My First Asia Conference Trip - Part 3 (The Conference)

The first day of the conference! We got up earlier, prepared our conference kit, bought bread and bottled water on the way to MRT station and we were ready for Asia conference. We didn't want to arrive late. Inside the MRT leaving to Singapore Expo, we met so many people wore Asia Conference ID card and lots of Indonesians!

Finally we arrived at Singapore Expo. I was amazed at the loooooong queue in front of the hall's entrance. We were directed to Hall 10, and we sat not too far from the stage. The opening band was True Worshipper. It's like we're back in Jakarta, but we were proud that all these delegates coming from all over Asia sang Indonesia's gospel songs. Go TW!

Actually we were still convinced that we were at the main hall, when the opening ceremony began. We saw the grand opening ceremony from the big screen on the stage. I said to my friend, maybe this was a record from last year's ceremony, which she agreed. Until one of the CHC pastor announced that the ceremony was aired live from the main hall - Hall 8! Well...a bit disappointed, but then we realised that all participants will have at least one day to be prioritized to enter the main hall. For us it would be the next day.

It was a great experience to hear and see these great speakers at Asia Conference. They were man and woman of God sharing God's words, they imparted what they have received from God for Asia. Their long faith journey with God, the ups and down, their love to God and people, and their great expectancy that God is and will work mightily in Asia through us,  just amazed me and made my eyes wet. Ps. David Yonggi Cho, Ps. Kong Hee. Ps. Phil Pringle, DR. A.R Bernard, Ps. Reinhard Bounke were some of the speakers this year.

Ps. David Yonggi Cho (74 years) shared about living in the 4th dimension (spiritual dimension). Believing God's promises when it looked impossible. With his slow voice, Ps. Yonggi Cho said that we could encourage our faith by speaking His words and keep our thinking in line with God's words. To be honest, we had to work very hard to keep our eyes open during Ps. Yonggi Cho's first session, because sometimes we could not catch the spoken English words in Korean accent. At the end of his message, Ps.Yonggi Cho mentioned one sentence that made me think hard, " Life without miracle is no life at all for Christian".

The next day, Ps. Kong Hee explained that actually Ps. Yonggi Cho was sick when he started the first session the previous day. However as God's anointing moved during the conference, Ps. Yonggi Cho was getting stronger. Ooo I felt bad ..I'm sorry Lord, I did not know he was not in good condition yesterday.

It is so easy for us to admire young uprising preachers or evangelists with their dynamic and attractive preaching, using multimedia presentation or the latest gadget. Nothing against them, it's all necessary to stay updated and reach out the young generation. However I give my greatest admiration to the the older man and woman of God who still stay in God's track through the long years of their lives, and Ps. Yonggi Cho is one of them.

Day two was our day to get prioritised into the main hall. And wow...it's so big and totally packed up! DR. AR Bernard shared about invading the world with Christ's culture. At the closing session, Ps. Phil Pringle called out and  prayed for pastors and leaders from several countries that God has put in his heart that night..some of the countries were China, North Korea, Myanmar and USA. Holy Spirit worked so strong and I could not hold my tears when the whole delegates (around 20,000 people) united to pray for these countries.

Finally it's coming to Thursday, the final day of my stay in Singapore. We would join the morning session only because I had flight at 3 pm, while the rest of the group's flight schedule would be one hour later than mine.After arriving at Singapore Expo by taxi,  we put our luggage at the organizer's reception area at hall 7, while we followed the sessions at hall 10.

A great session with Ps. Yonggi Cho about redemption from sin. We carry Christ's dying in our body 24/7, and God sees us like we never commit even one sin in our life. The following session was Ps. Reinhard Bounke. This was the first time I saw him preaching although Ps. Reinhard Bounke has been to Indonesia couple of times for crusade meeting. Watching him from the big screen in front of us, we could feel his burning passion for lost souls..."To hell with the devil, to heaven with the people!"

