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A tale from kerusuhan Ambon

I am holidaying in Ambon at the moment and I thought of sharing a story (a tale?) from kerusuhan Ambon year ago. I cannot say whether this is a true story or just a hearsay – probably something in between?

During this time of kerusuhan – the local army requested reinforcement to help with the situation. A reinforcement battalion was then sent from Bali. This is a good move since the soldiers wouldn’t take side with conflicting parties, the Moslems and the Christians (most Balinese are Hindus).

And so when this Bali battalion came in – they did well, they upheld the justice by punishing the wrongdoers regardless of the sides – not showing favour to either sides. A lot of Jihadists got killed during this time. Unfortunately this didn’t last long, the leader of this Bali battalion was then assassinated (allegedly by the Moslems or the Jihadists – another point of distinction which probably warrants another story). The Balinese troops were outraged and they joined arms with the Christians and dealt a considerable damage to the Moslems. They were no longer able to maintain their neutrality.

Hearing this, rightly the central command withdrew this leaderless Balinese battalion from Ambon. And sent a battalion from Java to replace them. However this reinforcement from Java were not neutral (majority of Javanese people are moslems) and sided with the Moslems in Ambon – they carried out retaliation to the Christians for what they’ve done previously. And so the cycle of hatred lived on.

Again can’t vouch for the truthfulness of the story. And I heard more stories – most of them seems to point to the fact that there were forces outside Ambon that prolonged the conflict in Ambon. Such a sad history on otherwise a beautiful place and very nice people irrespective of their beliefs.

7 Years

Today seven years ago my dad went with the Lord.

We talked about it today (me, Lina and the kids). Jet and Matt told me that they were a bit sad that they don’t get to know their grandpa, yeah indeed it is a sad thing. I am actually don’t feel that sad anymore, I used to regret about those words/conversations that I didn’t have to have with him – but nowadays my main regret is, that he doesn’t get to see Jet and Matt growing.

I took Jet to my office last Friday as he was on his school holiday. He was very enthusiastic when I told him about the idea. Lina wasn’t keen as she thought he’d be bored there. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case. He stayed with me from the morning until 3pm – he busied himself with his readings, homeworks and of course playing iPhone games. It was a good time for us, he got to see how I work, got to relate to Chuck, had a good lunch together.

I remember this one day dad took me to his work, this when his office was very close to our house. I was very excited because he had a computer at the office – computer was a rarity back in the days. And he had games on the computer – can’t remember what though, could be digger or some space shooting game. But nonetheless exciting time for me. I don’t remember what he did on the office, I only remember playing computer.

I look forward taking Jet and Matt to work again one day, I am hoping that they will know a bit more about me and hopefully will have more memory about me than me and my dad.

Sunday Afternoon Reflection

Today I had a pleasant time playing soccer with the boys. It was a short kick around for about 15-20 minutes. But we loved it and I am so glad that we did it (I almost cancelled it).

Thing is the boys had been spending a considerable amount of time this weekend playing Wii and mobile phones. And when they do – I tend to leave them playing by themselves and then allowing myself to do my own things. There are countless things to do, from cleaning up and tidy things up to useless activities like checking Facebook.

Going outdoor is fantastic bonding time – I must not forget that, I must not let my laziness and my boys love for electronic gadgets and games to overtake the joy of simply being out there – being active and enjoying God’s creation.

Reflecting on Luke 8:22-56

At GFI, we are looking at Luke 8:22-56 today (faithfully explained by Pastor Charles).

I was firstly reminded of the context of the world back then at Jesus’ time. It was a world of fear.
And Jesus encountered 4 things (I’d call them 4 enemies of humanity) that cause human to fear.

The first one was the storm. The disciples were afraid for their lives and they woke Jesus up. Jesus rebuked the wind and the wave and then there was a calm. And the disciples were afraid of him.

The second enemy up is supernatural – the demons. The demons (many of them) have possession of a man for a number of years. When the man (and his demons) encountered Jesus – they recognized who he was, they were afraid that Jesus would annihilate them to the abyss and ask Jesus’ permission to go enter the herd of pigs instead. Jesus permitted them to do so. When the people saw what happened and furthermore found out that the man was well – they were afraid, afraid of Jesus. They even asked Jesus to leave – for they were seized with great fear (vs 37),

The third enemy up is sickness. The woman has been sick for 12 years. Upon touching Jesus’ garment she was healed. When Jesus asked who had touched him (his garment) – she came trembling before him.

The final enemy in this passage is death. Jairus’ daughter 12 years of age (not sure whether 12 years has some significance – given that the woman’s sickness was also 12 years long) was sick and finally died before Jesus arrived. Jesus brought her back to life. And her parents were amazed (vs 55).

When these things happened – it’s interesting to note that the original fears were not completely removed – but instead they were moved. In each occasion, the account ended with people marvelled at, amazed at and feared Jesus.

And rightly Jesus is to be feared. But for those who are on His side – Jesus will say “Fear not..” (Rev 1:17-18).

New Year New Changes

Pastor CEG announced some of the changes that will happen in Pelita this year.

First of, Pelita will no longer be called Pelita – but instead it’s (slowly) going to be called Gereja FOCUS Indonesia (or Indonesian?) or in English – FOCUS Indonesian Church. This name is more aligned to the other congregation names such as FOCUS Mandarin and FOCUS Cantonese and I guess it will make it easier for us to identify ourselves with our mothership ie: FOCUS.

It looks like that we need to secure a new domain name soon.

Another big change is around graduate ministry, it looks like there will be a considerable attention for the graduates starting this year. One of the graduate ministry initiatives is this 3 years Graduate Program. I don’t exactly understand the details – but it is aimed to prepare graduates for the rest of their life. Sounds like a good idea, although it does sound a little bit too abstract for me at the moment. 

Ah yes, another set of changes in church and I think it’s great. I do hope and pray – the changes will turn out to be positive for the Kingdom work.