Sunday, February 19, 2006
Miracles
My prayers have been answered Vino.. Today the people whom I am fond of all of a sudden came hugging, literally and figuratively. I woke up with a desire to stay away from everyone. But He links us with His other children with His love. The writer friend whom I had a hurricane outing with actually came to say hello while I was at the library today. Lacey, my dear friend came and kissed on my cheek. Jesse, a funny fellow with a humble heart, kissed my forehead in a jest. Do you wonder if God hears our puny cries for small heartaches? He does... Praise God, He does. He doesn't just send beams of light to His children who undergo torture. He also sends His assurances of love to silly daughters like me! He's so lovely, lah...
"March of Faith" by Lindley J. Baldwin
From the book, "The March of Faith"
"The greatest leadership is that which creates other leaders. Democracy depends for its preservation upon the capacity to pass on the torch of leadership from one generation to another, - The March of Faith through the ages."
The book tells the touching true story of a African prince who was tortured by his captors as a ransom for the defeat of his tribe. While he was hanging on a cross in Africa, a light from heaven shone down on him and he was led to safety. He later understood that this God is the same God who sent His own son to suffer in a manner similar to his experience. He escaped to Liberia where he was found by a missionary who told him the gospel story and the story of Paul. Immediately, he recognised that the Christian God is the same God who rescued him with a beam of light. He became her first convert and she christened him, Samuel Morris. He learnt all he could about Christ but his hunger and desire to know the Holy Spirit could not be met by the missionary. By faith, he trusted God to bring him to America where he was taken in to study in Taylor University Bible School. He unwittingly became an influence among the students in the university and was known for his direct, calm 'talks' with the Father. The Holy Spirit would powerfully convict everyone with whom he prayed for. He was not a charismatic leader, nor was he a great orator. But the Holy Spirit worked through an uneducated man in such a powerful way because he had a simple, childlike trust in his Father. Samuel died 5 years after he arrived in America at the age of 21. His influence however is still felt and seen in Taylor University. Many have left to Africa in his place to reach his people. Taylor University was also at the brink of closing just before Samuel's death but God inspired the trustees to have faith and miraculously brought ten thousand dollars and ten acres of land to rebuild the university. Just before his death, the students came to pay him their daily visit and Sammy told them with quiet joy that he now understood it all. He said "I am so happy. I have seen the angels. They are coming for me soon. The light my Father in heaven sent to save me when I was hanging helpless on that cross in Africa was for a purpose. I was saved for a purpose. Now, I have fulfilled that purpose. My work here on earth has been finished." Dr. Reade questioned him about the great work he had planned to do amongh his own people in Africa. Sammy answered, "It is not "my work". It is Christ's work. He must choose his own workers. Others can do it better."
A must-read book! God challenged me to realise it is not my ability to relate to people, nor my charismatic personality nor my talent that will bring people to God. It is His spirit alone, and He is with me. I only have to keep my ears open for His voice, trust and obey, and march the march of faith.
"The greatest leadership is that which creates other leaders. Democracy depends for its preservation upon the capacity to pass on the torch of leadership from one generation to another, - The March of Faith through the ages."
The book tells the touching true story of a African prince who was tortured by his captors as a ransom for the defeat of his tribe. While he was hanging on a cross in Africa, a light from heaven shone down on him and he was led to safety. He later understood that this God is the same God who sent His own son to suffer in a manner similar to his experience. He escaped to Liberia where he was found by a missionary who told him the gospel story and the story of Paul. Immediately, he recognised that the Christian God is the same God who rescued him with a beam of light. He became her first convert and she christened him, Samuel Morris. He learnt all he could about Christ but his hunger and desire to know the Holy Spirit could not be met by the missionary. By faith, he trusted God to bring him to America where he was taken in to study in Taylor University Bible School. He unwittingly became an influence among the students in the university and was known for his direct, calm 'talks' with the Father. The Holy Spirit would powerfully convict everyone with whom he prayed for. He was not a charismatic leader, nor was he a great orator. But the Holy Spirit worked through an uneducated man in such a powerful way because he had a simple, childlike trust in his Father. Samuel died 5 years after he arrived in America at the age of 21. His influence however is still felt and seen in Taylor University. Many have left to Africa in his place to reach his people. Taylor University was also at the brink of closing just before Samuel's death but God inspired the trustees to have faith and miraculously brought ten thousand dollars and ten acres of land to rebuild the university. Just before his death, the students came to pay him their daily visit and Sammy told them with quiet joy that he now understood it all. He said "I am so happy. I have seen the angels. They are coming for me soon. The light my Father in heaven sent to save me when I was hanging helpless on that cross in Africa was for a purpose. I was saved for a purpose. Now, I have fulfilled that purpose. My work here on earth has been finished." Dr. Reade questioned him about the great work he had planned to do amongh his own people in Africa. Sammy answered, "It is not "my work". It is Christ's work. He must choose his own workers. Others can do it better."
