Photos taken in Shantou (Swatow) in June 2011

The following photos were taken in Shantou (Swatow) in June 2011 by Yuan3y. All these photos are distributed under CC BY-NC 3.0 license, in simpler words, the author Yuan3y needs to be credited and these photos can only be used non-commercially.

In no particular order,

Panorama of Shantou Jinshan Middle School, June 2011

Shantou Skyline, June 2011

Panorama of Shantou Jinshan Middle School closer, June 2011

Shantou Queshi Bridge Toll Station, June 2011

Old Department Mall, Shantou, June 2011, in black and white

Old Department Mall, Shantou, June 2011

Saitinhang Oluah, Shantou, June 2011

Ku Sog Eng, Shop Owner of Saitinhang Oluah

Oluah (Oyster Omelette) from Saitinhang Oluah, Shantou, June 2011

Shantou Old City Area, June 2011

Queshi Chairlift, June 2011

Last Upadate by 1 Dec 2011

2011年终总结 Year-End Reflection

2011年终总结
19岁的2011年终于要过去了。没有像前两年一样在生日写成长年记；但今年，却是我明显感到成长、成熟的一年。
=========
今年大事记：
一月：和团契去马六甲、和同学去槟城玩；
进入英华初级学院学习。
四月：新加坡青年艺术节（SYF）合唱荣誉金奖（GwH）
五月：在宿舍丢钱包，忙了一阵；月底学校合唱团在滨海艺术中心音乐厅年度音乐会。
六月：回家
八月：和学校物理科一些同学受英国南安普顿大学电子计算机系邀请参观游玩两周。
九月：心情低落了好一阵。
十月：班际运动会我为我的班级骄傲：）
十一月：研究性学习（PW）终于考完！
=========
一．学业成就
今 年一如既往（来新加坡以后）地拿了个中上的成绩，按老师的话翻译过来就是“对我其实有更高的期望”。我所进入的初级学院是我当时填的第三志愿，也是我当时 认识的初院的最后一个（我中学时候真的对R/HC/V/N/T/AC之外其它初院毫无印象）。拿到成绩的那天凌晨，我好像是房间六人里面第一个收到信息 的。第一个念头是哎，真的是这样（遇到我计划中的最坏情况）……但心里都还蛮平静的，平静地接受。开学了也很快地融入了学校的环境，其实学校蛮适合我的。 读书是需要用功的，但今年有好多事，搞到头来每次都把最弱的一科经济的复习时间拿来强化理科，好像有点偏科。最后奖学金保住，六十多分（总分八十）的排位 分是上帝看顾。

二．心理发展
从小以来一直乐天派、一向十分自信的我，今年开始无故地多了分忧虑，多了些困惑。有些事情变成还 没有做就潜意识里告诉自己比不过别人，初生牛犊不怕虎的那种脾气不知去了哪里。也不曾仔细想过将来大学之路的我，也开始潜心看了一下未来的方向，有好一阵 子感觉未来的曙光就是看不到……最后甚至有几天开始担心婚姻的问题，真不知道自己在无故的担心什么。今年告诉自己最多的一句话可能就是，不要为明天忧 虑……

理性和感性兼备的我在中学给了自己四个字：不谈恋爱。原因是谈恋爱为了婚姻，而中学低年级时期到结婚年龄还有遥不可及的好多年，一次 恋爱一直持续到婚姻是很不现实的；那就意味着中学时期开始恋爱的话，最后一定会分手——但我不想受伤，更不愿让别人受伤。上到初院，事实上客观状况没有改 变太多，掐指算来，到大学毕业，现在还有六、七年吧。我父母他们从认识到结婚经历了八年，其中两年还是分居两地。我很敬佩他们的这种执着；我猜想如果我认 定了所爱的女孩，我也能做出类似付出。

于是，我就经历了在短时间内对女孩产生好感，又追求女孩不到的挫折。为了保护女孩的隐私，请不要问名 字。对女孩的仰慕主要是因为，她是在信仰（及恋爱观）和兴趣两方面同时与我高度相近的一位。因为过于理性的分析，在认识女孩之后没多久就对她表白，表 白的过程倒是大大好于我的预期，于是我有了高高的期待，但随之的考虑结果又把我重重的砸下。

其实对我而言，这件事让我学到很多。一是等待，万务有时。二是顺服，神的旨意高过人的安排。三是在适宜的时候说合宜的话。四是交托、对上帝更多的信靠：在情感这样的事上我实在需要祂的带领。五是预备自己成为更好的男友、更好的丈夫。六是祝福、造就他人。

