The deserved moment of Glory

Sis. Lula Baird has gone home to be with the Lord yesterday (Dec. 12, 2008, Malaysian time). This is her moment of deserved glory. I could also hear the heavenly choirs of praises affirming her return to the Lord's blessing. As a centurion she has left with us an impeccable story of a life well lived.

To the Malaysian AG churches the presence labor are still felt when she return to her homeland and now to glory. Landed in Singapore as a missionary in1937, she came over to help relief Carrie P. Anderson. She contributed much to the then Kuala Lumpur Assembly of God Church which was later named 1^st Assembly of God, Jalan Sayor, Pudu. She was the 1^st secretary of the early movements here. She organized the first youth camp. She was just full of energy. Between Singapore and Malaya (then), she has help in various churches.

She left the Malaya –Singapore field for a short period of time, as all missionaries were directed to leave. She came back and in 1957 she started the work in Ipoh. She helped the Church in Ipoh to acquire a piece of land and completed the Church building in 1962. She also pioneered the Raub Church in 1960. She was such a blessing. Having not mentioned of her contribution to the Singapore Churches.

After she left the mission field in Malaya-Singapore, she was back in San Francisco and she pioneered the Chinese work there. She has labored all her life for the Lord.

The last I saw her a few years ago, she just returned from a mission trip in China, preached in some churches here and she also handed me some documents for the National AG archive, Malaysia. Talking to her and just being with her for that moment was inspiring. She had such a zest for life and ministry. She had run her race, finished the course, and now is installed for her a crown of glory she well deserve.

I am not sad of her demise, in fact I am glad for her, it is her well deserved rest and glory. Thank God for you Sis. Lula Baird.

See this website dedicated to her : http://nlccsgv.org/sisterbaird/index.htm

After half a century

In a matter of few hours I will cross the half century mark in my life. How well have I lived my life? During our younger we live to fulfill people expectation of us, trying hard to make our presence felt by others. Along the way made bountiful of plunders. Bruised and buffeted along the way. These were the moments I tried to live for others.

As I journeyed on I learn to live. I have often tell others it is not how long we live but how well we live that matters. I can only say that I have nothing to proof but a life to live. I want to live it well.

After passing this mark, I will probably have another one third of the journey left to travel. I pray to age graciously. I want to do significant things, things that I can leave a legacy behind. I want to leave behind my thoughts and reflections after spending more than half of my life serving God.

I have no regrets serving Him. In fact if not for Him, I have very little reason to live for. I just pray that I may be faithful till then end. I asked not for riches, nor fame. I just want to live a fulfilled life. I was asked a question my reply to that question was "I like to be simple". Simplicity is not being naïve. It is living life graciously and meaningfully. I want to make grace available for others as I needed them myself.

I have discovered that life can be simple and meaningful. It is in the entrapment of wants that we often lose our simplicity. Our fame and riches are warehouse in short term memories people but our gracious deeds of humility and a life well lived are etched permanently into people's heart. I hope that I have been and will continue to be able to live life, to inspire life by the grace of God. The only epithet I pray for when my journey is over is "A life well lived"

Heart or Head?

What I experienced today may not be new, but each time when it happens I wonder what I have done is appropriate? When I was preparing the message, there was nothing emotional about it. I was rather technical about. I had it all sort out what to say and no feeling was attached to it. In my preparation homiletically (The technicality of preparing a sermon) I can rate myself that I scored well. Exegetically (interpreting the bible) I am happy with what I have done.

As I begin the sermon I was classically a preacher, then an unusual wave of feelings and emotions took hold of me. I kept my outline and the content. As I preach I saw so much of myself in the sermon. I shared my heart. I felt very vulnerable. I open my life and heart like an open book to my congregation. At the same time my emotions got the better or me. It was so free flowing that I couldn't fake it.

In that same moment I felt my pains and the pains of the people that were so dear to me. I just let the best of my heart took over. I preach and shared my heart out. I tear through the whole sermon. This is when I technically flawed. I should be compose and not let my emotion run away. I wonder am I right to let my heart take the best of me? Or should I step back and take a breather and get technical and hold my composure?

