I get frustrated when my GPS keeps recalculating. There's something deeply unsettling about that automated voice constantly announcing "recalculating" just when I thought I knew where I was going. It can be applied to life. I used to think that by this stage of life, I'd have a clear route mapped out, but instead, I find myself on more detours than ever before. This reminds me of an ancient story about a merchant who prided himself on always knowing the way. This merchant had traveled the same trade route for twenty years. He knew every rock, every tree, every bend in the path. One morning, he set out with a caravan of younger merchants who wanted to learn from his navigation expertise. But overnight, a tremendous storm passed through the region. When they reached what should have been a familiar valley, the merchant stopped in confusion. The storm had altered the landscape. The landmarks had shifted or disappeared entirely. The merchant tried to maintain his composure, choosing path after path, each time declaring, "This is the way." But each chosen route led to dead ends or circled back to where they started. By afternoon, the younger merchants realized what the veteran refused to admit: they were completely lost. As the sun began to set, panic crept into the merchant's voice. His reputation, his identity, his very sense of self was tied to knowing the way. Finally, a young girl from a nearby village appeared on a ridge above them. "Are you lost?" she called down. The merchant's pride flared. "We're not lost. We're just recalculating our route." The girl laughed gently. "The storm changed everything. Your old paths are gone. But if you stop trying and follow me, I can lead you to where you need to be." The younger merchants immediately began following the girl, but the veteran merchant hesitated. To follow meant admitting he was lost. To follow meant his decades of experience couldn't save him. To follow meant trusting someone else's knowledge over his own. With trembling steps, he finally followed. The girl led them through passages he'd never seen, using stars he'd never noticed, to a village he didn't know existed—where warm food and shelter awaited all storm-displaced travelers. "How did you know we were lost?" the merchant asked the girl. She smiled. "After every storm, my grandma sends me to search. She says the ones who need finding most are those who don't know they're lost. You weren't lost because you didn't know the old way—you were lost because the old way no longer existed. Being found isn't failure. It's wisdom." This story captures a deep truth about our current moment. We're not just dealing with occasional recalculations—we're living in a permanent storm season where the landscape constantly shifts beneath our feet. For example, AI has changed everything. Career paths that existed five years ago have vanished and more will vanish soon. The very assumptions we built our lives upon keep requiring updates. We're exhausted not from the journey, but from the constant recalculating. But here's the profound comfort hidden in today's scripture: while we're frantically recalculating, trying to find our way, God has already sent out a search party. We're actively being sought by One who knows exactly where we are and exactly how to bring us home. Let’s see how Jesus reveals to us this truth. The scripture lesson for today is from the Gospel of Luke 15:1-10.

The Courage to Disappoint: When Your Calling Won’t Share the Throne

I have to confess—I struggle with waiting, especially when my prayers for clarity or breakthrough seem to hang in the air like morning mist that never lifts. I used to think effective prayer worked like a business transaction: clear request, prompt response, measurable results. This reminds me of an ancient story about a young scholar who desperately sought wisdom from a renowned master. The scholar had traveled for months to reach the master's mountain dwelling, his mind heavy with questions that kept him awake at night. When he finally arrived at the master's simple cottage, he found a beautiful garden surrounded by a tall wooden gate. The gate had no handle on the outside, only a small opening at eye level. "Master!" the scholar called through the opening. "I have come seeking your wisdom! Please, open the gate and teach me!" From somewhere within the garden came a gentle voice: "Ask, and you shall receive." The scholar immediately began rattling off his questions—dozens of them, about purpose, about success, about the meaning of suffering. His words tumbled over each other in his urgency. Silence. Hours passed. The scholar called out again, this time more desperately: "Master, I'm seeking answers! You said to ask!" Again, the voice replied: "Seek, and you shall find." Frustrated, the scholar began searching around the gate, examining every board, every hinge, looking for some hidden mechanism to open it. He pushed and pulled, convinced there must be some trick, some secret technique he was missing. Days passed. The scholar's food ran low, his clothes grew dirty, but still he remained. On the third morning, exhausted and humbled, he simply sat by the gate and whispered: "Master, I don't know what else to do." "Knock," came the gentle reply, "and it shall be opened unto you." The scholar looked at the gate with new eyes. He had been asking with demand, seeking with desperation, but he had never simply... knocked. With trembling hands, he raised his knuckles to the wooden gate and gave three soft knocks. The gate swung open immediately—it had never been locked. The master stood there, smiling, holding two cups of tea. "Welcome," he said. "I have been waiting for you to arrive." "But Master," the scholar stammered, "I've been here for three days!" "No," the master replied gently, "your questions arrived three days ago. Your searching arrived two days ago. But you... you just arrived now. The gate was always open, but you could only enter when you came not as a demander or desperately seeking customer, but as a humble guest, knocking gently at the door of relationship." This story captures a felt need that runs deep in our souls—the exhausting experience of feeling spiritually stuck, of wondering if our prayers are bouncing off the ceiling, of questioning whether we're doing something fundamentally wrong when our deepest requests seem to meet only silence. It's the frustration of people who work hard, pray earnestly, and live responsibly, yet still feel like they're standing outside a locked gate while everyone else seems to have found the secret password for spiritual breakthrough. But here's the beautiful truth: the gate was never locked, and the Master has been waiting all along. In today's scripture lesson, Jesus doesn't just acknowledge our struggle with prayer—he transforms it entirely, revealing that what we thought was divine silence was actually an invitation to discover a completely different way of approaching the heart of Providence. He shows us that our seemingly unanswered prayers aren't signs of spiritual failure, but doorways to deeper relationship than we ever imagined possible. Let’s begin!

