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到了守聖餐的環節,崇拜前已得知當地教會守聖餐用的是葡萄酒,我心內默默地想:我又不會喝酒,當論到我時,裝作喝了便算。輪到我時,心內念及守聖餐的意義take and eat, take and drink,食主耶穌的身體,飲主耶穌的血,主耶穌為我贖罪,主耶穌活在我生命裏,我豈能作假?於是求主原諒我迂腐又死守
In hindsight, I have grown up from Church as part of me for 18 years. God has given me all His blessings throughout the years in my study, my family, my career, my health and everything in my life. I would sincerely like to share two memorable experiences I have encountered through Him in 2020 - 1. God's personalized calling to me; 2. My resurrection and saving from God.
1. God's intimate callingI walked the dog routinely on a
Chinese New Year's Eve afternoon. As a dog lover, I had predetermined two usual routes for my puppy to keep him entertained and safe. During the dog walk, he pulled me into a corner where I would never have planned going to which was the backdoor of the Marine Police Regional Headquarters. As most workers were on holidays on New Year's Eve, only a few workers came out from the station. One of the workers saw me walking the dog and gave me a pamphlet, saying to me: "You might be interested reading this content." I paused and thought: "Was there virus on this pamphlet? (because of the coronavirus outbreak in Hong Kong) maybe I should throw it away." As a friendly gesture, I had a quick look at the pamphlet and saw the heading was about a story of A Heroic Hunting Dog.
The Gospel pamphlet recounted a hound dog called Braun, who worked at the peak mountains between ski resorts. He had a selfless character whenever people ran into accidents from snowstorms; Braun relentlessly lay on top of human bodies and shielded them with his full body every time to keep them safe and warm until the rescues arrived. Braun saved more than 40 human lives by his selfl ess contribution in this way. When Braun did the same to a man, the man had fainted and he misunderstood that the hound dog was a wolf attacking himself. The man then took out a knife and stabbed him deeply. Braun sacrificed his life this time because of his selfl ess love to humans.
This true story is a good metaphor as to what God had done similarly to us by showing his selfl ess and full love through salvation. However, humans have mostly cared about their own benefits. The Gospel pamphlet then raised a rhetorical question: "Are we willing to fully invite, accept and internalize God in our life?" As long as I am willing to repent and to transform, God's promise is to enter into my life and love me unconditionally. At that moment I thought: "God's love to me is so personalized and touched my heart through my puppy, even though it was just a routine daily dog walk."
My personal response to God
was: "My dear Lord, I fully perceive this is your personal calling to me, and I am willing to get closer and have a deeper understanding of you, as well as to repent and to accept your Holy Spirit."
From this experience, I realize God's love to me is that simple and direct, as his love towards me is all-rounded and lively where I can connect with him as straightforward as that. His love is not only limited to Church or a Sunday service, and also not because I am a member of Pentecostal Mission like any other clubs, but through my most beloved puppy where I can again experience my dear heavenly Father.
2. A life-saving experienceAs I grew up in a Christian
family, I have intimate knowledge about the Bible and a loving heart to God. Despite all priorities and tiredness, I go to church on every Sunday not because of my family, habit, or other people, but because of a simple and pure desire to connect with Him personally.
Up until this mid-February, I have been facing uncertainties in relationships and have taken pride about myself in making decisions, where I did not give thoughts about God nor pray seriously about my future relationship. My career has also been challenging without a foreseeable future. The quality of my own spiritual life had certainly
"You will shine among them like stars in the sky, as you hold firmly to the word of life."
Joyce Tam
Philippians 2:15-16
Audio/聆聽版本
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靈磐庇佑奇異恩典
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been on a low point when I went to church on a Sunday. After that Sunday morning service, I thought I was safe and fully protected with a face mask (due to the recent coronavirus outbreak). While crossing the road, a taxi came over within seconds and crashed onto me. Before I fainted for seconds, I heard a pedestrian screaming because of witnessing the car accident.
