Dear brothers and sisters,

Today is Easter Sunday. As I asked Jesus what to write during the week. I did not receive any inspiration until today after the service at my in-laws' house this morning. I had 2 very powerful encounters at my in-laws' house.

I was so amazed by the words of one politician in a local newspaper. We Christians need to learn from that very dedicated and committed non-Christian politician. Here it goes. He said that we must not blame on racialism as the cause of the loss of most urban seats by Barisan National. He said that the causes of the loss of the different seats are due to quite a lot of local issues of different towns and the leadership issue of Sarawak. He said that we must not blame any race for the losses in this election. I believe (my interpretation) his bottom line in politics is politicians regardless of who is in power, politicians need to serve rakyat of all races. This is very much related to Jesus' teaching of making disciples among all nations, which also refer to different races. If a non-Christian politician has this in mind and practice, what more to say we as disciples of Jesus, He died and He is risen for all races, skin colours, languages, the rich and the poor, the marginalised, the oppressed, the rejected, etc, we must by all means do even more. The powerful word of God in the bible and the Spirit of Jesus must enable you and me to do it, isn't it? Do you agree with me?

Another powerful encounter was with my father-in-law (94 years old) whom I played chess with every Sunday afternoon. In the past, most of the times, he beat me. Through all the losses, I learned from my mistakes and he coached me. In this recent few Sundays (including today, 3), I managed to beat him twice and draw twice and lost twice. Every Sunday, I practised my spiritual exercise of playing chess with him. I am always very satisfied regardless of whether I win or loss or draw. The only reason is over the chess, I learn so much about life. As I play chess, as my father-in-law and I make every move, it looks like it is every move in life has its risks, opportunities, dangers, pains, hurts, joy, sadness, etc. Every move must be carefully thought and plan, it has its serious consequences. I experience most of the most of the times, one wrong move can cause me to lose my game. Most of the times, I made careless mistake by not analysing thoroughly the consequences of my move. In life, in spiritual life, in your relationship with God, with people and yourself, have you calculated your move and make good and wise decision, like you are in a chess game, you make good, wise, carefully thought plans and execute it, for Jesus?
I like to share with you something Jesus gave me over a 3-hour chess game this afternoon. I was very careful with all my moves this afternoon (after all the coaching by my father-in-law), still I was not good enough to analyse his plan of attack. I was waiting for him to attack me and my strategy was to defend well. Most of the times, I attacked first and I lost all the times. I changed my strategy today. I thought my defence was strong but he managed to crack my wall of defence. He was so good that he forced me to sacrifice my powerful one of the 2 vehicles at the beginning of the match! It was a blow to my game. However, I exercise my spiritual strength of perseverance and I did not want to give up hope. I did not allow that blow to disturb my emotions, my analytical abilities, my plan to counter attack when given a chance, etc. In fact, I learn it from my father-in-law. I realized it was a very powerful.

Right from the beginning after the death of my vehicle, I was all the time under his attacks and I kept defending and never gave up. He was the topdog (in a very comfortable position and he could finish the game soon) and I was the underdog (as if I would lose anytime). I learnt this afternoon that, by not giving up even though I seemed to lose the game, in my most dangerous moment, it was my moment of turning around/ turning point/ golden opportunity, At the point of my father-in-law almost winning game, at the point of almost victory, it was also the moment when his defence was at the weakest and I spotted it. I grasped the RM1 million value chance and did the attack according to plan. As he kept attacking me, he also neglected to pay attention to my plan of attack. This was his greatest mistake. He was overconfident all the way. After the game, I evaluated his loss and I pointed this mistake and he agreed.

Now, it was my chance to counter attack and I attack all the way and at the same time I did not allow him to counter attack (he is always good at it). Because he neglected his defense, I was able to eat his important members. I won all the way with all the principles he taught me. Finally, I won the game after 3 hour very meditative fight!

I really agree with Jack Mezirow, a psychologist who teaches that we all learn to grow from an event that shakes our life. I got a blow in the chess game and I learnt not to give up and in the end I even won the game. I really learn that in life, I may seem to lose at first, but I persevere because Jesus says so, in the end, He causes me to win. My experience in Jesus is this: in the end, I always win. It is Jesus who gives me victory all the time.

Will you join me in this life faith journey to win people of all races to Christ? Remember, in Him, we will always win. You may write to ask me how? I will share with you how I win all the time in Christ.

A Faithful disciple of Jesus,
Pastor Law Hui Seng
(24th April, 2011, STS, KK)

Posted by Teresa Han