going home...=)

Two more days till going home!
Here are some photos for the family!

OMF Discover Asia Night

Just came back from OMF Discover Asia Night. Very encouraging to see a good turnout of OCFers to it as well.

Sharing by various missionaries opened up eyes & minds to see what God was doing in the nations, something that we can so easily forget & end up being myopic by focusing on just OUR problems or OUR church/fellowship. Good reminder for me that God is way bigger than all I imagine or make him out to be.

Led the singing tonight, & was reminded by something John Piper said:
"Missions exists because worship does not".

The reason for evangelising the nations is because NOT all peoples on earth are giving God the worship that He rightfully deserves. A change of perspective of evangelism/missions from an "individual-focused" effort to a God-focused enterprise. The issue here is not so much the prevention of a person from going to hell, though true as it is; but the issue concerns God receiving all the worship that He truly deserves.

We are to bring the gospel to the nations because God deserves to be worshipped by them as well. "... at the name of Jesus EVERY knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth..."

When we cease to be "world"/mission-minded Christians, our hearts cease to resonate with God's heartbeat. His heart is for the nations.

Is my heartbeat resonating with His?

Accepted :)

Yay! I got accepted into the one-month Teaching English course I wanted to do.
So January 2010 will be busy learning how to be a teacher! *Gasp*
Time to brush up on my English grammar...

The 3 Ps...

Recently read an article that struck a chord in my heart. Like the author, I too find that I suffer from these 3 temptations in ministry:

• Pride
• Perfectionism
• People-pleasing

As the author reflects, many people, including myself are often driven less by love and passion for the gospel, and more by the 3 things mentioned above. Some of the examples & comments the author makes are just oh-so-familiar to my own situation.

"I think that's a rather good Bible study! I wonder if they'll notice" (PRIDE).
---> Definitely have felt that temptation, in the context of preparing a sermon!

"I know my kids need my attention, but I'll just read over that article one more time" (PERFECTIONISM).
---> Probably the most common one I succumb to. In this case while I don't have kids, I sure fall in the same category of "over-doing" my assignments, sermons, Bible study preparations etc.

"I know people will disagree with me, but if I play down the differences, perhaps I'll keep their respect" (PEOPLE-PLEASING).
---> Oh how many times I've found myself unwilling to take a firm stand on some issue precisely because of that!

"Perhaps the 3 Ps are revealed in workaholism, subtle boasting or envy of more successful ministries."
---> Point 3 (envy of more successful ministries) have crossed my mind multiple times!

There's no quick cure to this, and like the author states, I'd probably be battling them until the end of my days. But I know that God has been addressing these issues over & over again during these past 2 years in my traineeship. In his wisdom, he has withheld opportunities for ministry & success in order that I may not feed my pride, but in despair, to cry out to him in helplessness. While the process can be painful, only God knows how deceitful my heart can be and the measures needed to crucify these inner desires. Praise God for his wisdom!

(Source Acknowledgement: "The temptations of the 3 Ps", The Briefing Issue #372, Sept 2009, Author: Jean Williams)

distracted...

Learning Greek has been fun, but it's starting to get really arduous translating a whole book like Philippians. Possibly because there are still a million and one grammatical constructions that we've yet to learn! So having to keep flipping through grammar books & commentaries to translate just one verse can get under one's skin after a while.

Having said that, reading Philippians in Greek is definitely a very rewarding experience as there are certain nuances that just aren't as easily translatable into English. I'm still far from being able to spot them though & am heavily relying on the commentaries at the moment.

Ah... just have to keep pressing on...

Would much rather like to be assembling a WASGIJ at the moment... ooOo... WASGIJ...

Newsletter #8

Dear friends,

My two-year contract with OCF has ended. With God’s leading, I have renewed my contract for another year. Thank you all who have been faithfully praying, supporting financially and journeying with me these past years. This also marks a time for you to consider if you’d like to continue partnering me in this ministry, as your initial pledge was for two years.

