Practice This Saturday

There will be practice this Saturday, Aldersgate Hall 6.30pm

No practice again this week

There is be no practice this week due to the One Day conference as well as another conference as well as the Hillsong United Concert.

There WILL be practice on 28 August, one day before car wash.

No Practice this week and next

There will not be practice this week as well as next week. So stay at home, study hard. Practices will resume on 28 August.

Part 1: Home - This is Home

I wrote a series of 3 essays, on the subject of Home. Each dealing with a different theme. This is part 1. Will publish the other 2 in the course of the next 2 weeks.

Home
Whenever I am feeling low, I look around me and I know
There’s a place that is deep within me wherever I may choose to go
I will always recall the city, know every street and shore
Sail down the river that brings us life
Winding through my Singapore

This is home truly, where I know I must be
Where my dreams wait for me, where the river always flows
This is home surely, as my senses tell me
This is where I won’t be alone
For this is where I know I am home

When there are troubles to go through, we’ll find a way to start anew
There is comfort in the knowledge that home’s about its people too
So we’ll build this our dreams together just like we’ve done before
Just like the river which brings us life
There’ll always be Singapore

For this is where I know it’s home
For this is where I know I’m home

Music and Lyrics: Dick Lee

Home, the theme song of this year’s National Day Parade. Watching the NDP live at the stadium isn’t something new to me, this year was the tenth time I watch the parade or preview live at the National Stadium or Padang and that is excluding the two times I was a performer. Watching the NDP doesn’t really stir up feelings of patriotism in me; instead they always invoke memories of the past and hopes for the future of Singapore.

Memories of the past

I took part in NDP twice, in 1998 and 1987. In 1998, I was shot an arrow by my JC1 civics tutor and was “volunteered” into joining the NDP Cheerleaders for that year. I will never forget what my friends called the chicken suit; our costume, a yellow and orange (like the colour of this blog and tagboard) set of shorts and T-shirt. It was quite a disgusting sight. But it was a pretty fun experience, considering that TPJC had to send 2 contingents instead of 1! (BTW the “hero” JCs that were spared were TJC, VJC and HCJC) The post-parade was what I enjoyed the most!

But still I took part in the parade albeit a little grudgingly. I went through with it mainly to fulfil my CIP hours; and it filled up 2 years worth! But go back 11 years, and my 1987 experience was a lot different.

1987: Citizens of Tomorrow. I was in Yamaha Kindergarten (now called Kinderland); only 6 years old and I volunteered to join the National Day Parade. We were the youngest group of participants ever in an NDP; and if I am not mistaken, we are still holding that record! Our mass item was entitled Citizens of Tomorrow, a little prophetic ring to it!

I have very little memories of it. All I remember was that we had to run out into the Padang, release a lot of balloons and then we had to perform some dance routine and then run out. A few days ago, feeling really nostalgic, I decided to check online to see if I could fine any pictures of NDP 1987. Guess what, I actually managed to find a lot of pictures!

On the National Archives website, I actually found an entire photo album of NDP 1987! And it showed, a whole mass of kids running out into the Padang, releasing a lot of balloons and then running out again. It really brought back a flood of memories!

But the one thing that struck me most was this: all those small kids in the pictures were no longer small kids! They are now like me, 22 and 23 year olds; the Citizens of Tomorrow have all grown up, and I wonder what has happened to all of them.

17 years can make a huge difference. Some of them may no longer call Singapore their home; some may have even passed on. But I am still here, at home, and there is no place like it and in all honesty, I will have it no other way.

Hopes for a future

Singapore is home to us, and sometimes, we take that for granted and sometimes we need to look at it from a much different perspective.

We are about the only nation in South East Asia that has some real measure of religious freedom and tolerance. We are free to worship any God we choose! And we chose Jesus. Thank God that the Singapore government does not throw people into jail for that. Thank God our churches are not burnt down on a Sunday.

We always curse the government for its bi-lingual policy. I was one of those who did, and still do. But look at it from this angle. We are the ONLY NATION IN THE WORLD in which the overwhelming majority of the population are given a chance to learn and speak both Mandarin (the language of mainland China) and English. No other country, not even Hong Kong or Malaysia can stake that claim. Thank God, for we are in the most strategic position in the World to evangelise to 1.2 billion Mainland Chinese; and no small part due to the MOE’s bi-lingual policy.

How often do we hear of people complaining about the Singapore way of life? How often do you curse the school you attend? How often do we declare that we that there is something wrong about the education system? Everyday? Probably.

But if not for our schools, our education, we would not be more literate than 70% of the world’s population. If not for our way of life, the HDB flats, our economic policies, the foresight and fortitude of our government, we would not be the top 8% wealthiest people in the world. Remember the 1cent coin I gave out at Jubilee? That 1cent coin, though no longer useable in Singapore, still makes you wealthier than 5,704,000,000 people in this world.

