My trip to Taiwan is coming to its end. In a few days I'll once again be leaving my family and returning to Vancouver to continue with my studies and well, my life. Before I arrived, I didn't really know what to expect. I had prayed to God to be with me always, in whatever situation I encountered. And in retrospect, I believe he has been. I feel like I've learned so much during this visit. And although I'm with my family whom I love, it isn't always easy having multiple personalities under the same roof (as many of you would attest).
I spent the day visiting my grandparents in Hsinchu City, about an hour drive south of Taipei. I took the Taiwan High speed rail, which only took about 30 minutes. Then, my aunt came to pick me up and drove back to the apartment building where grandma, grandpa, two of my aunts, and a few cousins live. After a nice lunch at Sogo with my aunt, I spent the afternoon just hanging out in my grandparents' apartment. I had a chance to talk to my grandfather. I've always had a lot of respect for him. I know he's a many of perseverence, integrity, and kindness. But it was really nice to sit down and listen to him talk about his past. He has pictures of his younger brother and sister still sitting on the ancestral table. They were both killed in the second world war in a bomb shelter (ironic) while they were just kids. It's true that war is terrible and can really change a person, for the better or the worse.
We got to talking about the past. About my grandfather's family, my grandmother's family, about how it was like growing up for my aunts and the other siblings. I loved listening to their stories - very much like the Chinese tales I used to read growing up as a kid in Taiwan. I began to realize that indeed every child - every person, is essentailly a product of the home that they grow up in. And it is the harsh reality that some people are lucky to grow up in good homes, some others better yet. But there are the ones who grow up in homes with no or little love, ones who grow up never seeing their parents much because mom or dad's career, and some who grow up in violent homes. It is scary sometimes how much you are shaped by the family you grow up in. In Taiwanese there is a saying, that the life you get is just your "destiny", your "mia". So you accept what you get, good or bad, it's just the way it is. 認命吧! You make the best of what you got. Sometimes that is not a bad atittude at all.
I sat there, having just gained a deep realization that you are a product of the home you grew up in. I had come to realize this a while ago, but today I heard it from the generations above me. It is like a cycle. You learn from your parents, your treat your kids the same way your parents treated you, your kids treat their children the same way you treated them. It goes on, and on. We become confused people, not knowing what is right and what is wrong. We become trapped in that cycle (trapped if it's bad), not knowing how to jump out. But then there's the GOSPEL!
I had never experienced and understanding of the purpose of the gospel like I did today. I do believe that it was the work of the Holy Spirit. No, we don't have to accept our ill fate. We can walk away from the bad cycle, from the mistakes of our ancestors. This is why Jesus came to die for us! Because of his coming, we are saved and we are given new lives! This goes for everyone, the young and the old, the rich and the poor. This notion had never touched me so deeply before and I had never felt so excited about it before this day. God offers his only son, who came to this world with his very radical teaching about selfless, about equality amongst all people in God's eyes, but about all, about his eternal love for us. So now, even a child who came into the world in the poorest of all homes (materialistcally or spiritually), can have an equal chance of living life fully as any of us. Do you understand the incredible magnitude of this? That is why the Gosepl is the good news. And if I have been chosen by God so graciously, so freely, to know his love so freely, shouldn't I pass it on to those who need God? Jesus came so we can be transformed. He came so that we can be called children of light. It makes so much sense now. God is so amazing in the ways he teaches me the various lessons of life. Believe the good news of Christ, and be set free!
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. - Galatians 3:26-28
I spent the day visiting my grandparents in Hsinchu City, about an hour drive south of Taipei. I took the Taiwan High speed rail, which only took about 30 minutes. Then, my aunt came to pick me up and drove back to the apartment building where grandma, grandpa, two of my aunts, and a few cousins live. After a nice lunch at Sogo with my aunt, I spent the afternoon just hanging out in my grandparents' apartment. I had a chance to talk to my grandfather. I've always had a lot of respect for him. I know he's a many of perseverence, integrity, and kindness. But it was really nice to sit down and listen to him talk about his past. He has pictures of his younger brother and sister still sitting on the ancestral table. They were both killed in the second world war in a bomb shelter (ironic) while they were just kids. It's true that war is terrible and can really change a person, for the better or the worse.
We got to talking about the past. About my grandfather's family, my grandmother's family, about how it was like growing up for my aunts and the other siblings. I loved listening to their stories - very much like the Chinese tales I used to read growing up as a kid in Taiwan. I began to realize that indeed every child - every person, is essentailly a product of the home that they grow up in. And it is the harsh reality that some people are lucky to grow up in good homes, some others better yet. But there are the ones who grow up in homes with no or little love, ones who grow up never seeing their parents much because mom or dad's career, and some who grow up in violent homes. It is scary sometimes how much you are shaped by the family you grow up in. In Taiwanese there is a saying, that the life you get is just your "destiny", your "mia". So you accept what you get, good or bad, it's just the way it is. 認命吧! You make the best of what you got. Sometimes that is not a bad atittude at all.
I sat there, having just gained a deep realization that you are a product of the home you grew up in. I had come to realize this a while ago, but today I heard it from the generations above me. It is like a cycle. You learn from your parents, your treat your kids the same way your parents treated you, your kids treat their children the same way you treated them. It goes on, and on. We become confused people, not knowing what is right and what is wrong. We become trapped in that cycle (trapped if it's bad), not knowing how to jump out. But then there's the GOSPEL!
I had never experienced and understanding of the purpose of the gospel like I did today. I do believe that it was the work of the Holy Spirit. No, we don't have to accept our ill fate. We can walk away from the bad cycle, from the mistakes of our ancestors. This is why Jesus came to die for us! Because of his coming, we are saved and we are given new lives! This goes for everyone, the young and the old, the rich and the poor. This notion had never touched me so deeply before and I had never felt so excited about it before this day. God offers his only son, who came to this world with his very radical teaching about selfless, about equality amongst all people in God's eyes, but about all, about his eternal love for us. So now, even a child who came into the world in the poorest of all homes (materialistcally or spiritually), can have an equal chance of living life fully as any of us. Do you understand the incredible magnitude of this? That is why the Gosepl is the good news. And if I have been chosen by God so graciously, so freely, to know his love so freely, shouldn't I pass it on to those who need God? Jesus came so we can be transformed. He came so that we can be called children of light. It makes so much sense now. God is so amazing in the ways he teaches me the various lessons of life. Believe the good news of Christ, and be set free!
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. - Galatians 3:26-28
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