Summer is here, and like many of you, I love spending time at the beach occasionally. I'm one of those people who can't resist collecting beautiful stones during beach walks - each one catches my eye and somehow finds its way into my pockets. But I've noticed something interesting about my stone-collecting habit. What started as picking up one or two beautiful stones has turned into lugging around a collection that's weighing me down. Sound familiar? Not just with beach stones, but with life itself? Sometimes, we take on unnecessary burdens, making our lives heavy. Let me tell you a story. A traveler journeyed along a winding mountain path, his back bent nearly double under an enormous burlap sack filled with stones. Each step was labored; sweat poured down his face, and his breathing came in short, gasping breaths. He did not have time to stop and smell the roses. The beautiful mountain scenery - blooming wildflowers, singing birds, crystal streams - passed by unnoticed as he focused only on not dropping his heavy burden. An old sage sitting peacefully by the roadside watched him approach. "Friend, why do you carry such a heavy load?" The traveler paused, wiping his brow. "These are my stones," he panted. "This smooth one is my reputation - I must protect it. This jagged one represents what people expect of me. Here's the stone of my past failures, and this heavy one holds all my worries about tomorrow. This one is my anger at my brother, and this one is my fear of being alone." "I see," the sage nodded. "And who told you that you must carry them all at once?" The traveler looked puzzled. "Well... no one, I suppose. But they're mine. I've collected them over the course of many years. If I don't carry them, who will?" The sage smiled gently. "What if I told you that the mountain path continues just fine whether you carry these stones or not?" (End of the story). We all have our own collection of stones, don't we? Some of us have been carrying them so long, we've forgotten what it feels like to walk without that weight. We've convinced ourselves that these burdens define us - that we are our worries, our failures, our fears, our endless responsibilities. Do you feel sick and tired of the emotional or mental burdens you carry? But what if there's another way? What if we don't have to carry it all? Two thousand years ago, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus encountered a man who was carrying more than stones. He was carrying what the Bible calls 'Legion' - not just one burden, but thousands. His load was so heavy, so overwhelming, that he couldn't even live among other people anymore. Yet in this encounter, we discover something remarkable about the power of Jesus over every burden we carry—no matter how heavy, how numerous, or how long we've been carrying them. Today, let’s explore how Jesus can free us from our burdens, based on today’s scripture lesson. Let’s begin!

Let me start with a familiar story; I'm sure you've heard it before. It is both lighthearted and profound. A man lived in a flood-prone area, and when the rains came, the waters began rising rapidly around his house. As the water reached his porch, he climbed onto his roof and prayed earnestly, "God, please save me! I have faith that you will rescue me!" Soon, a neighbor came by in a rowboat and shouted, "Jump in! I'll take you to safety!" But the man waved him off, calling back, "No thanks! I'm waiting for God to save me. I have faith!" The water kept rising. A little later, an emergency rescue boat arrived, and the crew called out, "Sir, we're here to help! Climb aboard!" Again, the man refused: "I appreciate it, but God is going to save me! I'm trusting in him!" As the water reached the roof line, a helicopter appeared overhead and dropped a rescue ladder. The pilot's voice boomed through a megaphone: "This is your last chance! Grab the ladder!" But the man waved them away, shouting back, "God will provide! I have complete faith!" Tragically, the man drowned. When he reached heaven, he approached God with confusion and disappointment. "Lord," he said, "I had such faith in you! Why didn't you save me?" God looked at him with compassion and replied, "My dear son, I sent you a rowboat, a rescue boat, and a helicopter. What more did you expect?" (End of the story.) How often do we find ourselves like this man? We pray for God to speak to us, to guide us, and to show us His will – yet we miss His voice because we're expecting something different from how He communicates. Perhaps it’s because we often discuss how to pray rather than how to listen. Our communication with God has become a one-way ticket—we speak to God without knowing how to hear God’s voice. To have a healthy relationship, we must learn to listen. Last week, we discussed Philip's request to Jesus to show the heavenly Father to him and his fellow disciples, and that they would be satisfied. Jesus said, after all these years of being with him, why they still had not recognized that Jesus and the Father are one. Jesus is the answer to human desire to see and know God, but they still expect God to show up differently, just like the man on the rooftop. Now, we live in the time of the Holy Spirit. Instead of appreciating the presence of the Holy Spirit, some might ask to see God or Jesus. God would say, I have given you the Holy Spirit, and you still ask me to show myself to you? The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one! Not only is God with us today through the Holy Spirit, but Jesus also says He speaks to us through the Holy Spirit today. Let’s develop the ability to hear Jesus’ voice so that we don’t stand on the rooftop wondering why Jesus doesn’t talk to us. Let’s begin!

John 13:31-35 Here’s one of my favorite childhood folk tales: A farmer went to town to sell his produce and returned with a large chest of treasures. His family and relatives gathered around him to hear the story of his windfall of fortune. He said, “As I walked through the forest on my way home, I heard someone groaning in a cave. I entered the cave and saw a dying tiger with a massive infected wound on its arm. “I was about to run away in fear and disgust, but the tiger looked paralyzed. So, out of pity, I reached for my first aid kit to bind its wound and gave it water. Since it was getting dark, I stayed in the cave overnight. The next day, when I woke up, I found it completely recovered, and it thanked me with this chest of treasures.” Feeling envious, the sister-in-law inquired about the cave’s location and asked her husband to find the place and try his luck. The next day, he went and found the cave. Surprisingly, he heard a tiger groaning inside, so he went in and saw the wounded tiger just like his brother had told them. Smelling the infected wound, he thought, “Yuck! My brother didn’t tell me that the tiger was so stinky.” He covered his nose and reluctantly bound the tiger’s wound because he wanted the reward. He slept in the cave, dreaming about returning home with a treasure chest bigger than his brother’s. The next day, the tiger got better and ate him for breakfast. (End of the story). It’s a wisdom story open to multiple layers of interpretation. On the surface, it teaches people that you cannot copy someone’s success by merely duplicating what they do. At a deeper level, it teaches that nature rewards transformational actions rather than transactional ones. It’s natural for humans to fear tigers and for tigers to attack humans. It’s our fallen nature. If the elder brother were authentic, he would have stayed away from the tiger out of fear, as he mentioned. However, his sympathy for the suffering animal made him rise above his authenticity. John said, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” (1 Jn 4:18a). We cannot naturally love our enemies because we authentically hate or fear them. When Jesus asked us to love our enemies, he asked us to rise above our authenticity. When we do, we become transformative. However, we cannot intentionally use love to transform others because that’s fake. Intention matters! Perfect love has no motive. Today's culture glorifies authenticity. In the name of expressing themselves, people gratify their authentic feelings. They can be rude and say, “I am just being authentic.” Paul said that we are supposed to tell the truth in love. Telling the truth is authentic, but without love, the truth hurts rather than heals. Since we are fallen beings, our authenticity is also fallen. John Calvin called it “Total Depravity.” If I am authentic, I would rather eat ice cream for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. (Sophie is not home anyway!) If we are authentic, we cannot love the unlovable. The way Jesus wants us to love is transformational and not transactional. It requires us to sacrifice our authenticity and rise above it, taking the high road. If Jesus were being authentic, he wouldn’t have gone to the cross. He expressed his authenticity to God the night of his arrest, saying: “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.” (Mat 26:39). His prayer is very authentic; no human would go to the cross to endure that kind of suffering. It was a bitter cup that he would rather pass. You and I would do the same. Yet, he went to the cross to fulfill God’s will, not his own authenticity. Jesus went to the cross to please God by fulfilling God’s will to save us. Jesus also taught us to pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Who would do God’s will on earth? Who are on earth? Us! Since we are on earth, we are to do God’s will on earth. That prayer is to ask God to give us the courage to take the higher road a

