And the tears rolled down…

It is slightly over a week since the mega quake of 9.0 magnitude rocked north eastern Japan with crushing tsunamis that swept everything in its path. In a blink of the eye, the entire costal region of north eastern Japan was levelled. Years and years of hard work that went into developing the region were erased in a matter of seconds. Thinking the worst was over and then came the news of possible nuclear reactors’ meltdown in the Fukushima plant. This is overwhelming even for a nation like Japan which is known to be highly prepared and disciplined when face with natural calamities.

Bobby was shocked by the news and was more shocked when the footages of the disasters were telecast on television. One could see how some were caught off guarded by the rushing tsunami, how others were running to high grounds to avoid the tsunami and testified the destructive power of those tsunami first hand. March 11 was when Bobby witnessed the terrifying news on television. Though shocked and dumb-folded by the videos of destruction on television, Bobby was still able to hold back any emotional breakdown.

The next morning on March 12, almost every channel that Bobby tuned into was reporting on the aftermath of the disaster. Then Bobby noticed tears started forming in the eyes and before anything could be done, the tears rolled down. Few moments later, tears streamed down! It wasn’t sadness and Bobby wasn’t known to be sentimental. In fact, Bobby had watched many news coverage on television reporting on major disasters all over the world and not once had Bobby experienced anything close to shedding tears.

After the emotional experience, Bobby became quiet, reflecting on this unusual occurrence and waited upon the Lord for revelations and understandings. Then in the early afternoon on that fateful day, a question suddenly struck Bobby’s mind. How many of those deceased in the earthquake and tsunami in Japan were Christians? Then the word, evangelism clouded Bobby’s thoughts.

How true it is that up to this day, many churches are still meddling in petite affairs and issues and somehow overlook the great commission. ‘Go then to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples‘ (Matthew 28:19). Indeed ‘the harvest is large but there are few workers to gather it in‘ (Matthew 9:37). Let us ‘pray to the owner of the harvest that he will send out workers to gather in his harvest‘ (Matthew 9:38) and when the ‘owner of the harvest‘ asks ‘Whom shall I send? Who will be our messenger?‘ (Isaiah 6:8a) we ought to respond like Isaiah, ‘I will go! Send me!‘ (Isaiah 6:8b).

Let us then response to the call to share the gospel wherever and whenever opportunities present itself. Let us put behind all our differences and spur ahead to reach all that we can with the gospel, in our workplace, in our schools, within our circle of friends, relatives and even to complete strangers. A couple of weeks ago, a dear brother of Bobby recommended a book that touches on the livelihood of Christians in the secular world. Bobby was and still is greatly encouraged by the book. Bobby takes this opportunity to recommend this book to all. The title is Spiritual Living in a Secular World by Ajith Fernando, a timely book. God bless you.

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Being grateful…

Today was the first Sunday celebration service in this new lunar year. Bobby would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very blessed year ahead. The scripture quoted this morning in church was from Luke 17: 11 – 19. It was about the healings of ten men suffered from leprosy with only one men came back to thank Jesus, the healer. Most church goers were no strangers to this scripture and needless to say, it was about being grateful or thankful.

While Bobby was going through the verses, Bobby noticed two very distinct recordings that had direct implications to believers like you and me on this subject of being grateful. When these suffering men called out, “Jesus! Master! Take pity on us!”, Jesus simply said, “Go and let the priests examine you.” (verse 14). These men with leprosy indeed were men of great faith. Jesus did not physically acted out any healings. Jesus simply instructed them to be examined by the priests.

Back in those days, only a priest could determine whether a leprosy sufferer was fully healed and to conduct a ritual of purification so as to enable the sufferer to be accepted back into the community and could go back to their family. The ten men were not healed when they were told to go and let the priests examined them. They could have doubted Jesus or at least could have asked Jesus to heal them first before they went to the priests to be examined. How could they let the priests examined them when they were still suffering from leprosy?

