WEALTHY

I am so grateful to have a chance to sit in Rosanna's study today. Her younger son (around early 20') was baptised in our church and stopped coming out to church for a short time. Unfortunately , he died last summer in the beach. Her elder son is in the single ministry. He invited his younger brother to come to church.
After her son died , she started to come to church . Bonnie has studied with her since last September. It is so inspiring to see her relying on God to overcome her pain. I need to treasure every single minute with my family and friends. Same as the song said"Don't love too late".

After talking to Bonnie about "what is the true wealth in our life?" I have received the following message from one of my lovely sister, Celia. Would love to share to you !

A dying businessman on his death bed called for the family:
Is mommy here?
Sweetheart, I’m here. Are all the children here? Yes, they all are here.
Where’s Danny – I’m here dad.
Where’s Stephen? I’m here dad.
Where’s Connie?– I’m here dad.
The dying dad says: Now if all of you are here, then, who’s taking care of my business?
Looks like the dying businessman is rich or is he?

The Richest Man in the valley.
A rich landowner named Carl often rode around his vast estate so he could congratulate himself on his great wealth. One day while riding around his estate on his favorite horse, he saw Hans, an old tenant farmer. Hans was sitting under a tree when Carl rode by. Hans said, ‘I was just thanking God for my food.’ Carl protested, ‘If that is all I had to eat, I wouldn’t feel like giving thanks.’ Hans replied, ‘God has given me everything I need, and I am thankful for it.’ The old farmer added, ‘It is strange you should come by today because I had a dream last night. In my dream a voice told me, ‘The richest man in the valley will die tonight.’ I don’t know what it means, but I thought I ought to tell you.’ Carl snorted, ‘Dreams are nonsense,’ and galloped away, but he could not forget Hans’ words: ‘The richest man in the valley will die tonight.’ He was obviously the richest man in the valley, so he invited his doctor to his house that evening. Carl told the doctor what Hans had said. After a thorough examination, the doctor told the wealthy landowner, ‘Carl, you are as strong and healthy as a horse. There is no way you are going to die tonight.’ Nevertheless, for assurance, the doctor stayed with Carl, and they played cards through the night. The doctor left the next morning and Carl apologized for becoming so upset over the old man’s dream. At about nine o’clock, a messenger arrived at Carl’s door. ‘What is it?’ Carl demanded. The messenger explained, ‘It’s about old Hans. He died last night in his sleep.’ So who is the truly wealthy person? I guess the next question I have to ask you is this: Are you truly wealthy? The one who has his relationship with Christ is the most wealthy person . That is why he could say with all of his heart that he lacks nothing.

One body , many parts

Yesterday's communion, Chris shared 1 Corin 10:16-17 and mentioned something talking on Chapter 12 One body, many parts.
During the lunch, our bible talk sisters still keeped on talking about this. It is interesting to know how they think they are and how we think we are .
Belinda-- mouth (good speaker, help us to express ourselves)
Rosanna- hands(she always uses her hands to serve others, i.e. carry stuff for others, message for those who feel tired...)
Ann-- eyes (like to just observe)
Mrs. Tsang --ear (she is a great listener, she is so calm , not react)
Margaret -- hands (use her hands to serve others, she is always the one who cut the meat for us during meals)
Roxana--legs (like to do errands, want to move things forward)
How about yours!

Ezekiel 1-3

In Chapter 1, God had shown Ezekiel a vision which for us seems incomprehensible but in v28 Ezekiel said that it was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.

In Chapter 2 God had asked Ezekiel to speak to the Israelites, who are stubborn and rebellious. He told him not to be afraid of them and their words, whether they listen or not.

Chapter 3, God asked Ezekiel to open his mouth and eat the scroll so he can speak to the Israelites.

Somehow I have forgotten how great God is. I have shrank Him to my level that I can't see what God can do in my life and the people around me. I have lost my vision because I can only see what's in front of me and not what's beyond me. I have realized that I have given up on sharing my convictions with other people because they don't listen anyways....I should use the word of God and share my convictions irregardless if they will listen or not.
I have decided to set up a time with a sister at work every Tuesday during lunch time to either pray with her or do quiet time. Please pray that this will happen and I will not loose heart and I will persevere.

Jane

CONFESSION

Last night, in the house church we were studying about "mission". To me this word is more about spreading God's good news/salvation to the unbelievers.
Luke 4: 18
"preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed.”

After reading this scripture, it reminds me one thing of which I need to confess to you.
In the past, I seldom tried hard to love those who were difficult for me to love. Margaret’s younger daughter, Eva is one of the examples . She is a bit slow mentally. Most of the time, I do not know how to handle her. I am afraid that I will feel embarrassed when she is out of control. Therefore, I chose to ignore or avoid her. Recently I learned from Bonnie that she set up a “Sunflower” mission. Once a month she will go out with a sister’s daughter (preteens). They will do different things together in order to establish a close bounding. Bonnie did post it on her Sunflower blog. She inspired me by her sincere love and great vision. I start to go out of my comfort zone and learn how to be friend with Eva. I learn to trust and believe one of God’s promises “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love”. (1John 4:18) .

