I came across a very inspiring testimony by an African-American lady. She shared the story of how her grandfather grew up in America’s south under the Jim Crow laws which enforced racial segregation. He experienced having the KKK regularly harass his family by shooting bullets at their house. In spite of the adversities that took place, he chose not to hold a gripe against the white man and never taught his family to view themselves as victims because of their heritage.
This past Sabbath afternoon was a wonderful celebration of renewed life as two of my very good friends, Lily and Nyari, made public declarations of their love for Jesus through baptism. Hearing the testimonies of God’s workings in their lives deeply touched everyone who was there; even those who have witnessed a fair few agree that it was one of the most moving baptisms – to God be the glory.
The Mission Collective (https://themissioncollective.org) recently happened from 27-29 September, 2019 at the Royal Children’s Hospital. A couple of months prior, I was kindly invited by an Uncle I highly respected and he made sure I was informed as soon as registration opened. Long weekends are usually perfect to recover from full weeks of busy work but the chance to catch up with other young people who are “seeking to realise the potential of a generation committed to innovative evangelism” sounded great.
I only recently became aware that there were large fires in different regions across the world including the Amazon, Siberia, Greenland, and some parts of southern Europe.
I read a few news sources and they say the Amazon is known as the Earth’s lungs and produces up to 20% of the world’s oxygen. It’s a terrible thought to lose the ability to breathe properly. The biodiversity in the Amazon forest is also lost due to these fires. The Earth isn’t looking too good going forward. There is also much heat in the political arena between powerful countries (e.g. the US vs Iran) and political ideologies (e.g. far left vs far right).
Jesus predicted that humanity’s selfish choices would destroy the Earth and create mounting conflict between the nations in Matthew 24.
In the midst of all these happenings we can be consumed by fear and uncertainty of the future.
I was invited by my good friends Rosie and Hannah to join other young people for this exciting project called ShareHim back in 2015. I had no idea what ShareHim was about but a mission trip to Mexico with the crew sounded quite exciting. I later found out that ShareHim required each participant to hold an evangelistic campaign every night for two weeks at a designated church. At that point in life, I had previously had the chance to preach here and there but preaching every night for two weeks was daunting to say the very least. But I decided to take up the invitation and head to Tuxla Gutierez, Chiapas, Mexico.
Politics in general is definitely not high on my list of interests, especially US politics. But for the past few years, I have noticed a very consistent trend in news stories that make headlines. The media constantly highlighted anything negative associated with President Donald Trump. I still didn’t care too much but there was one thing that kindled my interest. What is this thing Mr President keeps referring to as “fake news”? And so I decided to take a quick glimpse into it.
I projected this year to be a year of no travelling overseas when I was making plans in 2018. It was supposed to be a quiet one but I had to make a little exception because my good friend was getting married in Bangkok. Our friendship goes way back to primary school when we attended grade two at Bangkok Adventist Church School (BACS) together. I also invited my workmate to come along for the second time. He enjoyed it so much last time that he also brought his parents along this time round.
“Let me say first that I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you…” (Romans 1:8 NLT). This was Paul’s greeting to the believers in Rome but I would like to direct it to you all here at MCAC and to you reading this blog. I feel super blessed that God has led me to be part of this loving and caring church family.
This past Sabbath, we were able to discuss some questions relating to the really cool sermon by Jinha (watch here). One of the questions asked was whether we miss out on blessings when we see particular events in our lives as mere coincidence even though they could be divine providence. Looking at the big picture of the Bible, I think it is obvious that we need to acknowledge God’s hands and respond to Him with gratitude and praise.
God is teaching me some simple but valuable lessons in my Christian walk. Communication is an area that He is constantly helping me to grow in; communication with those around me and with Him. I was recently reminded of two little gems I’ve learned along the way.