These ten men, whom were full of faith, got up and went. The second part of verse 14 stated that, “On the way they were made clean”. Wow, wasn’t this exceptional? Their obedience in acting out their faith by believing in Jesus brought forth healings to all of them. This was the first recording that had captured Bobby’s attention. All these ten leprosy suffering men had faith.

The second recording that caught Bobby’s attention was in verse 17 and 18. Jesus said, “There were ten men who were healed; where are the other nine? Why is this foreigner the only one who came back to give thanks to God?” These verses showed us that out of ten faithful men, only one was grateful and the grateful one was a foreigner, a Samaritan to be precise.

We all could be any one of the ten men, full of faith, called out to Jesus in our moment of distress and then experienced God’s deliverance. We were healed, we were blessed, we were delivered and we all enjoyed God’s faithfulness. We knew that with faith, when we called out to our Saviour, he will always be there. He promised us that he will not leave us nor forsake us and he will be back to take us to our heavenly home one day. We knew we could count on Jesus for anything and everything, every time!

Yet how grateful were we to our Lord and Saviour? How often did we thank Him for all the goodness we have had from Him? And how often have we noticed a foreigner being more thankful and grateful than us, the believers? Having faith and being faithful is one thing but as a believer, being redeemed by the blood of Christ, shouldn’t we be ever more thankful and grateful to our Lord and Saviour, not only for the salvation but also for the endless grace and goodness we continued to receive every single day of our life?

Indeed being grateful is one of the often forgotten virtue among believers. Let us then, together as a family of believers, exhibit gratefulness to our Lord and Saviour ever more and therefore may this new lunar year brings more joy and gratefulness to all believers as well as to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. God bless you.

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Greed, Greedier, Greediest

Our bible is full of wisdom on how Christians should avoid greediness. Yet greed has been around and consistently creates havoc within Christian families. Churches sometimes also fail to live up to biblical expectation on monetary issues. There are churches who display the tithing amount of each of her members on their notice board and there are also churches who give different receptions based on the financial wealth of her members.

Naturally there will always be wolves in sheep’s skin roaming around trying to capitalise on this soft spot of greed among Christians. Christians are normally taught to be gentle as doves but seldom to be as cautious as snake. Therefore at times, when Christians are caught in doubtful circumstances, they might not be firm enough to run away like what Joseph did when Potiphar’s wife was trying to seduce him as recorded in Genesis 39:12. When Jesus sent out the twelve newly appointed apostles, He told them this: “Listen! I am sending you out just like sheep to a pack of wolves. You must be as cautious as snake and as gentle as doves (Matthew 10:16)”.

Some weeks ago, Bobby witnessed first hand on how the scheme of a would-be con man works. Followings were summaries of the encounter.

• The only thing this person said about himself was that he is called Mr Lee, only surname, holding a UK citizenship and currently residing in US. He resisted giving out any contacts including his phone number or his address in KK.
• He consistently said he is representing an organisation in US where this organisation has tons of money to help the poor. However he seemed lost when asked in what ways or form will this organisation help the poor. However he repeatedly said that he can tithe the church with money from this organisation.
• Prior to this money thing, he introduced himself as a student coming to Sabah to research on his thesis for his master degree in US. However, he refused to say which university, what course, what thesis title, what area of his research or what is the name of his Professor. He requested us to help him get contacts for his thesis research but he was unable to let us know what he need, when he needs it. The conversation quickly turned to the US organisation with tons of money to give away through him.
• Suddenly out of nowhere, he disclosed that he had a company in Orchard Road, Singapore. We can check this company if we want to know more. He also said that the US Embassy (did not say which country) also has his details. We can refer to US Embassy if we want to know more about him.
• Suddenly from his bag, he took out an old cheap recipe book saying he was also researching on food and his family was in the restaurant business in US. When asked where this restaurant is, his refused to say.
• Out of the blue he said he wanted to open a restaurant in KK and asked if I am interested or if I can introduce anyone who might be interested. To have a bit more idea of his restaurant, he was asked again on what type of restaurant his family is running in US. He then said he has yet to start any restaurant in US but he has RM2 million in hands to start a half shop lot restaurant in KK. Is there anyone interested to invest with him, he repeatedly asked.
• When asked more about his concept of his intended restaurant (especially with RM2 million for half shop lot), he suggested we go to a nearby cyber cafe to browse some online recipe!
• After seeing this conversation going nowhere, we decided to end it. When we depart, he refused to shake hand. 

