We three kings of Orient are, bearing gifts we traverse afar
Field and fountain, moor and mountain, following yonder star O star of wonder, star of light, star with royal beauty bright, westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light. The above hymn, composed in 1857 by the American ecclesiologist Dr. John Henry Hopkins, Jr., is an old favorite sung every Christmas season. It’s common knowledge today that the “three kings of Orient” were probably neither kings, if by that we mean political leaders of kingdoms and nations, nor exactly three in number. Likely, they were the intellectual descendants of the wisemen of Babylonia – the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers described in Daniel 2 – who might have learned of the coming of Messiah from “missionaries” like the prophet Daniel to whom God had sent, by way of the Babylonian Exile. And to the extent that Daniel might have prophesied publicly about the coming Messiah (in places like Daniel 9:24-27) to his fellow wisemen in Babylon, that knowledge could have passed down through the years to subsequent generations of the Persian intellectual elite, like the Magi described in Matthew 2. The story of the Magi and their quest for “the king of the Jews” has long intrigued me. I suppose part of the reason is because, in my former profession as a scholar and political analyst, I was, in a manner of speaking, the contemporary version of the “magicians and enchanters” who advised their political masters – and whose heads risk being lopped off (metaphorically, in my case, although that’s debatable) should they proffer bad policy advice to their bosses or contrarian advice that upsets them! But what excites me most about the Magi is their determined quest to seek after and to welcome the birth of the Christ, in order that they might worship Him! We read in Matthew 2: After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” ~Matthew 2:1-2 Today’s world of academia and the intelligentsia is known for its long-held skepticism toward religious beliefs. By privileging science over ethics and religion, the ideology of scientism engendered secularism and increased societal hostility toward Christianity. But the story of the Magi is an apt reminder that all is not lost because wisemen everywhere still seek Christ or at least they have the potential to do so, despite their PhDs (aka “Piled Higher and Deeper”). Indeed, the story of the Magi is highly pertinent to the ministry of ISI. In our work with international students and scholars, we serve and minister to modern-day Magi who have come to America not just from the east, but also the north, south, and west. They represent, as we in ISI like to say, the best and the brightest of their home countries; they are the future global leaders who will impact and influence their nations and societies – hopefully for good rather than ill. For the most part, they come questing for academic knowledge and technical knowhow, rather than spiritual truth. And yet each of them is a potential seeker who, not unlike the Magi in Matthew 2, stand to be awakened spiritually to the knowledge of God’s salvation and love! Like the Magi who brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh with which to honor King Jesus, these “kings” and “queens” – future political leaders, captains of finance and industry, or key influencers in whatever area of professional and/or social activity to which they may be called – are waiting to be drawn to the brightness of the dawn that Jesus, the Light of the World, brings, and to whom they will present their gifts: Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. ~Isaiah 60:3 May the kings of Tarshish and of distant shores bring tribute to him. May the kings of Sheba and Seba present him gifts. May all kings bow down to him and all nations serve him. ~Psalm 72:10-11 I landed in the States as an international student in 1993. Having spent the previous six years in Canada as a student active in the Navigators campus ministry, I moved to Arizona to pursue a PhD, while also planning to go on staff with the Navigators. I took a wrong turn (or was it the right one?) and ended up unexpectedly with ISI! Much like the Magi did two millennia ago, I’d followed the divine westward-leading starlight to Tempe, AZ where I brought tribute to King Jesus and presented Him gifts – time, treasure, and talent, the very life which He had gifted me. Like the Magi, I’d come to worship and serve God, driven by no more than the promise given us that the time has drawn nigh, “when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks” (John 4:23). And there, in the wild, wild west of Arizona State – the Sun Devils consistently made Playboy magazine’s Top Ten list of party schools – I came face-to-face with Jesus, whose loving spirit was patently evident in the lives of the ISI volunteers serving at the ICF ministry in Tempe, as well as the ISI staff with whom I had the tremendous privilege of serving and from whom I learned so much – Teri Crowell, Nancy Peterson, Ron and Beth Mills, Wayne and Lesley Emery, Tom Marbois, and, needless to say, the late great Dan McCoy. And so, whenever this song is played over the airwaves or sung in church this Christmas season, you can bet I’ll be belting it out! We three kings of Orient are, bearing gifts we traverse afar Field and fountain, moor and mountain, following yonder star O star of wonder, star of light, star with royal beauty bright, westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light! We’re in the season of Advent! Christmas is around the corner with radio stations already playing Christmas carols and retail outlets stocking Christmassy products. For Trina and me, Christmas is truly “the most wonderful time of the year,” when—back in Singapore—we are usually busy with church activities and hosting our regular “evangelistic” Christmas party for unsaved family members and friends at our home. (We’re still working on figuring out our Christmas routine in Colorado Springs!)