What a great conference! Two thumbs up for City Harvest Church who organised this big conference so well. Different pulpit for different speakers, outstanding ushers - they are firm but polite, very helpful and always smile, great testimonies, all sessions started on time, remarkable multimedia and stage presentation and many others.  Now it's time to go home and bring back the spirit imparted during the whole conference in our daily lives.

A very long queue at the exit of Hall 10. We had to go back to Hall 7 to bring our luggage, then walked again to Hall 10 to catch free shuttle to the airport. I was a bit worried  because my flight was one hour earlier than the rest of the team. We left Singapore Expo around 1 pm, and my flight schedule was 3 pm. After we arrived at Changi, we were a bit disoriented. We arrived at Terminal 2, and could not see any sign of Air Asia counter. We asked information counter and  found out that Air Asia check-in counter was at Terminal 1. We had to go down by lift than take sky train to Terminal 1. So I just speed up my steps to the sky train station and  said goodbye to my friends..we will see each other again in 2 hours time in Jakarta.

Arriving at Terminal 1, still there was no sign of Air Asia desk. Well, it turned out that I had to walk straight a couple meters inside to reach Budget Terminal. Finally at 1.30 pm I was in front of Air Asia counter, queuing for check in. I took deep breath...thanks God I was not late. I even had a chance to go to book store and bought one interesting book "Three cups of tea."

My flight was delayed for around half an hour, then I waited another one and half hour at Sukarno Hatta airport for the rest of the gang. Another friend picked us up at the airport. Seven grown up people plus seven luggage cramped  inside Isuzu Panther car. We finished the night by having dinner together at hawkers eatery nearby - "soto ayam" and fried chicken. So much difference from the eating place in Singapore, but we can live with it, even kind of miss the food flavour, just clean-enough table, having chillies, eating with hands. That's it...home sweet home!

My First Asia Conference Trip - Part 2 (Sentosa Island & China town)

Good morning!

It's second day of the week and second day of my holiday in Singapore. I stayed in a family room with my other two friends..and it's connected with the twin bed room next door. Last night the club in front of our hotel was quite noisy, but all three of us could sleep well. However, it was the opposite for my pastor who stayed one floor above us. The noise was quite a nuisance for him, so he woke up at 5 am to exercise down to the beach with his room mate. Both of them enjoyed breakfast at Kopi Tiam...hmm yummy.

As for the girls, we had a lot of food supplies in the room...thanks to my beautiful and well-prepared neighbour!

Today our schedule was Sentosa Island. After that we had dinner appointment with our long-time friend who had  worked in Singapore since 5 years ago. We wore our holiday outfit, brought some snacks, water, and we set to go. We will use MRT and we had to change the train in between.

I learned many lessons on the our trip today. Everything was in order. When you use the elevator, you are supposed to stand on the left, so people who rush could use the right lane. No eating while you are waiting at the station or in the MRT. Indonesians who stay in Singapore are more obedient to the rules compared to when they stay in Indonesia. Why was it so hard to ask people not to litter or smoke at public area in Jakarta, when they did the same things in Singapore? Maybe because here the penalties and consequences are strictly applied no matter who break the rules.

We used MRT go to Harbor Vivo to catch the train to Sentosa Island. Ooh how we love the MRT. We knew exactly when and where the next train will show up, the route information is clear, no long queue, traffic jam and push till you drop style to enter. We badly need you in Jakarta!!

We had our lunch first before we hop on the train. We already chose four destinations to enjoy at Sentosa Island : The Merlion and Merlion walk, Segway ride, Fort Silvoso, Sky Train.

Here were the photos we took during our half day activities.

The lion & us

We're glowing in the dark

The view from the mouth of the lion

The next stop was Segway Ride. We were thankful for the clear sky and a bit too warm weather. The paper fan we got at the Merlion in change of our good luck coin was very very helpful. From Merlion we had to walk down a paved road with small garden at the middle of it.

