventions at the same time, with no communication between them--and often these inventions are quantum leaps in understanding, seemingly unrelated to what has preceded them. Many scientists have explained this with, "the time was right." Maybe so--but our Father is the one holding the timepiece.

Today, like 3000 years ago when Israel was building its tabernacle, our Creator has gifted us with minds and imaginations. What are we doing with them? Are we exercising and using our gifts, or allowing them to atrophy and wither away?

The Mind is a Monkey Lin Yutang wrote, "The quality of learning, like the kingdom of God, is within you, and it must come from the inside of your mind. The mind is a monkey; all you need to do is to let the monkey into a forest. You do not have to tell him where the nuts are to be found. You don't even have to guide him toward the good nuts." ("From Pagan to Christian," pp. 29).

Our Father gave us this playful and inquisitive "monkey mind" and placed us in the great forest with all of the good nuts we could ever want. We have only to open our eyes and hearts and take them. As Jesus said quite simply, "Ask, and it will be given to you. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you." Matthew 7:7.

Theologians will of course dissect Jesus' "seek and ye shall find" until it is no longer a promise but a platitude. But the child of our Father will take it literally because Jesus said precisely what he meant. As Lin Yutang wrote,
"Jesus spoke as no teacher of men ever spoke. Jesus never expounded His faith; never reasoned it out. He spoke with the simplicity and certainty of clear knowledge. At most He said, "How is it that ye do not understand?"

How is it we do not understand? Jesus said "Seek and ye shall find!" Our Father would not give his children a universal desire to seek, and then deny us the object of our search. Jesus said, "Suppose your son asks for bread. Which of you will give him a stone? ...Even though you are evil, you know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your Father who is in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" Matthew 7:9, 11.

Retired and Pretired Most people have given up the search. They no longer ask for bread but settle for the scraps tossed to the dogs beneath the table. But if you still possess that God-given urge to seek purpose and meaning in life, use that inquisitive monkey of a mind and seek until you've found it. And once we've found our God-given desire, our Father will gift us with the creativity and knowledge to do something special with our lives. After all, there's no point in allowing a monkey to find a good nut if he has no way to crack it open.

In closing, I fear this has been a nutty noodle, but such is life! And now...I'm going nut hunting.
www.amoymagic.com

Lin's God of Chinese Mountains

2009-03-25T20:56:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
Hi!
This "Noodle", Lin's God of Chinese Mountains, is taking a lot longer than I thought (two days so far). It will be about my favorite modern Chinese philosopher, Lin Yutang, and why he turned away from God, and how his subsequent study of Chinese classics, and modern Western philosophy and science, led him back to God, and to Christ. Lin's clarity of perception, his logic, and his writing style (what Chinese philosopher would draw a Chinese Mickey Mouse in his book?!) remind me somewhat of C.S. Lewis--except that Lin had the advantage of being thoroughly grounded in both Eastern and Western thought.

I hope to post this in the next day or so. In the meantime, please click here for a brief Lin Yutang biography.

Click here for 林语堂一位“国际化”的中国作家

Lin Yutang Photo Album

Blessings,
Bill
www.amoymagic.com

Little George Changes the World

2009-03-23T17:58:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
Passing Torches, Part 2
"But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me. Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!" Isaiah 49:14, 15

The sickly young black orphan huddling in a stranger's barn probably felt abandoned by God and mankind, but this little child was destined to take up the torch and change the world, thanks to a slave named Libby.

Libby risked beatings to secretly teach other slaves, like Mariah Watkins, how to read. And years later, it was Mariah who found little George sleeping in her barn. He had come to their town to attend school, so she and her husband gave George room and meals in return for doing some chores. When George said he was lucky to have chosen her barn to sleep in, Mariah said, "Luck had nothing to do with it. God brought you to our yard. He has work for you and he wants Andrew and I to help you."

Be Like Libby Mariah told George, "You must learn all you can, then be like Libby." She taught George not only cooking, cleaning, knitting, and crocheting, but also the medicinal uses of herbs and roots. George learned all he could from Mariah, and from any school that would accept him. He eventually became director of Tuskegee Institute's agricultural experimental station. This so-called agricultural station had almost nothing to it (a butter churn, sickly pigs, and worthless land), so George and his students scrounged together whatever they could and built a laboratory from the ground up.

Open my Eyes, Lord Over the next 50 years, George Washington Carver was phenomenally creative, developing hundreds of products [see list at end] from peanuts and other vegetables. Where did he get his ideas? Literally straight from his Father! George rose every morning at 4 a.m. to walk in the woods, pray, and read the old Bible that Mariah had given him. And each morning he prayed, "Open my eyes, Lord, that I may see wonderful things out of your Word." When people asked why he was experimenting on okra, wheat and artichokes, he said, "because God told me to look there." The media and scientists ridiculed this "unscientific" approach, but they could not deny the results.

World Changer. Little George grew up to be adviser to three U.S. Presidents and international leaders like Gandhi, and friends of people like Henry Ford. The first U.S. national monument dedicated to a non-President was the 210-acre George Washington Carver National Monument in Diamond, Missouri, where Carver grew up. When he died, Carver left his life savings to the George Washington Carver Foundation. On his grave is written, "He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world."

Libby would have been proud.
Passing the Torch. George probably felt abandoned during his sickly youth, but our Father said, "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast? Neither will I forget you." Isa. 49:14 God never forgot George--but he cared for the child through people like Libby, an unknown slave who passed the torch of courage and hope to Mariah, who in turn passed the torch to little George, who passed it on to us.

Who has our Father brought into your life to help you? And whom can you help? Accept the torch, run with it, mount up with wings as eagles [Isaiah 40:31] --and pass it on!

Supplement: Carver's Inventions
Over 300 peanut products, as well as hundreds from sweet potatoes, soybeans, and pecans. They include chili sauce, biofuel, buttermilk, bleach, adhesives, instant coffee, linoleum, mayonnaise, metal polish, meat tenderizer, paper and plastic, shaving cream and shoe polish, wood stain, synthetic rubber, etc. Sweet potatoes yielded 118 potential products, including rubber, 73 dyes, 14 candies, 5 breakfast foods, 5 library pastes, vinegar, coffee, etc. He also published 44 practical bulletins for farmers, and popularized many modern agricultural practices.

Carver's 8 Guidelines

Be clean both inside and out.
Neither look up to the rich or down on the poor.
Lose, if need be, without squealing.
Win without bragging.
Always be considerate of women, children, and older people.
Be too brave to lie.
Be too generous to cheat.
Take your share of the world and let others take theirs.

All images taken from wikipedia.com
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Passing Torches

2009-03-22T17:57:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. " Isaiah 40:31

I was on a FJTV panel when the Beijing Olympics torch was passing through Fujian Province, and I had a photo taken with a girl athlete who carried the torch (she dwarfed me!). Imagine the excitement of carrying a torch with a flame kindled in Athens, but today you and I can run with an even greater torch--the ancient yet ever new torch of life and hope.

Few are honored to carry the Olympic torch, but the torch of life is there for anyone who will receive it--which is perhaps why we take it for granted. But if we do receive it, do we "soar on wings like eagles" and run with it, or do we let our torch sputter and die?

You and I won't be here 100 years from now, but our influence upon future generations can endure--or it can dissipate, like the calligraphy written in the sand beside Xiamen's boardwalk.

Receiving the Torch. Some lives flicker feebly and briefly, and then burn out, because they burn from their own strength. On our own, we are but a candle in the gale. But when our Father fuels our lives, we can blaze bright enough and long enough to touch the lives of others. But the torch is not thrust upon us. We must reach out and receive it, and take responsibility for it until we pass it on.

Refueling the Torch. Like candles and torches, we will burn out unless we keep in contact with the Source, continually refueled through daily prayer (conversation with our Father) and reading his word. As Jesus said in John 15:4, "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me."

We are also refueled by the encouraging words and examples of those whom our Father brings into our lives--and in the same way we must be a light to others.

Passing on the Torch. Like an Olympic torch, our lives blaze for a time, and then we must pass the torch on in the same way in which we received it--by our encouraging example and words. And you never know how a few words may change the life of a person--or even a nation! For example....

J.C., born 1913, was the poor descendant of American slaves, and at age 7 picked up to 100 pounds of cotton a day to help his sharecropping parents. He was sickly, caught pneumonia several times, and almost died twice. His life changed when he moved to Cleveland--and so did his name. His teacher could not understand his country accent so she thought his name was "Jessie," not J.C., and the name stuck.

When the Olympic Champion Charley Paddock spoke to over 1000 students at Jessie's school, he said, "Do you know who you are?...you are children of God. You can be somebody. You can be anything you want to be if you have a goal and will work and believe and have good moral character. You really can be what you want to be with the help of the good God."

The students were electrified, but after the talk, they all went back to class--except Jessie. He stayed behind to thank Paddock, and when they shook hands, Jessie felt an actual spark pass between them. He decided to be an Olympic athlete, and in the end became ever greater than Paddock--though he did not have it easy.

The "3 Ds" Jessie could not practice with the track team after school because he worked, so the coach helped train him before school, making him focus daily on "3 D's": dedication, determination, discipline."

In 1936, the Olympics were held in Berlin. Hitler made fun of the American team for having ten blacks and two Jews, but Jessie Owens set world records and won three gold medals. He then returned to America and took a common job as a playground instructor, where he passed the torch of life and hope to countless children, including Harrison Dillard (the only male to win Olympic medals in both sprinting and hurdling).

One speech and a handshake were enough to pass the torch to Jessie Owens. A caring school coach kept it burning. And then Jessie passed it on.

Take up the torch, run with it, and then pass it on!

Note: Flame or Smoke? Jessie Owens died at age 66 of lung cancer. Like many poor children, he'd taken up smoking early, and smoked his entire life. Don't be a smoking torch but a blazing torch!
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Stormy Lake or Still, Small Voice?

