the published and unpublished works of angeline koh

© Angel’s original

I am freezing as the snow melts through my clothes and thermal undergarments from each fall. People of all ages, including senior citizens and young children, ski effortlessly pass me. A few kind skiers stop to help. They give me the same instructions that Larry, my ski instructor had given me. After some time, I refuse their help. In theory, I know how to “snow-plough” (Don’t let your skis cross. Keep them parallel. Lean left… lean right…) but the instructions don’t work for me.

“Maybe I can walk down instead,” I think to myself. I press the quick release to detach the stiff, heavy boots from my skis. My legs sink almost knee-high into the snow. “Dumb idea. I can’t ski down and I can’t walk down.” It must be more than an hour that I have been at this. I am exhausted.

One more helpful lady skier stops by. (Not another one.) She can see my distress. She helps me up and we exchange a few words. (More instructions). I am tired and she knows it. She explains something she wants to do to help me. (What is she talking about?) She positions herself behind me, puts one arm around my waist and brings her body close to mine, her skis parallel outside mine. “Watch the skis and don’t let them cross.” She pushes off even before I can say another word.

The steep ski path is full of twists and turns with bushes and trees to obstruct our descent. I see the trees coming closer and closer toward us. “We’re going to crash!” I shout. “No, we’re not! Watch your skis – don’t let them cross. Lean left!” She leans left and I find myself naturally following her rhythm and every slight body movement. We ski pass other skiers. There is no time to enjoy the picturesque Aspen Mountains around us.

I now am doing what I had been repeatedly told to do. My skis are parallel and not crossing. I am not falling. I hear her calm assurances and simple instructions whispering in my ears – Don’t let your skis cross. Keep them parallel. Lean left… lean right… – we are skiing as one and I am exhilarated. I can’t believe we have reached the bottom. How fun!

I turn around to thank my rescuer~teacher – but she is nowhere to be seen.

My skiing experience happened about twenty years ago. (Yes it has been that long). Over the days that I took to recover from the sore back and strained muscles, Matthew 1:23 came repeatedly to mind. “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel – which means, “God with us.”

When God sent his Son Jesus to come to us, he come not only to walk beside us, or to walk ahead of us, or to be above or behind us. He chose to live INSIDE of us. I cannot nearer be!

Near, so very near
Nearer I could not be
For in the person of his Son
I am as near as he

Dear, so very dear
Dearer I could not be
For the love wherewith he loves his Son
Such is his love for me
- Author unknown

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. – Galatians 2:20

Come near to God and he will come near to you. – James 4:8

Bringing The Flood of Genesis 6-9 closer to home
© Angel’s original . Written 23 November 2001, New Zealand

The water levels rise high as the winter rains fall. The trees and vegetation along the river are submerged in water. The river is deep and the currents fierce and strong, washing away sediments from the cliffs.
Today, however, the sun peeks through this unusually fine late-spring morning. Seven hopeful fossil-seekers make their way up to the Waipara River north of Christchurch New Zealand. The team is led by journalist Sandy Fairservice and his wife Judy. The couple who do not consider themselves “scientists but informed journalists” have been on the trail of fossils for about ten years.

The river is low and the vegetation is green and new. We unloaded our gear and set out to track up the river. I dipped my foot into the clear icy water. For a brief moment I have second thoughts about continuing our venture. With some encouragement, I pushed on, braving the chilly shin-high water till my cold feet became accustomed to the cold. The water levels varied as different turns. We waded through rushing waters at some places. The rocks were slippery and uneven. Right foot first to anchor ourselves, and then followed by the left, one step at a time. I had to learn how to walk in the water. At some places we were able to walk on dry rivers beds. Our shoes dried quickly in the warm sun.

Majestic mountains and fresh green foliage surrounded us. The quietness was only broken by the sound of rushing water, the rustling of leaves and the chirping of birds. Sandy pressed us forward – beautiful as the scenery was, we had not got to what we were there for – to find fossils.

