Love After Marriage

Genesis 2:24 “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.”

Last week I asked a friend whose father had passed away recently, how he and his family were managing through it all. He replied “well my mom was 22 on their wedding day, and they had the ‘joined at the hip’ type of marriage that you don’t really see in this generation, so you can imagine it’s not that easy for her.” I’m on dream #33 of the 100 dream exercise, and I felt called to add “joined at the hip type of marriage that is rare in this generation” to my list of dreams yesterday. When I told Elaine this she laughed and said “how are we going to get that if you don’t even like hanging out with me?!” This is a bit of an overstatement. It is true that her love language is quality time and mine is definitely not, but I really do cherish my time with my wife, and I know God has a lot more beautiful time together in store. Lord, exactly one year ago today we were flying back from Love After Marriage, probably the most transformational experience that I’ve ever been through. We went from the lowest low to the highest high of our 9 years of married life in less than 24 hours. You have the power to heal, to restore and to transform us into your likeness. I praise you for all that you’ve done in my union with Elaine, and I look forward to so much more. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

God Hugs Trees - Part 2

Galatians 2:10 “Only they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.” As I wrote yesterday, the first reason to protect our planet is because we love God, and the earth is his creation. In listening to a podcast last night I realized that the second reason is that we are to love others as ourselves. Specifically God commands us many times in scripture to love those who are less fortunate than us. We’ve seen through the coronavirus outbreak how those who are less fortunate bear the brunt of pandemic impacts. The overwhelming majority of cases in Singapore originate in the migrant worker dorms, and mostly black inner-city populations in the United States have suffered far higher deaths than their mostly white and wealthier suburbs, fueling the racial riots we have seen across that country in recent weeks. The same can be said of the environmental damage. Because power plants, factories, garbage dumps and other unwanted societal necessities are generally placed closer to lower-income families, numerous studies have shown that they are much more likely to die from air pollution, water pollution and extreme weather events caused by climate change. So if we are to love others, and especially if we are to love those who are less privileged in society, it is our responsibility to take care of our planet. God you are so good to reveal more and more to me each day. Thank you for being such a loving Father, and for lavishing us with incredible gifts of your creation. In admiring you, I pray that I will be filled with a greater measure of your love and concern for others. In your son’s name, Amen.

Is God a Tree Hugger?

Psalm 24:1 The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. The other day I posted a video on air pollution (please check it out here.) When we first started focusing our investment thesis more around the environment at my venture firm, Amasia, I wondered how that all reconciled with my faith. Evangelical Christians particularly in the US have been known not to support initiatives tied with sustainability. But after digging around I’ve come to the conclusion that God wants us to take care of his creation. The earth is the Lord’s. It is his masterpiece. In Genesis 1 he stepped back seven times to wonder at his creation, and he “saw that it was good.” What irks my boys probably more than anything else is when one of their brothers destroys a Lego masterpiece that they created. I can’t imagine God being much happier when he sees his children disrespecting his creation, in which he took such pride. God, please help me to take more care in protecting this world you created. I love you, and I want to show love to everything that is yours. In your son’s name, Amen.