Give Me This Mountain

The Dolomites

 'I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith' 2 Tim 4:7

Caleb was a man that could truly claim that he had fought the good fight and finished the race. He was one of two spies that Moses sent to recce the promised land across the Jordan who came back with a positive and optimistic analysis of the terrain and enemy. The other spy with the same analysis was Joshua. Ten other spies brought back negative and depressing news that obstacles before them could not be surmounted. In Joshua 14:7-8 Caleb recalled, "I brought him (Moses) back a report according to my convictions but my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt in fear.

 

So at age 85 years, just as the the Israelites were dividing the conquered territories of Canaan amongst the tribes, Caleb staked his claim, "Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me." Joshua 14:12 

Caleb in Hebrew means 'faithful, devoted, whole hearted, bold, brave'. True to his name, Caleb was a remarkable man, resolute and tenacious. Dr Alan Redpath who wrote Victorious Christian Living, Studies in the Book of Joshua (Ref 1) described Caleb's legacy as 

• A Faith that never wavered
• A Strength that never weakened

Caleb left an example for all who are living out the Christian life for many years. Our faith should not grow dim even as our eye sights may be failing us. Dr Redpath hoped that "the faith which is ours in youth may be undimmed in old age, that the vision of the Lord shall be clearer as we grow older, that when life's journey is almost done we shall not be content merely to survey the past but be ready and eager still for battles with the enemy".

Alan Redpath hit the nail on the head when surveying the challenges of the older and grey-haired Christians. Many of us who had retired from our lifelong employments think also that we can retire from our Christian duties and service. We feel that we have done enough and now it is time to sit back and relax and allow the younger Christians to take up the cudgel. Nothing can be more threatening to our continuing faith if we take a backseat, trying to rest upon the laurels of past service as though we can now cash in on our past investments. 

When we become Christians we have a perspective of eternity which has no place for retirements. Harry Blamires wrote, 'A prime mark of the Christian mind is that it cultivates the eternal perspective. It looks beyond this life to another one'. (Ref 2)

Caleb at a ripe old age said, "So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I'm just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then" Joshua 14:10-11.

Most Christians do not live like Caleb who was wholehearted in his faith and steadfastly resolute to defend it. Bishop Solomon told the story that when the Irish tribes were baptised, their warriors raised their right hands above the baptismal waters, the hands that wielded their swords. The Bishop commented that they were willing to give up certain parts of their lives but hold back other parts from God (Ref 3). Most Christians are like that, half-hearted sacrifice and half hearted surrender. Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission, now known as OMF said, "Christ is either Lord of all or is not Lord at all".

Where are the Calebs today? In 1874, Frances Havergal wrote a familiar hymn, 'Take My Life'. 

Frances enacted her lyrics, a line of which says "Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold." In 1878, four years after writing the hymn, Miss Havergal wrote a friend, "Take my silver and my gold" now means shipping off all my ornaments to the Church Missionary House, including a jewel cabinet that is really fit for a countess, where all will be accepted and disposed of for me...Nearly fifty articles are being packed up. I don't think I ever packed a box with such pleasure."

1. Take my life and let it be
   Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
   Take my moments and my days,
   Let them flow in endless praise.
2. Take my hands and let them move
   At the impulse of Thy love.
   Take my feet and let them be
   Swift and beautiful for Thee.
3. Take my voice and let me sing,
   Always, only for my King.
   Take my lips and let them be
   Filled with messages from Thee.
4. Take my silver and my gold,
   Not a mite would I withhold.
   Take my intellect and use
   Every pow’r as Thou shalt choose.
5. Take my will and make it Thine,
   It shall be no longer mine.
   Take my heart, it is Thine own,
   It shall be Thy royal throne.
6. Take my love, my Lord, I pour
   At Thy feet its treasure store.
   Take myself and I will be
   Ever, only, all for Thee.

This is a hymn of total surrender, a hymn of consecration, a hymn for the Calebs of today

Lionel

Ref 1: Alan Redpath. Victorious Christian Living, Fleming H. Revel, Baker Book House Company 1955. 
Ref 2: Harry Blamires. The Christian Mind, SPCK, 1963 
Ref 3: Robert Solomon. Growing Old Gracefully, Following Jesus to the End, Discovery House, 2019

What Can I Give to Him?