三．人际关系
新结识的要好朋友多是中国同学。当然班上、社团里的新加坡同学也很多成为我的朋友。失败的方面是，纵使放到相知的层面，我都没有认识太多东南亚的同学。可能是我累了，真的。前两年我可以很自如地认识近三十个非新加坡同学，今年却感到疲惫。

四．金钱管理
今 年很大一个失败是账务的混乱。从小学五年级养成的记帐习惯，一直保持着，所以一直收支都处于一种健康的状态。下半年却连续几个月每个月出现好几百块的空 白，自己都不知道自己把钱花在了哪里。最夸张的时候，每隔两三天就有一位同学跑来告诉我，前几天跟我借过钱，一直没还给我，然后我惊讶地发现我把一切借给 别人钱的事都在混乱的心情之中忘却了……不算去英国的花费，截止今天我超支年度奖学金的125%，一个令我震惊的数字。检讨一下今年的花钱状况，有很多不 必要的支出，比如打的、买零食饮料，多出去吃喝了很多次，然后还有很多混乱的借钱。

五．基督徒生活
去年花了一年时间把新约再自己重新从头读到了尾，而今年不断地在新旧约之间跳着读，有收获，却不很有系统性。教会事工在原来多媒体幻灯的基础上开始学习音效控制。经历今年的磨砺，我发现我的软弱与主的刚强。

六．总结
我是个喜欢音乐的人，那就用两首歌总结全年吧。
第一首是年初在马来西亚玩的时候听到的过年歌曲，天天好天。

是晴天 是雨天
天天都是好天
知足常乐看新一年
我看见艳阳天

第二首是我到今天为止买过的唯一一张音乐专辑的主打歌，Laura Story的Blessings

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops/倘若祢的祝福历经风雨
What if Your healing comes through tears/倘若祢的医治历经泪水
What if a thousand sleepless nights/倘若一千个失眠的夜晚
Are what it takes to know You’re near/方能使我知道祢的同在
What if trials of this life/倘若我这一生中的试练
are Your mercies in disguise/是祢隐藏的恩典

这两首歌反应了我今年不同时期的不同主色调。另外写完这篇总结发现，面对自己是一件需要勇气的事。


2011 Year-end Reflection
2011, my year of 19, is coming to an end. Unlike the previous two years writing birthday reflections for myself, for some reason I didn't do so this year; but I'm still writing this year-end reflection because this year is a year when I feel myself growing up and growing into maturity.

=========

Some Important Events of the year:
Jan: trip to Malacca and Penang;
     Being posted to Anglo-Chinese Junior College
Apr: achieve choir's Gold with Honour in Singapore Youth Festival (SYF)
May: lost my wallet in the hostel;
     Annual choir concert at Esplanade
Jun: home sweet home
Aug: being invited to School of Electronics and Computer Science, Southampton University, UK for two weeks
Sep: in a low mood for quite a while
Oct: being proud of my class in the Inter-Class AC Games
Nov: Project Work (PW) is over!
=========

A. Academics
As like any other years since I came to Singapore, this year's overall result is merely satisfactory, and according to my teacher, 'expecting more from you'. AC was my third choice in fact, and it was the last JC that I knew of (I had absolutely no knowledge for JC other than R/HC/V/N/T/AC at that time). On the morning receiving JC posting result, I was the first in the room receiving the message. The first thought of mine was, sigh, in the end it happens (the worst I could have expected)... But anyway I was quite calm, and accepted with little struggle. I was able to get into the new environment quickly after the orientation, and I felt the college suits me. It takes effort to study, especially to get good grades, but with many things to handle this year, I always ran out of revision time and had to cut off the time for my weakest Economics to compensate and strengthen my sciences-- that leads me an imbalanced result among subjects. All in all I have to thank God that my scholarship being sustained and the not-too-bad sixty plus ranking points (out of eighty) are never possible without the care that God granted me.

B. Emotion and Growth
I have always been contented and confident, but this year, I somehow had more worries and doubt. It turns out that for many things before I even do them, my subconscious started to tell myself I'm not better than others; the courage that I used to possess had weakened by much. Previously I've never planned clearly for where to go for the university, but this year I started to see the different opportunities, however sometimes I just could not see the brightness of my future. In the end I even started to worry about things like marriage, which I should have no reason to worry at this age. One verse I kept telling myself this year is probably, "Do not worry about tomorrow"...

