Yesterday (12 March 2004), we had our cell group gathering at Leslie’s place – he is our former cell group member. We congregate to celebrate the birth of one small and fragile life. It was for me a “miracle” moment. I did not talk much. Neither did I joke much. But I was happy, very much happy.
Lemuel Khoo is the baby’s name. Flip to Proverbs 31 and you would know why this child of the Most high is so special. His name is the embodiment of a blessed prayer song from the lips of his mother, Lena, and it means:-
He is undefiled, upright, a consoler, wise, positive, hopeful, a mediator, an advocate for the weak and dying, righteous and a refuge and pillar of strength to all.
I believe this song will be sung by his parents daily so that each and every of these attributes will come to full bloom in his adult life.
I think the growth of a cell group is made up of such moments; the witnessing of such miraculous moments. Lemuel is special because his mother is special. Lemuel’s mother, Leena, has systemic lupus – an illness that attacks the vital organs of the body. Make no mistake about it, lupus is a very physically exhausting illness. I have a friend who has systemic lupus too. She often suffered in silence. She got sick easily. She has to closely monitor her diet. She cannot expose herself to sunlight for long. Sometimes she has reddish butterfly marks on her nose. She also has skin condition. And her immune system often rebel against her own body. Recently, she had her hip replaced. At times, her liver and kidney fails her. At other time, she suffers from depression. At such a young age, my friend lives in constant unease and uncertainty - all thanks to this condition called lupus.
Lupus is a serious medical condition. At the same time, our God is a serious God. Our God is so serious that He will not let Leena go. Neither will He let my friend go. Our God sees the torment. He sees the pain. He sees the agony. Our God is serious about making a way for Leena and my friend.
Lemuel is God’s gift of his serious love for Leena. Lemuel is a testimony to all who persevere with a heart that faints not and a spirit that falters not. Our God is real and, during time of adversity, there are many things our God is not. He is not some kind of “airy fairy hocus pocus”. He is not a figment of our imagination. He is not a “pluck from the air” figure. He is not a get-well-soon greeting card. He is real.
The struggle of one mother and her new born is a torch-fire of faith for this cell group. Pass this torch-fire around and light up all those people you meet with this testimony. Most of all, let it light up your faith and the faith of your loved ones.
For all the untold cries in the night. For all the darkness in Leena’s womb. For all the doubts cast and faith dampened in times of discouragement and anxiety. For all the disheartening stories. For all the temptation to give up. One thing remains faithful to the end. Lemuel’s God-breathed heartbeat. Lemuel doesn’t want to let go. Neither could Leena. Lemuel wanted to live and it is one request that God cannot decline.
We can take this testimony as a bridge over troubled waters in our lives. We may be faced with rapid waters of hardship and painful situations. We may be up to our ears with threatening tides of sorrow. We may even be drowned by discouragements and depression. But we can always draw strength and hope from the life of Lemuel.
Who can say that his or her troubles are far worse than Lemuel? Who can say that his or her situation is bleaker than Lemuel? Who dare say that Lemuel’s dilemma is nothing compare to his or hers?
Please note that we are dealing with a life here. A life that wants nothing more than to live. All of us are living and breathing and living and breathing quite well. (Yam Mong had just bought a cool blue Nissan Sunny and his wife is expecting crown jeweled “Tiara”; Nina has a stable and well-paying job; Uncle Allan’s kids have all grown up healthily and one is blessedly married; I have a son who now walks faster than I can catch up).
Sure, we have our problems. Sure, we need to meet the monthly bills. Sure, we need to pay the mortgage. Sure we have relationship issues. Sure, we felt stuck sometimes with nowhere to go. I am not trivializing your problems. I am not marginalizing it. I am not saying that they are kacang puteh (peanuts).
In fact, I understand what some of you have to go through. Some of you are worrying about whether your spouse will still be around tomorrow. Some of you are concern that you may lose your job. Some of you are lost in your career. Some of you are lonely. Some of you are discouraged and angry with God. Some of you just feel that tomorrow will not get any better.
But Lemuel doesn’t have even the “privilege” or the “displeasure” to experience all that. He doesn’t have the chance to go that far in life. All he wanted was to live. “To live” is the most basic life’s issue that none of us has to worry about – since all of us are alive and kicking and have been alive and kicking for the past, say, twenty plus years?
This is why Lemuel’s success in his struggle for life is so inspiring. From conception to birth, Lemuel’s journey is a long and enduring nine months. In the small confinement of Leena’s womb, Lemuel had heard everything he wanted and doesn’t want to hear from the outside world.
