The Learner's place

Part 2 of 2. Missed Part 1? Read it here: Causes of Angst in the Christian Life. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Image generated by Gemini Plus. In Part 1, we named the angst honestly – the accumulated weight of unanswered prayer, spiritual dryness, compassion fatigue, and living in the gap between God’s promises and a still-broken world. It isn’t a failure of faith. It is often the cost of…

带到主恩座前求。图片由Gemini…

在漫长的信仰之路上，你默默的承受着内心的重担。图片由Gemini…

The inner weight you carry inner the quiet endurance of a long walk of faith. Image generated by Gemini Plus. Part 1 of 2. Part 2 explores how to bring your angst to God and find real freedom. You walk out of church more undone than when you walked in. You sang the songs. You said the amen. And yet, beneath the familiar rhythm of it all, there is a low, persistent ache — a heaviness you can’t…

You are not alone. Image generated by Gemini Plus. My previous post on the terror in the night suggests everything and anything can put us in unease, worry, and fear. Where can you find comfort? I would like to examine this very question with you. The hardest nights are the ones where the weight of the world feels personal. It’s the boss who overlooks your effort, the project that feels like…

The night. Image generated by Gemini Plus. Tonight felt different. The air was dense. The streetlights struggled to dispel a darkness so thick you felt you could touch it. There was no breeze; the leaves stayed perfectly still, as if any movement might invite the horror they dreaded. Usually, the local dogs bark in a rhythmic relay – from far to near, then near to far. Tonight was different.…

Our spiritual lives can face the same constant disruptions as our nightly rest.Source: Anastasiia Voloshko / Getty Images Every morning, my health app gives me the bad news: my sleep quality is below average. It tracks the exact disruptions – waking up, using the restroom, and that bad habit of picking up the phone in the dark. The app always wraps up with suggestions to improve my rest. It…

Where do you find joy? Image generated by Gemini Plus. There’s a strange thing about joy. It rarely shows up where we expect it. Finding Joy in the Small Things We tend to look for it in big wins. A bigger house with space for your dog to run around. A higher income (or any income at all). A life that finally looks like the one we imagined. But most days don’t look like that. Most days are…

喜乐哪里找？图片由Gemini Plus生成。 喜乐是一件很奇妙的事 –…

失去爱犬之后如何面对未来。图片由Gemini Plus生成。 有些视频，你以为自己看了不会受影响 – 但它偏偏触动了你。 最近我看到一段关于失去爱犬的短视频。作为一名爱狗之人，它给我的触动比想象中还要深。不仅是因为那份失去的痛楚，更是因为它揭示了爱本身的真谛。 有两个想法一直留在我脑中： 第一，所有美好的经历都不会浪费。 第二，再次去爱，并不是一种背叛。 美好的事物从未流逝 当你爱上一只狗时，你变了。 你变得更有耐心，更懂得观察。你学会去留意那些微小的信号 –…

Losing a dog and moving forward. Image generated by Gemini Plus. There are some videos you don’t expect to affect you – but they do. I recently watched a short clip about losing a dog. As a dog lover, it hit deeper than I expected. Not just because of the loss, but because of what it revealed about love itself. Two thoughts stayed with me. First, nothing good is wasted.Second, loving again is…

Ben sleeping. ©Loong At 12:48 AM today, Ben suddenly stood up from his sleep, walked to his bed, and started gasping for air, struggling to breathe. Suppressing the panic in my heart, I laid hands on him and prayed. Those few minutes felt like an eternity; I felt a suffocating tightness in my chest, not physical, but emotional. Thank God, after a few minutes, his breathing finally returned to…

Ben. ©Loong The park lights have been out since Sunday’s storm. For days, Ben and I have braved the pitch-black trails, save for a small patch clinging to the glow of solar lamps. Walking through those shadows, my heart pumped faster. I worried about glass shards, joggers appearing out of the gloom, or snakes waiting to strike. I even played out the worst-case scenarios: Ben getting bitten, or…

Joy, unspeakable. Image generated by Gemini Plus. “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Cor 3:18, ESV) In our last post, we explored the danger of sitting still at the “spiritual bus station”. We discussed how easy it is to just go…

难以言喻的喜悦。图片由Gemini Plus生成。 「我们众人既然敞着脸，得以看见主的荣光，好像从镜子里返照，就变成主的形状，荣上加荣，如同从主的灵变成的。」（哥林多后书 3:18，和合本） 在上一篇文章中，我们探讨了呆坐在“属灵车站”不动的危险。我们讨论了仅仅按部就班地履行宗教义务是多么容易。但一旦你迈出了顺服的决定性一步，登上了车，奇迹就开始发生了！难以置信，生活成了一场激动人心的冒险。 请记住，乘车并不是要靠自己的力量去奋斗。相反，而是要进入圣灵的动工里面。因此，世界上没有比意识到自己真的在改变更大的喜乐了！不仅在改变，还在向好的方向改变。你正在变得更像耶稣！ 细微迹象 真挚的属灵成长并不总是大马士革路上的耀眼亮光。大多数时候，属灵成长的喜乐是在日常生活中绽放出的那份美丽而宁静的“细微迹象”。你最近注意到了吗？ · 是当情况变糟糕时，那份令人惊讶的满足感。 ·…

坐在公交车站的人。图片由Gemini Plus生成。 日出时分，一个男人坐在公交车站的板凳上。 清晨清爽的空气变成了中午炎热的暑气，又慢慢消散在傍晚凉爽的微风中。一整天，好多辆公交车开过。其中几辆直通他要去的教堂。他一动不动。一位朋友停下车来载他，他挥挥手拒绝了。日落时，他还在原来的地方。他本有大把的机会可以离开，但他就是拒绝迈出那第一步。 例行公事的陷阱 身体上的停滞很容易被察觉。然而，属灵的停滞却更难察觉。你可以参加每一次主日崇拜，翻阅圣经，背诵熟悉的祷告，但在思想上，你依然坐在那条板凳上。许多基督徒错误地将“例行公事”视为“向前迈进”。我们经常把宗教活动和实际的成长混淆。 从听到行 真正的门徒不只是出现在车站。它需要你登上公交车。这意味着迈出顺服的积极步伐，这需要你付出代价 –…

A man at the bus station. Image generated by Gemini Plus. A man sits on a bench at the bus station as the sun rises. The crisp morning air turns into the heavy heat of noon, which slowly fades into a cool evening breeze. Throughout the day, dozens of buses pull up. One of them heads straight toward his church. He does not move. A friend pulls over and offers him a lift. He waves him away. By…