They called our next attraction Segway Ride. I saw this two-wheel machine before on television, it was the new buzz attraction in Jakarta. It was a bit scarry because you had to control this machine using your body. To stop you have to stand up straight, to move forward you should lean your body forward, to turn right or left you need to move up your body to the right or left accordingly.

I had difficulties to master it, especially when I wanted to stop. You can not stop it by hopping down and stop the machine from the front..it was not allowed and dangerous! But finally I got it..and I can go through the whole track quite smoothly. There were times I felt I was not in control. which gave me quite a chill, especially when we had to turn left or right climbing the rocky track. Anyway I just kept moving on and I reach the finish line safe and in one piece..:)

The third destination was Fort Siloso. It was already 2 pm. We were trying to enjoy the hot weather. We rode trem to reach Fort Siloso. The guide explained the historic value of Fort Siloso, which only less than half of it I could put inside my brain. Maybe because of her Singlish accent or because my brain almost melt under the bright sunshine. We chose to do the shortest trip, which finally we did not do, as we had no more energy to walk in any place without air conditioner. We only saw a short movie showing Japanese occupation in Singapore, because that's the only place we could rest our weary legs in a fully air-conditioned room.

Our last stop was Sky Ride! It's flying bench for four person on the cable. Lovely view from the top and it was my most favourite attraction today. It always feels great being at the high place, under the clear sky, feeling the wind breeze, looking at the sea surrounding the island. I am very careful with my thongs. If it slipped away from my foot, I would spent the rest of the day bare footed.

Back to the main island by train to our next destination - China Town. After spending about two hours at Harbor Vivo mall, browsing from one shop to other shop, we boarded train to China Town. It's the place to buy souvenirs for our friends, families, colleagues.  We spent around 2 hours in China Town. I tried Singaporean type of "ronde" ..no appetite for big dinner tonight. My friend accompanied me to buy tiger balms for my mom. My mom asked me to buy 10 pieces...piling a stock for 2 years :)

It was almost 09.00 pm when we left China Town. We had to get rest soon, because tomorrow we had to leave early in the morning for Asia Conference. We heard that the conference drew around 20 thousand participants (the rumour is 20 percent of them are Indonesians!)...I'm so excited for tomorrow!

My First Asia Conference Trip - Part 1

Two weeks ago I went to Singapore with my friends from church to attend Asia Conference at Singapore Expo. For you who may be wandering what kind of conference it is, actually it's a conference where you can hear God's vision about Asia, shared by great speakers from America, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea. It drew around 30 thousand people packed into the three halls every day.

I planned this trip since February 2010. My housemate informed me about this conference. I have never been to Singapore before, so why not? It's a good change to spend holiday with my friends instead of my family.

The day finally came...Monday 24 May 2010. There were 8 of us went to the conference. We didn't go in the same plane. The first group went early in the morning, while me and my other 3 friends boarded afternoon flight from Jakarta. I started to pack my bag after midnight, continued on Monday morning while watching LA Lakers vs Utah game 3 (sadly Lakers lost at the end ..) However even Lakers' loss didn't dampen my mood. It's going to be an awesome journey !

I called Blue Bird taxi and it arrived on time. It was a smooth journey to the airport. There was a car tripped over at the green area near the airport. Amazing what you could do when you didn't pay attention.

I was the first who arrived at the airport. The airport was crowded, many people sat on the floor, waiting to say goodbye to their soon would be parting relatives. Like it or not, it's my country's international airport.

Soon two of my friends came but we have to wait for almost half an hour until the last man came. We flew by Air Asia and the plane was delayed for almost half an hour. From this group, only one friend had been to Singapore almost 10 years ago. We're ready to go..

One and half hour later...

We approached Singapore, the tiny island that became the major transhipment ports for shipping activities all over the world. The country with 5 million people but has become the world's fourth leading financial center. It is the fourth wealthiest country in the world in GDP (PPP) per capita terms, and twentieth wealthiest in terms of GDP (nominal) per capita. (Source :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore).

