praying for the school...

Being away for this long period of time allows me to look at the life of the school from a different perspective.

It pains me to see how "insiders" pit themselves against each other (perhaps unknowingly - teachers against teachers, parents against teachers, students against teachers, ...) rather than to take up arms together to fight against those who dare challenge the advancement of God's work in and through the school. We fight not only against our own human condition (pride, prejudice, envy greed, ...) but more so against the principalities of this world. The evil is pleased when we Christians battle against one another rather than rally united under God's banner of truth. The devil and his "partners" are happy when our beacon of truth and light is diminished and we fail to uphold our witness to God's mercy and grace.

If we fret and sigh over the state of things in school (and even our society), have we done anything positive and constructive rather than ruminate and gripe? Where is our faith? Even small faith in our Faithful God will result in greatness. How will God come and heal our land (and our school) if we His people will not humble ourselves together and seek after Him. Do we honestly think that just by our great efforts and work (individual as well as corporate) we can move the Hand of God to advance the mission of the school?

I'm not writing all this from a "higher-than-thou" position as I know full well my own failings. But the Lord has provided me a "vantage point" through my time of "forced exile". May God speak to you as I share with you what burdens He had placed on me and the lessons I am learning myself.

I may be away from the school, but my heart is with all of you who continue to "fight the good fight" in the Lord's name there. I will be united with all of you in the great enterprise of prayer.

the greatest act of love...is forgiveness...

To honor our parents - sure can do
To care for our friends - no problem
To love our neigbours - okay lah
To not hate our enemies - should do and can do lor
To love our enemies - hard to do, but need to do

It is indeed much easier to care and to bless those we love, and those who love us. It is a greater challenge to 'not hate' our enemies but rather "forget" about them. But the call to Christian discpleship is to LOVE our enemies and to bless them.

How can that be? We ask, "do they DESERVE it"?

We who were yet sinners when we received the love of God through grace should never ask this question rhetorically. The same grace which redeemed us is the same one that is extended to even those we call our enemies. Having received this grace, how can we so easily deny it from those who need it as much as we do.

Salvation comes so 'cheaply' to us - it really comes "free" to us. But it cost God SO much. Christ's sacrifice and death was offered up for ALL who would would believe and accept His grace.

As we learn to appreciate that grace which was extended to us, we need to not only 'not hate' our enemies but to take active steps to love and bless them. Perhaps when we can do this, then we can truly experience the freedom and joy we have in Christ.

As God has shown us through Christ, the greatest act of love is forgiveness. May the Lord help us in our weaknesses.

just wait..

This is a poem that I came across recently. I find that many of the writer's thoughts and emotions resonates with mine.

Wait and You Will See Him

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried:
Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate,
And the Master so gently said, "Child, you must wait."

"WAIT? You say 'wait'," my indignant reply.
"Lord, I need answers. I need to know why!
Is Your hand shortened? Or have You not heard?
By faith I have asked and am claiming Your Word.

My future and all to which I can relate
Hangs in the balance, and YOU tell me 'Wait'?
B I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign,
Or even a 'no' to which I can resign.

And, Lord, You promised that if we believe
We need but to ask, and we shall receive.
And, Lord, I've been asking! I need a reply!"
"Lord, I need answers. I need to know why!

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate
As my Master replied once again, "You must wait".
So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut,
And grumbled to God, "So I'm waiting....for what?"


He seemed, then, to kneel, and His eyes wept with mine,
And He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead, cause the mountains to run.

All you seek, I could give, and pleased you would be.
You would have what you want...but you wouldn't know Me.
You'd not know the depth of my love for each saint;
You'd not know the power that I give to the faint;

You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;
You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there;
You'd not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence were all you could see.

You'd never experience the fullness of love
As the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove;
You'd know that I give and I save (for a start),
But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart,

The glow of My comfort late in the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight,
The depth that's beyond getting just what you asked
Of an infinite God, who makes what you have last.

You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that "My grace is sufficient for thee".
Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,
But, Oh, the loss! if I lost what I am doing in you!

So be silent, My child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me.
And though oft may My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still, "WAIT".

This poem written was by a missionary after a 2-month illness. The author wishes to remain anonymous in order that God get all the glory, as he says it was God who gave it to him.

small faith in a big God...

Recently I was re-forwarded an sms that I sent to a friend some time back. It's truly a timely reminder for me especially when times are trying or even painful.

"Birth pangs must naturally be forgotten quickly when the Lord ushers in His glory into our midst. Let's wait in anticipation..."

I'm reminded of the pain that mothers have when they are delivering their babies. The joys of childbirth must be so great, that many choose to have another child though they now know the true extent of the pain they have to endure.

God is sovereign! Despite all the confusion, He will make all things beautiful in His time and in His way. I need to see all the pain in the light of God's glorious plan and as the precursor to His deliverance.

I will strive to hold on to my small faith in a Faithful God and not lose sight of my Hope in Christ. Thanks again for all your support and prayers!

Romans 8:18-27
18I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that[i] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.