Tribute to Miss Noeline Cheah
I’d like to take this opportunity to pay a special tribute to Miss Noeline from my home church who has recently gone to be with the Lord. While I did not know her very well (one of my regrets), for the past 2 years in my traineeship, she has been one of the faithful few who would write a short encouraging note to me every time she receives my newsletter. I thank God for her as an encouraging partner in the gospel.

Overseas Christian Fellowship
All centres have had their AGM and God has blessed us with a new team of enthusiastic student leaders. Praise God for them.

“K” the ‘student missionary’ – an OCFer from UWA who has decided to leave her ‘comfort zone’ in UWA to join OCF Murdoch in their leadership team. Praise God for her ‘missionary’ heart.

Training: I am looking for more opportunities to train & equip students, particularly in 1-to-1 ministries & Bible study leading. The goal is to work myself out of my job! Pray for students to be interested in this.

Preaching opportunities:
Gospel talks
- Luke 15: 1st time in OCF Curtin
- Rom 5:6-7 OCF Murdoch

“God chooses the weak” (1 Cor 1:18-2:5) – at OCF WA Winter Retreat. One of the speakers had lost his voice. Thankfully, I had an appropriate sermon for the occasion prepared & delivered it.

Bible study/workshops:
- The Bible Overview
- Outreach & evangelism
- Bible study on Ephesians

1-2-1 Discipleship:
- E & B: I meet them together. Both girls are from Malaysia.
- J: She is starting to disciple another girl, hence beginning the ‘multiplication’ phase of our discipleship process. Praise God!

Prayer group: Started meeting with some ex-OCFers for a few Sundays to pray for OCF. A conscious effort to remind ourselves that God is the one who works, not us.

Workers: As OCF is such a strategic ministry, there is always need for more workers. Please pray for God to provide more people who have a heart for overseas students, specifically for full-time staffworkers.

Vose Seminary
I passed my first semester of Greek! So this semester, I will be continuing on to New Testament Greek (Part II) with a whole lot more (complicated) grammar to learn. And the exciting thing is that I will be translating the whole book of Philippians by the end of this semester!

I am also sitting in lectures for the Introductory Preaching unit and have been learning about many aspects of the life of a preacher. It is hard work! I am also cross-enrolling in another theological college and sitting in lectures for the unit Ministry in a Culturally Diverse Context. This is in preparation for cross-cultural mission work should God lead in that direction.

Reflections
Intimacy with God: One of the things God seems to be nudging me consistently about is to be intimate with him. Over the years, while I have grown to understand the Bible more and more, yet reflecting back, it is 80% head knowledge. There is a growing restlessness within me that there is an imbalance in my growth. Do I really know God relationally, intimately?

Part of what God has put on my heart is to spend a lot more time in prayer with him. It is through this wrestling and communing with him that one grows in deeper relationship with him. I must admit that cultivating a dynamic prayer life is more difficult than I thought (due to many years of bad prayer habits), but it is vital to continue in this pursuit.

OMF Missions Conference: David & I recently attended the annual conference in Sydney. OMF, founded by Hudson Taylor in 1865, is a missions organisation primarily involved in gospel work in East Asia.

We had the privilege of meeting many missionaries either preparing to go or who have returned from the field. It was both an encouraging & sobering experience. There were many stories of God’s faithful providence, but also of hardship & loss.

The missionaries were involved in very diverse ministries: from direct church planting work, to Human Resource roles, to teaching high school maths to missionary kids! This goes to show that there is simply no lacking of capacity for anyone interested to serve in the mission field. Often the more poignant question is, “Am I willing to go?” And this is the question I’m faced with daily. Please pray.

Coming full circle: Revisiting one of my earlier letters, I wrote about being challenged to “live a life of reckless abandon for the Lord”. Coming to the end of this initial term, I find myself being challenged by it all over again, this time in relation to cross-cultural missions. Am I willing to be totally abandoned to God’s purposes & will? The struggle continues, but the fact remains: I am no longer my own, but am bought by the blood of Christ & belong totally to him. Please pray that my life & choices reflect this fact.