I seek not pity or understanding from those who heard about my struggles. All that I have done was to be real to them and I am a person like them with head, heart and emotions. Pastor or not, I share a common humanity, with them we walk through the maze of life. Often buffeted and battered alone the journey of life we all must travel. As a pastor I feel for them. I pray for them. I wish I could shelter everyone under the pinion of my wings. Yet I am so limited and sometimes as frail as them.

I could only look to God, I could only wish in the deepest recess of my heart for the grace of God to cushion these love ones in their vulnerable moments. Head or heart? Does it matters? All that I can say is I have preached my heart out, I opened my life to them. I love them from the deepest of my heart. They are my family, my love ones.

Do we need Theology?

Having pastor, preached and taught for 30 years, I still hear about the bad press of ministers and Christians labeled on theology. It is saddens me more when preachers bad mouth theology. Theology is the study of God, if the study of God is bad they why are we preaching and teaching about Him. Is theology bad?

Many of us struggle with theological engagements. Sometime it is hard to grasp and understand. Our disenchantment with something we cannot understand does not make that something bad. We cannot bad mouth something just because we cannot understand that something. It only suggests to us that we have much more to understand and we need to put in more effort to ruminate and reflect on such things.

Theology by nature is good, it is bad theology that is bad. Bad theology has hurt the Church of God many times over. Bad theology leads to bad practice. It has divided the Church. It had lead well meaning Christians astray.

Good theology builds the Church. It takes the Church to a deeper engagement with God. It promotes a responsible expression of faith and life. It rightly proclaims God as He is. Paul urges the Christian to preserve sound doctrine and sound doctrine edifies the Church.

Theology's principal desire it the pursuance of God and the engagement with truth. In the process it engages with the different fields of studies. Sometime it gets intense and murky. But is need not be necessary so. The primary task of theology is diligence and right dividing of the Word of God. I can tell you it requires hard work and a sincere heart.

Can we ever do enough?

Our relationship started 13 years ago. We picked her up from a dog pound. She was a deserted puppy pick up by one of the committee member of PAWS. We wanted a dog for our boy as Christmas present. We adopted her into our life. She has been part of the family since then. She was our friend, guard and companion.

Loopsy has finally given her last breath. It is both a sense of relief and sadness. Relief, because she need not suffer arthritic pains anymore. Sadden because of the many years of relationships. She is one of the best dog one can have obedient and faithful. As we lay her to her final rest, a sense of regret plagued my heart. Have I done my best for her?

The last few years there were quite a lot of changes in the family. Each episode of these changes affected her in some ways or another. She had taken all these in silently. The last change episode was the toughest one.

With my eldest son leaving to serve in Singapore, we have to force her to live alone. We visit her regularly to feed, clean and groom her consistently but humanly we forgot sometimes. Spending time with her was even more difficult as we are all kept busy by the demands of life. Was it fair to her? Have we done enough for her? Or can we ever do enough for anyone? These questions pricked my heart in my last goodbye. Sigh!

Civilized Barbarianism

I am prompted to write after reading an article in Star papers today entitled: Youth, Sex and Doing Business (If you are interested this is the link http://thestar.com.my/columnists/story.asp?file=/2008/10/23/columnists/awriterslife/2336105&sec=A%20Writer%27s%20Life ). Am I shocked, surprised or appalled by the media highlights of social evils and moral decadence? No is an absolute answer. The daily dosage of realities has effectively anesthetized our feel toward such realities. I am saddened, concerned and angered by these senseless behaviors and more disgusted by the adults who are engaged in these things.

To some they will say what right I have to be so judgmental. Maybe this is due to the fact that I am a man of the cloth. My expressed and forthright concern may be deem by some as judgmental. In fact most confrontation or expression of truth involves a certain of judicial elements. You may agree and not agree with my perceptions, it is one own fundamental right, one may so argues. The fact is that when your so call right transgress into social space and hurt someone, you have lost your rights. I sounded a little philosophical here.

What really bothers me, is the perception that we are a "Civilized Society". The term "civilized" was used to present a contrast between social groups, the cultured and the uncultured (Barbarians). We have better education, unlimited access to knowledge, better medicine and the list can go on. Have all these advancement caused us to be more civilized? By right it should, but reality seems to points to the contrary.