' For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace' Isaiah 9:6

'Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!' 2 Cor 9:15

The Christmas of 2020 must surely be one of the bleakest Christmases in history. The news of the unrelenting Covid-19 pandemic hitting record highs in infections and deaths is unrelenting in the week leading to the 25 December 2020. A new highly infectious strain of the virus appeared in Britain, has crossed into Europe and threatens to spread throughout the globe. 

This season, governments are advising citizens not to go out to make merry, not even to meet in extended families to celebrate the Christmas. Christmas eve service in Bethlehem will not have a congregation. The Pope in the Vatican said Christmas mass without the usual crowded audience in St Peter's Square. Yesterday my family had our unusual virtual Christmas celebration on Zoom linking those of us from separate homes in Singapore, UK and the USA. 

The shops are depleted of customers. There is almost no Christmas shopping. No one is trying to go bargain hunting for gifts this Christmas. There will be many a disappointed young boy or girl who will not receive many, even any, Christmas presents.

The tradition of giving each other gifts during Christmas is symbolic of the gift of the Christ child at the first Christmas. It also signifies the act of adoration and giving of presents to the Jesus by the Magi who visited him guided by the star in the east.

Now that many of us will not be receiving gifts, we can ask ourselves whether these gifts, however expensive, really matter? Instead, can we offer to each other something of worth? Can we offer to Jesus something of real worth this Christmas?       

The Charis Methodist Church Choir rendered as a gift offering, a zoom virtual presentation of the song 'When I Kneel At The Manger Tonight' at our Covid-restricted, limited number, Worship Service on the 20 Dec 2020. The lyrics attempt answers to the question: What can I give to him? The real answer is, 'I have nothing to bring', nothing of worth, which is exactly what is happening with the lack of gift exchanges this Christmas. 

What can I give to Him, a heavenly King?
What can I give to Him? 

I have nothing to bring, but I'll offer my heart

When I kneel at the manger tonight

What can I give to Him, to honour His birth?

What can I give to Him?

I have nothing of worth, but I'll offer my heart

When I kneel at the manger tonight.

If I were as shepherd boy, I would give him a lamb

If I were a mighty king, I would give Him a golden ring

But what can I give to Him I have nothing at all?

What can I give to Him? 

Would my gift be too small, if I offer my heart

When I kneel at the manger tonight.

Is it necessary to bring a gift? What if you are too poor to buy one? The Christmas carol, 'The Little Drummer Boy' helps put to rest the dilemma that we are facing about gifts and their value on this gift-less Christmas. 

It is a tender story of a little boy who is told, apparently by the Magi, to go and see the new born Jesus bringing gifts to honour the baby. The boy is poor and doesn't have anything to give, so he offers to play his drum. His offering is accepted with Mary nodding her approval. The boy plays the best he can, and the infant King smiles at him.

Come they told me

A new born king to see

Our finest gifts we bring

To lay before the king

So to honor him

When we come

Little baby

I am a poor boy too

I have no gift to bring

That's fit to give our king

Shall I play for you

Mary nodded

The ox and lamb kept time

I played my drum for him

I played my best for him

Then He smiled at me

Me and my drum

In this  consumer-dominated world, we often value a person by the kind of gift  he brings. This Covid-19 Christmas will teach us that presents and gifts of whatever value and cost do not really matter. We can afford to strip Christmas of its commercial overtones. We can return to fully appreciating the real gift of Christmas, the gift of Jesus, an indescribable gift!

Lionel

Inspired by a sermon preached by Rev (Dr) Andrew Peh on 20 Dec 2020

A Silence That Speaks

Morning Silence in Vercor, Grenoble

'O Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.' Psalm 131:2

When we visited Helsinki on 13 August 2010 we learnt about the great Finnish composer, Sibelius who composed the well loved anthem, Finlandia. The tour guide informed us that although Mr Sibelius travelled the world, most of his compositions were inspired and written in Finland. He had a famous quotation “In Finland there is a silence that speaks” and this was inscribed on his memorial. He meant that he found the peace and quiet of his country especially inspiring.

