I am amazed at how I ended up at the Alpha weekend on 12 – 13 Sep 2015. I thank God for the honour and privilege of being able to witness God working so wonderfully.
Being at the Alpha Weekend
I have been absent quite a bit from this year’s Alpha course. My father-in-law, 91 lives in Pahang and has
not been well. When my wife and I have a
chance, we’ll drive north. For the Alpha weekend away, I was also supposed to be in Japan for a work related conferences. Although I knew the Alpha weekend dates well in advance, somehow when I booked the flights to Tokyo the dates clashed and I did not initially realise it. As I booked cheap tickets once booked, I could not change. .
The Alpha weekend was on a Saturday and Sunday (12 - 13 Sep) in
Johor. That Saturday morning I was due
to fly to Japan. On Friday night (11 Sep) I was checking on the transport
arrangements to our hotel in Japan when I saw an online notice flashing that
all local train service to the area had been suspended because of the typhoon.
It was around 9.30 p.m. I went into crisis mode.
Called up my travel insurance emergency hot line. They said to call back
on Monday as the line was to a medical / evacuation assistance agency. I explained my situation and the person at
the other end said it was not really her role to advise on such things but
suggested I read my insurance contract carefully. True enough the insurance
contract said “natural disasters” covered floods and I could probably make a claim
for travel expenses incurred because of the flooding.
Flight: I had planned to do an e-check-in for the next morning’s (Sat)
flight. Instead I called up the SIA
assistance line. I normally am used to
waiting a very, very long time to get through to SIA. This time, for the very first time, my call
was picked up after one ring.
I asked if we could switch our flight
from Saturday to Monday. This would mean skipping the flood areas over the
weekend but I could still be in Tokyo for my conferences. I was
not optimistic because I know that the flights were quite heavily booked. The SIA lady took down my details. She did not keep me on hold (another
first). She said she would call me back
after checking.
Soon my flights were rearranged to Monday at no charge to me and a slight
charge for my wife Alanna (for which I can claim insurance). I cancelled my
hotels booking in Japan for the weekend – only one night penalty.
Alpha Weekend Accommodation
I then thought that since I now have the weekend in Singapore without
appointments, God probably meant for me go to Alpha. I noticed from the WhatsApp group discussion
that there were no more spaces available for the Wesley Alpha weekend
package. I told myself, “It is not far,
I can drive”.
I then tried to contact Palm
Resort directly to book a room but they were fully booked. So I called Rebecca. She said she would check and revert. As it was already past 10 p.m. I said I
should contact the organiser directly. I called Sally. She said “Yes”.
I later found out that she had
“chuckled” or smiled at God’s arrangement because there had been one
cancellation a few days earlier. Despite
informing the hotel of the earlier cancellation, there had been a communication
issue and the extra room was not cancelled.
So my deciding to stay at the last minute solved this problem as well.
I sent a WhatsApp message to the BOL1 Alpha group encouraging the Chiam sisters’ father Petter to attend in. Other guests had already declined and even Petter was reluctant till the last minute. Without guests, it did not make as much sense for me as a facilitator to go. But I under estimated the power of the Holy Spirit – who brought Petter to the Alpha weekend and brought into a saving knowledge of God.
As I boarded the bus at Newton on Saturday morning, I read the news of a 5.4 magnitude earthquake hitting Tokyo. God be praised!
Reflections
I am amazed at how God works. Did
he specifically arrange a typhoon with flooding and destruction of property for
me to attend? I don’t think so. And I continue to pray for the people of
Japan affected by the typhoon, flooding and earthquake.
Nothing happens without a reason – even though I know I may not
understand it at that point in time.
But in his amazing way, God made
all things work for good that I could attend the Alpha weekend – with my
scheduled cleared and no financial loss.
The testimony of Petter Chiam of how he experienced the work of the Holy
Spirit through Alpha and at the weekend is another interesting story
...Andrew
Fung
