The dream was to establish life transforming communities all across Malaysia. These communities would center around homes of Christians. We took a good 7 years to refine our vision and to solidify our identity. Who were we and how did we want to live as a Christian community. We met in homes in the Klang Valley. The idea was great and the commitment and genuiness to share our lifes with each other was very high.

I was one of two co leaders and we were in the 90s going through busy young family lifes. We had newborns and the task of raising young children was upon us then. Evenings were often taken up meeting and counseling with singles who made up of more than half our congregation. The day time was dedicated to work and business. Our wives who were also very much involve in ministry took much of the pressure. Looking back, I can only have attributed our lifes to the grace of God who kept our faith….and our sanity.

Continuing “Lost in the Middle” (Paul Tripp) on “traps to avoid at the death of a dream.”
1) Envy Trap
2) Bitterness trap
Many of us are tempted to look back during mid life and do an accounting. We add up all our hard choices, good decisions, and disciplined labors and compare them to “good” things in life that we think we have earned a right to. If the good results do not match the the labor that we have invested, then we tend to feel we have been the victims of a cosmic con. ……They think back at all they have done and simply can’t understand why they don’t have more to show for it.

Tripp suggests that if we dwell on this inbalance and injustice the more bitter we get and ultimately the bitterness gets aimed at God.

I can name many including the organization that oversaw us whom I felt disappointed with. The people in the community etc. There were a thousand fingers to point to. The thing I realize is that if I did not see this entire death of the dream and the process of finding this new church community as the sovereign design of God, I could very easily have spiraled down into bitterness or regret.

It was only last Friday, when Luke (a brother who got saved through our community 6 years ago) shared in cell group at CDPC about his spiritual journey from Holland to Malaysia. He received Christ 7 years ago when we met him. We were a small part of that journey and I am grateful that God allowed us to be an influence in that period of his life. God’s time horizon is much bigger than ours and I realize that looking at my particular dream was like a fish in an aquarium thinking that that was the ocean. The dream, a gift from God, took personal ownership but also became a stumbling block to seeing God’s wider perspective thus limiting God’s glory and His incredible work in and among us.