2009-03-19T18:20:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"Let us go over to the other side." Mark 4:35

What a vivid scene--Jesus sound asleep in a tiny boat tossing in a storm, and the disciples yelling, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" Jesus sat up, rebuked the wind and waves, and asked, "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?" Mark 4:41 NIV

1. The Parables Jesus asked, "Are you "still" afraid?" because he had spent the entire day teaching a crowd so large that he had to preach from a boat. Mark said that Jesus taught "as much as the crowd could understand", but he only used parables. By speaking indirectly, he left it open to his listeners to accept or reject as much as they were ready for--but even his own disciples did not understand the parables.

2. The Theory. Mark 4:34 says, "But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything." Imagine listening to Jesus for an entire day, and then having him explain further, one-on-one. And he finished the day with the powerful analogy of a mustard seed (in another passage, he said that faith even as small as a mustard seed could move mountains). I'm sure the disciples sat enthralled, and said the obligatory "Yeah, Lord!", "Amen," etc. But obviously it was just in their heads, not their hearts, because after a long, tiring day of teaching, Jesus said, "Let us go over to the other side."

3. Crossing the Lake. I can just imagine Jesus smiling to himself as the disciples set sail across the lake. Jesus went to sleep, the storm hit--and you know the rest. If Jesus had power over wind and waves, certainly he also knew, as did the simplest fisherman, that evening squalls were common on the Sea of Galilee?. But Jesus did not wait until morning because he knew that an entire day of teaching, followed by one-on-one explanations, had still not got his message across to his hard-headed disciples. They had dry head knowledge but no practical heart belief, so Jesus let them put the theory into practice (which, unfortunately, is often the only way we can learn).

4. Storm or Silence. The disciples could have been spared the terrifying lake crossing had they really listened to and believed Jesus' message. We, too, choose daily how we will learn. We can learn from that still, small voice within us, or we can ignore Him, and force our Father to plop us down in a small boat in a stormy lake to get our attention.

5. The Other Side. After Jesus quieted the wind and waves, the disciples exclaimed, " "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!" Mark 4:41 NIV. But while wind and waves obey, we often do not. We can choose to learn at his feet, or we can cross the stormy lake. Fortunately, if He does tell us to cross a stormy lake, we know that He will also take us to the other side.

And if we foolishly decide to cross a stormy lake on our own initiative, for our own purposes, well, that's another Noodle...
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Ancient Crossroads

2009-03-18T20:20:00.000-07:00

Bill B. Xiamen University
"This is what the LORD says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, 'We will not walk in it.'" Jer 6:16

"I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference." Robert Frost.

Years ago, while climbing "Five Old Men Peaks" behind Nanputuo Temple with my son, who was eight then, we came to a fork in the pathway and I asked, "Which way?" When Shannon pointed to the right, I asked why, and he said, "It goes up. Up is always more fun."

Each morning we stand at a new crossroad in life. Do our decisions take us up--or down? What should I study in college, and where? Should I marry, and when? Should I go to English Corner or stay home and sleep?

Most day-to-day decisions seem trivial, but over the decades they are the small steps that complete the "1,000 mile journey" we call life. Do our daily decisions lift us up or lead us downward? Bring us closer to our goal, or further from it? And how do we make our decisions?

In "The Art of War," Sunzi said to, "Know yourself." What goals, motives, priorities and values direct our decisions? Do we base our decisions solely on our own experience, and the short-term benefits, or do we seek wisdom to make decisions that reinforce the unique purpose of our own lives. In Jeremiah 6, Jerusalem was urged to:

1. "Stand at the crossroads and look." How many times do we race through the crossroads without even thinking about alternative paths? We already know what we want, and we just go for it, blind to other options, and sometimes we must retrace our steps with our tails between our legs.

2. "Ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is." If I were walking through swamps of quicksand, I'd rather follow a reliable map than chance getting sucked under. Fortunately, though life can seem like a swamp of quicksand, we have both a map and a Personal Guide to help us get through it. The swamp shifts daily, but the Ancient Paths and the One who guides us through them do not. The basic principles for how to live, rather than just get through life, are recorded clearly in our Father's Word, but a good example is always better than a lecture, so He also sent his Son to show us, firsthand, how to live.

3. "Walk in it and you will find rest for your souls." It is not enough to just know the path; we must walk in it. We will not be carried. We must rise daily, look at the crossroad, discern the Ancient Path--and then lace up our hiking shoes and walk.

Follow the Crowd or Keep the Course? We can live each day deliberately, with direction and purpose, or we can wander aimlessly, without direction--like the vast majority of people on our little planet. No wonder Jesus said, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Matt. 7:13,14

The path to failure was widened not by God but by the countless people trampling blindly down it. The road to life and purpose is narrow only because so few people choose it. But both paths, the wide and the narrow, are before each of us daily. We can choose the Ancient Path--or we can refuse. As Jeremiah said of Jerusalem, which persisted in going its own way, "But you said, 'We will not walk in it.'" Jer. 6:16

Today we face yet another Crossroads. Don't rush through that crossroads blindly. Stop, look, seek wisdom, and then follow the Ancient Path that is the surest route to purpose, fulfillment and joy.

The following story about Shannon was adapted from "Magic Xiamen--Guide to Xiamen").

Look UP! On a crisp November morning, Susan an d Matthew went shopping and Shannon and I took the road less traveled—the trail up the mountain behind Nánputuó Temple and monastery, past the sign that says “No foreigners beyond this sign,” and over the crest.

We drank deeply of the silence as we picked our way over damp boulders covered in lichen. We waded through ferns, and ducked beneath the grayish green moss covered branches. At times I sunk into reverie, imagining that we were blazing trails where no man had gone before. And every time, I was rudely yanked back into reality by the sight of Chinese characters carved deeply into the granite cliffs by ancient poets seeking immortality with a hammer and chisel centuries before Eric the Red took up real estate in Greenland.

I paused at one fork (or maybe a chopstick) in the path and asked Shannon, “Which way?”
“Up!” he said.
“Why up?” I asked.
“Because up is more fun," Shannon said.

It takes a decade or more for children to unlearn their inborn inclination to climb. By adulthood, many no longer know which way is up, or care. Yet there lingers a memory of Up, and a vague discontent for which we compensate by looking out, or in, but seldom Up. As Thoreau put it,
“We seem but to linger in manhood to tell the dreams of our childhood, and they vanish out of memory ere we learn the language.”

"What is man that you are mindful of him...You have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings... You made him ruler over the works of your hands..." Psalm 8:4-6

I suspect that children are a different species, a little lower than the angels and a little higher than man, given us that we may rediscover childhood’s marvelous mix of ambition tempered with contentment. Of such is the kingdom.

Shannon and I sat on the sun-baked granite summit of the Five Old Men Mountains behind Nanputuo Temple, and I penned in my notebook,

UP
The simplest seed, entombed
ignobly on its noggin,
impugns the claims of gravity
and turning, strives to gain
the unseen sun.
Bill B. (Nov. 1997)

Life’s magic lies in looking up!

Of course, in China at least, when lo0king up, watch where you're walking.
www.amoymagic.com

Wal-Mart Funeral

2009-03-17T17:28:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
Last week at XICF, LT shared what happened at Wal-Mart right after his father's funeral. What happened was--nothing! Life went on. Even in that small town, most people had no idea LT's father had been dying of cancer for six months, and had just been buried. Only a very small circle of friends knew or cared--and it would have been even smaller had LT's father not been fortunate enough to have been given a death sentence in advance so he would have time to heal his broken relationships.

Death Sentence = Life Sentence Many people say they want to die quickly and painlessly in their sleep, which is fine if you're really ready to die--but what if you're not? When doctor's told LT's father he had only six months to live, he was shocked, but as he wasted away to nothing he had time to reflect upon his life and to put some things right. For decades, he had refused to speak to family, friends and church members because he felt he had been wronged. And maybe he had been cheated, but with death staring you in the face, priorities change, and a few thousand dollars lost decades ago no longer seems important. LT's father made amends, and renewed some friendships during his final months, but as he breathed his last, and those friends stood around his bedside, I'm sure he regretted waiting so long to seek reconciliation with wife, family and friends.

Our Death Sentence. The death rate for 21st Century Asians is the same as for 21st Century Westerners: 100%. But unlike Steve Cochran, the beloved Xiamen teacher who passed away just before Christmas 2008 (see "Sown in China"), most of us don't know if we'll die in our own beds or shrivel away in a hospital bed. Do we need death to stare us in the face to humble us and awaken us to life?

Death Sentence = Humility. It is amazing how proud we can become in life, as if we are somehow responsible for the very breaths we take, but someday even the mighty Donald Trump's toupee will lie flat on his sweaty brow, and he'll worry more bedpans and bowel movements than hostile take-overs and firing incompetent mortals. What will seem important to Trump then? What will seem important to us?

Seize the Day, or Seize the Life. Although death is a certainty, life is not. We have to choose to live, rather than merely existing day-to-day. When LT's father learned he was dying, he "seized the day", but what a pity he had not "seized his life" and embraced relationships, because life is 100% about relationships. We're all tossed in together in life, like rough stones in a jeweler's tumbler, and the pommeling either polishes us or breaks us--or we can take the easy way out and separate us from others, but it is a lonely way to go, and we do not grow.

Better or Bitter. If someone wrongs you, seek reconciliation, not revenge [I Thess. 5:!5, "don't repay evil for evil"]. If you can't work it out, forgive them. If you don't, it will eat away at you while those who wronged you go on their merry way, oblivious of your pain. When it comes to the end of the road, it will be the relationships we will value, or miss, and not the things we argued over.

The big relationship is, of course, marriage. After almost 30 years with Sue, how grateful I am that my wife and I stuck it out, even though we wanted to kill each other a few times. We are not only husband and wife but best friends, through ups and downs. I cannot imagine how life would have been without my wife and sons (and new daughter-in-law). Relationships aren't made, they are grown, over time--and they are worth the effort.

