Birthday Gifts!

Nineteen years ago I first came to Taipei, Taiwan for my marriage. I was twenty seven years old then. Nineteen years after, I came again with my whole family with three children. Today, on my forty sixth birthday, as a family we were accomodated in Taichung meeting hall guest room. We came to this city to meet a brother who was hospitalised for serious health issues and also meet our brother-in-law's family.

This brother who was hospitalised shepherded me as a student before I even came into the church life. His sense of discernment concerning my spiritual situation of inwardly struggling to understand the unique ground of oneness of the church ultimately helped me to see the vision clearly of the Lord’s recovery of the ground of the church which further led me out of the fold into to the flock of the church life. He also invited me to attend a responsible brothers' training in Mumbai even before I actually came into the practical church life in the Lord’s recovery where I saw the vision of the age, the age we live in is the age of the Body so I must be doing the work of building up the Body of Christ according to the book of Ephesians 4. For these two reasons mostly and also due to his critical condition, I deemed it important to visit him at all cost. Therefore, we came to visit him at the hospital while he was undergoing the operation. Though we could not meet him, we fellowshiped with his wife and his son. The Lord enabled us to offer to his wife an offering from the offering the Lord Himself blessed us with. 

Our day was spent by traveling from Taichung to Tainan by train in the morning, then a tour to Chimei Museum, a visit to Tainan Student Centre, a dinner meeting with my brother-in-law's family, and then a bus trip back to Taipei. 

I rarely celebrate my birthday, and this time too I had no intention of celebration. All my family members knew about this, and all my friends and the saints too knew about this. There was nothing special particularly as such, for to me, with the Lord everyday is a special day already. I do not need to observe a special day, not even my own birthday. But we enjoyed a great family time together, not because it was my birthday but because we happened to travel and visited places together today.

On this day too, as we travelled by train from Taichung to Tainan, as usual, I told my family members to read the Bible in the train itself as we would be busy later. So, we all finished our Bible reading in the train. Besides, the Lord spoke to me very specifically on this day concerning my spiritual situation as portrayed in the Song of Songs.

Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, Leaning on her beloved? I awakened you under the apple tree: There your mother was in labor with you; There she was in labor and brought you forth. Set me as a seal on your heart, As a seal on your arm; For love is as strong as death, Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol; Its flashes are the flashes of fire, A flame of Jehovah. (Song of Solomon 8:5-6, RecVer)

In this sixth stage of a Christian life, experiences of life have taught us that we are nothing, we can do nothing, and our only dependence is on the Lord Jesus Himself for everything. So, as we wait to be raptured coming out of the earthly realm being conscious of our utter helplessness and fully depend on the Lord’s preserving power, we maintain our fellowship with Him and always listen to Him.

Coincidentally, today at a five-star hotel in Tainan we had a family dinner together. To my brother-in-law's family, I only gave testimony based on their queries about our life in India. To me, that is the gospel in action. Let the Lord open their spiritual eyes to see God through our testimony. I believe this was the purpose God let us meet today. 

Then, on our way back from Tainan to Taipei at midnight, for about four and half hours bus ride, and another one hour as we waited for a taxi to reach our hospitality home, I enjoyed four messages on The Christian Life, the recent Memorial Day Conference messages. The first two I already enjoyed while traveling from Taipei to Taichung the day before.

Thus in this way, my forty-sixth birthday was fruitfully spent. Based on the Lord’s personal and specific speaking, I also composed a hymn on "Leaning on My Beloved" on this day! 

Lord, continue to work in me and bless all the coming years until You return to rapture me!