We will try to meet each other once a month. This morning we went for breakfast and afterward she came to my house to have MSN with Michael. They know each other since they were young (in the kid’s kingdom). Eva always treats Michael as his little brother. She felt so excited by being able to chat with Michael through the web camera. It is her first time using this kind of communication. She also felt so happy because she told me that it was the first time that someone (Mike) concerning how is her health been doing.

I am so grateful and thankful to see God helps me to have this victory in my life. It is so true that after we repent, we will be blessed!!!!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9-PPFA48AY&mode=related&search=

6S Conviction

Sorting>

Setting>

Shinning>

Strengthening>

Sustaining>

Servicing => Salvation

Hongkong Connections

God has given me enormous gifts when I visited Hongkong.

1. I was able to hang out with Roxana, my spiritual partner, who always spur me on, who always brings me back to the word of God, who always inspire me in what she does and who will always be there for me to help me finish the race. Thank you for the wonderful time we've spent together.

2. I was able to reconnect with Bonnie, get to know her better and to see that she is Roxana's spiritual partner. Bonnie is a woman with character and integrity, she acts on things that she said she would. She also gave me an insight on coaching which I have a desire to do. God had put us together that lunch time in order to do great things for Him.

This blog has created a channel for me to be connected with my Hongkong sisters at the same time to be inspired by their spiritual fervor for God.

To God be the Glory
Jane

打屬靈補針

These few days I feel so joyful. The reasons are:

• 1) Jane stayed at my house the other night. It was the first time that we have chitchat for approximately 17 hours within the past 2 days. We did not feel tired or boring.It sure will be very different if our chitchat is without God as the center. It will most likely end up gossip. However, I feel that I have got a spiritual injection ( 打屬靈補針)or spiritual recharging.
• 2) Through this blog, it helps me to use my brain more. It seems to me it is another way to help me to avoid dementia .It confirms to me again that the meaning of being joyful is putting Jesus, Others before Yourself.

三思而後行 Think 3 times before an action

三思而後行，可達平和安逸之心近也。

I could not recall who has given me a power point slide show about 3 minutes health secret for the Chinese Top Elder Leaders which are:

• Rest for 3 more minutes at bed before you wait up in the morning. And etc......

In echoing to Lorinda’s journal, I have designed a similar 3 minutes emotional exercise to help city people being serene: (time could be much shorter than 3 minutes depending on individual)

• Take 3 minutes to scanning any expectations on yourself before putting them on to others.
• Take 3 minutes to digesting the judgment in your own stomach before they come out from your mouth.
• Take 3 minutes to rehearsing the situation on your real life before you begin to put doubting on to others.

Moreover, how could we apply the 3 minutes spirit on faith in God? Here is how I do:

• Take 3 minutes to pray in Jesus name when my sinful nature stimulates me.
• Take 3 minutes to meditate my baptism when I am being tempted by Satan.
• Take 3 minutes to be still in soul with God when my desire/fear dominates.

BTL Class by Mark Templer

Mark is currently the executive director of HOPE worldwide in India. He visited hkcoc and gave us a preaching about "father and the two sons" and a class to the BTLs about "CHANGE by being with Jesus".

Pure Faith is vital for a Real Change. By Faith we Change. Mark challenged us with a question, "How much is Jesus in your thoughts?"

2 Corinthian 3:4-6
Psalm 10:4
Matthew 9:27-34

Our History

Roxana, Jane and Bonnie are the founders of the Sharing Convictions Blog. Where did we meet? A good question to start with our stories........

Bonnie went to Vancouver, Canada in June 2000 for attending her family reunion party cum her mother's 70th birthday. Elizabeth introduced Bonnie to meet with Roxana, a disciple immigrated to Vancouer from Hong Kong. From there, 2 girls met with each other.

Roxana introduced Jane to Bonnie in the Vancouver church. Moreover, accidentally, Bonnie met with Jane again in front of Zellers of Richmond Centre. From here, they always remember each other and ocassionally Bonnie met with Jane and Roxana when they visited the Hong Kong Church.

Roxana decided to return to Hong Kong to take caring her honey husband in 2006 after Michael enrolled in to the Waterloo University. Surprisingly, Roxana became the neighbor of Bonnie at the Ocean Shores. They became close .... close friends.

Jane visited the Hong Kong church again on 11 Mar 2007 and three of them had lunch at iBis. over there, they talked about how to sharing spiritual connections. Here is the answer! We wanted to name the blog as "cross the ocean". However it is not available so Bonnie take the liberty to sign up with the name as "sharing convictions".

We will enjoy our journey of journalling our convictions and how about you? If you want to join us, please send an email to the adminstrator at personalfreedom@bonniechan.com.