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.