I'm both thinking and feeling person (though thinking is a bit stronger), hence logically I told myself during Secondary time: Do Not Start Dating. The reason is a result of logical thinking: the goal of dating is marriage, but starting dating since lower Secondary is almost impossible to hold the relationship into the age of marriage. It means that if a person was to start dating since Secondary School, in the end he will probably break up with the girl--- I don't want to be hurt by breaking up, and neither do I wish to hurt anyone. In junior college level, objectively the situation is not much changed, from now to graduating from university is another six or seven years. My parents married at the eighth year since they knew of each other, and what's more precious is for two of those years they were in different cities. I admire their perseverance; and I guess if I confirm a girl I love, I can commit similarly.

Thence I experienced the frustration of rejection after having a strong admiration upon a girl. For the privacy of her, please do not try in any way guess the identity of the person. The admiration I had on her was mainly due to that she was the first person I met having highest closeness in both faith (including opinions of dating) and interests. Due to some over-rational analyses, I confessed my admiration to her shortly after I knew of her. The process of my confession was much smoothly than what I could have expected, it is this over-expected smooth made me expecting much good result, then her decision after deliberation put my highly-lifted expectation to the ground. (By the way I have to admit that she must be really mature to choose to have some time for thoughts.)

In fact for me, I've learnt quite a few lessons from this incident. First, to wait-- There is a time for everything. Second, accept and obey -- God's will is higher and better than men's plans. Third, speak appropriately at appropriate time. Fourth, surrender, and trust God alone -- I really need God to lead me in matters about love and relationships. Fifth, prepare myself to be a better boyfriend, a better husband. Sixth, bless and benefit the people around me.

C. Friendships
This year, I made a few good friends, mostly scholars from China. Of course I've made a couple local friends as well from class, CCA and other school activities. One area of failure is even to the level of acquaintance, I have not known of all the foreign scholars from other countries. Perhaps this year I am tired. Two years back I could easily make friends with thirty over ASEAN and Indian friends, but this year I feel tired.

D. Financial Management
A major failure of this year is the messiness of my finance. I have made a habit of keeping account of my money flow, and I have been always practicing it, thus my expense has always been at a healthy status. However in the second half of the year, for every month I spent hundreds of dollars unknowing where I have used them. The scaring thing was for some days my friends came to tell me that I had lent them money and they had not returned until that day. Then surprisingly I realised that I have actually lent others money, but I forget all those in the mist of the emotional disturbance... Excluding spending for the trip to UK, I have overspent 125% of my annual scholarship allowance till date, a shocking number for me! Reflecting on my way of spending this year, I have a lot of unnecessary expenses, like taking caps or buying snacks, and dining out too much, and lending money without tracking...

E. Christian Life
For the last year I read through New Testament once again; this year I was jumping between books in Old and New Testament, still being benefited, but the absorption is not as systematic. For ministry, I continued serving in multimedia and PowerPoint sector, and started learning controlling sound mixer. Through the toughness of this year, I realized more about how weak I am and how strong He is.

F. Summary
I am a person who likes music, thus I'd like to use two songs to sum up the year.
First song is a Chinese-New-Year song I heard in the beginning of the year, 天天好天 (Every day is a good day).

是晴天 是雨天/whether it's a sunny day, or a rainy day
天天都是好天/every day is a good day
知足常乐看新一年/be content and happy to see the new year
我看见艳阳天/I see a beautiful sunny day

The other song is the titled song of the only album I've purchased in my life till date, Blessings by Laura Story.

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life
Are Your mercies in disguise

These two songs reflect the main colours of the different times of my life this year. And after writing this reflection I feel that it takes courage to reflect on myself.

Lord! Will I sell you for a few pieces of silver?

Lord! One day when I meet some temptations,
will I sell you just for a few pieces of silver?

One day, meeting the temptation of thirty pieces of silver, will I sell you just as Judas Iscariot did?

“Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?’ And they paid him thirty pieces of silver.” (Matthew 26:14-15)

One day, when I am very tired and thirsty, seeing a bowl of red stew, will I sell you as Esau did?

“And Esau said to Jacob, ‘Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!’ … So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.” (Genesis 25:30-34)

One day, meeting the temptation, will I sell you just for a pair of shoes?

“… They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals.” (Amos 2:6)

“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. … Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” (Matthew 25:35-45)

Lord, Paul rather suffered the thorn in his flesh, even being rejected after three times of prayer, he was still willing to obey and suffer;
but one day, will I sell you just because there is sorcery which can effectively solve the pain from the thorn in my flesh?

