Wishing you a blessed year of the rabbit filled with fun and happiness; friendships and personal growth; a rich and abundant life. And since my eldest son was born in the year of the rabbit, I did some additional research on this animal. To my surprise, all the above blessings quoted are actually special characteristics of a rabbit. Let’s take a look below.

Hop – A rabbit loves to hop when she is happy. When happy, she can hop up to 1 meter high and 3 meter long.

Reproduce – A rabbit is beaming with life. She is capable of reproducing at 4 months old and is fertile 95 percent of the time. The ancients use the bunny to symbolise Easter (Easter bunny) because she is saturated with life.

Incisors – A rabbit’s incisor (front teeth) never stops growing. And so a rabbit has to continue to chew to keep them sharp, and not cumbersome and overgrown.

Social – A rabbit ravels in herds. They love company. A lone rabbit cannot survive for long.

Toys – A pet rabbit loves toys. She is known to chase a ball and enjoy the fun.

If one put the 1^st letters of the above characteristics together, one will arrive at a non-existent word “hrist” which makes no sense. Similarly, the lifelong pursuits of happiness, a rich life, growth, friendship, and fun can be simply illusions.

The pet rabbit is known to have one more key character – “Closeness”. She is very close to her master. She can be named and will respond when her master calls her by name.

When we add “C” to our “hrist”, the nonsense starts making sense. In our lives, walking close to Christ is our primary responsibility, the above rabbit-like blessings (joy, an abundant life, growth, camaraderie, excitement – all privileges of Christian life) are just by-products of following closely the master’s call.

In 2001, I was the President of Asia for a multinational insurance company. God issued a clear call for me to enter into “full-time” ministry then. I struggled with him for a full year. Finally, I yielded. What I discovered was that my own pursuit of “hrist” through my career yielded no lasting fruits. But as I followed my master closely, rabbit characteristic blessings flowed into my life.

Dear friends of BTS, as we began this year of the rabbit, I wish you the blessings of rich happiness, an abundant life, sharpened growth, warm friendships, and fun. But most importantly, may you follow closely the call of Christ in your lives and through it experience the “hrist” of following our master.

I have limited space to explore with you this topic but may I invite you to the BTS Chinese Lectures on “Don’t Short Change Life” where Dr James Hudson Taylor IV (President of CES and great-grandson of Hudson Taylor) will expound in depth on the blessing of heeding His call through the “Ups and Downs” of life. Please click on the link for registration.

Rev Peter Lin
President