A Coincidence? Or All Part of His Design?

Today was quite an interesting and complementary day for me. Throughout the morning right up to the night, my theme seemed to be centred on this one thing called sacrifice.

I arrived at college in the morning later than usual today. I did not have any lessons, so I went straight to the library and…had a “rest” for an hour or so XD.

When I woke up around 10.00am later, I did not follow my usual routine of college studies/work; after prayer I went straight to tackle a question/passage from my Bible sharing material which I have yet to fully comprehend. Took me a total of…5 hours? over a span of 6 days before I could come up with a satisfactory explanation just for one single question with a passage (just to let you know, the question is related to 2 Corinthians 5:1-10).

When I went for Christian Fellowship (CF) during the afternoon, the pastor message was about standing up for what we believe. He referred to a young man from the Bible who could identify with us as a campus student. That person was Daniel and his 3 friends (you can find them in the book of Daniel).

When Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego first stood up for their beliefs, they were in a manner similar to us; they were in their youth, and were furthering their studies. Being away from their homeland, you could say that they were given a great measure of freedom from the laws and bindings of their nation Israel. Despite this, they resolved not to defile themselves by taking feasting on the king’s table food and wine; instead they opted for vegetables and water. As a result of foregoing even the king’s tastiest banquet, God rewarded them, and the four were healthier than the rest of their peers.

Later, when the king issued a decree that all must prostrate before the golden statue, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were the only ones courageous enough to go against this command, even if it means being thrown into a fiery furnace. And as for Daniel, when a decree was made stating that no one may worship God for 30 days(except the king), he continued to give praise to the Lord even though he knew he would be convicted and thrown into a lions’ den. For that, all these men prospered from the glory of God. They were young, yet stood up risking their lives for what is right and true, and through their actions, made a history throughout the empire.

After CF, I was supposed to meet my project group mates and begin manufacturing our final year project. I even brought my equipment so I can do some rough estimations. In the end, we received word from one of our group mates that we will not be able to use his dad’s place today as he (that group mate) is “out and had forgotten to bring with him the machining equipments”. Ah well, sacrifice.

When I finally arrived home, I only did 30 minutes of study as compared to my usual 2 hours (at least). Could not fully concentrate even then; I was quite sleepy to begin with. I decided to use my remaining time after that for ashort relaxation before I continued to preparing for tonight’s cell group (CG) as well as polishing up my problematic question/passage. Still, I must say I do not lament the limited time I had for my studies; the events of the day was already starting to feel appropriately linked to one another. Besides, I have faith that God will see me through as long as He is put first =).

Before CG, we had Stations of the Cross, a spiritual pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and a reminder of our Lord’s sacrifice for us on the road to Calvary. We then started off this week’s CG, which centered on this particular saint: Anna Wang.

Anna Wang (aged 14) was born in China and lived during time of the Boxer Rebellion, when Christians were heavily persecuted and hunted down. In 1900, she and her stepmother were arrested along with many other Catholics. The captors gave them a choice: if they publicly apostatised, the former believers were to enter the West Room were their lives would be spared; if not, if they chose to remain in the East Room, they were to be executed. Anna’s stepmother chose the former and tried to drag her away to the West Room, but Anna resisted, insisting to believe in God and crying out to Jesus.

The next day, the soldiers led the believers to the execution ground, where Anna witnessed the beheading of several people including children and an infant. When her turn came, the soldier gave her another opportunity to deny her faith and even offered to marry her to a rich family. Yet Anna rejected and endured a cut in her flesh, then her arm before finally beheaded, all the while asked if she would renounce her faith after each strike. The end result saw her family repented, turned to God and became faithful believers.

When it came to sharing (our CG gets everyone to share their thoughts and opinions on the questions/passage), our group had a deep, intellectual and thought-provoking discussion based the topic, which questioned our spirituality whether or not we are truly willing to give up everything – our lives, our family, our memories – as long as we have Christ. Not an easy answer to give, if you truly sit and think about it.

In the end, we only managed up to the second question. The third, in which I spent hours preparing and deciphering – even going as far as to meet up with my current youth minister (and current CG leader) Martin before CG – was skipped due to lack of time. Ah well, sacrifice. Besides, I must say I enjoyed the discussion with my fellow peers.

After ending with a prayer, our group had supper in our host’s house itself, since the aunty had brought back a large amount of food that would spoil if we do not finish it tonight. I ended with my sacrifice for that day: I had to sacrifice my sacrifice of fasting by finishing up 2 packets of nasi lemak, 2 slices of (sponge?) cake, as well as kuih XD.