Recently I attended a beautiful wedding. The groom “G” was marrying “D”. As I was thinking about and praying for the couple in the morning, it came to mind that before G met D, they were like random letters floating in the alphabet soup of 6 billion people on earth. But God purposed for them to come together; God brought them together. God was like the “O” in between the “G” and the “D”. So, I prayed that this couple will always allow God to be the “O” in between them.
Three consequences result when “O” is allowed to come in between “G” and “D”. First, G and D will be brought closer together. “O” is like a chemical bond holding the couple together. Second, “O” gives meaning to “G” and “D”. Without “O”, “G” and “D” are just meaningless alphabets. Without “O”, even if you put “G” and “D” together as “GD”, it is meaningless. Third, it is only with “O” that “G” and “D” can make things GOOD. Jesus said in John 15:5 (ESV), “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in Him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
Another point to note is that for this relationship to work, “O” must be in the centre of “G” and “D”. It will be meaningless if “O” is placed outside of “G” and “D”. “OGD” is a short form for oesophagogastroduodenoscopy, one of the longest words in the English dictionary. It is an uncomfortable endoscopic procedure which no healthy person would wish to do. “GDO” in Singapore’s context, stands for “Government Data Office”, which in my mind conjures up images of teams of impersonal data analysts sitting behind supercomputers churning out gigantic files of data for governing Singapore.
So, I pray this for every couple, every family (whether nuclear or extended) in YCK Chapel, to make Jesus Christ the Centre of our lives, so that He can be the glue that binds individuals together, to give our lives meaning and so that we may bear much fruit. Amen.
Happy 64th Anniversary!
By Dr Ong Kiat Hoe, Elder (YCKC Bulletin 14 October 2018)