Turns

Sometimes you just can’t stop.  It is as if you are a jumbo jet with a turning radius measured in miles.  Turning quickly isn’t an option.  Yet knowing you are facing obstacles and hells of your own making can make the change process easier.  The challenge comes in understanding yourself, seeing yourself in the eyes of Divinity, and wanting the best in life.  Yet as each faces their own demons in their time; the question always remains – do I confront and move to something better or live with what I know.
 
Coming back to Singapore is filled with emotions and memories.  So much is new that the precise scenes are my youth are virtually physically erased, yet the emotional and mental settings of the day are stronger than at any point in my life.  Perhaps it is in the contrast the new observer makes as he notes how clean, comforting, and inspiring the Singapore River makes him feel.  I look at the opaque green water and remember the inky black sludge full of garbage which overwhelmed the casual observer at low tide without even spilling its banks.  He sees vibrant buildings, full of bustling people chasing their dreams.  I look and wonder at the contrast and what has been lost.  Is the destruction of everything that is the price one pays for progress?  Is preserving token symbols of the past enough?  What about the good things?
 
Even in my youth nothing moved quickly.  The transformation of the Singapore River took years, decades really.  The buildings and setting of downtown Singapore are beautiful, especially at night or in the new sun’s afterglow following a tropical storm. 
 
Across history people have struggled.  Even one close to Jesus faced the temptation of betrayal.  Jesus response was one of tough compassion.  “As soon as the bread was in his hand, Satan entered him.  ‘What you must do,’ said Jesus, ‘do.  Do it and get it over with.’”  (John 13.27)
 
Staying still only accepts today’s limitations.  Turning towards the best, reaching out to hope, ah – this is something worth deciding on.