So Why Did God Let This Happen?

The following is the complete part of the story I shared during our last YCF meeting on Jan-20.

Billy Graham's daughter was being interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this happen?"

And Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said

"I believe that God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman that He is, I believe that He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to Give us His blessing and His protection if we demand that He leave us alone?"

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The Christian Paradox

- How a faithful nation gets Jesus wrong?

Please read this interesting article from Harper's Magazine.

Bless Your Children Every Day

by Dr. Mary Ruth Swope

This is a book which "shows you how to activate God’s blessings in the lives of your children and grandchildren by proclaiming verbal blessings over them. A must read for every mother and grandmother!" (from BCCN).

Now you may read or download the book in Simplified Chinese.

You may also purchase the book in English or in Traditional Chinese.

「蒙福的兒女」是一本幫助您天天藉著禱告給您孩子祝福的書。在此分享給願孩子蒙福的父母 ...

「簡體中文版」在線閱讀、下載

「繁體中文版」在線購買

「英文原版」在線購買

20 Things God Won't Ask

- Author Unknown

God won't ask what kind of fancy car you drove.
He will ask how many people you took to church who didn't have transportation.
上帝不會問你開甚麼牌子的汽車，祂會問你：「曾經載過多少沒有汽車的人？」

God won't ask the square footage of your house.
He will ask how many people you helped who didn't have a house.
上帝不會問你住多大的房子，祂會問你：「歡迎了多少人進入你的家？」

God won't ask how many fancy clothes you had in your closet.
He will ask how many of those clothes you gave away.
上帝不會問你在衣櫥裡有那些衣服，祂會問你：「曾給多少人送過衣服？」

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三顆珍珠

[以下轉載自小牧童說故事,版權歸橄欖出版社所有]

作者：施以諾
發行日期：2005.12.25

相傳，在耶穌降生時有一群博士去看他，獻上了黃金、乳香、沒藥做為賀禮，然而，有另一位博士帶著三顆珍珠做為禮物也準備去朝見祂，但他中途遇到了一個帶著個瘦孩子的可憐寡婦，於是便分了一顆珍珠送給她們過冬，但也因此耽誤了行程。

他好難過！因為等他帶著僅存的兩顆珍珠到伯利恆時，約瑟和馬利亞早就帶耶穌走了！他只見到一大隊希律王派來的士兵在屠殺城裡的嬰兒，於是，他又用掉了一顆珍珠，從一個武士的刀下換回了一個嬰孩的生命。

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Should Christians Celebrate Christmas?

If you want to enjoy your Christmas Day in a more spiritual way, you may consider to visit bible.org which has a huge collection of Christmas resources, including Christmas sermons, Bible study resources, illustrations and stories.

Twelve Days of Christmas

The twelve days of Christmas are the twelve days from Christmas until the beginning of Epiphany (January 6th; the 12 days count from December 25th until January 5th), which is when the three wise men supposedly arrived on the scene. These are NOT the twelve days before Christmas,.

Most people know of The Twelve Days of Christmas from the song of that name. Below is a popular tale about the

ORIGIN of "TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS" - An Underground Catechism

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The 21 Rules Of This House

家規二十一條
by Gregg Harris
Chinese Translation by Chinese Christians' Home Education Association

In this house ...

1. We obey God.
我們順服主耶穌基督

2. We love, honor and pray for one another.
我們彼此相愛、彼此尊重、彼此代禱


3. We tell the truth.
我們說實話

4. We consider one another's interests ahead of our own.
我們考慮別人的利益，更甚於自己的利益

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Mary Did You Know?

This is a song which deeply touched me when I first heard it in a Christmas concert. Here are several versions about the song and I think it's best to share them in this grateful Christmas season.

Mary Did You Know?

• performed by Mark Lowry
• performed by Kenny Rogers & Wyonna Judd
• karaoke version (download the midi file)
• guitar chords
  
• story behind the song
• search Amazon.com for "Mary Did You Know?" CDs and Books

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Thanksgiving Recipe For Happier Days

( Take each ingredient and mix well into each day.)

T ~ Trust God
H ~ Hug someone you love
A ~ Appreciate the day
N ~ Nip your bad attitude
K ~ Kindle Kindness
S ~ Share a Smile
G ~ Grasp the joyful moments
I ~ Implement creativeness
V ~ Value people, not things.
I ~ Improve your relationships
N ~ Notice the goodness of God all around you.
G ~ Give a soft answer

Source: Thanksgiving At The Paver's Nest

How does the Bible say about "Thanksgiving"? Please read "Bible Scripture Study Guide for Thanksgiving".