I used to misinterpret the story that I’m about to tell you. It’s a well-known story about Zhuangzi, the great philosopher. I discovered that I was not the only one who misunderstood its profound meaning. In fact, many scholars interpret it the way I did. Here’s the story, and see what you get out of it. Zhuangzi once encountered financial hardship. His family didn’t have enough food, so he called on a rich man and asked to borrow some rice. The rich man smiled and said, “I’ll be getting some money soon from my rental properties, and when it arrives, I’ll lend you three hundred gold coins. Will that be okay?” That’s a significant amount of money, equivalent to three million dollars. But Zhuangzi didn’t like that answer at all. He frowned and said, “Let me tell you a story.” “Yesterday, as I was walking here, I heard a little voice calling me. I looked around and saw a fish flopping in a tiny puddle on the side of the road. I asked the fish, ‘Hey, what are you doing here?’ The fish gasped and said, ‘I’m from the huge eastern ocean, but now I’m stuck here! Can you please give me just a small cup of water so I can stay alive?’ I told the fish, ‘Sure! I’m planning to travel south soon to visit some kings. I’ll change the course of a huge river and send all the water you could ever need right to you. How does that sound?’ The fish glared at me and said, ‘Are you joking?! I don’t need a big river someday—I need water now! When you return, come find me at the dried fish market.’” (End of the story.) Without context, I am sure you would interpret the way most people do. Zhuangzi urgently needed some food, but the rich man said he would give him three million dollars after he collected his rent. In response, Zhuangzi tells a fable to mock the rich man. He said a fish was stuck in a puddle and asked Zhuangzi for a cup of water to fill the puddle. Zhuangzi said he would redirect an entire river to him later. The fish didn’t believe it would be alive until then. Naturally, you would think the story teaches us to provide for urgent needs rather than promise something big in the future. However, if you know the context, it is about the tyranny of urgency. Our urgent needs can ensave us, making us shortsighted, focusing only on the immediate needs. We want God to help us now, and we don’t care about what God has in store for us in the future. You might argue, “Duh! If I am dying of hunger, who cares about eternal life?” However, the story does not discount our urgent needs. It’s about how we become enslaved by urgency and lose the bigger picture. Many people are so preoccupied with their immediate needs that they don’t care about the offer of a holiday at the sea, as C.S. Lewis put it. Urgency can rob us of happiness, joy, and blessedness. The truth is, after this bowl of rice, Zhuangzi would have to worry about the next meal. After this cup of water, the fish would cry for the next cup. They would forever be caught up in a cycle of urgency and never consider future possibilities. Then, what’s more important than meeting dire needs? Understanding the tyranny of urgency will help us understand the joy of Paulm Sunday and learn a profound lesson of rejoicing in hardship. I used to feel Palm Sunday was an oxymoron. It’s a day to celebrate victory, followed by a dark and dreary week of passion, suffering, and crucifixion. Why should anyone celebrate victory knowing what follows it? Palm Sunday is also known as Passion Sunday, but the scripture tells us about Jesus’s triumphant entry to Jerusalem. Where was the triumph if he were about to be crucified? He was facing the most shameful death of a criminal. Whether we call it Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday, the truth is that Jesus entered Jerusalem like a victorious king, cheered by a crowd of disciples and followers. Why did Jesus do that? Later, I discovered the profound meaning of Palm Sunday. Jesus wants us to rejoice even in dark times and never surrender to the tyranny of urgency. H

You know I have been playing with AI apps for a while and love them. They have been evolving recently and becoming more useful every day. I encourage everyone, young or old, to experiment with AI. It’s not that hard because you don’t need to know the science behind it. Treat them as tools or toys, and you will discover they are useful tools and fun toys that can help you get things done. Some experts say the advent of AI is as significant as the invention of electricity. I agree because it permanently changes how we live, move, and have our being. Like it or not, it won’t go away. So, why not make good use of it? I am sure you have heard in the news about the DeepSeek AI model that rocked the tech stock market. In short, competition benefits consumers like you and me because the application of AI is becoming significantly cheaper. You might also have heard the concern about job losses due to AI. It depends on how you look at it. AI will surely replace many jobs but also create many new opportunities. To help you navigate the AI revolution from the spiritual perspective, let me start with an ancient parable on innovation: Huizi told his friend Zhuangzi that the king bestowed upon him a seed of the legendary giant gourd, which he planted in his garden. Months passed, and the gourd grew to an astonishing size, weighing over a hundred pounds. Huizi had a hard time making use of the giant gourd. “I tried to use it as a water bottle, but it was too heavy and big to carry. I cut it in half to make a dipper, but it was too wide to scoop into anything. Since it was too big to be useful, I smashed it into pieces and threw it away.” Zhuangzi smiled and said, “You certainly are too stupid to use big things. The giant gourd held within it a wealth of possibilities, limited only by your imagination.” Then Zhuangzi told him a parable (that the parable wrapped within a parable): In the enchanting era of the Song Dynasty, there lived a humble man whose livelihood revolved around washing silk by the river's edge. During winter, the icy water bit the hands, threatening to halt the family’s laundry business. Fortunately, the family had concocted a magical balm, a potion that defied the bitter cold, protecting the hands and faces from the biting frost and the painful chap so their family income would not be cut off during winters. One day, a visitor approached the family with a tantalizing offer. In exchange for the secret formula of the winter lotion, he offered them a hundred pieces of gold, a sum they could not afford to pass up. The family decided to take the generous offer and entrusted the secret formula to the visitor. The visitor took it to the capital city and offered it to the emperor for military use. The emperor commissioned him to lead a marine force against the southern invaders through the waterways. With the advantage of the secret formula, they emerged victorious in the cold winter marine warfare, driving back the invaders and securing the dynasty's future. Upon his triumphant return, the emperor bestowed upon him the prestigious title of a feudal lord. Zhuangzi then said to his friend Huizi, “See, in the hands of the launderer, the secret balm is nothing more than a tool to make a living. But in the hands of a visionary man, this formula shaped the destiny of a nation. “Your giant gourd is useless to you because your imagination is too small. You could have put that giant gourd in the lake and ridden on it as a magnificent boat. There are also many other creative ways you could use it for.” (End of the story.) This parable warns us of the danger of thinking small. Let’s say the giant gourd is the AI of our time. For the short-sighted, AI represents a threat. For the visionary, AI represents immense opportunity. This story is not about belittling the small thinkers but spurring all of us to set our creative imagination free. Today, we will look at how Jesus transformed a group of fishermen from merely making a living w

