One Life pt. 1

Most of you've probably never heard of the One Life Revolution. I'll tell you about it. It was an exhibition that was held in Monash Uni, Mid Valley and finally in DUMC, a church in PJ. It told the stories of 3 children's lives and invited visitors to walk in the shoes of those children for 20 minutes. I only managed to visit 2 so I will tell both those stories. And I invite you to walk in their shoes even as I tell the stories. Please note the details might be very slightly different as I'm writing from memory.

Srey Mom, Cambodia

Imagine your father dying suddenly when you are 12. You don't understand it. One moment he's fine, and the next, he's dying of a disease you don't even know. Things get harder after he dies. Your mother has to work extra hard to support you, your 2 brothers and your aging grandmother.

One fine day, your mother abandons you. She leaves with your 2 brothers, leaving you with your grandmother. You don't know what to do.

You decide to go to the city to look for her. A neighbour makes exciting promises about the city. Opportunities. Money to be made. Ahh..Money. You swallow the bait and follow him. And then surprise surprise. He abandons you as well. Left on your own in a city you know nothing about at the tender age of 14.

You start to sell fruits to make a living. Not much, but some. You haven't managed to locate your mother and brothers.

Someone approaches you one day. Offers you a different life. And that magic word again; money. You follow her. You end up in a house. Several other girls are out front, dressed scantily. The owner of the house then tells you that money was paid for you, and you have to work off your debt, gaining a meagre salary in the process.

You are taken to your room. There's a dress hanging on the wall, and you are told to put it on. You start to protest, saying "There must be some mistake'" but you are beaten. Finally you give in. That's when the hell starts.

You are forced to have sex with many men a day. Cambodians, Thais, labourers, workers. They ask for a young girl. Again and again, you are brought out to be shown to 'customers'. They are rough with you, and none of them use condoms.

It starts to take a toll on you. You try to escape, but you are caught and beaten senseless.You start to feel sick. It scares you. You've heard of this disease called HIV. You've seen other girls at the house who have been diagnosed with HIV mysteriously disappear. You suspect they are turned out on the streets or worse.

Finally, you get to sick to work one day. The owner takes you to the hospital. You sense a chance of escape and you run out a door and hide in a garbage bin. You can see the house owner looking for you everywhere, but thankfully not the garbage bin in which you are hiding. Exhausted, you drop off to sleep.

You wake up screaming, when a nearby shopowner opens the bin and pours hot soup in. Your scream draws curious onlookers. They jeer at you and mock you, calling you a thief.

Finally you are reunited with your mother and brothers. Your mother operates a food stall in the city. But your happy reunion does not last long. Your sickness worsens. Spots and sores cover your body. People stop coming to your mother's food stall, afraid that they might contract the dirty and deadly disease you have. And so, your mother turns you out again.

You end up in a hospital to be tested for HIV. You are hoping you haven't got it, because you've seen the way people treat those who have HIV. But your hopes are once again dashed when the tests confirm you are HIV positive. You're still young. Perhaps 20 years of age. You are HIV postive...

How does this story end? Sree Mom eventually met a social worker from World Vision. Through this worker and World Vision, she has received help and care. She has been reunited with her family again, and they've been educated about HIV.

Now she is an active worker with World Vision working against child trafficking and prostitution in Cambodia.

To be continued in Part 2..

Live For? Die For?

I'd be willing to bet that a whole lot of people in the world today haven't got the slightest clue what to live for. And because of that, most of us just take the easier alternative; not to think and just live for ourselves. What does that mean? It means Me First. Everything else is second. Yeah, in today's culture aren't we all taught to take responsibility of our lives and careers? And isn't it "difficult" to get ahead in life unless we climb all over each other?

Me First.

You know what's interesting? Many a time we'll see in movies or in dramas about wars in olden days. And a common theme will always be patriotism. And we'll think of just how "patriotic" we Malaysians are and snigger.

Me First.

For some of us, we get "lucky". Our parents can afford education overseas for us. Or perhaps we get the opportunity to work overseas or migrate. And thus we go, leaving this country for greener pastures. Its easier elsewhere, they say. Politically stable. Better pay. Better standard of life.

Me First.

And for others, we just have to make do with what we have. We work longer hours at the office, hoping to impress the boss. We make snide manipulative remarks behind our colleagues backs, trying to get ahead. We "decorate" the financials at month and year ends, hoping for some credit. We keep silent when we see something wrong happening, hoping we'll be seen as "trusty" employees.

Me First.

Friends are not spared. We choose our friends carefully, don't we? They've got to be the elite. The same "social status" as us. We don't want to be seen with the geek in class or the plain looking girl at the office. We shudder to even think of shaking hands with the girl in class who's got AIDS and tremble at the thought of talking to the deformed guy sitting up front.