Singapore has become major tourism destination through its many creative ways - shopping fever, medical care, attraction parks, food, conferences, exhibitions, world artist show and don't forget Formula One. The flight distance from Jakarta to Singapore is only 1.5 hour, but the distance of its people mind set is so far.

Finally we arrived at Changi - the world's most awarded airport. We took a cab and went straight to our hotel - Fragrance Hotel at Joo Chiat road. It was 15 minutes drive from the airport. The journey was very smooth, a nice change from traffic jam that would almost certain welcome you, when you left Sukarno Hatta airport.

The hotel was nice and clean, although it situated near pubs and karaoke. We got connecting room for all the girls (1 family + 1 twin room). The earlier group had not checked in yet and we could not get in touch with them. Ehm...they must be busy shopping now.. and none of us had a clue where we should go.

It was 5 pm when we decided to leave the hotel. We walked by faith without even seeing our tourist map we had grabbed at the airport or asking directions the receptionist. Very intelligent wasn't it ?...Then we realised we were heading to the opposite direction, so we turned back and walked along Joo Chiat road based on the memory when we boarded the taxi earlier.

Finally we found the main road and small food court. We were starving cos none of us had lunch before. Our first meal was chicken rice. After we finished our dinner, each four of us opened our maps, trying to figure out where our location was and where our destination would be. And amazingly we could not find where we were now. You can not move forward until you know where your current position is . The Sunday's preach from my pastor became so real now.

So again by faith, we walked through the main road, trying to find nearest MRT station. My clock showed 7.30 pm. When finally we decided to cross the small road near the green park, we heard a familiar male voice, " Yailah.." We met the first group ! I could not express the Godly relief we all felt.

They had just come from shopping at Orchard, brought some shopping bags, and looked very exhausted. After short conversation and information exchange, we separated. Our group tried to find interesting & nearby hanging out place to spend the night and the other group went back to hotel and had dinner. Unfortunately the shops were all closed, so we went back to hotel again..walked along Joo Chiat road..seeing some very well dress-up ladies waiting near the bars and pubs along the road.

That's the end of day 1 in Singapore....to be continued...

Routine and Irregular

Most of the time I love my routine
But there were times I get so bored at doing them
I expect irregular things to come across
To lighten up my days, give sense of excitement

Trying to see the things beyond what seems natural
There are many layers inside a person you meet everyday
Bringing up child-like curiosity in a polite way
You never know what you will find

A grown up guy attended his friend's wedding with his mom
A security guy guarded my car, while I left it with a totally wide open window & parking ticket inside, for almost 2 hours
Meeting old friends, had a good laugh and updated latest things with them
A troubled teenager boy touched by Holy Spirit

I love my life with all its routine
There are still many rooms of surprises inside of them
Lord, help me to recognise any one of them
And embrace how You showed Yourself in any given situation

Friends Forever

A true friend is a real gift from God. When we are blessed with friends who share our ups and downs, it is up to us to keep the friendship lasts. So many things can come in between, our work routine, family life, our laziness. It's a hard effort to nurture and maintain friendship. We don't consider it valuable until circumstances forced us to see how precious friendship is.

Today I was in my "Monday mood", which meant tired due to lack of sleep and full schedule on Sunday.Do you notice that when you were in your "blue mood", you interpret almost everything negatively? So I called my old friends, tried to arrange shopping date to refresh my spirit and brightened my mood. However they did not pick up my call or replied my message.

So while I was writing this blog, there's an urge within me to call my university friend that I have not been in touch with for almost 3 years. She answered my call and we had a good conversation. She was so surprised that I called her, especially when I said that my only call purpose is just to talk and catch up with her and nothing else.

