May Day! May Day

The destination for this year's May Day pilgrimage was Pulau Besar in Johor, another boat ride from Mersing jetty.

We made full use of the 2-3 hour long queues at Malaysian immigration (they were testing out their new biometric thumbprint scanning systems) to hone our wheeling and dealing skills. Malaysian security spotted us and walkie-talkie-d for back-up, but their SOP didn't provide for action to be taken when faced with Monopoly Deal.

A roller coaster ride along windy roads to Mersing and a speedy boat ride later, we were at the bucolic island of Pulau Besar. In Malaysia, this meant charming wooden huts amidst coconut trees with creaky plywood boards so thin you could hear passing conversations while inside the hut and take full advantage of the resident rooster(s) for your morning alarm, and stained but clean sheets and comfortably soft mattresses at Mirage Island Resort,

hens and chicks just about everywhere - looking for food under the stilted huts, roosting in trees, clucking and cheeping under bushes...

attap huts, bats awake during the day and squabbling amongst coconut palms, hibiscus shrubs (at D'Coconut Island Resort), and

a tree house replete with well-used hammocks and swings at Aseania Resort.

The international flags at Mirage's Pirate Bar and lounging young Frenchmen who alternated between beach volleyball and chain-smoking and drinking beer while swimming in the sea, juxtaposed bucolic with backpacker's haven.

Our bed and board for 3 days and 2 nights included two breakfasts, one lunch and two dinners. We needn't have packed Ramly burgers (beef, special, with cheese please) from Mersing jetty;

the chicken chop at Mirage was fresh (of course) and the lamb at the barbecue was especially excellent; breakfast was decent (bread, toast, pancakes, scrambled egg, sausage on second day, nasi lemak on third day) and lunch was both delicious in a homecooked way and generous (of course, a morning of snorkelling and swimming, and beach frisbee and shell picking does give one a ferocious appetite).

Service was excellent and unstinting - food was served and plates were cleared in due course, slugs of alcohol were generous, bottled water was given freely, as was tutoring in the art of pool (or i suppose, not ripping the velvet off the pool table).

Fishing off the jetty was easy - the turquoise waters were dark with schools of fish. The issue was hooking the fish of one's choice rather than taking all eager comers.

Bobbing about in a red kayak, chatting and drinking potent Long Island Teas was also an option,

as was just lazying about on deck chairs with suntan lotion and a good book.

Sadly, the snorkelling was only so-so compared to Pulau Rawa, and past the mosque, to the left of Mirage Island Resort, sea urchins proliferated below fairly shallow waters and sandflies abounded above*.

If we had been Malaysian, we would have come adequately prepared with paper lanterns to send off in the night wind.

But we were not and made do with hilarious rounds of Phase 10 and Bang!,

accompanied by all manner of snacks and news of the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

I had a bit of a wrestle with Micah, and as a consequence inadvertently brought back half the beach, wedged between Jonah and Nahum.

Haven't quite got mind round the book yet, but from the little gleaned so far, whadda chum.

Micah was a contemporary of Hosea (Hosea 1:1) and Isaiah (Isaiah 1:1), roughly in 8th century B.C. He prophesised through the reigns of Judean kings Jotham (about 750–735 B.C.), Ahaz (about 735–715 B.C.) and Hezekiah (about 715–687 B.C.). Possibly spoke God's warnings to both Israel until they went into exile in Assyria, and to Judah. In Jeremiah 26:18, the elders of the land observe the influence of Micah's words on Hezekiah (cf Micah 3:12).

Need quite a few more passes at the prophet, not sure if this book is a compilation of his preaching or a structured whole, but for now:

Micah 1:2-4 The LORD is coming in judgement.
Micah 1:5 God's people have sunk so low that it is as if even God's holy temple has become a high place for the worship of idols.
Micah 1:7 People's infidelity like that of a prostitute.
Micah 1:8-9 Yet God/the prophet mourns over coming judgement.
Micah 1:10-16 Wordplay pronounces imminent disaster on the whole land.

Micah 2:1 The people are so evil, they are even plotting evilness in bed.
Micah 2:2 The powerful covet and seize their neighbour's inheritance (cf. Exodus 20:17).
Micah 2:3-5 Therefore the LORD will take away their inheritance.

Micah 2:6-7 The people reject the prophetic warning, presuming on God's blessing without caring about God's word.

Micah 2:8-9 They deny rest to others and make war with their neighbours.
Micah 2:10 Therefore the LORD will deny them rest.

Micah 2:11 The people are happy to be led by false prophets.
Micah 2:12-13 The LORD/a king will lead the remnant (to battle?).