Are we really "civilized", or have we in modern society camouflaged our barbaric acts with social sophistication and technological mask? The ruthlessness in society today fairs not better than the past. Moral abuses abound and we just give it a name as a social disease. We care little of the consequence of how our actions affect others. We call it the survival game.

If we take a hard look at ourselves, we often can see the "civilized barbarianism" in us wanting to take over in the many social expression in our life.

Snippet reflection of change

All of us look forward to changes that improve our life. I am absolutely sure that none of us welcome changes that affect our life negatively.

We are confronted with myriad of changes as we prod along our Christian journey. Meaningful personhood involves the dynamic combination of the moral, social, emotional and spiritual dimension of our lives. Prioritization of these different dimensions of life is critical to meaningful personhood. Changes often pose a challenge to our life prioritization. A misplace priority can upset our life balances for the long term. How do we know when and how do we embrace these changes?

Here are some guiding principles:-

1. How would these changes affect my relationship with God and my spiritual life?
   
2. If I accept and embrace these changes will it uplift my moral values?
   
3. How do these changes help me socially as a Christian and my testimony for God?
   

 

We can't avoid changes but we can evaluate changes.

We do not need follow changes to be in vogue with the "Jones". Changes appropriately embraced brings positive inputs and produce positive outcomes in our lives and personhood. It makes us more effective in our lives and ministries.

 

 

 

Integrity: The Seamless Connection

Written by the owner of this blog.
Published in Leadership Insight (An AG Malaysia Publication)

"The world is filled with people who make lots of money in questionable ways" drug dealers, con artists, dishonest business men, politicians on the take, and so on. If you measure success simply by how much money you make, then you must realize that people who accumulate riches in a dishonest manner lack something that is the true mark of success "character and integrity."
Glenn Cutforth.

Integer, the Latin root means "whole" or "complete" and integeritas means soundness. When a person is described as having integrity, it speaks volumes about that person. It is a word coveted by many but not easily attained. For the "man of the cloth," this character quality is of utmost importance for his personal life and ministry. For him (or her), integrity is beyond intellectual capabilities. Integrity must be lived out through the everyday realities of life.

To nurture this important character quality, it must begin with the aspiration towards wholeness. This concept of wholeness is the seamless connection of the minister's private and public lives, which concur with their spiritual, emotional and cognitive spheres. It is not uncommon for people to compartmentalize the domain of their public, private and spiritual lives and make them mutually exclusive. In reality these attempts are untenable. Stephen Covey is right to observe the inseparable connection between public victory and private victory. Jesus emphatically alluded to the fact that we must love God with our whole being (Luke 10:27). As Christian leaders we can indulge in the Jekyll and Hyde syndrome and go through life with split personalities. As ministers, we are called to aspire and pursue wholeness in every aspect of our lives.

This aspiration leads us to the next step in our quest for wholeness, constancy or being consistent. Like a baby to a cradle is integrity to constancy. We are to live such good lives that through our deeds people will see the goodness of God (1 Peter 2:12). We are to live out what we preach. Wholeness is nurtured through living out our everyday lives with a constancy that does not compromise our convictions, which are based upon scripture. Wholeness is demonstrated by our steadfast faith in Christ even if we do not see the outcomes. Many are tempted to compromise integrity for the exciting adrenalin rush of sparkling results and achievements. So often have we looked for the "extraordinary" that we forget to live out the consistent "ordinary." It is in the consistent ordinary that our core values are shaped. Constancy means taking little steps of doing what is right even if it means going against the tide of the prevailing majority. This constant practice will give us the courage to do right in tough times. Jesus said that, Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much" (Luke 16:10).

The twin to constancy is commitment. A person cannot be consistent if he is not committed to a set of convictions. There are many sources that contribute to our convictions. The primary source, which our core values must rest on, is scripture. As we diligently study scripture, we will conduct our life in such a way that concurs with godly values. The secondary source from which our core values are derived is our movement's fundamental beliefs that Jesus is our Saviour, our Healer, our Baptizer and our soon-coming King.

