Crossing over

Last week was Palm Sunday and Pastor Enoch preached on the topic "Crossing over". That's an intriguing title by itself. There are so many things in our lives that we are crossing over everyday. Some are life-changing milestones and others just a trivial step such as myself thinking of switching from the world of PC and windows into another of Mac and OS named after cats. Anyway, it was really the kind of message which made you feel that someone had just turned on the light to illuminate the world. Speaking on the episode when the Jews were going to cross over the River of Jordan, Paster Enoch described with insight how different it was from the famous splitting of the Red Sea and their crossing over then. During then, the Red Sea just split in front of them, even without any one stepping into the water. But not so at the River of Jordan. God commanded Joshua to instruct the Priests to carry the ark and step into the raging waters during a time when rainfall was heaving and the river was bursting. I just loved the small little skit Pastor Enoch acted out himself.

Joshua (to the Priests): "Carry the ark and go into the waters"
Priest 1: "Eh Joshua, not sure if you realize but the water has not split yet. Last time at the Red Sea, the water just parted before we stepped in."
Priest 2: "Yea, that's right. (Looking at the menacing waters) There are only so many of us (refering to the priests). You can't just try and see...."

It was rather amusing, especially to myself. So many times we go over the passage about the Jews in the old testament and think how faithless and inconfident they were, especially after they had gone through the once-in-a-lifetime-of-the-entire-universe experience of Red Sea splitting in front of them. But yet as pointed out, the task of stepping into Jordan was not as simple as it seemed. Sometimes we are also just standing in front of the Red Sea, waiting for God to split it first.

So the story goes, the Priest went into the waters with the Ark and the River parted. The Ark was God's reminder about His mercy, justice and providence. Sometimes it is amazing and almost unbelievable but it just happens. We happen to be in Boston, attending this church at this specific time that we can be part of the church's expansion. And just as we try in our limited ways to contribute financially to the building funds and work out our expenditure, God provides for air tickets back to Singapore at nearly half price (a discount turns the price from $1600 to $888) and on top of that, our traveling dates allows us to sublet our apartment to someone in our building who wants to lease it from his parents during his graduation. That further cuts our traveling expenses substantially. What can we say?