Me First.

We rationalise all the wrongs that take place in the world. Yes we do. With ignorant indifference we say that its ok to be gay and its ok to be promiscuous. Its all "perspective". We say this without even a moment's thought. I wonder how many of us would react if our own kids came home and told us "Hey Dad, I'm pregnant" or "Hey Mom, I'm gay". We hear every single year about how younger and younger children are starting to experiment with sex and various perversions. What do we do? Shrug, of course. Maybe a vague "What is this world coming to?" and we turn the page, more interested in Britney's latest adventure or something else.

Me First.

I could go on, but that would be beside the point. Yes I'm sure this is a highly controversial post. A lot of what I've just said is debatable. But I write from my heart. And I don't write without having thought a tad bit as well =) I probably might get flamed somewhat even but I don't mind.

There's a phrase that goes like this "You never know what you're alive for until you know what you would die for"

What would you die for? Perhaps when we've asked ourselves that and thought a bit, we'd see things in a different light. Maybe we'll even start to stand for something.

I stand for righteousness. I stand for making a difference. I stand for the morals and principles that our world was built on. I stand for love. I stand for peace. I stand for doing the right thing even when everyone around is doing the wrong thing. I stand for truth. I stand for putting others before myself.

I stand for Christ, the One who gave me freedom and the One who is the reason I am who I am.

Those are the things I would die for.

Victory Over Death

Strange title, isn't that? For most of us, death is the end. For a lot of Chinese folks, it's a taboo to even speak about death. It's a subject that arouses fear in them. Now, I'm not one who knows much about traditions and feng shui and stuff,except what I hear from people around. Apparently its bad to give a Chinese a clock because it symbolizes time is ticking towards death or something.

And they also believe that death is 'dirty', for want of a better term, of course. Imagine this. Apparently one day back in 1988, my grandad just happened to fall down dead on the kitchen floor. And get this. None of his children even dared to go near his body. Apparently it was superstition.

So we come back to the subject of Death. Let's face it. We're all gonna die someday. It could be tomorrow for all we know. Or even today. Or 40 years down the line. Life is short. Life is fragile. Like Shakespeare put it, life is a brief candle. We can eat as healthily as possible and still die of liver failure. We can be careful and cautious and still die in a freak accident.

My whole point is : Death is a constant. We all will face it someday. So let's stop playing games and skirting around the issue as if not talking about it will give us an additional 20 years lease of life.

So how do we face it? What's next? Heaven? Hell? Are those myths? Nothingness? Reincarnation? Nobody can say for sure can they? And isn't that why death is feared so much? Isn't that why there are so many deathbed conversions? People at the very end of the rope finally trying to secure their afterlifes.

Jesus promised us life after death. You may not believe in Jesus but there is no way you can ignore His claims. Jesus said that all who believe in Him will find life. Not just life after death but an abundant life here on earth. Abundant, of course, not meaning luxuries and wealth, but a complete and whole life. One in which we find peace. One in which we find joy. But more importantly is His claims about the afterlife. Cuz He claims there's an eternity beyond the grave. Not a few days or years or even decades. Eternity. Infinite. Period.

What will you do? Are you someone who has never considered what's beyond the grave? Have you shrugged it off, thinking you've got so many years ahead of you? Or are you someone who's searching for answers about this? Whatever category you fall in, there are answers. There is truth.

Read this blog post. I found it last night and I think it would do us all good. It sure did me good.

Giving

How much can we give? And I'm not just talking about money. I'm talking about time, energy, money, prayers and whatever else. I'm not just talking about charity. I'm talking about relationships too.

How much can we give?

Dont we look to protect ourselves only too often? Ever heard of this?

"Why should I give when I already have so little?"

Pertinent question, isn't it? Why should we give? We already have so little time. We're working 8 hours or 10 hours or 20 hours a day. We don't earn that much. Inflation's starting to get annoying. We're already so tired out when we get home from the day's activities. Weekends are treasure chests of rest. Why should we give that up?

I guess sometimes we don't count our blessings. We don't know how much we really have. We immerse ourselves in our own lives and clutch everything to ourselves as though we own them. But do we? Do we really 'own' the money we earn or the time we're given?

By now, I bet you're scratching your head wondering what in the blue blazes am I talking about, right? Patience, dear friends, I'm getting there, and for those of you who know me, you know Suspense is my middle name.. Yeah right, who am I kidding lol.

Back to the point at hand. Do we really 'own' what we receive here on earth when it can be taken so easily? I'll point out an example, and this is actually a parable from the Bible written from my memory.