One of my favorite fables is about a scientific experiment on monkeys. Once upon a time, a group of scientists decided to observe the behavior of monkeys in a unique setting. They placed five monkeys in a large room. At the center of this room stood a tall ladder, and at the very top of the ladder hung something irresistible: a bunch of golden, ripe bananas. The monkeys, as you can imagine, were thrilled. They chattered excitedly, their eyes fixed on the delicious prize. It didn’t take long for one monkey to make a bold move. It scampered up the ladder, eager to grab the bananas. But just as the monkey reached for the fruit, an automatic sprinkler sprayed the monkey with icy cold water. The monkey screeched in shock and ran down the ladder immediately, shivering as the water drenched it. Soon, another monkey tried its luck. It climbed the ladder, determined to succeed where the first had failed. But again, the sprinkler sprayed it with freezing water. One by one, each monkey attempted to climb, and each time, the hero was drenched. Before long, something remarkable happened: the monkeys stopped trying altogether. Even when tempted by the delicious bananas, they avoided the ladder entirely. The scientists then removed one of the original monkeys and brought in a new one. This fresh monkey had no idea about the water spray. Spotting the bananas, it immediately started climbing the ladder. But before it could reach the top, something unexpected happened. The other monkeys sprang into action, pulling the newcomer down, screeching and flailing their arms, as if they didn’t want the new monkey to suffer the water drench! Shocked and confused, the new monkey quickly learned climbing the ladder was forbidden. Over time, the scientists replaced another monkey, then another, until none of the original monkeys remained. Now, the room was filled with monkeys who had never experienced the spray of water. Yet they continued to enforce the unspoken rule. Anytime a new monkey tried to climb the ladder, the group would pull it down and teach it not to try. The bananas still hung untouched at the top of the ladder, and no monkey questioned why climbing was forbidden. They had simply inherited the behavior. (End of the story.) This tale isn’t just about monkeys and bananas. It’s a mirror held up to human behavior. I’d call it the “Wet Monkey Syndrome.” When you aspire to fulfill your dream, you will encounter those wet monkeys trying to tear you down and inject their trauma into you. It’s like misery loves company. Understanding this human behavior can set you free to live life to the fullest, accomplishing your life mission without obstacles. So, today, we will look at how Jesus deals with these wet monkeys based on this week’s scripture lesson so that we know when to let go of the losers and how to invest our precious time on earth on the low-hanging fruits and ripe harvests. Let’s begin!

Once upon a time, in a quaint little town, a wealthy traveler happened upon a sight that took his breath away. It was a magnificent two-story building, and the second floor, oh, it was a thing of beauty! The veranda seemed to whisper promises of relaxation, and the roof design was like nothing he'd ever seen before. The rich man just had to find out who had created this architectural wonder. He searched high and low until he finally found the carpenter responsible. "You!" he exclaimed, "You must come to my city and build me a second floor just like the one I saw. I'll pay any price you ask!" The carpenter, a man of few words, simply nodded and set to work. For a whole month, he poured his heart and soul into building the rich man's dream. When the wealthy traveler returned to see the finished product, he couldn't believe his eyes. There was the second floor he'd asked for, but wait... what was that underneath it? A first floor?! The rich man was furious! He confronted the carpenter, shouting, "I asked for the second floor, not the first! Tear it down, now!" But the carpenter, calm as can be, replied, "Sir, you can't have the second floor without the first. It's the foundation that holds up all that beauty you admire." The wealthy man wasn't having it. "I'm not paying for something I didn't ask for!" he huffed. "You'll get your money for the second floor, and that's it!" The carpenter, a wise man, tried to explain, "The first floor is like the backbone of the whole building. Without it, the second floor would come crashing down. You can't have one without the other." (End of the story). This story may sound silly, but it’s an ancient fable to enlighten those who want to ignore the foundation to achieve a higher goal. It resembles Jesus’ parable of building a house on the sand. What is your higher goal? What’s your dream second floor you want to build? What’s your life mission? We all want our life count. What would he say if we asked God what we should do to make our three scores and ten most meaningful? I think Prophet Micah summarized it nicely, short and sweet: He has told you, O mortal, what is good;and what does the LORD require of youbut to do justice, and to love kindness,and to walk humbly with your God? (Mic 6:8). The Lord has told us what makes life good and meaningful. As believers, we are called to follow in Christ's footsteps, proclaiming good news, working for justice, and demonstrating compassion to a world in need. Those are worthwhile missional goals, but they are our second floor. Many social justice warriors today fail to build the first floor. So, their social justice movement is like a castle in the air. Without the first floor, social justice can be not only a failure but also destructive to society. For example, communism is a social justice movement without the first floor. As a result, it has brought more destruction than construction. Today, we will explore Jesus' mission, which is now our mission, and make sure we have the solid first floor as our strong foundation for fulfilling our mission and making our lives good and meaningful. Let’s begin!

