Ps27:8"My heart says of you 'Seek his face! Your face LORD , I will seek'"
Where was I exactly 17 years ago on 22/7/1998 this date ?
Today, 22/7/15- I was surprised by a sudden meeting of someone whom I have not met for 17 years and today at Tanglin Halt during lunch - we came face to face! A strange divine meeting as my colleagues and I were supposed to be on our way to Holland Village as originally planned. But somehow through a certain prompting of my heart at the Bukit Merah flyover junction before Commonwealth Dr ,I suddenly blurted out that we should go to a different hawker centre to try out. This was the sudden change of course at the last minute. Why I did that? Only God knows! And on hindsight, I deeply believed that it was the Holy Spirit who diverted our plan.
There I sat diagonally to this lady J whom I thought I found familiar. But the initial eye contact was 'non-reactive'. LOL. It was later after lunch that I bumped into her again at the bread shop. With courage I decided to ask if I knew her? And she asked me back "Are you Mui?"
So this meeting led us to a series of short chat and exchange of contact. And subsequently with a heavy heart got to know that she is seriously ill.
J was on staff of YWAM back in 1998 when I attended the DTS. I had just quit my banking job.
The afternoon 'divine' change of lunch venue and meeting made me browse through my album and journal of my first and longest mission trip in that year 1998.
When it came to a page that showed the date 22nd July, I found this journal attached.
Well, well, so where was I , 17 years ago on this same date?
I was up north in Myanmar! In a little village where I was supposed to lead worship with lyrics written on mah-jong paper! And then there was a power failure of all the days. I freaked out. But it was a night to remember. Simply because the lights came on just when we sang the chorus "Shine Jesus Shine!" Oh what a awesome God we serve!
(and I was in awe with my first witness of literal offering of first fruit at the altar in this church! Their form of tithes- so funny!)
Reflections
So today , I bumped into J, after 17 long years. Mmmm.....
Back in 1998, we do not have FaceBook or FaceTime. FB was only started in 2004! Back then, our mission trips and stay were somewhat 'primitive' as compared to 2015 today. And there was only one phone in the lobby of the Greenhill Inn which we stayed in where all of us had to queue to make a call home to our loved ones. LOL!
I started to recall this trip 17 years ago. Time flies.
Our team of 7 - We have "aged" or 'matured' and moved on in our own separate ways. But one thing for sure - I recollected the Lord's goodness and faithfulness. He changes not. He is the same , yesterday, today and forever!
So this verse in Ps 27:8 came to my mind. My heart says to seek His face. That was what we set out to do in our mission trip in 1998. And to truly immerse in our devotions everyday, yes READING HIS BOOK! And it was in this process of learning to slow down in a closed up country then that we rested and saw His mighty hand. That was really the Facebook of our time.
Unlike today FB which connects socially on friends- to -friends ; back then I was having a real FB time with the Lord. In today's technologically connected world, at times I felt robbed of time. The emails, watapps, smses, FB , twitter etc - 24/7 kind of connectivity, have stolen my precious time. I have no FB (as I decided to deface it after initial first two weeks), but yet the watapps and the internet connectivity of news on that little gadget phone does rob me of time. I FB with the Lord less and more with the world. Time to disconnect to connect again!
But I doubt I can run away to Myanmar to escape and go back to the 'primitive' village. Times have changed, They have opened up and is now as connected as anyone else in the face of this world ! Perhaps not totally with exception of some tribal villages but the world has kind of shrunk! Physical distance is no longer an issue. Flight of few hours would bring us to a different country. We talk and see each other through the PC. Such is the world we are now living in.
17 years ago - what did we do there? Wow, quite a lot! Teaching in seminaries, sunday schools, helping at orphanages, prayer walking ...
And I "almost witnessed" a deaf and dumb miracle! Thanks to my lost and found guitar left in the taxi while on our last 6th week of ministry. But Rom 8;28 - the taxi driver returned my guitar in the fateful late evening and invited us to his home on another day to pray for his deaf and dumb son. I was elated. Because that was precisely what I asked to see and God to show on my first mission trip. What audacity! LOL. The Lord was kind enough to use the lost guitar to bring me to one deaf and dumb but we prayed and nothing happen. LOL. Perhaps the Lord knows me too well. I was perhaps not ready to witness this for fear of collapsing with a heart attack:) But to be able to have this glimpse of an answered prayer was more than enough for me back then. Today, I think I would be able to handle this better?
Yes. More than ready!
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