Personally Bobby does not know this person. He looks like a well dressed, average size Pilipino, wears spectacles and is about 5 feet 10 inches. He speaks good English but have a light slang when speaking Malay.He claimed that someone introduce Bobby to him and said that Bobby can be of help to assist him in his thesis. Yet for the entire conversation, the thesis discussion was less that 10% of the time spent. He said he was wondering among churches in KK to seek help. After Bobby’s encounter, the following day Bobby was told that this Mr Lee came to the church office again to talk to the pastoral staff and some well off church members. This time he said he has contacts in China and is interested in bringing in Chinese tealeaves and asked if anybody is willing to invest with him. He did not say anything about him being in Sabah to research on his thesis. Anyone interested to invest with this Mr Lee?

1 Timothy 6:10 says that the love of money is a source of all kinds of evil. Hebrews 13:5 says that, ‘Keep your lives free from the love of money and be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never leave you; I will never abandon you.”‘. These scriptures do not suggest that we stop working to improve ourselves financially. However if our love of money or greediness becomes the priority in our lives, we will definitely fall into countless temptations that will bring adverse effects on our wellbeing as well as the ones we love. ‘Well, religion (Christianity) does make a person very rich, if he is satisfied with what he has. (1 Timothy 6:6)’. This Mr Lee is still around and is actively speaking to numerous people. Beware and be warned. God bless you.

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Unsurpassed Faithfulness

There was a testimony that Bobby had read some years ago. It was about a preacher that dreamt to own one of the popular luxury car that preachers like him simply could not afford. This preacher occasionally murmured unintentional prayers that somehow reached the Throne in Heaven. Indeed twenty years later, a mysterious donor presented the exact same model of the same coloured car to the preacher. From being a popular luxury car, it became a luxurious classic car!

How faithful is our Father in Heaven. No details too insignificant can escape His attention. From the testimony above, Bobby felt that we must be objective with what we ask of God. We must also be careful with all the promises we make to God. Ecclesiastes 5: 4,5 stated that “So when you make a promise to God, keep it as quickly as possible. He has no use for a fool. Do what you promise to do. Better not to promise at all than to make a promise and not keep it.” God expects us to be faithful and fulfil all the promises we made to Him. In return, His unsurpassed faithfulness will constantly dazzle our limited faith unexpectedly yet delightfully surprising. “You do not have what you want because you do not ask God for it. And when you ask, you do not receive it because your motives are bad;” (James 4:2b, 3a)

Bobby experienced countless unsurpassed faithfulness of our loving Father but there was one instance which Bobby could never forget. It happened not long after Bobby married. Bobby wedded and then moved overseas immediately to fulfil a tent-making ministry. However as traditions dictates, a wedding banquet should be held in one’s hometown to officially declared the union of the newly wedded couple. Naturally, Bobby had to go back someday to throw a wedding banquet.

After a couple of months in overseas, Bobby’s saving was hardly sufficient to travel back to hometown, what more to throw a wedding banquet. Bobby prayed and prayed but it seemed to be silent from above all the time. Then suddenly, on a bright sunny afternoon while Bobby was driving on a quiet road, a still small voice from above spoke. It said, “To be rich (blessed) is to have money when one needs it, not the amount of money one has in the bank.” Then it was all quiet again.

