Thanks for the New Lease of Life

On the Monday afternoon of the 20/10/2014, I woke up from my deep valium induced sleep. My first angiogram was over, the angiogram team did not find any major blockage and I didn't need a stent. I felt like God has given a new lease of life. I am grateful to the Angiogram team consisting of dedicated professionals like Claire, Sarah and Jono (the Cardiologist).  Right from the start while waiting outside the procedure room, Claire reassured me. I was not anxious and even joked with her about the black knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I felt an instant rapport with her and the team. And they are a team, a well-oiled operation with the sole aim of ensuring the best outcome for me. They checked out my ticker and get me on my way for the next phase of my life. But the story did not start or end there. In fact there are a whole bunch of other dedicated workers who worked tirelessly to make my new lease of life possible.

Saturday night, the news of my high calcium score (219) was still sinking in, I felt a tightness in my chest. I re-read the letter from the X-radiology. It is time to call the ambulance. Within less than 10 minutes, Ben and Rachel arrived in their ambulance. In no time they had me lying in their ambulance bed and running an ECG on my heart. They checked my blood pressure and quickly relieve my chest discomfort with a shot of GTN. Another few more minutes they got me and my wife Christine into the emergency department of the Wesley Hospital. Adam (the emergency doctor) and his team ran more tests on me and gave me more GTN as I experience more tightness of the chest. Adam and Ben (the Cardiologist) decided to keep me in for observation and an angiogram. In the meantime a church friend (Jennie) kindly offered to take Christine home while I waited for a room in the Cardiology section of the hospital. Poor Christine not only had to accompany me to the hospital but now has wait to find out what was going to happen to me.

One cannot possibly even understand what a huge scourge heart disease is to Australia until you have journeyed with me. The demand for Cardiology beds (even for a private hospital) was so huge that I had to wait till 2am when they could finally move me out of Emergency. Even in Cardiology I was not alone. The first thing Renee (the duty nurse) asked me was whether I was hungry. The sandwich and the bottle water were most welcome. After some sharing, I discovered that Renee is a natural mother and I felt I was just one of her children! I didn't sleep well and by about 5am the sun was already shining into my room but Leigh brought me much needed cup of tea and breakfast which cheered me up immensely.

Later Sunday, Christine came, bringing some much needed essentials like my toothbrush. Thank God for Christine, the hospital may take care of the immediate health needs; it is the spouse who brings the comfort of home. Later still friends from my Salt and Light fellowship group turned up. Eric, Fan, Jenny, Tinkei and Tracy were like my personal cheer squad getting me ready for Monday, the big day where I find out what is wrong with my heart.

After a better night sleep (although still more tightness of the chest), the dawn sunlight came through the window. The orange glow of the dawn sky along with all those wires on my chest made me think that I am an astronaut completing yet another orbit around the earth on the ISS (International Space Station). This is the big day! Ben (the cardiologist) patiently explained to me what is going to happen. Christine came again to check how I was and Jo (the duty nurse) got me ready for the transfer from the Cardio ward to the procedure room where Claire and her team was ready for me.

In this journey of mere three days, I met many people whom I have never met before. Yet they worked tirelessly for me. Please don't be upset if I didn't mention your name because there are just too many names to remember! But be reassure, I and many more patients are very appreciative of all the sacrifice that you have made to give us all a new lease of life.

The battle against heart disease has to go on but I really wonder whether Australia has her priority set correctly when McDonalds recently announced that they will provide a new fast food service. Is the relentless consumption of fast food and the earth resources more important than spending time with relatives and friends? When the world calls us a sport-mad nation, do they really know that the majority of us merely sit on the side line downing yet more burgers and fries?

Can Love and Perfection Overcome earthquake, tuberculosis and the Evils of World War 2?

Are you sick of the same old computer generated violence that Hollywood continues to serve up movie after movie? Even the Hobbit (a children’s book) could not avoid Hollywood’s lust for violence. If so then you should not go pass Hayao Miyazaki’s animated movie “The Wind Rises”.  The Wind Rises is a fictionalised account of Jiro Horikosh – the designer of the famous A6M Zero. The A6M is a fighter aircraft. In the Second World War, a fighter plane serves two purposes: It can defend ones territory from enemies’ bombers or to protect one own bombers in their mission to bomb the enemy.  As one is drawn into Miyazaki’s story, one realises that this is an anti-war movie. I do have more to say on this question but this is first and foremost a review of Miyazaki’s creative ability. My concern for Miyazaki’s treatment of Japan’s responsibility for the war will come later.

