Ps. Bryan Tan shared during one of the saturday service and his sermon was on Zechariah 4:1-10. In chapters 4:1-10, Zerubbabel has been sent back as governor to try and rebuild God’s temple. By looking at the ruins and devestation, and the resources they had, the task seemed impossible. But an angel speaks to Zechariah, and told him that although everything seemed impossible, if it is God’s task, the power of God’s Spirit will work in them, and the mountain (difficulty in life) would be made flat to level ground. Although circumstances may discourage us, God can awaken the dream that died. And all we need to do is to 1) Look up- look up to God's resources, grace & power. 2) Look at- look at the mountain/ difficulty that is in front of us. As God is the turn around God, He can turn our situations around for good. All we need is faith to believe that our mountain will soon become a level ground. 3)Look beyond- learning to look beyond the difficulty and the days of small beginning.
It dawned on me that my mum is one such person who wouldn't bow to circumstances in her life. She is born into a traditional peranakan family, bound by strict rules and formality. Although she loves to read and is keen in learning, her grandmother forbids all females in the family to receive higher education and thinks that girls shouldn't study so much. In short, she "ran" away from home (actually, she did told her mum about leaving m'sia, but only on that day itself) and came to Singapore. This is where she came to know God and became a Christian. My mum named me Kai Shi (凯诗- 诗means songs, melody, poem) for a reason too, she hoped that one day, I would be an instrument used by God. So I was made to learn the piano since young and...I really hated it. I dragged my feet to lesson every time, the teacher spoke but it was one ear in and the other ear out, my scores had pencil markings all over and I had a hard time rubbing all that away when I'm going to take practical exams. Many times I wanted to quit, but my mum insisted that i continue, or at least until grade 5. So I obeyed and completed grade 5.
I thought that I would never touch piano again, but lo and behold, then came one day, the church needed a keyboardist to play for service and so, my mum pushed me to the stage. And for the first time in my life, I've to play chords instead of music notes! This was hard for me initially as I've to switch from playing classical to contemporary, but thankfully, my mum had made me learn until grade 5, because grade 5 is when I learnt all the tonic triads and inversions that became useful for playing contemporary. From then on, I started playing every sunday and the feeling was very different. Not that I was changed overnight and start to love playing the piano, but at least I no longer dread playing. Although during that period of time, there were no spiritual mentor or youth leaders around, I learnt to worship God as I played and grew spiritually and closer to God. Our God is indeed a loving Father, who is always protecting us and will not let us fall. Even though I'm still young in faith and there isn't anyone for me to look up to, but my God is there for me, and He has personally mentored me during that period of time. I'm glad that my mum had dared to dream and look beyond the difficulties that come her way. Similarly, I offer my dreams to God and pray that He'll continue to use the little that I have. I hope that every songs I play will be able to touch the hearts of men, not for them to adore my skills or the beautiful melodies, but as they worship, they'll be able to see God face to face and just be immersed in the goodness of God.
" ...Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty. ~Zechariah 4:6"