A must-read book! God challenged me to realise it is not my ability to relate to people, nor my charismatic personality nor my talent that will bring people to God. It is His spirit alone, and He is with me. I only have to keep my ears open for His voice, trust and obey, and march the march of faith.
In the beginning
In the beginning, God created the earth. Not by waving a magic wand. Not by stirring the cauldron and spitting spells into the air. Not even by the act of molding nothingness with His bare hands and then carefully hanging our planet in space. Or flinging it into space with one hand, [if you prefer viewing Him as an 'artsy-fartsy' (ching-term) dramatic, melancholic Universal Rembrandt von Einstein kind-of-Creator]. Instead, He created by speaking the worlds into being. It was not a coincidence that words were involved in the original creation. It is in fact a concept that is ancient old, one which a modern man sitting at a desk starring into the screen would probably have a hard time conceiving. Evangelical seminaries term this as the covenantal act, much like the ones reproduced in many ancient civilizations when a king vows an oath to be the benevolent protector to his people. I will attempt to explain what I have learnt in my Covenant classes in the coming blogs. This concept have really gripped my heart this particular semester and I am truly awestruck by it all.
In sum, words have power, you see. And this power increases the greater and more important the speaker is. The reverse is also true. The greater the feat a speaker's words accomplish, the greater the speaker must be. And this is our God - He speaks and creation replies by spinning it into existence. But we must not forget that He, being God, could have chosen to write the world into being, or chisel out the planets and trees. He could have chosen trees to walk and talk in place of man. He could have done a million things other than the one He chose to do. He is after all, G-O-D! Instead, He chose to speak His heart to man and swear Himself to us, that He is now and forever, bound to us, and we, in return, are bound to Him.
And so it is fitting that my first post of my blog to myself and alter ego a.k.a. my closest friend, Ms. Vino (strange but true!) , is sung in honour of God's first creative act known to mankind. Spicy Chicken Strips should be just that, little strips of spicy meat crisps . Nothing profound. Only a collection of thoughts and letters to God and closest friend. Some thoughts are my amateurish attempts at writing. Some are just plain confusions of life and my hashing-outs. Bother! I simply just wanna map out what's in my head into tangible words so that they rearrange in an orderly fashion. Hopefully, they'll help me get on with life after that.
So I dedicate this blog first to You, Lordie, the One who invented The Word, the stream of consciousness and thoughts in words and mental images.. and then to my family, Ma or Mommey, Pei and Ming. Hopefully one day, Pa, you'll be reading this too.
Till then, a toast to Spicy Chicken Strips:- Long life to the man who eats us with a happy heart!
In sum, words have power, you see. And this power increases the greater and more important the speaker is. The reverse is also true. The greater the feat a speaker's words accomplish, the greater the speaker must be. And this is our God - He speaks and creation replies by spinning it into existence. But we must not forget that He, being God, could have chosen to write the world into being, or chisel out the planets and trees. He could have chosen trees to walk and talk in place of man. He could have done a million things other than the one He chose to do. He is after all, G-O-D! Instead, He chose to speak His heart to man and swear Himself to us, that He is now and forever, bound to us, and we, in return, are bound to Him.
And so it is fitting that my first post of my blog to myself and alter ego a.k.a. my closest friend, Ms. Vino (strange but true!) , is sung in honour of God's first creative act known to mankind. Spicy Chicken Strips should be just that, little strips of spicy meat crisps . Nothing profound. Only a collection of thoughts and letters to God and closest friend. Some thoughts are my amateurish attempts at writing. Some are just plain confusions of life and my hashing-outs. Bother! I simply just wanna map out what's in my head into tangible words so that they rearrange in an orderly fashion. Hopefully, they'll help me get on with life after that.
So I dedicate this blog first to You, Lordie, the One who invented The Word, the stream of consciousness and thoughts in words and mental images.. and then to my family, Ma or Mommey, Pei and Ming. Hopefully one day, Pa, you'll be reading this too.
Till then, a toast to Spicy Chicken Strips:- Long life to the man who eats us with a happy heart!
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