Where's Reg

The other day I got the news from back home, that a friend of mine (Nate Toews) was killed in a car accident on the way to a wedding in Alberta. Nate was in his twenties, married a little over a year, involved with the church and then suddenly, his life was over. In the time we worked together landscaping before I came to Thailand, I was able to see his deep love for God and other people. He made me want to be a better person. When I heard the news, I did not want to believe it, but after seeing his picture, I had no other option but to believe.

After hearing news like this, one cannot help but think about how short this time here on earth is. Some of us have more time than others, but eventually, each one of us will be faced with the reality of eternity with or without God. Even though it is sad to hear this news of my friend’s death, it is also a time of celebration. He knew where he was going to spend eternity when his life was done. He lived each day here on earth with a Hope that was secure in Jesus Christ. Now that Hope has become reality and he is seeing Jesus face to face.

Unfortunately, sometimes it takes events like this one, to remind us of some very important questions. Are we going to make the most of this time that God has given us here on earth? Are we living today with Eternity in mind? Do people really matter to God? If they do, then do they matter to us? If our lives ended today, what would be said of us?

I want whatever time I have left here on earth to be well used. I want to see many Thai's as well as other nations, come to know Christ personally. I want my life not to be remembered for what I did, but what Christ did through me. Quite simply, Jesus will have been glorified in my life, as well as in my death.

My challenge for you : "Live this life with the Passion of Jesus Christ!"

Well I have some good news to share. About a week and a half ago, we got the Ok to go pick up our RA visas in Penang. So last Thursday, Bob, Bitsy and I headed off for Malaysia. Jessica's visa wasn't ready, so she stayed back with Chris, Philip and Jason. They didn't come with because we were told that only Bob had to go on behalf of his family for the visas, which we found out later, not to be the case. To actually have the RA visa in my hand, it took two days. Since we were there on Thursday-Friday, I stayed for the rest of the weekend. It was also much cheaper to fly back on the Monday.









The beaches there were beautiful, but the water was another story. Because of all the construction as well as the dumping of polluted water and soil into the ocean, the water has become like dark chocolate milk. The picture above looks very nice, but the setting sun over the water, helps to make this picture nicer than it really was.

There was also a train that I got to take to the top of one of the highest peaks in Penang. That's right... a train! The train was hooked on by a thick cable that pulled it up the mountain. Many of the people on board did not want to look, because they were a little uneasy with the idea of only a cable pulling us to the top. It did make me wonder what would have happened if it had snapped.... These pictures don't really do justice to how steep it really was, but if you look at the top end of the picture (where it get's dark) it goes up pretty steep.




There was also a free botanical gardens close to the airport. So on my last day I went there for a bit to soak up some of the amazing plant life in this country.


But the best part of Penang was the people. I had so many conversations with my taxi drivers and everyone I met. On my last day I had the best and the most sad one of them all. I started talking with the taxi driver that was driving me to the airport, (name: Mr Muniandi) and after talking a while he asked if I was a Christian. This opened the conversation to talk about God. He said that he was a Hindu, but didn't really go into his religion all that much. We talked for a bit more and then he said something that really made me feel sorry for this man. He told me that he was 60 years old, had grandchildren, but has to keep working really hard because he is still supporting most of his family back in India, even though he himself was born in Penang. He said," I guess I must have been really bad in my previous life, so God is punishing me now in this one". I felt the hopelessness that this man had. It almost sounded like he himself didn't want to believe in his own religion. I shared with him that Jesus came to give us life, something we didn't deserve. He took the punishment for our evil things that we had done in this life on the cross by shedding his blood. We don't have to try to earn our way to Heaven, it's a free gift! When I started to type this you may have thought I was speaking to deaf ears, but I know he was listening and he was interested and I know that God could totally work in his life.

God wants us to have freedom and joy in this life. After all, this is the only life we will have here on earth. Not two or three...ONE. My prayer is that even though our conversation wasn't all that long, Mr. Muniandi will have got a glimpse of who Jesus really is and that He really loves him. Please if you feel like it, pray for him.