We may be called a nation of robots who led by a bunch of “stromtroopers who are always dressed in white” who in turn are led by people who are “still wearing their school uniforms” and are controlled by the “Dragon of the Lee Dynasty”. Say what you want, if not for the government, Singapore would not be what it is today. Say what you want, if not for them, we would have dirt-roads instead of highways, kampong slums instead of HDB flats and swamps instead of parks.

Say what you want, if not for the government, we would not be the blessed nation we are today. You don’t have to go very far to see these blessing, just join the next mission trip up to COSI and you will see the difference. We are blessed. And we take it for granted.

Singapore is Home. Stop taking it for granted and look at what Singapore has been blessed with and compare that to our neighbours. And before you call the National Day Parade, the National Day Charade, think about the government who has given us so much freedom and compare that the other Chinese Christians who truly suffer for the sake of the Gospel. Thank God for Home.

Let’s be the blessing to the rest of the nation, the rest of the world.

PS: At the end of Jubilee, some youth obviously felt that a 1cent coin will take up too much space in their wallets and left it behind on the pews. Not one youth, but quite a few.

PPS: This version of the article has been "toned down" the original version had much stronger language. If you want an original version, ask me for it.

3Gs: The Challenge for the Joshua Generation

This is something I wrote, hope you all can take some time to read it:

One of the most heartbreaking and yet inspiring stories in the Bible for me is the story of Joshua and Caleb. The story of Numbers 13; how close the Israelites came to conquering the Promised Land. Yet, one step away from victory, they were punished and ended wandering the desert for 40 years. Let’s put things into context.

God’s mercy spurned

Israel was a nation of slaves under the Pharaoh, and they cried out to God for help. God answered and sent Moses to lead them out of Egypt. The Israelites were witnesses to the 10 plagues that destroyed the once powerful nation of Egypt. And later on they were lead out of Egypt by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. (Exodus 13:21) By now, surely they knew that it was not Moses but God who led them and that there was nothing to fear!

But no, once they reached the Red Sea and were pursued by the Pharaoh’s army, what did they say?

Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” – Exodus 14:11-12

But God had mercy, and opened the Red Sea and destroyed the Pharaoh’s army. Surely after seeing such a miracle they would have believed that it was God Himself who led them and that there was nothing to fear.

But no, once again, when they reached the wilderness of Shur and spent 3 days looking for water, finally they came to Marah and found some water, but the water was bitter and undrinkable. And the Israelites started to complain again. But God in His mercy performed yet another miracle before their eyes.

Then he (Moses) cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet. – Exodus 15:25

After this miracle, surely they must know that God is in control of the situation! But no, once again just a short time later they start to complain about their food.

The sons of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out here into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” – Exodus 16:3

But once again, God had mercy on them, and sent quail (birds) right into their camp for dinner! And He “rains bread” from the heavens for breakfast! Can you imagine that? Surely by now the Israelites know of the Lord’s great power.

But no. A short time later when Moses goes up to Mount Sinai to receive the Law, the Israelites, seeing Moses gone for so long built an idol in the image of a Golden Calf and start to worship it. This time God is really angry and threatens to destroy the Israelites, (Exodus 32:10) but Moses bargains with God and God changes His mind (Exodus 32:14) and spares them.

God was once again merciful to them. Later in Exodus 34, He renews this covenant with the Israelites, promising them that He will deliver the Land of Canaan into their hands. Surely by now, after seeing God’s wonderful mercy and God’s awesome and miraculous power, the Israelites would believe any promise God would make! But no, they did not.

Joshua, Moses’ protégé

Amidst the wayward Israelites, there were a few who stood out. Among them, a young man by the name of Joshua; he was Moses’ servant. He was there during the 10 plagues, he was there when God provided water in the desert, and he was there when God provided food for the Israelites. And he followed Moses up to Mount Sinai to receive the Law as well. (Exodus 24:13)

Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to a friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. – Exodus 33:11

He would follow Moses into the Tent of Meeting; he would be with Moses as God Himself spoke to Moses. He would hear all that the Lord would want to say to Moses, and he would not leave the tent. He understood full well the glory of God. He understood full well the power of God. He knew first hand the presence of God, and he could not bear to depart from it! He knew of the covenant given to them; that the conquest of the Land of Canaan was a sure victory! He knew all this; he saw; he experience everything first hand.

3Gs: Giants, Grasshoppers or the Glory of God

Fast forward to Numbers 13; the Israelites have reach Kadesh Barnea, the edge of the Promised Land and Moses sends out spies to survey the Land. Among the spies are Caleb and Joshua. After 40 days, the spies return bearing the spoils of the land.

