Trouble

Trouble. Transition.  Death.  Moving away.  Illness.  Conflict.  New job.  New stuff to do in your old job.  Sometimes life is hard.  

In times like this, one little thing Jesus said really helps me: “In this world, you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).  

There is no way to get out of the trouble in this world.  Trouble is part of the fabric of this broken world.  

But Jesus has overcome the world and its troubles.  Jesus connects us with the world beyond.  Jesus gives us a peace that comes from outside this world.  He is our life-line, and we connect with Jesus as we open our hearts to him and to each other.  Like a thousand bricks supporting each other and sharing the weight, we strengthen one another.  As we stick together, we stick to Christ.  

As we experience trouble and transition in various shapes and sizes, let’s go deeper together.  Life is uncertain, so don’t live it alone.  Open up to each other.  Pray together.  Take heart - together.  This is what makes us the body of Christ.

Goodbye Letter #03 - Arnold Tanubrata

[When people in our church move on, I ask them to write a goodbye note before they go.  I hope this will be one way to help us navigate these transitions well.]

   In 19 years as a servant of God, I never saw or met any power bigger or greater than the power of God, no matter how bigger my problems were or how bad I feel that I'm 'being cruxified' because of my loyality to Him.

   My name is Arnold Tanubrata, but I am also known as Tan Yue Liang since I am Chinese-Indonesian. My extended family originally owned a top pharmaceutical company, producing prescriptions drugs and OTC drugs and importing pharmaceutical and chemical raw materials.  However, my nuclear family was the second poorest of the families in our clan, so I considered myself as middle class of Indonesians.

   As a middle class Indonesian, I lived happily like in heaven. I received the highest education available -  from kindergarten to a posh graduate university.  However, I had friends from many backgrounds both poor and rich, including children of the unemployed, military generals, artists, and governors.  After graduation, I also got good jobs, slowly moving up from staff, to supervisor, to assistant manager, to manager, and finally to director.

   Things started to change in 2008.  I lost my job due to the global economic crises. After lost my job, my relationship with my ex-wife became worse until she cheated with another man.  I became very angry and even had a plan to have the other man killed by a professional.  My father knew all about my situation, so he suggested that I go to South Korea to work and to search for a better future there.