For our friends in the East, Far East, and Southeast Asia, June 21 has arrived — and that means it is World Giraffe Day! It also comes around the summer solstice, 夏至, the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. How fitting to celebrate the world’s tallest animal on the year’s longest day! Have you ever wondered why God’s creation includes such a tall-necked animal? Maybe one reason is simple: so there is still food left for the short-necked ones! The giraffe reach

We cannot see air, yet we breathe it every moment. We cannot see wind itself, yet we see what it moves. Air is free, but it is not cheap. Without it, life stops. God created trees and oceans as part of His wonderful design to renew the air and sustain life on earth. So the question is simple: whom do we thank for this invisible gift? The same question applies to faith. Jesus lived on this earth. History still remembers Him. The calendar itself was shaped around His coming. Pl

World Environment Day reminds us that caring for creation is not only about protecting forests, oceans, air, and wildlife. It also calls us to care for the everyday environments where people live, work, learn, and serve. A healthy work environment can nurture dignity, creativity, cooperation, and joy, allowing workers to contribute their talents with purpose and hope. Each of us has been entrusted with gifts, skills, influence, and opportunities. When we use them wisely, not

A recent Stanford University LinkedIn post featuring Tina Seelig, executive director of Knight-Hennessy Scholars, offered a helpful distinction: Fortune is what happens to you. Luck is what you help create. That thought stayed with me. We often think of luck as something random — a surprise, a chance encounter, an unexpected opening. But Seelig uses the image of wind: opportunities for luck are like the wind, constantly blowing, always moving, powerful but invisible. To catch

Pexels has started listing where photos from its gallery are being used, and I was surprised and grateful to see how some of my nature photos have travelled across the world. I posted my sleeping Red Fox photo on April 10, 2019, more than six years ago. It is still my most viewed and downloaded image. Recently, I found it used in articles that help readers understand animals and their behaviour. One article describes red foxes as “nature’s perfect blend of cat and dog,” notin

The Amaryllis flowers are drying and fading, yet four seed pods now stand in their place — quiet signs that life is continuing, and something new is beginning. In six to eight weeks, the pods will crack open. Once the seeds have fully dried, they can be gently shaken out, and each one carries the beginning of a new baby Amaryllis. There is hope in this whole process: one day, a new Amaryllis will emerge from the soil to greet the eye again. So it is with the hope of the Gospe

Who follows whom? Does the temperature follow the date, or does the date follow the temperature? For three days in a row, I noticed something that made me smile. On April 15, the temperature showed 15°C. On April 16, it showed 16°C On April 17, it showed 17°C. Once may be a chance. Twice may be a oincidence. Three times in a row feels like a little pattern worth pausing over. Of course, I am not saying the weather is ruled by the calendar page. But moments like these remind m

“I am a bee, and I pollinate.” Did I get your attention? Two important parts of a flower are the anther and the stigma. The anther, part of the male stamen, produces and releases pollen. That pollen is then transferred to the stigma, the receptive tip of the female pistil, where fertilization can begin. My blooming amaryllis is ready for pollination. I can see plenty of yellow pollen on the anthers, and the stigma has opened at the tip, ready to receive it. So where are the

My two W’s are Word and Writing . Grammarly has been tracking my writing since December 26, 2016, and to date it has recorded a total of 30,003,120 words. Since ChatGPT became part of my workflow, I now write around 100,000 words a week. Today, one unfamiliar word crossed my desktop, and through word association it led me to another. That small link sparked this reflection. One little letter can make a world of difference. Take the word badge. A badge is usually something pos

What belongs outdoors in summer has been carefully kept alive indoors through winter. These geraniums may be inside for now, but they still need what living things need: sunlight, warmth, water, fertilizer, and tender loving care. And they are responding. One pot is producing more and more buds each week, as though it senses that a new season is near. Perhaps it is the longer daylight after spring forward. Perhaps it is simply the quiet signal that spring is on the way. But a