Cairns - white water rafting

In Cairns now, just a quick post for my sisters to view this photo! :)

Lord of Love

At OCF Curtin's Thanksgiving last night, we were blessed by a missionary who shared her life in the field for the past 4 years. She used to be an OCFer just like us, so it was very encouraging to hear how God had directed her paths since her OCF days to where she is now.

She also shared a mime to the song by Casting Crowns - "Who am I". This is the first time I've heard this song & I couldn't help but tear as I listened to it. It goes straight to the question of the Psalmist in Psalms 8:4 "What are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?"

And what's worse, we are sinful human beings at that... creatures who at times, don't want anything to do with their Creator. And yet God calls us, runs after us, again & again... protects us from harm, comforts our hurts...

This song highlighted the extent of God's love for me, even though I'm transient & temporary (like a flower that fades, vapour in the wind), even though I'm sinful... and that made me want to serve God even more.

I've been thinking again & again... why don't Christians (myself included) want to serve God with all that we have? Why are we not taking risks to expend ourselves for the sake of God's glory? Is it because we don't understand Christ's demands on us as disciples? "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves & take up their cross & follow me" (Mark 8:34)

This has been my line of thinking for ages now, especially in light of the students I meet who seem to live nominal Christian lives (not forgetting that I was once like that too). My prayer of late has been in the lines of "Lord, please make them realise the demands of being your disciple."

As true as it is that Christ did make such claims of discipleship on us, this song made me realise that I had forgotten something else. It is the love of Christ that compels us into submission & service of him (2 Cor 5:14). Christ did not call us to submit by wielding a sword, but by laying his life down before one.

As much as I can try to "drill" & "hammer" the demands of discipleship on to myself & anyone else, it is ultimately the realisation of how much Jesus actually loves us that would make the difference. No wonder Paul made it a priority to pray that we may grasp how WIDE and LONG and HIGH and DEEP is THE LOVE OF CHRIST. (Eph 3:18-19). This is the difference between compulsion by law and by grace. Grace always wins.

We serve a Lord of love. Do we REALLY know & experience his love? If we do, we would give our lives for him no matter the cost. That's what his love for us did.

Please pray Eph 3:18-19 for me & for the students.
-----------------------------------------------------
You can sample the song on Youtube. But if you want a copy of it, please buy the original.

"Who am I" - Casting Crowns
Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth 
Would care to know my name 
Would care to feel my hurt 
Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star 
Would choose to light the way 
For my ever wandering heart 

Not because of who I am 
But because of what You've done 
Not because of what I've done 
But because of who You are 

I am a flower quickly fading 
Here today and gone tomorrow 
A wave tossed in the ocean 
Vapor in the wind 
Still You hear me when I'm calling 
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling 
And You've told me who I am 
I am Yours, I am Yours 

Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin 
Would look on me with love and watch me rise again 
Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea 
Would call out through the rain 
And calm the storm in me 

Not because of who I am 
But because of what You've done 
Not because of what I've done 
But because of who You are 

I am a flower quickly fading 
Here today and gone tomorrow 
A wave tossed in the ocean 
Vapor in the wind 
Still You hear me when I'm calling 
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling 
And You've told me who I am 
I am Yours 

I am Yours 
Whom shall I fear 
Whom shall I fear 
'Cause I am Yours 
I am Yours

Newsletter #7

Dear friends,

The semester has whizzed by so quickly that there is hardly anything left of it. I apologise once again for this rather late update. I will work on keeping them up to date.

Wedding – 19th April 2009

Yes, I am finally married to a patient and loving partner in the gospel. :) Adjusting to married life includes adjusting to the kitchen for me! Thank you all who were able to be a part of our wedding!

Overseas Christian Fellowship

Atheist? One of the current members in the Discovery Group grew up in a Christian home, goes to church almost every week, but labels himself an atheist. The challenge I found when interacting with him is the “I know this already” response that I get. I am actually quite unsure of where he is really at, and what he is really looking for.

Please pray for patience & wisdom, & for God to make himself known to this member.

