Who Feeds Us?

This article was written by Ngiam Xing Yi, a team member of the Grace Baptist Church YYA Missions 06 trip to Indonesia from 13 to 20 Dec 2006. Inspired by what he saw on his trip, he wrote a lucid and thought-provoking account reprinted below with his kind permission. Readers beware, it’ll get you thinking.

Who Feeds Us?

There were guests around on that day. Foreign Chinese young men and women who were attempting to befriend the people. They had done a short performance. They had made balloons for the children. They had sung a few songs for those who were watching.

And then it was the children’s turn to present a small something. They began to sing a short Christian song they had picked up from the volunteers who had been working with them for a while now.

One of the older women watching curtly interrupted them. “Why are you singing Christian songs? Stop it. Sing something else.”

A boy turned and retorted, “Who feeds me? You? Don’t tell me what to do.”

This short scene took place while the team was in the slums. While it may have seemed that it might have merely been an act of rebellion from the boy, it showed us much more. He had challenged authority. He made the choice to do what he thought was correct. He understood that no one else except the hand feeding him had control over his actions or his life.

Do we do the same? For the street people who have virtually nothing to their name, their goal in life is simple. To make the best of nothing. For people like us, who have seemingly improved our lives and culminated advancement into a world of material comfort, we seem to have everything. Yet we hanker after more, worrying everyday that what we have or what we do is never enough. We believe the control of our lives lies in our very hands, and that we can only rely on ourselves to survive and make decisions.

We forget who is in control. We forget who feeds us everyday. The One who is the reason why we can stand here today and be proud of our lives. Instead, hours are spent chasing after the world we love. Our choices are based on reasoning that we create for ourselves, and never on the dependence on the One who provides.

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more valuable than they? Matthew 6:26 (NIV)

The boy taught me an important thing that day. He had told me to reconsider who was in charge of my life. He had questioned why I was listening to voices of the world instead of the Voice of Truth. With nothing to his name, this boy understood that only the one who feeds him is to be followed. With so much in my life, I constantly forget the source of everything that brings me satisfaction.

Earlier in the year I made the choice to go to Jakarta. I wanted to be of service to the Lord. To be humbled in the presence of those who had less physically, but had more spiritually and mentally. I believed I would reap much more from my experiences than any effort that I would put in. I was right. The Lord blessed all of us much from this trip, showing us much more than we thought we would ever see, hear or smell. Each and every incident seemed to be a lesson given by God.

This particular event showed me how much I had lost track of the priorities in life. For a young student like me, I had everything before me. I could choose to take any path that I wanted in life. Yet I was rudely brought back to reality by what transpired that day.

I cannot say that I have entirely put my focus back on serving the Lord as of now. Yet, through this trip, I have been deeply affected by the small lessons that have popped up along the way. Now I am more aware of what is important to me. Now I can firmly say that I will follow the one who feeds me. Now I can start throwing off the influences the world has placed on me.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him. 1 John 2:15b (NIV)

Ngiam XingYi

Febuary 2007