There was a woman who was diagnosed with a terminal illness. The doctor gave her three months to live.  She had a gift of evangelism and always loved sharing her faith. But now, realizing that her life was cut short, she decided to use her funeral as her final opportunity to share her faith. She gave her pastor her funeral plan, which included singing her favorite hymns and reading her favorite scriptures. She also wanted to be buried with her favorite Bible next to her. Then she took out a silver fork and asked the pastor to make sure that she had the fork in her hand when they laid her in the casket. Surprised by her request, the pastor asked why she wanted to be buried with a fork.  The woman explained, “Each time I was at a dinner party, the servers would come to clear the plates after the meal.  I would give them everything, but every now and then, they would say, ‘Ma’am, please keep your fork.’  I knew right away that they were serving dessert.  The best is yet to come! “So, I just want people to see me in that casket with a shiny fork in my hand, and I want them to wonder, ‘What’s with the fork?’  I want them to know my life doesn’t end here and now.  The best is yet to come. This will be my final opportunity to share my faith so my friends can join me in the eternal carnival with Christ with never-ending celebration and joy! “So, pastor, I want you to be my voice.  When they see the fork in my hand and ask a question like the one you asked me.  I want you to tell them that it means my life does not end here and now.  The best is yet to come because of the grace of Christ, and I want them to enjoy the same future as I do.” Sure enough, as the pastor stood next to the casket, one after another, who came to view her for the final time, asked the same question.  He answered them individually and included the story in his funeral sermon to let everyone know that the fork in her hand meant the best was yet to come. (End of the story.) Despite all the ups and downs, tears, and toils, life is still pretty fun! No one wants to die except in extreme cases. Most people fear death because they think the end of life is also the end of fun. We fear the unknown and the uncertain. Who knows what’s on the other side of death? A few books have been written by those who have died and returned, but we take them with a grain of salt because they are anecdotal. What if life after death is a never-ending banquet or carnival, where there’s no tear, no pain, no sickness, but eternal love, joy, and peace? If so, is it available for everyone? If not, how do we ensure we will have it? Can we also have a foretaste of it? Yes, Jesus has given us a foretaste of eternal joy. Based on this week's scripture lesson, you and I will taste it today. Let’s begin!

Life is complicated, but I am a simple man who likes to simplify complex concepts without losing their essence. Many philosophers have tried to resolve life’s issues, but I feel they still make it more complicated than I like. I want to find a secret of life that I can succinctly articulate and live by. I admire Einstein, who found the secret of energy and put it into a simple formula: e=mc2. It’s so simple that we all know it, but it solves a complex problem. With that simple formula, scientists have solved many complicated energy issues, built nuclear power plants, and even created shockingly powerful atomic bombs.  If we can simplify life into a simple formula, I can solve my own life problems and help others solve their problems. Can we make life simple? By simple, I do not mean a minimalist lifestyle. I mean a simple formula to make life easier to navigate. After decades of scouring the scriptures, I have found the formula. The simple secret of life is revealed in the early story of the wise King Solomon, and also at Jesus’ baptism. Let’s talk about Solomon first. When King Solomon became the king of Israel, he was nervous, feeling inadequate to lead the country. The Bible says, “Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David.” (1 Ki 3:3). The king went to Gibeon and offered burnt offerings to the Lord. The Lord saw his devotion, and the Bible says, “At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask what I should give you.” (1 Ki 3:5). What would you ask if God gave you a blank check like that? When God asks them this question, most people might think they won a jackpot. However, Solomon began by praising God for God’s faithfulness to his father, and then he showed his self-awareness, a sign of maturity, knowing his inadequacy for the job. He said, “And now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in.” (1 Ki 3:7). Solomon was only twenty years old when he became king. Yet he seemed mature enough not to become haughty but was fully aware of his age and lack of skill and experience, so he asked, “Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?” (1 Ki 3:9). He asked for wisdom and understanding to govern the people God entrusted in him. The next verse says, “It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this.” (1 Ki 3:10). This is where the secret of life is: to please God. Then God explained why he was pleased. Solomon didn’t ask for wealth and military might. With consciousness of his situation, he sincerely expresses his desire to serve God’s people effectively with wisdom and understanding. How do we please God? Serve people! Many people have it backward; they try to please people and serve God instead. God doesn’t need us to serve Him because He has many angels and heavenly beings who can do a better job. But God wants us to serve his people on earth. King Solomon wasn’t perfect, but he learned this from his father, King David. King David wasn’t perfect either. They are all imperfect human beings. The point is not about perfection but about the secret of life. And they got it. They knew the secret chord that pleases the Lord. Later God sends a perfect on who pleases the Lord perfectly and we all must emulate. The Bible says, after Jesus received his baptism, God’s voice came from heaven, saying, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” (Lk 3:22b). Many people don’t understand why God was pleased. They thought God was pleased because Jesus was his Son. When you put it in the context of the entire Bible, it becomes clear why God was pleased. It’s because Jesus came to serve. Jesus said, “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mk 10:45). God was pleased because Jesus came to serve

Happy Epiphany! When was the last time you had an epiphany? I would love to hear about it. The Native Americans have a device called a Dream Catcher. But I would like to introduce Epiphany Catcher—not a device but a skill. Epiphanies can be big or small, subtle or vivid, but each epiphany raises our consciousness to a higher level, enriching our lives with meaning, joy, and hope. I had an epiphany recently. Sophie and I went for the First Day Hike on Mount Taurus in Cold Spring, New York, on New Year’s Day. This part used to be the estate of the Cornish family, covering about 650 acres of breathtakingly beautiful land on Hudson Highlands. We stopped by the remains of the impressive stone and brick Cornish mansion overlooking the Hudson River. Later, we arrived at a waterfall, and our guide told us that it was the end of the guided hike. We were free to continue hiking or return with him to the parking lot with the guide. Sophie and I chose to hike further since we didn’t feel tired yet, and the weather was not bad. It was cloudy, but it didn’t rain until we returned to the car later. On our way, we saw a vast old broken cistern. Having just seen a waterfall, I remember the Lord’s Word through Jeremiah,    “My people have committed two evils:    they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water,    and dug out cisterns for themselves,    cracked cisterns that can hold no water.” (Jer 2:13). We just saw a waterfall and now a cistern, and it was as if this verse had come to life. The natural waterfall still flows like living water, but this manmade cistern is broken. The two images and this verse stayed in my head for the whole week. It was an epiphany for me! Throughout history, people have kept committing these two evils—forsaking the Lord, the fountain of living water, and digging out cisterns for themselves that cannot hold water. We forsake the eternal for the temporal. It reminds me to embrace the eternal over temporal. If you are wondering what epiphany means, it’s translated from the Greek “ἐπιφαίνω (epiphaínō),” which is usually translated as “appearance” or “manifestation.” The root word “φαίνω (phaínō)” means “to shine” or “to come to light.” In that case, it also means “enlightenment.” So, epiphany is something you see that enlightens you and takes you to a higher level of consciousness. Simply put, your epiphany is your “aha” moment due to what you see. Epiphany of the Lord is a Christian festival after the twelve days of Christmas. I am glad that our faith fathers designated a day and a season of Epiphany to remind us of the importance of epiphany. There are four to nine weeks after Epiphany before Lent. We should use this season to cultivate the skill to catch epiphanies. An epiphany can be a life-changing experience. If you have frequent epiphanies, life can become very exciting. Life is not worth living without epiphanies. Epiphany is also known as the Three Kings Day because it commemorates the visit of the three wise men or magi to baby Jesus. Two thousand years ago, a group of wise men from the Far East paid attention to the signs of the divine and noticed that a significant King was born. It was so significant that they journeyed seven thousand miles to pay homage to this child. So, today, let us learn to capture epiphanies by learning from the story of these wise men so we can also enjoy life with hope, excitement, and wonder. Let’s begin!

