Beautiful Creatures, Precious Souls

Talk about adventure. It was supposed to be just another family vacation. We had booked Sandakan on a whim, as a change from the old 'sand, sun and sea' routine. My ever efficient eldest princess had done all the research, and it sounded pretty interesting with river cruises, exotic animals and a turtle island to boot. Air Asia was also offering special promos for the route. Besides I figured it's local and so should be a cheaper bargain. But as it turned out, when we got down to the nitty-gritty calculating dollar and cents, it wasn't cheap. Plus we almost didn't make it; as both no. 2 and no. 3 kids came down with dengue, directly one after the other. Up to the day of departure the boy had done only 1 blood-test which revealed a slightly low platelet count, but riding on the prayers of many saints which were upholding our family in support, I decided we would go anyway, in faith.

So it was a free-n-easy-make-it-up-as-we-go kinda thing; with a very basic plan to spend 1 nite in town, 1 nite in the forest, 1 nite by the river and 1 nite experiencing the comfort of. 5-star hotel after all that gallivanting around. We figured we could forego the turtle tingy, as it cost a bomb; after all there are turtles in our own 'back-yard' in Rantau Abang, Trengganu. Thus the first day was spent exploring the town and discovering that walking around is actually quite easy; so were catching taxis, tho they don't go on meter rates. But the cab drivers were all chatty and informative; and tho they complained about police mounting road-blocks, they accommodated taking in 5 of us anyway. As it is, we passed right by a group of policemen at a roundabout on one outing - they never batted an eyelid at our taxi. On all our other taxi-trips, there wasn't even a shadow of a policeman. Coincidence? Luck? I call it simply divine favor.

Day 2 was when angels came a-calling, or at least that's how I look at it. My eldest had mistakenly taken us on a very long walk in the wrong direction. We were supposed to catch the famous sun bears and orang utans of Sepilok which was just 5 mins walk from our jungle chalet. But when right becomes left, north becomes south, a 5 mins walk can stretch into a very hot and endless trip. There would have been no way we could walk all the way back 2.1 km in time for the feeding of the animals, which is the highlight of the sanctuary. And if we missed that, we would have wasted our trip there, since we didn't have the luxury of staying on another day. But as we trudged along, literally out of nowhere along the deserted country road, there emerged a nice big MPV bearing of all things a KL number plate. The driver was going  the opposite way but on seeing my 2 lasses walking along all by themselves (we 'oldies' were slowly catching up from behind),  he actually u-turned, stopped to wait and drove us all the way back in the right direction - yes, precisely just in time for us to see the sun-bears and orang utans come out to feed.  And what a show it was. Truly there is nothing like seeing the 'real' animals up close and personal, not enclosed in some big cage, but right there in the freedom of their natural habitat. 
The next morning was another walkout to the rainforest centre which is famed for its many species of birds. Honestly none of us are into birds, and all we could see was just trees and more trees. But there were indeed many serious bird-watchers in attendance, fully equipped with high-powered binoculars, gigantic zoom cameras, and super-sophisticated sonar equipment that could even pick up the sound of rustling wind. We felt like the amateurs we were; and just as I was mentally writing this off as a no-gainer, lo and behold, my boy spotted a snake in the grass. Yea man, a real snake with head held up high. That certainly made all the trail-walking worthwhile.

  Because of the distances and logistics of transporting a family of five, we decided  to rent a car for our next leg. And it was well worth it, as we journeyed further out of Sandakan on day 3 to watch the unique long-nose Probisis and black Lagur monkeys in Labuk Bay. It was an amazing sight, the Lagurs were so tame hordes of them just came right out of the forest to wander around us humans. But the best was the last leg which took us about 3 hrs drive to Kinabatangan, right to the river edge. It's the 2nd longest river in M'sia and apparently teeming with wild life. Our boat-man had whetted our anticipation about seeing Pygmy elephants, but we knew there was a possibility we could end up seeing nothing but muddy water and more trees for 2 odd hours. As the evening wore on and although we were amply rewarded with sightings of all sorts of monkeys and even the hard-to-catch hornbills in action in the forest, with still no sight of any elephants on our return cruise, I was praying very hard that God would show us even just a little glimpse of an elephant tail. Well, He gave me much more than my little request.... Not a tail, not 1, but 3 oh-sooo-cute elephants swimming, playing in the waters, munching grass without so much as flapping an ear at the 4,5 boats of gawking humans all clicking their cameras and taking selfies to post up on Fb straight away.  Like I said, nothing but the real thing....

And nothing like nature's wonders whether it is living breathing bears, jumping monkeys, a slithering snake,  frolicking elephants, nodding flowers of every hue, leaves of every shape, the perfect symmetry of the reflection of the forest in still waters or even the majestic vastness of the sea stretching out beyond my hotel room is enough to make me conscious of the smallness of man and the awesomeness of a Master Creator behind everything on earth. But all these - wonderful as they are - actually cannot match what I can only term  as those poignant moments of significance which can only happen with humans. 

