Wu's News

Dear Loved Ones:

I hope & pray this letter finds each of you doing well in all regards. I've been wanting to write for several weeks now but haven't been able due to other responsibilities.

WHY HAVE I WANTED TO WRITE?
I've wanted to write for several reasons:
- to thank you for your concern & prayers during last month's Southern California wildfires which caused my parents to evacuate (praise the Lord; they've moved back into their intact home). Prayers are needed for the hundreds of other families who suffered great loss.
- to update you on my life's happenings & how I need your prayer support. Believe it! I NEED you, & I praise our wonderful God for how He has used each of you to encourage me. Writing you reminds me of our God-given dependence on each other, & in one sense God uses it to keep me "on track" with His loving plans for my life.
- because some of you have teasingly implied that I don't write you unless I'm traveling.

Well guess what? I'm traveling! This week I'm on vacation, & I just got back yesterday from a trip to Rhode Island to visit a good college chum who was so generous to pay for my trip! I'd never been out to that part of America, so it was great to see some beautiful scenery, take a side trip to "Bwah-stun" (/Boston/, where we saw the "hahbah" /harbor/ & ate clam "chowdah" /chowder/). Most of all I enjoyed spending good time with friends & family (I have a cousin in Boston). This afternoon I leave for a road trip to Death Valley National Park with my parents! We're excited because we've never been there, either.

Thus I'm using this morning while off work (& play) to write you!

"BRUSHES WITH DEATH"
I wouldn't say I have a fear of flying, but I did notice in the last few days a kind of thought pattern that often came up during the jolting, shaking, & rumbling of our airplane as we took off & landed. Knowing that these are the more dangerous parts of
flight, I calmly thought to myself, "You know, I could die right now in an instant! Am I ready to meet my Maker?" Usually afterward I'd begin to pray, "Hi, God. Thank You for blessing me with so many things in life. Do You want me to come home now, or is there something else you want me to do here?" I'd ask, "Is my life being lived for eternal things, or just temporal?"

It reminded me of other times in life when I had similar thoughts:
- in Taiwan when getting jostled by a car squeezing past me as I rode my bike to work.
- when "playing" Human Frogger to cross a busy street in China.
- when watching the road "whoosh" by under me through the floorboards of a Nigerian bus.

How fragile & short this life is! These are sobering thoughts, to be sure, but they're not intended to be morbid. In fact, I've found that the more I'm living for eternal things (living & sharing the good news of how Jesus changes everything), the more JOY, MEANING, & EXCITEMENT my life has.

How we need to challenge each other in this, as a good brother often reminds me with Psalm 90:12 "Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom"!

READ ANY GOOD BOOKS LATELY?
I recently finished reading a few books I'd like to recommend to you. Perhaps you'll find them helpful in your own specific circumstances. I especially appreciate these books because the writers wrote them not as "how-to" manuals (though they include many practical pointers); their focus is perpetually on the heart of the issue at hand, & how Jesus' work at the cross addresses that issue.

Here they are:
- "Shepherding a Child's Heart" by Tedd Tripp; about parenting. This one was so good I re-read it. It's really impacted the way I treat children & give parenting advice to my patients & their families.
- "Not Even a Hint" by Joshua Harris; about lust. It speaks candidly & directly to men & women about how God's perfect standards & His lovingkindness have met together in Jesus, how this gives us hope with regard to our sexuality.
- "When God Weeps" about why our sufferings matter to God. Joni Eareckson Tada (a quadriplegic) & Steven Estes write with striking realism & compassion, directly to the deepest practical & theological issues of suffering and pain.
- "Let the Nations Be Glad" by John Piper; about God's glory in missions. I just finished it last night, & honestly I think I need to read it a 2nd time to fully grasp it all. In it are some powerful concepts on God's own "mission-mindedness."

Now I'm reading "Biblical Preaching" by Haddon Robinson, which was recommended to me by a preaching uncle. Mainly, I'm reading it to "fill the order" better as God gives opportunities to share (in the form of sermons) what He's taught me.

By the way, I do NOT own stock in any of these books' publishing companies. Please let me know if you'd like to borrow any of them.

PRAYER REQUESTS
- wisdom in attaching to the right mission boards. Praise the Lord! I've just submitted my application to our church's mission arm Evangelical Formosan Church - Global Life Enrichment Center after some discussion with them. I will need to find a secondary mission board; I have my eye on 3 or 4 which might fit the bill (has medical work among Muslims, & has affiliation with Project MedSend -- a partner ministry with Christian Medical Dental Association that helps pay off loans while overseas on mission service).
- Urbana Mission Convention (Intervarsity Christian Fellowship) next month. I need wisdom & grace as I'll be leading a small group & hope also to communicate with different mission boards there.
- diligence & wisdom with money. More loans are coming into repayment phase, & I want to take care of them within a year to be free for overseas service.
- guidance with post-June/2004 life. I need to find a job that will allow me to serve patients holistically as well as give me enough time to study for the Internal Medicine board and Pediatrics board exams, and take some courses at a seminary & language school.
- faithfulness in day-to-day living, that I would constantly live with an eternal perspective of God's Kingdom, in the midst of work, family, & play. I praise the Lord for the chance to work last month with one particular medical student who was interested in learning to give spiritual care to patients who wanted it.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
Isn't God good? He is awesome! I thank Him for the relationship we share, & I greatly appreciate your loving support. Please let me know how you are doing, that I may pray for you also.

Death Valley with my folks