It bears reminding that the first Advent—which, as observed today, commences on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and represents a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the Nativity of Christ—was a dreadful time of deep spiritual as well as social, economic, and political darkness for the people of Israel and the world at large. Prophesying 700 years before the birth of Jesus, Isaiah wrote that the peoples of Zebulun and Naphtali were living in deep darkness (Isa. 9:1-2). Bible scholars note that the Galilee region at the time was stricken by debilitating poverty and intense political turmoil and violence. Our Present Darkness But God would honor Galilee with the coming of the Messiah! Born in Bethlehem, Jesus and his family would eventually settle in Nazareth in Naphtali, after their return from Egypt (Matt. 2:22). The Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace would come to establish and uphold justice and righteousness forevermore (Isa. 9:6-7). Oh how we desperately need to be reminded of that awesome truth at a time such as this! No question, we’ve been enduring a prolonged season of intense darkness—of pandemic, economic hardship, racial strife, political tension, and the list goes on. Moreover, according to the latest U.S. visa data, international student numbers in America have declined by 21 percent as compared with pre-COVID times. Lockdowns have significantly impacted our ability to connect with students. Piercing the Darkness Granted, digital technology has enabled us to continue engaging with our students, and we praise God for that! But it just isn’t the same as in-person gatherings, is it? Thank God that He doesn’t do social distancing: His Son came to earth “in the flesh”, and that the resurrected Jesus invited Thomas to touch His pierced hands and side (John 20:27)! And just as the Lord’s first coming pierced the darkness of Galilee, so too shall His “coming” pierce our present darkness with the light of His glory—as you and I act as Christ’s hands, feet, and mouth in making His gospel known and felt among international students! For me, every Christmas brings to mind not only the Incarnate Christ come on earth, but also His power to restore the stricken and wounded to wellness and wholeness. In 1995, I was a wet-behind-the-ears graduate student at Arizona State who was way more interested in ICF ministry than my studies. As Christmas that year approached, I was in Asia doing field research for my PhD dissertation in international politics. I was engaged to a young lady at the time (this was pre-Trina in case you’re wondering). The engagement wasn’t working out, and we made the painful decision to split. A Darkness Lifted Without even being aware of it, I fell headlong into a depression that lasted half a year. Though I had an undergraduate degree in psychology and knew all the academic terms, I couldn’t fathom what was happening to me. It didn’t affect my research—I was good at compartmentalizing—but it pretty much upended everything else. I went about like a zombie, deeply grieving the separation from my “ex.” Every day I dug feverishly into God’s Word—the Book of Job became especially relevant—and I spent long hours in prayer and worship, desperately trying to find answers. Nothing worked. A couple of weeks before Christmas, the funk of the past six months simply lifted! That morning, I’d been meditating on the Song of Zechariah in Luke 1:67-79. I must’ve read the passage a few times, but it seemed like words on a page that I perused listlessly. Suddenly, verses 74 and 75 leapt out at me: Jesus our Messiah has come “to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days” (NIV). They were like an arrow shot from Heaven that hit dead center—they hit my heart, mind, soul, and spirit. Immanuel Has Come! Did the words in those verses address my specific questions? To be honest, not one bit. But it didn’t matter! Somehow, God’s Word penetrated the fog around me and burned it up in a split second, and I was inexplicably set free from my depression. I was like the folks of Zebulun and Naphtali, trapped in a darkness I couldn’t quite explain much less escape from on my own, when, as Isaiah put it, a great light dawned. How crazy is that? Friends, Immanuel is coming, Immanuel has come! Let’s rise up for our light—the glory of the risen Christ—has come! Let’s pierce the thick darkness with prophetic prayer, praise, and action until the nations and their kings are drawn to the light of God’s glory (Isa. 60:1-3)! May Immanuel fill your lives this Christmas and bring wellness and wholeness! “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last – and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.” ~John 15:16-17, NIV