Start Your New Year Jesus’ WayLuke 2:41–52What I like about New Year is that it allows me to start over again. It’s like a fresh new diary book to write another 365 pages of my dream journey. Whether you regard 2024 as a successful year for you or not, the new year gives you another starting point to renew your dream.Another thing I like about the New Year is that it marks a new milestone in an incredible miracle in history. Our calendar is a testimony to Jesus Christ. We often neglect the significance of the calendar we see every day. 2025 means it has been two thousand and twenty-five years since the birth of Jesus Christ, more or less.It’s a miracle because it was about a child born to a young peasant woman in an obscure town behind an obscure inn in a probably smelly manger. After his birth, his king tried to murder him, so his family had to escape to Egypt. He was a refugee kid.Even the town he grew up in later was so obscure that people in those days believed nothing good could come out of Nazareth. With all the obstacles and obscurity, this child broke human history into two parts: BC and AD—BCE and CE to make it politically correct.No matter how you call it, 2025 still points back to the birth of Christ. Each time you put down your signature, you refer to Jesus Christ by putting the date next to it. Even the atheist communists must make reference to him.Christmas is not just a joyful winter solstice celebration or a year-end commercial festival. We must not see it any less than the immense impact of an obscure child that divided our history into two parts. Each time I look at the calendar, I see the evidence of a miracle that only God could have done.As we prepare for the New Year and take another shot at life to make it more fruitful, I believe we can learn significantly from this divine child who has made the maximum impact in the world. This Sunday’s scripture lesson gives us a clue on how Jesus grew in three aspects of life: Wisdom, Maturity, and Charisma, which I call the three pillars of personal growth for maximum impact. According to Luke, that’s how the divine child grew up, and we can use these three pillars as our reference when making New Year's resolutions. Let’s check it out.

I read Leo Tolstoy’s Resurrection a few years ago. It was his last novel, published when he was 71. I have discovered that reading someone’s final works gives you the best of their lifetime wisdom, especially from a great thought leader like Tolstoy. Most of you know Tolstoy for his famous book War and Peace. But did you know he had a spiritual awakening when he was around 50 years old? If you read his books written after that point, they will be more meaty, weighty, and highly spiritual. Why should we take Tolstoy seriously? Here’s why. He is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times and the Nobel Peace Prize three times. That’s incredible! However, he did not get the award despite being nominated so many times, probably because he was critical of the governments and powerful religious institutions of his time. Tolstoy was also known as a Christian Anarchist, submitting to no human ruler, including religious authority. Christian Anarchists believe Christ alone is their king and no one else. Are you one of them? Are you supposed to be one? Abraham was one. We will talk more about that later. Tolstoy’s other book, The Kingdom of God is Within You, based on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, was banned in Russia but published in Germany. In that book, Tolstoy presented the idea of “nonviolent resistance,” which fueled the movements of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. By now, I am sure you are convinced that he should not be ignored. The book Resurrection depicts the corruptive nature of society. If you are rich and powerful, you can be corrupted by your power, procession, and prestige; if you are poor, you might be forced to choose the wrong means to survive. So, whether rich or poor, the human civilization will corrupt you. That’s why the wise King Solomon asked God not to make him too rich or too poor. He knew that if he were too rich, he could forget God; if he were too poor, he might dishonor God by committing crimes. That doesn’t preclude those in between because rich or poor is relative. We live in a fallen world—a sea of suffering. What’s worse than suffering is its corruptive nature. It brings out the worst of you. Tolstoy’s Resurrection takes us on a journey to see the injustice of the legal system, the prejudice of society, the hypocrisy of religious institutions, and, most importantly, the unintentionality of it, making it hard to change. He helps us see that many evils are done unintentionally or even with good intentions. We often think those who fight for justice are righteous, but they often become a new force of injustice. Communism is an example. It starts out with good intentions but ends up worse than the evil they fight against. We all want to make this world better, but no one knows how to correct the wrongs the right way, except through a personal resurrection. If you want to change the world, change yourself. That change must be thorough; that is resurrection—the old must be gone, and the new must begin. That community of new lives is called the kingdom of God, and I call it Civilization Next—the civilization of the resurrected people. The Kingdom of God is not just on the other side of death. You can experience the new life right now and right here because you belong to Civilization Next if you have accepted Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, you are in the world but not of the world. You live in the future now. Based on the scripture lesson on this Fourth Sunday of Advent, we will look at two women in history who brought the Civilization Next to Earth—the 88-year-old Elizabeth and the 14-year-old Mary. Let’s begin!

