Move

St. Giles Street, Oxford on Thursday Morning

It was Hungry worship and praying meeting last night. In one part of the session we did Prayer Walking, we walked inside the church building independently and randomly and prayed for our city at the same time. I was praying with my eyes opened because I didn’t want to pump into someone or something while I was walking! I was asking God what He thinks about Oxford; what is in His heart at the moment; what He wants us to do in this city and I asked Him to move our hearts of what moves His, to stir up our desires for His glory and to change our hearts to be online with His.

While I was still walking I suddenly realised there is something in the church building that I haven’t noticed before: like at the top bit of the pillars at church there are some flowers sculpture, random female faces sculpture above the banner etc. I haven’t seen them before, they were there for donkey years but I have never noticed them until now!

We have been passing by our cities but it seems to me that we miss out the details at times! I think God is telling me that if we look into the parts that are generally being ignored by most people, we will find His will and discover the beauty of it. For me this is definitely a challenge, I am definitely not good at looking into details. However I believe if we are willing to do so, God will let us see His way through His eyes, change our minds to be online with His mind and we will discover the hidden beauty that He has set before us to find.

Lord, moves our hearts of what moves yours; breaks our hearts of what breaks yours; makes this place be what you want it to be and let your will be done in us for the sake of the name of Jesus, amen.

29.11.2012

Oxford

Hungry and Afterthought

At the end of every month’s Wednesday night, we have a prayer and worship session called Hungry. We were helping with the Mighty Warriors Party for the little children (which itself was amazing!) so we arrived late. Worship has already started by the time we arrived and everyone was singing at the top of their voices worshiping God. It doesn’t take long for me to feel the overwhelming sense of God’s presence at the whole church, and it grew stronger and stronger and it was so strong that I simply just couldn’t stop throwing myself into His presence. Everyone was singing with eyes closed, in awe. My spirit was lifted up as worship continued and the lyrics of the songs became so real to me and I could feel my spirit was on fire, a great sense of hunger and desire for Him. It is really hard to use any words to describe being in God’s presence, but once you have felt it you would understand what I mean by it – satisfaction to your soul.

Without doubt this is the reason why this prayer and worship session is called Hungry – hunger for God’s presence. I believe this is what we are called to do as Christians, worship God and hunger for Him. As Church we not just hunger for His presence whenever we worship Him, we hunger to see Him changing people’s heart and lives, we hunger to see His glory being shone, we hunger to see Him doing great things in our cities. Near the end of the Hungry Charlie invited us to come forward to have a 20 seconds prayer to lift up our burdens to God, I went forward and prayed that God will set our heart on fire for Him and the people we love and care for. Fire that not just consumes but also transforms, being the light which shone His glory. This reminds me the chorus of one of the Tim Hughes song:

Consuming fire fan into flame

A passion for Your name

Spirit of God fall in this place

Lord, have Your way

Lord, have Your way with us

06.11.2012

Oxford

Snapshots at Christ Church

Christ Church College on a Sunny Saturday Afternoon

Sun Shining Through the Garden Gate of Christ Church

Snapshot of a Beautiful White Dog

Journey

I just got back from Singapore and on my way back to Hong Kong I keep thinking about all the journeys/holidays that I have had since I went to England. I recalled my first holiday to Spain after graduated from high school, first trip with my uni friends to Norway, the craziest hitch hiking trip to Prague etc. All those memories passed through my mind and they were still very fresh to me that it seems they just happened not so long ago. If you asked me which my favourite trip is, I probably cannot answer you directly, but I guess I can tell you my favourite moments in each of those trips. And they all have something in common.

I never am a person who loves rushing through different sights, taking pictures and leave. I may have taken some amazing and beautiful photos, and then upload them all to Facebook to proudly ‘present’ that I have been to there, which can be quite satisfying; but it feels like something, something important, is missing there. For me this kind of travel seems detach the place from its culture and people. It is just like a person having his body but without his soul; he looks alive from the outside but is actually dead from the inside. The best moments that I have had in my trips are the moments that I start connecting with the people, and hence its culture too.

On our second last day hitch, we were lost in Germany and it was getting dark. A man came passed us but returned to speak to us to see if we needed any help (I think he could sense that we were lost at that time). After we spoke to him about our situation, he thought for a while and decided to host us for a night if we really needed it (He called his wife to check if it is ok before he gave us the offer). Jens and his wife Annaca cooked us dinner, gave us beer, hot shower and warm bed for a night. I mean how often in your life that you could experience this! But what I found incredible is the fact that they couldn’t speak very good English (and of course we couldn’t speak German at all!). They tried their very best to communicate with us with their limited English and it is just truly blessed for us to be able to experience it.

Take this trip to Singapore for instance. One of the best moments that I had is when me and my friend went to an island called Sentosa. We walked down to the beach to a place called the Southern Point of Continental Asia, we then sat on the top floor of one of the towers there, listened to the sound of sea waves and chatted! That was what we did for the whole afternoon - just chatted, for hours, till the Sun was about to set before us. Apart from that we didn’t do anything at all! To be honest it was probably the most relaxing time that I have had in weeks! But it think the reason we had such a good time is because we enjoyed each other’s company, this is what I believe is the most important after all.

Only you start to connect with its people and culture, you start to get know the place. It works with travelling, and it works actually the same with your personal journey with God – only you start connect and relate to Him, you start to get to know who He really is. This is particular true to me when I looked back to my journey with God. The friend who went to Sentosa with me took me to airport on the day of my departure and we chatted (again) on the way. We somehow came to the conversation about what our lives will be like 4-5 years down the line. I looked back to my life 5 years ago when I just became a Christian. Over the years God has taught me something new about Him and myself every year and shape me to be the Jeremy that I am now. If you asked me 5 years ago what I would be like 5 years later, I would never have a glimpse of thought that I would have gone this far in my journey with Him. If this is true to me now then I am sure it will be true for the next 5, 10 and 15 years and so on. Maybe I just need to let God surprise us (He is good at it!), as long as I know “In all things God works for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28), then it is enough for me.

2012.09.11

Hong Kong