Facing Cancer

TITLE: FACING CANCER
SCRIPTURE: PSALM 13:1
Written by: Dr Conrade Yap
Date: March 12th, 2015

“How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” (Ps 13:1)

What do we do when our high hopes of faith clash with the harsh realities of life?

I remember being trained for evangelism years ago to share the gospel with people, to open up the Word of God to them, and to share my testimony with them. With step by step explanations and diagrams, I would lead individuals with questions, be engaged with them about the questions of life, and often concluding with a personal testimony of what life in Christ looks like. A typical flow would be something like sharing the powerful effects of faith on born again believers.

• “I used to be very hot-tempered, but since coming to Christ, I have mellowed.”
• “I was self-centered but since Christ came into my life, I have become more God-centered and other-centered.”
• “I was a very unhappy and dissatisfied person, until I met Christ.”
• “I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.” (John Newton)

I can also rattle off a list of blessings that people receive from time to time. It can be a huge salary jump or a triple promotion. It can be one’s book entering the list on the New York Times bestseller books. It can also be a surprise present from nowhere, or an answer to a poor missionary’s prayer. For the sick, people’s hopes rest on miracles. For the down and out, hopes rest on a quick turnaround or in extreme cases, a quick end to life. I am not saying that these are bad. No. I thank God for every benefit that comes from God. What I am concerned about are people who place the hope of such blessings as the primary purpose of faith, instead of the glory of God. For people who converted to Christianity on the basis of blessings, good health, and prosperity, the moment the perceived blessings stop, there is a high chance that they will leave the faith.

In Memory of Chua How Chuang

TITLE: In Memory of Chua How Chuang
SCRIPTURE: 2 Corinthians 12:9
Written by: Dr Conrade Yap
Date: March 5th, 2015

"9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me." (2 Cor 12:9)

Dr Chua How Chuang

Today is a day of much grief. Dr CHUA How Chuang went home to the Lord this morning. He is survived by Kaori and his three year old daughter Airi. He was a fellow Regent alum, who recently returned to Singapore from Hokkaido Japan as a missionary-teacher on behalf of OMF (Overseas Missionary Fellowship). After completing his PhD from Trinity, he was back in Vancouver for a visit. I met him for coffee and it was a really enriching time of sharing and caring. Though he was a scholar-theologian, and I was then a student at Regent, I could sense his gift in pastoral care emanating from his warm tone. We chatted like friends even though we had not seen each other for ages. The last time I saw him was way back in Varsity days. He was a VCF Staffworker then and spoke regularly at various Christian Fellowship events. I knew him then as someone who can speak and articulate biblical truths well. He was a well respected figure at Regent, and I remembered hearing about him being one of Dr J.I Packer's best Teaching Assistants. He was one of those students from Singapore who had held the Singapore flag up high in terms of research quality and academic excellence. How Chuang's thesis was based on the Puritan, Richard Baxter, entitled: "Christ, atonement, and evangelism in the theology of Richard Baxter." Not surprising as Dr Packer is an ardent reader of Anglicanism and Puritans.