When Paul said goodbye to the Corinthians, he said, "Finally, brothers, good-by. Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you." 2 Cor. 13:11

Live in peace, and our Father will live in peace with us, and in us, and will be with us even after the funeral, when everyone else has headed for Wal-Mart.

"I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." Jesus, in Matthew 25:40
www.amoymagic.com

That Kind of Movie?

2009-03-16T17:49:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"In the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar..." Luke 3:1

That Kind of Life! When someone heard I wrote a "Noodle" about the movie Groundhog Day," they asked me, "Was it that kind of movie?" I said, "Yes, because this is that kind of life!"

If we have "ears to hear," there is a lesson to be learned in everything that our Father allows us to experience, whether it be a lofty Sunday sermon or a Friday afternoon drive through Xiamen rush hour traffic (where Darwinian Driving imparts valuable lessons in patience, humility, and survival). Not everything that happens to us is good, but everything should offer good lessons--even if the lesson is no more than "Don't do that again!"

Eyes to See Mat 13:34 records, "Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable." The parables sounded almost childlike in their simplicity, yet their profound truths escaped most people--including Jesus' disciples, because they did not have eyes to see and ears to hear.

In Matthew 13:12.13 (NIRV), Jesus said, "Everyone who has that kind of knowledge will be given more. In fact, they will have very much. If anyone doesn't have that kind of knowledge, even what little he has will be taken away from him. Here is why I use stories when I speak to the people. I say, "They look, but they don't really see. They listen, but they don't really hear or understand."

Two Ways He Talks to Us Our Father speaks to us daily in two ways--through that still small voice within us, and through that din of life outside of us. Because we seldom slow down and listen to the Voice within, we usually learn more from what happens to us rather than what happens within us. But if we want to move forward and quit repeating the same lessons over and over, we must learn from life, not just live it or observe it. To learn, we must look.

That Kind of Caesar? Luke takes great pains to point out that John the Baptist arrived during the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar's rule (and he noted other rulers as well). Was Tiberius "that kind of Caesar?" Luke's point was not that Tiberius was anything spiritual, but that John the Baptist and Jesus did not show up in a political and historical vacuum. Both of them lived and worked within the context of their world at their time--and what a time it was! The Roman Empire was corrupt, immoral and decadent, but it was also ordered, controlled, and stable, and also had a common trade language and unparalleled expanse of roads for trade. And Christ was born strategically at just that time and place in history because the Roman roads, trade language, and political stability allowed his message to spread in a way never possible before. Luke saw all this because he had eyes to see. Do we?

That Kind of China? For those with eyes to see, there are striking parallels between ancient Rome and Modern China. Despite its obvious problems, for the first time in it's 5,021* years of history, China's 1.3 billion people have stability, a common language, and a road system so comprehensive that even back in 1994 we were able to survive (barely) our 40,000 km. drive to Tibet and back (see "Tibet or Bust"). For those with eyes to see, it is an exciting time to live in China--or anywhere else.

Spectator or Participant? Those with eyes to see can detect our Father's hand at work in every detail, at every level, from personal to global. But don't just use your eyes to see. Learn from life, participate in it, and make a difference.

And while you're at it, watch "Groundhog Day." There aren't any three point sermons in it but there is a good lesson or two.

*Re: China's 5021 years of history. A Chinese professor told me that China had 5,000 years of history, but that was 21 years ago.
www.amoymagic.com

Unfading Beauty

2009-03-16T05:46:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University

"[your beauty] should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight." I Peter 3:4

"Beauty is only skin-deep but ugly goes clear to the bone." Popular saying.

"Ugly is skin-deep; beauty goes clear to the soul." Bill B.

Yesterday I wrote of Yongta i's lush valleys, deep gorges, rivers and streams, high mountain meadows, and wildlife. There was even beauty in the thousands of foil bags on loquat trees, sparkling on the sunlit hillsides like fields of Oriental Christmas trees. And perched proudly in the midst of Yongtai's natural splendor was an impressive new cliff-side luxury resort. But unlike living Creation, which is breathtakingly beautiful whether viewed from afar by telescope or under close scrutiny of the microscope, the resort was less impressive up close.

Workmen had slopped together some of the tiles, splattered cement on the floors, misaligned window frames, installed leaky pipes. Rust stains seeped from metal frames, the wallpaper had already peeled in places, and the wood-grain tiles had loosened. In a few years, the tree roots will buckle walkways and floors, and in a decade it will probably resemble the cheap place we spent the night (which ten years ago was sparkling new).

Back home in Xiamen, one of my favorite hotels glistens and sparkles in the public areas, but it is a constant battle to keep it that way, and the hotel has had more facelifts than Elizabeth Taylor. And take the staff's entrance and you find that behind the facade of luxury are the bare bones of painted concrete--which makes sense, of course. Why waste money on something no one sees or cares about? My point is simply that the closer we look at manmade beauty, the more we find fault with it, and over time the beauty fails, whereas the closer scientists examine the so-called "natural" Creation, the more they marvel at its intricacy and beauty, which does not unravel but unfolds. because it is alive.

A century ago, Gulangyu Islet was the richest square mile on earth. Today, most of the hundreds of opulent mansions are decaying and abandoned, the grand gates have fallen. The only survivor of Gulangyu's Colonial opulence are the giant banyan trees, which grow right out of the walls so proudly erected 80 years ago.

True beauty is not skin-deep but emanates from the very core of our being. True beauty is alive, and with age grows more beautiful, not less (like my Susan Marie!). Beauty dies only when we reject life, or try to live it our own way, which is rather like a child trying to improve ayour inner self, the unfading beauty of a Picasso with a crayon.

Peter said, "[your beauty] should be that of gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight." I Peter 3:4

Like all Creation, we were blessed not only with life but purpose. It is in fulfilling our unique individual purpose that we become beautiful--to others and to our Father, and experience that peaceful inner spirit that can leave a lasting legacy in the lives of those we touch.

Embrace life, purpose, and beauty.
www.amoymagic.com

Eye of the Beholder--Lilies & Geese

2009-03-13T17:29:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ...Xiamen University
Why the lilies & Geese

Luk 12:27 "Think about how the lilies grow. They don't work or make clothing. But here is what I tell you. Not even Solomon in all of his glory was dressed like one of those flowers.

"The wild geese do not intend to cast their reflection; the water has no mind to receive their image." Zen poem

While in beautiful Yongtai, near Fuzhou, we marveled at the beauty of the White Horse Falls, the narrow gorges and streams, the vibrant colors of the wild flowers, butterflies, birds, the rich lushness of the giant ferns--even the mosses on the rocks were beautiful, as if someone had splotched the boulders with bright shades of green paint.

A lone Chinese woodsmen lived near the falls in a wooden cabin, his only companions a scraggly kitten and a beautiful white duck tethered to a rock--and it occurred to me to wonder just why I thought duck was beautiful--or why anything else was "beautiful."

I thought of Jesus comment that not even Solomon in all his glory was dressed like a simple lily of the field--but why is nature beautiful?

The very existence of beauty argues the existence of purpose, direction, and meaning. Beauty truly is in the "eyes of the beholder," and nature and life can be beautiful to us only because we see nature through the eyes of our Father, our creator. If we did not have his heart and soul, his breath to animate us, we would be no more than the animals. A cat catching a fish does not see beauty in the iridiscent sparkling of the fish's wet scales in the sunlight. The eyes of the feline beholder sees nothing but a meal to toy with and then devour.

A 20-year-old would not see beauty, perhaps, in a 60-year-old worn with life, but her husband, who has seen her mature, and mother his children, and become her best friend, would perhaps see more beauty in her than the day he married her--the beauty within that animates her every expression and emotion. He sees beauty in her because he loves her.

The Bible says our Father created the heavens and the earth and then said, "It is good." It was beautiful to Him because he had lovingly created it, and he loved it--and us. And we see beauty in nature because we see through our Father's eyes, whether we care to admit we have such a Father or not.

In an increasingly chaotic world, isn't it refreshing to just sit on a rock in a Fujian mountain spring and bask in the sun, and listen to the rippling creek, and watch the butterflies and listen to the birds? Why do the birds and the creek make music instead of noise?

Beauty and music are in the eyes and ears of the Beholder. We see through our Father's eyes--but what does he see through ours?

Consider the lilies of the field, the wild geese, the canopy of stars at night, and listen for the still small voice of the Father who whispers why it is beautiful.
www.amoymagic.com

Off the road

2009-03-13T04:45:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University

Hi! I'm off into the mountains, and no internet access, for a couple days.

Blessings,

Bill

www.amoymagic.com

Soaring Achievement or Faulty Bows?

2009-03-11T05:16:00.001-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"Like their fathers they were disloyal and faithless, as unreliable as a faulty bow." Psalm 78:57

"We are the bow and they are the arrow" (Kahlil Gibran)

Li Chengfen (1600 A.D.), said that archery flowing from the heart to the hands creates a sense of "inexpressible soaring achievement." Given that the Bible likens us to bows (some faulty, some faithful), I wonder if the Archer who wields us feels such a sense of achievement? I'm certain he was pleased with John Lloyd, who came to Xiamen in December, 1844 to serve in the Amoy Mission.

Within two years of Lloyd's arrival, he spoke Amoy Dialect so well that locals said they could not tell from his voice that he was a foreigner! It seems a waste, therefore, that this diligent and gifted man died within four years, in Dec. 1846.

But the arrows that Lloyd let fly during those four years are hitting their target even today, because his notebooks on the Amoy Dialect were the foundation for Carstairs Douglas' Amoy Bibles, and the Amoy dictionaries used by businessmen, diplomats, missionaries, and even the Chinese. Lloyd was certainly no "faulty bow." Are we?