Words that he would not make it bounce off his small fragile body. Words that he would turn out abnormal resonate in the narrow uterus space. Words that he should just be aborted slipped into his tiny unformed ears. However, he doesn’t give in because he knows (and I know he knows) that God is faithful. As he cannot speak for himself, he let God and Leena be his advocates. He let his constantly beating heart be his beckon of hope. He let his every tug and pull be his yearning to live. He let his rolling and tumbling be an affirmative cry for life.
I thank God for Lemuel. I thank God for Leena and Leslie. I thank God for all your prayers. As we celebrate a life, we also celebrate a wonderful victory. Once again the devil (and I have to say this) has to scrawl another line of defeat on his wall.
Have you seen Lemuel? Some of you have. He is gorgeous. He has deep-seated eyes. Alert stare. Focused vision. Neat crop of baby hair. Brown and black, I think. Healthy weight. And yes, big head (just like Nina).
I think we all can learn a few things about Lemuel’s victory struggle. Here, a baby can teach us the most basic meaning of living. Imagine, a 9-day old teaching me, an about 10,950-day old adult. I guess if Lemuel could speak, he would remind me of three essentials:-
1) TREASURE YOUR LIFE. With this come, treasure your wife. Needless to say, it also implies treasure your work, your son, your relationship with others. I think at this point, Lemuel will stop me from mumbling to myself and say, “Don’t forget to treasure the things that you have NOW.” I think this is the crux of the message. To treasure what you have. Don’t get so caught up with the paper-chase of education, the rat-race of work, the up and down of your own activities, and the pursuit of material wealth and career goals that you lose sight of what you already have. Your supportive spouse. Your good health. Your blessed career. Your humble flat. Your 7-year old car. In two words, be content.
I think happiness is the ability to enjoy and treasure what you have now before going for what you do not have. If you cannot enjoy and treasure what you have now, you will never, never going to enjoy and treasure what you may have in the future. Your life will be a non-stop self-gratifying, self-deluded journey. A meaningless and endless ride from one apparent pleasure to another, without finding peace and rest. You will be like a dog running after its own tail. Round and round it goes but not getting anywhere.
So, Lemuel will tell me to treasure the morning dew, the afternoon sun and the nocturnal tranquil. He will tell me to hug my wife more. Tell her how beautiful she is. Tell her what she means to me in my life. Listen to her without talking back. He will tell me that it doesn’t hurt to buy her gift occasionally, take her out on a romantic stroll and share with her my fear, joy and goals.
2) NEVER GIVE UP REGARDLESS. Well, I’ve heard this phrase umpteen times. Winston Churchill stressed it. Self-improvement teachers proclaimed it. My pastor preached it. I even heard myself uttering it. But when it comes from a 9-day old, who has just conquered life’s most challenging and daunting task, I pay attention.
Moses never gave up at age eighty when he was up against the king of Egypt. Joseph never gave up when he was exiled by his own brothers, sabotaged by his boss’ wife, jailed for nothing, and cheated by a friend. Most of all, Jesus never gave up when he was despised and rejected by his own people, prosecuted without fault, suffered in silence, and endured a painful and tragic death. Why should you?
Our problems are nothing compare to what others have to endure. Whilst we have a roof over our head, others have nothing. They lived in open sewages, stinking canals, dank tunnels and public bus-stops. While we are fully fed with at least 3 meals a day, others go hungry almost everyday. Babies are deprived of food and milk. Some are dumped on the street amidst busy traffic. Their cries fell on deaf ears. While we have full use of our hands and feet, others are handicapped and crippled for life. They cannot see, cannot walk and cannot live long. Doctors and family members have all given up on them. Most of them are living vegetables. All they could do was to stare at the ceiling and walls all day. A lot of them even craved for death.
So, from a point of divine providence, our problems are indeed kacang puteh compare to a lot of abused and rejected lives out there. So, next time you feel like giving up and wallow in self-pity, Lemuel is going to tell you to “take a walk in the cancer wards, take a stroll in the back alley of the homeless, take a trip to the orphanage, take a good look at my struggle for life, and then look at yourself in the mirror and asks critically, “WHAT”S YOUR PROBLEM AGAIN?”
3) GOD IS GOOOOD. Don’t mind the spelling…I think Lemuel got carried away. He is grateful to God. He is grateful for a chance to live and I’m sure he treasures it more than anything in this world. In the end, God is good and He is good all the time. So, thank you Lemuel for being our teacher and our inspiration. We look forward to your birthday for your next lesson on life. God bless.
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