Skip to main content

Birthday Campaign

One Day Wages has provided the birthday campaign idea and I have started a page on its website: Phyllis’ Birthday for a Cause.

The story:

I need not to repeat the global statistics on poverty and the dire needs around the world. We have all heard and seen enough to compel us to do something. For those of us who are Christians, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (James 1:27). The mandate is plain and simple, but easier said than done.

A couple days before this year’s birthday, I got this daily verse in an email: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). Even though salvation cannot be gained, but our walk of life reveals our faith and our inner reality. Looking at my bank account, I question where my true treasure is found.

Everyday we are faced with different choices, like where and how to spend our money? When Moses came before Pharaoh and asked for the release of the Israelites from slavery, Pharaoh asked, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go” (Exodus 5:2). When God the Creator of heaven and earth, the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob means nothing to you, there is not a single reason to obey His command. However, if you proclaim that He is indeed your God, your Savior, your Treasure, you have every single reason to listen and follow Him. Giving hurts sometimes. Giving could be a sacrifice. But if He is my God, I ought to give until it hurts because for one, He gave His only son to us. Two, Jesus gave His life for us. Three, freely give as I have freely received (Matthew 10:8). We are God’s stewards that get to give, not have to. It is no longer a sacrifice, but a responsibility, a blessing, and a honor.

The invitation:

This birthday, I hope you’d join me to bring about His Kingdom by helping the poor. I have donated one day worth of wages and I hope you’d consider to do the same.

In addition to One Days Wages, I’d like to include the option to donate to a cause that I’ve been involved with and truly believe in: eMi (engineering Ministries International), “a non-profit Christian development organization made up of architects, engineers and design professionals who donate their skills to help children and families around the world step out of poverty and into a world of hope.” To donate, please go to: https://emisecure.org/donate.html

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

WV Trilogy - Part 2

(If you haven't read Part 1, it's here .) (Sat) Oct 13 -  Sunrise at Spruce Knob 6 a.m. start in the dark. My legs surprised me by being happier than yesterday. My heart is in better place as well. The first 6.7 mile goes up to Spruce Knob, the highest point in West Virginia. Part of this section was on fire road and I welcomed the faster miles. Steady progress was made in the first 20 miles or so until the long, long descent into Aid Station 3. As I have decided yesterday, I'd start the race, go from aid station to aid station, and re-evaluate my condition at each. I left Aid station 2 feeling good but then the long descent once again put doubts in my mind. Running reduced to little steps on jello-legs. Compression socks helped to contain the injury and pain, but the strength to support the pounding was still lacking. Soon, my knees started to hurt as well. At aid station 3, they told me I had 2:45 to make it to the next aid station before the cut-off. At the pace I...

New Year's resolution

Nine days into 2012 and a day before entering into a new age group is an opportune time to nail down some New Year's resolutions. 2011 was a good year, one that filled with transitions and norming --  be it moving from California to Charlotte, from being a student back to an architect, or starting fresh in a new territory to establishing roots and relationships. My new running and swimming communities had made the transition easy and welcoming, and partly because of that, much of my attention in the past year was on either sports, like running my first 50k and participating in my first swim meet. Having just graduated from seminary was probably the other half of the reason why I had been keeping a distance from structured studies / reading in 2011. With that said, my 2012 focus will be on balanced growth. While I still have a long list of goals in swimming and running, I need to make sure I allocate enough time and attention to spiritual and intellectual grow...

Blue Ridge Marathon

Bill Rodgers After reading so many people's blog on their experience of America's toughest road marathon, the Blue Ridge Marathon, I'm starting to lose my own chain of thought/memory. Bottom line is I had a lot of fun and surprised myself with a sub-4 finish. My estimate was around five hours, or maybe even 5:30 if condition was tough like last year's monsoon. Here's my account of it: Three and a half hour drive from Charlotte straight to packet pickup at Roanoke's Taubman Museum of Art, a modern and iconic building in contrast with the rest of the historical railroad downtown. It was Friday evening and the streets were lively. People were on the patio and on the street with live music playing. I strolled around a little but not too much since I wanted to save my legs. My hotel was only about a mile away. I contemplated on just walking there from the hotel, but ended up driving half a mile or so to park at the Civic Center. Half a mile could be a haul af...