Everything happens for a reason

Even bad ones.

ALC and I came back on 26 January really thrilled and excited at all that Father did for us in the four days that we were in Cebu. If the bad things that happened to her did not happen, all the blessings we experienced during this trip would never have happened. The good has certainly outweighed the bad.

Besides catching up with much needed rest and sleep, having lots of fun, enjoying good meals, getting ourselves pampered at the spa... Father opened many doors to connect meaningfully with people.

We met EM, a 32 year old African from Rawanda who lost his entire family during the 1994 massacre / genocide. It is one thing to read the news, and mostly just by passing it. It is quite another matter to meet someone who amazingly lived through it to tell his story. My heart went out to him.

ALC's two sisters were, by Father's kind provision, given two free tickets to come to Cebu. They left their hometown at about 7 pm and sailed 12 hours through the night to meet us. We had the whole day together, and then they took the 7 pm boat back to their province. I was touched they took the trouble to welcome me.

In December, God moved some people to give Christmas gifts to me. I used a portion of it help a family with their needs and to start up a small business. The family that I related to have gone through a lot and were feeling helpless and hopeless about their situation. I saw how the gifts were received gratefully.

When one of them asked me, "how should we return you the money?" I said, "the money was a gift to me. I don't want it back. I would like you to make back the capital and invest that into helping another family."That just blew their mind away so much so that she said, "I never knew that good people like you still exist." God really arrange our time together to the minutest detail. I saw from the hopeless look in their eyes being replaced with hope. It was all his doing (I would never have been able to give to them had I not been given the gift in the first place).

Some time last year, I finally nailed down what I think God has designed me to be and do...

To use all that I am and have

to bring Hope to the nations

beginning with those within my reach

to inspire them to live up to their dignity and worth

and to empower them to fulfil their eternal destiny

It was my Father who had made it happen - it is no longer a nice sounding statement, but one that is being fleshed out for real in my life. God opened ALC and my eyes to many possibilities to make a difference. I don't think the people we "helped" will ever know how much they helped me and how much it means for me to be a channel of hope for them. It was exhilarating!

We visited ALC's university and met her teachers. They all spoke very highly of her. When her Dean found out that I was her editor, he called me to his room and invited me to teach and help the university. No one could have done that except God. (Who am I that I should be given this privilege?!)

Many including some very influential people felt for ALC when they knew of her recent ordeal at the Cebu immigration. These influential people also opened up avenues to connect with them. Yesterday, a famous film director who saw her blog connected with her. She wrote back to him and got an almost instant reply -- God knows we may have a chance to learn from him and work with him.

Anyway, we are just thrilled at all the doors that have swung wide open for us. It seems we have our ministry all charted out for us. Of course it will take time to work through these dreams and plans that have been planted in our hearts...

What an adventure it is to journey with Father!

Unplanned for vacation

I will be going to Cebu Philippines next week from 23-26 Jan. It's a totally unplanned for trip.

ALC my housemate had a very traumatic experience coming back to Singapore. She left Masbate, her home province, on 11 Jan. The ship that she was supposed to travel on arrived late. Later she overheard the crew talking about the fire and the repair work. When she got onboard, they tried to turn on the ship engine, but it blacked out a few times. It got her really scared. On top of that, it was stormy so mch so that she was feeling sicksick, something she has never experienced. She tried to call but I didn't hear it as my phone was on silent mode. She wanted to pray.

Anyway, shortly after that, I don't know what made me look at the phone. I saw her sms and called her. Good thing there was signal still. The ship was already at sea. She sounded really nervous and said she felt like throwing up. The trip would take 12 hours to get to Cebu City. I would have told her to get off had I got her call earlier. Anyway, we prayed over the phone.
That was about 7 pm. She said that it got very calm at about 1 am - except that she could not sleep all night because a baby was crying all night. But then that's better than a sunken ship!

On 11th, at about 7 pm, she checked in to Cebu Pacific airlines. Just before she got on board for departure, the immigration department stopped her because apparently she did not get an exit clearance because all Overseas Contract Workers are supposed to get one. We were not aware of this. We found out later that only Philippines has this requirement. It's their way of getting more revenue lah.

So anyway, they gave her a hard time. The long and short of it, she had to fly back to Singapore as a tourist and not as an OCW. But the catch is this, she had to buy a ticket flying from Cebu to Singapore so that she could prove she has a return ticket. She did not have any money. The plane was already late by 30 minutes and leaving. She couldn't find an ATM etc etc. In the end, she sold her two handphones and camera dirt cheap jus to buy the ticket. She was so traumatised. She told me there was no point getting off the plane and staying on to get the paper work done cos all offices in town were closed because of the Asean Summit. And she didn't have any money to stay on. So that was her only option, to fly back that night.

You can imagine how harrassed and dazed she was when she got her at about 2 am. Haha. Actually she was part of the cause of the plane delay!

Well, now that she has a ticket to fly Singapore - Cebu, and since she needed to get the paper work sorted out, I decided to make good by taking a few days off to see Cebu. In my many years in Philippines, I had only passed through there less than a day.

Do pray for safety. God already provided accomodation and some money for us!

A blessing that can never be taken away

This morning, I read how Jacob stole his brother Esau's birthright and blessings (Genesis 27:1-40).

Isaiah, Jacob's father, could not retract the blessing that he had given to Jacob no matter how his favourite son Esau wept inconsolably.

I thought about the blessing that my own father gave to me before he passed away. I thanked my Father in heaven because that can never be taken away from me. The peace and restedness I feel in my heart will carry me through the rest of my life till it is my turn to return to my Father.

To the finish line

I finally resumed work on my book on the Moken Sea Gypsies after laying it off for eight months. It hasn't been easy picking up again. I've lost precious time and momentum. But it's good too I suppose to have a little distance from what one is writing. One hopes things get clearer and more objective.

I read through what I've written and I feel the excitement coming back again. Now comes the tedious task of cleaning up the commas, full stops, oversights, discrepancies - something I don't enjoy doing. God sent angels to help spot them. I have to work on the glossary, maps, timeline, bibliography and notes to help the reader.

I will enjoy very much working on the artwork after I finish tidying up the text.

Please keep me in prayer.

P.S. I am almost finished doing the artwork for the Asia Legacy book which my mentor Sandy has written. I only have the cover to design.

Well spent

Things are finally beginning to settle. I feel more rested. For the last two years, the Lord gave me Isaiah 58:10-12 about spending myself on others...

10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.

11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.

12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

I certainly feel spent, but also satisfied, strengthened and refreshed.

As I asked him for directions for 2007, I felt him leading me back to the same chapter. This time with emphasis on verses 13-14

13 "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD's holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

14 then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob."
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

I was starkly reminded about Sabbath and the need for rest. Even God who never grows weary or tired rested on the seventh day.

Sabbath is

• not for those who earn it or deserve it
• a gift
• a day of rest and restoration
• a day to reflect and enjoy all that we are and have done
• a day to give time for us to listen to ourselves and to our Father

My prayer this year is not that I will be any less proactive, but I want to be more directed. One of the challenges of being multi-talented is that you can end up jumping into any and everything. Like what a friend says, at our age, life is like a credit card, there's a payback time for all that you spend on.

I only have so much of life to live. May I spend it well.

Totally at peace

Daddy went to be with Jesus on Friday, 22nd December at 8.51 am. It's amazing the peace I feel in my heart as I let him go. Been reflecting a lot about my Dad, and also my relationship with my heavenly Father.

I made a website in memory of my Dad... http://www.october8.net/dad/default.htm