Last week was supposed to be the week against dispassion. By this, I mean not walking past people, but having the eyes to see people the way Jesus does. By this, I mean being moved by the things that moves God’s hearts, and fighting against the numbness that paralyzes us (look at the faces of rush hour traffic at the MRT stations and you’ll know what I mean). By this, I mean actually caring.
Unfortunately, I only managed to meet one old man who was limping in the station who graciously allowed me to pray for his leg in my very-broken Chinese. The rest of the week, I was in Desaru at the breakthrough weekend and my whole project shalom went out of the window. But, I resolved to start again this week. So, here we go: the week of no dispassion.
One sermon that my good friend, Katherine, recommended to me talks about the art of loving well, even the people on the streets who are hurting (by Jenn Johnson, I have attached it below). I love how she talks about with such joy and simplicity. We make it so complicated and worry about how we are seen, but when we are like a child and lose ourself, we are free to love. And we pray that the Lord would grow us in love.
So, yesterday, at Bugis MRT, an old man selling tissue papers caught my eye. In Singapore, there are no beggars, only people selling tissue papers. The man was holding a sign saying that he had high blood pressure and cholesterol. I bought some tissue papers from him, and asked for his name. He spoke Cantonese (which I didn’t), so I believe (?) his name is Cheng. In my broken Mandarin, I told him I believed God would heal him. Little encounters sowing seeds of faith. That was my adventure today 🙂
dancing for an audience of One - 