Do The Next Thing

At an old English parsonage down by the sea,
there came in the twilight a message to me.
Its quaint Saxon legend deeply engraven that,
as it seems to me, teaching from heaven.

And all through the hours the quiet words ring,
like a low inspiration, 'Do the next thing.'
Many a questioning, many a fear,
many a doubt hath its quieting here.

Moment by moment, let down from heaven,
time, opportunity, guidance are given.
Fear not tomorrow, child of the King,
trust that with Jesus, do the next thing.

Do it immediately, do it with prayer,
do it reliantly, casting all care.
Do it with reverence, tracing His hand,
who placed it before thee with earnest command.
Stayed on omnipotence, safe 'neath His wing,
leave all resultings, do the next thing.

Looking to Jesus, ever serener,
working or suffering be thy demeanor,
in His dear presence, the rest of His calm,
the light of His countenance, be thy psalm.
Do the next thing.

~ Elisabeth Elliot (1926-2015)

2015 Jan 15

O Lord
How long will this be?
The stress that stretch
Till none can fetch
But in you alone I cried
Where my depressed soul hide

O Lord
How long will this be?
The loneliness inside
That by none subside
But your smiling face I gaze
By which this pain I face

O Lord
How long will this be?
The path ahead be clear
Unknown future I fear
But your wisdom and love i trust
However morrow shall past


Psalm 13
How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must i take counsel in my soul, and
    have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? 

Consider and answer me, O LORD my God;
Light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
lest my enemy said, "I have prevailed over him",
lest my foes rejoice because i am shaken.

But i have trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the LORD,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.

A student's prayer

Found this in my closet.
A prayer from my student (whom I'm not sure)

I pray this prayer for you,

Lord of all Hopefulness, Lord of all joy
Whose trust ever child-like, no cares could destroy,
Be there at our waking and give us we pray
Your peace in our hearts Lord,
At the break of the day.

Lord of all eagerness, Lord of all faith
Whose strong hands were skilled at the plane and the lathe
Be there at our labours and give us we pray
Your strength in our hearts Lord,
At the noon of the day

Lord of all kindliness, Lord of all grace
Your hands swift to welcome, your arms to embrace
Be there at our homing and give us we pray
Your love in our hearts Lord
At the eve of the day

Lord of all gentleness, Lord of all calm
Where voice is contentment, whose presence is balm
Be there at our sleeping and give us we pray
Your peace in our hearts Lord,
At the end of the day

My Testimony

My name is Denis Kan. I was born in a Chinese middle class family, my parents are hawkers. Since I was a child I followed my mother to worship idols, without really knowing what they really are. I did not love them. I worshiped them simply because that was my mother’s order and afraid of them.

My childhood was not happy. I didn't sense the love that my parents had for me, and I didn’t feel loved. I also not enjoyed my school live, they were boring with loads of endless homework. When I was ten, I decided to run away from my family, my life style. I stole my parent’s money at their stall for a few months, and then I left them on a morning to go to Kuala Lumpur, some 400km away from my house.

The trip was great, I successfully left them and reached Kuala Lumpur. But at the moment I stepped out of the train station, I asked myself this question, sensing a void inside my heart, “So, what am I going to do now?” I didn’t know where to go or what to do then. I lost my identity. I lost my purpose of live. I was sent to police station later the night I reached KL. After spending a night in police station and another night at my aunt’s house, my parents went down to KL to bring me home.

I never told them the truth, I lied that I was kidnapped. Soon after a few days I went back to my house, they discovered the truth. My father was very angry, he canned me badly, and said that, “You are not my child; I don’t have a son like you.” Both of us hurt deeply, both me and my father, who could stand calm knowing his own son run away from home because not feeling loved?

I moved to my grandmother’s village to study after the incident, thinking that changing an environment might help. I was still lying, cheating, stealing at my grandmother’s place. But something different was, my cousin brought me to a church on weekend. I had my 1st Sunday school there. The most important things were that I came to know this God who proclaims He loves me, something I was looking for but never found anywhere.

