Singapore – Black Garlic
“Would you like some nuts?”
“No thank you, let’s focus on the seminar” I answered my German neighbor being already a little bit irritated with him. Every since the seminar started he constantly kept asking me questions and kept talking.
I had waited for this book writing workshop for several weeks. It took me several hours to fly from the Maldives to Singapore. I slept only a few hours as I wanted to wake up early to get the front seat to benefit the most from what I paid for. I really looked forward to this day, I got the very front seat and then I got this guy as a neighbor…
The training went on for 2 extra days, my head was full of ideas, we learned loads of great things, I took several pages of notes. At the end of the third final day, I felt both excited and exhausted. I needed a break. However, since we were already in Singapore and we were in Marina Bay, I and my friend Tiffany decided to go to visit Joseph Prince’s New Creation Church. To our surprise, the service was just downstairs from where we had our seminar and it would start about one hour after our book writing course finished. Perfect.
While waiting for the service we found a bench on the corridor, we turned on our laptops and we decided to use this time. I had loads of ideas flowing through my head so my plan was to organise ideas and notes and into a meaningful action plan before forgetting them. But little did I know, the rest of the day was about to take a turn…
Oliver
I just managed to start my laptop and then I looked ahead. I saw a stream of people coming down the escalator, most of them were our colleagues from the book writing course. Then I saw Oliver, my German neighbor. He looked towards my direction, smiled and waved. I politely waved back and I quickly wanted to get back to organizing my notes. However, he changed the direction and started walking towards us….
I remember thinking “oh no, not this guy”.
Then I suddenly remembered that many of the unusual divine meetings and conversations happened when I was opened and created space for them to come.
After inviting Christ to my life I sat at random tables with strangers and many of the meetings turned to be beyond coincidental…
I bumped into people that brought amazing meaning to my life in the right time. I was approached by incredible people. I had amazing conversations that are hard to call accidental. I had people coming to me, releasing words, speaking things that they should not know.
So once again I decided to get curious instead of judgmental… I closed my laptop and started listening.
We Are Going to Another Seminar
Immediately when he came by and asked the very first questions about our plans for the rest of the day, I found myself smiling and answering “we are going from a seminar to seminar are you interested to join us”…
He looked and asked about the next seminar. We told him about the church and he asked, “are you going to Joseph Prince’s church?”
We smiled and asked, “how did you know, are you also a Christian?”. He said he had already gone there to check the service out during one of our breaks. Then he said he is not a Christian but follows some of the Christian speakers and teachers as he finds them motivational and they help him to stay inspired in his business…
Sounds strange, right? I could relate to that, I used to do exactly the same not that long ago. Additionally, he mentioned that he goes for Buddhist classes. After a couple of minutes of conversation, we learned that Oliver runs a business in Hong Kong and he is really into the self-development, mind expansion etc
Prison
We still had around 30 min left to the service, he continued sharing the story of his life. He told us about his business in Hong Kong selling black garlic, he gave us some to taste.
The conversation became even more interesting. Oliver shared with us how he ended up in prison for 3 and a half years for fraud.
I got curious and asked him how hard was it to be in the prison, then he looked at me surprised and asked “hard?”, I consider it to be the best blessing that happened to me, I had food, I had accommodation and I could focus on studying and learning for the whole day.
Altar Call
Shortly after three of us made our way to the service, I was really looking forward to the worship and spending time in God’s presence as it’s been around 6 months since we moved to the Maldives and that was my only second time that I could worship in the church with a group of people.
First I did not want to lift my hands up in worship not to freak Olver out, but then I decided that I was there to meet the Lord, I wanted to give that time to Him. I thought Oliver would be fine. Service was amazing, the message was great. At the end of the service during the altar call, I heard Oliver repeating the sinner’s prayer. He invited Jesus into his heart.
Restaurant
Right after the service Oliver wanted to chat more, he offered to buy us dinner, we were leaving the next day, we had plenty of free time so we immediately agreed.
On the way to the restaurant, he shared with us his encounters with God.
That day when he got locked up in the prison cell, first he was scared and found it depressing. Then he looked through the window of the cell and saw a bird sitting on the ledge and he felt that strong assurance, an internal voice saying something along the lines “you will be fine, all will be good”. We spent a great time together each of us sharing and encouraging each other.
Later on, a couple of weeks later, I caught up with Tiffany and we reflected on meeting Oliver. We both confessed that the food Oliver bought us was like an amazing blessing as we virtually had no money in our pockets… We laughed…
That experience was a great reminder to get curious instead of judging and be opened.
37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
Luke 6:37-38
The Fun Part
The fun part is wherever I travel, I do not travel alone. God sends amazing people my way, arranges situations, event that it is always fun and interesting. I had never traveled like that before. All the glory goes to God. Read more posts: India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Malaysia… coming up Jamaica and Indonesia
Be First to Comment