“… Used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD…” (2 Kings 17:17)

Lord, you prayed in the wilderness for forty days, being hungry and thirsty, meeting the temptation from the devil, you rather suffered hunger and rejected the suggestion from the devil;
but one day when I am hungry and thirsty, meeting the temptation of stones being turned into bread by the devil, will I sell you just for some bread?

Lord, Satan thinks that people believe and trust in God just because they want good health. As long as people suffer serious diseases, they will abandon their faith. Nevertheless, Jacob endured these suffering, did not abandon his faith because of suffering diseases;
but one day, if I am seriously ill, suffering great pain, if someone use enchantments that are against biblical teachings to heal me, will I sell you just to gain my healthiness?

Lord!
How many pieces of silver are you worth?
How many bowls of red stew are you worth?
How many pairs of shoes are you worth?
How many pieces of bread are you worth?

Lord!
Are you really worth those only?
In my heart, are You this cheap?
Is the value of You less than my prosperity and success?
Is the value of You less than my healthiness?
Has it turned out that, I am worthier than You?
Is it true that for my need and desire, You can be sold away?
Has it turned out that, my faith is so worthless, so unable to go through trials or temptations?
Has it turned out that, ‘Lord of Lords, King of Kings’ from my mouth is only a slogan, a slogan that is unable to go through trials or temptations?
Will I sell you one day when I meet the temptations?

Lord! Help me to resist those trials even facing temptations,
even if I have to die in illness, thirst, or poorness for this!
But may you give me strength, allow me to be faithful until my death, and receive the crown of life.

“… Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” (Revelation 2:10)

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” (Romans 8:35)

“… Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’…” (John 21:15)

“Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’” (Mark 9:24)

My dear brothers and sisters!
When one day some temptations come, the Lord asks us,
“So-and-so, do you love me more than these?”
How will our answer be?

Does God really want to record this in heaven,
 “So-and-so sold Jesus for something.”?

May the Lord help us!

----------------------------------------------------------------
Original Article ‘主啊！我會為了幾塊錢，就把你賣了？ ’(http://blog.roodo.com/yml/archives/14834619.html) was written by Little Little Sheep(小小羊), a Taiwanese Christian Blogger;
Translated by Yuan3y.

This copy of translation can be re-posted or reprinted online or offline freely, provided that:
*the Original Author is credited,
*and a URL link to the original article is attached,
*and for non-profit purpose. 

Beach at Aloha Changi

Author: Yuan3y
Date of Source: 3 Sept 2011
Date of Release: 5 Sept 2011
License: CC-BY-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)

Tell it to my daughter

* An official English version is found afterwards and was not referred to during my process of translating, it can be found here: http://www.oc.org/web/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=49

1.
My child, first of all we hope you always set pursuing the truth as your goal in life. You can be a famous person, or a nobody; a boss, or an employee, can be rich, or be poor… But we hope you are a person who pursue after the truth.

When you were a kid, we were blessed to know God, brought you up with Bible as principles. We let you be brave to challenge, we let you study hard, and we let you get exposed to poem, music, dance, arts, history, geography and beautiful Nature; We let you see the limitations of humanity and the corruptions in human nature, we let you learn to build up healthy inter-person relations, all these is to let you develop a noble temperament and the ability in appreciating what’s true, good and beautiful. This temperament and ability of appreciation will accompany you with your life of joy, allow you to see the feast that God set for those who faithfully trust in Him, through the valley of death.

Pursuing the Truth will make you outstanding, pursuing the Truth will build up your temperament, pursuing the truth can make you glamorous. In contrast, no matter how beautiful a girl is, without the ideal of pursuing the Truth, she will become indifferent and pitiable.

2.
The way to your ideal tend to be difficult, and you will endure hardships for this either. However, my child, you must prepare your will to suffer and the ability to endure hardships since young. One who pursues lofty ideals, will never be self-pity or pessimistic. In the seemingly rough life, you will see many signs and wonders that others cannot experience. Choosing to be indifferent may be comfortable and secure, but sure to be colourless.

Ideals may not bring you any instantaneous profits, often bring no secular enjoyments. Hence you must prepare your heart, prepare to get used to the situation when nobody agree or appreciate you, or even times when people pity you. You should not be hesitated because of this, but to learn to keep the eternal truth alone, because the ultimate truth will never make you be ashamed.

