The Hot Water Bottle

Well, this is actually a true story by Helen Roseveare, a doctor missionary from England to Zaire, Africa during the 1950s. Very nice story about God's faithfulness.

One night, in Central Africa, I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of all that we could do, she died leaving us with a tiny, premature baby and a crying, two-year-old daughter.

We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive. We had no incubator. We had no electricity to run an incubator, and no special feeding facilities. Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts.

A student-midwife went for the box we had for such babies and for the cotton wool that the baby would be wrapped in. Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly, in distress, to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst. Rubber perishes easily in tropical climates. "...and it is our last hot water bottle!" she exclaimed. As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk; so, in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over a burst water bottle. They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways. All right," I said, "Put the baby as near the fire as you safely can; sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. Your job is to keep the baby warm."

The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with many of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle. The baby could so easily die if it got chilled. I also told them about the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died. During the prayer time, one ten-year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt consciousness of our African children. "Please, God," she prayed, "send us a water bottle. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, the baby'll be dead; so, please send it this afternoon." While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added by way of corollary, " ...And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she'll know You really love her?" As often with children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say, "Amen?" I just did not believe that God could do this. Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything: The Bible says so, but there are limits, aren't there? The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending a parcel from the homeland. I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever received a parcel from home. Anyway, if anyone did send a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator!

Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses' training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door. By the time that I reached home, the car had gone, but there, on the veranda, was a large twenty-two pound parcel! I felt tears pricking my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone; so, I sent for the orphanage children. Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly. Excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box. From the top, I lifted out brightly colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then, there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children began to look a little bored. Next, came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas - - that would make a nice batch of buns for the weekend. As I put my hand in again, I felt the...could it really be? I grasped it, and pulled it out. Yes, "A brand-new rubber, hot water bottle!" I cried. I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could. Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, "If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!" Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully dressed dolly. Her eyes shone: She had never doubted! Looking up at me, she asked, "Can I go over with you, Mummy, and give this dolly to that little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really loves her?"

That parcel had been on the way for five whole months, packed up by my former Sunday School class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. One of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child -- five months earlier in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it "That afternoon!" "And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." Isaiah 65:24

You Can't Run, and You Can't Hide Either

If whoever is still reading this blog has been catching up with local news, they would very well know that the "Venerable Shi Ming Yi", aka "Ming Yi Fa Shi", aka "The Monk who does stunts on charity shows" or whatever you want to call him, has been charged on court for forgery, conspiracy, and misuse of funds, crimes not unlike that of TT Durai during the NKF saga.

Well, the point of this post is not about this case anyway, so if you want to know more, just grab a local newspaper or go onto our local news website. It would be interesting to note that Ming Yi's name was actually Goh Kah Heng.

Seeing this news brings about very mixed feelings in me. This monk, unlike TT Durai, just seem so sincere with his love for people. He even performed stunts on charity shows so other people will donate more money. I remember a particular episode when he was walking on tight wire between 2 buildings and he nearly fell and everybody went "AHHH", but he didn't really fall as he was wearing a safety harness and almost everyone on tv was crying, or near tears for the monk on the wire, fearing for his safety, and the number of phone donations was soaring. You would never have believed this monk was going to face charges in court, never.

Some of us are probably living the same drama. Keeping some dark secrets, having some secret sins in our life. I am not talking about forgery or conspiracy. It could be as simple having a bad attitude, or having a tongue that lies to the people around you, or whatever. We feel that if we keep mum about it, and if we put on a very fantastic lifestyle in front of our friends, put on a strong and perfect front, no one will ever know about our secrets.

However, that is exactly the problem. The more we put up a front, the more perfect we seem, the greater the fall when our front is broken. If it was any Ah Seng or Ah Beng or Ah Kow being charged for forgery and conspiracy, it wouldn't have been such a big deal. But it is former head of the Ren Ci Hospital we are talking about, and thats a different story. You see how it makes a difference?

So you see, the problem does not lie in our weakness, but in our effort to cover up these weaknesses. Nobody is created perfect. Everybody has a weakness. Everybody sins. Yes, its a problem, but hiding it is an even greater problem isn't it? Sin is like yeast, the longer we cover it, the more it will grow in us. We see in Matthew 16:6 "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

If we do not hide it, that does not mean we go around lying blatantly, showing our bad attitude to everyone around us. We do not hide it, but we have to solve the problem. And the only way to solve the problem is to let God handle it. God already knows all our problems, and He surely knows the solution out of them. Jeremiah 17:9-10 says "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? "I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.""

So how do we go about it? We simply surrender. We surrender our weaknesses, our yeasts, and God will turn them into strength and cleansing. Isaiah 40:29-31 says "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, even young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not be weary, they will walk and not faint."

It may sound really hard, surrendering. That would mean we put down our pride, admit to our mistakes and weaknesses, and open ourselves to accuses and insults and probably some people might even look down on us. But if we really think about it, wouldn't hiding the truth and letting someone else find it out be worse? Thats God's kind of economy. Only when we truly admit and repent our mistakes can we grow stronger. 1 Corinthians 1:27 says "But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong."

So let us surrender, and not run or hide. Theres really no point running or hiding from God who is omniscient. Though it may sound foolish, the only wise thing to do is to surrender to God, and let God change our weaknesses into strengths.

1 Corinthians 5:7 "Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast - as you really are."