Sibelius Memorial, Helsinki

A silence that speaks - this phrase resonated with me when I first heard it because at that time I felt distanced from God. It seemed that the quiet whispers of God speaking to my soul had gone. If it had been present, as it surely must have, it was simply ignored and shut out. Days turned to weeks and weeks to months, still there was no inspiration. I simply did not enjoy any contemplative moment. I was too hurried. I need to shut out the noise of a busy life, keep still, enjoy the silence and hear God’s inspiration. When I viewed the countryside around Helsinki, I knew that God spoke through the silence.

Kent Nerburn spoke of being in Saskatchewan once. The wind there was extremely strong and loud to him, a newcomer to the area. But the people in that part of Canada were so used to this wind that they hardly noticed its presence. So too is the voice of God. It is always present but we fail to give it the correct attention because life itself, like the Saskatchewan wind, sound-surrounds and shuts out God’s voice.

God’s voice like the wind does not stop, it just drops down to a whisper. Does this happen ever so often in your life? Our own self importance, our self directedness stifles the God given instinct for communication and communion. 

Our former Pastor Tan-Yeo Lay Suan once shared, "Stillness and Silence is always a prerequisite for receptivity. Telephones and television sets cannot receive messages when they are too filled with static and noise." When we learn to wean off the voices of the world, then perhaps we can start to listen to the voice of God. If we are to listen above the noise, we have to calm and quieten our soul like a child at the mother's breast, a child not hooked on the distractions of the busy life.

Richard Tan also struggled with this silence from God which he found perplexing especially with respect to unanswered prayer. He found insight and comfort in Eugene Peterson's sharing, "We have learned by experience that God's silence in the face of our prayers is not due to some inadequacy on our part or some technical glitch in the way we pray. God's silence is a common and repeated experience among all who pray. Like the widow who did not lose heart, why do we keep praying? We do it because we know who God is and what He is like. Having kept company with Jesus, we know the character and work of the God who is with us. That is why we keep praying and do not lose heart."  

There is a mountain in the middle of France near the town of Grenoble upon which a monastery was founded by St Bruno. It is called the Grand Chartreuse. For nine centuries, contemplative Catholic monks and nuns of the Carthusian Order, have been faithful to the vocation of silence. There in the stillness of the surrounding countryside in which the brothers pray and live their lives in silence not speaking to each other except for a few days in a year. Yet, the testimonies of the monks speak of them knowing God, the world, society and humankind in depth and truthfulness. Was it not, Mahatma Gandhi who said “It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without heart?” The Carthusian monks knew this secret centuries ago.

And God comes to them. There is song written by David Haas entitled 'You Are Mine' whose first line reassures that God will come to us in the silence

I will come to you in the silence

I will lift you from all your fear

You will hear My voice

I claim you as My choice

Be still, and know I am near

I am hope for all who are hopeless

I am eyes for all who long to see

In the shadows of the night,

I will be your light

Come and rest in Me

Do not be afraid, I am with you

I have called you each by name

Come and follow Me

I will bring you home

I love you and you are mine

I am strength for all the despairing

Healing for the ones who dwell in shame

All the blind will see, the lame will all run free

And all will know My name

Do not be afraid, I am with you

I have called you each by name

Come and follow Me

I will bring you home

I love you and you are mine

I am the Word that leads all to freedom

I am the peace the world cannot give

I will call your name, embracing all your pain

Stand up, now, walk, and live

Do not be afraid, I am with you

I have called you each by name

Come and follow Me

I will bring you home

I love you and you are mine

Do not be afraid, I am with you

I have called you each by name

Come and follow Me

I will bring you home

I love you and you are mine

Lionel

Updated. 1st published 13 August 2010

Speak, O Lord

'My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight; they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck. Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble; when you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.' Proverbs 3:21-24

In the 1980s, a systems approach to decision making and solutions for complex problem became fashionable. Predating the Artificial Intelligence era, computer scientists with psychologists derived methods, processes and systems to help decision making in complex situations. This systematic solutioning approach is called Sensemaking. 

