"Behold, I make all things new"

In the book of revelations, Jesus gave John a vision of what heaven would be like. But before that, He showed what must happen in His second coming. At the end of the tribulations, and when Satan and his armies are finally defeated and thrown into hell, Jesus let John see the holy city, the 'New Jerusalem'. Jesus said, "Behold, I make all things new" (Rev 21:5).

This verse reminds me alot of Pastor Tom's words. Pastor Tom was my mentor during my uni days in Lincoln. One of the things he said often was 'God is in the process of making all things right'. Although I caught his drift then, I now understand better what this means...

I had an interesting experience this afternoon. While stopping by to park for lunch in front of this restaurant, I accidentally kissed the bumper of the car infront of me. To my dismay, there were people in there too. I quickly came out, examined their bumper and mine, saw no damage, apologized to the two passengers, and happily proceeded to order my lunch. However, things didn't go quite as I wanted. It turned out that when the driver of the car I 'tapped' came back, he was not quite happy about the 'crack' on the side of the bumper. Oh, it was a crack alright, and he then proceeded to put the blame on me. Long story short, I argued about how it was illogical, and how I was adamant that it was not my fault, and I wanted to take this to the police, etc etc... in the end, that 'tap' cost me 120 hard-earned mullahs. I ranted to my boss, who was there with me about these 'blood suckers' over lunch, and remained restless for the rest of the day.

I thought through the incident, trying to find closure for myself. To some extent, I was ashamed of my behavior. I wished I could have obeyed Jesus' command of 'turning the other cheek' or 'give him your cloak as well', instead of acting like a stubborn-headed person who wanted to prove a point. But the more I dwell into my behavior, what I realized was that it wasn't about the money that I've got to give up. My frustation was more towards the fact that the world's unfair, and that injustice was rampant, and I couldn't bear the thought of these injustice being taken out on people that I love and care about. I didn't even dare imagine what would happen if my mom was to be caught in that situation. I felt, victimized.

But as I begin to think more about God, Pastor Tom's words came back to me. Tom's assertion of 'God is in the process of making all things right' begin to make more sense now. I suddenly received the assurance that God is not blind to all these. He's aware, and better still, He's in control. Relief then came, and when I talked this thru with Angeline, she prayed for me and peace was restored in my heart. I'm not so much angry with the person who 'took me for a ride', and in fact, I'm glad I don't even remember how he looks like, or what his car registration number is anymore. In all these, I've learned something even greater. I saw my true colours today, and that led me to know how much more desperately I need Christ in my life. And I'm thankful for that. I'm also thankful for people like Angeline who reminds me of Christ's love which triumphs over all, even over paying for broken bumpers that I didn't break (or at least, might not have broken)...