Do never give up your ideals for profit of large or small, never change what you believe according to the fashions of the world, and root this belief deeply. The external materialistic world is gorgeous, glamorous and attractive, easy to make you confused, and unconsciously you may give up the pursuit of ideals; hence you have to keep awake, learn to refuse the temptation of vanity.

If you become a lovely girl because of pursuing ideals, there will be many people in fond of you. If you receive praises and honour more than what you should, it will make you be satisfied being superficial. Remember, charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; A beautiful woman who lacks discretion is like a gold ring in a pig's snout.

3.
You should learn to apologize to your mistakes. No mistake is greater than not admitting a mistake, never try to cover a mistake by another. Treat your own mistake with justice; do not be ruled by sin. Stop being evil and learn to do good, treat yourself and others with love and truth.

You need to understand and appreciate relationships. In fact among millions of people, knowing of any one is a miracle. In getting along with others, there may be misunderstandings, jealousies and hurts. Solely for the miracle of knowing each other, it is worth to forgive and treasure. You should seek harmony with people, for there is a happy end to the person of peace. Love, understand, and forgive yourself and others, because sometimes the other people are exactly yourself.

Learn to appreciate tragedies; tragedies make you understand the consequence of corrupting human nature. Learn to appreciate what’s true; See the truth under layers of masks.

No matter how the world’s fashions change, the best qualities of human will remain. There are many people who have multiple standards, but there are very few who can still be outstanding because of keeping the truth.

Sincerity is your intangible treasure. Sincerity will bring you unexpected regards and honours. Sincerity may not mean to point out the faults of others, but you must not compliment to those.

I hope you do not be kitsch. If flatter appears on your face, I will be shameful for you. You may not be powerful enough to battle with the evil of the world in outer appearance, but in your inner heart, you should let Jesus Christ who is the Truth be your Lord.

4.
God has made you into a prestigious and unique person. No one can hide your honour, unless you give it up by your will. As you grow up, you will meet many people who are stronger and more outstanding than you. You may feel depressed, and self-abased because of the shortcomings you found on yourself. But do remember your source, remember no matter how much shortcomings you have, you are precious in the eyes of God.

Also I hope you speak concisely and accurately, with the art of speaking. Don’t interrupt others’ speech. Get good habits in your life: keep clean and tidy; control your appetite, and intake food for your bodily need. Do more sports, do not be artificial, and do not have too much taboo. Read books and renew yourself every day. Don’t always think you what should others do for you, but think how the help others. Learn to rather suffer losses, but be alert those people who never will to suffer losses. Do not be insensitive or unconcerned about people and things around. Try the best to bring positive messages to others in interacting with others. Influence the people around with your words and actions. Never underestimate the effect of saying a good word or doing a good work. In humility consider others better than yourselves. Do not be opportunistic; do not belittle the things that you cannot do. Do not waste your time.

Lastly, we have to tell you that, first is, the above things that we have told you, we are too making our effort in doing them, yet we have not done all of them; second is, you are much more blessed than us, when you are still young, your parents know to tell you all these. Let us give thanks to the Lord for this! We have received you from God, if you can be a child of light who is pleasing to God, it will be wonderful.

Being our child may be hard, but happiness comes after hardships.
========================
* This is translated from an article by Li Jie on Overseas Campus Ministries (OCM) Magazine (, Page 54, Issue 0062, in December 2003). The author grew up in Beijing, is now living in Japan.
* This is not an authorized translation of the original article in Chinese, hence it is to be used only for the purpose of education or researches, no publication is allowed unless permission from the original author is granted.

God Loves the World, but He Loves His Children More!

God Loves the World, does it mean that He loves everybody in the world at exactly the same level?
Of course NOT!
For sure, God loves the world; however, He loves His children more!

Did God love Ishmael?
Yes, He did!
But, God loved Isaac more!
Ishmael indeed received blessings from God, but, he was not the child of promise.
Isaac was indeed a child of God, receiving more love from God.

Abraham had several children besides Ishmael (, after Sarah had died, Abraham married Keturah, who gave births to several children).

Did God love these children of Abraham?
Yes, He did!
But, God loved Isaac More!
Other children indeed received blessings from God, but, they were not the child of promise.
Isaac was indeed a child of God, receiving more love from God.

Did God love Esau?
Yes, He did!
But, God loved Jacob more!
Esau indeed received blessings from God, but, he was not the child of promise.
Jacob was indeed a child of God, receiving more love from God.

