Of late our Sunday services have had some good speakers and last Sunday, we had Bro. Bryan Tan , the CEO of the Centre of Fathering in Singapore to administer the Word. Instead of preaching the Word, somehow he was led to share his personal testimony which is a very powerful message in itself. Just like any Sunday , I was in my usual easy-self and I really thought it would be back to the usual “feel good” preaching that many had done in the past. But I must admit that the previous week short seminar on apologetics quicken my soul a little bit for more meaningful message and learning. So, please forgive my slouched soul as I headed into last Sunday. Please forgive me for being blunt or as straight as it is because I really felt that most churches today jumped in the joyful bandwagon of dishing out populist move by preaching ”safe and feel good “ messages to the congregation. Always avoiding the crunches and the absolute wake up call that are needed as we face the daunting everyday life. It is not piling more misery to our soul but at least, don’t mask the difficult times but bring out and lead the people into knowing the joy and peace behind the difficulties and daunting days ahead. Afterall, God has already pre-informed us of the harsh times ahead and the promises of joy way ahead, right? So, arise and stand tall.
Coming back to the testimony by Bro.Bryan Tan, I believe, God must have somehow impressed upon his heart to share his testimony. By the move of slides, way after his testimony, I could see some rather good preparation of the message but somehow, he could have been led to “dump” those preparation and went for his testimony. Though we all know that testimonies are usually individual experiences with GOD and sometimes cannot be used as a yardstick for others but when testimonies are administered in sync with the heart of GOD , you will see the ripples made by the testimony. That morning, I was caught by the raw, inspiring and forthright honest sharing. It was not an easy thing to do even for a seasoned preacher or deliverer of the Word.
What a testimony this man brought forward! I will praise Bro Bryan for what he said but I will praise him even more for what he did – reaching out to God in his desperate plea for God’s intervention for his life. Many a times, we are what we call ourselves “bodoh sombong”. Pride and proudness stifled our walk with God. This was no different to this man. Being a leader, it is much more worse for him as people perceived him as a leader who would be “alright and all good” mode. Deep down inside, this was a stupid, proud and prideful man. See the resemblances in our own lives? Many a times, we are like Bro.Bryan or somehow act like Bro Bryan. Come on, don’t look like some angels in those artificial wings of yours! They are more like horns, actually…..
We masked ourselves each Sunday under the title we get as “leaders” and “ man of influence” in our weekday career that we are so broken and dying inside. We are just another broken human being like Bro. Bryan but we are just too proud to admit it. That’s why Bro Bryan’s testimony touched my heart a lot. That’s why the grace of GOD is all we have to sustain our fragile cracked life indeed. That grace from GOD really sustained us and we better appreciate that and honor that grace from GOD!
What Bro Bryan shared are so true and correct that we have become exceptionally good in masking ourselves and how we try to keep our “clean & squeeky good” reputation intact without people knowing the truth behind us. Bro Bryan’s sharing resonated well with me as he highlighted the very essence of what is perceived as a church leader and the expectation of how people perceived a leader. Many times, we perceived church leaders and leaders as "good people, without problems, problem solvers etc etc" but in actual fact, we are all human beings with our own folly and weaknesses too. We also drove these leaders to have to put up that mask or else, if they show any signs of weakness or stupidity, we gossiped, slandered and asked "why our leaders are like that?", right? So, many times, we, together with our leaders put up the ”mask” that we are okay and good when in actual fact, we are all very broken inside. That honesty and confession touched me a lot. That's truth and hard facts!What I really want to applaud him was for his tenacity, struggle and his strong will to reach out for help and set his life right before God. That is the whole essence of his testimony. GOD makes all things possible!
His sharing of how God lined up people of expertise to help him really encouraged me. Many a times, I too could not understand how people would come in contact with my life when storms and difficulties just overwhelmed me but GOD did it, yunno. So, I really am able to understand what he was sharing at the pulpit and I was so blessed and deeply touched by it. To me, Bro Bryan showed me that there is a lot of brokenness in all of us but if we really take the effort to reach out to our Father in Heaven, He would hear us and extend that olive branch of healing to our lives. I am truly inspired by what Bro Bryan testified in my own humble way last Sunday.
I must say that though the world may see us as weaklings and fools for our honesty and our openness but GOD would ensure that our hearts and the condition of our hearts would always be at the right place and at peace. I take away the precious nuggets of life that was shared by Bro Bryan with much thankfulness and mindful that GOD is and always the very centre of our peace, joy and happiness.
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