1. The Archer. If we are bows, there must be an archer. What do we know about Him? The entire Bible echoes Jesus' theme that God is our Father, and wants not rites and religion but love for God and one another, not sacrifice but obedience and justice.

Samuel said, "To obey is better than sacrifice." 1 Sam. 15:22 And what are we to obey? Jesus said the entire Bible was summed up in, "Love God, and your neighbor as yourself." (Matt. 22:37-39). If we have love, justice and mercy will follow.

2. What Kind of Bow? Our life would be meaningless without direction or purpose. Fortunately, even as there are many kinds of bows for different purposes--long bows, cross-bows, compound bows, recurve bows, we too have been individually crafted for special purposes befitting our unique personalities, abilities, likes and dislikes. Are we faithful to our design? When the master wields us, do we bend, or do we balk until we break?

3. Our Arrows Bows are useless without arrows. Lloyd's arrows were his gift for languages, his diligence in studying, his perseverance, and his winning personality. We develop our own arrows as we gain experience and knowledge and sharpen our skills and abilities. Are our arrows dull sticks that bounce off the targets, or straight and finely feathered, and sharp enough to stick?

4. The Targets. We can tell the kind of target we are to be used for by looking at the kind of bow we have become (who we are), and the kinds of arrows we have (what we can do). Are we faithful to our purpose, or are we the unfaithful "faulty bows" of Psalms?

5. Soaring Achievement. We all want success, but that is okay because that is the way our Father created us. We were each created for a unique purpose, and when we hit the target, both we and our Father experience Li Chengfen's inexpressible joy of "soaring achievement".

Conclusion: Other Bows To be used by the Master is a privilege, not a right. If refuse to be used, the Archer has many other bows. As Talmage wrote after Lloyd's death, "What a lesson this, that we must not overestimate our importance in the work to which God has called us. He can do without us."

God can do without us, but he does not want to do without us--and we most certainly cannot do without Him. Your Father wants you to share with him the "inexpressible soaring achievement." Discover the unique target he has prepared for you and go for it.

Related Blogs:
Discipline or Death: (why the 1000 mile journey does not begin with the first step!).

Trust God, but Keep your Knife Sharp:

Have Faith, then Shovel Mountains (Faith and works):

Grandpa's Pearl Knife (Ready for what we pray for?):

Snake or Fish (Xiamen Univ. "fish story"):

Chinese Archery Quotes:
Confucius was an archery instructor, and taught that archery was mastered in the mind, not in the hands (even as Chinese strategists said battles were won or lost in the mind before entering the battlefield).

An archery quote attributed to Confucius: "Thus archers were required to meet the requirements of the rituals on entering, leaving or making turning movements in any direction. When their minds were composed and their posture straight, they grasped the bow and arrow and concentrated. Only when the archer had grasped the bow and arrow and concentrated was it possible to talk of meeting the requirements of the Rituals."

The Ming writer, Li Chengfen (c. 1600), wrote:
But in the end, a bow and arrows are just tools. Archery is no more than a skill. The ‘tool’ represents the lower form, the ‘method’ represents the higher form. ‘Skill’ represents preparedness at the lower level, ‘virtue’ represents preparedness at the higher level. [Confucius said:] ‘There is more to the rituals than jade and brocades; there is more to ritual music than bells and drums.’ [Likewise,] there is more to archery than bows and arrows. The pulling of bows and grasping of arrows is a method of ‘study at ground-level’; but when [the skill] comes naturally to your hands and flows from the heart, then it becomes ‘a soaring achievement.’ I can write about the ‘study at ground level’, but words cannot express the ‘soaring achievement.’
www.amoymagic.com

Fighting Fear with Fear

2009-03-09T16:20:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning." Exodus 20:20 NIV

"A single spark can start a forest fire." Mao Zedong

"A single Spark can stop a forest fire." Bill Brown

Author Jill Briscoe shared during a Hong Kong conference how during her youth in war-time London her sister warned her against going to a wild party. When she refused to listen, her sister said, "Well, be careful. If you got pregnant, think what it would do to Dad." During the party, when Jill refused to pair off and head for the upstairs bedrooms with the others, the boy with her said, "You're just afraid of what your father will do to you."

Jill replied, "No, I'm afraid of what this would do to my Father."

Jill's fear was not just of her father but for her father because she loved him. And this healthy fear probably kept her from making many youthful mistakes that could have destroyed her life. It is the same way with fear of our Heavenly Father.

NonChristians often criticize the Bible for warning us to "Fear God." Why fear a loving Father? Exodus 20:20 even seems rather contradictory, with "Do not be afraid" followed with "the fear of God will be with you!" But the fear of our Father is like Jill's fear of and for her father, who wanted the best for her, that she could live a life without fear.

I love my sons and would have preferred that they never fear me. But during the years that they were omniscient teens, if they would not obey me out of love or respect, I preferred they obey me out of fear, because I wanted to protect them from harm that could have lasting consequences.

In the same way, our Father's goal is not to "spoil" his child's fun by limiting us, but to make life even more enjoyable and rewarding, and to free us from the fear of harm or failure.

Fear Fights Fear Uzziah was only 16 when he became King, and he reigned in in Jerusalem 52 years. It is written, "He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the LORD, God gave him success." 2 Chronicles 26:5 NIV.

Zechariah instructed Uzziah to fear God, not because God wanted to hurt him, but because God wanted to ensure Uzziah freedom from failure and fear of others. As Jeremiah 29:11 so clearly puts it, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." NIV

I was delighted to become Xiamen's "Firefighting Ambassador" in 2006 because, like many American children, I wanted to be a firefighter when I was a child. I did become a volunteer fire fighter in Taiwan, and I learned firsthand that sometimes the only defense from fire was to set a strategic fire around us to destroy the encoraching fire's fuel.

In today's chaotic world, our media daily proves the truth of Mao's "a single flame can start a forest fire". The news networks fan small worries into overpowering and debilitating fears that assault us from all directions. But the Bible teaches, "Fear God...fear not." Our healthy fear of our Father can be the fire that fights fire--a strong wall that does not limit us but frees us and empowers us.

"Fear God...fear not."

"The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today." Deuteronomy 6:24 NIV

A Candle in the Gale

Related Verses:
Exo 18:21 But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.
www.amoymagic.com

Whose Harps?

2009-03-08T20:19:00.000-07:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
“Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” Berthold Auerbach (German novelist, 1812-1882)

"We played the flute for you and you did not dance." Matt. 11:17

My good friend Margaret Canavon just shared about a Peruvian harp concert, though the harpist was actually a Cuban who grew up in Venezuela and gave up his medical practice to play and teach harp in California (figure that out!). The miraculous provision of a harp when he was an impoverished youth in Cuba reminded me of my own harp miracle...

When I was young my parents could not afford instruments so I made my own--garden-hose flutes and panpipes, Quaker oatmeal box drums, wooden cigar-box guitars, stick and string violins. The first major purchase I ever made was a guitar. And while in the Air Force in Taiwan I fell in love with the Chinese zheng (zither, harp), so I was delighted when years later, Sue bought me a Chinese harp for my wedding present in Taiwan. But while returning from our Taiwan honeymoon, I left my beautiful Chinese harp on a San Francisco airport bus.

I was so discouraged. I'd lost my wedding present even before I got it home--and there was no identification on it or in it, so no way for it to be returned to me. But to my surprise, a month later I was called to the school's office--and there was my harp! Someone had found it on the San Francisco bus and somehow traced it to me, and delivered it right to my school in Los Angeles! I had no idea even who to thank, but I certainly knew to thank my Father, who went to so much trouble to return a Chinese harp to his careless child because He knew how important the harp was to me. He also appreciate the importance of music to me.

Music --the Language of God. Mathematics is often called the language of God, but if so, I think math is the written word, and music his spoken word, his actual voice. We see mathematics at work in the order and genius of creation, but we hear the music within our hearts and souls. Good music lifts us up, and heals, as it resonates with our Father's song within. Good music transports me back to the time when we walked hand-in-hand with our Father in the Garden.

But what happens when music, even the sweetest, does not reinforce but replaces the Song within us? Amos (6:1,4,5,7--see below) wrote that complacent Israel would be exiled because of their feasts and wine and "sweet music," which served only to deaden them to their inner emptiness, and to the injustice around them.

The Day My Music Died Before marriage, my house in Texas had little furniture but it did have wall to wall shelves for my books and my hundreds of record albums (real records--the vinyl kind). I had every genre imaginable, from classic and Gregorian Chants to Celtic and 70s Rock. I lived and breathed music, but I slowly realized my obsession with music was beginning to silence the music within. I struggled with the growing inner silence, and in the end decided to give up the music, at least for awhile.

Jesus said, "If your hand offends you, cut it off..." I piled my hundreds of albums in the back yard and set them ablaze. As clouds of black smoke wafted heavenward, like some hellish offering in an Oriental temple, I felt as if part of me died with my record collection. But I also felt an unexpected sense of relief and release, like an addict who had survived going "cold turkey."

For a couple years, the only music I listened to was what I played on my guitar and other instruments. Today, I again enjoy others' music but I am careful that the music outside of me never again desensitizes me to the music within--that still, small voice that not only whispers but also sings softly to His child.

In closing...I certainly do not recommend burning your music! Music is one of God's greatest gifts to his children. But if it should threaten to supplant the Song within us, it would be better to feast on the Sounds of Silence for awhile.

Related Blog:
The Sounds Within the Silence

New Day, New Song (Karaoke Theology)
Related verses:
"...holding harps of God." Rev. 15:2 NAS

Amo 6:1, 4, 5,7 "Woe to you who are complacent in Zion,...You lie on beds inlaid with ivory and lounge on your couches. You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves.You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments....Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile; your feasting and lounging will end.

Isaiah 14:11 "Your pomp and the music of your harps have been brought down to Sheol (the grave)." NAS
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Timbuctoo or Tampa?

