Thank you everyone

Pilgrim came to another crossroad on his journey. There are many paths that diverge from this road. As he contemplates which path to take, a voice called out to him.

Voice: Turn around.

And so Pilgrim turned. A crowd was standing before him, singing...

Crowd: “Happy Birthday to you!”

The time to make choices will come again, but right now, pilgrim joined his friends in celebration.

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I want to thank all my friends who have made this 28th birthday the most memorable birthday I ever had. Thank you for all the surprises (3 of them!)! I am really touched though I did not cry. I was in too much shock I guess. Hahaha. I really thank God for friends like all of you, who have shown me so much love and support, who prayed for me and encouraged me, who stood by me when things got rough, who came to my house to spend time with my family, who visited my dad when he was in hospital, who cautioned me when I walk on the edge of the narrow road to God... There are so many things that I want to thank God for because He has placed you guys in my life. I am stronger because of all of you.

Thank you John, Vera, Alec, Evelyn, Wendy, Renee, Jee Sing, Zong Hao, Ghim Shin, Alvin, Valerie, Chung Wei and Julin, Shawn and Syndy and Justin, Shirley, Pastor Kelvin, Jing Hui, Hui Mei, Chih Yang and Grace, Evelyn Jnr, Chun Lei, Cherrie, Emily, Pastor Dot, Ai Ling, Alfred, Wilfred, Julian and Michelle for the present and wonderful celebration.

在台灣的朋友們，好久沒見面了．看到你們的短片，我真的是又驚又喜，感動到不知道該說些甚麼好．我當然沒有忘記你們，我的桌上可是擺著你們的照片呢，只是現在因為時間和工作的關係沒辦法抽空到台灣去．希望今年工作會有些成績，便可以找個機會去跟你們聚一聚．

明典表弟，謝謝你所作的一切．你好用心啊，不只是錄音，還加了旁白．感謝神有你這樣一個細心又熱情的好弟兄．

逸文也是，我的媽媽看了短片，聽到你想接待她，馬上就說你好友善又好客．你們不只是我在主裡的弟兄，更在對我的家人作見證，讓他們看到了耶穌的愛．感謝主．

時間過得真快，映慈妹妹都畢業了!回想起來，那個時候妳還在念大一，現在卻步入社會工作了，好奇妙．加油，我也會一起加油的．繼續尋求我們的主．

文瑩，謝謝妳一起安排這一切，讓我的生日過得這麼特別．妳的關心和禱告，對我的家人的照顧，還有那追求主的心都讓我好佩服，感動．

謝謝你們正琪，欽漢，郁瑜，婉琪，羽書，家彥，中傑，弘真. 感謝主讓我在台灣也有這麼多好朋友!

謝謝大家的祝福!

From deepest fear to greatest redemption

I was watching the movie "Coach Carter" this afternoon and this quote came up. However, the real author was not credited with this quote and the lines in blue were left out of the movie version.

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Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brillant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?" Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
A Return To Love by Marianne Williamson

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Some people fear that they are not good enough, hopefully my fellow pilgrims will hear and understand the quote above. Some people think that a good God is too good to be true, the quote below is for the not-yet-pilgrims.

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My theory leaves plenty of difficulty, but has no such fault as that. Why, what sort of God would content you, Mr Faber? The one idea is too bad to be true, the other too good. Must you expand and trim until you get one exactly to the measure of yourself before you can accept it as thinkable or possible? Why, a God like that would not rest your soul a week. The only possiblility of believing in a God seems to me in finding an idea of God large enough, grand enough, pure enough, lovely enough to be fit to believe in."

"And have you found such, may I ask?"

"I think I am finding such," confessed Wingfold.

"Where?"

"In the man of the New Testament."
The Curate's Awakening (New title) or Thomas Wingfold by George Macdonald

The Three Shoes

Once upon a time, there were three pairs of shoes in a shoe shop. They were friends for as long as they can remember for the shoe maker made them on the same day. Since the first day they were laid upon the shelf side by side, they have scrutinised all their prospective owners to be. If there were anyone they liked, they would try their best to shine in order to attract attention.

Shoe 1: I would certainly like my owner to be someone important so that I would be able to travel to many different places of interest.

Shoe 2: What good is travelling? I want my owner to be someone famous, so that people can look at me and be marvelled.

Shoe 3: I do not know about all those things, I just want to be happy. How that would come I do not yet know.