It's so happened that her father was just admitted to the hospital due to heart condition last Saturday. She also wanted to quit her current job due to many reasons. At the end we had good sharing time and I believe our conversation has strengthened her again facing all her circumstances.

Sometimes it's so funny that even in our weakest condition, we can still be a blessing to others. Friendship is two way around. Your friend need you as you need them, it's always give and take situation. When you feel you need to take something, actually your friend also need something from you. The odd things is after the call I felt refreshed again. My friend has given me the opportunity to give and it's a blessing for me.

David and Jonathan - the story of true friendship that surpassed generations. There's no other story in the bible that portrayed the heart of real friendship between two person than this story. Jonathan loved David as himself, he even gave his robe, his tunic, his sword, his bow and his belt to David. For a soldier, your weapons were the most valuable possessions you have.

Jonathan gave his best to David. I believe that starting that day David fought all his enemies, win so many wars, using his best friend's swords and bows. It stayed with him for many years to come. In a way Jonathan was with David in every challenges and hardship he faced.

Jonathan risked his life to defend David against his own father. Never once he sold his best friend, although he knew that David was anointed to be the next King of Israel, a position that should have become his, as the first son of King Saul.

When Jonathan died, David ripped his clothes to ribbons, wept and sang this lament over Jonathan and Saul.

" O my dear brother Jonathan,

I'm crushed by your death.

Your friendship was a miracle-wonder,

love far exceeding anything I've known-

or ever hope to know "

( 2 Samuel 1 : 26 - The Message)

David took care Jonathan son, brought them to live in his palace to fulfill his promise he had made to Jonathan on the early days of their friendship.

Friends forever...

Over the years many things happen to us and to our friend. As what David said to his late friend Jonathan in his eulogy, a friendship could be a miracle wonder - a love far exceeding anything we have ever known. When we are blessed with having true friend like Jonathan to David or vice versa, it is worth our every effort to keep our friendship going ...forever...

Where To Find Freedom?

This morning while I watched Champion's league quarter final between Manchester United versus Bayern Muenchen, I came across an interesting movie at other TV station. The movie's title was "More than a game" Interestingly this movie told a story about the existence of a football league inside Robben Island, the harshest prison in South Africa during apartheid time in 1960's.

As my finger pressed my remote control, I switched back and forth between the live match of one of the richest club in the world, with the picture of the black political prisoners having football matches inside the prison.Becoming political prisoner because of the color of their skin in a remote island with wardens yelling and insulting them almost all of the time, it's amazing that they did not loose their spirit. Forty prisoners slept and lived together in one compound. One day one person started to play  ball made of used paper with his foot and who could imagine that was the seed of Makana Football Association.

They fought relentlessly and politely for the warden permission to operate the first football league inside the prison...and they succeed. They had total 9 teams divided in 3 category based on their skills. Makana Football Association managed to run their competition despite internal problems from 1966 to 1973 prior to the closure of the prison.

Football became the outlet for their valuable freedom. The prison authority can not interfere Makana Football Association's rules and decisions within their league. They faced and solved their internal problems and dispute between the teams independently, based on the FIFA rules book plus the leader's wisdom.

One thing I learned from this movie is that nobody should able to contain our spirit and mind unless we let them or we did it on purpose. If these black South African prisoners could run their own football league inside the prison during apartheid time, we should be able to come out with wild and creative ideas and put it into actions...if only we dare to take the risk and put our true effort on it.

The Highest Paid Job

Yesterday I had the privilege to have conversation with an entrepreneur who had just started his new business venture. Actually he came to meet with my boss who offered him to invest in multi level business. My boss knew him from his wife, who was a branch manager of a well-known government bank.

He was in late thirties and wore casual shirt with a cap. After he finalised his business with my boss, we had chance to talk and he shared to me about his business. Spending half an hour talking with him, I learned something from this guy. He had worked in transportation company about 10 years ago, but he wanted to start his own business. He started his own business with his family, but then the partnership did not go well and he ended up giving the business to his brother.

