I have too many boats
On the first day of Chinese New Year (Sunday, Jan 29) I went to church with my parents. As everybody who reads this blog regularly will know, I am NOT a morning person and my parents' church service starts at 7:30am, so attending service -- and staying awake through it, not to mention actually paying attention to the sermon -- was a HUGE accomplishment for me!
The pastor talked about the phrase "nian2 nian2 you3 yu2" (see picture), which we Chinese often say to each other during the Chinese New Year. The phrase means "May you have surplus every year"; basically it is a wish for prosperity & wealth, which is a big thing in Chinese culture.
Because the last word of the phrase is phonetically similar to the Chinese word for "fish", the fish has become for the Chinese a symbol of wealth and prosperity. Pastor went on to connect this with the fish symbol used to identify the early Christians because the Greek word for "fish" was an acronym for the words "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour".
"When you have Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as your Saviour, you have surplus. You have all you'll ever need," the pastor said.
And then he told a story about a guy who had to make a long journey and came to a place where there was a deep, swift river without a bridge. He decided to make a boat in order to get across the river. But after crossing, he looked at the boat and decided that it was too beautiful, of such fine craftsmanship that he could not leave it behind.
So this guy lugged the boat behind him all the rest of the way. Although it slowed him down and made him tired, he just wouldn't leave it behind.
Dad looked at me and said, "You have a lot of boats."
I said, "Yeah."
The point of the story is that we take much unnecessary baggage along with us on our journeys when we already have all we need in Christ. We hamper ourselves with the things we don't want to let go of and become too attached to the "things of this world" and... I lost my train of thought because my cousins are talking to me and hurrying me to finish this post. But I bet you know what I mean anyway ;)