There was once a rich man with a lot of land and crops. He stockpiled all his riches in warehouses and was obviously pretty proud of it. He was confident in his riches. And he made plans to live a luxurious life with the riches he had gathered. In his own words he said he would "eat, drink and be merry". By all appearances he was set for a long luxurious life.

But God said to him, "You foolish man, this very night your life will be taken from you. How then will you spend all the riches you've hoarded and enjoy your luxuries?"

Truly enough, we can all identify with this man. What excess or what little we have can be taken away just in the blink of an eye. Whether its our money or our time or our energy. These are things over which we don't have very much control of. Yeah we can go and invest our money in diversified portfolios to minimise risks, but who's to say all of those portfolios won't crash?

We can eat healthy and still get cancer (Of course I'm not advocating unhealthy eating lol). One fact of life is that we can be taken anytime. We can die anytime. And no I'm not afraid to use the word die. I could die today or tomorrow. And that's the truth.

So then why do we bother so much with hoarding? Interestingly, we hoard and yet we complain. We complain about rising prices and inflation and too little time and too tired and everything, but we fail to see how much we've been blessed. There are a lot of people out in the world who are living hand to mouth. There are a lot of people out there who have much bigger problems than a small paycheck.

Millions of people live on the brink of starvation. There are entire communities who do not have the basic amenities of schools and playgrounds and books. Multitudes of people live under the shadow of death each and every second of the day.

And we ask why we should give?

I ask in return. Why should we NOT give? What we have was given to us anyway. I don't believe we should be saving for our future when our brothers and sisters are dying from not having enough to even sustain themselves for tomorrow.

Of course I'm not asking everyone to give up jobs and go give your life working in Africa or donate evry single cent you have in the bank. It's just that as a society and as a community in general we have more than we need. We have more money than we need. We have more time and energy that we really need.

Let's give to those who need it more than we do. And its not limited to children in Africa or Myanmar. All around us we see people starving emotionally. We see people who are broken. Broken lives and broken hearts. These people need our time and our energy. They need our love.

Let's give. I believe that one does not know what love is until he's able to give without hoping for anyting in return. Let's give because we love.

After all, we're surrounded by people who have given to us. We've had parents who gave all they had for us (for some of us perhaps not). We've had teachers who sacrificed to make us better people. We've got a God who gave His all for us.

So let's open our hearts to give of ourselves to others. Life does not revolve around us. Never did and never will.

Brokenness

Ah that word.. Brokenness.. Do we hear it often? Probably not. What comes to mind? Broken families? Broken marriages? Break ups? Hmm.. Well it means a whole lot more to me. It means all of us.

Oh yes, you heard me right. All of us are broken in some way or another. We don't need to come from a broken home to be broken. We live in a generation of broken promises, broken values, a broken culture and that results in brokenness.

Ever wondered why we get so hungry for accomplishments and achievements when they're really nothing more than pieces of paper? Of ever wondered why we work so hard and long to hoard all that money and at the end of the day find that it wasn't worth it? Or why we've all started living for ourselves and ourselves alone? Or why crime and corruption and adultery have risen so much? Or why depression and suicide rates never seem to go down? Or why every other week you hear about bombs exploding everywhere?

That's brokenness for you.

Brokenness, not just on a personal level, but on a national and worldwide level. Let's face it. We ARE broken. We're a broken society. We've forgotten how to love and how to hope and how to care. We've forgotten how to live. Am I painting a bleak picture here? That's probably because most of us don't really know what goes on outside the 4 walls of our lives. I mean no offence of course.

We live in times where every major institution has crumbled and lies in shambles. The Governments are corrupted. In some parts of the world people have lost faith in marriage. Our moral system has changed to become something "subjective" rather than absolute. The judiciary systems are for the most part mere plays. The list goes on.

So is this the kind of world we want to hand down to our future generations? Do we want them to suffer from the mistakes of their forefathers? I for one say NO. I for one want to make a difference. And there are people all over the world today praying and hoping and living for that difference.

Every so often you hear a gem of a story. Perhaps it could be an old couple still very much in love after their 60th year of marriage. Or a story about a hero running through a burning house to save a stranger. Or a story of people giving up luxury and comforts to help the poor and needy of our world.

There seems to be a common theme or common denominator within all the above; the willingness to give. The willingness to put others before themselves. Yes, goodness and righteousness still exist in this world. And it is our duty to ensure goodness and righteousness will still exist, and indeed even be more prevalent in the future.

It's not that difficult really. It just needs a radical shift of our mindset away from ourselves to others. We just need to acknowledge that we are not perfect, no matter how perfect we look on the outside. We need to acknowledge our brokenness. Only then can healing for this generation take place.

Wouldn't it be cool if on one hand we could acknowledge we are all broken in some way or another; that we are still incomplete, and on the other still be able to pull our attention and concern away from ourselves to others? Try it. See how everything will change.