I started to read bible, getting to know Jesus more. Found out how He loves me, died on cross to reconcile God for my sins, even before I know Him, I was touched. At the age of 12, I prayed and invited Jesus to become my personal Savior and Lord of my life.

Things wouldn’t be the same since then, He started to transform me. I started to value things I didn’t. I learned to be honest, as that’s the key to true friendship and trust. I learned to respect others' properties, stealing is a crime and a sin in God’s eyes. I learned how to honor and love my parents, appreciate their sacrifices to bring us up. I learned, and still learning, how to love, since God loves me so much and He teaches me how to love by sending His only begotten Son to be my Redeemer.

I was changed since I believed Him. Accepting Him to be my Lord makes me live a totally different way. I started to enjoy studies, finding how great and wonderfully God created this world. I started to live a happy and joyful life, knowing nothing is beyond His control, no matter good things or bad things that happened, He can turn them into blessing to my life.


Now I live a joyful life, not that everything just happened the way I wanted to, but knowing He is my shepherd and guide, I know for sure that I can fully depend on Him in every aspect of my live. Praise God for He is the wonderful God who loves all of us, and wants us to dwell with joy in Him.

CF Rally - a reflection

It was a good intended event, a very good and sincere and well-minded attempt to unite all Christian Fellowship, a.k.a. CF, from various institutes to focus on ‘make famous’ the name of Jesus. A well call to unity among CF, to focus on evangelism and discipleship, to love one another, to pray-listen-obey a.k.a. PLO.

Alas, if only this is done in accordance of God’s Word.

Several time the speaker and/or emcee said that we must not let our denomination, tradition and practice differences divide us, but let us be in agreement, in unity, in making the name of Jesus famous. Certainly unity is what we as Christian should strive for, but on what ground? And with expense of what?

Christian unity is based on Christ and His Word. In Ephesians 4:11-14, Paul teaches that God had given His church apostles, prophets, evangelist, pastor and teacher, so that the church can ‘attain to the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, … so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.’ Unity is closely related to these gifts, which closely related to Christian doctrine and teaching, which in turn relates to practices. Unity without regard of content of belief, ground and purpose is but a naïve ideal that can’t last long. Unity must be founded upon the gospel. It is the gospel of Christ that breaks away the wall of enmity among peoples. (Eph 2:11-21) Unity of Christians must have the Word of God as the controlling frame. Hence doctrine and practice comes into play, for some of them being false and in against the gospel, so we must criticize and refuse to have unity with false teachers and practices against the gospel, lest we share in their evil works. (Gal 2:11-14; 2 John 9-11)  

Earlier in the same chapter, Paul talked of ‘eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.’ True unity is result of the work of Holy Spirit. Hence true unity must reflect the attribute and work of Holy Spirit. Two aspects that I would want to mention here. Holy Spirit is Holy Spirit. Therefore unity of Christian must reflect such holiness from the worldly pattern. Our practice, behavior, etc., must show that we belong to Christ. Certainly this holiness includes love, for that is the fruit of Spirit. But love has also the disposition for truth. (1 Cor 13:6) This follows as well to the second aspect, that Holy Spirit is also Spirit of Truth. Therefore this unity must be framed and bounded by Truth, the revealed Word of God, the Scripture. The unity must be holy, hence it will certainly exclude those which are not holy, that is those that is not in accord with biblical truth and principles.

We wish to live in a world that is no war, no dispute of idea or doctrine, no differences of practices. But we need to understand that this is not a perfect world, sin had destroyed unity. Such unity only restored through the gospel of cross, not by ignoring all denominational difference of doctrine, tradition and/or practice. Furthermore, is that all those different are threats and stumbling rock to unity? Why can’t we in humility, appreciate and admire and learn from each denominations, traditions, and/or practices? The real obstacle to unity is arrogant and ignorant toward others, not the differences that exist among each other. This is one of many reasons we should study the Word carefully and theology diligently, so that we are well equipped to discern whom we can and should have unity with, and others that we should exclude for the sake of holiness of the people of God, for He is Holy.

