Saturday, December 29, 2007,
1:06 AM
Ecc 7:2 says that "It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting, For that is the end of all men, and the living will take it to heart."
Wise Solomon has said well... If we were to choose between going to a funeral service and going to a birthday celebration, I believe most people with common sense will choose the funeral service... It is indeed better to go to the house of mourning, and the reason is given in the 2nd part of the verse, where is says, "For that is the end of all men, and the living will take it to heart."
Verse 3 tells us that "Sorrow is better than laughter, for by a sad countenance the hear is made better."
This is indeed very true... It is better go to the house of mourning because we see the end of men's life, and we are reminded of it. You know, sometimes we go through life, thinking that it will never end... Sometimes, some of us live our lives as if we will never die! We indulge in the passing pleasures of sin, we neglect God's will, we forget this, we forget that, and we do nothing but waste our lives away!!!
It is better to go to the house of mourning because it reminds us of the fragility of life... James tells us in his epistle about the uncertainty of life. He says, "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow, we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit.' Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.' " (James 4:13-15)
James rightly points this out. Sometimes, we make plans... we make plans and we think that it'll all turn out fine, but in the end, it doesn't sometimes happen that way, because in the midst of it all, we forget to include God in our plans... and when we fail to do that, we get a shock when things don't go our way... we get frustrated, and angry and we blame God for all of it...
But such an attitude is not right as the Bible points out, because we do not know what will happen tomorrow... for even in verse 15, James writes in such a way that he doesn't even know whether he will live or not!!! So if he, being a brother of Jesus, not knows what will happen tomorrow, what more us?
And such was the case with our brother Benjamin... he didn't know, we didn't know what was to happen when we were going ahead with our YDP this year. It was our 20th YDP, bro Kay Yeow wanted it to be special, we had it all planned out, it was going to be great... And indeed it was, but then
this happened. Benjamin, somehow, managed to get himself into the deep end of the pool, and drowned... and what a day to pick to drown, on 25th December... not that there's anything special about it in the first place, for Christ was not born on that date, but even more so that it has blackened the YDP this year...
It will be weird not having him around anymore... Not having to sit beside him in church services... not having to see him walk around in the courts in Andalas on Sunday evenings... not having someone to bomb random questions to... but I guess we all have to get used to it. We all have to get used to it because all the mourning in the world isn't gonna bring him back.
It is also good not to be overly sorrowful for him, for we all know that he is in a better place now... He is in the comfort of Abraham's bosom, as what the Bible tells us... and if there, then he is comforted, then he has obtained eternal life, and instead of grieving, we should be rejoicing for him!
He has been a dear brother to us... He was the one whom our elder, bro Steven had always enjoy having in class... he was the one with the ever inquisitive look, the one who whom we would call our future preacher, and if he lived, I'm sure he would have been a very effective servant, if not preacher for the Lord. But now, he is gone, and all he's left for us are nothing but everlasting memories in our minds, both good and bad...
Maybe it was better for him to go... maybe it was better that he left this world into Paradise so that he will not have to suffer the pain of adulthood, so that he will not have to face trials so great that might have caused him to slip and fall away. Whatever it is, we do not know. But for now, I leave you with a passage of Scripture which has always been, and will always be dear to me...
"Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again to receive you, so that where I am, there you may be also, and where I go you know, and the way you know." But Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?Jesus said to him, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father, except through Me." (John 14:1-6)
Till we meet again in heaven, my dear brother...
