Dimension: 60 by 40cm.
Medium: Acrylic on canvas.
Year completed: 2020.
 
What do you see in the picture?  It’s a new day.  The sun is rising.  It’s a new day, and the fishermen are going out to work, lead by the morning sun. What will the new day enfolds? What else do you see in the picture? The distance hills and mountains silhouetted by the rising sun and the sky begoldened be its penetrating rays. What else do you see in the picture? Reeds along the coast of the shore , reflecting the sunlight that is beginning to illuminate the cool quiet surroundings.  How does this painting make you feel?  What thoughts run through your mind?
 
It’s a new day. What do you see. 20/20 vision.  20/20 vision means perfect eyesight. As you start a new day, I pray that you will see clearly.  Remember the Vietnamse proverb “uống nước nhớ nguồn”?  What comes to mind when you think of this proverb? Your parents? Your grandparents?  Yes, you are seeing correctly.
 
God through the Bible also affirms the principle of “uống nước nhớ nguồn”. In Exodus 20:12, the Bible says "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.”  This is the 1st command that comes with a promise.   1 Timothy 5: 8 says “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”  This is God’s command for us.  To honor our parents and to provide for those around.
 
On another level, “uống nước nhớ nguồn” also means those before your parents; your grandparents and great grandparents. If we keep going back another level after another level, the question therefore is "Where then is the original source of the water you are drinking from? Or who is the father of all fathers?
 
I would like to suggest this, that the father of all fathers,“bố cả” is Jesus.  John chapter 1 says “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.”  
 
The Light for all mankind. Sun. Duong. Sun also means light.  Jesus, the light of all mankind. Thus “Duong” also means Jesus the light. My prayers for my Vietnamese friends is that you, your children and your children’s children will be blessed with knowing where the TRUE source of light is from.  I pray that they will be like the reeds on the shore, multiplying and reflecting the glory of the sun.