As leaders, we have to see our lives as a journey of living out our convictions based on our faith in Christ. Therefore it is not a life of convenience. Convenience is from the stable of compromise. Convenience and integrity are at opposite poles. Therefore, our consistent commitment and our solid convictions will help us confront the waves of convenient, lackadaisical living and spiritual leadership. In a society consumed with speed and instant gratification, we are often pressured to make decisions that are based on short-term relevance rather than on long-term significance. What works for now conveniently becomes more important than what is true. So often the argument for the need for relevancy takes precedence over convictions. Don't get me wrong. Relevancy is good if used within context. But relevancy for the sake of convenience is something else. The challenge for the leader is to find the fine line that divides between context and convenience.

Integrity stakes its ground on truth. The price tag for integrity comes with it, a life of inconveniences, which to many is a seemingly unprogressive and boring life. Jesus was often pictured as counter-culture in the New Testament. When He walked on this earth, He was not just being a non-conformist, ultra conservative or outdated. He was and still is the epitome of truth; he lived and walked the truth. When Jesus walked on earth as a man, truth and His Father's will had precedence over all cultural and social attitudes that were in vogue.

The natural byproduct of a person of integrity is godly character or godliness. Ministry leadership is cradled on character more than on charisma. In our present superstar and celebrity culture, the façade (charisma and good looks) is more important than the substance. There is a Chinese proverb that says, "Often, we greet the outward adornment first, and then we greet the man (xian jing loh yi hou jing ren)". While character is our personality DNA, charisma is the packaging that projects our character. But character is not charisma, and charisma does not accurately project our character.

Godly character is synonymous with Christian wholeness and is the person's life message, written not on life manuals and guidebooks but on his heart. An authentic lifestyle that works out good deeds will leave behind footprints for others to follow. Principle-centeredness, as opposed to majority-centeredness, will govern his motivations and decisions. To be principle-centered does not mean being impractical. It means that truth (our principles of godliness) governs the practicalities of our lives and not the other way around. A person of integrity is a person who will not be held hostage by social demands and views. He does not bow to the pressure of unprincipled convenience. He does what is right and good in God's master plans and purposes.

This may be a modest attempt to define integrity but the aim of this short article is to stir up some reflective thoughts on this important topic. Just as life is multi-faceted, an exhaustive write-up on the topic like integrity is difficult. However this article does suggest that the calling to leadership, as William Law puts it, is "a serious call to a devout and holy life?". It exacts from us a necessary deepening devotion to God, an honest appraisal of our life and ministry and a desire to rightly represent God through our lives. We may not have arrived at perfection, but we must continue to aspire and work towards perfection and that is to diligently work at being a person of integrity.

The Techy Youth Com

Tis is unbelievable, man alive i went into the youth committee meeting tis afternoon guess what I saw they we meeting over their computers. They MSN one another and discuss over the meeting through messenger? This is mind blowing.

Do they communicate in person? So close yet so far. It was real fun to see them. Just joking. They meet like any usual meeting. Just happen that each of them had their notebook. It was quite a sight. I lend mine to one just to "feel in" okay. Guess which is my notebook. Ha ha ha.

Beyond Spiritual Myopia

One of the common eye problems is call Myopia. It means short sightedness. In short sightedness we can only see things within certain range clearly. If such conditions are severe and untreated it can endangers not only the person but it can be also be a hazard to others.

There is also a possibility for us to develop spiritual myopia. Spiritual myopia is contracted when we focus on this earthly life. Our earthly life is a given. As Christian we have a dual citizenship one that is earthly, and the other heavenly. How do we live to fulfill our obligations in these dualistic realities?

It is important for us to discharge and fulfill our social obligations but not at the expense of our spiritual obligations. There is a natural temptation to overstate the urgencies and importance of the earthly obligations. One classic example is the exaggeration on the needs of things. We have very basic needs but have a humongous appetite for wants.

Know the things we do that can affect us for the long term (Eternity). Invest into developing lasting values. What challenges and encourages us to make light or to disregard eternal values are to the treated with grave caution.

Reflect honestly on our spiritual conditions regularly. Many people have the condition of myopia but rejects corrective measure because of wanting to maintain their image. Not so with us. We stand corrected by God's Word. We need constantly to measure our lives with God's standard and not comparing with one another.

Taking effort to give and pay good attention to spiritual obligations. We need to take time and effort up to understand and to discharge our spiritual obligation. Consider it reverently and meaningfully.

