Why would I unfold to you everything? I
am not going to spoil you. I am not a spoiler. I will unfold things
in the right time, at the right places and on the right people. I
guess you know who is talking here and who is he talking to. God is
not a spoiler. He knows his plans and he knows that those are too
wonderful for his people to comprehend and so he did not choose to
uncover it all, but bit by bit, he uncovered mysteries. We know that
God is working in the most amazing way. The most amazing ways, as we
all know are not the usual things that happens, amazing could be the
annihilation of a generation, the untimely death of a very
significant person, the suffering of people. These are amazing when
God unfolds the reason behind these illogical events, as may seem,
and see the grander picture of God's plan.
For two weeks of attending classes and
hearing from my professor and fellow about church history, I can't
help but be amazed on how God laid the foundation of His church, his
body. There are three significant learning I've gathered from this
class, first is, God is in control more than what we can conceive or
imagine. We may accused God of allowing such horrible things to
happen in the life of his people but in the long run, we know that we
can never pinpoint God because He knows everything and we don't. We
can only guess, and sometimes our guesses are the exact opposite of
what God intended to happen.
Second is often, God's people fail.
It's a hard fall but the Lord already prepared a foam so that when we
fall we will not break apart. I remembered one of my favorite quote
way back when I was in high school. It says, “when you come to the
end of your rope, let go and let God. Because either God will catch
you when you fall or he teach you how to fly.” This is such a
wonderful reminder for me that he is watching, he is ever-present and
he will never leave his children. He doesn't want us to break apart.
He wants us to grow to be more like him and most of the time, we are
stubborn, and so we learn the hard way, God will refine us like pure
gold. But when we continue to be pigheaded he breaks us but not
crushed us, he let us fail to stand up again. God is such a loving
God. We read it in his Word how he forgave and brought his people
back to him. It is as if God is telling his people that no matter how
far you run, you are not that far, I will always be with you. No
matter how far you go, my hands will always be open and ready to
receive you. My arms are ready to cuddle you, just come back to me.
Last, it's costly when we venture to
another place for the sake of the gospel. It takes courage. As I look
back to the apostles and church fathers, I know that bloods had been
shed for the sake of the gospel. Lives had been cut short so that the
Word of God will be proclaimed to many people. It is indeed costly,
but compared to what Jesus had done on the cross, well, we can never
compare it. We can never grasp how costly it was to came here on
earth, became human, lived, ministered, suffered, died, and rose
again.
The foundation has been laid on, will
you be willing to continue?

As Sir Manges would always put it---we are standing on the shoulders of those who have gone before us! :)
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