I am a Sheep - I need to Lie Down

"The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not want, He makes me lie down in green pastures." (Psalm 23:1-2a)

Psalm 23. A Psalm that is so familiar with many and her familiarity had caused many readers to be stuck in old pastures. I found myself to be one of those until recently.

In order to deliver Psalm 23 to the Chinese congregation, I had been reading alot about sheep. Surf the net for pictures, watching documentary movies on sheep. Added to that, the pastoral staff had a time of 'Pulpit Dialogue' weekly and we studied Psalm 23 together. It was a season of study that I truly enjoyed to the fullest. Re-learning under the feet of my Shepherd.

One of my favourite word in Psalm 23 is 'lie down'. And the beautiful part is, HE makes me lie down. Strange? Why can't I lie down myself?

Last Friday, I had my mentoring session with my mentor. One question that we asked ourselves is, "What do you wake up for each morning? What keeps you awake at night?" To be able to lie down and sleep is grace. To stay awake in the night with a heavy heart is killing. Agony and anxiety could cause one refused to lie down.

David understood that. In Psalm 3, he sang "I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the LORD substained me." At that point of writing that Psalm 3, he was fleeding from Absalom his son. Psalm 23 was also penned near that season of his fleeding. Danger; anxiety, agony, pain, exhaustion, depression hit him hard and bad. How could a man that faces all these at his worst point of his life able to write such a beautiful Psalm 23, verse 2a "He makes me lie down in green pastures?"

Life is full of hazards. No one can tell what a day will produce in new troubles. We either live in a sense of anxiety or in a sense of quiet rest. Which do I carry?

In nature, sheep could never lie down by itself unless it is freed from 4 main situations - Freed from Fear of predators; Freed from Friction within the flock; Freed from Famine of a lacking of food and Freed from Flies that spreads contagious disease and nest their eggs on their nasal. Take a closer look. The sheep can never get rid of all these 'Freed from' situations with any efforts of their own. They need to be dependent on a good shepherd.

Today, I sat down and penned down all my fears, the legimate and also unfounded ones. The list goes on like - Fear of losing my son to the world. Fear of returned sickness. Fear of not able to stay till the end in my relationships. Fear of losing hunger for God. Fear of saying "I don't know' to my team. Fear of leading my team in uncertainity. Fear of losing passion and zeal.

One of the reason that the sheep can lie down is when their shepherd is near and around. His presence marks a huge significant and change in the behaviour of the sheep.

I am a sheep and I need the Shepherd to make me lie down.

His presence makes me lie down. Knowing Him as my Good Shepherd, all ready to chase away all my fears and attacks, I simply lie down.

This is so close and personal. The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not want.

Creative Teaching

I love to teach. It doesn't really matter if I am teaching to young kids, older folks or a heartlander. I simply love doing it. And to be able to teach the Word of God is really an honour, a privilege, a calling for me.

I started off teaching in Agapeland. Great days teaching the kids the Word of God. I need to study, think of object lessons, using games and ice breakers, and anything that would help me convey the main message to the kids. And the amazing surprise bouns is: Sometimes when I thought I taught them, God has used them to teach me valuable lessons in return. I enjoy teaching. I enjoy them.

I moved on to teaching and preaching to the youth, then the Chinese congregation. Sometimes, God place me in situations where teaching the Word of God happens in conversation exchange, counseling moments and heart to heart talks. I enjoyed every moment. I learn and grow from these moments.

Recently, my SP started a series on "Stay Till the End'. Throughout the four series, he had been exploring new ways of conveying the main message across to the congregation. Using puppets, signboards, objects illustration, media aids...anything that would enhance and drive the message across and stays deep in our hearts. Wow, it was so powerful and it has a retaining power too.

He always taught us to remember to keep things to the irreductible minimums. And he demonstrated it. In his recent blog, he mentioned about the need to keep things simple and to inject the element of surprise in our preaching. I practice that more often in my preaching and teaching recently. And guess what, I saw the glitter and sparkle in the congregation eyes. They understood, they remembered, they lived up to it because it is actually simple.

As for me. He inspired me to teach and preach with a new fire of glow and grow. He inspired me to expand my creativity and use my brains more than often. I am growing with my congregation.

I had never love teaching and preaching that much as now. I learn from my mentor. I pray the same for my mentees too. It's time to impart, to pass on and share this with the Chinese Church preachers.