The Circle of Life

The Circle of Life 

 "The Lion King" is a great show I never get tired watching and I could watch it repeatedly and certain scenes would have the same effect on me every time I watch - tears. The scene which shows Mufasa jumping into the midst of the stampede and saving little Simba, his son, and in the end after rescuing his son Simba, he would be at the mercy of Scar his brother who would not help him climb up the steep cliff but be pushed down by Scar. Mufasa falls into the valley to be trampled over by thousands of other stampeding wildebeests, with little Simba watching his father fall to his death and being crushed by wildebeests.  

"The Circle of Life" is such a powerful song that speaks about our journey of life.  But it is something true that I can totally relate to in my life and in my amazing journey with my LION KING - JESUS. Jesus is in every way The Lion King. The Bible describes Him as the Lion from the tribe of Judah (his lineage and ancestry), but Jesus is also the King who has come to establish His kingdom here through his death and resurrection and through disciples of His kingdom. (We pray His Kingdom come!) 

It's the Circle of Life And it moves us all Through despair and hope Through faith and love Till we find our place On the path unwinding In the Circle The Circle of Life" - Circle of Life, the Lion King (Music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice, Official Video) 

Today I experienced one of those circles of life. Yes, 1 big circle. 25 years later. From Singapore to Perth. Almost 4000km distance. Father God, the One who sees all things, past, present and future has such a sense of humour and His invisible hand is orchestrating things behind the scenes.   

25 years ago, after my A-level exams in 1994, awaiting to go into university, I attended this camp which was conducted by "campus crusade for Christ" (n.k.a. "Cru" in Singapore). I had thought it was an adventure camp but it turned out to be a Christian teaching camp. Instead of sleeping in outdoor tents, we slept in classrooms of a school. Instead of hiking, we had "spiritual lectures" in the classrooms ( well, they did have games here and there - mostly indoor ones) , where we were given sheets of paper with questions and answers and blanks to fill in based on the teaching. I was not a believer in Jesus and had never read a bible or attended church. But I was a good student, and so I filled in as best I could all the blanks (Good thing they did not collect the answers, or I can't remember if they did. But at least it was not marked even if they did!). 

Anyway before the camp, I knew it was organised by Christians, but I was a bored teenager and I wanted a way to kill time during my school hols, so I signed up with my best friend from Junior College who was a believer in Christ. Although I was from a Taoist,-Buddhist family background, I was determined not to be "converted" when I went in. 

ALAS, on the last night of the camp, there was a speaker who delivered a message, and he preached from Luke 15 about "the prodigal son returning to the father". (Usually that passage is for those who have backslidden and turned cold to rededicate their lives to God.) But I remember identifying with the life of the prodigal son on how he had been rebellious and had left the father to go his own way and build his own life. When the call was given for a response to the message, I simply could not resist the call. I remember distinctly my heart racing at 100 miles per hour and a very strong tug on my heart.  When they played the song "When God Ran" (By Benny Hester, a song written in the 1980s), I crumbled and no matter how hard I tried to resist, I gave in. 

He ran to me, Took me in His arms, held my head to His chest And said "My son's come home again". Looked in my face, wiped the tears from my eyes With forgiveness in His voice He said "Son, do you know I still love you......"  

​- When God Ran,  by  Benny Hester, album Benny From Here (1985) - Resung by Philips, Craig and Dean. 

Tears came streaming down my eyes as I had a revelation of Father God's great love for me.  I could not resist that great and awesome love , so powerful yet so personal. I went forward in response to the altar call given, knelt down and tears kept streaming down my face and I cried for a very long time (I think it was like 45 min or at least it felt like it.) in response to God's love for me. Although I felt like a great sinner, yet His love was washing over all my sins!

After all the crying was done, I was a mess. A  "Cru" staff came and explained to me what had happened, went through the "4 spiritual laws booklet" and led me in a prayer of repentance. More tears... as I repented as a sinner before an awesome God who had sent Jesus to die for me on the cross - the God who knew no sin, became sin for me. 

The next day after my encounter with Jesus, the last activity on the last day of the camp was to go street witnessing with the "4 Spiritual Laws" booklet that Cru is known for.  I was able to share with 2 young persons on the streets and even while questions and doubts started creeping in (like what about suffering? what about dinosaurs? what about...what about...), I was shocked after reading the "4 Spiritual Laws" Booklet from cover to cover (it was a palm-sized booklet of 12 pages I think) with the 2 young persons, both of them prayed the prayer of repentance to receive Jesus into their lives! Wow, I thought this God must be real cos it was definitely not my persuasive powers of which I had none to offer then.   

Long story short, after the camp, I was not the same person again. I was a new creation. 6 months later I entered university, a God-given  purpose had gripped my life and I was filled with a new passion to reach others for Christ the same way He reached me on campus. By the 2nd year in University, I was leading 2 cell groups (1 in church and 1 through Varsity Christian Fellowship) and by the 3rd year, I was seeing more groups of students in the hostels coming to Christ on campus. I even considered quitting law school after 1 year of studies but at the behest of our parents and pastor, I finished 4 more long years of law school.

In 2001, again that same call so strong, similar to one that came to me the same night I encountered Christ's love, I heard the voice of Jesus call me to leave my job and follow Him. I obeyed and the next day tendered in my resignation as a lawyer to go on a crazy adventure with Him. More than 18 years now since, and I have not regretted a single moment of that choice.

Today, here in Perth, Australia (also following Jesus' call to sell my house in Singapore, divest most of my interests and ministry in Singapore to others and continue to empower them to do God's work) moving here for 4 and half months from Singapore, who would ever know I have come back to the circle of  life! If you are wondering how I ended up in Perth, you can read it at one of my earlier blogs under MY ADVENTURES - Welcome Home) 

Today, through OCF (overseas Christian Fellowship- read the story of how God connected me with them through delayed dim sum in another of my adventures with God. To me every person is a piece of the puzzle!), ​I was able to meet up with this awesome group of students and graduates and young people from "Cru" (in Australia, Cru is known as "Power To Change"). These 20-somethings reminded me of my younger days as a believer on university campuses. I was moved and touched by what I saw. I was encouraged by the laid-down lives of these young people some of whom having just graduated with a university degree would choose to serve God and live by faith as missionaries, raising sponsorship for themselves and what they do on campus reaching out with the love of Jesus.

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1) Which circle is your life now? 2) Which circle would you like to choose to represent your life?

Some of them are from USA, one from another state in Australia, and one of them from Perth. This is a rare find amongst young people these days, who tend to be more concerned about their own lives, job prospects, building a career, starting a family etc. Not that these things are not important. But dying to self, taking up your cross and following Jesus (Matt 16:24) - is a call to every disciple of Christ, is not something much preached about today, much less to be practiced and obeyed. 

For me, 25 years ago, the circle on the left represented my life but on that fateful day in Dec 1994, at the camp where I met Jesus Christ, I chose the circle on the right. And my journey with Him has been nothing short of an adventure!

Today things have come back 1 full circle, as I remembered the faithfulness of God these 25 years in my journey with Him. This is one of my circles of life thus far. What's yours? 

​Here's a great way to start if you are not yet a believer in Jesus Christ : http://www.4laws.com/laws/englishkgp/default.htm

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If you are already a believer and follower of Christ, please pray with me for more labourers in the harvest fields or become one yourself! (be that answer to your own prayer too!)

Jesus said: The harvest is truly plentiful! but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. (Luke 10:2)