Last but not least, I pray that this CF Rally bear more fruits than chaos. So often we too focus on different and forget about the oneness that we share in our belief and allegiance and calling in the same Lord and Savior. So often we lack of love to our neighbors. Too often we busy with our own agenda and neglect God’s kingdom. Too often we busy with Instagram and Facebook and Twitter, and abandon time to go to our knees before Him. May God have mercy on us, help us to restore a godly lives in Christ.

19 April 2014 - A reflection

I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.

2 Samuel 7:14-15

Lord God of hosts, You alone are great.
Indeed Almighty is awesome
For You are faithful to Your promises to Your servant
You redeemed me with the blood of Your Son
Sanctified me with Your Spirit, and
Still sanctifying and transforming me to the likeness of Your Son
You disciplines me whenever I sinned against You
Your staff pull me back tenderly when I gone astray from Your path
You carries me with Your loving mighty arm
When I fell to the ground and bruised
Truly bruised reed You do not break
Faintly burning wick You do not quench
But You shows steadfast love to Your people
According to Your covenantal mercy

Therefore LORD of hosts, my LORD, my God
Teach me Your way, O LORD
That I may walk in Your truth
Unite my heart to fear Your name
That I will after Your heart all my life
Strengthen me when I am weak
Bring me back to You when I am lost
Discipline me when I become stubborn
Soften my heart that I be mold by Your statute
Produce in me a thirst for Your truth
Create in me a hunger for Your righteousness
May my life bring forth Your glory
May my life show forth Your grace
May Your kindness be sure in my path
May Your faithfulness be firm on my way
That Your name will be great
And the world will bring You praise

In the name of Jesus Christ, my LORD, my God, my Savior, Amen  

Psalm 77

I cry aloud to God,
aloud to God, and he will hear me.
in the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;
my soul refuses to be comforted.
When I remember God, I moan;
When I meditate, my spirit faints.

You hold my eyelids open;
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
I consider the days of old,
the years long ago.
I said, “Let me remember my song in the night;
Let me meditate in my heart.”
Then my spirit made a diligent search:
“Will the Lord spurn forever
and never again be favorable?
Has his steadfast love forever ceased?
Are his promises at an end for all time?
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up his compassion?

Then I said, “I will appeal to this,
to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”

I will remember the deeds of the LORD;
yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
I will ponder all your work,
and meditate on your mighty deeds.
Your way, O God, is holy.
What god is great like our God?
You are the God who works wonders;
You have made known your might among the peoples.
You with your arm redeemed your people,
the children of Jacob and Joseph.

When the waters saw you, O God,
when the waters saw you, they were afraid;
Indeed, the deep trembled.
The clouds poured out water;
the skies gave forth thunder;
your arrows flashed on every side.
The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
your lightnings lighted up the world;
the earth trembled and shook.
Your way was through the sea,
your path through the great water;
yet your footprints were unseen.
You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

*******

What do we do when we are stressed?
When we doubt God? When we unsure of His grace, faithfulness?
When we ‘don’t feel’ His presence?
When we tremble before Him, don’t know what to pray?
When we face all kind of pressure within and without us?

The psalmist poured out his heart.
He cried aloud to Him. Then,
he pondered and meditate on the work of the Lord.
The ancient mighty deeds He did
when He brought His people out from the land of slavery

Today too, let us learn to focus on Him.
Lives is never easy. Especially since Adam sinned.
But we add our sorrowness upon that root: we sin, too.
We make our lives more miserable
when we focus on problems, instead of Him

Here is the solution: focus on God
think of Him, meditate of His deed
Remember how He led His army from Egypt?
Remember how He opened the sea with His mighty deed?
He is Almighty, the Holy One, no other gods match Him

So take heart! He never forget!
His path through the water is unseen
Likewise His wondrous work in our lives
Tough often unseen to us, yet
He works marvel us when we are delivered

So praise Him! Give Him glory! For He deserves that!
He is the Holy One of Israel
and we His people
Whom He chosen in Christ
Surely, He will shepherd us till we see Him face to face

Lord God, Jesus Christ my Savior
Save me

*******

Psalms 118:14
The LORD is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.