2009-03-06T16:32:00.000-08:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"All things work for good." Romans 8:28

"Anything but China!" Robert Morrison, 1st Protestant Missionary to China.

When I was young, the word "Timbuctoo" conjured up visions of the absolutely remotest place on the planet that one could go to--and that is exactly where China's first Protestant missionary, Robert Morrison, planned to go! He had heard that the London Missionary Society planned to open a station in Timbuctoo, Africa, and decided that was for him. But while he prepared for Africa, he also constantly prayed that God would send him to wherever the obstacles and difficulties were greatest, even seemingly insurmountable. So of course he ended up not in Timbuctoo but China!

Everyone was against Morrison. The Chinese didn't want him (it was a capital offense for a foreigner to learn Chinese, or for a Chinese to teach it!). The British didn't want him--lest his illegal activities hurt their trade. Lonely, discouraged, and ill, at one point he complained that he would gladly give up China for any job in England or Scotland that would pay him a paltry $250 a year! But he persevered, and the rest is history.

I had my heart set on Africa as well, and then South America--and then I wandered into the Air Force recruiter's office out of curiosity and, to my surprise (and regret) wandered out again enlisted. The first day of basic training I suspected I had made a big mistake--and I was certain it was a mistake after training. One reason I joined was to see the far corners of the world, but instead of Timbuctoo, I was sent Tampa, just 45 miles from home! How I chafed at the bit. But my "mistake" in joining the Air Force was the best thing that ever happened to me because I learned a lot about discipline, perseverance, and professionalism--and it was the Air Force that sent me to Taiwan, where I fell in love with China (and that led me to Susan Marie as well).

Perhaps the reason the Air Force was so good for me was that it was indeed a "mistake." It was totally unlike what I expected, or even wanted--but that was what made it so good for me. We often talk about God being a potter and we being the clay, but the clay must be shaped to be useful. To be shaped, the potter must apply pressure to it, and mold it. The clay is no use unless shaped, and if it is not flexible, the clay breaks and is useless.

We must change if we are to grow, but change only follows conflict. It is our problems and pressures that change us--or break us (though I'm certainly not one of those brave souls that prays for problems to strengthen them).

Though I may well have made a mistake in joining the Air Force, I am fortunate that my Father does work even my mistakes towards the ultimate good. (Romans 8:28 does not say that all things are good, but that all things work together for good. And that's good enough for me.)

I've made so many mistakes over the years, but in retrospect I marvel at how every mistake was used to teach me a lesson, even if it was no more than, "Don't do that again, Dummy." And today we may be in the wrong place--Timbuctoo, Tampa, even China. But I press ahead anyway, confident that I will eventually learn the lesson that this mistake offers, and be led to the right place--which hopefully isn't Tampa again.
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The Night after Groundhog Day

2009-03-05T16:54:00.000-08:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"I die daily." 1 Cor. 15:31

"Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care, The death of each day's life..."Macbeth

In "Groundhog Day." Bill Murray plays an arrogant, self-centered TV weatherman who visits a small town to report on Groundhog day--and gets trapped into reliving the same day over and over. At first, he thinks that waking up at 6 a.m. on the same day over and over is heaven. He can do anything he wants without worrying about the consequences because the next day he gets to start again from scratch. He thinks he's a god because he knows in advance every detail of the day ahead of him, and he twists them to his own demented ends. But as boredom and senselessness set in, this heaven becomes hell--and he makes life hell for everyone else as well. Eventually, something clicks in his head or in his heart. His scorn and bitterness give way to understanding, acceptance, perhaps even love. He weeps when an old man dies of starvation and cold, and when the nurse says, "Sometimes people just die," he replies, "Not on this day." He then sets out to make his one eternal day perfect, doing all he can for every person he encounters. And in the end.... Well, watch the movie to find out if there is an end!

I Die Nightly? What a blessing that we don't have to repeat the same day over and over until we get it right. Like Paul, who had to "die daily" (1 Cor. 15:31), we have the opportunity to be recreated each morning. As D.H. Lawrence wrote,

"And if tonight my soul may find her peace
in sleep, and sink in good oblivion,
and in the morning wake like a new-opened flower
then I have been dipped again in God, and new-created."
~D.H. Lawrence

We awaken from the "little death" each new day (over 25,000 of them in 70 years!) to the same life but to new opportunities to do it differently. Hopefully each day brings us a little closer to becoming the kind of child our Father meant for us to be, and we are closer to the day that we shall Awaken into the real Life.

I'm not sure what is ahead this today, but I'm thankful it is a new day, and not just a repeat of yesterday. I'm going to start it off with some quiet time with my Father, getting centered, and getting some direction--and then I'm going to see what this new day has in store for me.

Go rent a copy of "Groundhog Day," and after you've watched it, be thankful that we don't have to relive the same life over and over, but are blessed with a new life each new day.

A favorite "Sleep" quote
"Sleep is the interest we have to pay on the capital which is called in at death; and the higher the rate of interest and the more regularly it is paid, the further the date of redemption is postponed." ~Arthur Schopenhauer

More about sleep and rest:
http://ourdailynoodles.blogspot.com/2008/11/3-reasons-why-67.html

"Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care
The death of each day's life...": sore labour's bath
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast." Macbeth
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Healthier Body, Healthier Society

2009-03-04T15:58:00.001-08:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
Note: I was asked to give a talk in a Xiamen church "English Corner" about why I am against smoking, and why I'm vegetarian--so this is what I've prepared. I don't "preach" vegetarianism, but since they asked, here's my answer. If you're a die-hard carnivore who views vegetarians as New Age lotus-worshippers (I'm not one), you may not find today's noodles to your taste, but right or wrong, it's my take--for today at least! Hopefully each day I learn a little more. Bill

Deng Xiaoping said "Some will get rich first," which makes sense. He also said, "Poverty is not Socialism," meaning that there is not much point to Socialism if everyone is equally poor. But ironically, today it is the world's most capitalist couple, Bill and Melinda Gates, that is attempting the very Socialist goal of ending poverty and world hunger. Some say the Gates have a good chance of succeeding because they are as careful at giving away money as they are at earning it. They give only where their "investment" earns a compound return in saving the lives of those who are usually ignored and neglected. For example, they won't fund art foundations, or give to heart disease research (which rich nations and rich people are motivated to fund), but over recent years they've immunized over 200 million children against Hepatitis B and yellow fever.

We "Ordinary Rich"'s Role I admire the Gates' goals, but their foundation is the catalyst, not the cure. World hunger and poverty cannot be vanquished from the top down, even with the most massive infusions of strategic investments. The end of poverty will also require changed attitudes and actions on the part of us "ordinary rich" further down the rung.

I say "ordinary rich" because we are, relatively speaking, wealthier than any other generation in history, in spite of current economic woes. We have food, clothing and housing, and live in a country that has peace and stability--which is rare in today's increasingly chaotic world. And it will be the daily decisions of "ordinary rich" people like us that will determine whether we can ever end poverty and hunger.

Of course, some blame the poor for being lazy, and others quote Christ's words, "The poor you have always" (Mark 14:7) as an excuse to do nothing. But Jesus was not condoning poverty, only admitting its existence. As in the rest of the Bible, a consistent theme of Jesus' message was that God seeks not religion and piety but practical love--to "love God, and our neighbor as ourself." Jesus repeatedly emphasized both helping the poor and wisely stewarding our wealth--and as the Gates' example shows, these two must go hand in hand. We can neither ignore the poor, nor can we just blindly throw money at them.

So how can you and I, the "ordinary rich," help end poverty? Our family tried to make some difference by moving to a developing country, China, in 1988--but you don't have to make such a drastic decision to make a difference. There are many practical ways that, each day of our lives, we can help the poor and ourselves at the same time. Below are a few that are important to me.

I. Stop smoking. In the 1700s, China's Emperor fought the use of tobacco as vigorously, and futilely, as he fought opium a century later. Morse wrote that the "American narcotic" tobacco came into China through Amoy in 1620, and that opium then came through it, and tobacco was as hard to stop as opium because, like all such drugs, it was so profitable once smokers were addicted to it. An American tobacco salesman in Xiamen in the 1920s complained that he had to force cigarettes on Chinese, and even teach the "ungrateful" peasants how to smoke. Today, China has more smokers than America has people, and China promotes this new opium as is its biggest source of revenue, ignoring the cost in health and lives lost to tobacco-related illness and death.

When I was in high school I was publicity chairman for the Florida Mid-State Lung Association, and I campaigned against smoking because I knew its effects first hand. My father smoked for over 50 years, from age 8. He finally quit in his 50s, but still died from painful lung cancer. Today, deadly tobacco is still sold legally in America and China because these drug-dealers' immense profits enable them to keep law-makers on their side.

As smoking in Western countries declines, tobacco companies are literally forcing tobacco on developing countries, which will consume 71% of the world's tobacco by 2010. One in 8 trees is used for tobacco production--700 million annually. Tobacco accounts for 40% of deforestation in some countries such as South Korea and Uruguay. In Malawi, only 3% of farmers grow tobacco but almost 80% of felled trees are used to cure tobacco. A decade ago, the Yale University School of Medicine showed that if tobacco farmers grew food instead, they could feed up to 2/3 of the world's undernourished people.

Why should you line the pockets of the tobacco industry and contribute towards hunger? If you smoke, do yourself and your loved ones a favor and stop. It will save your health, your money, and your conscience.

II. Go Veggie. I am not religiously vegetarian, but by and large I avoid meat because veggie cuisine can be healthier, cheaper, tastier, and easier on the land.

1. Veggie is Healthier. My mother-in-law's doctor was shocked when her cholesterol dropped from 250 to 180 in just a few months. While meds had not helped her, following our lead and going vegetarian did.

