Gracious Hope - 12 Nov 2015

The end of another school year has come. I've enjoyed spending time with my students, all teenagers, being there to talk and listen to them as they grow and thrive in foreign land. Most boys and girls in Malaysia will be taking a break before they continue their secondary education, whilst the older ones will be busy making preparation for tertiary education. What about these Myanmar teenagers, from ages 13 to 18 yo? My class is the highest level provided by the learning centre, and they know they're coming back to the same class next year. There's not much motivation for the older teens. Two of them have dropped out during the year. Their future as refugees in Malaysia is bleak. 


They continue to hope in our heavenly Father. "To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, not knowing what tomorrow may bring. This is generally expressed with a sigh of sadness, but it should be an expression of breathless expectation. We are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of God. (Oswald Chambers)."


A farewell party to thank God for a wonderful year. We watched the movie "Everest" in the class and discussed the importance of leadership and how our choices would have some kind of a ripple effect that spreads out to other people around us. At the beginning of the year, I asked each student to write a letter to him(her)self, about their hopes and dreams for the year. It's only appropriate that I returned those letters to them. This was one thing that they reminded me to do weeks before, cos they're also looking forward to read their own letters. I shared a beautiful poem with them, "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost. Life is indeed a series of choices.

Nick Vujicic is such an inspiration to them, in ways more than I can understand. "I know for certain that God does not make mistakes, but He does make miracles. I am one. You are, too. (Nick Vujicic)."

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