When daylight saving time ended at 2:00 AM on November 1, 2020 and all of us had an extra hour to spare, some folks quipped that it was an additional hour in this year that they would rather do without! It’s been a tremendously difficult time for us all. I wrote some time back in these pages that 2020, a challenging season of pandemic and unrest, could well go down as our Year of Living Dangerously. With COVID infections again on the rise in the US, it looks like things aren’t going to improve anytime soon. And as if things haven’t been difficult enough, the US Presidential Election and its potentially troubled aftermath could prove an additional strain. For some of us, its projected result vindicated our choice; for others of us, it did not go the way we’d hoped. But whether we voted blue or red on November 3 really isn’t the point. Unity and love in the Spirit amid difference and diversity is what counts! We may recall the Lord Jesus saw fit to include a tax collector and a nationalist zealot, the quintessential embodiments of “pro-” and “anti-” Establishment in first-century Palestine respectively, within his Dream Team. Can you imagine the violent political disagreements those 2 guys – Matthew the IRS agent and Simon the AR15-toting radical – might’ve had, only to break bread together, bear each other’s burdens, and lay down their lives for one another? If Jesus called and chose them, and Matthew and Simon loved on one another as brothers in Christ and had each other’s backs, then surely our Lord will most certainly welcome a dash of red and blue – as well as white, black, brown, and yellow – in His kingdom! But it’s probably safe to say the election has deepened, not healed, the social and political divisiveness highlighted during this annus horribilis (disastrous or unfortunate year). We are left wrestling with anxiety and uncertainty. The Apostle Paul reminds us in Philippians 4:6-7: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (NIV). God enjoins us to participate in a divine exchange. On our part, we give to Him – by prayer, petition, and thanksgiving – our anxieties and worries. On His part, He gives us His peace that keeps our hearts and minds fixed on Him! Indeed, Jesus guarantees us His peace even BEFORE we seek for it: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid… In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 14:27; 16:33, NIV). Beloved, let’s ask for God’s peace in the full confidence that He will surely provide that which we so desperately need! In his magnum opus The City of God, St. Augustine argued that Christianity wasn’t responsible for the collapse of Rome, as pagan critics had alleged, but was in fact the reason why that earthly empire flourished in the first place. But more crucially, Augustine’s main point was that despite Christianity’s designation as the official religion of the Pax Romana, the real City of God wasn’t Rome, nor any other earthly city or country for that matter. Rather, it refers to the Heavenly City, the New Jerusalem, whose citizens forgo earthly pleasures and dedicate themselves to King Jesus and the eternal truths of God in Scripture. As the author of Hebrews has it, “For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14, NIV). Augustine reminded his readers that heaven isn’t a place on earth, certainly not the Roman Empire as many early Christians had presumed and even celebrated – only to lament later when Rome collapsed in 410 A.D. You and I are not citizens of an earthly kingdom or nation-state, so far as our Christianity is concerned. Rather, we are spiritual citizens of God’s Kingdom where Jesus reigns as King. Whatever our political or ideological stripes, our ultimate affection and allegiance are not worldly but heavenly: It’s Christ and He alone who deserves our complete love and loyalty! Beloved, more than anything else, it’s doubly crucial, when pandemic and politics are threatening to tear this nation apart, that we need to rise up and point folks to Christ – not just the students we minister to but also our family members, friends, neighbors, colleagues, etc. In John 15:16, the Lord Jesus reminds us He has chosen and appointed you and I – with our different strokes and stripes – to go and bear lasting fruit in His Name. And the way we accomplish that is by loving each other (John 15:17)! The Lord said to Moses, ‘Tell Aaron and his sons, “This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: ‘The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.’ So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”’ ~Numbers 6:22-27
A song that of late has been receiving a lot of airplay on Christian radio and sung in church worship services the world over is “The Blessing,” written by Kari Jobe, Cody Carnes, and the team at Elevation Worship. Taken from the Aaronic or priestly blessing in Numbers 6:24-26, the song has touched a chord with many during this prolonged season of pandemic and unrest. At a torrid time when circumstances have forced us to change the way we live, work, and worship, we are desperate for reminders that God remembers us and that He has neither left nor forsaken us. The Aaronic blessing gives us three timely assurances toward that end. Firstly, the blessing is especially pertinent for us “pilgrims on the journey of the narrow road” (as that old favorite by Steve Green, “Find Us Faithful,” has it). Interestingly, the blessing is snuck in the middle of an elaborate detailing, in the first ten chapters of Numbers, of Israel’s preparations for their journey from Mt. Sinai – where they had just received God’s law, Israel’s national constitution, as it were – to the Promised Land. The blessing is therefore meant for pilgrimage. God doesn’t just say to us, “Folks, I’ve saved and redeemed you, so just follow the road signs and find your own way to heaven. I’ll be waiting for you at the pearly gates to welcome you. No! He stays with us; He journeys with us on the pilgrimage He is sending us on; He will never leave nor forsake us. He is with us every step of the way! Secondly, we read in vv. 25-26, “the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” It’s so important that God’s shining countenance is turned toward us, not against us! An example of “against” is in Psalm 13:1: “How long, Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?” Many of us might have voiced this lament during this year of discontent. Rather, we long for God to turn His face toward us to bless us and give us peace. As Psalm 67:1-2 put it, “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face shine on us – so that Your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.” We’re in the business of making His ways and His salvation known among all nations, and there’s no way we can succeed unless God is gracious to us, unless He blesses us, unless He makes His face shine on us! Finally, I find v. 27 especially intriguing: “So they” – and here God is referring to His priests – “will put My name on the Israelites...” God loves to be associated with His people; He wants to emboss His own name upon us! He dares to entrust us, a people who are prone to stray and wander from Him, with His very integrity. The name of the Lord, Yahweh, is mentioned three times in the blessing. The constant refrain “I will bless them” reminds me of Genesis 12:2-3: “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” When God says He will bless His people, we can take it to the bank. It’s a done deal. And so, dearly beloved, the Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. Amen! The pastors at the church my family and I attend in Colorado Springs are currently preaching through the book of Revelation. Among the many things that make me sit up and go, hmmm, or, say what?!, are the so-called 4 horsemen of the apocalypse in Revelation 6, which represent conquest and domination (v. 2), violence and war (vv. 3-4), economic imbalance and privation (vv. 5-6), and death via sword, famine and plague (vv. 7-8). Far from some distant and indeterminate future, these 4 horses – white, fiery red, black, and pale – represent horrendous conditions that have affected and will continue to affect the world until Christ returns again to set things right.
