Children of The Light#50 Rootlessness无根 Restlessness不安(25th December 2017)

 Dear….

…...and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us…..

             Acts 17:26-27

Who are we? Where did we come from and where will we be upon death?

Questions of life that does pop up as an infrequent guests, in our journey of life, and  often left on the back burner as the exigencies of our daily living takes precedence.

There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.

       ( quote attributed to French Mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal)

Quite a surprise to me to chance upon this quote attributed to Pascal. A man or at least his Pascal Theory that I had a brief dalliance with in my secondary school days in Physics.

Pascal died at an early age, but turned to God when he had a near escape from death.

He moved from disbeliever to believer and prayerfully, the wager that he created was a winning one for him.

Blaise Pascal is perhaps most famous for his Wager ('Pascal's Wager'),

"If Jesus does not exist, the non Christian loses little by believing in him and gains little by not believing. If Jesus does exist, the non Christian gains eternal life by believing and loses an infinite good by not believing.”

Only in knowing God and following our Lord Jesus Christ can we have the peace and joy that eludes all?

…...we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding….

Colossians 1:9

These past few days, I have been doing a bit of research on Xiamen, China.

It is a desire planted in my being this past year to make a trip to the hometown of my mother, whose entire family uprooted from a turbulent warlord China in the 1930s and made landfall in Singapore.

I am seeking my roots?

This morning, I chanced upon an article on The Jangmadang Generation in North Korea.

This refers collectively to the generation of North Koreans( now in their late 20s and 30s) who grew up in the devastating famine in the 1990s. Children who were often left to fend for themselves and survived through their entrepreneurial skills in the private markets ( Jangmadang )that popped up to fill the gaping hole that the State once provided.

The hope is that this Jangmadang Generation who were forced by dire circumstances to become individualistic and materialistic, and and owes no obligation to the obtrusive nanny North Korean government will grow into a force for change from within.

The deep barnacles of the overreaching Kim Dynasty, who have through delusion and coercion, might prayerfully be eventually breached.

New roots will spring forth, just like what the world witnessed when the oppressive Iron Curtain of the USSR was torn asunder.

But without God, the joy of being freed from the overbearing religion of godlessness( aka Communism) is temporal. A new restlessness seeps in as many realize that the long longed for religion of materialism( aka capitalism) leaves them equally rootless and wanting. The void in oneś heart remains unfilled.

Witness the growth in spirituality in China today.

We have relatives in Xiamen. There were a couple of visits from them back in the 1980s when the opening up of China also led to the limited freedom for Chinese to travel out.

With the passing of my parents generation, that tenuous link is no longer in existence.

We do have some properties there, from my maternal grandparents time, but no idea as to where and who owns it now.

What will drive my desire to seek out my past? Relationships, history or potential wealth?

Will the past help me to understand my present, and better prepare one for the future?

Bitcoin. Virtual reality, Avatars, Artificial Intelligence …...

Technology has empowered yet enslaved many of us. In the deep, broad yet not fully fathomable reaches of the world wide net, relationships are broad but fleeting.

Dehumanized, many just like Adam and Eve, are enamoured with the Tree of Knowledge and are ensnared from their daily feeding of the fruit ( APPLE or the multi hued fruit cocktail colors of GOOGLE).  A fertile imagination here, but what truly grips your heart?

The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel - which means, God with us.

( Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:23)

Christmas celebrates the fulfilment of the promise of God and His gift for us.

Earthly presents are temporal. The gift of salvation from God is permanent but it must be accepted.

May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace as you trust in Him.

Romans 15:13

God Blesses (Eng Hieang 25th Dec 2017)

Children of The Light#49 Wandering(流浪), wondering(不安) (4th Dec 2017)

Dear…

As I prepare to leave for Japan tonight(28th Nov 2017), a rare situation where I am travelling with my son, without the ladies of the family.  I am already starting to miss my wife.

Lord, what is your purpose for me for this trip in Japan? Till now, He has not shown me, but I am assured, that when we seek God our Father, He knows our heart and at His timing, He will give us the spirit of discernment and the joy of obeying His leading.