Eccl 12:1-13

Easy but Hard

Things that are so common to us are often so unassuming. Listening is a thing we do everyday. We assume we listen to people and people listen to us. Yet there is so much miscommunication around us that had caused so much hurts, frustrations and misgivings.

How can such a simple thing be so difficult? Often than not we are selective listeners. We listen to what we want and not what has been said. We want to hear want we want to hear and not need to hear.

This accounts for the experiences that so often we have been misquoted and misrepresented. We would find ourselves saying "I did not say that". People around us thinked that we deny what we have spoken and that frustrates us.

Listening is a challenging job. It is more than the resonance of some waves in the air. It entails interpretation and understanding of many variable factors. I admire people who can listen well. The bible said it so well "My dear brothers (sisters included lest I am considered to be gender insensitive, ha ha ha), take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, ^ for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires"

Jas 1:19-20.

So simple yet so profound and perplexing, seems so easy yet so hard.

The Enemies within the Church Part 2

I would like to begin my second part by appreciating those who had contributed to part 1 of the discussions. It would be appropriate to once again reiterate my initial premise of the discussion. In the second para of the article is stated, "I want to suggest the fact is that "the enemies which the Church" are often an unintended or non malicious. Many acted or reacted to certain happenings or persons in the Church unfavorably not because they in discord. Often than not in many instances they deem themselves as conscientious objectors. The acted and reacted from who they think are really of themselves."

The impact of our social experiences upon our lives are undeniable, the question is a matter of degrees. In the last article I raise two issues that can affect our actions and reactions.

To further my discussion I would like to raise another two issue. The first is "negative experience". Experiences induces perceptions. Negative experiences can induce in us preconceive prejudices. Left unattended or unguarded these cultivated preconceived prejudices can trigger us to impetuously react to certain life situations.

Another condition that can inflame our responses and reactions is "social myopia". Social myopia can limit our ability to understand and be sensitive to others. Their inabilities may generate conflict which they may not even be aware of. Many have not develop the ability to discern life big pictures. Not that they are short in ability but more so of opportunity. Given right guidance and opportunity these myopic condition can be corrected.

When we take effort to give ourselves to reflect on these issues much of the perceived enmity will be resolved. Reactions begat reactions. Covey said it so succinctly "seek to understand in order to be understood". When we give effort to understand these issue we will be able to respond to life relationship
more effectively and more appropriately. We respond instead of reacting. We thoughtful express concern and allow person spaced to grow. We all need to space to grow and flex our social muscles.

When Saint's goes home: A salutation

This week we witness to going home of a dear saint. The inevitability of the experience of death will someday knock at our doors. How we greet death is a deep theological reality. On the human aspect death of a person bring a feelings sorrow to people of endearment. On the Spiritual aspect, when a life is well lived, death is a celebration of a lived hope. To be absent from this body is to be home with the Lord. This is a very simple way of putting it. There are more deeper theological implications. I am not writing a theological essay here. I will keep it this way.

Mr. Lee Chee Kai was one of the early convert to Christianity during the era under the ministry of Carrie P. Anderson, one of the early missionary whose work later was deem to be the first Assemblies of God Church in Malaysia. He has lived well his years, leaving behind many spiritual legacies that had impacted his children and grandchildren. These were the hero's that had labored for the future generation of the Church.

His faithfulness to God and his Church is a testimonial of his walk with God. He has served as leader in the Church for many years and to witness his Children and grandchild faithfully serving in the Church speaks volumes. I can say this of him because I have the privilege of having his grandson as one of my student in ministerial training.

When I received the news of his demised, I call his grandson. I remembers saying this to his grandson, "He has well lived his years. Definitely we are sad of the fact that some dear to us has passed on. However we should celebrate his going home, going home to be with the Lord is a good thing".

So it is not how long we live but rather it is how well we lived that matters. We all all have a journey to travel. Stories and legacies to the crafted in the memoirs of time. How the story continues and how it end is left to us to pen it with our lives.

Slippery slopes there will be. Shattered moments is a common shared lot. Moments of victories are not lacking. The secret is that we must brave them all. Stay faithful. Persevere on. Be faithful to the end.