I am sure you’ve heard that Time Magazine named President-Elect Donald Trump the 2024 Time Person of the Year. He is the only person to have been selected twice. Let me clarify before I continue. I just want to prepare you for the upcoming year and new administration so you won’t feel tortured for the next four years. We must discern what God wants us to do, whichever side we are on. I am registered Independent. I don’t vote for the primaries; I don’t vote within a party line; I only vote in the general elections after doing extensive research, contemplative prayers, and spiritual discernment. Paul said, “Those who are spiritual discern all things.” (1 Co 2:15a). I believe Christians should make decisions based on discernment rather than party affiliation because that was what Jesus was. The Pharisees and Sadducees were the parties of the first century, equivalent to the Republicans and Democrats of our time. Humans are wired that way—some lean left, and some lean right. Birds of the feather flock together! As you read in the Bible, Jesus did not belong to any side but was crucified by both sides. Jesus made decisions based on spiritual discernment. If you ask me which party I belong to, I belong to the Spiritual Party because that’s what my Boss belongs to. So, when discussing politicians, I am not endorsing any affiliation. I know many of us are in the same situation. A late elder told me she registered as a Democrat but voted across the party line based on her discernment. She and her husband were independent, so I said, “Why didn’t you register as Independent.” Then she explained that there was no option to register as an independent in those days. You only have two boxes to check—Democrat or Republican. So, she and her husband decided to register for each party—she registered as a Democrat, and he registered as a Republican. When elections come, she and her husband pray carefully, research thoroughly, and vote based on their discernment. Sometimes, they vote for the opposite sides. You have heard that every election is a choice between the lesser of two evils. Those who think they are choosing between an angel and a devil don’t understand humans’ sinful nature. Now, back to the Time Person of the Year. For the past four years, the media have portrayed Trump as an evil man. But now, after he won, some media personnel rushed to the Mar-a-Lago to kiss his ring; you might have heard that in the news. They were shameless. Of course, they have to look after their bottom line. On the other hand, many Americans value the country over their egos. As Americans, we root for our team to win, but when victory is decided, we unite and root for the country. Many countries in the world look forward to our failure. If we stay divided, our enemies will win. Our founding fathers named this country “United” States of America with this vision. Jesus said, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.” (Mt 12:25). Jesus’ last prayer on earth, in the Garden of Gethsemane, was that his people would live in love, unity, and harmony. As Americans, we should root for the success of our democratically elected leaders so that our nation won’t lay waste but continue to be a beacon of light in the world. The election is done; the advent of Trump is here. Whether you like him or not, it’s time to harmonize for the nation’s sake. To be in harmony, we must sacrifice our egos and practice grace. Grace is love in action. I know it’s not easy. Looking around the world, you see that egos rule and divide nations. This week, we saw a nation collapse, and the dictator fled. As Christians, we must be different. The nature of ego is division, and the nature of grace is harmony. As humans, we often give in to our egos, but deep inside, we know that Someone above is watching us. There will come a day of reckoning. But those who have overcome their egos and live in love and harmony have no fea

In England in 1535, King Henry VIII condemned Thomas More to death for treason, mainly for refusing to say that the king was the head of the Church of England. More was imprisoned, waiting for his capital punishment. More’s friend came to persuade him to say what the king wanted him to say for survival. More refused because it was against his beliefs. His friends pleaded him, “You don’t have to believe it; you just have to say it.” Thomas More refused to compromise his integrity and paid the price with his head. What would you do if you were in such situations? Would you compromise your integrity to save your life? Or would you betray your conscience for survival? Do you know Americans lie on average 11 times a week? That’s according to APA (American Psychology Association). No data shows how many lies people from other countries tell, but I believe Americans are more honest comparatively. Many immigrants say Americans are pretty naïve. They are so easily deceived. American tourists are the easiest targets for scammers worldwide because we trust people readily. That may be because Christian values govern our way of living. “In God, We Trust” is the slogan on our currencies. Still, research shows Americans are not 100% honest. Lying seems like part of life, and we often make excuses to justify lying. The Burmese say, “Without lies, words are not smooth.” (mutha maba, linga machaw). ~Burmese Proverbs It means that without lies, it’s hard to make your speech interesting, poetic, or persuasive. It also means you need a little lie to get your message across. It seems to glorify lying as an art. No wonder we call scammers “con artists.” In English, we also have the term “white lies.” It means a type of lie that does not harm anyone. Is it true that a white lie does not hurt anybody? After some research, I’ve discovered that every fib harms the fibber. Every lie we tell lies to ourselves. According to Akira Kurosawa, the maker of Rashomon,  “It’s human to lie. Most of the time, we can’t even be honest with ourselves.” ~Akira Kurosawa A white lie may not harm others, but it does compromise the liar’s well-being. Studies have shown that a person’s integrity can affect their immunity. After the pandemic, we have learned the value of strong immunity—physically, psychologically, or spiritually. According to biologists, the moment someone lies, their brain releases stress hormones, such as cortisol, weakening their immune system. We often say, “Lier, lier, pants on fire!” Their pants might not be on fire, but their immunity is on fire. That’s how lie detectors work. The machine can sense the subtle signs of stress on our nerves when lying. Some people can cheat the lie detector, but they cannot cheat their health. So, honesty is truly the best policy not only for our character but also for our well-being. It proves that we are not created to lie. We are created in God’s image. When we lie, our body resists it, feels uncomfortable with it, and punishes us for it by degrading our health. There are two kinds of stress—overt and covert. Overt stress is obvious; you know it when you have it. But covert stress is more insidious. We might not feel it, but it silently kills us from the inside. It will eventually show up on our lab reports during a checkup. Sometimes, it could be too late to reverse it. Lying is just one of many things that compromise our immunity. Anger, grudges, guilt, discord, manipulation, and other things the Bible calls sin can stress our systems and compromise our integrity and immunity. It seems we don’t even need God to punish us for our sins; our body is punishing us already. If it is human to lie, how do we redeem ourselves? However, Jesus said that what’s not possible with humans is possible with God. He said, “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (Jn 3:17). The truth is that Jesus did not come to punish us but to save