Many oppose vegetarianism, of course. Meat eaters and meat producers claim we need meat for energy, protein and general health, but this is not true, as proven by the dozens of vegetarian medal-winning Olympic athletes. Carl Lewis, who won ten Olympic medals, including nine golds, said, "most athletes have the worst diet in the world and compete in spite of it."

2. Veggie is Cheaper. Even the most expensive fruits, vegetables, and vegetable proteins are cheaper than meat, so vegetarians can afford to enjoy exotic produce that are unaffordable if you spent half your budget on meat.

3. Veggie is Tastier. Granted, meat can be tasty (if you're used to it), but it sits heavy on the stomach, and emits toxins in the intestines over the several days that it takes to rot and make its inglorious exit. Finely prepared vegetables and veggie-protein dishes, however, are not only tasty and please the sensitized palate but leave one feeling better after the meal than before it. And for those who still enjoy the taste or texture of meat, there are many kinds of tasty, high-protein veggie-meats and cheeses, all made from soybeans, which are easier on the land than grazing cattle.

4. Easier on the land. I was amused by an advertisement urging people to help donate money to send cattle to the poor so they could live a "quality" life. The advertisement was, not surprisingly, funded by Texas ranchers, who claimed beef would end hunder. In reality, fast food chains pushing beef are partly behind the world's increased meat consumption and the destruction of millions of square miles of farming land and rain forests. In just one summer (May to August 2005), Brazil alone lost over 132,000 km2 of forest--the size of Greece!

Almost 1 billion tons yearly of grain is used to produce beef protein, which requires 40 times more fossil fuel than soy protein to produce. It takes over ten times as much land to feed a meat eater as a vegetarian.

Reduce Waste. A third way we "ordinary rich" can help fight poverty is to reduce waste. Of course, this is not popular today when our nations think the approach to so-called economic prosperity is to spend more, not less, to waste more, not less. But our waste of resources and destruction of environment in our blind drive for "growth" is short-sighted and, in the end, terminal. I don't have any better answers than anyone else, but the Bible says to use common sense, to steward well what we have, and to avoid waste so we have more to share with others.

In closing, we may not have billions to throw at poverty like Bill and Melinda Gates, but if we "ordinary rich" change our attitudes and our actions, we too can help alleviate injustice and poverty. True, it may be that the poor will still be "with us always"--but at least we will be part of the solution and not part of the problem. And, happily, the Bible says that when we give to the poor, we give to God. It also says that we cannot outgive God, and that if we give to him, he will give to us richly.

"Give, and it shall be given unto you." Luke 6:38

Suggested reading: "Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity," by Ronald Sider, Thomas Nelson, 2006. This excellent book shows that both Conservatives and Liberals see only part of the picture, and gives practical suggestions on how we can help alleviate the plight of the poor-such as the 34,000 children who die daily of starvation and preventable diseases. Sider makes the interesting point that in our theology we are orthodox but by our actions we are heretics! Detractors argue that Sider is liberal or, worse, Socialist, but his book is much more complex than that. He supports Capitalism--but a capitalism with a conscience. I don't think you can objectively and prayerfully read his book without making a committment being part of change.

Notes about ancient Chinese prohibitions against tobacco: "Opium smoking came in through tobacco smoking....Through the Philippines the American narcotic, tobacco, was introduced at Amoy, and thence to Formosa...the year 1620 is given as the date of the introduction, about the time of the "Counterblaste to Tobacco" of King James the Sixth of Scotland and First of England. The Chinese Emperors were animated by the same feelings as King James, and the last of the Ming Emperors (1628-1644) prohibited tobacco smoking in his dominions. The first of the Manchu Emperors [wrote in 1641]: "To smoke tobacco is a fault...As to the prohibition of tobacco smoking, it became impossible to maintain it because you princes and others smoked privately, though not publicly." Morse, Trade and Administration in China, London, 1919, p. 335

Excerpts from "Gates of Heaven", Michael Specter, Vogue, March 2009.

"but the philanthropy’s true power lies in its willingness to apply the merciless principles of the business world to charity. If they can’t see how a project can eventually help solve one of the world’s most pressing problems, they won’t pay for it. “At the end of the day, Bill and Melinda care more about results than about feeling warm or fuzzy,” says Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., the director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “They are perfectly willing to gamble on a project, even if it ultimately fails. But they are not willing to give up on something they care deeply about.”

"There won’t be any Gates Foundation grants for National Public Radio or the Metropolitan Opera. (For that matter, the foundation does not fund research into heart disease, diabetes, or many types of cancer, either, despite the fact that those diseases kill millions of people in the developing world. They also happen to kill millions of people in the developed world, and that means governments and pharmaceutical companies have all the incentive they need to address them.) Instead, Bill and Melinda Gates focus on problems that nobody else seems to care about."
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Half a Bow!

2009-03-03T16:49:00.000-08:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, "You sit here in a good place," and you say to the poor man, "You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool," James 2:3

Wu's Half Bow The elderly and arrogant scholar Wu (吳先者）was once invited to a rich man's banquet. When another guest dressed in a plain cloth gown arrived late, Wu arrogantly clasped his hands in front of him and greeted the latecomer with a slight bow. But later he saw the host treating the late-comer with great respect and, to his horror, discovered he was none other than the famous General and strategist Zhang Boqi （张伯岐,A.D. 175-254). Wu tried to make it up to General Zhang, but he smiled and said, "Well, you've already given me half a bow, so just give me the other half and don't worry about it." And everyone (except Wu) broke into laughter.

James warned against judging by appearance. Of course, we would not treat Premier Wen or the U.S. President the same as someone off the street. Even Jesus and Paul spoke to leaders with respect. But James' emphasis was not that we should fail to respect those who "deserve" it but that we should respect all others as well, for we do not know what lies within. God said, "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7 NIV

In "Half the Sky" ("Women of China" magazine), I wrote about our friend and helper Lixi, who has been with us over 20 years. When we first met her, she was right out of the countryside, and looked and acted like it! But it did not take us long to learn that she was a diamond in the rough, and after 20 years with us, that inner Light within her shines. We've polished her, and she's polished us--and that is what our Father intended.

Rough Diamonds 1 Sam. 2:7 says, "The Lord makes poor and rich; He brings low, He also exalts." Rich or poor, we are all created in His image, and are diamonds in the rough (though some more rough than others). Rocks are polished by tumbling them together with some grit and water. They polish each other. We too are polished by our interactions with others--and we can polish them as well, or we can roughen them up further. We can help heal, or hurt.

Practical Application. Treat everyone with respect, regardless of their appearance! Whether the University Dean or the university street sweepers, I try to be courteous and respectful--perhaps even more respectful to the street sweeper, for I know the hours they put in. They work so hard for so little to keep up the place. They deserve our gratitude and respect, and not just half a bow. The caretaker of our building labors long hours 7 days a week, but he too has a family, and hopes and dreams--and a girl in college, of whom we are all proud.

When you are kind to the common person you encounter today, you'll find they are not so common--and neither are you.
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Fault the Teacher?

2009-03-01T17:14:00.000-08:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"What more could I have done for my vineyard? I did everything I could. I kept looking for a crop of good grapes. So why did it produce only bad ones?" Isaiah 5:4

"The race doesn't always go to the swiftest." Eric Liddell, Olympic gold medalist, missionary in China for 17 years.

I gave a final exam yesterday, and as sometimes happens, a couple students who slept through most of the semester, comatose in the back rows, sprang to life after the exam with complaints and suggestions on how to improve the course!

Unfortunately, some of their complaints had merit. Even after 20+ years of teaching, I still have so much to learn. I do not communicate some things clearly (even though I write some out in both Chinese and English), and I am too impatient (in part because I really do hate to fail students, and so push them, and myself, perhaps too much). But students share some of the blame as well. On the very first day of class, I made students read and sign a bilingual "Teacher/Student Contract" that clearly laid out the rules for class participation, homework, and preparing for the final. Still, a few students ignore the warnings and wait until the end to start preparing, and were then shocked to find they were unprepared. What else could I have done? I ask myself. But....

Before I fault my students, whom I do really appreciate, and learn a lot from, I need to recognize that, in my Father's School of Life, I myself blow it daily. I have to keep learning the same lessons over and over. I hope that when I face the Father, He will not be forced to say, "What more could I have done?"

1. Our Father's Teacher/Student Contract. Our Father has laid out in my "Owner's Manual" exactly what he expects of u. These are not "religious" requirements but ways to live a Right life, in Right relationship to not just God but to others. And to make it even clearer He sent his Son to model for us the Way that we should live. Do we follow the teachings of my "favorite book", or do we crucify the Son anew daily?

2. Course Materials. Our Father has blessed us with the classroom (our life) and all the materials we need. If you can read this blog, you are far ahead of most of the world because you are literate, have access to a computer, internet, and electricity, and probably have food, clothing and a roof over your head. Do you appreciate what you have or complain about what you don't have?

3. Tutors. Our Father has put people in our lives to help and guide us, to encourage and to warn or discipline. Do we listen to them?

4. Homework & Quizzes. Our Father gives us daily tasks to help us grow and prepare. Do we read, pray, and meditate daily, or are we Sunday students? Or worse yet, do we cram in the entire course on our deathbed? (That's risky because few know the date of their Final).

5. Finals and the Prize. Even as students want the grade without the work, many Christians want the "prize" at the end of the race but don't want to break a sweat running. They sing of wearing a "crown" and ruling, but ignore Christ's warning that a leader must first learn to serve.

6. I never knew you. I did all that I could to guide my students to a passing grade, but all that I could do was not enough because I could not (and would not) force them to study. And after some failed the chorus began, "I worked so hard! You weren't clear! Look at all my notes! (often copied the night before from others). I didn't know you really meant it!"

Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those who do what my Father in heaven wants will enter. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord! Lord! Didn't we prophesy in your name? Didn't we drive out demons in your name? Didn't we do many miracles in your name?'" Then I will tell them clearly, 'I never knew you. Get away from me..." Matt. 7:21-23 NIRV

"We worked so hard!" the failing students complain, and they may well have put in a lot of effort--but they worked at what they wanted to do, in their own time, and ignored my own straightforward requirements.

