Knowledge Transfer; Day214

Mat 28:16  Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed and made appointment with them.
Mat 28:17  And when they saw Him, they fell down and worshiped Him; but some doubted.
Mat 28:18  Jesus approached and, breaking the silence, said to them, All authority (all power of rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.
Mat 28:19  Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Mat 28:20  Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you all the days (perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the [very] close and consummation of the age. Amen (so let it be).

I’ve reconnected to an old friend yesterday and we talked for a long time (maybe >2hours) and I almost cried listening to his life story (just teary eyes ;;;;;).  From the outside, I thought his life was just a normal life but looking inside, it was all struggle.  What bothers me is I never knew all those things were happening to him.  He was a friend, a special friend but our friendship drifted away since his family moved to a different town.  What I love about his story was his will to beat the odds in his life.  He never gave up and he never went into self pity.  The reason why I mentioned him today is about the question that bothers me last night after we talked.  I’ve learned that during all his life struggle from childhood to the 20’s, he never mentioned about a brother or a sister in Christ who were able to reach out to him and help him or at least showed him that the end of the tunnel of uncertainty and pain are just right over that biggest hill.  He made it through then without any help from someone.  Fast forward for the next hour in our conversation, he then asked me, “I’ve heard that you are now a “born again” Christian?”  I was startled a little bit and don’t know how to answer the question. pause…. I humbly said “yes” and then throw back the question at him….”what about you?”  How’s your faith in all of your struggles.  His answers bothered me so much. He said, he used to read the Bible from cover to cover during his ordeal.  He said, he consulted the Bible whenever he made the ultimate decision of his life.  He said, he used to consult the Bible for anything.  As our conversation progresses, I learned that his faith drifted apart from what he used to believed.   All I can do was pray silently as we continue to talked.  So the question that bothers me is . “How can I show to him that the Bible that I am reading and studying every day is true and always true and the God that I believe is real.  How can I show to him that all that happened to his life were orchestrated by the God of heaven and earth who loves His children so much that He gave His son Jesus to earth to die for us so that the He can dwell in us through the Holy Spirit.  I went to sleep at 1PM last night with that question.  After waking up this morning, I opened the calendar for my daily devotional and Matthew 28:20 was the verse of the day.  I knew right away that the answer was there, I was just so busy I could not set in front of my computer and write this.

I am not a Bible scholar and but here’s what came to me after I read Matthew 28:20.  To truly understand the verse, you have to go back to the previous chapter (Chapter 27).  Chapter 28 was the end of the Book of Matthew and it was the culmination or shall I say the ending of Matthew’s account on Jesus and you have to use a “red letter Bible” to really understand what is going on.  In Chapter 27, Jesus was already crucified, He was already dead and then in Chapter 28, He spoke to His  disciples again.  (You will miss this point and get confused why did He spoke again.)  ….”I am with you always even unto the end of the world.” He was speaking in a Spirit form, the Holy Spirit, the small voice that I was talking about a few days ago.

So the reason why I said that today’s verse was the answer to my question is because when Jesus spoke to us “I am with you” He meant it to be “us” (present time) not just to the disciples that He was talking to. So the next question is HOW?  How can He be with us?  In what form?  In what way?  In what circumstance?  (That is for you to find out).  I looked back 10, 20, 30 years and connected all the dots of my life.  I was all amazed of He arranged everything for me.  Things that would never happen if I did not go to that route.  I won’t be able to meet friends if I insisted in my own ways. He was there all along with me, guiding me in every way.  Before I gave my life to Christ, I was so lost, I did this , done that. Lived a life with no faith and no God, so confused and no direction in life and no peace in sight everyday.  Everyday was always a surprise, a testing of my patience, a test of my self control, always a trying time and for the most part I was always victorious… then I  thought that I made it myself up to here in my own effort, in my own wisdom, in my own intelligence, in my own planning.  But no, He was there all along with me, watching over me, telling me to go left or right, to do this so that I will get that….. to move here so that I can have this…. Then the Holy Spirit (I AM) touched me in a special way, touched my inner being, I cried, I repented and I promised that even if my faith does not grow, I will continue to listen to Him (the still small voice always whispering to me what to do, what to say and what to write).  I think, the word “I am with you” means more than what we can imagine …. if we only let Him guide us. 

It is really difficult to prove God’s existence. We can listen to every great preachers out there, read books written by born again Christians, read people’s personal experience about Him, watch Biblical documentaries; read the Bible, listen to the witness of a friend…  but until we start our own search, be curious if His existence is true, questioning Him if he really is real, we will never find the answer.  We have to experience God in our very own life. 

(I can only point you into the right direction, show you the way but you yourself has to start the journey on your own.)

MIT (Most Important Task)
1. Church
2. 12Mile Bike
3. Mow yard
4. 1K swim

Weekend Tasks:
1. New roof installation-Monday
2. 40Mile Cycling-Monday
3. 2.4 Mile swim-Tuesday
4. Texas-Florida Expedition Preparation
5. Backup Hyper-V

0000, Sleep
0100, Sleep
0200, Sleep
0300, Sleep
0400, Sleep
0500, Sleep
0600, Sleep
0700, Breakfast; journal;
0800, 12Mile bike
0900, Celebration Church
1000, Celebration Church
1100, Grocery shopping
1200, Barbecue for the kids
1300, Barbecue
1400,
1500, Nap
1600, Nap
1700,
1800,
1900, Journal
2000, Mow yard
2100, 1k swim
2200,
2300,
2400, Sleep