With barely enough saving for the trip to go back home, Bobby went back to hometown with wife, threw a wedding banquet, travelled to other distant towns to visit friends and relatives and made it back to the ministry place overseas. Once back, Bobby had more money than the initial saving before the trip! Hallelujah… He is faithful. Since then, Bobby is never in need monetarily though Bobby is not rich by the worldly definition nor has Bobby extra cash to indulge in unnecessary luxury.

Once there was an evangelist in northern India called Sundar Singh. He was saved and was destined to evangelise the northern part of India. He was disowned by his family and his clan tried to kill him by poisoning him. With only one rupee in his pocket, he started his evangelical mission all over northern India. He ended his evangelical mission on the same bus stop he started some twenty five years ago. When he reached down into his pocket, he was astonished to find only one rupee was left. He was in need and yet never really in need for the God that he served is ever faithful. Hallelujah! We serve a God with unsurpassed faithfulness. Hallelujah! God bless you.

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Great Commission, Great Confusion

The Great Commission is one of the universal calls within the bible for every Christians. As Christians, we must heed the call by responding to it. We must witness to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). As Paul reminded Timothy in 2Timothy 4:2, we must preach the message, proclaiming it whether the time is right or not! Paul summed it up beautifully in Romans 10:14, “But how can they call to Him for help if they have not believed? And how can they believe if they have not heard the message? And how can they hear if the message is not proclaimed?” Therefore the Great Commission is sometimes regarded as one of the fundamental pillars for New Testament believers.

However Bobby is perplexed and at times startled by the overly enthusiastic Christians when it comes to preaching the gospel. There are times when Bobby is even captivated by the curious creativities and boundless applications, all for the sake of sharing the gospel. When one tries too hard and plays God, the message in the gospel will be tainted. There are prosperity gospel, feel good gospel, prophetic gospel and many more. We cannot embrace a different gospel, design an easier one or modify it to suit personal ambition other than the one in the bible as often times, these will lead to the forming of cults. Paul reminded the Galatians (Galatians 1:6, 7) that there is no ‘other gospel’.

The Great Commission sometimes create confusions, confused because sometimes Christians try too hard to force the gospel on non believers. All sorts of marketing strategies are used. Incomplete gospel is packaged to enable it to appear more attractive to the non believers. Due to these incomplete inaccurate gospel, new believers and would be believers are often confused and frustrated with the inconsistency of gospel between preachers, denominations and churches. So is there any reliable reference where the Great Commission is based? The answer is YES. As the Great Commission is about the gospel what better place to look for other than the four gospels in the New Testament?!

It all started in Matthew 28:19, 20. “Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them My disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age“. The keywords here are ‘go’ and ‘make’. Go everywhere and make them My disciples. Baptism and teaching happen after they become Jesus’ disciples. So all Christians are commissioned to GO and MAKE. Well, in this gospel of Matthew, we know we need to go everywhere but how do we make them Jesus’ disciples? 

The verb ‘make’ is clarified in the next gospel, the gospel of Mark. In Mark 16:15, it was stated that “He said to them, “Go throughout the whole world and preach the gospel to all mankind“. So to make them My disciples is to ‘preach the gospel’. Therefore from the gospels of Matthew and Mark we realised that we need to go and make disciples of Jesus by preaching the gospel. What then is the gospel? We need to be precise with the gospel otherwise the Great Commission will become the great confusion.

To understand what the gospel is we need to refer to the next gospel, the gospel of Luke. In Luke 24:47 it was stated that “and in His name the message about repentance and forgiveness of sins must be preached to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem“. Conclusively according to Luke, the gospel is ‘the message about repentance and forgiveness of sins’. So gospel is not about getting rich or feeling good about one self. It is the acknowledgement of our sins, willingness to repent and the available grace of forgiveness. Also where preaching is concerned, it is always about Jesus as ‘in His name’ and not about the preacher. “He must become more important while I become less important” (John 3:30). The moment the preacher is made to look more important than Jesus, confusions will definitely set in.