Then, does this mean that God is UNFAIR?
Of course NOT!
God loves his children more, but, this does not mean that, the lives of his children in ‘this world’, will sure to be better than others.
The top students in schools are often non-Christians.
The Nobel Prize winners are mostly non-Christians.
The tops of the richest people in the world are mostly non-Christians.
Christians may not be more beautiful than others,
Christians may not be more handsome than others,
and Christians may not be more successful than others.
There are so many people who are not the children of God, receiving much more blessings than the children of God!
The blessings under ‘common grace’!
Instead, the children of God, in terms of common grace, may not have more than the others, in fact, sometimes have much lesser than others.

So, since God loves His children more, what does he love?
He has not promised his children to be more beautiful, more handsome, better in studies, or wealthier…
Then, what love is this?

God loves His children more, and what has ‘promised’ them, is the special grace, not the common grace.
God has promised that in whatever circumstances, He will provide such special grace forevermore.
However God has not promised that He will for sure give better to His children in terms of common grace.
Sometimes, God will give more common grace (to the children of God);
but sometimes, God does not give more.

God has promised never to forsake his children;
God has promised to love his children forever;
God has promised to teach his children;
God has promised to discipline his children;
God has promised to bring his children to heavenly home;
but God has not promised that his children will for sure get the top in exams, be more beautiful, earn more money…

In the eyes of us, how much does special grace worth?
In the eyes of us, does common grace worth more? Or special grace?

Being disciplined when we commit wrong things, as compared to earning extraordinarily, which is our prioritized preference?

Will those people who believe in folk religion, ever seek the deities to get disciplined, or punished, or instructed to the rightful way when they have committed wrong things?
Aren’t those people who believe in folk religion, praying to the deities to allow them to make large sum of money, to be very successful, to get super rich, to do the top in exams… all these success and richness in the life of ‘this world’?

What about us?
What about us, the Christians?
What about us, the people who consider ourselves the children of God?
How are the things we are longing for different from those who believe in folk religion?

We can of course pray for common grace. But when the status and the value of common grace become the very goal in our heart, neglecting special grace,
are we really the children of God?
Or only self-assumed to be the children of God, but actually not?

“By your hand save me from such people, LORD,
from those of this world whose reward is in this life.
May what you have stored up for the wicked fill their bellies;
may their children gorge themselves on it,
and may there be leftovers for their little ones.
As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face;
when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.” (Psalm 17:14-15)

“Those of this world whose reward is in this life”!
Is this really what we are praying for?
Is this what we are longing for earnestly?
Is this what we are thinking of from dawn to dust?
No wonder during all times of suffering, there are so many people abandon their faith!
Because, they are not the people who can rejoice in knowing God, even if they barely receive simplest food or even be beggars.

May we truly be the children of God!
Truly be the true children of God, who are ‘satisfied with seeing your likeness’, http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifnot ‘those of this world whose reward is in this life’ like the common people.


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Original Article ‘神愛世人，但更愛祂兒女’(http://blog.roodo.com/yml/archives/15704757.html) written by Little Little Sheep(小小羊), a Taiwanese Christian Blogger;
Translated by Yuan3y.

This copy of translation can be re-posted or reprinted online or offline freely, provided that:
*the Original Author is credited,
*and a URL link to the original article is attached,
*and for non-profit purpose.

A panorama of Shanghai's Bund Nightview

Author: Cnchina
Date of Source: 16 Dec 2010
Date of Release: 18 Mar 2011
License: CC-BY-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)

Visit to St. Andrew's Presbyterian Chruch, Pulau Pinang

It is by God's grace that He led me today to St Andrew's Presbyterian Church in my short four-day-visit in Penang.
I'm grateful that my Lord guides me through all circumstances,
as the sermon said today, whenever I'm in difficulties or joyful times, I experience God's companionship more and more.
Actually, I was a little bit upset when I found out I had missed quite some of 'places-must-go' in Penang, after talking to a local elderly person on the ferry I took last night.
I thought at that time, how I wondered to have met the elderly person on the first day of my visit to Penang.
If that would have happened, my journey would definitely be much smoother and easier.
But this morning I was reminded that through this uneasy journey, God allowed me to grow, and to develop my knowledge besides those on textbooks.
Today's visit to St Andrew's Church was not actually planned on my schedule prior to the trip, but thank God that He had prepared my path, and also my heart, when yesterday a non-christian said 'Christians go to churches on Sundays'.