Name Above All Names

We studied the topic of "What is God?" from the shorter catechism in our YCF group last week. During our discussion, it reminded me a song (which is not really a song, but a poem) about names of God in every book of Bible. It's called ...

Name Above All Names
(from the album God With Us - 神同在)
by Don Moen (Chinese Translation by 章啟明)

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The Center of the Bible

What is the shortest chapter in the Bible?
Answer - Psalms 117
聖經中最短的一章是?
答案：詩篇 117

What is the longest chapter in the Bible?
Answer - Psalms 119
聖經中最長的一章是?
答案：詩篇 119

Which chapter is in the center of the Bible?
Answer - Psalms 118
哪一章位於聖經的中心?
答案：詩篇 118

Fact: There are 594 chapters before Psalms 118
Fact: There are 594 chapters after Psalms 118
於詩篇118之前共有594章。
於詩篇118之後也共有594章。

Add these numbers up and you get 1188.
將594加上594，你會得到1188。

What is the center verse in the Bible?
Answer - Psalms 118:8
位於聖經中間的經節是？
答案：詩118:8

Does this verse say something significant about God's perfect will for our lives?

The next time someone says they would like to find God's perfect will for their lives and that they want to be in the center of His will, just send them to the center of His Word!

Psalms 118:8 (KJV) "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man"
詩篇118:8「投靠耶和華，強似倚賴人。」

A.S.A.P.

Ever wonder about the abbreviation A.S.A.P.?
Generally we think of it in terms of even more
hurry and stress in our lives. (As Soon As Possible)

If we think of this abbreviation in a different manner,
we may begin to find a new way to deal with our rough times.

A. S. A. P.

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On The Difference Between Choruses And Hymns

Hymns Vs. Choruses

A man accustomed to a mainline church went to a seekers’ service one Sunday. He came home and his wife asked him how it was. “Well,” he said, “it was interesting. They did something different. They sang choruses instead of hymns.”

“Choruses?” said his wife. “What are those?”
“Oh, they’re okay, I guess. They’re sort of like hymns, only different,” said the man.
“What’s the difference?” asked his wife.
He replied, “Well, it’s like this. If I were to say to you, ‘Martha, the cows are in the corn,’ that would be a hymn. Suppose, on the other hand, I were to say to you:

'Martha, Martha, Martha, Oh, Martha, MARTHA, MARTHA,
the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows, the white cows, the black and white cows, the COWS, COWS, COWS are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn, the CORN, CORN, CORN.’

Then if I were to repeat the whole thing five or six times, that would be a chorus.”

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Thinking God Can't Use You?

The next time you feel like God can't use you, just remember...

Noah was a drunk,
Abraham was too old,
Isaac was a daydreamer,
Jacob was a liar,
Leah was ugly,
Joseph was abused,

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The Gift Of Knowing You

這一生最美的祝福(The Gift of Knowing You)

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Five Finger Prayer

1. Thumb（拇指）

Your thumb is nearest to you. So begin your prayers by praying for those closest to you.

They are the easiest to remember. To pray for our loved ones is, as C.S. Lewis once said, a "sweet duty".

拇指是最靠近我們的手指，所以開始為我們最親近的人禱告。這是很容易記得的部分，正如 C.S.Lewis曾經說，為我們所愛的人禱告是一件「甜美的工作」。

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Ancient Chinese: Language of God?

Ever wrestle with questions of faith? Most people do.

Is God real? Where did men come from? What about Bible, is it true?

Where can you find such answers? One place to look is back in history. There are some intriguing explanations found in a culture that existed over one hundred years before the first word of the Bible were written down.

The Chinese language. It is the oldest , continuously written language in the world . Is it possible the people who created the ancient Chinese characters knew the answers to the questions you are now asking? Is the connection between the ancient characters and stories in the Bible a coincidence or by design?

You decide for yourself （中國古字與聖經之關係）... (Flash Presentation)

Another Interview with God

You may have seen the beautiful flash presentaion of "The Interview with God". It has been spreading around the net for quite a while and is claimed to be seen by millions.

However, you may not have seen "Another Interview with God" which is more biblical and faithful to His words.

God said, "NO!"

我求神拿走我的驕傲，神說不。
I asked God to take away my pride. And God said "NO."
祂說，驕傲不是由祂拿走的，乃是要我放下的。
It is not for me to take away, but for you to give it up.

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