Little Miracles

Let's face it. We humans are a bunch of whiners. We complain and whine at just about everything under the sun. Coffee too cold, salaries too low, bosses too hard, subordinates too slow etc etc. Ever heard of the classic "Life is hard" quote? Well, it goes on to say you gotta work your butt off to make it in this world. Stuff like that. Uncommon? No. We're all guilty of it. I am too, to be completely honest.

Awhile back I posted something about The Miracle of the Moment. This is something similar. Little miracles, the ones we miss almost everytime. The small ordinary day to day miracles that take place in our lives. The tiny, 'commonplace' ones that change our world and change our lives without us even knowing.

Have you ever considered the sunrise and the sunset? Little miracles. Beautiful. Expressions of a Creator's creativity.

Have you thought about the hundreds of things that happen at the same time when you do something as simple as breathe? Oxygenation of the blood and all. The preciseness of our human anatomy.

Have you ever marvelled at the fierce beauty of a storm or how a sky can turn red with an impending storm?

Or when you held a newborn baby in your arms? The miracle of life. To see this tiny little wonder.

Have you considered that if we were 1 meter closer to the sun, we'd be done in very well, or in other words, well-done? Or if we were 1 meter further from the sun, we'd all resemble interestingly shaped ice stalagmites?

Have you ever been on a beach at night and taken the time to watch the stars and listened to the waves lap against the shore?

Or thought about one of the greatest miracles of all; love? How people would willingly lay down their lives for their loved ones, and some even for strangers? Why? Because love is powerful.

Life is short. Yet we insist on rushing through it with our noses buried in what we do. And that's how we miss these little miracles. Some people don't believe in miracles. I do. They take place all around us everyday. Will we miss them today?

Heart

I read an article yesterday. Someone basically slammed the school uniforms we have in Malaysia. I suppose she means the government school ones. She said that they are too ‘sexy’, as the colour (white) makes the uniforms transparent.

She goes on to say that this ‘indecent clothing’ will encourage rape, premarital sex, illegitimate pregnancies and even prostitution.

Hmm..Interesting isn’t it? For the sake of discussion and debate, how does a transparent or translucent blouse encourage premarital sex? As far as I know, premarital sex is a consensual thing. Will swathing women in 3 layers of cloth help in any way? I kind of doubt it. After all, even if women are wrapped up like dumplings, we live in an age where pornography is so freely available. We would know what’s underneath those wrappings anyway.

And as for rape, well if a man is hell-bent on rape, it doesn’t really matter if the woman is wearing a bikini or a school uniform, does it? Don’t think it would make a difference.

So where am I going with this post? I’m trying to say that you cannot treat problems in such a way. You can dump more ‘controls’ and ‘rules’ and ‘laws’ and ‘regulations’ and it won’t change a single thing. Wrapping women up will not reduce a man’s lust, or a woman’s, as things go these days. What is going to prevent premarital sex and pregnancies is not more rules.

Problems need to be fixed at the core, which is right down in people’s hearts. No matter how many laws are imposed, if people believe something is right, they’ll keep doing it. It doesn’t matter if it’s stealing or murder. If they buy the story that it’s ok, they’ll do it.

Interestingly, this situation happened 2,000 years ago. Back in the time of Jesus. The Pharisees (lawmakers) at that time were rigid disciplinarians. They followed the law to the letter. And the gospel that Jesus came to bring was about freedom and forgiveness. But these Pharisees could not accept it. They were so caught up with the law that they failed to see the truth.

And indeed, 2,000 years later, we have those among us who are so blinded by laws and regulations that they fail to see the truth. Evil springs up from our hearts. And no amount of laws will improve morals. We are a decadent society. And rules really don’t hinder us from doing much.

Yes, I agree a change is needed. But it’s not a change of school uniforms to prevent rape. It’s not a ruling to ban gay marriages to prevent homosexuality. It’s not a punishment imposed on broken families and divorces. It’s not more rules. A change of heart is what the world needs. We don’t need more logic. We need more heart. We need pure hearts.

And this applies to everything. If we had a change of heart, would we not be more loving? Would we not be more against infidelity and adultery? Would we not be less angry and less stressed and less disappointed and depressed? We have a whole beautiful world created by the hands of God for us. And all we do is rush about, part of a massive rat race that chases all the smallest things in life.

Life does not consist of the things one possesses. That’s a quote out of the Bible. The reason God gave us a heart is s owe can feel. So we can live. So we can hear when He whispers that there’s more to life than this.

But I digress..Let us set our hearts right. Life is not a game of rules. There is freedom in doing the right thing, but rules alone will never ‘make’ us do the right thing. A righteous heart will. A pure heart will. Heart. That’s where it starts.