Many summers ago, when I was studying at Mandalay University, a classmate invited me to his hometown, Taungyi, in Shan State in Northern Burma. Shan State is somewhat like Northern California, never too hot during summer and never too cold during winter, a perfect place for a summer escape. He was a son of the governor of the state at that time, and they lived in a huge mansion known as the Mineshu Mansion, enclosed in an immense compound with beautiful gardens and trees that you could easily get lost in.

His brother was a guitarist at a rock ‘n’ roll band, so every evening we would sing together sitting on the balcony with his brother accompanying us with his guitar. In those days we were Bee Gees’ fans and Andy Gibb’s fans. So we loved to sing their songs, such as “Too Much Heaven,” “How Deep is Your Love,” and “Shadow Dancing,” etc. in addition to our usual youth gospel songs.

John 20:1-18

Christ is risen! I wonder if I were among the disciples on the first Easter and Mary Magdalene came and announced to us that she had seen the Lord, how I would have reacted. Would I have been among those disciples who believed right away, or like Thomas who reacted with a great deal of doubt saying, “I won’t believe until I see him personally and feel his scars with my own fingers”? I think I would have been both, I would believe, but in the same time I would want to see the proof. How about you?

Easter is probably the most important event in the recorded human history—so important that it divided our calendar into half—BC and AD. Each time you put down your signature and put a date next to it, you are making reference to Jesus’ resurrection. It doesn’t matter whether you are a believer or not. And it’s not just in America, but it’s all over the world. Even though there is such thing as a lunar calendar used by the Chinese, but the official calendar in China is still Anno Domini—the Year of the Lord. But why is Easter so important that it became the reference point for the entire world?

What is your purpose in life? I’ve discovered that for many people finding their purpose in life can be a daunting task. The Chinese believe that you won’t get clarity of your life purpose until you are fifty years old (五十而知天命). But, does it really have to be so difficult to know your purpose in life that you have to wait until you are fifty? That’s sounds disappointing!

Maybe that’s just for the general population, but there are some special people like Joseph of the Old Testament that apparently knew his life purpose since he was as young as seventeen. He envisioned that one day his family—his parents and all his eleven brothers would bow down in front of him. Of course he didn’t know why and how it could happen.