How do we make good decisions? These days the art of decision making has become a science. Tools are being developed to help big businesses, corporations and governments to arrive at good decisions via computer aids, algorithms, data fusion and artificial intelligence.  Karl Weick, the 'father of Sensemaking' suggested that the term means simply 'the making of sense.' 

The Bible calls this Wisdom that comes from God as we discern His will for our lives and our decisions. Proverbs 3 contained many terse advice about exercising wisdom and receiving Godly guidance in decision making. It states in Proverbs 3:13-14

'Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold' 

If we want to avoid a bad decision, the best is to ask the Lord for wisdom and discernment. Who else can be to us a sound resource and a wellspring of guidance for the choices we have to make of our lives? 

Ask questions like: Will it bring honour to God? Will God like it? Can the Bible guide us? Will what we do bring dishonour to Jesus’ name? Will we have the blessing of parents? Will God be pleased with us?

I do not think we need to use systems like sensemaking. All we need is to discern God's will and listen to His voice. This is the era of information overload. The folly will be in listening to the many voices around us but failing to listen to that one voice that really matters. There is a song 'Speak, O Lord' by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend asking God to speak to our minds and hearts so we can grasp the great plan He has for us. 

1. Speak, O Lord, as we come to You

   To receive the food of Your Holy Word

   Take Your truth, plant it deep in us

   Shape and fashion us in Your likeness

   That the light of Christ might be seen today

   In our acts of love and our deeds of faith

   Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us

   All Your purposes for Your glory

   Teach us Lord, full obedience

   Holy reverence, true humility

   Test our thoughts and our attitudes

   In the radiance of Your purity

   Cause our faith to rise, cause our eyes to see

   Your majestic love and authority

   Words of pow'r that can never fail

   Let their truth prevail over unbelief

   Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds

   Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us

   Truths unchanged from the dawn of time

   That will echo down through eternity

   And by grace we'll stand on Your promises

   And by faith we'll walk as You walk with us

   Speak, O Lord, till Your church is built
2. And the earth is filled with Your glory

Lionel

Now Walk With God

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8

My family used to be ancestor-worshippers. Barely five years old, I assisted my mother by carrying plates laden with food and fruits to serve and place them before the ornately framed photographs of my grandparents. We would burn incense and joss-sticks and pray to each grandparent in turn, asking for their blessings. This ritualistic performance of  worship at every Chinese New Year or the birthdays of the dearly departed served as a vivid reminder of the social-spiritual relationship and hierarchy between men and gods.

I became a Christian in my teenage years. Members of my family followed suit several years later. Naturally, we expunged the ancestor-worship routines from our lives, treating such practices as superstitious drivel. However, in discarding all practical rituals of worship and removing them from familial traditions, we missed a very illustrative manner to express our devotion. 

How do we worship? In the Old Testament, the prophet Micah asked a series of rhetorical questions (Micah 6:6-7): 

“With what shall I come before the LORD 

and bow down before the exalted God? 

Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, 

Shall I come before Him with yearling calves? 

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, 

with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? 

Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, 

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

Considering these questions allow us to be in the right frame of mind to reaffirm the appropriate relationship between the Creator God and His lowly servants. With some trepidation, we could respectfully ask, “What can I offer you God?”. To which, the real answer is, that there is nothing of any value we could give that would be adequate. 

The early Christians were willing to become martyrs. Even so, the offering our very lives would not be adequate. How can we find any proper offering in exchange for the gift of God’s Son, Jesus Christ?

Still, it is alright to approach God with these questions. These almost unanswerable questions will make us see our unworthiness and place all our achievements and possessions in their proper perspective. Perhaps the only appropriate response is not in considering what offering to bring or what sacrifices to make but to ask, “What do you require me to do?” The prophet Micah's answer was

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.

And what does the LORD require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God.”

This invitation to walk with God is unbelievably gracious. There is a description of this walk with God in Genesis 3:8: “the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day”. The only two persons to have enjoyed such an experience in 'the cool of the day' and to have heard 'the sound of the Lord' were Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. 

