It’s About Time

One of the endearing thing in raising a child is when she takes her first self motivated attempt to call you, “dah-dah.” For the uninitiated, it means “daddy.” (  this morning I changed Amanda’s diaper and after I got everything in place before she goes back to sleep, I did my ‘routine’ – pick her up from her crib and kiss her cheek saying “daddy loves you.”  

Normally she will give a beautiful smile (she is a light sleeper, and ready to play anytime, even at midnight!).  This morning, when I put her back down and give her the milk bottle, she says, “dah-dah.”  That makes my day.  Thank God for life’s simple blessings.  

Loneliness in the ministry.  This is a reality which all ministers of the Lord faces every now and then. This loneliness comes in different forms.

Sometimes loneliness comes to the pastor because of opposition from the foe and all ‘friends’ fled or desert him.  Other times, fellow-pastors ostracized the individual because of differences of opinion, or perceived deviation from the path of truth.  There are perhaps more, but I don’t have the time to elaborate or dwell on it.

A young man asks me recently if I feel isolated from the other preachers because of my stance against KJVO and for universal church. My reply was “no, I am not isolated but ostracized.”  Does it feel lonesome? I supposed at times I do, but only in the sense of sitting down for joking or bantering session, perhaps.  Truthfully, most if not of these men are not capable of cerebral conversation.  No, I am not being arrogant in saying that (though I am often accused of such when I verbalized it out loud).  It is lonely when one cannot discuss things or topics that are dear to one’s heart, or discussing without having to declare separation or being accused of being progressive.  There is no such thing as disagreeing on subject without being personal.  Every thing is personal it seems.  

The issue of universal church, or to be precise the belief in the Body of Christ being universal rather referring only to local assembly is unacceptable to other preachers here.  That is okay by me if they refused to acknowledge plain truth, yet they have to articulate or make nonsensical. I guess Solomon was right to say that with more knowledge comes more sorrow.  That one knows so much that it pains him to see the others miring with glee in their cesspool of ignorance.  

I guess I am disappointed also, in another group of individuals who seem to treasure their privacy to the point of being secretive of their plans in the service of the Lord.  I am not talking about bragging about one’s ministry but being open and share of one’s thoughts and plans and aspiration.  It seems folks are afraid that things don’t materialize so they lose face or fear of perceived lose-face, or failure.  I believe that once a person declares God’s calling on his life to be in full-time Christian service that is the end of privacy, so to speak.  Our lives are a fish bowl for all to see.  Frankly Paul tells us that our lives are to be an example to the believers regarding faith and truth.  Fear of sharing plans (for fear of hijack of ideas?); fear of sharing intended goals in life (fear of losing face if it changes?).  

I am persuaded a long time ago, to plod and press on even if no one else are like-minded.  Follow Christ, that is my moral compass.

Today marks the longest outing that Amanda and I had with each other.  We went down to Peggy’s hairdressing salon for haircut.  Her shop is situated in downtown Orchard Road, so to traverse from the East to downtown is quite a distance.  Moreover, it spans the time between lunch and tea break.  

Amanda as usual, is ‘nice.’  She doesn’t whine nor cry when bored. She just keeps quiet.  Personally I hate using the stroller because there is hardly much conversation though it is certainly lighter and less strenuous to meander around town.  

The only challenge yet undertaken is to change her diaper using nursery room in the mall. Mostly if not all ladies there.  Hmm…… I am not sure if I fell comfortable doing that though I know I should feel that since it is perfectly normal for parents to change their kids’ diaper.  We’ll see this Friday when we have the whole day to go out.

Akan datang. . . .

Having grown up in a particular type of Baptist circle, I was taught that the Lord’s Supper is one of the two ordinances given by the Lord Jesus Christ. the other being water baptism.  Rightly so, both rites are not sacraments are ordinances. The former implying some efficacious grace conferred upon the communicant whereas the latter is but a rite celebrating a particular event. In this case it is the Lord’s Supper.

The Lord’s Supper is a memorial feast, in memory of Jesus Christ who died for the sins of mankind, and it is to remember his salvific act, and above all, celebrate his resurrection and imminent return to gather His saints.

