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Winter Solstice

Once a month, Sandy and I each get to have one full day to take a break from the kids and go on a personal retreat. It's highly recommended! It's very refreshing and rejuvenating to be in a quiet place reflecting back on your life, ministry, family, etc.

This was my first outing of the year. I started the day at Henry Coe State Park in the morning. I walked into the Ranger's office and asked if there was a good trail for the first-time visitor. He mapped out a nice 7-mile hike, and told me it should take about 4 hours to complete it if I were in good shape. In a bit of defensive mode, I told him I was in pretty good shape. Then another lady ranger looked at me, and said, "Look at him! He's not even wearing hiking shoes. Why don't you show him a trail that might be a little easier?" I told her I should be fine, and got on my way to tackling this 7 mile-hike. Well, it turned out to be harder than I imagined. The slopes were steep, and looking at the topo-map, it seemed that there was at least a couple thousand feet of gain. About an hour into my hike, I realized I did not have water or flash light in case it takes more than a few hours. To make a long story short, I said to myself, "I am an ocean-kind-of-guy, and this is not really a break for me!" I turned back and went back to the headquarter. As I was walking back, I saw the lady who suggested a "baby trail" ealier. My ego did not allow me to walk past her, so I waited till she was out of my sight. I quietly left the park, and headed for my "Ocean". :-)

Within couple of hours, I was at my favorite spot in all of California. I heard that once a year around Winter Solstice, the sun sets very close to the horizon and will light up the ocean through the hole at this famous spot. I got there around 3PM in hopes of witnessing this wonder of nature, and patiently waited for it to happen. And lo and behold, at about 4:15PM, the radiant beams of sunlight started shining through the hole in this gigantic rock formation. As I was watching this and capturing the scene, I felt God's love, or His common grace [for all you theologians]. Every passing day, God lights up the sky, makes the stars shine, causes the wind to blow, gives life to all sorts of wild flowers, just to show us that He loves and cares for us. And how often we take these things for granted!

Jesus said, "Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you".

So consider how the sun rises and sets and each day. Stop every once in a while and smell the roses. Solitude is often underrated. Aloneness is a gift more than a misery.

January 17, 2006

FIVE wonderful years...

Yes, it's been five years! As we sat for a nice five-course fondue experience last night, all alone, just the two of us, in a dimly lighted restaurant, it was too perfect. For the first time, kids did not take up our conversation nor did the ministry. We simply enjoyed each others' presence, gluttonizing ourselves with too much food. We can't believe half a decade passed by so quickly. Sandy shared how Ted married a young, vibrant girl and turned her into a "woman". Ted didn't have to say much, because his belly obviously shows five years of a happy marriage. We truly thank the Lord for each day spent together. We love each other more and more each day, only because the Father continues to lavish us with His abundant love. We have shared times of tears and pain, but they always ended in laughter and tears of JOY.

As we look back on five years, there are a few things that have kept our marriage alive and strong....

"Clean-slate policy"
This was shared by one of our favorite professors and his wife at Gordon-Conwell. It's basically the biblical principle of not letting the sun go down on your anger. And LOVE keeps no record of wrongs. Everytime we face each other's weaknesses or flaws, confront each other and resolve things, we never bring it up again. Even if the same character flaw arises in a new situation, we treat each new "tension" as a new case. So, even til this day, we don't hold grudges against each other...and we have great hope because Jesus is sanctifying us day by day.

"keep laughing"
Laughter is truly medicine for our souls. We laugh a lot in our household, over almost everything. We would be embarassed to share the things we do as a family just to make each other laugh. Even in the midst of a few serious arguments, the tension quickly subsided because one of us would just laugh uncontrollably...and the worse scenario for laughter is when one of has a full mouth of liquid. =)

"love and respect"
We believe that the husband cannot LOVE the wife if she does not RESPECT him. The wife cannot respect the husband unless she feels loved by him. Both are equally involved in this equation of a happy, biblical marriage. Ted strives to love his wife, treating her as the queen of the universe. And Sandy strives to respect her husband, boosting his confidence to go out and conquer the world. Sometimes, we live in our little bubble as queen and conqueror of the world, raising two little princesses...but this has kept our marriage strong and FUN!

Thank you friends for walking in this journey of love and marriage with us.
We look forward to many more years together...

The LOVER and his BELOVED

January 06, 2006