What a waste! Despite enjoying such blissfulness with God, Adam and Eve, in their pride, chose to disobey God and thus rob us of Eden. But now Jesus presents us with another opportunity to walk with God, 'Now Walk With God' 

On God's holy word I challenge you.

To give to the Lord your life anew, 

My friend, make your choice; he waits for you

For this is the moment of truth.

Now walk with God and he will be your dearest friend

Where'er you go; in everything you do

And may your life reflect His love to everyone

Now walk with God and He will walk with you.

  

What will the nature of this walk with God be?  I think it will be:

• A physical experience: a walk by the sea or in the woods, in touch with nature and to note the beauty of God's creation in the cool of the day.

• A prayerful experience: a walk that will be contemplative and inspiring; a respectful conversation and fellowship will ensue.

• A practical experience: a walk involving some form of ministry to others especially to the poor, needy and downtrodden.

Lionel

Updated the article which was first published on 1 January 2011

And Miles To Go Before I Sleep

St Martin et Lofer, Austria 30 Apr 2006

'A time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend. A time to plant and a time to uproot. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them together.' Ecc 3:6-7

We were holidaying in the picturesque Austrian village of St Martin et Lofer in April 2006 and this scene confronted us from our window in a chateau where we stayed. At once the second poem of Robert Frost which I had memorised as a teenager  came to mind, 

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

A traveller, perhaps a villager, farmer or woodsman, chanced upon a beautiful scene by some woods on a snowy evening. He was captivated by the near-silent atmosphere and scene, was tempted to stay longer. It was enticing to pause for a while to survey the scene, to rest and to linger. Perhaps, he was a retiree and had the time to linger awhile. Instead, after a short reminiscent moment, he acknowledged the pull of other obligations. There was a considerable distance yet to be travelled before he could rest for the night.

That snowy woods scene in Austria stopped me in my tracks to consider my retirement from the Singapore Armed Forces Medical Corps on 1 July 2001 and now, two other retirements since. As we stand on the threshold of change in retirement, some like this traveler, may be tempted to opt out of the challenges of life. We may prefer to linger in the alluring attraction of life's more comforting moments.

The same sentiments were echoed by Solomon in Ecc 3:9-14:

 

"What does a worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in his time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from the beginning to the end. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and to do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink and find satisfaction in all his toil - this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men may revere him.”

In the necessary farewell rounds, we are often asked two questions. What are our achievements and what will we miss most in the job? 

Achievements? There should be nothing much to boast about or to recount achievements. They were quickly forgotten. Some years down the road what we thought were our crowning achievements would have lost their significance and lustre. These achievements would be surpassed by others who follow after. To recount them would be pointless.  

The Bible in Ecc 3:12 says that 'I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live'. What can be longer lasting than to have touched the lives of others? When asked what would he leave behind when he retires from politics, Mr Rajaratnam, past deputy Prime Minister of Singapore said that like the Cheshire cat, he wished to leave behind a smile. 

So what will we miss most? I think, people and friendships that have touched our lives - the esprit d'corps, the camaraderie, the mutual respect and esteem for each other. In the time that God had given in my three jobs, I have learnt to appreciate friends. Friendships made the work a calling and a joy, giving tremendous personal satisfaction. At my last retirement from the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, I said the lasting legacy I hope to leave behind and take with me are the fond memories. 

We all wish that good careers would last could last forever. We got our relationships, security and hope that this will not end. But God has ordained a cycle of life and a season for change, 'A time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend. A time to plant and a time to uproot. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them together.' Ecc 3:6-7

So three retirements will not stop me in my tracks. Now, I have more time to turn my attention to the opportunities God may provide in the 'silver years' of life.

For many younger readers, who have longer runaways, find God's will in all you do and meet the challenges, embrace the toils of life and overcome. Remember what Solomon said, 'This is the gift of God that you may find satisfaction in all your toil.' Ecc 3:13. Find fulfillment; the toil is the process by which we grow.