Well, there’s no doubt that those 4 horses and their riders are doing their job and doing it too well! We’re right smack in the thick of it now with the COVID-19 pandemic, economic hardship, racial strife, and political turmoil, and all signs point to things worsening before they improve, if at all. If you feel like all of this is starting to wear you down, you aren’t alone. Perhaps like Moses (in Numbers 11:11-15) and Jeremiah (in Jeremiah 12:1-4) and Asaph (in Psalm 73:2-14), we sense a complaint welling up within and spewing out of us: "When is all of this going to end, Lord? Why haven’t You stopped the pandemic, reversed the economic downturn, rolled back racial and social injustice, and restored peace and order in this nation??" Perhaps, like Jacob, we cry: "Our way is hidden from the Lord; our cause is disregarded by our God" (cf. Isaiah 40:27). Only to hear God’s reply: "If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?" (Jeremiah 12:5) Compete with horses – seriously?? Stand up to the 4 horses of conquest, war, privation, and death? You’ve got to be kidding us, right Lord? NOT! Quoting the prophet Isaiah, Jesus laid bare His mission on earth: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19). And so too God’s call and anointing on us with the international students to and with whom He has appointed and assigned us! Brothers and Sisters, our God’s promise is that we don’t run with the horses on our own. Nor does He expect us to. He gives us the strength and the endurance to do so; He is our strength! "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint" (Isaiah 40:27-31). In 597 BC, King Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army besieged and captured Jerusalem. In obedience to God’s word, the prophet Jeremiah counselled patient submission to the Babylonians, but was branded a traitor and suffered for it. Nine years later King Zedekiah of Judah revolted by allying with the Egyptians, which led again to Jerusalem coming under attack by the Babylonians. In 586 BC, Jerusalem was destroyed and the forced exile of the Jews to Babylon began.
During this second Babylonian siege, which lasted 2 years (c. 588–586 BC), the inhabitants of Jerusalem suffered greatly. Some believe the Book of Lamentations was written by Jeremiah with the siege as its backdrop. According to Lamentations 2:20, food in the city became so scarce that some purportedly resorted to cannibalism to survive. Amid laments over this great tragedy wrought by Judah’s sin, we get this incredible declaration of faith and hope in Lamentations 3:17-26: I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.” I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. We are nowhere near the horrendous conditions the inhabitants of Jerusalem were faced with. But what we’ve been dealing with sure seems bad enough! What encouragement can we draw from Jeremiah’s statement? When Times are Bad… It doesn’t look like the COVID pandemic will be dissipating anytime soon. In Colorado Springs, schools that reopened for in-person classes now face the dire prospect of possibly closing again because of COVID outbreaks on their campuses. Christian ministries are not exempt; even Focus on the Family was recently declared as a COVID outbreak site. For us in ISI, uncertainty surrounding the state of international student ministry is compounded by personal challenges as our staff and their families wrestle with life in the age of the virus. On a personal note (as I shared in my last blog), the past couple of months have served up a few anxious and frustrating moments for me and my family – including trying to get our U.S. visas renewed while the American embassy in Singapore remained closed due to COVID; my wife Trina nearly dying from dengue shock syndrome in Singapore, while I stood by helplessly on the other side of the world; and trying to make our way back into the States with the U.S. presidential executive ban on visa holders still in effect. Whatever our circumstances, we may be lamenting, as did Jeremiah in vv. 17-20: I’ve been deprived of peace! I’ve forgotten what the good times look and feel like! I don’t see any figs or grapes, the olive crop is failing, and our pens and stalls are empty of sheep and cattle (Habakkuk 3:17). Where, O God, is our splendor? What has become of our hope in You, O Lord? Our afflictions, the wandering, the bitterness, the gall – all of that is ever before us, and our soul is downcast within us. Lord Jesus, where oh where are You?? We Remember… But Jeremiah didn’t stop there! He dug deep into the recesses of his memory bank and remembered something else besides his afflictions, bitterness, and gall; he drew upon the resources and treasures archived and stored in his heart that remind him of God’s character and His compassion for and commitment to His people. And here’s what Jeremiah came up with: Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness (vv. 21-23). The work of remembering is a collective experience and discipline, as much as it is an individual one. The Home Office’s morning devotional and prayer times, including the Tuesday sessions where the Field Staff join in, have been the “threshing floor” where we travail in prayer for and with one another. And it is also there, among other platforms, where we remind one another to dig deep and call to mind God’s unfailing love for us and His great faithfulness to us; it is where we urge and spur each other to hope in Him and not give up. What is it that you and I choose to remember during hard times? Do we think only of the bad stuff that threaten to consume us, if they haven’t already? Or do we also recall God’s goodness and promises, despite the circumstances in which we find ourselves? And We Act! Remembering God’s goodness is about as good as it gets, so long as we don’t do anything beyond that. But we want, we need, way more! We mustn’t just remember; we have to act upon that knowledge. I don’t mean we ought to jump right into frenetic activity – unless that’s what God asks of us. In Jeremiah’s case, there wasn’t really much he could do. During the siege, he was confined in the courtyard of the guard, where King Zedekiah had imprisoned him for bearing news of the imminent fate of both the city and its king (Jeremiah 32:1-5). Yet it was his remembrance of God that strengthened Jeremiah’s resolve to trust in God and to wait for His deliverance: I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord (vv. 24-26). In the midst of his trying circumstances, Jeremiah was determined to act by trusting God and to wait for His deliverance. What about us? P.S. Many thanks, friends, for praying for and with us! Trina and Elisabeth have safely returned to Colorado Springs. We appreciate your continued prayers for Trina’s full recovery from her dengue encounter, which could take up to a few months. “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27).
