| THE FLAME Newsletter 1/2008 Issue |
Updated : 14/04/2008 |
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| His Ways, Not Our Ways! |
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Four of us from the FGB Malacca went on a mission trip to Kelantan and Trengganu June 15 to 17 2007. Our main purpose was to encourage the Christians there in their faith. Where evangelistic banquet meetings were concerned, we did not expect much as none of us were of any “celebrity” status. In fact our hosts did not confirm our planned trip until close to our planned departure date. However, on hindsight, we believe that God had everything planned for us. He honoured our intentions as we went on this trip not because we were invited but because we had wanted at our own initiative to go. Throughout our stay there, we felt His hands directing us and even changing our plans. All four of us are English educated and one among us also had 2 years of formal Chinese education. English is our medium of communications. Yet before we started on the trip, we were led to learn some unfamiliar Hokkien songs for the trip one of which was later to be our theme song for the meetings even though we had not chosen any theme song before we started out. We had prior to our travel planned who among us would be the speakers. But upon our arrival at Kota Bahru, we decided to change the speakers for the Banquet that evening to accommodate the very limited time given us. We were told to end our sharing by 8:30 pm to avoid guests leaving the meeting before it was over. We then decided that only one of us would speak and he was to share in Mandarin so as not to waste time in the translations. However the brother who was slotted at the last minute to speak fell sick just before the start of the meeting resulting in us having to go back to our original plan. Two of us spoke that evening; one gave a short testimony and the other delivered the main message. We shared in English with simultaneous translations into His Ways, Not Our Ways! Mandarin. We did not finish until 9:30 pm that evening yet nobody in the audience left the meeting prematurely. In fact many stayed back till 10:00 pm to fellowship with us. Our original plan must have been God’s plan and He would not have it any other way! In the same manner, we also felt the hands of God directing us in Kuala Trengganu. The sharing was to be at a luncheon meeting. Sunday being a working day we were told that it would be a one-hour meeting and attendance was not expected to be good. The hosts had only planned for three tables. Here again, we decided to change our speaking plan. Instead of two, only one of us would share and he was to speak in Mandarin to save time. The task again went to the brother who fell sick in Kota Bahru. This time however the meeting went as planned and he spoke well. God must have kept him to be the speaker in Kuala Trengganu, not in Kota Bahru. And it is the first time ever that he shared publicly in Mandarin from a Chinese Bible! But we were slightly disappointed that even though the hosts had planned for only three tables, not all the seats were taken up. Including our hosts and the four of us, only about 25 seats were taken up and even then, there were only a handful of non believers. Nevertheless we proceeded as planned. However at the end of the sharing, we decided impromptu to close the meeting with a Hokkien song. As we were singing, there came out from a private room adjacent to our hall a group of people to join us in the singing and clapping. Of course, seeing this totally unexpected development, we did not stop with that song but we continued to sing on. And as they were singing and clapping with us, some of us began to distribute Chinese Bibles to them. Not only did they gladly accept the Bibles, those who were missed out even asked for them! On hindsight, we believe that God must have directed everything that afternoon. Nothing happens by chance. That brother who spoke was the most suitable among us for the occasion. God must have kept him specifically for the Kuala Trengganu function. He is an elderly man of about 70 and he spoke in a language all the guests could understand. Among the non believer guests present were businessmen and Dato’s including a timber tycoon. They all could relate with the life’s experience of the speaker. And while we were initially disappointed with the turnout, God had arranged for a table of non believers to sit adjacent to our hall separated only by a wooden partition. Many of us were not even aware of their presence in that partitioned room! They probably heard the message too. Surely God’s hand was in the whole set-up that afternoon. We also want to believe that seeds were planted that afternoon as well as in the Kota Bahru banquet meeting. The four of us went on this trip because we had wanted to encourage the Christians there in the Muslim heartland. But we returned not only encouraged but also fully charged ourselves! God is good.
God does not ask about your
ability, only your availability |