Like 'spying' a man on a rooftop from my hotel room, watching him tend to his pet cockerel ever so lovingly. I had noticed the cockerel in its cage, shielded by reflective foil from the hot afternoon sun. The next morning, there was the owner, repositioning the cage in another area to avoid the morning sun this time. I watched him washing and then carefully piling up at least 3 layers on top of the cage for protection. Then he caught hold of the wandering cockerel and brushed its feathers; I am sure he must have been crooning bird-songs to it the way he was holding it ever so lovingly. Then he did a funny thing; he literally lifted it up by its wings, and there it hung in his arms, its legs furiously dancing on air. I guess that must be the owner's way of exercising and strengthening its muscles.

As he put it back gently into the cage which had been prepared beforehand, I was suddenly reminded that's exactly how wonderfully, tenderly, lovingly and fully my Abba Father in heaven cares for me. From providing all my physical needs, not just putting a roof over my head, but shielding me from the 'hot' stuff that threaten to burn me up, re-positioning my life to be centered in His good and perfect will, cleansing me from all my dirt (sin), even down to 'exercising' me through trials and tribulation to 'stretch' and grow me up. And best of all, preparing a beautiful home in eternity for me.... 

It absolutely boggles my mind that the God of the universe should so love me. And nothing could bring this truth home more than the nite the tyre punctured. I was driving pretty fast back to Sandakan after our river cruise, as we didn't fancy being charged foreign tourist's rates for a B&B stay in a kampung hut. The road was narrow and pitch-dark. I hit a very deep pot-hole which punctured the front tyre very badly, denting the rim all out of shape. My poor brother had to sweat it out by the light of a hand-phone to change the spare.  We had been on the road 3 hours, had no booking for the nite, and the GPS was leading us in merry-go-rounds. Till I spotted the bright signage of what I assumed was a hotel. Turned out it was a motel instead. My only idea of a motel is one garnered from watching re-runs of Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho". But actually this one was really very decent, clean and best of all, cheap - we got a family 'suite' for less than $200. Still my mind was already jumping ahead to tomorrow when we would have to return the rented car and pay the additional cost of a new tyre. I prayed, but I wasn't confident, being the 'Ye of little faith' type. 

Well, I reckon God decided He would show me a thing or two about prayers in seemingly impossible situations. The next morning, we went for breakfast whilst my brother scouted around for tyre shops. 1/2 hour later, he drove up in the car. The cost was a paltry $18.00; the mechanic didn't 'slaughter' us for a new tyre, but instead managed to whack back the rim and simply put in a new tube. But that wasn't quite the good ending - yet. It got better. By the light of day, we now noticed there was a bad U-shaped cut in the centre of the back bumper. We couldn't quite figure out how it got there, since the bumper itself wasn't dented or scratched in any other way but obviously there was no way this could be repaired, for the cut was deep into the metal. The car was due to be returned within the next hour. I started my desperado prayer for favor again. We were lunching when the man came to pick up the car. My brother went out to deal with him; within 5 minutes he was back - smiling. The man apparently had checked the car but didn't question anything about any cut. Could it really be that he missed what was so obvious? I dunno. All I know is my God is sooo gracious, especially to me....

As if such high favor wasn't enough,  He saved the best for last. As we were walking out from the restaurant, I innocently snapped a photo of an 80 year old lady sitting on her verandah. She smiled, started talking and I ended up leading her to the God of her salvation. My best reward was after praying for her, she said Halleluia. I hadn't mentioned that word at all in our 10 minute conversation. But she remembered it from when someone brought her to church a long time ago. Truly God gave me the honor of reaping where someone else had sown the seed into her open heart.

What a fabulous ending but again, it wasn't quite the end - yet, for God still had more to show me. As we sat waiting to board the plane back to KL, I noticed a hunch-back woman talking to my daughter. I had seen her the 1st evening we arrived, sitting on some stairs, with her bags, muttering to herself; obviously a  homeless wanderer. After so many years dealing with 'street' people, I know one when I see one. The announcement came for boarding; I purposely plopped myself in the empty chair beside the hunch-back, smiled at her and asked if she had eaten. Smiles and food never fail to break the ice. She shook her head. I asked God what next? He said to give her a fiver. I have learnt when God tells me to give to these people (which is rare, but it happens), I give and forget the questions. He knows what He is doing, even tho I don't. It's the final call for boarding. I press a $5 note into her hand, and ask her to call Jesus. She slurs her thanks and tells me she's gone to church before. I tell her to go again. She wrinkles her brow and asks me "Where?" I tell her again "Call Jesus" and I walk out of her life, but I am sure God won't; after all He just reminded her today He's very much alive.

Beautiful creatures, precious souls. More than a vacation, God took me on an adventure of faith;  not just to enjoy myself with the family, but to experience His presence in the very midst of daily living; so much that I don't need to see God to know He really is for real.

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands" -   Psalm 19:1 

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