Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: STAND UP FOR JESUS (don't write about the song) (04/09/15)
-
TITLE: We Plough the Fields and Scatter | Previous Challenge Entry
By Caleb Cheong
04/15/15 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
“This is a Christian school! Chapel service is compulsory, I hope you know this!”
“Yes, sir.” I replied before the class, feeling like a ‘lamb led to the slaughter’, deeply wounded and humiliated.
Like a zombie, I floated in and out of the chapel service during those years. Nothing registered in my heart and mind. Sometimes, we giggled and joked to kill
time in the midst of ‘ irrelevant messages’ and ‘foreign songs’. Yet, “ We plow the field and scatter…” stuck in my mind because I couldn’t make sense of it and felt ticklish, as I had never worked on a farm. But, occasionally, we paid attention to the message if the speaker struck us as kind and humble. Otherwise, it just rolled off like water off a duck’s back.
Time flies! Then came the final year, and how I longed to ‘kiss the chapel stuffs good bye’! But, every school leaver must satisfy these important criteria. If you wanted to clear the public exam at the end of secondary education, you had to pass the National Language together with other relevant subjects in English. Otherwise, it meant a bleak future- it heralded the end of post-secondary education or vocational training run by the government. It was a stigma to an exam-oriented society. Since I took the paper at native speaker’s level during the third year, I thought it would be plain sailing for me. Just before the final exam, I even consulted a local temple to boost my confidence. The assistant assured me that my future was bright.
Three months later, the results were released. Guess what, I flunked the National Language exam. The only compensation was that the school suffered the worst record of its history. Along with many others I repeated my studies. My world had fallen apart with shattered dreams altogether!
While waiting for the approval to repeat the exam, an extraordinary providence came on me. Surreptitiously, nearly a year ago a classmate had enrolled me for a Soon Bible Correspondence Course from Australia. The timely Good News Bible sent by Soon spoke to me personally and lovingly that I had never experienced before. And my heart was strangely warmed despite my muddle. I remembered raising nasty questions about the Christian faith, yet they answered them patiently and seriously in typewritten forms. It was an anticlimax! -- something I once hated most has now become so dear to my heart!
Since attending a local church, especially the Youth meeting and Sunday School, I was more at home with the chapel service, singing cheerfully and listening attentively. Willingly, I bore with some persecution from classmates, friends, neighbors, and my family. To fast forward, I went to an outstation Christian school for Form Six education. Soon, the chapel committee persuaded me to join them, and later I met the school chaplain to convince her about starting a Christian Club in the school. Despite the cold water thrown by the class teacher, we took off unhindered. We invited classmates to the talks given by speakers from different denominations. In retrospect, I can hardly imagine it, through ups and downs; I have been standing up for Jesus. There’s a new song in my heart! Praise and glory to his name!
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
Good job, it sounded like a true story.
God bless~