So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island.
This verse deeply encouraged me as I stare at the disappointments and issues before me. Luke 27 tells us of the events which took place to Paul and his fellow shipmates. Left without food and enduring days of storm on the waters with no land in sight, the possibility of surviving seems bleak. Having bobbed mildly on the sea for a couple of hours in my recent holiday, I can attest to the fact that its an awful feeling of being tossed by the waves.
No sun, no food, rough seas. What's worst is the fact that everyone was in such a predicament because no one wanted to listen to Paul's advice to travel via another route. That's the worst bit of life, when we are in a situation simply because people didn't want to heed advice and warnings.
A lot have transpired over the past 2 weeks. Still, the message that hit home was to have faith over circumstances. Feeble as the attempt is to declare this message, it is an iota of faith that is needed before an almighty God because He is above all.
Like Paul and his fellow shipmates, in the issues we face in life, we may need to run aground before we get our two feet back on stable ground. But it is the fortitude of character to stay hopeful in God that will allows us to see God's hand in every of our situation.
I choose to have faith in God.
M.
He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. (Deuteronomy 32:4)
Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
Yesterday, I received shocking news about the sudden passing of a youth I met some years ago in my mission trip to Muar. He was with his family on a holiday when their vehicle met in a head-on collision. His father, grandmother and 2 younger sisters died leaving his mother and younger brother and two sisters behind.
Just a few weeks ago, he linked up with me over facebook and we had a few brief exchanges. I was glad to have him add me as a friend because I do not have the habit to search out for friends and attempt to add them, lest I be rejected or seen as needy. An act of self-preservation, I guess. However, I am grateful to have the period of grace to correspond with him before his untimely passing.
His name is Joash Wee. He's a handsome chap and had great character. One of those whom you just love after meeting for 30 minutes and hope your children grow up to be like him or marry. In Muar, he shared about his aspirations and over time I witnessed his pursuit of life through the occasional correspondences and his blog entries (flashesofashes.blogspot.com) the live he pursued in the next 3-4 years. You feel the drive and youthful passion of soccer, tennis, guitar, music, his family and studies. Yet, this was someone grounded in his love for God and family. I wish many of my ERs and young commanders would live their lives as he did.
Just last week, our last correspondence on 15 June was about his completion of mass communication studies and how he would be going to start his attachment. Unfortunately, that was the last mail we had.
I am saddened by his passing because this was such a good person with such great potential. His time on earth just seemed too short and life seems to give him an unfair deck by having him gone after graduating from his studies. But it is in such contemplative times that I acknowledge the grace of God given in all situations. Grace, as He allowed Joash to live fully as a great example and then to bring him back to heaven in the prime of his life. Grace, because I had the chance to meet, know and keep in touch with him and find encouragement that he was growing well and faithfully before man and God.
As I walked home last night, I pondered over how many of his generation before me are living such crappy lives. Many would not be able to boast of much accomplishments or being seen as a person of Godly character. This fact really saddens me because what's the point of living longer but crappier lives tethering on not making it to heaven? But, yet, the grace of God is there to add days to our lives, so we can work at their lives and hopefully be transformed into Christ-like individuals.
For the grace of days given to your life, I pray you will cherish them and not squander them. Because if they were added to the life of Joash, I'm sure he'll live them to the satisfaction of God.
Goodbye Joash, I pray that I will always be reminded to live my life faithfully as you did in your limited days because I want to meet you in heaven when my own time is up.
There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.
I just returned from a 5D4N holiday and boy was it a restful one. Of course, it also makes me dread coming back to the realities of work and my body is groaning because it has to go back to the routine of performing as per my work requirements.
In the past 5 days, I've bobbed about in the sea as the boat traveled from island to island and as I snorkeled in the sea. I've learnt to recognise that my body was made to be on terra firma, because I got all sleepy and nauseous at sea. I really did not want to continue my journey with the boat because it was starting to be of such discomfort. However, as I persevered with the journey, I ended up on the most beautiful beach with blissful warm waters of gorgeous clear waters and talcum fine white sand to walk on.