After more than 20 years in parks and playground design—working in the private sector (ENVision / The Hough Group) and later in the public sector (City of Hamilton)—I had the privilege of collaborating with suppliers such as Landscape Structures, KOMPAN, Playworld, GameTime, Henderson, and Bienenstock. Those years taught me that a playground is never “just” a collection of structures. Behind every climber, panel, swing, and splash element sits a deliberate set of objectives—a

Cantonese has a fascinating “water culture.” So many everyday expressions end with 「水」, showing how flexible and alive this character is in the language. Water can suggest conversation, money, profit, confusion, luck, or atmosphere, depending on the setting. For example, 吹水 can mean casual chatting — something close to the English phrase “shoot the breeze.” Perhaps that is part of the beauty of water itself. It flows, adapts, and takes the shape of its surroundings. Yet water

I received an email today from StackSkills with this line: “The Skill Every Applicant Needs.” What is that skill today? The Skill Every Applicant Needs Interestingly, it is not hacking, but defensive cybersecurity. I like that word: defensive. It means learning how to protect yourself online — your accounts, your devices, your passwords, and your data. Not long ago, a friend sent me a link, and when I clicked it, NordVPN warned me that it might be dangerous. My friend said hi

March 8, 2020, was spring forward. March 8, 2026, today, is also spring forward. This one hour forward is truly living up to its name, bringing spring a little closer here in Canada. Today we have 11°C, with rain in the forecast. The white snow piled in the backyard is giving way to patches of green grass. Even nature seems to know the season is changing. My wife Betty spotted a Black Squirrel with a patch of lighter hair, as if it were shedding its winter fur for a fresh new

At the Cantonese cell group, Pastor David Hoi asked: Why was Jesus raised in Nazareth—small, overlooked, even dismissed? And why was He labelled “the carpenter’s son”? (Matthew Chapter 13 verse 55) In the Gospels, the word used is the Greek tekton—closer to “builder / craftsman” than a narrow modern idea of carpenter. A tekton measured, cut, joined, repaired, and solved real problems on site. Yet in a status-driven world, that identity wasn’t “impressive,” so people tried to

While AI-assisted art is remarkable, encountering poetry that marries spiritual depth with divine grace is truly rare. This Lunar New Year, Brother Lawrence Cheng of Rock House Publishers has composed two evocative poems, beautifully paired with imagery by Brother Joseph Yu. Together, they invite us to journey from the dawn of creation to the promised covenant of the rainbow. The Second Day: Praise from the Beginning of Time (On the "Opening of the Year," Lawrence reflects on

I recently read about how parts of the Gobi Desert—long seen as barren and unproductive—have been transformed into forest land capable of producing high-quality rubber. (See article: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3341641/it-flourishing-chinas-man-made-forest-gobi-produces-good-rubber-military-use?utm_medium=email&utm_source=cm&utm_campaign=enlz-china&utm_content=20260130&tpcc=enlz-china&UUID=ab2fb359-7cfe-40df-b3d0-ed1e850e6259&next_article_id=3341618&articl

When Marge Jetton turned 100, she didn’t slow down—she renewed her driver’s license for another five years. What keeps her going, she says, is not just good habits, but her Christian faith. Marge lives in Loma Linda, California, a community long studied by scientists and first brought to global attention by Dan Buettner in National Geographic as part of the Blue Zones research. People there—many of them from the Seventh-day Adventist Church—tend to live 4–10 years longer than

January 1 always carries a quiet question: What does “new” really mean? A new year gives us another beginning—but not a blank slate. We do not start from zero; we start from experience. The past 365 days have shaped us: through success and failure, clarity and confusion, joy and loss. Newness, then, is not denial of the past, but an invitation to step forward differently. In everyday language, we speak of new starts, new habits, new energy. In Scripture, the word “new” goes d

I have been a person of faith since childhood. Yet today, on Christmas Eve, I felt a gentle spiritual nudge to pause and ask a simple question: Why is there a Christmas Eve, followed by a Christmas Day, to remember the birth of Jesus? The answer reaches deeper than modern tradition. In Jewish culture—shaping daily life in Jesus’ time and rooted in the Bible—a new day begins at sunset, not at midnight. Scripture repeatedly tells us, “There was evening, and there was morning…”