So from one month ago he started his own business. His job is basically selling foods from office to office. He chose several food suppliers around his home, bought some for tester and market them to offices around Sudirman, central business area in Jakarta using his motorcycle. His wife had a high position in her career, but she was not ashamed with her husband's job and continued to support him even financed him.

He said no matter how many quantities you ordered, as long as it's in Jakarta CBD area, he would deliver them. His most important capital was trust. He was confidence with his future opportunities and his dream was to open small canteen in one of the building here in Sudirman area. I was consumed with his energy when he talked. His eyes showed his confidence and passions to see his business growing.

From my short conversation with him I learned view valuable lessons :

1. It's never too late to chase your dream as long you still have it in your heart
2. Never underestimate a small beginning
3. How we see our world determines what kind of world we receive

I give my best wishes for this guy, a loving husband, a father to 3-months baby and a successful businessman with the highest paid job.

This highest-paid job gave him salary that no other job could give.

....Trust when he is still nobody

....Faith in every circumstances

....Hope that only he can see

....Burning passion that keep him going

....Gratitude for all blessings God has given him....big or small

Kathy and me .. A story of my car

My parents bought me my first new car, Kathy in 1997. One year after I learned to drive, got my driving license and managed to wrecked my first car couple of times. The first car my parents bought me was a used Daihatsu Charade. I named it Cherry. It was a small sedan and poor Cherry had to face my recklessness which resulted in damaged body, scratches here and there, poor battery because I seldom used the car. After almost one year, when my mom saw my driving skill had improved, she sold the car.

I still remembered that particular day, a guy called me asking how was the car condition and I just honestly told him that it had scratches in some of the body and sometimes there was problem with the battery. He sound amused. Then couple days later I just knew that the car had been sold. Was it him the buyer or not? I did not know. Maybe he was impressed with my explanation.

Then came Kathy. It was a brand new small jeep - Suzuki Katana with purple color. By the time I drove Kathy, my driving skill had improved a bit, so it did not suffered as much as Cherry. When I worked in Jakarta, Kathy was transported from my hometown Mojokerto to Jakarta. My brother drove Kathy during his university years, because my workplace provided pick up service for their staffs.

The story of Kathy and me began around 4 years ago when my brother had finished his study and move out of Jakarta, so I got the privilege to drive Cathy. There has been many unforgettable stories, from good to worse. However at the end, all experiences taught me that God never leaves me alone facing problems that seem too big for me.

I do not know and don't want to know too much about car engine. My knowledge is only limited to checking the water in radiator and battery, in addition to change the lubricant when it's due. However whenever there was something wrong with Kathy, from double flat tire, machine broke down, car battery not working, there were always friends or people who gave a hand to help me.

It could happen just anywhere, at church parking lot, in my house, in the afternoon in front of my church building after everyone left, at night at the middle of toll road, at the side of roadway when someone stole my bag, noon day after getting out of toll road. In any occasion, there was always someone who was available to help until Kathy was okay again.. my church friends (the guys), my current housemate, my senior pastors, the driver from my office, my cousin, security guard at my housing complex, strangers and the latest was an angel.

The latest miracle that I experienced involved an angel. My car radio suddenly did not work around 6 - 7 months ago. I already asked someone to check and he could not find anything wrong with the radio. So I could not enjoy any music in my car for almost 7 months. Protests came from the my teenage friends who I took home every Saturday night from church. So due to no music can be heard publicly from their Ipod or radio, I had the chance to have good conversation with them.

Last Saturday morning when I started the car, I was surprised because there were 3 cassettes scattered on the front passenger seat. At first I tought someone broke to my car, but it was impossible, nobody used my car besides me. The last time I started the car was 4 days earlier and if the cassettes were not in their usual place, I should have known and returned them to their previous places.

