Europe & Asia

I reckon my European dream will take some time yet to come to pass. Now it’s Europe 2020 and this year’s plan has been put on hold. With much uncertainty regarding my future I thought it best to sit out or wait out this period before the Lord. It could be like Isaiah walking 3 years naked or Elijah fed by ravens and a widow for 3.5 years or perhaps more like Ezekiel lying low in his house for 390 days. Speaking of Ezekiel this is my 5th month since December 2018 that I have stopped from travelling up and down Ranau. And for most of my time I am home bound. But I keep up with European news online or television. Brexit is like an intoxicating liquor that makes drunk all British politicians who touched it. There is no end in sight. Then on Holy Week Monday we saw the Notre Dame Cathedral burned for hours. When the Spire fell, was it the fall or end of Christianity in France and in Europe? God has His little flocks everywhere but as a cultural force Christianity has long been on the wane in Europe perhaps in its dying throes.
Asia remains the beacon for civilisation and cultural renewal. The China’s economic growth has put her into the crosshairs of the USA. Hence, its trade war. The only superpower in the world now has a genuine contender over its economic influence in the world. The rise of the East and the perceived decline of the West perhaps will balance the forces of globalisation emanating not just in the West but also from the East. Huawei’s and Samsung’s 5G technology will step ahead of Apple in the West. USA with its 21trillion annual GDP compared to China’s 14trillion is still way ahead but no one will dispute that China will catch up by another decade or even sooner, though its per capita will take another 20 or 30 years to equal that of the States. But no one can predict what will happen in 30 years’ time in 2050. Locally I saw how my denomination’s pioneer missionary in the 1940s and 1950s had evangelised the natives of North Borneo, first in Ranau and then in Taginambur, Kota Kinabalu. He was a missionary from England but spent all his days and died in his adopted land of Sabah in 2006. In my five years since my return to Sabah I have seen much and travelled much. I am encouraged to stay put in Sabah and serve until the Lord calls. I may never go to Europe but will remain all my life in Asia. Let it be according to the will of the Lord.