What did the gospel of John have to say about the Great Commission? In John 21:1 – 14, it clearly stated that Jesus is the Master we are but willing vessels. We may be hard at work doing all sorts of things, all sorts of ministries, all sorts of evangelism gimmicks, trying hard to win souls for the Kingdom of God, these can all be fruitless until we acknowledge Jesus’ authority, that He is in charge and we are merely obedient servants. The disciples, all experienced fishermen, failed to catch a thing all night until they got instructions from Jesus that the catch is bountiful.

To sum up the Great Commission from the four gospels of the New Testament, we need to go everywhere (at times, anywhere) to make disciples of Jesus by preaching the gospel in the name of Jesus about the message of repentance and forgiveness of sins. While all these are taking place, we must acknowledge Jesus’ authority and allow Him to lead us. With this, the Great Commission will bear fruits and be justified. God bless you.

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Of Nothingness

Bobby was watching a travel documentary on television a couple of days ago. It was about travelling in India. As the host zoomed around India, she found herself in Pune, a town not far away from Mumbai. She commented that some people went to India just to visit Pune and when in Pune, one must visit the Osho International Meditation Resort. As the name suggest, this meditation resort was founded by Osho, one of the more controversial spiritual guru of recent times from India.

Though Osho, a professor of philosophy, had passed away almost ten years now, his teaching and the resort is still thriving. Among the controversies accredited to Osho were his stand against socialism and institutionalised religion. He also advocated an open attitude to sex. He stressed on assisting the rich by satisfying them rather than to help the ever-increasing poor. Osho also attracted notoriety with his large collection of more than ninety Rolls Royce cars.

However it is not the intention of Bobby to belittle the teachings of others. Bobby was attracted to the saying of Osho; “If you really want to know who I am, you have to be as absolutely empty as I am. Then two mirrors will be facing each other and only emptiness will be mirrored. Infinite emptiness will be mirrored: two mirrors facing each other. But if you have some idea then you will see your own idea in me.” This was the statement Osho repeated countless times when he needed to defend his controversial teachings.

The attraction Bobby had was not on Osho’s teachings or sayings but on how controversial teachings can gain grounds even among educated and influential audiences. From Osho’s quote above, he was instilling a sense of emptiness, a state of nothingness and when one was willing to surrender oneself, one will be sponge-like. This state will enable one to absorb any ‘thing’ especially things of the spirit and of emotionally charged knowledge.

The Bible is against this state of nothingness. Psalm1:2 said, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on His law he meditates day and night.” Often it was said that Christianity was against meditation but this was not true. Christianity was actually against the state of nothingness. Therefore when one meditates, one needs to meditate on the Words. One must not be in a state of nothingness when one meditates.

In Matthew 12:43 – 45, it was stated that when the evil spirit finds the house (human) empty, clean and all tidy (state of nothingness), it will goes out and brings along seven other spirits even worse than itself to come and live there (to possess the human). So when it is all over, that person is in a worse state than he was at the beginning. It is then vital for every Christians to be filled by the Holy Spirit. One must never be in a state of nothingness.

Therefore meditating is not the issue but being in the state of nothingness is. One must meditate on the Words day and night. One must also be filled by the Holy Spirit. God bless you.

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Getting Old

The other day, Bobby’s colleagues were discussing casually on the fate of old age. It was evident that youngsters nowadays have somehow become very individualistic and these younger generations defend their privacy zealously. What will happen to their parents when they reach their twilight years?

As the discussions went on, one of Bobby’s colleagues suggested that it was of utmost importance to have enough financial means to settle into retirement homes comfortably. Another stressed that as long as they are not bore down by health problems, it should be ok. When Bobby was asked to comment, suddenly it was impressed upon Bobby to utter these words, “Praise the Lord. Just praise the Lord!”