The Rev Tony Tan once told that there are trees in Australia call the Yarra trees. There at the Australian outback; they grow strong and healthy. These trees are much sought after because the wood is very strong and yet flexible and therefore, good for building houses.

Some years ago, an African agricultural delegation arrived in Australia to looks for trees that could grow well in their country. Located at about the same latitude in the northern hemisphere,  it was deemed that the climate and conditions must be quite similar. They thought what can grow well in Australia would do likewise in their own country. They exported the Yarra tree seeds back to Africa and planted them there.

The trees did grow fast and tall. However when they used the wood to build the houses, in no time at all, the wood would crack. It did not have the same tensile strength as those grown in Australia and cracked under pressure. That was puzzling. These trees are of the same genetic strain and the temperature and rainfall patterns are similar. The Africans finally discovered that there was one difference. It is very windy in the Australian outback whilst in Africa the place where they planted the trees was in a valley. There protected, between two mountains, there were no strong gales.

The Australian Yarra when growing from seedlings had to withstand and bend under the strong winds. The samplings were constantly buffeted by these storms and they had to grow under pressure. It was this constant friction and bending that made the Australian wood strong and resilient. Not so the African Yarra which grew quickly and easily but lacked the tensile strength.

There is a principle of the Yarra trees that we can apply. The tension, the storms of life and the hard work that we have to weather will in turn strengthen our resolve, build our ethos and make us strong and resilient. 

In the same way complete retirement and rest is not an option. Life goes on with all its attending challenges. In the words of Robert Frost, 'These woods are lovely dark and deep but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep and miles to go before I sleep.' There, by the grace of God, go I.  

Lionel

Acknowledgment: Story of the Yarra trees came from the Rev Tony Tan

Updated article. First published 3 Nov 2007

Lionel

I Will Walk With God

'For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you,  Do not fear; I will help you' Isaiah 41:13

When I was in Pre-University Medicine class in Raffles Institution, we had an American Peace Corps volunteer who taught us literature. That was when I was introduced to the poetry of Robert Frost, one of whose famous poems is The Road Not Taken.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that made all the difference

This is a poem about options and choices. A traveler in a forest chanced upon a fork; a divergence and he had to make a choice. He chose the one less travelled. Years later he would reflect on this choice, which he said made all the difference. To be sure there was no indication in the poem whether the choice was better or worse, right or wrong, good or bad. If the fork presented a choice of life options, that decision shaped his life in one direction whereas the other path not chosen would have shaped it altogether differently.

The take home lesson I learnt from this poem is that we will be faced with a few life choices that will be game-changing. Around that time in school, I made my life-changing decision which was to ask Jesus to come into my life as my Saviour and Lord. I have not looked back ever since and have not travelled down another road.

All Christians would have made that choice. After the exodus from Egypt and just before they were to settle in the land of Canaan there was a decision for the people of Israel, a reckoning for them. For forty years they were migrating across the wilderness and now they were on the verge of nationhood and to take a vast territory that was promised to them. Joshua, their leader, forced a momentous decision as recorded in Joshua 24:15 'Choose you this day whom you will serve...But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.'

In the story of the Student Prince, there was another setting in which such a crossroads decision had to be made. The student prince pondered his options for the future as he ascended to the throne after the death of his father. He decided like Joshua of old that he will walk with God from that day forth, as he started his reign. There is a wonderful song sung by the great tenor-actor Mario Lanza entitled 'I'll walk with God'.  

I'll walk with God

From this day on

His helping hand, I'll lean upon

This is my prayer my humble plea

May the Lord be ever with me

There is no death though eyes grow dim

There is no fear when I'm near to him

I'll lean on Him forever

And He'll forsake me never

He will not fail me as long as my faith is strong

Whatever road I may walk along

I'll walk with God

I'll take His hand

I'll talk with God He'll understand

I'll pray to him

Each day to Him

And He'll hear the words that I say

His hand will guide my throne and rod

And I'll never walk alone

While I walk with God.

The traveler in the woods, the student prince and Joshua considered their choices carefully. The poem indicated that the traveler studied his options. Did he regret it? Did he find the going tough? Did he ever think of going back? 