However, the same Baptist group insists that only members of a particular local assembly are allowed to partake of the Lord’s Supper since it is for the local church. Thus if there is a fellow Baptist of like faith and practice, of a good standing in his community happen to be in our midst. He is not asked to leave but advice to abstain from partaking.  This is commonly known as “closed communion.”  I have always been taught that concept and accepted it without thinking twice about it.

It was only when I went to the States for Bible college and seminary training that I realized that there is also another school of thought amongst independent Baptist.  My group happened to be closely aligned to Landmarkism. Even if the adherents denied being part of it, by virtue of the similarity of practice and beliefs rendered them similar.  Of course this is by no means guilt by association but a matter of fact.

The other independent Baptists practiced what is known as: “close communion.”  What is the difference? I’ll continue in the next blog.

General Election is coming soon to Singapore. Every four years the country undergoes a change of sorts in its political progress.  While one will not experience the US-styled election campaign, one gets to hear what is being offered and countered. By both the ruling and opposition political parties.  Not every one of us will get a chance to vote.  It depends on whether one lives in a contested ward or not.

While the ruling party is always tipped to win due to its good track record, one cannot fully support its manner of campaigning.  There is nothing wrong to dangle carrots and peas to win votes.  Until the stickler of depriving opposition led ward of upgrading funds, it is not an even playing field.  

Today marks the first time Amanda and I went out shopping with mommy.  It was fun in that it was experimental to see how Amanda would react to this new thingy. She was okay with it, though at certain places she was bored – she yawned.  

Tonight she puked – we don’t know why except to speculate that her teething is causing some problem.  Eka didn’t cooked her meals soft enough and nibble sized enough.  That’s our guesswork.  Thankfully she is not a cry-baby otherwise it would have been a terrible night.

I am most grateful to God for providing a place for worship after a few months’ of searching and praying. The spirit of the folks at NBTC was excellent, despite the sweltering heat of non-functioning air cons during the last phase of our stay at JJK, the people just continue to enjoy the fellowship of one another, carried on ministry responsibility throughout the time. This augurs well for the future of our church.

Despite the lack of facilities, the Lord still allow visitors into our midst. Except for the right spirit and the exhortation of the Word and exaltation of the Lord, we really don’t have anything to show for. Yet they kept returning. This is assuredly that it is not so much the facilities but the Word that keeps people coming back. Of course, I am not saying that it is okay to neglect the aesthetics of the church. After all, God is a magnificent Being and He makes all things beautiful and excellent. Should we as the believers of God Almighty do anything less?

Then again, a place of worship is but a venue whereby God’s people gather for corporate worship. When the Rapture comes, what will happen to all these physical amenities? They will be left to the ravages of time. But for the believers, this central place for corporate worship is a place where things of eternal consequence and significance are being done in a physical locale. It is important that we as NTBC keep our focus on that which has eternal significance. We gather weekly for exhortation and exaltation. We invest time and sweat to teach our youngsters the Word and the value of eternity. What we do here is both for TIME and ETERNITY. How we do it impacts others for the same reasons. May we learn to do God’s work in God’s way through God’s means so that we can enjoy God’s blessings.

My prayer for NTBC in this new location is that we might continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord. As we encounter different sets of challenges in our personal lives, May all that has been taught are rightly translated into our regular decision making and value system – not for the years of TIME alone, but for all ETERNITY.

Today marks another new chapter in our lives as new parents. We put Amanda in her car seat! This car seat was passed to us from a mutual friend whose child has since outgrown the item. So we had this item for about four months now but never did install it in the car. One thing for sure, Amanda dislikes cramp spaces. To strap her down would give her the creeps and she would scream to get out of the child car seat for sure. So we eased her into the idea that it is fun to be in the car seat by leaving the item in the living room for the time being. So each time we strap her for a few minutes and had fun talking about the niceness of being in the seat. I suppose the idea grew on her.

Finally we install the child car seat in the car yesterday, and today we put her in it and drove off to church. Amanda did well in that relative short time span of about twenty minutes. She came out still a happy camper. So thank God for that. You can just imagine the stresses of driving around with a screaming kid dying to get out of her car seat.