Micah 3:1-3 Israel's leaders are so cruel to their own people, they are like cannibals.
Micah 3:4 Therefore, the LORD will not allow them any hope of repentance.

Micah 3:5 The profit-driven pronouncements of self-seeking prophets lead the people astray.
Micah 3:6-7 Therefore, the LORD will blind them.
Micah 3:8 But Micah's warnings are divinely-powered and true.

Micah 3:9-11 The leaders, priests and prophets are corrupt yet presume that God will not bring disaster on them.
Micah 3:12 Therefore, because of them, the LORD will bring disaster on Jerusalem.

Micah 4:1-5 But in latter days, the LORD will establish his house in Jerusalem. And in contrast to the corruption that came before, it will be a place where God's law will be taught and there will be rest.
Micah 4:6-8 Hmmm, lame as image of God's people under his judgement? The LORD as shepherd gathers them.
Micah 4:9-5:1 First, exile to Babylon (apparently this wasn't even on their Ministry of Defence's scenario planning axis). This was God's punishment of his people, and not his lack of power over other nations. And this was so that God would then rescue his people and judge the other nations.

Micah 5:2-6 The promised ruler/saviour shall come from Bethlehem Ephrathah, and shall be divine(?). He will be the shepherd and give them rest (all that God has promised so far in Micah). He will rule over all the earth (like God!).
-> no wonder Jesus chided the Jewish teachers in his day for not reading scripture!

Micah 5:7-9 The people may be scattered amongst the nations (due to exile), but there they will destroy the nations.
Micah 5:10-15 At that time, the LORD will destroy their idol crutches.

Micah 6 The people are on trial: the LORD reminds the people of his past faithfulness and their covenantal relationship. The people were told what was expected from them - not to earn God's favour but to respond to his grace by loving him and loving neighbour. But the evidence is brought to show that they violated the covenant. The sentence is pronounced.

Micah 7:1-7 The current situation already shows signs that the sentence is in effect.
Micah 7:8-10 Yet Micah trusts that the LORD will rescue them in their repentance (which from Micah 5:10-15, the LORD himself will bring about?).
Micah 7:11-13 The remnant will come out of the nations to Jerusalem, which shall be the only place of safety on the earth.
Micah 7:14-20 Reprise of Moses & Miriam's Exodic Hit Song - reminder that God had the power and desire to rescue his people, looking forward to the new exodus

*these were particularly nasty despite incessant spraying with insect repellant (both DEET-laden and DEET-free). We washed and Stingose-d them then kept the bites sterile with large plasters from the Pirate Bar. Ultra-kiasu treatment back in Singapore consisted of:
- Enhancin (anti-biotic, co-amoxiclav 625mg)
- Dhasolone (steroid, prednisolone BP 5mg)
- Xyzal (third-generation anti-histamine, levocetrizine dihydrochloride 5mg)
- Gentriderm cream (bactericidal, antifungal, antibiotic, corticosteroid)

Christian Tourism, Malaysia

"And they went home rejoicing" (iphone 3GS + Swankolab)

Another roadtrip, another road disappearing into the horizon. This could have been anywhere. But as it was, this was the North-South highway. We were legging it back to Singapore with a huge crack in the windscreen, having spent the night talking with an adrenaline-pumped pastor/evangelist/dreamer of godly dreams/gospel strategist. It had been 6am when we finally shuffled off to bed, ideas and plans still swirling and thankful to God for the opportunity to see His work.

The same cultural inefficiency that made it difficult to set any plan in progress also made it easy for the work to continue without raising issues of conscience. The bumi policies meant tighter minority groups within which the fires of good news could spread fast. The frustrating jams on the Federal Highway made it necessary to think carefully about the placement of growth groups and churches and vicarages.

Downloads of Memoirs of An Ordinary Pastor: The Life and Reflections of Tom Carson (free pdf), Letters Along the Way (free pdf) and D.A. Carson's For the Love of God (free pdf) on the iphone on the way to work have made for fantastic starts to workday mornings - how gloriously humbling to be reminded of where we stand in the vast sweep of God's work in human history, how encouraging to be running the race with people of every nation/race/colour/era, and how seriously we are duly warned of the gobsmacking sinfulness of God's own people, who returned again and again to their own vomit.