Right from the start Miyazaki uses one of Jiro’s many dream sequences (the animation is vibrantly beautiful) to help the audience become familiar with Jiro’s passion for flying and plane design. Not only that, Miyazaki uses the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 (where Jiro rescues his future wife) and the great depression of the early 1930s to bring out Jiro’s selfless nature.  Growing up with a diet of Godzilla, Ultraman and Japanese animation it is really refreshing to see that Miyazaki’s can use animation to weave together these historical events to build up Jiro’s story.  It would be so easy for Miyazaki to simply dazzle his audience with more and more animation so as to turn his movie into yet another Hollywood feel good cartoon. Instead Jiro the genius aeroplane designer not only dreams of setback but is also plague by real setback that nearly cost the life of one of his pilot. Just when the audience think that life cannot get worse, we found that the love of Jiro’s life Naoko suffers from tuberculosis and will soon die.  To be honest, my eyes were getting quite wet by this stage. However Miyazaki wants his audience to see through all these failures, sadness, and even the evils of World War 2. Why? It is because nothing was going to dampen Jiro’s passion to build the prefect aeroplane.  Naoko rather than demanding Jiro’s complete attention instead left her sanatorium to be with Jiro. Jiro in turn married Naoko even though he knew Naoko’s tuberculosis would mean their time together would be short.  It is this sacrificial love that Jiro and Naoko have for one another that makes it all worthwhile.

It all sound so wonderful doesn’t it? Even though Miyazaki’s Jiro is not the real Jiro, we do know love can do much more than even what Miyazaki can imagine. Why? It is because we have seen the Cross.

Finally one question that I realise cannot be bypassed.  Yes, Miyazaki did point to the futility of war but did he do enough to question Japan’s responsibility? At the start of the war, the Zero out manoeuvre all Allies fighters.  In this way, Japan was able establish air superiority wherever they went. In the city of Hong Kong (where I was born), the Japanese bombers were able to drop bombs on the Kai Tak airport with impunity.  Hong Kong had no hope of defending itself and had to live under Japanese oppression for three years and eight months. As an engineer, I realised that whatever I design or built, it too can be used for evil. On the other hand even Mikhail Kalashnikov, the inventor of the AK47 also had to ponder about the damage that his invention had caused.  Kalashnikov was so troubled that he sought spiritual advice from the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church.

What Swimming has taught me about Spiritual Growth

Australians are often proud of the ability of our Olympic swimmers and children start early in the pool. So it is a surprise to some people that I am such a bad swimmer. However I am not alone, I have come across a number of people who also swim poorly or not at all. Recently a sister-in-Christ who once helped people correct their stroke (improve their swimming) started coaching me so as to correct my stroke. I believe my poor swimming style falls into two groups:

1.       Bad habits that no one ever help me to correct. For example, I didn’t know that I could be more efficient by rotating my upper body with each stroke of the arm.

2.       My stress from fear.  My sister-in-Christ pointed out to me that my right arm was very stiff and that I could swim more efficiently by relaxing.

The apostle Paul brought the Gospel to a world dominated by Greek culture. Our modern Olympic Games had its origin from the Olympic Games of ancient Greece. In Paul’s time, an athlete can gained money, prestige, and privileges by winning in the Games. But in order to do so they have to train hard. In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote:

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. ²⁵ Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. ²⁶ Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. ²⁷ No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Sports training like swimming are good examples of our Christian life.  Some of us learn to swim when we are children; others like me only learn good swimming techniques late in life. The freedom of being able to swim freely without the fear of not touching the bottom is like the freedom we feel when we finally realised that we can have friendship with God because of what Jesus had done for us. This is exactly why Jesus in John 8:32: “then you will know the truth and truth shall set you free.” But we shouldn’t stop once we know how to swim because we can swim more efficiently with better swimming technique. Whatever exercise you do (e.g. running, cycling, ping pong, swimming etc.) you will develop what is called muscle memory. That is why people say once you know how to ride a bicycle you will never forget. However if you are using poor techniques then you will need someone alongside you to help you develop new muscle memory to replace the old one. In the same way we shouldn’t stop growing spiritually once we have turn to Jesus. Because at conversion, your life would still have old spiritual muscle that would hinder your journey to be more and more like Jesus. In Romans 5:1-5, Paul wrote:

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ² Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴ and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵ and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

We train hard in the pool. We “do not run like someone running aimlessly”. We “do not fight like a boxer beating the air”. In the same way we work to train our spiritual muscle so that we can receive the everlasting crown.

Finally we must not forget the other ingredient to spiritual growth and that is our spiritual coach or mentor. This is because spiritual growth is not easy and we need Christian brothers and sisters who are willing to swim or walk along side us to help us unlearn the bad and train hard so that we can one day be completed in Christ! In 1 John 4, John wrote “There is no fear in love …”, when we have loving brothers and sisters then there is indeed no fear even in the pool!