Occasional Green Pastures and Quiet Waters

Once, there was this pastor visiting this church I used to attend in the early days of my university life. During his sermon, he made this statement: 'Children are sinful too!' At that point, I assumed that everybody there understood and agreed with the pastor. After all, everyone was guilty of rejecting the kingship of a God who had created this world, whether adult or child, and are under judgement for said rebellion; and this rebellion shows itself in many ways, but most of the time, it is about wanting ourselves to be the centre of the universe, whether it is in relationships with God, with other people, or even with the natural world around us. It was later that week, while I was talking to a girl from the same congregation about the sermon, where she told me in a very hurt tone, that she "couldn't believe that children were sinful". At that time I didn't say anything. I had no idea what children were like.

Today, almost four years down the road, with roughly the same amount of working experience with children, I think if I ever get the chance to relive that conversation, I would tell the girl that she obviously had never had to look after children for more than a quarter of an hour. In my three years with children even as young as six months, I have witnessed jealousy, rage, selfishness, self-righteousness, and manipulation. Although undeniably, they do have a great capacity for kind deeds, and the gift of a short memory for grievances, one can hardly say that they are the innocent, chubby angels from above. After all, like they say, we just only get better at hiding it when we grow up.

As I recount my experiences with children over the past three years, I am reminded of this article I read somewhere. Probably on the Gospel Coalition. Regardless, it was about Gospel centred parenting, where children need the Gospel as much as the adults. After all, do we not have a high priest who once was the infant in a manger, and the child at the temple? As much as he identifies with adult struggles with sin, he also identifies with the struggles of children with sin. In realising this, my heart is once again burdened with how I can share the good news of Jesus with these children, and I despair at the shortness of my arm. For how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? Though the harvest is plentiful, the workers are few and overworked.

So, if you are thinking about areas of ministry you would like to help out with, let me encourage you to have children's ministry be one of them. No, it is and has never been limited to women only. In fact, the young boys would benefit lots from having a male figure setting an example. 

The walls there are only about 4m high, but don't let it's short stature fool you into thinking that it is easy! Compensating for what they lack in height, they excel in challenge, both mentally and physically. There are many excruciating paths you can choose to traverse across the walls, and even ceilings! Definitely a fun place to visit if you're looking for both a mental and physical challenge.


Scaling walls is a hungry business, and so for dinner, I was at the Overseas Restaurant to celebrate the 50th birthday anniversary* of a dear family friend. 50 years and she doesn't look much different from when I first met her about 20 years ago. One thing I really admired was that at the dinner, her father made good use of the opportunity to share the gospel with the guests. Very, very brave of him!

At the dinner, I met up with the birthday girl's sister and brother, who are my old fishing 'kakis'. It goes without saying that somebody casually mentioned the word 'fish', and we ended up going for a all-night fishing expedition to this Natural Exotic Fish Fishing Pond in Rawang. For RM100, you can fish for three hours, or you could pay RM100 for two hours and try reel in a jackpot catch. They said that there were giant fish to be caught, and they were absolutely serious about it. Here's me with my 8kg catch - the biggest I have ever gotten. Ever. Amongst the four of us, we managed to reel in another three more giant Redtail Catfish (Hemibagrus wyckioides) by 5am. Unable to stay awake any longer, we left quite reluctantly. So there ended my adventure.

*I say birthday anniversary because you technically have only one birthday. No prizes for guessing when that was. The ones you celebrate every year, would then naturally be your birthday anniversaries.
**Farshid, if you're reading this, no worries. The fish were not killed, but allowed to recuperate, then were subsequently returned into the pond.

We work day and night, striving for a better pay, toiling for a better job, breaking our backs for a first class honours. To what end?
Sometimes we work so hard because there's that perceived social expectation piled up on our backs.
"Aiyoo... Your son so smart, sure can get all A's one la!"
"You are a capable woman, I'm sure you'll be able to handle this project."
At other times, we do it for ourselves.
"I'm gonna study hard so that I can live comfortably in the future."
"I know I can do it!"
Sound familiar? Should this even be our motivation to why we work? Sure, working hard so that you have a comfortable life is not wrong, but what drives that thought might be. Have you ever thought about it?
In Matthew 6, Jesus tells us not to store up for ourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But rather to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where our treasure is, there our heart will be also.
The money we worked so hard for will be spent, the stereo set we saved up for will eventually spoil, the First Class Honours we received will be nothing but a memory and a moth-eaten piece of paper.
Where then is our motivation to work? Should we all be sitting down and twiddling our thumbs? Oh, I wish. haha. Instead, we should be doing our best so that the name of God will be glorified through our behaviour and work. It isn't an easy thing to do, but that's why we have the grace of God and a community of awesome people to help us keep accountability.

Come Friday, I'll be a lecturer at HELP. Not bad huh?