Of death and miracles
I was just reading my late friend's blog late in the middle of the night. Strange as it seems, this is not a friend who is very close, and yet his death seems to affect me more than the others of my friends. I remember there are at least 3 friends of mine who passed away besides this one. The first one was my classmate who passed away just after we got back our J1 common test result. It was a shocking news cos the previous day we got the news, I was still talking with her happily.
The second one came in the middle of my signal training during my NS days. This is a very good friend of mine in secondary school. I received a call in the middle of training and got to know that he passed away because of heart disease. This was a very good friend, cos I remember playing soccer and fooling around in class, getting into trouble in our math lessons, and teasing him about Liverpool (he's a Liverpool fan).
The third was a senior from council. He's the valedictorian for his batch, and considered as one of the smartest guy from the first batch of pioneers. Not that there are a lot of smart one in his batch... but he was a role model to the councillors. I remembered him giving his valedictorian speech (and one day a year later, I was standing there as well) and his contemporaries stood and applaused for him after his speech. He committed suicide. Till this day I have not found out what really transpired.
These three never affected me this much compared to this friend whom I dun get to talk to a lot. Perhaps I think, and I suspect, that God is doing something in my heart. Actually I was thinking a lot before this incident and Acts 20:24 keeps on coming to my mind: However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. I was listening to Ravi Zacharias' mp3 just now, the title series on 'Is there not a cause' and 'Is there not a cost'. Something he said struck me quite a lot. He asked his audience to pray for the uni students, which happens to us. I remembered in my youthful days of serving God, exactly 2 years back, I told a crowd of brothers and sisters, that one day, I want to see NUS reaching 100 people, believers. Is it about numbers? I would say, yeah, it's about numbers. If it's about souls, then it's about numbers, cos one soul saved is one soul saved. 100 souls saved is 100 souls saved.
Just let me digress a bit and share something God spoke vividly to me during the last prayer meeting. I was ushering, and I stood at the back of the convention hall. I saw one of the greatest miracles that God can perhaps perform in the world for us to see. It was a congregation of 2000+++ men and women, rising their hands, worshiping God. The sight of lives being transformed by God, hearts being softened by God. This sight, to quote from MasterCard, is priceless. If there is one miracle we want to see from God, let it be our heart transformation.
And 1 soul saved is one new creation in the Kingdom of God. And I really want to see God working in the lives of men and women in NUS, and lately, He added SMU into the list. That's the reason why I serve tirelessly in ministry, though I really tired out sometimes. I can scream and shout during matric, do all sort of fuHowever, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.nny things, just for the single purpose of seeing that one miracle happening, the reception of Christ into one's life. And yeah, that's one good reason for me to remain in ushering, cos I get to stand at the back quite often =P
This is the first death that I have seen,or at least one that I have more personal attachment to since I became a Christian. I was just thanking God that he became strong in the LORD towards his last days. Reading his blog, I couldn't help but be encouraged by the faith he put in God despite all else. In fact, by reading the blog, you wouldn't be able to tell that he's sick.
The question that I'm going to pose to all of us is this: are we able to live our lives to bring the joy and love of the LORD to the people around us despite all our troubles and worries? Our problems in school seems so small compared to his life and death situation and he shows his faith in God, continue to bring hope to people. His God is bigger than his cancer, the crux of the issue is whether our God is bigger than the problems we face in school or in work. It's just like John said, "He must become greater and I must become lesser"
The second one came in the middle of my signal training during my NS days. This is a very good friend of mine in secondary school. I received a call in the middle of training and got to know that he passed away because of heart disease. This was a very good friend, cos I remember playing soccer and fooling around in class, getting into trouble in our math lessons, and teasing him about Liverpool (he's a Liverpool fan).
The third was a senior from council. He's the valedictorian for his batch, and considered as one of the smartest guy from the first batch of pioneers. Not that there are a lot of smart one in his batch... but he was a role model to the councillors. I remembered him giving his valedictorian speech (and one day a year later, I was standing there as well) and his contemporaries stood and applaused for him after his speech. He committed suicide. Till this day I have not found out what really transpired.
These three never affected me this much compared to this friend whom I dun get to talk to a lot. Perhaps I think, and I suspect, that God is doing something in my heart. Actually I was thinking a lot before this incident and Acts 20:24 keeps on coming to my mind: However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. I was listening to Ravi Zacharias' mp3 just now, the title series on 'Is there not a cause' and 'Is there not a cost'. Something he said struck me quite a lot. He asked his audience to pray for the uni students, which happens to us. I remembered in my youthful days of serving God, exactly 2 years back, I told a crowd of brothers and sisters, that one day, I want to see NUS reaching 100 people, believers. Is it about numbers? I would say, yeah, it's about numbers. If it's about souls, then it's about numbers, cos one soul saved is one soul saved. 100 souls saved is 100 souls saved.
Just let me digress a bit and share something God spoke vividly to me during the last prayer meeting. I was ushering, and I stood at the back of the convention hall. I saw one of the greatest miracles that God can perhaps perform in the world for us to see. It was a congregation of 2000+++ men and women, rising their hands, worshiping God. The sight of lives being transformed by God, hearts being softened by God. This sight, to quote from MasterCard, is priceless. If there is one miracle we want to see from God, let it be our heart transformation.
And 1 soul saved is one new creation in the Kingdom of God. And I really want to see God working in the lives of men and women in NUS, and lately, He added SMU into the list. That's the reason why I serve tirelessly in ministry, though I really tired out sometimes. I can scream and shout during matric, do all sort of fuHowever, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.nny things, just for the single purpose of seeing that one miracle happening, the reception of Christ into one's life. And yeah, that's one good reason for me to remain in ushering, cos I get to stand at the back quite often =P
This is the first death that I have seen,or at least one that I have more personal attachment to since I became a Christian. I was just thanking God that he became strong in the LORD towards his last days. Reading his blog, I couldn't help but be encouraged by the faith he put in God despite all else. In fact, by reading the blog, you wouldn't be able to tell that he's sick.
The question that I'm going to pose to all of us is this: are we able to live our lives to bring the joy and love of the LORD to the people around us despite all our troubles and worries? Our problems in school seems so small compared to his life and death situation and he shows his faith in God, continue to bring hope to people. His God is bigger than his cancer, the crux of the issue is whether our God is bigger than the problems we face in school or in work. It's just like John said, "He must become greater and I must become lesser"
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