Dear son,
I feel so sorry that I never read the Bible with you. Today's sermon is quite interesting. The pastor gave a sermon fromHebrews 13:1-6. Why is it very interesting? It is because the pastor encourage believers to reach out people. I am a kind of shy person, and you are a social type of person. Unfortunately, today's environment, we have to lock you in our house. I do wish you could run like you were a little and you kept running on the big backyard combined with neighbor's. You liked to all the way to the main street without stop. I wish you were still able to run like this way outdoors, in the country roads, toward the top of hill, toward the ocean.
13:1 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
As you are growing up, you will meet many kinds of people. Some treat you nice, and some do not. Some love you, some hate you, some just want to nail you down, and some try best to help you but it always turns out hurting you deeper. Some pursue after you, and some are pursued by you.
It is about people. You just cannot live by yourself. People support your survival. Of course some of them are taking you down. However, just be brave. There is a good saying: "If you face it, it will escape." Just be nice and grateful to people. You are, but please be careful. To be nice does not mean to present yourself. I do not mean you should hide yourself. To be nice means to take care for others, and be sensitive to their needs and limits. It is about people, not just you, just others or friends, but also the third party. Sometimes, we just do a drama play in front of the invisible audience. The audience can be the world, or the angels. Just enlarge your vision.
We have a sweet family, but there are miserable people out there. Be sensitive to their feelings and conditions. I love the Batman movies because they draw us to the special conditions of bad guys, but the movies insist that those conditions cannot be the excuse to hurt people, do bad things, and release anger without control. What makes mistreated people be mistreated? It is because the mistreating people think they have the right to do it, and even they have to do it with ten thousands of reasons. I do not like use violence to bring up justice. I often make such a wrong example with my behaviors. However, it is really wrong to use violence. I dislike, I hate the shooting online games. Those games make you a hero, a smart and skillful person, but they do kill you mercy.
4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
This is a interesting topic. It may be too early to talk about with you. Anyway, sooner or later you got to get married. You have to know something about girls, dating and marriage. It is OK to love a girl, but it is not OK to love many girls at the same times, and it is not OK to love a girl in a short period of time, such as one day, a few of days. Do not kid on love. Some girls would keep your bad image in mind for the rest of their life if you did it. Dating is looking for a partner. Of course, her looking, appearance, smile, talk, behaviors may draw your attention, but the actress is not real, and the truth behind will tear your heart into pieces. Partnership means you have a common area, you can work together somewhere. Do not say the silly words, such as that you are common to being together.
I think it is the best to have a long term relationship with a girl from high school, and marry her. Some of my friends did it. It is my advice that all girls are almost the same. It is life. Everyone eats, sleeps, and grows. No matter what you eat and how you sleep, you grow, you will grow, you have to grow. No matter she is smart or dumb, she still has her insight of life, and her way to beautify the world. I do not mean not to choose, but I say not to regret of your choice, or not to favor your choice. She is a live creature. You have to discover her strengths and weaknesses, hidden and new. Never think that switch to the second choice would lead to a totally different life. Do not believe such a lie, a pretending game. There are two results of a switch: either rotating among, or isolated from outside.
It is hard to deal with the human relationships. Stand firm and smile. To complain is useless and odes nothing good. Be calm and find the key issue. Or, try hard to do something in advance, or do a little more. Observe and analyze. You will find some way out. I think the only frustration is loneliness. One day the hero will turn lonely and bored. The tips to life is to enjoy the life. Expect more, but be happy with what happens.
5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”[a] 6 So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”[b]
Money is good, but it tastes bitter. You have to try hard to make money, keep it, and protect it. You will become a slave of money. Try to be content with what you have, and be smart to use what you have in a creative way. I encourage you to live for the ideals, and die for them. Ideals mean the best, or better. Do not stop at where you are. Enlarge your vision. The word die may be a little tough, but it is life that you have to make decision and give up some things. It is reality that you have only two heads and you can hold a limit of things. You have to give up that, and then pick up this. For THIS, you concentrate yourself, just like you chose the video game and play all day long without eating. Please make a smart choice.
The second encouragement is to make God as your treasure and strength. Dig more treasure from God. You may think it is a dumb idea. You never see anything good comes out of it. Yes, it is a silly idea. But why? It is because people do not listen to God as you do not listen to your parents. So your grades turn bad because you pursue your desires and give up your academic. Education sometimes sounds silly, but it teaches you in a systematical way, to avoid mistake, and be accountable for your performance. The more important is to build up your integrity to yourself and the society. I know schools do not teach you only good things, but still schools teach you to discern. God is the God of order. If you do not like a system, then you build up your own and present it. Otherwise, just take it whatever it is at hand.
Do not live a life without disciplines and goals. Do not live a life without virtues and value of lives. It is all for today. You may be dismissed.