Future blessings is contingent upon present obedience.(from the foreword to the Book of Zechariah, New King James Version).

Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from Him anything we ask, because we keep His commands and do what pleases Him.

John 3:21-22

Indeed God answered my prayers on China wonderfully. A prayer that asked Him His purpose for bringing me back to China in early November, after an absence of two exact years.

God has not just reconnected me with my dear Chinese Christians friends, but is deepening our journey together. And the two years of absence, He was preparing the next phase, which is now in His perfect timing, ready.

My Shanghai trip was one of affirmation, as our good Lord provided a series of coincidences, where one cannot but truly acknowledge in wonder, His hands at work. The past 6 months of formal Mandarin lessons which He provided, much as till recently I have no inkling that I will be back in China after an exact 2 years hiatus. Even the equipment in the gym at the China hotel that I stayed in was the exact type in the gym in my residence back in Singapore.

Was going to Japan shortly after my trip to China an affirmation of the hands of our good Lord at work as He now brings my involvement to the next level?   As a bridge for the Christians of both great nations, where repentance on the part of the Japanese and forgiveness on the part of the Chinese, is a necessary prerequisite for the fulfilment of the Great Commission to the once unreached lands of Central Asia and Africa, now made possible by the One Belt, One Road infrastructure initiative.

Christianity spread through the great roads of the Roman Empire. Ditto now with the rise of the Chinese Empire.

He Who forms the mountains, creates the wind, and reveals His thoughts to man…...the Lord Almighty  is His name.

Amos 4:13

This trip in Japan has been wonderful. An opportunity to know the geography of the country better, to appreciate the beauty of her environs, yet experience first hand the harshness of the forces of nature.

It was a time to deepen an already close relationship with my son, even as he transits to adulthood. As our role changes, from my being his protector and provider, to now he being my protector, and me for now the provider.

Yet, one thing has not and will never changed. God remains our Father, our Provider and our Protector.

A near accident on the road with a kamikaze local driver hell bent on driving into our path, as well as a separate incident when an unexpected very strong gust of wind blew my car door hard into that of an adjoining parked car, both with the natives of the land, by the grace of God did not end in sorrows for anyone. God by His grace altered the intended script of the devil.

Prayerfully in both situations, we had not dishonored God in our responses to our fellow human beings.

…..See the Lord and live, do not seek Bethel…

Amos 5:4-5

The thought that troubled me a little during this trip to Japan is will an earthquake hit?

Clearly the rumblings in the Kanto region are growing, and Mt Fuji long dormant since the last major eruption in early 1700s is awakening. This trip I had the opportunity to drive round the surrounds of Tokyo. Lovely mountainous areas and coastal routes, all within 2 hours of Tokyo.

Will all these be turned to ash covered waste? Will the world witness a massive migration within the land of Japan from the congested middle Kanto region down South to Kyushu Island, a place God has placed me and many Christians into, to prepare the ground for this relocation?

A shift not just in the physical, but in the spiritual. Where the Christian population of Japan will rise from the official low one percent plus to ten percent as some of us are inclined to believe our Lord will bring about.

But this shaking is not just unique to Japan. It will and is already happening to all of us on Earth.

It is getting late but not too late to turn from our Bethel, and turn to our omnipresent God.

And like all who do so, God will no longer be a figment of imagination, nor a silent God nor is He a stranger or an inept Divine being.

This Japan trip was a deepening of a bond I have with my son developed through the years. Possible because God provided me with the time and the desire to replicate His relationship with me as I with my Heavenly Father.

A life where you seek to respond to Godś desire for you to be in His presence. What a wonderful journey it will be. And like many who have gone down that road, you will attest to this biblical truth

...but let him who boasts boast about this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, Who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight, declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 9:24

It is time to stop wandering every which way except unto the presence of our omnipresent God.

And indeed it is time to stop wondering where God is, but instead start to experience the wonderful ways He has laid out the path of life for each of us who seeks Him.

God has a journey for you to embark on. Do take time to enter His rest, with an open heart.

He will lead you on.

God Blesses

Eng Hieang

4th Dec 2017