This Week’s Two New Articles

Answer to the travel picture on Home Page: Canyonlands National Park, Utah, USA

After turning sixty, I have to admit my physical strength is not as good as before. It’s increasingly exhausting to do maintenance work in the house and gardening. After each laborious task, I need more time to rest. When I chat with friends of the same age, our conversation often turns to the topic of “health preservation.” Actually, I’m not too concerned about how long I’ll live. As a Christian, I firmly believe that life is in God’s hand. When the time comes, my physical life ends, but the soul will continue to exist eternally. However, I have a responsibility to maintain a healthy body and slow down the decline in order to have more time to carry out the mission from God and also to enjoy life.

According to the results of my annual health checkup, my health is quite good. For consecutive years, after reviewing my blood tests, the doctor says, “Continue with your current eating and living habits. See you next year.” I’m a person who dislikes trouble—the simpler the life, the better. As for diet, I remind myself with three main principles: first, reduce processed foods; second, consume less oil, salt, and carbohydrates; third, eat more vegetables and fruits. Occasionally, I “indulge” a bit by eating pizza or cheesecake, but in smaller portions than before, so it’s not a big problem.

In terms of physical fitness, I also remind myself to regularly practice three types of exercise: first, flexibility; second, cardiovascular exercise; third, weight training. Regarding flexibility, I started seven years ago to do a set of Chinese “Eight Brocades” every day. Although it only comprises eight movements, each repeated in six cycles, it involves all the joints in the body. Performing it slowly is most effective, but sometimes due to other commitments, I speed it up to ten minutes, which is still better than not doing it at all. After completing it, I feel like my body’s muscles and ligaments are awakened.

Cardiovascular exercise, also known as aerobic exercise, is most effectively done using a stationary bicycle. To save time, I adopt a simple 2/20 method: 2 minutes at regular speed, 20 seconds of sprinting, for three cycles. This can raise my pulse to above 120 beats per minute and I’ll start sweating, indicating a good level of exercise. When the weather is good, I also take the opportunity to walk outside with a quickened pace while taking deep breaths. Sometimes, when driving to the market, I deliberately park farther away so that I walk more. If feasible, I opt for stairs instead of elevators.

As for weight training, this is my weakest aspect because I fear overexertion and injury at my age. My son, who enjoys exercising, convinced me with research articles that moderate weight training has more benefits than drawbacks. He also gifted me some equipment for “lazy boy”, such as a weighted vest, which automatically trains upper body muscles when worn. There are also small ankle weights that train the body while walking. Some exercises need to be done on the floor with a mat. Because changing into appropriate clothing is troublesome, I haven’t developed the habit yet.

After we enter old age, the goal of exercise is to maintain health and vitality. Friends of the same age have various preferences: some like to swim daily, others like different sports, and some go to the gym every day. As long as you maintain a keen interest, there are many options. The important factors are to understand our bodies, know our personalities, and consider our living environment and climate changes to set a suitable exercise plan. Regular exercise is always beneficial.

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The sun hung high in the sky, casting its warm embrace over the verdant hills of the Sea of Galilee. A multitude of people, men, women, and children—thousands in number—gathered on the shore to hear Jesus’ teachings.

Jesus stood by the seashore, His face radiant with compassion and wisdom. Andrew, one of the twelve, approached Jesus with a look of concern. “Master, these people have been with us for days. They are hungry and tired. Shouldn’t we dismiss them so they can go into the villages and buy themselves some food?”

Jesus looked out over the crowd, then turned back to His disciples. “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

The disciples exchanged puzzled glances. Philip, the ever-practical one, stepped forward. “Lord, even if we had two hundred denarii, it wouldn’t be enough to buy bread for each of them to have just a little.”

Jesus didn’t respond to him but asked, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.”

Andrew soon returned with a little boy carrying a small bundle wrapped in a cloth. “The child has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?”

Jesus smiled and extended His hand to the boy, who offered up his humble meal without hesitation. The Lord spoke again, “Have the people sit down.”

Sun’s rays glinted off the shimmering waters of the lake below. The disciples moved through the crowd, organizing them into groups of fifty and one hundred. The chatter of anticipation filled the air as the people settled on the soft grass.

Jesus took the loaves and the two fish. Raising His eyes to heaven, He blessed and gave thanks. Then, breaking the loaves, He handed them to His disciples to distribute. As the bread and fish passed from hand to hand, a miraculous thing occurred—there was more than enough for everyone.

The astonished disciples watched as the seemingly insufficient supply multiplied before their eyes. Children and adults ate to their hearts’ content. Laughter and joy spread across the hillside.

Once everyone had eaten their fill, Jesus turned to His disciples once more. “Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.”

The disciples moved through the happy crowd and gathered the leftovers into large baskets. To their amazement, they filled twelve baskets with the remaining pieces of barley loaves and fish.

The disciples’ hearts and minds raced with questions and revelations. “Truly, He is the Prophet who is to come into the world,” they whispered among themselves.

Indeed, in their midst, they had experienced a glimpse of the boundless generosity of heaven, manifested through the One who had the power to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.

And as the evening sun cast long shadows over the now-sated multitude, the hillside remained bathed in a sense of divine providence—a profound reminder that in Jesus, scarcity was transformed into abundance, and hunger into fulfillment.

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A Reflection on the Story of Jesus Feeding Thousands

Have you ever pondered the profound events recounted in the Gospels, particularly the stories where Jesus preached to thousands of men and women along the shores of the Sea of Galilee? We are all familiar with the miracle of the loaves and fishes, where an insufficient supply of food miraculously multiplied to feed the multitude before the Apostles’ eyes. But could there have been a second miracle at play, considering they had no access to electricity or microphones at that time?

During our travels throughout Israel, we unearthed some fascinating insights that shed light on this very question. Along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, there are several coves that are uniquely shaped like amphitheaters. These formations might hold the key to understanding how Jesus was able to preach to a vast audience.

In 1976, an intriguing article was published in Biblical Archaeologist, describing a study conducted by an amateur archaeologist and a sound engineer. They aimed to explore the acoustic properties of these naturally occurring amphitheaters. The experiment involved bursting balloons and observing how the sounds traveled up the slope, taking measurements at various intervals up to one hundred yards away.

The results of the study were remarkable. The researchers found that due to the cove’s bowl-like configuration, the acoustics were such that the voice projected from a spot situated by the shore could easily reach an audience of five to seven thousand people. This natural amphitheater effect would have allowed Jesus to preach to large crowds without the need for modern amplification systems.

Therefore, while the miracle of the loaves and fishes is well known, the acoustics of the Sea of Galilee’s shoreline offer a compelling explanation for how thousands could have heard Jesus speak so clearly. This phenomenon adds an additional layer of wonder to the stories captured in the Gospels, illustrating how the natural world itself played a role in the dissemination of Jesus’ teachings.