It does not appear from the poem that the traveler ever changed his mind. In the same way, my whole extended family chose to convert to Christianity decades ago and since then not one of us - spouses, children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews ever looked back. 

We took the hand of the Lord and we have not and will never walk alone.

Lionel

  

His Sheep Am I

 

'The shepherd opens the gate, calls his own sheep by name and leads them out...  he goes ahead of them and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.' John 10: 3 - 4

Christianity is not so much a religion of dogmas and doctrines as an experience and a relationship with God. The Bible describes the relationship between God and the Christian in many ways but one of the most endearing is the relationship of a shepherd with his sheep. A favourite psalm for many, Psalm 23 describes this relationship so clearly,

'The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.
He lets me rest in green meadows; He leads me besides peaceful streams.
He renews my strength.
He guides me along rights paths, bringing honour to His name.
Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for You are close beside me.
Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.
You prepare a feast before me in the presence of my enemies.
You honour me by anointing my head with oil.
My cup overflows with blessings.
Surely Your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.'

There are many imageries describing Jesus as the Shepherd and of His relationship with believers, His sheep.

The Shepherd knows His sheep. Rev Lui Yuan Tze in a sermon on 3 May 2020 said that in the Middle East, the shepherds communicate with their sheep in a sing-song voice. In John 10:3,4 Jesus mentioned that the sheep knows the shepherd's voice and that the shepherd calls each sheep out by name, '..the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.. his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger.' 

The Shepherd is the gatekeeper of the sheep pen. Rev Lui also told us that the Middle Eastern sheep pens do not have any doors. The shepherd is the door to the pen and he sleeps at the entrance of the pen. This is how the shepherd protects his sheep. Jesus said in John 10:7-8 "Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate whoever enters through me will be saved." Many of us are seekers for the truth. At one time we knocked on the door and Jesus let us in as noted in Luke 11:10 'For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the the one who knocks, the door will be opened.' 

The Shepherd searches for His lost sheep. We used to sing an old hymn, now almost forgotten, There were Ninety and Nine

There were ninety and nine that safely lay

In the shelter of the fold;

But one was out on the hills away,

Far off from the gates of gold.

Away on the mountains wild and bare;

Away from the tender Shepherd's care.

"Lord, Thou hast here Thy ninety and nine;

Are they not enough for Thee?"

But the Shepherd made answer: 

"This of Mine has wandered away from Me.

And although the road be rough and steep,

I go to the desert to find My sheep."

This is the parable that Jesus told in Luke 15:4-7. 'Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn't he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says "Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over the sinner who repents....' Doesn't this hymn and parable attest to the value Jesus placed on everyone of us? We were once lost and now are back in the fold because Jesus searched and found us.

The Shepherd as the Guide. Not so long ago, we were like sheep without a shepherd to guide us as we make life's journey. The prophet Jeremiah proclaimed the Lord God as saying, "My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray and caused them to roam on the mountains." Jeremiah 50:6. Matthew recorded that when Jesus saw the crowds, 'He had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.' Matthew 9:36. Mark added that Jesus 'began to teach them many things.' Mark 6:34. 

There is a popular hymn, Saviour Like a Shepherd Lead Us.

Savior, like a shepherd lead us
Much we need Thy tender care
In Thy pleasant pastures feed us
For our use Thy folds prepare

We are Thine, who Thou befriend us
Be the guardian of our way
Keep Thy flock from sin defend us
Seek us when we go astray

Psalms 23 assures us that the Lord is our shepherd, He leads us beside still waters and guides us along the right paths. He guides us with his rod and staff so that even if we walk through the darkest valley, we need fear no evil because He is with us.

The Good Shepherd sacrifices Himself for His sheep.

Jesus made a startling statement, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep." John 10:11. His listeners did not realise that he was speaking of his own death on the cross, a lamb brought to the slaughter as a sacrifice for us all, atoning for our sins. Jesus was emphasising that there exists a real deep, special and genuine relationship with all true believers to such an extent that he will risk his life to save us, like a good shepherd would for his sheep. He spoke of loving us unconditionally to the point of death. "I have loved you," Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends."

Lionel