Tip 120: Persevering through the 15th hour

I received a message from a reader of this blog whom I know, which gave me inspiration to share a precious journey of my life, one of difficulty and triumph through the guiding hand of God.














“Hi Philip,How are you and your family doing? Your baby is so cute! Are you still in London or have you moved to HK? I just wanted to drop you a note to let you know your Blog always inspires me and refreshes my perspective. It has been a very crazy and hectic 6 months, including relocation. I have been here in X city officially relocated. Felt vey homesick probably because I joined a department going through turbulent times and i have been just working 15hours a day. I think God sent me to your blog cause I recalled reading your blog once and I could "see" God's presence in your writings. I am also looking forward to Haruka learning Cantonese. Language is really essential and a beautiful means to communicate. Continue to be a great dad! :)”














15 hour work days are never easy. The question is whether one should persevere or retreat. I would draw lessons from my life, Jesus and even John Nash that persevering with a guiding hand can be very fulfilling despite the initial pain through the difficult moments. More often than not, such persevering endeavours may be necessary for us and if we see it in this perspective, we may even be thankful of the current recession.














Before my current job that has given me the opportunities to post beautiful photos of Hong Kong, Macau and England, I took up a new responsibility in a Japanese insurance firm. I was elated at first at the opportunity to delve into the minds of Japanese and be immersed in Japanese work culture. Before that, I was only working in foreign multinational companies with offices in Japan and being a foreigner, prevented me from the necessity to participate fully in the Japanese culture.














Yet, in that Japanese company and being the only two foreigners out of the whole company, there was pressure to conform fully to all standards of the company even if my Japanese language skills will never be on par with the rest. I was thus pressured to take a professional Japanese life insurance exam and when I saw the sample exam papers I had to study in 3 weeks after work hours, I could only read less than 1% of it. I begin to question the very reason I was in this company, yet deep inside me, God encouraged me that it was Him who placed me there.

So after finishing work around 8-10pm each night, I got the help of Tomomi to put a hiragana over each kanji on the sample exam paper so I could type it as a softcopy document to translate it using online tools. Then, I memorized all the sample answers and tried to understand the logic of all the answers. The passing mark was 70% and since most who take the exam in the whole of Japan were either Japanese or those who could read the exam paper, the passing rate was close to 100%. I prayed for a miracle in my final week of study. It was just too overwhelming for me. This stress not only affected me, but also my wife. God began to sharpen my senses as I study and I began to understand the reasons for each answer and to only study the important areas as I looked through past year exam papers. The result was a stunning 73% passing mark (even when I guessed my way through many questions)! My Japanese language skills and knowledge of Japanese life insurance increased exponentially after that.














Yet, how do we know the difference between persevering and killing ourselves in the process. I saw that recurring issue in John Nash’s live as portrayed by the movie A Beautiful Mind. Persevering could mean fighting delusions without the help of psychotic medicine, overcoming fears of rejection and failure, bearing with a husband who could harm you, persisting to do good deeds in the midst of evil and danger or even merely to tell ourselves we can write a good blog by trying to be as accurate as possible and be humble to correct ourselves when we are wrong. Most of the time, we need someone’s guiding hands and support, like Jesus who was hoping to rely on his disciples’ company to pray with him in his final hour. Yet, when all seems gloomy, when even the people we love seem to have little hope in us, God loves us. Persevere and leave your life unto the hands of your Creator. The answer may even appear as God may take that “cup” of trial and difficulty away from you if you cannot bear it and if it was not appropriate for you to take it in the first place. Yet, persevere and pray. I was touched by how John Nash could never see the day when his colleagues who were saner than him, honoured him for his contributions. Yet, most of them saw the fight of perseverance he fought. Today, I have told the story of one such fight of perseverance which is precious to me as a miracle in my life. One day, you may tell the same story and may you disciple others and not give up doing so. It gives me as much joy reflecting on my life and thanking God for it, as it would have benefited any of my readers and I wish the same for you.














"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." James 1:2-5















Please do persevere in reading and leaving more comments and make this dead blog alive.















(Photos show Oxford city a labour of love featuring Christ Church, University College, Alice in Wonderland shop, Magdalen College and Botanic Gardens and a garden inside one of the many colleges.)