I no longer had the opportunity to pray to God nor call for help. Nonetheless, I did not feel painful during the crash as God's hands seemed present to stop the taxi from going one more inch towards me. Instead, His hands seemed to be there embracing and lifting me. I would have possibly died immediately without consciousness.
The whole trauma was extremely blessed because only minor soft internal tissues were injured with some bruises and only physiotherapy was needed to improve my muscle pain. Although I was awakened with fear and did not know how to react, I understood the purpose of God is to awaken my heart and my spiritual life because of my arrogance when I thought I could take lead of my relationship. God would not be delighted as He is the one who takes charge on everything of me. I realized the fact that I still have not fully understood all the reasons of facing such challenge in a relationship when
a sister in church reminded me that humbleness in God is key even though we do not fully understand along the journey. Open our hands and submit all our difficulties to Him and have Him take charge of my life instead.
Having a car accident can be deadly serious as it can be fatal. Now reminiscing the whole incident, I realised God had given me my spiritual maturity, which is beyond a mere car accident where my second life is now beyond myself. My life is no longer about only pursuing my life goals and my wants (no more different than any other millennials in my 20s). Whereas I have learnt to love God even more from this life-changing experience and hoping to better equip myself as a Christian. Most importantly, I understand there is still work that God needs me to undertake. I shall need to spread His liveliness and truthfulness to my family, as well as seek for the Holy Spirit, instead of seeking for Him at the last minute.
Only when one has experienced the preciousness of life and death will one appreciate the beauty of living. Feeling my own breath and body moving and how grateful I am to be able to live with a second life.
This adventure candidly verifies what Psalms 121 had written: "Where does my help come from? My help
comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let my foot slip - He who watches over me will not slumber; Indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you - the Lord is my shade at my right hand (the taxi crashed towards me on my right); the sun will not harm me by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep me from all harm - He will watch over my life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore."
From the two above circum-stances, God has changed my men-tality completely towards grudges about my family, my work and my future relationship. God made me feel relief in Him when spending quality time praying in the room, in addition to read out the Bible verses and treasure the time where I still can seek for Him. God has made me empty myself before my prayer and have Him take lead of my daily life and promise Him to seek for His Holy Spirit. God also gave me courage to share my favorite Bible verses and share the above experiences with Christians and non Christians on behalf of His name. Praise the Lord!
帝。神知道我內心的掙扎,使其中一句歌詞特別打動我心:“For all your goodness, I will keep on sing ing!”(因着祢的美善,我會繼續歌唱!)主親自透過詩歌加我信心,給我的鼓勵,我豈能不聽從呢!因此無論發生任何事,我都希望能用我的口、我的心,繼續去唱!繼續去歌頌祢的名!感謝主,我順服後身心靈都重新得力,現在練詩的時候比之前享受多了,掙扎的感覺亦完全消散了!
Church addresses and meeting times:Hong Kong church ——11, Castle Road, Mid Levels, Hong Kong Tel:(852) 2548-6949 Fax:(852) 2858-9055Sunday school : 11:00 am Sunday services: 2:00 pm, 7:00 pm Wednesday services : 7:00 pmTestimony and Fellowship Meeting:second Tuesday of every even month at 7:00 pmKowloon church ——71, Waterloo Road, Homantin, Kowloon Tel:(852) 2713-5455Sunday school : 9:30 am Sunday Services : 10:30 am, 7:00 pm Friday services : 7:00 pmTestimony and Fellowship Meeting : second Tuesday of every odd month at 7:00 pmVancouver church ——1531 W. 15th Ave., Vancouver, B. C. Canada V6J 2K5 Tel :(+1)604-732-4470Sunday school:10:00 am Sunday services : 11:00 am, 7:00 pm Wednesday services:7:00 pmWeb site —— http: // www.pentecostal-mission.org