Failing in Life? My students can retake my course, but we have only one chance to pass this School of Life. If we fail, we can't fault our Teacher. He has laid out the course clearly, provided the materials we need, given us tutors to encourage and guide us, and given us daily homework and quizzes to prepare us for the Final. Best of all, our Teacher has a vested interest in us passing because he is also our loving Father. But even though we are his children, he will not force himself on us.

I am greatly saddened today because all that I could do was not enough to make sure every student passed, and after every exam I secondguess myself and ask, "What more could I have done?" I hope that when we face our Father and Teacher, he will not have to say of us, "What more could I have done?
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Use the Focus, Luke!

2009-02-27T19:44:00.000-08:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"You are the light of the world." Matthew 5:14

"With my eyes fixed on the goal..." Phil. 3:14

Meixia Arts Company, Xiamen's first solely foreign-owned company, can use water to cut straight through glass, or even thick steel, because the water's powerful force is focused through a tiny diamond jet. Of course, even slow water can cut through rock over centuries but you and I don't have that long. If we want to be used to bring change, we need to focus like Meixia's water jets.

The Light and the Lense When Jesus said we are the light of the world, he did not mean that we ourselves are the light but that the world sees our Father's Light in us, or through us. We are the lense through which that Light shines, and we can diffuse that light so that it casts as many shadows as illumination, or we can be like the light of a laser, which like water is can cut through glass or rock or steel if it has direction, or focus. The key, as with water, is force and focus.

"Use the Force, Luke!" As least that's what Obi Wan told Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. But it is not an impersonal "force" but a personal Father, and we are not using him; he is using us--but we are not much use to him if we do not allow ourselves to be directed and focused to reach His ends.

"Use the Focus, Bill!" While the power is our Father's, the focus depends much on us. When Meixia first installed their water-cutter, someone installed the expensive diamond jet upside down, destroying it. The expensive machine and the power behind it was useless until they spent thousands replacing the diamond jet.

We need to be sure we are properly prepared, ready, and focused, in order that our Father may work through us. But it is hard to focus in this day of e-mail, cell phones and internet. We are busier and busier. There are so many good things that can be done, and need to be--but not all good things are the best things. Is is far better to do a few things well, and make a difference, than to do many things poorly, and make no difference.

Not even Jesus tried to do everything. He carefully picked only twelve to disciple. He preached to some crowds but avoided others, healed some people but not others. He chose his battles carefully, and walked away from those not in accord with his focus and purpose. He did not just pour himself out but focused his energy, thought and heart in those areas that were, too him, most important.

I know some will argue that we should not "narrow" ourselves, that we should be "instant in and out of season," and "be all things to all people." There is some point to that, of course--but that can also be an excuse for not putting in the effort and persistence to accomplish the things that our Father has specifically called us to. We each have special abilities and inclinations, and should use them. If we don't wisely focus and use what we have, it will be given to others. (Matthew 24:14-30).
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The Road Outside My Front Door

2009-02-26T22:26:00.000-08:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"You have made known to me the path of life..." Psalm 16:11

Psa 27:11 Teach me your way, O LORD; lead me in a straight path Psalm 27:11

A Xiamen friend never imagined that when she kissed her husband good by, it was really good by. Just two hours later, while visiting their factory across Xiamen Bay in Haicang, he died of a heart attack. We just never know what waits outside our front door. Of course, the road beyond it is a lot smoother and faster nowadays, especially in our shrinking China, but even so the day will come when this road ends, and then the real journey begins.

Shrinking China In about an hour I will take the bus to Fuzhou (former Foochow) for 3 days of lectures. In Marco Polo's day the trip from Xiamen to Fuzhou took a week, and many never survived it. A century ago it took 5 days. Ten years ago it was a 10 to 15 hour drive. Today, it is 4 hours by bus. In a year the new train will cut it to two hours. But no matter how fast we go, one certainty that remains is I have no idea where the road will take me today--but that is okay. What matters is that 1), I'm ready for the day, and 2), I do go out that door (just getting out the door is half the battle sometimes!).

My Favorites During a radio interview with a Beijing radio station a couple months ago, I shared my "favorite book, movie and song". A favorite quote was Tolkien's:

"The Road goes ever on and on,
Down from the door where it began,
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say."

1. Life is a Road. I have always loved the road. In the Air Force I bicycled and hitchhiked around Taiwan half a dozen times. I hitchhiked over 3000 miles around Mexico (with no money, living with peasants). In 1994 our family drove over 40,000 Km. around China, to Tibet and back. In 1995, to make sure our sons understood America at least as well as China, we drove over 40,000 miles around the U.S. But whether I'm on the road or at home, life itself is an exciting journey, with a destination, and each of us has a different path laid out before us.

2. Many Small Roads, One Larger Way. My own life and path is small and seemingly insignificant, but it does have a purpose as long as I have Direction. We are each a living thread, lovingly woven by our Father on the loom of life into a tapestry, but if we went our own way, or if we were all the same color and went the same direction, He'd end up not with a tapestry but a throw rug or a bedsheet. So I need to follow his direction, and the One Road he has prepared for me, and me alone. As Job said, "Will you keep to the old path that evil men have trod?" Job 22:!5

3. One step at a time. I might never have driven the 3-month, 40,000 km. trip to Tibet and back had I known what we'd face in Mongolia and the dunes of the Gobi Desert. The trip was tolerable and enjoyable (usually) 0nly because we focused on one stretch of road at a time, one day at a time, knowing that each mountain crossed or river forged (yes, in a van!) put us closer to Lhasa on the way out, or Xiamen on the way back. In the same way I take life a day at a time, and though I have no idea of what today may bring, I'm certain of Tomorrow because I know my ultimate destination, even I don't know all the twists and turns I'll take to get there.

4. Whither today? Regardless of what the road holds for me today, eventually our "many paths and errands meet" and if I complete today's journey, I shall be one step closer to that "larger way." So as Bilbo would have said, were he here today:

Whither today? I cannot say!
I've never been this way before.
But I in confidence can pray
for courage to go out my door,
and not just crawl, or walk, but run.
Not just endure but to have fun.
For brief the journey and light the load,
When traveling on my Father's road.
And when I finally reach the end,
yet greater journeys will begin.

Provided I survive driving in China, that is!

http://ourdailynoodles.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-favorite-book-movie-song.html

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Double Portion, Bigger Shoes

2009-02-25T16:41:00.000-08:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit," Elisha replied. 2 Kings 2:9 NIV

"The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but no vision." Hellen Keller (1880-1968, blind and deaf educator).

When Elisha learned that the powerful prophet Elijah was leaving, he knew he could not fill Elijah's shoes, so instead of even trying, he asked for a bigger pair of shoes! Elijah asked, "Tell me what I can do for your before I am taken from you?" And Elisha replied, "Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit."

1. Taller With Time. It is inevitable that the stature of those who have gone before us will grow taller with time. Biographies magnify their virtues and gloss over the faults of great Christians, leaving them standing upon a spiritual pedestal that often serves more to discourage than encourage us (how can we be like that!). Thank God for the Bible, which lays bare the lives of "heroes" and saints, showing not just their great deeds but their great faults and failures as well. The Bible does this to remind us that even the greatest were people, like us. What made them great was not their own actions or insights but the Spirit within them--the same Spirit that desires to inhabit and animate us as well.

2. Passing the Torch. Someone asked me if I knew the mortality rate of 19th century missionaries in China. I said, "Yep, 100%! They're all dead now!" (Actually, they averaged 7 years in China before dying). Every spiritual "giant" in the Bible, except for Elijah, died, because God created them to serve for one generation. "For when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed." Acts 13:36 NIV

Every great early Christians had one thing in common: they died. But they also had another thing in common: successors. Had there been no one to inherit that same Spirit and carry on the work, that "great" Christian would have been forgotten. And even today, we are still only one generation from either embracing or forgetting God. We are always but one generation closer to the Kingdom, or further from it. It is our job, in this generation, to work to bring that kingdom closer.

3. Bigger Shoes. When Elisha realized Elijah was leaving him, he did not tremble at the knees or beg him to stay, but instead asked for a double portion of Spirit! Note that Elisha did not ask Elijah for a double portion of Elijah's own spirit. He wanted not a second-hand spirituality from a man but a double portion of God's spirit, straight from God. In the same way, today we must learn from our godly predecessors' examples, but our strength is not from them but from our Father.

It is easy to be intimidated by the overwhelming mess around us, and by our own inadequacies--by the knowledge that we are not "great." But no one in the history of mankind was "great." David, Joseph, Abraham, Esther, Peter, Martin Luther--every spiritual "giant" was in reality a spiritual weakling except when empowered by the Spirit that enabled them to serve in their own generation. Nothing has changed. We too can be empowered in the same way to serve in our generation.

Paul's Tomorrow, our Today. Paul wrote that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow." Heb. 13:8 NIV If Jesus is the same, then so is his Father, and we can still trust Jesus' promise, "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" Luke 11:13

Bigger Shoes, Straight Paths The greats of yesterday have gone to their reward, and tomorrow will take care of itself (Matt. 6:34). Our calling is this generation, and what we have been called to do, we will be equipped to do--if we ask. Don't just ask to fill others' shoes. Ask for bigger shoes--but before you take a step in those shoes, remember to, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Prov. 3:5,6 NIV
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Strengthen My Hands & Heart

2009-02-24T16:45:00.000-08:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"Strengthen my hands." Nehemiah 6:9b NIV

"If you stand straight, do not fear a crooked shadow." Chinese Proverb

Foreigners who visit Xiamen today invariably fall in love with it and want to stay, but that was not the case in the late 1980s. (See "How we got here"). When we moved here in 1988, many well-meaning friends thought we were nuts, and tried to discourage us with, "What will you do there? What about your health, and your family's safety? What about the kids' education? What about... ?" All this was from our family and best friends. Just imagine how we'd have felt had we been discouraged by enemies--such as Nehemiah faced when he was rebuilding Jerusalem's walls.

