It’s 1am, and I can’t sleep. My heart is heavy and my mind is full of unpleasantness.
I shouldn’t be feeling like this. I’ve spent the past few days having a great time with people I love. But still, seeing the Instagram stories from dozens of friends who are hanging out at something I wasn’t invited to—it hurts. A lot.
As a believer, I know that I am called to live out righteousness and justice. Yet living in Taiwan, so far away from America, I have felt lost in how to speak out against the injustices that have been so exposed in my home country over the last several months.
I was 34 when I was diagnosed with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma, a type of head and neck cancer behind the nose. But what hit me like a ton of bricks that day was the news that followed: my cancer had already advanced to stage 4A.
If I’m honest, the truth of Christianity has never been enough to get me excited about following Jesus. I can read a book that offers proof of the existence of God and still feel lost as to how that impacts my life today.
When she saw the number of COVID-19 cases spike among low-wage migrant workers in Singapore earlier this year, Mya Ji sprung to action. The five-year-old emptied her piggy bank, hoping to buy these “uncles”— as Mya fondly addresses them—some good meals and bring some cheer.
But alas, her mom told her that what she had in the piggybank could only get them five packets of chicken rice. Thus sprouted the idea of a plant sale in April 2020.
Being in lockdown means there’s never been a more difficult time to tell our friends about Jesus. We can’t talk to each other face to face, unless it’s to get a haircut! But there’s also never been an easier time to tell our friends about Jesus. Whatever was once working for them is no longer working. They are hungry for answers.
The three years I spent as a student in Canberra were some of the best years of my life.
And then, I found out that my student visa was expiring, and it was time for me to head back to my home country, Malaysia. I tried applying to further my stay in Australia, but it was rejected twice. I was heartbroken, but reluctantly packed up my belongings and made my way “home”.
“Sian . . . I had to cancel my travel plans.”
That is probably one of the most frequent complaints I’ve heard from both friends and even myself in light of the COVID-19 situation. While a cancelled holiday is a first-world problem that I’m not proud to be fussing over, especially when many others are struggling to stay afloat, I had been looking forward to a nice holiday after months of working hard, and that disappointment in seeing my plans fall apart is real.
Let’s face it . . . being a Christian can be hard in the current climate of hostility—where Christians around the world face physical oppression and persecutions, and the Church is labelled “archaic” and “irrelevant” in its stand on modern issues.
This hit home for me as a university student, when a professor whom I highly respected stopped mid-lecture, having seen me with a cross necklace, to call me out and attack me for my faith.