Now it came to pass that all three shoes were bought on the same day. The owner of the first shoe was a businessman. He was a globetrotter. Shoe 1 shined with full delight and the businessman was his. He was bought. Shoe 2 spied an up and rising actor and immediately he gleamed. The actor was picking out shoes for his new role and promptly picked up his new shoe. Shoe 3 was left upon the shelf but an old man took notice of him. This old man seemed poor and unimportant, but as he carried the shoe in his arms, Shoe 1 felt that happiness might have come.

A few days later, all three shoes came together at a gathering. Shoe 1 and Shoe 2 were on a stage. The businessman had put money into a show that the actor was in. They were the highlight of the gathering. The old man was one of those in the crowd. Shoe 3 was on his way out.

Shoe 2: Where are you going?

Shoe 3: My master has things to do, and so I must be on my way.

Shoe 1: What sort of friend are you? Why can't you spend some time to share in our delight? I want to tell you where I have been.

Shoe 3: My life and time are not my own, so I am afraid that I cannot stay.

Shoe 2: Forget him. We can make many new friends here. I am famous now.

The old man walked on and Shoe 3 bid his farewell. Shoe 1 and Shoe 2 stayed in the limelight.

Some time later, all three shoes found themselves in a junkyard. They have been discarded.

Shoe 1: The only thing I saw were hotels and conference rooms, though I have been to more countries and cities than many.

Shoe 2: You fared better than me, after the movie was finished, I was left in a cupboard, with fifty other pairs of shoes.

Shoe 1: You looked the most worn out, life must have been hard on you.

Shoe 3 was breathing his last breath when he said this.

Shoe 3: On the contrary, I have found what I was looking for. For it is written,"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet who bring good news..." (Ish 52:7) I travelled far and wide into mountainous regions and saw nature's beauty, I brought my owner to people who loved him and were marvelled at his words. Truly I must say, I am satisfied. I am happy.

With this statement, Shoe 3 breathed his last and was not more, according to what we say in our world... In another world, his life has just began.

Not the same anymore

Today is the official day that I have entered into a new phase of my scriptwriting program. I did a count and realised that it has been two years and three months since my acting class first started, around one year and nine months since the screenwriting program started. It has been one year and eight months since I left my dad's company to pursue screenwriting, which means that long without a stable job and source of income. Finally, I am moving into another phase, a phase that I have been waiting for a long time. Things will not be the same anymore.

White Bear, Self Talent and myself were talking about our past a few nights ago (Self Talent too is on the journey to seek Him). It has been quite some time since we started on this journey, and what a journey this has been. All the tests and trials that had gone by had molded us to become who we are now. It is amazing to see how the Storyteller had been there all the time, protecting and guiding our lives, slowly revealing Himself to us though we did not know it. But today we can say, we know Him. We are not the same anymore.

For me personally, it has been 10 years, 3 months and 3 days since I started on the journey to seek Him. There were times when I was stagnant, there were times when I moved fairly quickly. There were times when I would shout with jubilation, and there were times of silent tears. There were times of safe refuge, and there were times of great risk. One thing I can be sure of, it is never easy.

The spiritual life cannot be made suburban. It is always frontier, and we who live in it must accept and even rejoice that it remains untamed.
Howard Macey

Safe? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

But though it is not easy, I will still keep on walking and running and swimming and crawling forward. As long as the Storyteller grips my hands, as long as the Son intercedes for me, as long as the Dove is there to guide me to the right direction, I will go forward. And I know, I will not be the same anymore. I am becoming the person He wants me to be.

Right Time, Right Place, An Awesome Place

By the time I put up this post, it would already be early morn on tuesday. 8 days of high and low adventure has passed. There are too many details for me to put here all at one go, but a broad stroke should serve the same purpose here.

The lowest point point came when I found out that the kingdom as I know it was collapsing. Even though I knew that it would some time down the road, yet I did not expect it to be so soon. Was it any easier to know that it is not my fault? No, not at all. Was it any consolation to know that I did not contribute to its collapse? Nope, nothing there either. However, this news came at the right time.

The Right Time. On wed, a whole group of people came together to an Awesome Place to seek the Story teller. A seer gave me words from the Story teller Himself. Needless for me to elaborate, those were the right words that kept my eyes on Him. The news that caused the lowest point came after this. He must have known and thus prepared me so that I would not look to anywhere else but Him. Praise Him!

The highs came when the door that I thought had been closed had burst wide open and the other door that is already open now has a ticking clock on it, asking me to go through it quickly. Though sleep and food are scarce and irregular, I have no qualms about it. I feel that I have been sleeping for too long anyway. But still, the words from the Story teller brought everything to perspective.

