Flood for Thoughts (1)

Many days of continuous downpour has led to flooding in many areas of Johor. Yesterday, along with Christians from various churches and organizations, we headed for Kota Tinggi to distribute food and necessity items (e.g. candles, soaps, toothbrushes, toothpastes etc.) to the flood victims. When we reached the residential area, the water has almost subsided, although at some areas the water was still as high as knee-level. Nonetheless, we could imagine the severity of the flood through the watermarks which were visible on the walls (some reached up to 2m).

When we arrived to the houses, many of the residents were busy cleaning their houses (one said it was the 3rd time in a week), many others were sitting aimlessly in the house (perhaps still overwhelmed by the impact of the flood). Nonetheless, the sight of innocent children playing happily with pools of water brought some life to the otherwise gloomy scenario.

Even though it was an one-day experience, it was nevertheless an enriching one. Few thoughts came to me:

1. Ever since I was young, perhaps through the Christian education that I received in church, I always perceived that we are given the responsibility to go and 'save' others. If we do not go and share the gospel with others, they will not hear the gospel; and without hearing the gospel, they will not be 'saved'. Thus, whenever we go to non-believers to share the gospel with them, it is always us doing them a favour.

Yet, as I move on in my life journey, I become more and more convinced that God wants us to go not because the people need us to share the gospel with them, for God could easily speak to the world at one go from heaven, or he could send his angels to any corner of the world to proclaim his good news at any time. Why us?

I believe God commanded us to go out and share his love to others because this is his discipleship program for us. It is only when we are willing to go out from our comfort zone, allowing ourselves to feel inconvenient and uncomfortable as we enter into a new environment, picking up a new language or adapting to a new culture, that our character may be refined and our love for others may be challenged as well.

The experience of going by foot (sometimes across water) from door-to-door in Kota Tinggi, carrying heavy packs of food and necessity items to the victims is a humbling process for us. It is not just about us going out to be the provider, sharing Christ's love and fulfilling the needs of others. More importantly, we need to go and active engagely ourselves in these uncomfortable experiences, for it is through these experiences that God is able to disciple us to become more like him.

Frankly speaking, do I like these experiences? Do I like to wake up early in the morning and go to the flooded area to distribute those items? I believe our human nature will say a big NO. But since this is God's discipleship program for us to go through, I (we) have to go anyway.

(to be continued)