My dear friend,
You may be wondering why I chose to start the quest in Singapore. It’s a good question, and, truthfully, I am not exactly sure why I did. It was the first city that came to my mind, but I honestly did not think that it would be the ultimate selection for the start and end point. It really was the providence of God. I have a good friend of mine who is a commercial airline pilot, who flies to Singapore on a regular basis, and he has shared many stories, pictures, and text messages from and about Singapore. Additionally, when I went to the RSA conference last year, I spent quite a while at the Singapore booth, learning about the city/nation. As time has passed, the advantages and benefits of starting in Singapore continue to multiply.
For some reason, it reminds me a bit of the way that my wife and I came to a decision to marry. When I first met her, she made it abundantly clear to me that she was not interested in getting married to anyone, at any point in her life. At the time, I was not especially concerned about that statement. She seemed to be genuinely interested in me, and it was no more than a couple of months later before we had established a solid monogamous relationship. Then my father passed; I was working 65+ hours/week non-stop, after which I started up my own business. Before I really knew what happened, we had been together for about three years, and I started thinking to myself, “I really do want to get married someday!” With that self-realization, I had to seriously consider why I was still dating her. I thought to myself, “If she never wants to get married to anyone, perhaps, I should end our relationship, so that I can begin looking for a woman who does want to get married and raise up a family?”
However, I was too busy with life, and our relationship felt far too comfortable. Therefore, we continued on like that for another year or more.
Then one day, out of the blue! … she asked me when we were going to get married! … as if we had already made the decision to do so!
I did not take her seriously. I thought she was pulling my leg! But she kept at it! After a couple of months, it was quite obvious to me that she was serious. What had made her change her mind about marriage? I was mystified! Moreover, I did not know what to do. I never said “no” to her, but neither would I commit to it. Therefore, she took it upon herself to begin planning our wedding. She planned and arranged everything: the church, the preacher, the reception hall, the catering, the dress, the flowers, the invitations, and everything that goes with a proper wedding. She even enrolled us into the engaged couples class, required by the hosting church that we had been attending more frequently. (… another mystery to me. Why had she suddenly taken such an increased interest in church?)
It was a bit amusing that we were the darlings of the engaged couples class. All the other members of the class were more established and involved in the church than we were, but they all struggled with the exercises that we did in the class. My fiancée and I breezed through everything! We were the perfect couple in their eyes.
What they did not understand is that I had been struggling with my decision to commit to her in matrimony. I took the matter very seriously. I was not about to commit to a life-long relationship until I was utterly convinced that I would be faithful until death do us part. At that point in my life, I was not especially sure of myself. I did not want to sin against her, nor did I want to sin against God.
I did not have a very close relationship with my Lord and Savior at that stage of my life, but I had begun to spend more time in the Word of God and also in prayer. It helped me immensely! It took about six months, but God lead me through this difficultly. He showed me that I would be able to stay true to my wife, if I put my trust in Him.
(It is a bit silly of me. I was spending more time in the Word, but a sizable amount of that time was spent studying the Book of Revelation. This is something that a lot of people do. It is not especially constructive. You see there are about ten major themes of prophecy running throughout the Bible that all terminate in the Book of Revelation. In order to understand these ten themes you must have read most all of the 65 books of the Bible that come before Revelation. Otherwise, you will not have a complete understanding of these major themes, and Revelation will not make any sense at all. That is not to say that I did not get anything out of my time reading Revelation, but I would have learned a whole lot more if I would have started at the beginning of the testaments.
However, I the Spirit of God did teach me! I was diligent in the matter of prayer. I always prayed before I began to read the scriptures. You may recall that I told you about this before. The Bible is a supernatural book. The words on the page are written with ink, but when we read those words, we are only reading a translation. The true words of the Bible are living words. They are spiritual words. They can only be understood through the Spirit of God. Anyone can read the Bible, but no one can understand the true living words of God without the Spirit. It is the Spirit of God that teaches us to understand the truth in the Word. This is why we must always pray and ask God to show us the truth. This is a prayer that anyone can make to God, saved or unsaved. If you are earnest and genuine in your desire to know the truth, God is faithful to answer your prayer … every time! God will always honor that prayer, without fail!)
Although, it took me six months to get to the point where I was prepared to ask God the right question, He gave me the answer immediately upon asking. The very next day I went to the jeweler and ordered the wedding ring for my fiancée. Unfortunately, I did not receive the ring as quickly as I received my answer from God. I had to endure one more weekend of engaged couples classes. I knew the time would come when we would have to exchange stories about how the groom proposed to the bride. Sure enough, that next Friday evening we did that very thing. When it came time for me to speak, I wanted to crawl into a crack in the ground! What could I do? I did not want to spoil the moment that I had planned in order to propose to my love. All I could do was to keep my mouth shut, as she explained to our peers that I had yet to propose! Everyone was in shock and amazement! How could it be that the darlings of all the couples not be settled in their decision, just three weeks before the big day?!
Nonetheless, I was true to her, and I always have been. Through untold trials and temptations, God has always kept me from going astray. When I finally did receive the ring from the jeweler, I made a proper proposal to her … one that will not be forgotten! Amen!
The start of any great journey is always important. If we neglect to look to God from the very beginning, it is more likely than not that we will start in the wrong place and/or at the wrong time. The reason why is that we can devise the most elaborate and sound plan of attack for whatever it is that we set out to do, but it is God that will ultimately determine the final outcome. Moreover, if we attempt to do anything without consulting God, we are essentially working against Him. His ways are so much higher than our own, we could never hope to understand what the best plan for anything is going to be. His ways are always better than our own.
“A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.”
Proverbs 16:9 KJV
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:9 KJV
“There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD.”
Proverbs 21:30 KJV
How could Joseph have ever known that it would be the greatest blessing in his life that his brothers sell him as a slave to the Midianites? But by the infinite wisdom of God, it was!
Having said these things, I must admit that I am not 100% certain that Singapore is ultimately where God wants me to begin my journey. However, it certainly seems to be the way that He has led me, up to this point. The import thing is that I have to keep looking to Him to provide the direction. After all, if I had, at any point, taken my eyes off of Him, I would have never made it this far along. I would have never considered this quest to be taken seriously. I would still be trying to figure out a way to get the truth of God to the door of your heart. I would have never believed that this was the way to do it.
It is true that Singapore seems to be positioned in an ideal location for this journey. I would have to go out of my way to avoid it, no matter where I started from. Singapore is also a hub for high-tech. There is an excellent opportunity to manufacture most everything that I need to build for the quest, right there in Singapore. The primary language spoken there is English. It is situated right on the upper edge of the Java Sea, an ideal body of water to begin my journey. Most of all, however, it appears to be the place where God wants me to begin. That is all that really matters. Because, if the door of your heart is the final destination, I need to make absolutely certain that I am starting in the right place.
Love Always,
Dale 😊
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