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Writing Down and Colouring Verses to Slow Down

2 July 2021 blogpastor Leave a comment

Memorising verses was something I did as a spiritual discipline in the early years of my spiritual growth. I was influenced by the Navigators in the late 1970s and 1980s when the Lord raised this ministry to add a solidity to the growth of the Singapore church during that period.

MEMORISING SCRIPTURES

I recall attending Navigator conferences that packed large halls and practical workshops that motivated us and gave us practical instructions that helped us to grow spiritually. One of these workshops was on memorising scriptures. It fuelled me to buy memory packs and make my own personal store of memory verses. I memorised over a hundred verses.

I read somewhere that Jesus often quoted verses in his preaching and teaching ministry. If I recall correctly there are about 150 different verses that Jesus quoted from the Old Testament, and this is only what had been recorded by the writers of the gospels. What if the unrecorded were included. I figured that if the sinless Son of God needed to keep so much of God’s word in his heart I dare not conceive of living with less.

That season lasted for a few years and continued into my National Service days when I met with two other Navigator trained Christians in the NS Christian Fellowship at Mindef. As iron sharpens iron, so we sharpened each other.

TO SLOW DOWN AND GIVE ATTENTION

Recently, I found the Lord inviting me gently into this spiritual exercise. It started with a difficulty in concentration during my daily scripture reading. The words passed over my mind like birds that swiftly flew by. So I simply began to write down and coloured the verse that caught my attention. I did it deliberately to slow my mind down, to give attention to each word, to allow God to give insights. I found it helpful because it prevented me from merely going through the motion of “having done my quiet time” for the day.

I was going through Psalms after I retired. When I reached Psalm 103 I found that every verse were so meaningful that I decided to slow down and try to memorise and meditate on a verse a day. Then this was followed by Psalms 112. I was surprised at the grace given to me to do this. Prior to this the only psalm I have memorised was Psalms 23. Having done these two psalms, I felt drawn to memorising passages in the epistles that are packed with teaching about Christ’s finished work and new covenant blessings. So now I am “in Christ” and in “heavenly places” in Ephesisan 1.

I do not know how much longer I will continue with this spiritual exercise. As long as it gives me life, I will continue with it. However, the Spirit blows where it wills, and I want to follow where my faithful friend drops markers of nourishment and life.

Maybe reading this stirs in you a prompting or desire to try this. To write down and colour verses to help you slow down when reading scriptures. Or to go further and memorise and meditate and pray scriptures. Whatever you choose to do, let me know in the comment box how it turned out.

The steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear him.

Racism And The Church

30 June 2021 blogpastor 2 Comments

Racism is a hot topic today all over the Western world and even in multi-racial Singapore. The backdrop of the death of George Floyd and “Black Lives Matter” in the past year, and recent local discussions about racism make this topic something all Christians should be knowledgeable about, so that we can be formed to be effective witnesses in our attitudes, conversations with people and in our online interactions.

I preached this message “RACISM AND THE CHURCH” to my home church (World Revival Prayer Fellowship) on July 2021, and decided to upload it on my BLOGPASTOR channel. It was well received by members because it was a relevant and pertinent topic on social media as well as the national newspaper.

It is a 40 minutes full message, so if you wish to scroll to what interests you, here is a guide: 0:00 Stories of casual racism 6:48Definition of Racism 8:00 Examples of serious racism where lives were lost and the church was an accomplice 14:35 God has a multi-racial dream 16:59 We share a common ancestry 19:22 Research spun off from Human Genome Project throws light on the races 25:25 What went wrong and how it can be made right 31:44Personal action steps we can take.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNuIQIjn4fE&t=2s

I trust that this message has blessed you and you will share it with other Christians so when opportunities arise, Christians can be confident to talk about it and share about God’s multi-racial dream and His love.

If, like me, you had some experience of subtle or casual racism directed at you do share (without being vitriolic) your experiences and how you sorted out the hurts and insults in the comment box below.

POSTSCRIPT: I sent my videos to pastor friends for input, and retired pastor Seng Chor commented that mention of the creation of man in the image of God (Genesis 1:27)should shape our view of how we view people of other races: with respect and graciousness. This certainly is the foundation on which to frame our view of race equality and multi-ethnic relations. Thanks, Seng Chor.

My Curry Journey

23 June 2021 blogpastor Leave a comment

It all started when my brother Victor found mum’s recipe for making curry powder. Mum used to buy bulk the various spices needed for her recipe, and would wash them and sun them dry. Then she would go to the Indian spice blender and get the spices ground and mixed. She would pack them up and sell them to neighbours and friends. Mum was diligent. Her powder was quite “powderful” and popular. So my brother did the same thing for remembrance sake, and passed some curry powder to me. I missed my mum’s curry but cannot exactly remember how it tasted, but surmised that I would recognize it if I were to taste it.

TRYING OUT DIFFERENT RECIPES

I did not know how my mum made her curry and wished I learned it when she was around. Nobody else in the family knew how. So I looked around YouTube for recipes that used curry powder to make curry. I found one of an Indian version and tried it out. It was a light curry but tasted nothing like my mum’s curry. Thankfully it was edible and my wife and daughter and myself finished it up. Edible, as I said.

The second time, I again surfed YouTube and found a Malaysian recipe. Maybe, this was how mum cooked it, the Malaysian style. This was a total disaster. It was too salty. I had marinated the chicken in too much salt. I had to ask my wife how to salvage the dish. In the end, we added potatoes, removed the chicken and soaked it in water. I also had to make more curry gravy to dilute the saltiness of the old pot. These did the trick and again the curry was edible. We finished it. Edible, as I said.

Thank God my wife and daughter were patient and not fussy eaters. I had an evaluation after two failures of replicating my mum’s curry, and thought that maybe this pursuit would be futile. First, I cannot replicate what I cannot remember clearly. Second, when my supply of curry powder is gone, who is going to make the next batch? I should develop my own curry making process with curry powder that is available commercially, for example Baba’s curry. Or just settle for those commercial ready-made rempah by brands like Prima or triple A or A1.

DISTRACTED BY DUCK CURRY

Recently, a friend, Pastor Patrick of Enjoy Church, invited me, Pastor Lawrence Koo of New Horizon Church, and Pastor Andrew Khoo of New Hope Community Services for lunch. It was a sumptuous lunch, all cooked by him. Only two other pastors I know cooked this well, my former colleague the Mandarin congregation pastor Edmund Loong, and my pastor friend Koh Seng Chor. The star dish was his duck curry, he declared. That caught my attention. I liked the taste of it. It was quite unique. He told me how it was done and it seemed relatively easy to follow. I will try this one day.

*Pastors Patrick, Lawrence Koo, Andrew Khoo, Kenny, Piteulia*

JAPANESE CURRY

Yesterday, in an emergency, I had to cook. I decided to use those Japanese instant curry mix which I had in the kitchen cupboard. Cubed the potatoes, onions and carrots and chopped two chicken thighs into pieces. Fried three beef burger patties and eggs and dinner was ready. I was tempted to forget about all the long-drawn process of making curry using curry powder – simply buy those off-the-shelf ones and in less than an hour it is done! The Japanese curry was edible and it was finished. Edible, as I said.

I was thirsty that night. Must be the amount of artificial monosodium glutamate in it. I am back to wanting to find a sustainable way of making curry, good curry (without ajinomoto). I hope to do it before my heart gives way.