Yes, just praise the Lord. It was indeed a blessing to have live to old age. As the saying goes, everyone was young once but not everyone will get old. As Bobby continued to ponder upon the wisdom from the utterance, a scripture lighted within Bobby. It was from the gospel of Matthew 6:33. “Instead, be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and with what He requires of you and He will provide you with all these other things.” This was indeed a beautiful scripture. This was indeed a beautiful promise. This was indeed what made life beautiful.

“Look at the birds: they do not sow seeds, gather a harvest and put it in barns; yet your Father in heaven takes care of them! Aren’t you worth much more than birds? (Matthew 6:26).” “And why worry about clothes? Look how the wild flowers grow: they do not work or make clothes for themselves (Matthew 6:28)” “So do not start worrying: ‘Where will my food come from? or my drink? or my clothes?’ (These are the things the pagans are always concerned about.) Your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things. (Matthew 6:31, 32).”

While Bobby reflected on the scriptures above, questions after questions poured into Bobby’s thought. How often did Christians worried needlessly? How often Christians planned selfishly by constantly omitting God from their plans? How often Christians lived a mediocre life when God was forgotten? How often Christians missed the bountiful blessings because God was not heeded in their daily lives?

Instead, be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and with what He requires of you and He will provide you with all these other things. “So then, my brothers, try even harder to make God’s call and his choice of you a permanent experience (2Peter 1:10a).” Getting old can be a beautiful experience. God bless you.

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Between Idolising and Worshipping

Bobby was at church this morning and the sermon was about Church Hymns and Worships. The preacher was a visiting Worship Pastor and naturally his sermon was effective. The pastor quoted from Isaiah 6:1-8 and dwelled into a general structure of worship as practiced by churches today. During the sermon however, Bobby was struck by an unsuspecting thought. What is the difference between idolising and worshipping?

As the sermon continued, it seemed that what effect worship also effect idolising! Firstly to worship we must have a figure to worship and we normally congregate together for worshipping. The same is true of idolising. There is always an object, a person or something to be idolised and people do come together for idolising, may it be a concert or a religious based event. Secondly, we should feel good after worshipping and be more knowledgeable and therefore willing to invest our time and money, interest and talent to continually uplift our experience with the worshipped figure. Not surprisingly, these are also true in idolising. So what really sets worshipping apart from idolising?

The answer to this seemingly confusing question can be found in John 4:24, “God is spirit and His worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth.” The keywords that differentiate worshipping from idolising are then, in spirit and in truth. Human is different from all other creations because only human has spirit or sometimes refer to as the breath of life (refer to Genesis 2:7 and Ecclesiastes 12:7). This spirit within each and every one of us actually entices us into worshipping our creator. Evidently, only human worships. No other created beings in the physical world worship. Every human need to worship something to fill the void within and until we have correctly worshiped our creator can this void be satisfied. How then by having this spirit differentiates worshipping from idolising?

Worshipping stirs the spirit in us, fills the void within and satisfies us with the purest joy. This joy can be extended to give us strength in the face of calamity. Idolising on the other hand stirs our emotion. We can be emotionally high, extremely happy and experience ecstasy physically. However the void within remains void. There is no satisfaction in idolising though emotional flattering is common. One will need to continually search for new replacements to idolise once the present figure is insufficient to achieve the emotional highs. It is addictive and at times compulsive as well as abusive.

‘In truth’ reveals the relationship between the worshippers and the figure of worship. For most instances, worshippers and idolisers are true to their relationships and commitments. However the relationship from the figure of worship is what sets worshipping apart from idolising. Our Creator bares it all. From the beginning, as in Genesis, to the end, as in Revelation, is clearly and unmistakably reveal to all who worship Him. His identity, His personality, His commandments and His sincerity are clearly made understood. As long as His worshippers remain true to Him, they will continually know Him better and be amazed by His love. This will enable the relationship to grow deeper, more intimate and eventually a longing to be in His presence. All these are done in truth without any hidden agenda.