Lee Chee Kai has been such a man. He was saved and grew up in the First Assembly of God Kuala Lumpur. He remained as a faithful member all his life. More importantly he walk faithfully in God.

Many of us don't enjoy history, but little do we realize that everyday we are writing our own history. We are history makers whether we are conscious about it or not. The only difference is whether we write good, not so good or bad history. As for Lee Chee Kai, he has written his last chapter and made his conclusion. For me he has written and have concluded well.

I pray that I will be able to emulate him in his faithful journey with God. I have some years to go. My deepest prayer is that I may leave a rich spiritual legacy and not just worldly wealth. What about you?


My deepest condolences to the members of the Lee Family.

Let God be God

Alvin the Chipmunk (Ringtone) greeted me early last Sunday. It was a distress call. Such call to duty is a common portion of a minister's life. Jerk myself from the slumber mood to get ready to be on the go to meet the need. I felt a deep sense of unpreparedness and inadequacy. No matter how much we know or how learned we are it is hard to prepare for such an emergency call like this.

Let me get straight to the point, one of the maid of a Church member got up early that morning with a rage of anger and smash a glass on the floor. She picks up a broken piece of glass and started cutting herself on the wrist, and she writhed on the floor and was crying uncontrollably in a sort of a trance state.

Reaching the scene, we calm her down in the name of the Lord, and brought her back to the Church to be prayed for. This young lady was possessed by evil spirits. As we pray for her, she resisted and her strength was phenomenal. After about an hour of prayer the Lord had the final victory and she was delivered from the evil spirits.

Throughout this moment, I can only Let God be God, He has to take over and make the difference. We witness the grace and power of God at work. All glory to Him. God does and continues to reveals His people glimpses of his power and reality. Supernatural and the miraculous still happen.

We cannot coerce it to happen. Neither does it happen every day. The fact is it happens and when it happens it humbles us to reckon our human frailty and inadequacy. God's is the one who is in control, it is only Him can cause the miraculous. We are just His channels and instruments of His grace and power. We take deserve no credit and cannot take any credit to the victory accomplished. We can however be thankful that we have been given the privilege to participate and to witness the moments of the power demonstration of His grace.

The enemies within the Church Part 1

I would like to foremost affirm that the Church is a loving community. We are all aware of the Lord's commandment that exhorts us love one another. I know we all aspire to live as what the Lord has prescribed to us.

There different types of "enemies within the Church". I will attempt to work through this issue in several parts. So for my first part of this reflection I want to suggest the fact is that "the enemies which the Church" are often an unintended or non malicious. Many acted or reacted to certain happenings or persons in the Church unfavorably not because they in discord. Often than not in many instances they deem themselves as conscientious objectors. The acted and reacted from who they think are really of themselves.

Action and reactions are part of life's routine. It is in this dynamic process we form perceptions, emotional boundaries and our personal security parameters. Whether our perceptions are accurate or inaccurate are dependent on many possible variables.

First, is the factor of information, Are the information we received adequate and accurate?
Misinformation can warp our perception and emotional boundaries. When this happens we may lend up to be sincerely wrong in our handling of the issues. We can become and unintended enemies of the Church

Second, is our own acquired social "garbage". Negative episodes in personal experiences can induce and works a person to produce perception and emotional "garbage". These "garbage" contaminate and distort our ability to be objective. It draws out possible preconceived prejudices, feeling and reactions from our past shadows. It clouds our judgments of thing and issues.

As a result sometime people acted as if they are "enemies", which in actuality there are not. They may have acted out of a noble intention and with no malicious intent but ends up unknowingly become an enemy.

I will for the time being paused for a moment and post up my thoughts for your feedbacks.

Objective of my blog

My reason to blog is a quest for mutual edification. Living as a man of the cloth for 30 years, I have journey through life's multi faceted terrains. I lived with no regrets and have learn much from the journey. I hope to learned from fellow sojourners. At the same time I hope to contribute to others some of the insights that I have gains in my journeys.

The most recent event that I had been through caused me to realize that the worst enemies of the Church are, "The enemies within the Church". I am still in the midst of ruminating over this issue. In a few days I hope that I would be able to post my thoughts on this issue.

I have just started the blog for two days it will take a bit of time for me to make this blog a viable one. I am learning. Any tips and tricks are welcome.