Good Kinda Thickening...

"I never saw Genesis quite that way before," Allan said last Saturday, during the end of our year-long study on the first book of the Bible. It was a year of postponed studies, missed appointments and arguements over discussions. It was also a year filled with attempts to study God's word in a disciplined manner; of fellowship and of bonding.

How quickly that year passed.

So when I posed the question, "Do you guys wanna continue studying the Bible?" it was met with an enthusiastic "Yes!" But... I said... if we were to continue into Year 2, they would not have it so easy any longer. They were threathened with MORE homework, which of course, meant heavier preparation on my part.

LP and Allan each took like 5 seconds to vote "aye". I really wanted to pat them on their backs and congratulate them. It has not been an easy year, and just to make time for Bible study was a challenge every week. Both had super-duper work commitments which took them away for hours and hours. And when they are finally free over the weekend, Bea's family commitments had to be juggled and thrown into the mix. Not easy indeed.

So, now we are on to Year 2. Just like that. We will inductively study the book of Philemon before going to The Life of Moses (Exodus - Deuteronomy).

Then all of a sudden, another friend expressed interest to join the study and even offered to open up her house for it! Hmmm... the plot thickens... but some thickening are of the good kind. :)

Revealed...

I started a serious study on the book of Revelation six months ago. It began with much trepidation, namely because I did not want to get sucked into any of the several views that had been used for years to interpret it. It was a Catch 22 situation - if I do not attempt to study it, I will not even have o-n-e view.

Hence I started by just observing the text, aided by my tutor, an experienced Bible teacher who was willing to meet me one-on-one to impart her knowledge.

Revelation is the last book in the Bible and actually, it should be named The Revelation of Jesus Christ, becoz that is what the entire book is about. Forget about Left Behind junkies and the myriad upon myriad tonnes of material available in bookstores with titles like Armageddon and Unlocking Last Days' Prophecies, etc, etc. Just study the text the way it is presented. Don't complicate life.

Revelation is not as confusing and intimidating as I first thought it to be. All that was needed was an understanding of the type of literature it is, its purpose to the original reader, and the historical context in which it was written.

Of course the various ways of interpreting it still hold sway, depending on which camp you happen to fall under. But in its gist, Revelation was written to Christians undergoing persecution, along with warnings and exhortation. In a nutshell, "we win!"

Revelation is special as it encompasses 4 major kinds of literature of its day - epistles, apocalyptic, prophetic and historical. One common approach to this book is to pin down a 'date' or 'event' in which we use to interpret Last Days. This approach is not only faulty, but dangerous as it reduces the book to a formulaic almanac of sorts. It is not!

Bearing in mind that it is written for the specific purpose to encourage Christians under persecution to have patient endurance and to be overcomers, Revelation has been largely misunderstood due to its nature as prophetic literature and also the fluidity of its pictorial language.

However, rather than hindering it, the visually-heavy language of the book actually paints a glorious landscape of Christ in His second coming. No more do we see Jesus as "meek and mild". Here He is the King and Judge. The author Apostle John, now in his 90s, wrote the book while being a political exile for his faith in the tiny island of Patmos. The last time John saw Jesus, the Lord washed his feet, died on the cross, arose and was caught up in heaven. That was almost 60 years ago. Now John is old and bent and a prisoner. When Jesus appeared to him, John fell face down in fear. This Jesus is totally different from what he remembered. This Jesus had hair that was white, eyes like fire, face like the shinning sun and voice of many waters.

(To appreciate the situation then, Christians were persecuted under the Roman Empire with Nero and then Domitian. The persecution often involved killings of Christians for sport a'la Gladiator where those who refused to renounce their faith were fed alive to hungry lions while the bloodthirsty stadium crowd cheered on.)

Now imagine being a Christian during that time. You are hungry, poor, naked and worse... going to be lion fodder soon. Just because you won't say "I am not a Christian" in the presence of some Imperial bigwig. There only way out for you is a cruel death in a public execution. Your friends and family deserted you. You are totally alone.

And in this instance Jesus appears to you. He says..."I am the Alpha and Omega" (I am the Beginning and the End).

Imagine how much that meant to the original reader.

In the light of God's greatness and glory, our sufferings matter so little. It is us who need His grace, for we suffer but for a short while, compared to the rewards of eternity! For when that Day comes, when the cosmos melts down and the mountains and the sea are no more; when the sky is rolled back like a scroll; when all the inhabitants of the earth run to the caves and plead for the mountains to fall on them (rather than to face the wrath of God), those who have suffered and awaited long for His coming will be able to sing... "It is well with my soul".

Come, Lord Jesus!

Mission team to...?

Ok. Here is the question... do I lead a mission team to Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam or rural Malaysia in July?

The "spiritual" answer: Pray about it and let God decide.

The "carnal" answer: Look into affordability, the condition of my health and what kinda job opportunities that would be foregone.

My answer: I dunno. For the moment.

The team participants will consist mostly internationals and the assignment is a two-week outreach in any of the countries designated above. And if I don't know Operation Mobilisation any better, I would be thinking it would be a guided mission tour. However, experience strongly attest to the contrary - with nights out in the open airports in the bitter cold, missed trains, busses, non-existent time to prepare programs (hence the flexibility to "just wing it" is a great asset), and tendency to gravitate towards Murphy's Law - anything that goes wrong WILL go wrong.

So it never ceased to amaze me how our human foibles can actually accomplish God's plans. I mean, He doesn't wait for us to get it right... and in fact, He often times lets us get it totally wrong... so that His marvels can be shown. Hey, let no flesh glory in the work of God, man!

So I have no idea what my team is gonna be like. I have no inkling what the schedules are, nor what I will be in for during the three weeks (one-week conference + two weeks' outreach) in July. But hey, God has not let me down yet, and I know He never will. Whatever the future's gonna hold for this team of His is anyone's guess. But I have a strong feeling that someone will be touched, changed and challenged to consider world missions as their path for life.

And that is why I am going.

Gluttony to the maxx!

"What's so great about Sitiawan that you'ld go there twice in 3 months?" a friend asked.

Now here is a question I half-expect, especially from urbanite friends who would think the only thing notable about that settlement near the coast is their birdnest trade. Actually birdnest is only one of the many food products this enterprising community came up with over the years.

There are the famous Kampung Koh chilly sauce, mee sua and soy sauce to name a few. So when we went up to Gracey's house to continue our erm... "Makansutra" escapade during last Chinese New Year, we made sure we emptied our stomachs for the long haul eating session.

Crystal and I took a bus up to the Sitiawan bus stop, where Gracey was supposeda pick us. However before she could arrive, we already crossed the street to check out the Cendol stall before it closed for the day. And it was a good thing too, because we just managed to get the last bowl of special Cendol with glutinous rice. Phew...

Then it was eating, eating and eating all day long for the next two days, even when we arrived at Ivy's house in nearby Teluk Intan. Words exhaust me, but suffice to say that we were disgustingly, shamelessly fed, and fed well too. Of course, other than eating we saw some sights... the ahem, Leaning Tower of Teluk Intan (pix) happened to be one of them.

































Anyway, we we really delighted to find the friendly neighbourhood ice-cream man peddling his ware! Haven't seen this kinda sight for like... more than 2 decades!!!! We all stuffed faces with double-scooped ice-cream in between our eating sessions.






















And after all that eating, Gracey and I burped in satisfaction... while waiting for the next meal.