Italians have a saying – vivere pericoloso, which means “to live dangerously.” In 1964, the then president of Indonesia used the phrase in his independence-day speech, referring to the ongoing unrest in his country as “the year of living dangerously.” His words proved prescient: a year later, he was deposed by a coup d’état. We’re only in the month of August, but 2020 might well go down as our year of living dangerously, fueled by a perfect storm of pandemic, economic woe, and racial, social, and political tumult. For international students in America, the anxiety and uncertainty of schooling under lockdown was further heightened by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) announcement in early July that international students taking online classes only would not be allowed to stay in the US, only for ICE to beat a hasty retreat a week later in the face of lawsuits by the country’s leading universities and state governments against the federal government! Is anything too hard for God? My family and I have had our own version of dangerous living! Leaving home and hearth in Singapore and moving to America to join ISI was a shock to our systems. Starting on the job at the beginning of this year – only to have COVID shake things up – has made it a wild ride, especially with long established conventions and methods becoming passé. I worried whether we could steer the Good Ship ISI safely and surely through the hurricane, when there was no readymade map or blueprint to point the way forward. And yet our ministry is seeing the numbers of decisions for Christ, students (and returnees) in discipling relationships, and those who are actively witnessing and making disciples for Christ all on the upswing during this period! Moreover, thanks to our donors – thanks to God! – our ministry is holding steady financially! Is anything too hard for God? This summer my family and I returned to our home country to renew our US visas – which couldn’t be done in the States – at the American consulate in Singapore. We faced two major hurdles: the consulate was closed thanks to COVID, and there was a US presidential executive order in place blocking visa holders from entering the States. Faced with the prospect of not being able to return to Colorado Springs for up to six months, the ministry drew up a backup plan in case we got stuck in Singapore. In the face of these uncertainties, our visas got renewed and I was able to return safely and soundly to the States! Is anything too hard for God? But we’re not out of the woods yet. My wife Trina and our daughter Elisabeth are still in Singapore. A few days ago, Trina contracted dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease, which landed her in the hospital. The irony for Singapore and other tropical countries is that with more people stuck at home because of lockdown from COVID, there is greater exposure to the dengue-infected mosquitoes breeding in their neighborhoods. In Latin America, more people have reportedly died from dengue fever than from COVID. To be honest, it’s rather frustrating for me not to be able to be by my wife’s side, with her in Singapore and I back in the States. That said, I am amazed and thankful that so many are rallying in prayer for her and for us! Is anything too hard for God? The year of living dangerously offers countless opportunities to welcome Jesus into our crises and troubles. Is anything too hard for God? Nothing whatsoever! When the coronavirus hit the United States early this year, it was thought that the pandemic would go away soon enough. That hasn’t been the case, with COVID-19 infections surging once more as states and cities across the U.S. reopened only to be forced to shut down again. Moreover, with the tragic demise of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, many in America and elsewhere have taken to the streets in protest against racial injustice.
