deeperthanyesterday

1st Reading: Worshippers, Pursuit, Discernment      There are two types of worshippers: True and False worshippers. The wise men are true and King Herod is false. The wise men pursued the star. Travelling today is way more convenient than their time. The wise men had to deal with desert and coldness at night. They had to prepare their food manually. Unlike today I can drive going to Vancouver and check in to motels if I want to. After worshipping the King of the Jews the wise men started to go back. They have been warned not to go on the same route. They had been given protection through discernment. Once we follow Jesus, we don't go back to our old ways, and we will be guided and receive wisdom in our lives. 2nd Reading: Herod     "Where" and "When" are the questions King Herod asked upon hearing the news that someone might take his throne. He found out that it was in his geographic location he continued to ask the follow-up question to prepare for the inevitab...

      Some believe that a person ought to invite an entire group of friends to an event regardless if the event matches their hobbies or likes in life. It is a sign of courtesy. When I was in my office, my officemate's analysis of the situation was that she received a "pity invite" from me. I was clueless about that terminology and I looked it up at Google. It is "an invitation given to someone only out of sympathy or pity. Usually given right before an event, so other person is very unlikely to attend."1 I opened the discussion with my parents and we coin that term in our country as "pabalat bunga". I came across an online writing that refers to responding to a pity invite. I learned that the one who invites might actually want to have a genuine connection with the person or not.      If we are to invite a certain person just to express a sign of courtesy it would be dangerous for that person to be classified as a recipient of "pity invite"....

     In our chapel, we did an activity where we were to walk to different stations. Each station lets us read the verse, pray, reflect, and contemplate life. The traffic light has three colours: red, green, and yellow. Red represents a stop. Ask God if there are some things that you need to stop doing. Green means go. Perhaps you can continue your obedience to what God told you to do. Yellow refers to slow down. You can evaluate or even re-assess what you are doing in life.      Nearly two decades ago, during one of our small group gatherings, we learned that instead of asking, "Is this the right thing to do?" ask, "Why are we doing this?" The public always asks this former question in seeking answers in the bible.  "Is it right to have a tattoo as a Christian?" "Is it right to date online?" "Is it right to drink?" Rarely, if not, they ask, "Why are we doing it?"      Other thinkers tried reading John 1:1 with the translation ...