THE SHEPHERD’S CORNER

Last week I shared with you that I had been diagnosed with Stage 1 prostate cancer. Since then I have received so many encouraging words and promises to pray for me. I would like to thank you for your love and support to me. I also would like to update you with the doctors’ recommendation—no aggressive treatment at this time, just active surveillance, which means I will be monitored closely. So, what I do now is just to stay healthy and eat healthy.

When I was last in Indonesia, I attended an ordination service. In his sermon, the senior pastor, who presided over the ordination, said this to the newly ordained pastors, “Today you are seeing much honor and glory, but I want to warn you that tomorrow you might just be a mat.” I thought this pastor had said strong words, but I understood his point—that ministry is not always like a rose garden. There are good times but there are also tough times.

In his book about Paul, Pastor Chuck Swindoll quotes these beautiful words written by Florence White Willet, which I’d like to share with you: I thank God for bitter things/They’ve been a ‘friend to grace’/They’ve driven me from paths of ease/To storm the secret place. I thank Him for the friends who failed/To fill my heart’s deep need/ They’ve driven me to the Savior’s feet/Upon His love to feed. I’m grateful too, through all life’s way/No one could satisfy/And so I’ve found in God alone/My rich, my full supply!

Life is not always like a garden of rose; life is more like a Garden of Eden. It is a garden where temptation abounds, but it is also a garden where grace abounds even more. It is a garden where the devil crawls, but it is also a garden where God walks with us. It is a garden where we can find “in God alone, my rich, my full supply!”

Pastor Paul