All throughout the adventures of the past 5 days, I've had so many things to do that my mind was allowed to rest and reset itself. My days were filled with food, snacks and durians to eat, leisure activities, moments to sleep, read my book, listen to my podcast till I doze off, fellowship with friends and occasionally play or supervise their kids. The activities do not seem much but somehow when I returned last night, I found myself feeling rested.
It is really a different feeling from going on a holiday or a church camp. Somehow, during this trip, without much connection with the outside world, my mind was not engaged with thoughts of the ministry, worries about others or work. Gosh, I really feel great having rested from my own work and can now fully fathom what the verse above means to enter God's rest.
Yes, I'm back in reality now. Work and life's issues are aplenty to deal with, and life will move on with more work at hand and my mind and body rested. It was truly good to be blessed with these days of rest as I was cut off from the world and happily enjoyed my holidays with friends and their kids. Now I can understand the goodness of God as he grants rest to those whom He loves.
M.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)
The father of a righteous man has great joy; he who has a wise son delights in him.
Being in the ministry for many years, it's extremely heartbreaking to witness the spiraling demise of individuals as they grow up. Part of the fact of staying through the years of ministry, is the inevitable opportunity to witness a child growing up. Looking at the young, cute Ranger kids of today, you can never imagine that someday that child may grow up the splitting opposite of your expectations.
I really dislike these moments of reality when I find out that so-and-so is now a swearing, vice-addicted most unchristian youth or young adult. Some part of me curls up in pain and I spend a good many days preventing my heart from hardening and me being crippled with disappointment.
The thought process which goes through my mind now is what could have gone wrong and what was not done sufficiently for this life to achieve this sorry end result. At certain moments, I lose hope that the life can be redeemed because I have other examples who are still lost in the world, in-spite of prayers being made for their lives.
As I walked to take the bus to work, the parable of the sower and the type of soils came to mind (Matthew 13) and I decided to look up the passage. The reality is, some individuals are like the rocky places where the soil is shallow. That got me thinking of why some soil are shallow and what can be done to ensure that the soil of many christian lives to be good and fertile. As I read Matthew 13:21, I realised that the cause was due to the lack of root. No root! That means nothing was done or understood by the individual when the word of God was shared despite being found in church. How can you help someone with no root?
The amplified bible version of Psalms 1:2 states the truth that successful Christians are those who delights in the laws of God and habitually studies and ponders the instructions/teachings of God. But what can I do to force someone to grow roots back?
As I sit at work helpless in the situation, I can only hope the best can come out of these currently corrupt lives. But I know that I got to encourage myself in God. Therefore, I boldly state with a tiny seed of faith; my God is a God which will prevail in these lives and my God mercifully saves, even when the soil is not good.
M.
Hear my cry for mercy as I call to you for help, as I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place. (Psalms 28:2)
Adapted from The Star Thrower by Loren Eiseley (1907 - 1977)
One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.
Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?” The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”
“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!”
After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said, ”I made a difference for that one.”
Yesterday, I woke up from a physically exhausting Saturday. I looked at the clock and realized that it was 9:45am, leaving me with 45min to get to church. Still groggy and dazed from the insufficient rest, I went through the routine of reading my Sunday newspapers. However when I observed that it was 10:15am, I jumped into the shower to get myself ready to go church. I struggled to get my engine going through the time and finally left the house late at 10:35, walking sluggishly.
I detest going to church late. More so because I used to chide my youths about needing to be punctual for God. The walk to church was a battle I had with my inner demons as I was tempted to skip service and go to my RR room to prepare my stuff. That, of course, resulted in the walk being slower than normal as I procrastinated and deliberated with myself.
Imagine my horror when I stepped into church, 15 minutes late to find the carpark empty and the sound of worship missing. Quietly, I sneaked up to the upper hall to seat and wondered to myself why the service was conducted in mandarin and pondered if it would be a combined service that I was unaware of. Suddenly, as I gazed at my watch and realized that it was only 9:45am! Not 10:45am.
Apparently in my daze and confusion, I woke up and made an error in reading the time. Gosh I felt like the world greatest idiot for berating myself and allowing myself to contemplate the idea of skipping church service because I chose to read the papers that resulted in me being “late” for church.