Then.. I heard the familiar voice of my car radio! Wow I was so surprised - after I lost hope to listen to music through my car radio & tape again. God must have sent an angel to fix my car radio the night before. It's one of the greatest gift that the Lord has given me. It reminds me to always be thankful to Him whatever situation I faced.

His eyes are not blind, His ears are not deaf and His hands are not too short to help us.

It may not come at the time we expected

But when we keep our eyes on Him, for sure He is never too late to deliver us

'Cos we are much too precious for Him

Walking In The Desert

Walking in the desert is not anybodies dream job. However these days I feel like I was walking in the dessert where food were scarce, helping myself in a dry land where water was so precious.

I went to work as usual, did my church ministry every week, tried to motivate myself when I felt so dry inside. I have to be fruitful even when I am still in the desert. Prayer and bible reading is a classic recipe to survive in the desert. In order to survive we have to take the whole doze of the recipe. Pray God's words back to Him and speaking God's words into our situation.

Sometimes I feel so exhausted that I think I could not even say anything nice anymore to someone else. However when we have God inside of us, there is always a small river flowing out of us to give hope to others. The river will never dry even when we thought it has dried up already.

While I was still walking in desert, I know for sure that

My God will give me daily bread as He gave manna for 40 years to Israelites out of nothing
My God will make water come out of stony mountain to satisfy my thirst
My God will fight besides me and for me against all my enemies
My God will accompany my journey as cloud during the day and fire during the night

and He makes my walking in the desert as walking in the garden of life

I Carry You in My Heart

I carry you in My heart
Everytime I breath I remember you
You are My precious
I can go through the cross because of you

I carry you at the cross
When I fight to breath I remember you
I bring your names before My Father
My life for yours


And now I will carry the lost in my heart
Everytime I breath I'll pray for the lost
And I will stand in the gap for the lost
Lifting up my hands bringing them before You Lord
For salvation ...to come

By Rulia Christine - 3 March 2010

I am at Emergency Exit

I already marked this day 19 December 2009, since 6 months ago, when I bought the promotional ticket for my annual hometown holiday. I flew on Saturday afternoon from Jakarta to Surabaya, then my brother would pick me up at the airport for another 1 hour trip by car to my hometown, Mojokerto.



On that Saturday afternoon the plane boarded at scheduled time. Just before I boarded the plane, suddenly the airline officer changed my seat from 27F (which was given when I checked in) to 14F. When I took my seat, it just occurred to me that they put me next to the plane emergency exit. So during the safety demonstration, the stewardess politely and specifically asked me and the other man sat at the opposite aisle," Are you willing to open the emergency exit closest to your seat during emergency landing?". To this question, of course I said yes, while staring at the written instruction below the hatch, asking to myself whether I had enough power to pull the hatch open should I do have to open the emergency exit.



Emergency exit is only used during emergency situation, and it is the only hope available at that moment to find safety. It's a great responsibility to be chosen as a person who's given authority to open the emergency exit. But this one question asked by the stewardess made me think again. She specifically asked whether I am willing to open the door...what if I said no I don't want to open it? Maybe she and all passengers in that plane would glare at me for purposely attempted to delay the flight!



Sometimes God has asked me to open emergency exit to people around me. Sometimes I said yes, but many times I said no Lord, maybe later, or it's not a good time yet. Emergency exit leads to safety and a chance to live again. Many times in my ignorance I just do not show other people the emergency exit they need so badly, even when I'm sitting so close to the exit door.



When we pay more attention, there are many people around us desperately looking for emergency exit. we just need to increase our sensitivity to His voice. Maybe for one person his emergency exit was a friend's prayer, or just a phone call asking how she's doing, or a simple birthday wishes, or sharing about the source of eternal hope..Jesus. If we are willing to pull the hatch open, God will give us the person in need and He will guide us how to open the emergency exit for them.



Lord, thanks for putting me so close to the emergency exit. I am willing to pull the hatch to open the door.....for Your loved ones.