He reminded me that this journey is one to be enjoyed, that He is the one writing my story. As long as I am in his hands, I am safe. He has me where he wants me to be. This is the Right Time. This is the Right Place. An Awesome Place.

It will come

As pilgrim makes his way past a slum, where the poor and sick and underprivileged dwell, a man full of white hair standing nearby shouted out to him,

Stranger: Where are you going my friend?

And pilgrim turned and responded,

Pilgrim: Oh hi there, I am on my way to find the Story teller of my life.

Stranger: I see, You have the book of records on your left hand and another book like a journal on your right, your bags are packed and you even have the right shoes for the journey. Where are you going?

Pilgrim looks puzzled.

Pilgrim: I... I am on my way to find him, the Story teller.. of my life.

Stranger: I know you are on your way to find Him, the same can be said of me. But...

Pilgrim spies the same book of records on a table nearby.

Stranger: But don't you see there are people here that need your help?

Pilgrim: I would offer my help kind sir, but my rations are low and I need to be on my way.

Stranger: I am not asking for alot, just an amount as the Dove would tell you to.

Pilgrim consults the Dove.

Pilgrim: That is an awful lot that I am afraid I do not have.

Stranger: It will come to you... like it used to when two fishes and five loaves of bread fed a multitude. It will come. You do not have to give everything today, but as you start giving, it will come.

Pilgrim: I know what you say is true, for that is the nature of the Story teller. It is not easy for me, but as the Dove instructs, so in faith will I give.

Stranger: In faith, that is as pleasing to the heart as it sounds, for this faith I know will not fail. You are a pilgrim on a journey, and the little that you give today will yet make thousands more pilgrims in time to come. And this is all that matters.

Pilgrim: Verily verily I agree. I thank you for bringing this up to me, for I do not want to think when I see the Story teller, I would be with just a few friends. I do dream that it was crowded, a festive crowd.

Stranger: And indeed it will be... Where are you going my dear friend?

Pilgrim: I am on my way to find the Story teller of my life, and bringing others together with me.

Stranger: Well said, but before you go on any further, perhaps you want to take a look inside the tent where the children are in, for the Son is here.

Not Animal Farm

I had the chance to meet up with quite a few friends over this week. Firstly, it was the Eagle, another dear friend I had know for more than six years already. Like always, he was soaring way above most other people I know. We can only get to meet once in a while, a long while, but the meetings have always been wonderful times of catching up. Like in the past, one of the topics fell on finding a partner on the journey (life partner, or soul mate, they call it). He is still soaring alone way up there, I am still running alone down here. Maybe he should start looking down and I up. Another reason why I enjoy meeting the Eagle was that we would seek the Lion (who is also the Son, who is also the Lamb, who is also... but that is another story) together at the end of every meeting. This did not happen. Perhaps we were both tired at 3 in the morn.

I met up with White Bear tonight, again, after seeing him from a distance but it was something else that prompted this meeting. Travelling on this journey is not easy, and I had taken quite a beating this week. Like Frodo when he travelled to Mordor, I realised that my lumbar's bread and water was running out, and there seems to be no place that I can replenish my supplies. Another antagonising thing was this maze I am trying to get out of. I thought I had found my way out, but now it seems like it is not so. This door is almost shut, yet another door I did not expect had opened. However, the immediate way ahead of this second door is dark, though it looks promising a little further down the road. It was when I was contemplating all these that I saw White Bear, and thus led to the meeting with him.

Just like with the Eagle, the time spent with White Bear is as wondeful. As I emptied the jug of confusion and contemplation, he began to refill me with living water from the Lion's stream (it is another saying, John 7:38, that streams of living water with flow from within him who believes in the Lion). I don't think I ever told him (maybe I did at one of his birthdays, but I cannot remember) that the reason that I enjoy the time with White Bear was that he reminds me of the Lion. And unlike the donkey and the ape in "The Last Battle" by C.S. Lewis, this Bear would never claim to be the Lion, he just points people to Him, which was what he did tonight.

So after I got back to my cabin, I spent some time looking for the Lion in the records of the book on my left hand, and asked the Dove to be my guide. He pointed me to a familiar verse which goes like this,

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul.

He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me;

your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

The Dove guides and gives understanding. The Lion always points to the Story teller and proves that obedience is the key to the Story teller's heart. And the Story teller goes on inviting me to write this story with Him, no matter how difficult it seems.

Though there are many animals here, it is not animal farm we are writing.