As we turned around the bend, we were suddenly faced with high sediment cliffs to our right and left. The sediment stretched some distance before us. Some of the team excitedly hurried on ahead. Beate, Anne and later Sandy found three pieces of fossils that day. Judy said that it was an unusually good day – there were days when they found none. The winter rains had washed the sediments off the cliff. Throughout the river, large round concretions or boulders lied in the water. The fossils embedded in the concretions had been washed off the cliffs and fallen into the river and on the riverbeds.

Sandy and Judy explained that a sudden catastrophic flood had caused the land formation of the earth. High pressures and gushing waters from inside and around the earth pushed the land causing the mountains to rise and deep gorges to be formed. The sudden flood killed all life forms. All living things buried caused a chemical reaction to the land surrounding it resulting in the formation of solid concretions.

We were able to break the smallest of the three concretions that we had found and were able to see the fossils embedded. Along the river, we were also able to see other fossils embedded in the large boulder. Waipara River is particularly known for the Plesioaur and Masasaur fossils, marine reptiles that are supposedly extinct. In the mid-1800s, truckloads of fossils were shipped to Museum of Natural History in London. The Canterbury Museum of New Zealand also had a display of a large fossil of a rib cage.

Though fossils may mean little to the untrained man of the street, in them lie many great secrets of the origin of the earth and creation. Many philosophies and consequently beliefs originate from what is understood or not understood of the origins of mankind.

Many things happen in a blink…
© Angel’s original . Written April 2003
Published in The Frankelite, Editor’s column . April-June 2003

Several years ago, I was on a conducted tour around the quiet countryside of Ireland when our humorous tour driver said, “Don’t blink, everyone. We are going to pass through the smallest town in Ireland. If you blink, you will miss seeing it.” Sure enough, we zipped through the little town in a blink. I do not even remember its name.

Many things happen in a blink.

In a blink, we witnessed the total destruction of the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. In a blink, the 24-year regime of Saddam Hussein was removed when superpower USA launched “Operation Iraqi Freedom”. In a blink, the world was hit with the mysterious Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), causing panic, paranoia and even paralysis.

In a blink, Singapore which prides itself on its First World status, saw PSA Corporation, Housing Development Board and Singapore Airlines go through “restructuring” (= “retrenchment”). In an instant, the rich are made poor when businesses collapse while surgical mask manufacturers are made rich because of the sudden demand.

In a blink, I saw the closure of my sister Cynthia’s short 37 years on earth.

How then should we live in a time when a blink could bring about cataclysmic changes in our lives?

In Psalm 103:7, David said that God “made known His ways to Moses, His deeds to the people of Israel.” Both the Israelites and Moses witnessed the same events, but only Moses had insight into God’s ways.

In a race, blinkers or hoods fitted to the horse’s head force the horse to look straight ahead instead of being distracted by surrounding horses. Jockeys will tell you that a little blinker can make a great difference to the racehorse’s performance.

Moses who wrote Psalm 90, had blinkers that kept his eyes and heart fixed on God. The Israelites on the other hand, had a different kind of blinkers that blinded them from understanding God’s heart.

If we are to thrive in such a time as this, we need to shield our eyes and heart with blinkers that will keep our focus on the Lord Jesus instead of on the many things that stir up our innate fears. We also need to ask God to remove whatever blinds us from understanding and responding to His ways.

In the midst of uncertainty, one more certain event will happen in a blink that will not only change our lives but also change us forever. The apostle Paul said, “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (I Corinthians 15:51-52).

In a blink, all wrong will be set right. God will complete what He began at the Cross and permanently remove suffering and death. In a blink, Satan, God’s enemy, will be no more. In a blink, Christ, the Hope of our glory will be revealed, and we, His people, will be resurrected and transformed.

In a blink, I will be reunited with Cynthia .

It is in the light of this hope that the apostle urges us, “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58).

There are many around us living between blinks and in much fear. There is still work to be done and a race to complete. Do you have blinkers that keep you from knowing and responding to God’s heart? How are you living between blinks?