Can you guess the excitement in the camp as they saw the single cluster of grapes so large that it had to be carried by 2 men! Can you imagine the excitement as the spies told them that the land indeed flows with milk and honey? Can you imagine what the Israelites must have felt, after seeing the miracles God performed in the desert and knowing the covenant to deliver the land into their hands? Surely they should have felt confident that this was a conquest already won, a certain victory! But NO. Instead, 10 of the 12 spies said this:

“The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land which devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim) and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” – Numbers 13:32b-33

Instead of feeling excited and certain of victory, the Israelites rebelled. Moses, Aron, Joshua and Caleb pleaded with the Israelites to look at the promise at God made, surely God would not turn His back on that promise, but the Israelites would not listen, instead they would almost stone the 4 of them. Then the Lord intervenes.

God once again want to destroy the Israelites, but Moses (despite almost being stoned) pleads for his people and once again God spares them on Moses’ account. But the sin of the Israelites will not go unpunished, and they are to spend 40 years in the wilderness, till every person (at that time) above the age of 25 is dead with the exception of Caleb and Joshua. (Numbers 14)

Can you imagine the heartbreak that Joshua and Caleb must have felt when they were turned-away at the edge of the Promised Land and instead had to spend 40 years watching their friends, families die? From certain victory, they were made to wait another 40 years before they could taste their spoils. How could this have happened?

The Giants: The Israelites were afraid of the “men of great size” and were terrified by the Nephilim! (We can discuss who or what the Nephilim are some other time, Genesis 6:4) It was not the Israelites’ fault that the giants were there, the giants were after all the natives of the land. But the Lord had promised the giants would be delivered!

The Grasshoppers: Make no mistake, the giants were there all the time, but not one giant harmed an Israelite. But, the grasshoppers WIPED OUT an entire generation of them! Read Numbers 13:33 again. It was the spies that claimed that they were grasshoppers and it was the spies that said that they seemed like grasshoppers to the giants. It was their personal impression of themselves in the eyes of a giant, not the actual representation. They had made themselves to be small and weak and easily trampled on. (Later in the book of Joshua, these giants are actually fearful of the Israelites, for they had become a powerful army)

The Glory of God: Joshua would eventually take over the leadership of the Israelites from Moses. And Caleb’s tribe, Judah, would be the only tribe to completely conquer all its allocated territory. Eventually, Judah would form the southern Kingdom and be spared would not lose its identity as Jews. Jesus, would come from the tribe of Judah and in Revelations, Jesus is called the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. (Revelations 5:5)

Instead of being weighed down by their grasshoppers, or looking up and seeing nothing but giants, Joshua and Caleb would choose to look higher and see the Glory of God. The same signs and wonders that had been performed, the same covenant that was given to the Israelites was the same one given to Joshua and Caleb, and it was those things that they chose to see instead.

The Challenge

What are our giants? School pressure, parental pressure, peer pressure etc. These are the problems that we cannot take away, the problems that we cannot remove no matter how hard we try. These will always be there. But take heart, the same God who eventually delivered the giants into the hands of Israel is the same God we worship today! But there is one significant change; lets discuss that later.

What are our grasshoppers? These are our personal problems that plague us. Inferiority Complexes, our “bochap” attitude, our own stubbornness etc. These are the problems that are inherent inside us. No one put them there, but us! And these problems are fatal, they can kill us, they can eat us alive. But they can be overcome.

At the end of 40 years, the Israelites were transformed from a nation of grasshoppers to a nation of soldiers! Were they afraid? Surely! They were going to war, some would lose their lives, but they chose not to look at that, but instead they choose to look higher!

We too can overcome our grasshoppers, be it alone or with the help of someone, it can be done. But it must be done by an action initiated by ourselves. But take heart, the same God the Israelites worship before and after the 40 years is still the same God we worship today. But there is a significant difference; and that is the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Glory of God for the Israelites was reflected in a pillar of fire or smoke and in the numerous great victories they won. But for us, it is not some thunderous bolt from the sky, but rather a man who chose to die a criminal’s death on an instrument of torture. Jesus gave us a new covenant and by His death on the Cross, sealed that covenant. We are supposed to see victory, but sometimes, giants and grasshoppers block our view.

Will you choose to see the Glory of the Cross, above your giants and grasshoppers?

We are the Joshua Generation. The generation that will one day rise up and take the lead from our elders. But will you reflect the spirit of Joshua and Caleb who looked above the problems and focused on God and saw victory. Or will you be like the Israelites, who on the edge of victory, were turned away?

Live this life, focused on the Cross, on what Jesus has done for you, choose to see that instead of your problems. Will you choose to see the Glory of the Cross, above your giants and grasshoppers?

There WILL BE meeting this week

Dear One Voice, there WILL BE practice this week regardless of program on Sunday. Meet in Aldersgate Hall at 6.30pm. If you wish to bring any songs to Jam, just do so!

Hillsong United Concert

Hillsong United will be having a concert in Singapore. Here is the information:

Dates:
21 Aug - 4.30pm and 7.30pm
22 Aug - 9am, 11.30am, 2pm

Venue:
City Harvest Church

I will cancel practice on saturday evening IF AND ONLY IF a large number of you want to go. So do tell me, then I can make arrangements.