During my college years, I gathered with some friends every Saturday morning at a tea house to enjoy our morning tea and talk. One day, a friend showed up with bandages over his head, arms, and legs. He had a nearly fatal motorcycle accident. He said he wished he had died that very moment because he was sure he would have gone straight to heaven since he had been well-behaved in those days. He had been attending church regularly, volunteering, and giving to charity. He was sure God would welcome him, saying, “Well done, my son. Welcome to heaven!” My friend was disappointed that he did not die because now he had to keep behaving as if good behavior was challenging for him. I wasn’t sure if he was joking because we all know that our admission to heaven depends not on our deeds but God’s grace. Thank God! However, my friend’s concern is not baseless because Jesus repeatedly says he wants to see us awake and working when he returns. The Lord said, “Blessed is that servant whom his master will find at work when he arrives.” (Mt 24:46). If salvation does not depend on our work but on God’s grace alone, why would he expect to see us working? Shouldn’t we all goof to heaven? Does it mean grace is not free? Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that grace is free but not cheap. He said, “The word of cheap grace has been the ruin of more Christians than any commandment of works.” ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer How do we understand grace is free but not cheap? Grace requires gratitude to complete, but how do you thank God, who doesn’t need anything from us? I’ve learned that you thank God by gracing forward. I have discovered that Grace is like electricity with inflow and outflow to complete a circuit. A lightbulb can not lit up by only the inflow of the electric current. It needs two wires—an inflow and an outflow to complete the energy circuit. We are just like lightbulbs. Grace makes us shine when we grace it forward. Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.” (Mat 5:8). That means the outflow makes the inflow possible. Jesus used several parables to teach this profound mystery, such as The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. In that parable, a man owed the king a massive amount of money, equivalent to more than a billion dollars of today’s money, which he could not repay in his lifetime, but the king forgave him out of mercy because he bagged him for more time. However, on his way home, he met a man who owed him a small amount of money. He sent him to prison for not paying back immediately. The king heard about his mercilessness and revoked his grace. This story reveals that grace is like electricity; the input doesn’t work without an output. If you receive grace and don’t grace it forward, the grace you receive returns to where it came from. Grace is free but not cheap because it requires you to pay it forward to complete the circuit. It does not mean grace has strings attached, but it’s just how it flows. On the other hand, Jesus said that the servant who is found goofing would be severely punished. “He will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Mt 24:51). It sounds scary. I think that’s why my friend was afraid of dying when goofing. He doesn’t want to join the hypocrites. None of us do. The word “hypocrites” comes from the Greek word with a similar pronunciation: ῠ̔ποκρῐτής (hupokritḗs), meaning “stage actor” or “pretender.” Hypocrites are like weeds that pretend to be like wheat. They look identical until harvest time. When harvest time comes, they stand tall and light because they don’t carry the weight of the grains. They are just pretenders or hypocrites. They don’t grace it forward. They cheapen grace. Jesus said, “At harvest time, I will tell the reapers, ‘Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’” (Mt 13:30). Today is the first Sunday of Advent. Advent means coming. It’s a season to thin

Napoleon famously said, “The word impossible is not in my dictionary.” His can-do spirit helped him make incredible achievements in history. In my dictionary, I want to delete the word “unacceptable” because I’ve discovered that acceptance is love in action, and it’s essential to developing our spiritual intelligence or Spiritual Quotient (SQ). To be successful or live a good life, we need IQ, EQ, and SQ. Your SQ (Spiritual Quotient) is measured by your ability to love and accept people. First, we must learn the difference between approval and acceptance. For example, my children may do things I disapprove of, but I must accept them because I love them. Approval is based on law, but acceptance is based on love. Approval is based on the head, but acceptance is based on the heart. That sounds simple enough but not easy to practice. Jesus wants us to love even our enemies. Many people confuse loving our enemies with approving their actions. No, Jesus wants us to “accept” our enemies without “approving” their behaviors. Otherwise, we could end up demonizing people and justifying violence. We all have encountered people doing things that we disapprove of. Sometimes, it’s just a minor issue, so we can easily forgive and forget about it, but there are times when people may go above and beyond our tolerance threshold, and we say, “It’s unacceptable.” In such cases, we muddle the line between approval and acceptance because our strong emotion overrides our ability to see the person apart from their behavior. Jesus wants us to love the person despite their behavior. I know it’s a tall order. Some people have a lower tolerance threshold than others. They are quick to stick a Scarlet Letter on someone they disapprove of. Talking about the Scarlet Letter, I am sure most of you have read Nathaniel Hawthorne’s American Classic, “The Scarlet Letter,” or have watched one of the movie adaptations. The story reveals that everyone wears a Scarlet Letter—outwardly or inwardly, legally or secretly—even the holiest man in town has a secret Scarlet Letter beneath his clothes. The story reveals human nature, keeps us humble, and warns us against hypocrisy. Understanding this human nature would allow us to separate approval from acceptance. To effectively resolve human conflicts, we must first accept one another. But most people got it backward. They don’t accept others until they approve of their behaviors. Acceptance must be unconditional because that’s what “agape love” is about, the kind of love Jesus taught. Jesus has shown us the ultimate acceptance on the cross by forgiving and seeing humans as redeemable. He expects us to love one another the way he loves us. That’s a huge challenge, but when you can widen the gap between approval and acceptance, you are on the way to spiritual maturity, as Jesus expected. Based on this week’s scripture lesson, we will explore Jesus’ teaching on what’s lawful and loveful and how to read the Scarlet Letter A differently. Along the way, we will discover how to raise our SQ—Spiritual Quotient—to live a joyful, meaningful, and fruitful life. Let’s begin!

During a TV interview, a reporter asked Bill Gates, saying, “Mr. Gates, Microsoft products have been illegally copied and distributed in China. How are you going to deal with that problem?” That was over twenty years ago when the software was convenient to duplicate. In those days, most people in China couldn’t afford to buy Microsoft, so they bought cheap, illegal copies from the black market. I was curious about his answer, but to my surprise, Bill Gates replied magnanimously, “China is still developing. If they steal technology, I’d rather have them steal mine than others.” He seemed confident that Microsoft would survive the theft and turn the thieves into customers. Today, his magnanimity pays off. After decades of using bootleg copies, the Chinese have fallen in love with Microsoft and prefer to buy it as they can now afford it. Today, Bill Gates has captured a market four times larger than the United States because of his magnanimity. Conversely, many good software products have disappeared because of their pettiness. Even if you have the best product or the greatest idea in the world, your attitude can become a stumbling block to your progress. The dictionary defines magnanimity as “having a noble spirit and being generous and kind, especially towards someone who has wronged you.” It came from the Latin root words “magna,” meaning great or big, and “animus,” soul. So magnanimity means “great soul.” In the Fruit of the Spirit, the Greek term ἀγαθωσύνη (agathōsynē) is translated as “generosity” in NRSV and “goodness” or “nobility” in others. I discovered the best translation of this word is “magnanimity” because it covers all three meanings—generosity, goodness, and nobility. Why is magnanimity important? It elevates your life. It prevents you from the pettiness that hinders your success. Dr. Steven R. Covey calls it “scarcity mentality” instead of “abundance mentality.” Magnanimity is an abundance mentality that attracts abundance. Based on this week’s scripture lesson, we will explore how Jesus taught us to cultivate magnanimity to become salt of the earth rather than a stumbling block to the souls. Let’s begin!