Indeed, racism – and other forms of prejudice and discrimination – have been referred to as maladies afflicting the very fabric of society. If anything, the pandemic has sharpened racial and social cleavages in America between the “haves” who are able to retain their jobs and work remotely, while sheltering at home, and the “have nots” who cannot afford to do so. Far from letting up, the situation seems to have worsened. When it rains, it pours! At times like this, I confess to feeling a bit helpless amid the unremitting onslaught of crises. To be sure, I continue to keep faith in the Lord God whom I worship and serve for He alone is sovereign, all-knowing, and all-powerful to bring about transformative change. I firmly believe that Christ can rescue and deliver. But I’d be lying if I were to insist that I haven’t been affected by the developments of the past weeks. I share the lament of Asaph, Israel’s worship leader during King David’s reign. Declaring that God is good to those who are pure in heart, Asaph then makes a startling confession: “But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold” (Psalm 73:2). Asaph’s admission pretty much describes how I felt! Likewise, my feet nearly slipped when the dire negativity of the present circumstances threatened to overwhelm me. Asaph’s words give voice to my deep sense of frustration and helplessness as I pondered lives heedlessly lost and livelihoods destroyed due to disease and discrimination: “When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you” (Psalm 73:21-22). Whenever I chance upon the foregoing verses, I think of the fictional Marvel character The Incredible Hulk, whom Bruce Banner uncontrollably morphs into whenever he loses his cool. (Obviously, I perused one too many a comic in my younger days…) Whenever the Hulk appears, he invariably ends up leaving a trail of untold destruction. Oh, how often I’ve allowed my heart and spirit to be grieved and embittered, how I’ve become senseless and ignorant – a brute beast before God in the face of pandemic and prejudice! As Solomon once put it, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Proverbs 4:23). Old King Solly sure knew what he was talking about! In his previous life as Saul the persecutor of followers of the Way, the Apostle Paul knew a thing or two about causing the death and destruction of innocents. However, in an amazing letter to his disciple Timothy, Paul, warning against increasing societal lawlessness and willful persecution of Christians aspiring to live godly lives in Christ Jesus, offers a piece of sound and sage advice: “But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:5). Rather than devolving into the uncontrollable brute beast of Psalm 73, I am to keep my head screwed on tight and not lose it in emo fits. I am to stay true to my God-appointed calling and work, and to endure the hardships that come with the territory of godly servanthood. How am I to accomplish all this? How, in the face of crisis, can I avoid worldly distractions and entanglements, and focus on doing and completing God’s will? Not by my own strength, surely! Asaph supplies the answer: “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:25-26). Jesus, be the Strength of my heart and my Portion forever, amen. I’m penning this from my “jail cell” in a Singapore hotel (my 14-day enforced quarantine) where I was whisked immediately upon arriving in Singapore. It’s a ritzy 5-star JW Marriott in the heart of Singapore’s central business district, and my stay is fully paid for by the federal government here, so no tears for me please! Thanks to digital technology, I’ve been conducting meetings both locally as well as with U.S.-based colleagues on a daily basis and operating on multiple time zones, which has had the effect of prolonging my jet lag rather than curing it.
But it has also given me wonderful times spent in the Word and in prayer, including for ISI staff, volunteers, and student leaders. Most recently, I’ve been claiming the promise in Isaiah 32:1-4 for us all: “See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice. Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land. Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen. The fearful heart will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear.” O LORD GOD, may it be that each and every staff member, volunteer, and student leader in ISI rise up to their calling as Your “kings” and “queens,” who shall reign in righteousness and rule with justice in their places of work/study and the circles of influence to which and for which You have appointed them! O GOD, as they go about the King’s business, may they be a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm for those they are ministering to! May they be like streams of water that quench spiritual thirst! May they be like the shadow of a great rock in which international students find Your comfort, peace, and security! May they dwell in the shelter of the Most High, and may they rest in the shadow of the Almighty! May they acknowledge You as their refuge and fortress, the God in Whom they trust (Psalm 91:1-2)! LORD, may the eyes of the students see and may their ears listen! May their hearts, turned and turning toward You, come into the knowledge and understanding of salvation in Christ! And, in due course, may their tongues begin to declare Your praise so more can and will come to know You! In Jesus’ mighty name, amen! |
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