Feeling totally stupid and having no one in church to be with, I sullenly went to whampoa market to have breakfast alone and when I came back to church, there was still another 10 minutes before service started. Thus, I proceeded to go to the sink to wash my hands. There, I met one of the active Chinese congregation church aunties and our greeting niceties progressed into a 10 minute long, deep conversation of what I was doing in living spring fellowship. I was most blessed when she informed me of her intentions to pray for me before we parted our ways. So, we stood there in the middle of the pathway as I was prayed for.
I’ve never experienced this in my 35 years of church, similarly for the stupid boo-boo of the morning, but I was greatly blessed because someone of her age decided to make a difference to me when she had the chance. Random as it was, it was a meaningful attempt for her to encourage and build into a younger life she chanced on.
How often we just walk away after a conversation and fail to seize the kairos moment to impart a blessing that would be sealed in heaven. In our natural state, it may seem to be an inconsequential act, but going the extra mile to bless in prayer is really akin to bending down to helping one starfish, even if it's one in an ocean of many.
blessings,
M.
Then Ananias went
to the
house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul,
the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming
here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy
Spirit." (Acts 9:17)
The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come."Then he sent some more servants and said, 'Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.'But they paid no attention and went off - one to his field, another to his business.
Pow Wow 2010 occurred last week and I signed up for it the moment I knew about it. Even though it is one of the many annual rangers camps, I am really glad that I'm able to attend it. Simply because it is such a great blessing to camp together and work alongside different folks from different churches but with the common purpose of seeing the kids have fun and also for them to have an encounter with God.
This Pow Wow was particularly special because I did not get to attend the last Pow Wow as a full camper as I chose to save my leave and go back to work and attend it for a day. As I slogged at work, I felt the massive regret of not being part of the laughter and joy of the kids. Work was really endless and meaningless in comparison.
As the years go, each camp is getting more physically taxing, especially when the bed I slept on was so uncomfortable and I had limited sleep because of the late night debrief and waking up early due to my F&B duties. Every morning, my eyes would puff up and I'll have stiff muscles. But it was all redeemed at night as I celebrate in worship and soak in the goodness of God. It's like that for every camp and I know that every camper who attended it really enjoyed themselves.
Sadly, it is also a truth that every of such camps would see its fair share of people who missed out on the action. As I stand at the night services and witness the move of God, my heart breaks because I really wished that my ERs and other younger rangers had chose to make a wiser choice to be there. If only I could convince them otherwise to come because it is such a shame that so many just look at life and then choose to live life according to their secular commitments. To them, a camp is just another camp. But is it really?
The question may seem easy to answer, but when you look at the parable which Christ shared, we see otherwise. Every camp offers a service where God desires to meet and embrace His disciples. How often we ignore the banquet of God's blessing for us when we neglect to discern between spending quality time in His presence and instead elect to strive to do stuff on studies, work and secular things which life comprises of. Such is important, but they never end and often choke us of the joy of our lives.
Over the years, as I witness the same scenario replay itself and people electing to miss a life changing encounter with God, I can only hope that I can inspire more of my rangers and young commanders to catch the vision that there really isn't anywhere and anytime better than to be found in the camp service being ministered by God. This is really all I have lived for and all I aspire to do. For all the invitations that I am given to attend the master's banquet, I will always seek to make myself available. I pray you will too.
M.
"Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked." (Psalms 84:10)
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.
I don't have the crisis encountered by Job. Neither do I have his faith, so maybe that’s why I only have little crisis which annoy me to death. During such times, I do like to ask a lot of "whys", especially to God. Recently I've learnt that there is nothing wrong with asking why as long as you don't get the idea that God somehow owes you an answer. Even Jesus, hanging on the cross, said, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" (Matthew 27:46).
God never answered Job’s questions of why. Instead, He just revealed more of himself to Job. More than an explanation, what we really need is an encounter with God—a revelation of God. Because even when we see a picture of Jesus sleeping in the boat while his disciples are terrified by the storm, we need the revelation that God is with us, even though he seems asleep and not caring for our problems. That’s faith in accepting that God cares for us even though we think we’re goner perish in the storm of our lives.
