3 Constants and 1 Acknowledgement (3 and 1)

As I get older, I find myself wanting to encapsulate or summarise everything into 4 or 5 points. Perhaps my mind is not able to function on so many levels anymore and so I find the need to gather them into clumps to feel some sort of sanity or order. I spend most of my days (4 days a week) in a Christian Seminary in Seremban and the rest between family and the world of grassroot politics. I find the two worlds so apart that I feel like a schizophrenic at times. Hence my need to pen down what is most important in my life into 4 (5 actually but now I've forgotten:)) items which came to me today as I was driving.

1) My faith in the Lord Jesus and His Word as my guide.
This has been a beacon for me ever since I became a Christian in 1977. From small decisions as a 10 year old to larger ones today, my faith in Christ has been my guiding light. His Word, the Bible - my instruction for life. I have only grown deeper in appreciation of the wisdom found in the Bible and the ability to know the God I love through it. Hence, my entry into this phase of life - devoted to studying the Bible for my masters degree at the age of 44.

2) My fight against injustice and for a civil society
For some strange reason, nothing moves me into rash action then the sight of injustice and oppression of any people group. This was learnt from a young age by watching dad who would always fight for the underdogs; the poor, the marginalised and the weak. It certainly rubbed on and together with a conviction that God himself is a God of justice, I have been drawn to the world of politics. Granted that any political party itself is fallible and definietly not the solution for shalom, however the idea of a non raced based political party attracted me in the late 1998. I have been involved in KEADILAN since then and have found myself involved in grassroot politics with no real ambition for any higher ranking positions except to fight injustice, corruption and arrogance.

3) My love for my family and our love for God
My eldest son came back before dinner one day and said, you know dad, we are a very close knit family. Trying to hide my emotional choke; I said why? He said; all my friends are going out for dinner because their parents and siblings don't eat together most of the week. We are a close knitted family and this has been the tradition handed down from Mom and Dad. We eat together, pray, fight and laugh together. My prayer each day is that God would fill our hearts with grace to love one another and all around us and to live for Him all the days of our lifes.

4) I acknowledge that I am in constant need of God and His gospel
I know that I don't have it together and that I am capable of blowing everything except for the grace of God. It is only the measure of Grace which He apportions to me each and every day that carries me through this life. I still have remaining sin which often rears its ugly head and struggle through them. If not for the gospel of grace, that I am a sinner saved by grace alone; the realisation of which hopefully comes to me each day; I know I am in trouble.

This week I'm knocking down the papers, smaller ones to concentrate on the bigger ones. A paper on the psalms for OT Survey and a paper on Inter-testamental Period for NT Survey.

Last night I attended the Division meeting for the political party I am still attached with and they will be increasing in frequency and intensity as the General Election looms. I am living on two ends of a spectrum between Seminary and Politics. As I sat in the meeting, I was thinking to myself, how different and seperate are the two - as night and day in content and experience. I am glad for this two experiences in a day for I think they provide the necessary balance between the two worlds. After all in practice, they are the same - human predicament, corruption and life in general.

Here are some pictures of the STM Library where I spend my Tuesday mornings. The view from the library overseeing the driveway into STM - The road I take every morning when I come in.

Week 5 of STM

It has been a busy week with a preaching slot at CDPC on (Gospel centered) worship. A topic close to my heart. Went well and had an extended time in worship after the sermon encouraging everyone to enter the presence of the Almighty, acknowledging our sinfulness and receiving His grace.

One thing that struck me most this last 2 weeks getting an overview of the OT and NT was to see how our Sovereign God had planned and kept the people Israel through the generations to bring the gospel to all of humanity. Learning about the inter-testament period is especially helpful to see how God was not actually silent but active in preparing history for the coming of the Messiah who would burst into history to declare that the "Kingdom of God is at hand."

Much of the history about the Syrian, Greek and Roman empires are all new as I never had the opportunity to study it in school ( We were busy studying Malacca and
Parameswara for for 5 years)

My faith is strengthen as I see our Sovereign Lord's hand in preserving the saints and the story through the Jews. I am sure the main actors going through the stories would not have been able to see the big picture but with the benefit of hind sight - my soul is encouraged!