Above all else

The adopted "verse of the year" for my church has been 2 Corinthians 2:14 "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him." God ALWAYS leads us in TRIUMPH and THROUGH US, His fragrance is SPREAD EVERYWHERE. The picture, by the way, is of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. In the past 9 months, I can confidently testify that God’s promise has been fulfilled. Two of the more obvious examples are: (a) my church’s campaign to bless 100,000 people, which ended up several thousand ahead of the plan; and (b) our zoo trip, attended by many of our colleagues, and which was widely publicized throughout the office through our fund-raising efforts. We have much to thank God for in relation to the zoo trip – enthusiastic colleagues, safety of the children despite their wild running , and great weather (especially since it has rained the last two mornings since the zoo trip!). Let’s co...

I’ll split my sharing for this post into a couple of parts: (a) Trouble is inevitable but ONLY God can provide absolutely certain protection (b) God needs to protect us from ourselves (c) God uses the church to protect us Trouble is inevitable but God's protection is certain Psalm 91 is one of the most popular parts of the Bible – it speaks of God’s benevolent protection over those whom He loves. But why do bad things still happen to us? God WILL protect us, but this does not mean there will not be trouble. Psalm 91:14-15 says: "Because he loves me," says the LORD,"I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him." Clearly, there is no rescue if there is no danger. There is no protection without harm. There is no deliverance without crisis. God says he will be with us IN TROUBLE. But BECAUSE WE LOVE HIM, He WILL rescue, He WILL protect,...

I watched this film on the plane from Singapore to London. The film is not, as one might suspect, about the writer of the hymn Amazing Grace, who was the reformed English slaver John Newton. Rather, it concerns the English parliamentarian William Wilberforce. An interesting write-up of William Wilberforce's life, which makes reference to John Newton's influence on William Wilberforce, can be found on wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wilberforce. I enjoyed the film tremendously, and I thought I might share three lessons I learned from it. The first is this. Always persevere. William Wilberforce was an abolitionist in an age when slavery was widely accepted. He struggled for years, failure after failure, to champion a law abolishing the slave trade. After many years, and many failed attempts, he finally succeeded. Had he not persevered, human suffering would probably have been prolonged for much longer. The second thing is this. He surrounded himself with like-mi...