Stunt-OCFers

Urgent prayer: OCF Murdoch Due to the many circumstances this semester, OCF Murdoch is struggling spiritually and in numbers. While it has been demoralising to the leadership as numbers dwindle, it has also led to a few of the members to take up ownership of their role in the fellowship & wanting to be involved in the planning for recruitment next semester. Praise God!

Please pray for OCFers to have courage and a risk-taking faith

Winter Leadership Retreat (20th-22nd June) & Saturday Leadership workshops

Purpose: To inspire, encourage and equip OCFers to take up responsibilities of leadership. There is a general fear and reluctance amongst the OCFers. I’m involved in the planning, mainly in organising the sermons and talks. David & I are also running a workshop on “Strategic Planning”. Pray that this would be helpful for the OCFers.

Pray for:

Ø A renewal in zeal & passion for God

Ø For the fellowship to be God-centred & mission-minded

Ø Encouragement for the current leadership

Ø OCFers to be willing to serve

Resource: Over the past 2 years, I am more aware of my strengths and weaknesses. While it is humbling to realise that I am not gifted in certain areas, it has led me to seek out others who are better equipped to provide the resource. This semester, I am thankful that one of the retired pastors from a local church could be involved in training the leaders in inductive Bible study. Not only has this relieved my load while preparing for the wedding, it has also ensured that the students received good quality training. I envision that I’d play more of this “mediator” role in the near future.

OCF Curtin: I am excited at the prospect of being more involved with OCF Curtin. My part time studies (see below) mean that I am now able to spread my time out more between the 2 centres, Curtin & Murdoch. Please pray for guidance as to how that balance would look like.

Vose Seminary

I am finally able to enrol part-time instead of full-time because of my Australian permanent residency. This means that instead of 4 subjects, I am only doing 2, which has been a great relief given that I had a wedding to plan! The two exciting units are “New Testament Greek” (Yes finally!) and “Doctrine of God & Work of Christ”.

Both have been challenging in their respective ways but rewarding. Learning Greek is undeniably difficult, but it is exciting that I can now pick up the New Testament in its original language and at least recognise half the words, even if I cannot quite understand them fully at the moment.

Reflections

Praise in the midst of suffering: A friend was recently diagnosed with leukaemia. Just a few days prior to receiving the news, I was caught in a cycle of self-pity over some trivial matters. News of Tricia’s condition shifted my perspective away from myself & suddenly I realised that it’s not all about me. It’s tragic how one can be so self-centred & inward looking, that it takes something drastic like that to shake one back into right thinking and seeing.

On a positive note, Tricia has been a great encouragement. Despite her illness, she has been sharing Christ with her non-Christian friends and with the patients in her ward. Praise God for such an example of a Christ-centred and other-people-focused life. Please pray for her as she walks through this dark time.

Security & control: One of the issues I had to wrestle with cross-cultural missions is security & control. Life out there in a foreign country lacking in medical technology and living conditions seemed like such a huge risk. Life seems so much more fragile there.

Yet, there came a “Eureka” moment in the recent OCF Convention in December. The fact is: I am not anymore in control now and here in Perth than I am say, in the wilderness of the jungle somewhere. It is an illusion to think that security is measured by how many locks we have on our houses, how many insurance policies we own, or how easily accessible medical aid is to us. The recent attack in one of the world’s most highly secured hotels in Mumbai just proves the point.

Ultimately, the safest place is to be in God’s will. Our life is in his hands alone. We are kidding ourselves to think we ever had control at all. So the answer to my problem is this: I never will lose control because I never was in control to begin with. But God is.

What’s next?

My 2-year traineeship will end in July/August. While I’d love to continue on, I am in the midst of working out some issues in relation to God’s direction and my suitability. This time of reflection & evaluation will also enable me to learn from my mistakes & shortcomings during the term, and hopefully I’d be better equipped to serve the students in the future, should it be God’s will.

Some of the issues to deal with include my own sense of lack of confidence, and wrestling with the issue of how I know if God wants me to be where I am? Especially when there is opposition? Please continue to pray for God’s leading & direction, and for an open ear and heart to receive feedback.