So it was brilliant to speak with so many new Christians at Christ Evangelical Reformed Church (CERC) delighting in their first taste of good solid bible food and to hear how their delight overflowed in their lives in evangelism and gospel service in translating Two Ways to Live into the Chinese vernacular, speaking at CFs in private schools, training and preparing for Whitewater Summer Camp and various Gospel Growth Fellowship ministries. And there was much muttered thanks that God gave to some the gifts of both strategy and courageous faith so they would be able to put a finger to the pulse of local culture and be cognisant cross-cultural difficulties in assessing godliness, boldly start nationwide initiatives, identify congregational crown jewels, think not just exegetically but theologically and doctrinally, and say, stabbing a dirty fork for emphasis, "You Singaporeans really need to get your shit together".

But history and the Scriptures tell us what often happens to the well-laid plans of mice and men, and how sin often stumbles the runner. Perhaps our prayers for them should be less about a good harvest (though surely, one desires and must ask for that, yet at the same time, the harvest is the Lord's and the crop will grow in his perfect timing, according to his will), and more about the godliness and perseverance of all involved, that at the end, God our Father may say to them,"Well done, good and faithful servant."

Extremely tasty dark hokkien mee with pork lard bits

Another Tioman Trip feat. Encouragement

washed out*

At the end of a week that didn't seem like it would ever end, there was Pulau Tioman. The Paya Beach Resort bit of Tioman Island wasn't spectacularly pretty. Its kampung feel was slightly on the more rundown side of charmingly rustic.

The sand on its beach was dark yellow and rough, but the water clear enough to gaze at corals and fishes while sitting on the railings and chatting at the jetty.

Tioman time is relative, said the Chinese cze char resto owner as he brought out more complimentary Tsingtao beer for the FIFA World Cup 2010 Germany vs Serbia match, 大家都走得很慢.

And it seemed that lazy hot childhoods were spent fishing with a bit of bread, a hook and a line,

or fooling around on a surfboard and waving goodbye to divers going out to sea (sometimes, the goodbye is forever, as we found out from the boatman while idling off Pulau Labas, waiting for people who had gone on their second dive to emerge from underwater tunnels. A few days ago, a girl died after falling from the upper deck of a boat on the way back from a snorkelling trip. Last year, a Japanese woman was killed by a boat's propeller as she was surfacing from a dive - the dive master had come up first and put up the sausage but there were three divers from the group who had yet to surface (this report tells a different story). There was another fatal incident involving falling from a boat that had been rocked by a strong wave at the jetty, a lifejacket and another running propeller...)

or over an old checkers board with plastic bottle caps.

The free breakfast was decent enough. The sausages that were more starch than meat were fed to the many cats moseying around for a free bite.

Lunches of Special King Beefs (Ramli burgers with two beef patties wrapped in egg) at Sunrise Cafe barely lasted us till dinner.

For dinner, there was the choice of edible cze char to the right of the jetty

or good barbecued seafood, and buckets of duty-free beer to wash down satay and otah at the resort.

And we had plenty of time to check out the snacks while waiting for the 11.00am ferry that finally arrived at 2.00pm after being stopped by the marine police for a spot-check.

It was good to be in the midst of people reading good books - the Good Book (someone started reading from Genesis and was at the Book of Esther by the time we got to Tanjong Gemuk), Mark Ashton's Christian Youth Ministry (that got passed round a bit), a book on finishing the Christian race well, and spontaneously gossiping the gospel (no pulpit nagging repeatedly quoting The Great Commission necessary). A bit of rest after two weeks of little sleep, dealing (not successfully) with my own irritation at people not bothering to be organised enough or selfless enough to make the most of gospel opportunities and even sabotaging such times, frustration at energy and time expended on things for the tummy and not eternal things etc etc

Truly God is is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Until the end of the age, there will exist that tension between human responsibility and God's sovereignty; we must do all we can to preach salvation, yet we must never put our confidence in our work or make idols of our schemes. As David Jackman puts it,"...our business is growing...but only God gives the increase..."

On Christ the solid Rock i stand,
All other ground is sinking sand

*********************************

To get to Paya Beach Resort:

• coach from DFS Orchard, Singapore to Tanjung Gemuk, Malaysia (via various bus operators)
• purchase ferry tickets from Tanjung Gemuk to Pulau Tioman
  

And don't forget to pay your Tioman Island Marine Park fee. Keep the receipt at all times in case the ubiquitous marine police pull you over for a spot-check.


At Paya Beach Resort, snorkel gear can be rented from this bald dude, and diving equipment from the Dive Cove and say hi to Funny while you're there.


I be liking this mask.


So much more to see!

*all photos by iPhone 3GS + Tiltshift or Crossprocess or Swankolab + PSMobile. Interestingly, one of my photos will hanging around the Schlechtriem Brothers Gallery in Berlin Mitte as part of the chosen 144 (not thousand) in the EYE'EM Award 2010.