Spent my morning working, I mean real back breaking work and I am physically drained. These days it is practical to do outdoor work in the morning because it tend to rain in the afternoon and evenings. A typical day at the farm is filled with physical work, something I am getting used to and before long I should be physically fit. Construction debris is scattered all over the land and I am still finding more stuff as I clear the weeds and undergrowth. A lesson of sorts for me, get a contractor who is responsible to clean up or rather make him responsible by withholding his money. My brother in HK said that I have at least 5 years of work here and I must say from the looks of it, he may be right. Right now, after 4 months of living here I am still cleaning up the place and have hardly done anything else, … except for raising some fishes in the pond.

 

Heard a piece of depressing news this morning. A malay girl who used to work with me pass away due to cancer. I can’t figure it out, she is a young mother, married for a few years, living a simple life, working along with the husband to support the family. She is not rich, never seen the ‘world’. I feel sad. So sad as I thought that she was recovering after the surgery to remove the malignant tissues. I remember visiting her at the hospital right before her scheduled surgery and I could tell she was fearful, they were going to remove a huge part of her cheek bone and even the left eye, the prognosis wasn’t good. Saw her a few months after her surgery outside my wife’s office one day and she looks cheerful despite of the physical scar left on her face. What else can I say? What prayers can I offer? What good would it all do? It is meaningless! It is so unfair! What more, the stand that those who believe Jesus is taking in this land is rubbish! No sharing of gospel to the malays, everyone is scared of the repercussion and not fearful of the consequence of not doing what is commanded of us. The church, the body of people are contented with this ‘we should not do anything that would threaten the religious freedom we currently enjoy. Maintaining the current status quo is what we should do, funny ‘cause that was what Jesus did not do in his time, he challenged the authorities, the religious leaders of the day, the apostle did that too and most landed themselves in prison and suffered persecution, the early churches suffer persecution for spreading the gospel too. And the gospel was preached to all and many was ushered into the kingdom of God. Yesterday in church, we were told to join this big prayer program to pray for Christians suffering persecution in some countries. I can’t think of what I could pray sincerely for, what can I ask God for? Perhaps we should start praying for ourselves that we be filled afresh with the Holy Spirit to do His works with power and courage. In the last days, the love of many will wax cold, I am one of the many, I am troubled, at the rate we are going, many will perish without the chance of hearing the gospel, to add to that, many who thought they had received the gospel will also perish.

 

Tonight, I pray for the family of Nurfianti. I ask for peace and patience to receive what has been cruelly thrown to them in life. To Yanti, wherever you are, may God embrace you with His love now that you have returned to Him. I pray that God will change me…