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New Routes & New Bike

9 June 2022 blogpastor Leave a comment

Ride to Gardens by the Bay

I wonder if it is gradually becoming a monthly affair, this cycling with other pastors? In April, we tried a new route. We met at my home in Jurong East at 8.30am and used the Ulu Pandan Park Connector to get to Ghim Moh Hawker Center, where we had a light break. Most of us had breakfast already, but we sat around with coffee and tea and chee cheong fun. Mostly talking about whats going on in life. Then we connected to the Rail Corridor starting from near the Buono Vista MRT. We cycled all the way to the old railway signal building at Tanjong Pagar, and carried our bikes across some drains, to use the road leading to the Gardens By The Bay.

The return route was new to me. We went back to Jurong East via the West Coast, passing by Harbourfront, the Marina at Keppel Bay, Labrador Park, West Coast Park and linking back to Jurong Circular Bridge and back home through the International Business Park. We reached my home at around 3.30pm, a good day of cycling, exploring and fellowship with pastors. It was a good workout, and fun to visit new places, try a new route, and to connect with one another. Must do another cycling trip, another day.

Ride to Sentosa

Pastor Richard Wong suggested Sentosa, and I never cycled there before, so why not? Others were game too. Furthermore, one of us, Rev Vincent was gifted with a new Brompton, a black beauty, by his wife, and we wanted to see him riding in it. We met early, or at least I was the earliest, at Seah Imm Hawker Center. It is always good to start with warm up with breakfast. I took a bus and was there earliest, and next was Richard. We had our roti prata before the others trickled in. We were impressed with the black beauty of Vincent’s new Brompton, and he certainly looked cool in it!

This trip proved to be eventful. Richard was our guide because he had cycled there a few times. But we were struck with disaster straightaway as Richard’s bicycle chain broke at Harbourfront Centre. He told us to go ahead. Thank God he managed to find a repair shop at Telok Blangah and took a Grab taxi there (another advantage of foldable bikes). We were blessed because Pastor Eng Hwa also knew Sentosa quite well, so we went off and later linked up with Richard at Sentosa beach.

The slopes were not easy for us seniors. Vincent was enthusiastically test his Brompton up the slopes, and frankly, with this new bike, he was faster than any of us. Thankfully our bikes had good gears and that helped. However, at one sixty degree incline I could not continue and sat down to rest with Vincent. By then, Eng Hwa had already reached the top. I have learned through hiking that when you are out of breath and your heart is pounding, its best to stop to rest – which was what I did. You have to admire those who take part in the 23 day Tour de France! For me, I know my limits and live accordingly. We went down after I had sufficient rest.

There is a direct bus for me from Jurong East Interchange to Seah Imm bus stop. Again, I delighted in riding to the interchange, folding my bike, bringing it on the bus, and comfortably arriving to my destination. It was as easy coming home. I love the idea of riding foldable bikes! I do not have to ride all the way to any particular destination. I could take a train or a bus to a location from which I can cycle the route I wanted.

Rising Cost of Living & the End Time

7 June 2022 blogpastor 2 Comments

I was seated at the Giant supermarket when my wife came to me and showed me some French beans. She said the price has doubled. Later she brought to me another two types of vegetable and told me the amount it increased. Yesterday, I also read in the news that some premium petrol has reached the SGD$4 per litre mark. Unheard of in all my thirty years of driving. It seems that prices have increased more than 50% in many cases. Electricity rates have gone up. Transportation costs have gone up. Food prices have gone up. My wife informs me about price increases. She does the grocery and pays the bills. She knows.

I sometimes tell her, “Can you quote Philippians 4: 19 “my God shall supply all your needs” at the end of every update of price increase?” God’s promises need to be mentioned alongside news of inflation. It is an antidote to worry and fear. Faith comes by hearing the word of God.

This inflation looks likely to be set in place for the long haul. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has affected the world. Pandemic lockdowns have caused disruptions of supply chain distribution and will continue to do so as long as China keeps its zero-covid policy. And not to forget: the GST increase the Singapore government had announced it would implement from 1 January 2023 onwards. It will keep its word.

We are living near the close of this age. The black horse and its rider (symbol of famine or food shortages) with the pair of scales in his hand in the Apocalypse (Rev 6:5,6) reminds us of what is to come. “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, or three quarts of barley, but don’t lay a finger on the oil and wine”. What can feed only one person can only be bought with a whole day’s wage. Barley would be cheaper but still the amount would not be be enough to feed a whole family. The poor will suffer. Only the rich can afford what was once affordable for the middle income (oil and wine). Cost of living will skyrocket. So will lawlessness. Only the love of many will decrease, will grow cold (Matthew 24:13).

Where does this leave retirees living off the monthly amounts from their CPF retirement savings? If they receive a monthly payout of SGD$1,000 a month, it will be able to buy one half of what it used to be able to buy in goods and services. The current crisis invites us to trust God to be faithful in providing for us. He who feeds the sparrows knows our need. It invites us to live within our modest means and find contentment and joy in Him alone. It invites the well-off to look out for poor who are in need, and to share God’s abundance with them. The church has the opportunity to truly become the community of love Jesus envisioned. May the world see this and say, “How these Christians love one another!”

Preparing Pilgrims for the Camino Ignaciano

31 May 2022 blogpastor Leave a comment

Preparing people for the Camino Ignaciano 2022 has been a joyful experience for me. The word camino in Latin means path or way or road. The famous camino is the Camino de Santiago, which is an ancient pilgrimage network of paths and roads that pilgrims travel on foot to reach the destination of the Cathedral de Compostela. The Camino Ignaciano (“Ignatian Way”) is another pilgrim route of 640km taken by St Ignatius from Loyola to Manresa. You can read more about this HERE. The difference between this pilgrimage and the “original” is that this has an added silent retreat component of the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius enclosed within the camino. This contemplative component makes it unique.

My role in the Ignatian Journey team together with Matthew Chen, is to prepare people for a more fruitful experience of this walk. Obviously, physical conditioning is part of this process, so the team has organised a series of monthly walks beginning with easier walks to more challenging ones, as the pilgrims approach the date of their departure in September and October. Learning to walk with the Ignatian dictum of finding God in all things is the other thing we hold space for them to cultivate during these organised walks.

Thus far, we have had four practice walks and I have begun to meet wonderful people who love the Lord and hope to experience Him through this camino. They are all of different levels of physical fitness, with a few apprehensive if they would be able to keep up. I am confident they will be able if they keep having regular lengthy walks outside of the organized walks. While doing this, they can continue to learn to be more fully aware of God’s presence all around them and to enjoy God’s many bountiful gifts of His creation and man’s.

I am enjoying it because my years of hiking and prayer experience is both being used by the Lord to help prepare these people for their camino. I enjoy getting to know a few of them and to hear some of their stories. I like it when I see these friends bathed in perspiration, or relishing the fresh forest air and birdsong. In addition, I can feel the sense of achievement and anticipation building up among them with each practice walk. It is a joy to see them greet and share stories with each other, months before they walk together in the cool but sunny weather of Spain in September.