Nehemiah's enemies first threatened and intimidated him, and then tried to frighten him into giving up by saying they had proof he was plotting to make himself king. Nehemiah was unfazed. He replied, "Luanjiang!" (Chinese for "nonsense"). He wrote, "They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, 'Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.' But I prayed, 'Now strengthen my hands.'" Neh 6:9 NIV

1. Fear kills vision and resolve. Nehemiah's enemies hoped fear would weaken his hands. The Hebrew yawd, for "open hands," infers "power, means, direction." In effect, they hoped fear would kill his vision and resolve. But Nehemiah was unafraid because 1) he knew he was doing the right thing, and 2) he had no secrets for his enemies to dig up and leverage against him. His motives were pure.

2. Truth fears no lies. Or as Sir Francis Bacon wrote, "The man who fears no truths has nothing to fear from lies." Because Nehemiah had no secret agenda (wealth, fame, power), he had nothing to fear from false accusations. Nehemiah responded simply, "You are making this up out of your head" (Neh. 6:8 NIV) and he persevered.

3. Fear is Darkness; turn on the Light. Dorothy Thompson wrote, "Fear grows in darkness; if you think there's a bogeyman around, turn on the light." If we do fear, we may have impure motives, or we may not be confident in our calling and our Father's promises of protection and provision.

Nothing to Hide. Jesus said, "There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed." Nehemiah had nothing to hide, and he knew it. We too should allow the Light to illuminate the dark recesses of our heart and soul. What is our real motivation? Would it stand up to public scrutiny?

Confident in our Calling. Nehemiah also lacked fear because he had no doubts about what he was called to do--or that our Father would guide him to the end. As Pro 3:5,6 says, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."

4. Strengthen My Hands. Finally, though Nehemiah trusted God, he did not expect God to build the wall, or defend the city. Nehemiah trusted God but continued to work, and prayed for strong "hands." Nehemiah prayed for God's power, means and direction to fulfill what he knew was his God-given purpose. He trusted God but kept his sword sharp and his masonry trowel full.

I have often felt fear, or at least a lack of faith, over the years. When I do fear, I pray, read the Word, and examine my motives. And it has been very helpful for me to look back over the years and see how my Father has so clearly led us, even with a "a sign from the heavens" now and then, and He will do the same today and tomorrow.

If you are alive today (and if you aren't, the internet is far more powerful than I imagined), you have a purpose and a calling. Find it, follow it and nothing else, and banish the darkness of fear with confidence in the Light that will illuminate the path of all who follow and trust our Father.

Related Topic: Trust God but Keep your Sword Sharp (Nehemiah's 6 Steps):

How We Got Here (how we ended up in Xiamen)

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Pros & Cons of Conflict

2009-02-23T16:41:00.000-08:00

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"Be wise as serpents but harmless as a dove." Matt. 10:16

"...not to bring peace but to bring a sword." Matt. 10:34

"To see what is right and not do it, is want of courage or principle." Confucius

I asked my MBA students if conflict was good or bad and most said, "Bad, of course!" And conflict is of course often harmful--but so is the complete absence of conflict, because change and growth only follow conflict. This is one reason that Jesus, the "Prince of Peace," said he came "not to bring peace but to bring a sword." Matt. 10:34

Some say this verse shows that Jesus advocated violence, but look at the context. In Matt. 10, Jesus is warning his disciples that when they preach the Good News they will be persecuted, but to be "wise as serpents and harmless as doves." (Matt. 10:16 KJV). And in Matt. 10:10, Jesus said to not take a bag for the journey, or extra tunic, sandals, staff--much less a sword! So when Jesus spoke of "bringing not peace but a sword," he was saying that his message would stir up conflict from those who opposed him.

Jesus knew the only way to peace, both inner and outer, was conflict. We must confront our dark inner and outer realities before we may deal with them. Conflict brings change, which brings growth (or destruction). This is why Jesus, the man of peace, spoke such fiery sermons--to awaken, and failing that, to enrage, for either hot or cold is better than lukewarm (Rev. 3:16).

Five Approaches to Conflict There are times to not flee conflict but to embrace it as an escape from our debilitating lukewarm spirituality. And we need prayer, wisdom and discernment to determine how to face conflict

1. Confrontation: the "showdown." I confront some issues (cheating students), but not all battles are my battles As Prov. 20:17 says, to meddle in a quarrel not one's own is like grabbing a dog by its ears.

2. Cooperation: work together. I cooperate with members of the fellowship, or nonbelievers engaged in worthy purposes, but not with those who urge me to engage in lucrative but questionable pursuits.

3. Compromise: give and take. I would never compromise my beliefs or ideals, but I do compromise on issues that are major to others and minor to me (resolving a scheduling conflict, for example).

4. Avoid: not worth the bother I actively avoid some people who feel it their calling in life to stir up dissension, but I must also be careful that I do not avoid facing issues just because they are uncomfortable for me (injustice, for example).

5. Accommodate: give in. The better you get at what you do, the more demands people place upon you. I give in to some of these demands, but only if it does not place undue strain upon me, my family, or the work that I know is my priority. (God does have priorities for each of us; even Jesus did not do everything for everyone).

The problem with conflict is it always reflects a changing situation, but our personality (unlike our attitudes) is relatively unchanging, and usually leads us to handle all conflict in the same manner. Some battle every issue; some flee them. But our personality, and perceptions, may no longer be in step with the current situation--or with where our Father is leading us.

Anchored or Tossed We need to be anchored if we are to wisely cope with the chaotic, changing world around us, otherwise we will be "infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching..." Eph. 4:14

Pray daily, read the word (a "lamp unto our feet," guiding us when faced with forks in the road), meditate upon the truths for this day, and then trust for guidance in coping with today's conflicts--for if you're alive and breathing, you will indeed face conflicts this very day. The only folks free from conflict are dead, or residing in padded cells (and they face conflict as well but don't know it).

I will never seek out conflict, but I also know that only those who go upstream feel the current against them. Today, let us accept the conflicts that our Father allows into our lives as God-given opportunities for change and growth.
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Save or Snare the Child?

2009-02-22T17:32:00.000-08:00

Bill Brown .... Xiamen University
"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Prov.22:6

"Things like that must come. But how terrible for those who cause them!" Matt. 18:7

The childhood memories that really stand out are those in which adults did or said something that, in their eyes perhaps, was insignificant, but to me meant the world--such as the Big Bertha tank.

It took dad a year just to pay off the $100 loan for his 1956 De Soto, so we had few toys, though they did scrimp to buy us an encyclopedia set, and telescope and microscope, which to me were better than toys. So I made my own toys, and cigar box guitar, and garden-hose flutes, and sock dolls for my sister. But when I was ten I fell in love with the gigantic green plastic Big Bertha tank in the Charles Town, West Virginia IGA store. On our weekly Friday night trips to town, I'd look at the tank, and imagine firing its big red plastic cannon balls. I knew my parents could not afford it and so never asked for it, so imagine my surprise to find it under the Christmas tree on Christmas morning! The manager had seen me looking at the tank, and gave it to my parents.

It was probably a small gesture for him, but it was one of the childhood kindnesses that I never forgot--an investment that I later multiplied in many other children because the IGA manager taught me how to have a giving heart.

Many small acts of kindness, or words of encouragement, literally built me up, and gave me hope. Yet I can also remember the times that an adult's careless or harsh words (or, worst of all, treating me unfairly) crushed my spirit as if it were an empty soda can beneath someone's heel, and implanted seeds of fear, mistrust, and resentment that are still a part of me today, even though the good memories far outweigh the bad.

Jesus loved children. He said, "Anyone who becomes as free of pride as this child is the most important in the kingdom of heaven." Mat 18:4 NRIV. Jesus encouraged us to receive Jesus as we receive Him. (Matt. 18:5). But he also warned that it would be better to be drowned in the sea with a millstone around one's neck than to cause a child to stumble (literally, to "trip up", "ensnare," or "entrap.").

Pretty strong words, because Jesus knew how easily these little lives can be either shaped for good or scarred for life. And though Jesus also admitted that, in this world, hurts are inevitable, he said woe to those through whom they come (Matt. 18:7).

Receiving Children We need to receive children as we receive Christ, and take care to build them up, not tear them down, because our world is never more than one generation away from total godlessness or anarchy. If we lose the children, we lose the future. But what children?

1. Our own children. It is a shame there is no training required to be a parent! My words and example tripped up my precious sons more times than I care to remember. Fortunately, my Father has been gracious in helping me to slowly change, slowly, and my sons are very forgiving. Still, I hope I do better with the grandchildren!

2. Our neighbor's children. Jesus said to "love your neighbor as yourself." Our neighbor is "anyone in need," and this includes their children. A kind word, gesture, or gift to the child of a needy person, or a day volunteering at the local orphanage, may sow a seed that reaps a great harvest in the generation to come.

3. The World's children. It is amazing that in an age of unsurpassed prosperity we still have unparalleled poverty and hunger. We may try to absolve ourselves by blaming poverty on ignorance or laziness--but the starving child cannot be blamed. Give to organizations like Samaritan's Purse or Red Cross.

Jesus prayed, "Thy Kingdom come, they will be done, on earth as it is in heaven..." Let us treat children carefully, for they are a precious gift, straight from our Father. Whether we save a child or snare it may help determine if we are one generation closer to our Father's kingdom, or one generation farther from it. Help a child today!

"Anyone who welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me." Matt. 18:5 NIRV

Note: Matt.18:7's "offences" is from the Greek skandalon, which is probably from the word kampto, for "bend " or "bow," implying "bent stick" or "snare."
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