Lightness of being #26 Sampan (9th Nov 2013)

Dear...

Our Prime Minister was quoted as referring to our beloved nation as an upgraded sampan version 2.0, a far cry from the cruise ship that many think should better reflect our progress as a developed nation.

And why not a cruise ship? PM Lee acknowledged our progress but we need to continue to strive, and not rest on our laurel. I have been on a couple of luxury cruises, and it was great. Being fed all the time, lolling on deck or in your suite, and going onshore for sightseeing without your baggages. A life seemingly with no strife but also with no desire to strive.

Is life for a Christian any similar? When we come onboard the Jesus Christ SS, are we on a comfy cruise ship captained by our Lord, or have we been gang hauled into a rickety flat boat of no more than 3.5 meters by 4.5 meters?
The word 'sampan," is a Hokkien word, contrary to my belief that it had its origins in the Malay language. "3 planks," that is the visual configuration of a typical sampan, and being atypical of how words are derived from one's visual ingestion, hence the term.

I was at a Christian lunch meeting today. The food was simple but tasty, the camaraderie was easy when Christ, and not the world is the focus. The speaker is eminent, but that matters less than his heart. And he reminded all present that wherever God places us, we must be keenly aware of His purpose for us and we must respond, to share and live the gospel truth. Cruising along in our faith, by doing no wrong in our lives is not the great commission. We are to impact our surrounds, not by our own strength, but by being a willing lamp for the light of Christ to shine forth into the darkness. In the wide ocean of humanity, it matters not if one is the "Titanic," or a mere bobbing sampan. For what truly count is, "will you be willing to be the platform for Christ?"

Why, when I came, was there no man; why, when I called, was there no one to answer?
Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver?
Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea,  I make the rivers a desert;
their fish stink for lack of water and die of thirst.
                  Isaiah 50:2

Time in the pool does bring one greater clarity of thought. In the midst of my evening swim today, the irrepressible sampan floated into my frame of reference. Storms at sea might be impactful visually, but storms in our lives are no less daunting.
But if God is Sovereign, and He is, fear is but a manifestation of our reluctance to let go and let Him.

What we should truly fear is the enemy from within - our self deceitful self!!

A sampan might be tossed about in a virulent tempest,but God is master of both the tempest, the sea and all.  What should concern us is ourselves!! For a quiet but steady leak will wrought an early demise, even in the most placid body of water. As the temple of upon which the Spirit of God resides, we must be holy, for God is holy.

The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught,
that I may know how to sustain with a word  him who is weary.
Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear
to hear as those who are taught. 
                    Isaiah 50:4

Much as being out of my comfort zone this past one year can be quite a disconcerting experience, thanks be to God my sleep remains restful. Tossing in bed is not endemic in my nightly ritual, though my wife claims the decibels in my snoring is intensifying.
I am thankful that indeed I could truly draw deeply from Christ, the spring of life, as He strengthens the roots of my faith. Thirsts in the desert of this journey of the past one year has brought me into a liberating relationship of dependency upon our Lord every new day.

And this morning, the word "adrift" was impressed upon my heart.
Indeed, the "big ships" of the global system have drifted increasingly away from the lofty ideals of her founding fathers. Judeo Christianity values, which have been the foundational anchors for the two sequential dominant empires of the past three centuries, pax Britannia and pax America, is now replaced by the attitude of self ,self righteousness and deceit.

How do we as a small sampan in this ocean of change stay true to the values that have allowed God to transform us from an island in the sun, to a beacon of strength?

"David inquired of The Lord."
          2 Samuel 5:19

We must rise above the fray, by anchoring ourselves even more deeply to The Lord our God. Only then can we not only not be overwhelmed by the encroaching godless and deviant armadas of the Western world, who seek to influence, and coerced the rest of the world to their shifting values or the lack of it.
Only then can we be transformed from a mere sampan, to be the lighthouse, the beacon for which the light of our Lord Jesus Christ will shine forth into the creeping darkness of our world.

God blesses

Eng Hieang
9th Nov 2013

An afterthought - Digging wells

Water, water everywhere but it does not sate one's thirst. It is time to leave the swathe of salty sea and beached the sampan onto terra firma, for there are new wells to be dug.

He turns a desert into pools of water,  a parched land into springs of water.
                  Psalms 107:35

When I answered, after much reluctance, our good Lord's call to step out of my comfortable abode of the past 17 years, I was fearful. Not because I had heard wrongly, for God never leaves the faithful unsure about His will. But rather, the execution was clearly daunting, if not overwhelming.
It has been a year. It is by His grace that this ministry has been very fruitful, much as it has been a struggle throughout.
But I believe the struggle was very much more about myself rather than the surrounds.
Our good Lord convicted my heart of two fundamental truths
- I have to be willing to trust in His Sovereignty by being willing to be totally dependent upon the Holy Spirit's leading every new day.
- to stop focussing on the old wells of my past experiences and instead, dig for new wells as His Spirit leads.

Most of us are familiar with the parable of the poor widow. Our Lord brought a new perspective to me this morning.

For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
                  Mark 12:44

Many of us wants to serve our Lord. It is never meant to be a part time vocation as many would rather it to be. God must be first and foremost in our heart's focus. In fact, His will must be our only focus.
And it is His way, not ours that must now be the DNA that drives our thought processes and every action.
And will we be willing to give Him our all from what we have, no matter how inadequate it may seem, rather than from what we would like to have, in His service?

Only in honoring Him in total surrender, in total dependency upon His grace, will the world witness the glory, power and grace of our Sovereign God.