Patience CG to Penang Botanical Garden

October 4, 2014 Saturday, Rain

5:30AM to wake up is really early for all of us. Nonetheless we were very excited, to sleep in the car. I was the driver, keeping myself awake seems to be my priority over the driving.

Susan was very early. It seems waking up early is normal for her as a school teacher. Chia Chang lives two floors below me. He was awake by the time I finished brushing up. I was so glad to see him getting ready excitedly. Shirleyuen sits comfortably at the back of the car repeatedly said that she can talk to me if I feel sleepy, while she slept through three quarter of the journey.

About 10 minute past the scheduled 6:30AM, we said a prayer of journey mercy and off we go!

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It was raining the entire night. The road was wet and my windscreen was fogged. We were getting nervous because of the rain. As we come close to the Jawi toll, the Sun peeps through the rainy cloud shyly with his radiant face. We were so in awe of the sight. It was indeed a hopeful sight that today is going to be a good, good day!

Eunice Choo was surprised by our early arrival. Departing early helped us to avoid the unnecessary traffic jam, plus, it was Saturday: most people were still sleeping soundly. The wait for our chef (Eunice Choo) was slightly longer than expected, although it was still within the schedule. Susan and Shirleyuen could not resist the temptation of tosai and capati from the nearby mamak. Like a Chinese hungry ghosts, they flocked towards the frying pan smelling its aroma.

The sight of our chef was thoroughly an awesome one. She was holding a large plastic box of "stuff", and we all know what they really are: FOOD! But good things are always worth the wait, so despite the temptation, we resisted! (I'm not too sure if Shirleyuen took a nib or a piece off the tupperware.)

I was pretty confident that I know the way. It was just a simple straight-ahead journey to Botanical Garden. I was over-confident I guess, we had to make an unnecessary detour. About 45 minutes later, the majestic unfolding of God's Creation begins.

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Right outside the gate of Botanical Garden is a pond full of lily pads and lotus. The lily pads were so huge I thought I could sleep on top of it. Shirleyuen tried to step on it only to find that it is floating on the water surface. Water droplets were trapped on top of the lily pads after the rain, like crystals embedded on it.

Walking through the gate, you will see a huge spread of canopy over your head, all because of one tree: the rain tree. It is not much of a tall tree but it spreads its leaves so wide, you can't help but to take notice of it.

Then you will also see some weird looking flowers crawling around a tree bark. Even as we were intrigued by its design, not so far from the tree is another tree with similar features. The only difference: a bunch of cannon ball sized fruits were hanging on it. Yes, these are the cannon ball tree!

Penang Botanical Garden is a treasure box by itself. The overnight rain made the atmosphere even better. We continued to walk into the garden, hoping to find a perfect spot for us to start our devotion. Along the way, a few monkeys joined us, probably attracted by the sweet smell of our providence!

Despite our alarming hunger, there is a deeper hunger that we must fulfill. The serenity and peace of the nature amplified our hunger for God's Word. We started our devotion with two songs. This was the first time that I played the guitar with some simple chords that I know. It was an amazing first time as we all enjoyed the worship despite my poor skill. Today's devotion talked about our contemporary disposable culture. As everything comes easy and cheap for us, our generation have seen far more breaking of relationship and betrayal. But as Psalm 136 reminds us that the steadfast love of God endures forever. As a response, each of us wrote down our thoughts in our journals as well as a poem with Psalm 136 as structure.

The Word of God is the best food anyone can have. It fills us in ways no mere food can fill. Shirleyuen, who had been complaining about being desperately famished, exclaimed loudly right before we serve our food:" Eh, suddenly I don't feel so hungry anymore!" Yes, that's exactly how satisfying God can be!

Nonetheless, savoring food with joy and thanksgiving is another form of worship. After saying grace, we were introduced to the infamous and legendary Eunice-made Cheese Cake! Based on a layer of digestive biscuit, with a thick, yummy layer of cheese and Oreo crumb, the Eunice-made Cheese Cake was baked to perfection. Served alongside the cheese cake, it's the revolutionary Egg Muffin! Fresh and fluffy egg baked with a healthy range of vegetables, the Egg Muffin is the perfect, healthy choice for a picnic like this. A simple finger food that let you eat by the roadside like a gentleman! Not forgetting the humble yet extraordinary tuna sandwich, which provided us the right amount of carbohydrate and protein that we needed for the day! (I should be hired as a TV marketer!)

We ate merrily. There were moments of silence because the food was just too good. That long wait before the feast made the taste even better. After we were satisfied, it was time for the next program. We cleaned up the place and made sure that it is cleaner than before we came. We split ourselves into two groups and each group was given a list of items and tasks to perform as we explore the garden.

But I guess sometimes plans just won't go according to what was planned. Right at the moment I said "Let's Go!", the sky turned as dark as the night, and rain starts pouring as if the heaven split opened. We had no choice but to take out our umbrellas. After some wet, long walk in the rain, sharing umbrellas and love, we found ourselves a bigger hut that gave us better shelter.

The guitar was on my back, so I thought to myself, "Why not?" I was reminded of my time as a scout, when I would sing merry songs with my brothers in the woods as the rain drenched us. So, I took out the guitar again, and started strumming a few chords, and there we went on and on singing praises to our God. Shirleyuen was a better player, so she took over the guitar. Eunice surprised us with her angelic voice. Chia Chang hoped that the rain would stop early so he could go out there and start taking pictures of the nature. Susan retreated into her time of quietness. We thoroughly enjoyed the time despite the unexpected change of plans. There was so much joy of making fun of my runoff tune and lifting our voices to the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

I believe it was God's intention to trap us there. Instead of responding in my usual frustration, God taught us to find joy even in the unexpected things that we can do to worship Him. It was a much needed time to retreat to God. The walking around would probably kept us too busy to listen to Him and enjoy Him. All things worked together for good in this trip. There was so much to learn in times of our failures and last-minute change of plans. Yet, in the midst of troubles, we joyfully saw the hands of God working to give the best to us. To worship Him may be the best thing that we can do as retreat and rest for all of us.

Lord, I thank You that You have personally created space for us to encounter You. While I struggle to create space for Patience to experience You, I almost forgot to experience You myself. I was in pain trying to understand the reason behind all the frustrations given to me. I was in anger when I see people knocking Your blessing out of my hands. God, now I know, it was for the sake of the few of us that You arranged this. It was so that the few of us can enjoy each other's presence in worship of You. It was so that I may see beyond the frustration, to love these people that You have given me to love. Thank You, God!

God's Character, My Encounter.

Susan, Shirleyuen, Eunice, Cheese Cake, Joash (Me) and Chia Chang (front).
All photos courtesy of C3 Chai Chia Chang.