Prayer – Page 10 – BLOGPASTOR

Lost and found: the S Pen and Samsung Note 10.1 tablet

The Lord really cares for the minute and mundane as well as the major things in our life.
I have been using the Samsung Note 10.1 tablet for a few years now. I bought it because of the S Pen, that little instrument tucked in the bottom right hand of the tablet, is slick and efficient handwriting tool. I loved it because I journal quite a bit and the feeling of writing by hand is more satisfying than that of typing on a computer. I have enjoyed using the S Pen function most of the time as I write faster than I type and I need to make quick notes in meetings and when I jot sermon ideas and brainstorm and re-order points.
So it was with great consternation when I realized that I have misplaced my S Pen. Tried as I would to retrace where I could have lost it, I could not find the pen. It upset me and I asked the Lord several times to help me find this precious instrument. After a few days, I started to ask Samsung stores in Jurong if they sold spare S Pen for Note 10.1. To my surprise they do not carry them. How much space would a pen take? They said, Even if you go to the service centre they may still have to order from Seoul. That frustrated me.
Last week, at my office desk, I found the S Pen. It was in a container with all my pencils and ballpoint pens. How did it get there? I checked my whole desk surface but never searched that container. I was delighted. That office became a place of worship. The three words came to mind, HOW MUCH MORE? I mean this is not world hunger, Middle East conflict, or a deadly disease. Yes, if God cares about such minute mundane matters, how much more will He care about the more important stuff, like a loved one’s salvation, or who will succeed the older generation of pastors and missionaries in the church, or the re-ignition of the faith of the second generation Christians, or your health and financial needs, and your spiritual growth to maturity. Yes He does care for all these matters. How much more, how much more.

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Looking at the online used cars market (sgcarmart) has been frustrating. Depreciation of used cars with one or two years left in their COE went at an average of $1,000 a month. This means I lose $1000 a month to own the used car. This is before adding the driving costs of insurance, road tax, petrol, repairs and maintenance. You wait and you wait and it does not get better. The prices of used cars went north. The costs of owning a used car in Singapore is crazy.

Was it ever like that in the past? I do not know. I drove a church van from 1985-2004, nearly ten years, so I never had to look at the car market. Only about ten years ago the church paid about $60,000 for a Hyundai Matrix. Today that amount is a wee short of paying for the Certificate of Entitlement (COE) – the permission to use a new car in Singapore for ten years.

But God answers prayer. He did say, Ask and it will be given, seek and you will find, knock and it shall be opened to you.

Help came to me in the grace I have received from God to cope with using public transport. I admit it is tough during peak hours in the MRT and I avoid this whenever I can. So I was able to take the train or the bus to the church office or to Trinity Theological College library. His grace and my umbrella and short sleeve cotton shirts were sufficient.

Help also came in the form of friends who went on overseas vacations for one to six weeks and let me use their cars – a blessed convenience indeed. Thank God for that. Once an American missionary, James Creasman went back to USA, and let me use his Toyota Picnic for several weeks since its COE had not expired and that covered a busy December period when I needed a car badly, bless his heart, and bless the Lord o my soul.

My champagne Nissan Latio for the next few months.

Help came recently through a cell leader and friend Sunny Chong. He had been actively helping me to look out for a used car. One of his colleagues Andrew had a Nissan Latio with a COE that runs till mid-November. His daughter bought a new continental car and transferred her Mistsubishi Lancer to him since it had two years of COE left to run. He wanted to sell his car to dealers and they gave him low prices. Sunny suggested he sell it to me for an additional sweetener. Throw in the transfer fees, insurance and the sums show a depreciation of half of $1000. I was thankful for this blessing. It is God’s answer to mysearch and prayer. Does God care about such down to earth matters? Yes the God who is attentive to sparrows, lilies and grass that grows and dries up on the same day does care about COE and second hand cars. And God cares for the big picture too of course – world peace, poverty, natural disasters and human conflicts – everything serious and global.

For now I am just thankful I can go into my Latio and drive to wherever I need to tomorrow. As to whether I should extend the COE by another five years or pay a ransom for an eight year old car or go back to public transport, I have put it in God’s hands. Today’s worries are sufficient, and I do not want to add tomorrow’s fears to today’s list of concerns.

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How much more ….

Crazy costs of owning a used car