For me, Thursday morning is the most important golden hour of the week. The reason is that the sermon manuscript for Sunday is ready. It is the time when the meditation, research, and sermon planning that began on Monday evening are put into place. For the past four weeks, that time has been faltering. More accurately, it has become unfocused. 

  Every Thursday from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm, the Kiwi Church runs a disability care programme in the community, focusing on people with disabilities. It was a ministry that started about two years ago. A well-run ministry was in trouble when the person who set up and ran the programme resigned. The problem (?) was that I recognised the atmosphere with my God-given sense. After that, my heart was stirred and the burden became overwhelming.

  So I prayed about it, shared it with my wife, and shared it in the ranch meeting. I prayed about it, shared it with my wife, and shared it in the ranch meeting. Of course, the early mornings were followed by the labour of hurriedly preparing the sermon, and I served for more than four weeks. I have become busier, but strangely my heart seems to be richer and richer. Moreover, receiving a handwritten letter from one of the disabled brothers thanking me for ‘reaching out to them’ made me feel rewarded after the service.

  When we eat at home, I am often compared to my son by my wife. She wants me to have a certain reaction in front of the food that she has carefully prepared. And the pressure is on. Then I want to do better. In fact, when something is too delicious, I am speechless, because I am concentrating on the flavours, savouring them. In contrast, when I talk a lot at meals, it's usually because the food is so-so. Now that I've said this, I feel like I need to reset my expectations of what I should say when I'm invited to a meal.

  By the way, I remember that after the sermon, when I heard the response from the congregation after the service that they were blessed by the sermon, I was encouraged and felt that the hard work of preparing the sermon was worthwhile. So I thought, ‘I'm determined. I will try to respond well before my wife's food. However, there's one barrier that's hard to cross. My second son is my barrier. I don't know how I can surpass my son's excellent expression skills. But I intend to try.

  Gratitude and service seem to enrich one's self. The person with a disability who is being served is grateful, and the person serving is happy. I think this happiness and joy should come with a priming water by the serving. I would like to invite you, the reader of this article, to join me in a place of service where you can possess true gratitude and happiness.
  Please accept the invitation~~~