On the other hand, how much does one know about their idols? How often does one becomes disillusion, disappointed and felt being cheated when they know more and more about their idols and their hidden agenda? Is it worth idolising some mysterious object or imperfect human?

Therefore to summarise, worshipping stirs our spirit and is satisfying while idolising stirs our emotions and the ecstasy felt is only momentary. To worship is to be true not only from the worshippers to the one being worshiped but also the other way round. Idolising is mostly mysterious and almost certainly comes with hidden agenda while truth and trust is normally abused. Choose to worship and worship the one and only living God. God bless you.

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Love was in the air…

Bobby attended a blissful wedding ceremony in church a couple of days ago. As the newly wed are active members of the church, the wedding somehow became a much anticipated event. Indeed love was in the air. Both the bride and groom flowed tears of joy during the holy matrimony. During the exhortation, the pastor shared about the rightful living based on biblical teachings for wedded couples. Scripture reading quoted 1 Peter 3:1-8 that further stressed the importance of rightful living as couples.

During the drive home after the joyous wedding banquet, Bobby remembered the scripture that had touched Bobby the most during Bobby’s wedding more than ten years ago. That scripture has since become the foundation of Bobby’s married life. That faithful scripture is recorded in Ecclesiastes 4:12b, ‘A rope made by three cords is hard to break.‘ This scripture constantly reminded Bobby that to sustain a biblical marriage, God must be included. Sometimes by having head knowledge about what should or shouldn’t alone is not sufficient to sustain a biblical marriage. This is because we as human beings can be extremely emotional. Emotions are something highly complex, many times illogical and constantly beyond our control. How often have we witness the breakups of marriages simply because of something really minutiae and at times ridiculously insignificant?

Bobby is blessed with constant interventions by our loving Father in heaven especially when it involves Bobby’s role as the husband. These interventions arrested Bobby’s humiliating outburst, lustful fantasy, material greediness, selfish pride, untoward anger, irresponsible exploitation, emotional recklessness and many more. Any of these can simply crack the beautiful relationships cherish within the bond of marriage.

Thinking back the past many years how God has sustained Bobby’s marital bond through thick and thin, as long as God is continually welcome, Bobby can definitely look forward to the ever bountiful married life with endless blessings. Indeed a rope made by three cords is hard to break. As long as God is included, the relationships of husband and wife will always be beautiful and fruitful. The joy of married life is just immeasurable, for better of worse, for richer or poorer and in sickness and in health. God bless you.

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FOUR DAYS LATE – the lyric

The news came to Jesus
Please come fast
Lazarus is sick and without Your help he will not last

Mary and Martha watched their brother die
They waited for Jesus
He did not come and they wondered why

The dead watch was over
Buried four days
Somebody said, “He’ll soon be here, the Lord’s on his way.”

Martha ran to him and then she cried
“Lord if You had been here, You could have healed him, he’d still be alive.”

But You’re four days late and all hope is gone
Lord we don’t understand why You waited so long

But His way is God’s way
Not yours or mine
And isn’t it great when He’s four days late, He’s still on time

Jesus said, “Martha, show me the grave”
But she said, “Lord, You don’t understand, he’s been there four days”

The grave stone was rolled back
Then Jesus cried, “Lazarus come forth!”
Then somebody said, “He’s alive, he’s alive”

You may be fighting a battle of fear
You cry to the Lord, “I need you now”
But he has not appeared

Friend don’t be discouraged cause he’s still the same
He’ll soon be here
He’ll roll back the stone and He’ll call out your name

But He’s four days late and all hope is gone
Lord we don’t understand why you waited so long

But his way is God’s way
Not yours or mine
And isn’t it great when He’s four days late, He’s still on time

He’s still on time
Oh my God is great…
When he’s four days late
He’s still on time
He’s still on time

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