Singapore

I arrived in Singapore on Saturday morning, May 9, after a 21 hour flight from New York. For years I had been hearing about how wonderful Airlines is, and now I can attest to that from personal experience. They are a very efficient, we ll run organization with a real understanding of what service is all about.

Singapore Airport is a reflection of the airline. It is beautiful, well designed, well run, efficient, and a very welcoming place. There are indoor gardens and banks of orchids, the national flower.

We arrived at 6:00 am while it was still dark. Along the equator there are exactly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of dark and it doesn't get light until about 7:00 am. By the time I jumped into a taxi it was light, and as we drove along the road I was reminded why Singapore is one of my favorite places. Although the island is very densely populated, with tall apartment buildings all around, the roads are lined with trees and flowers, many of the exotic tropical variety. It's like driving through a park!

Currently the weather is very hot and incredibly humid. It has rained a good portion of each day since I've been here, so there is a reason that all those trees and flowers grow so lushly everywhere.

Singapore is a very multi cultural place, a combination of Chinese, Indian, Malasian and British culture and ethnic groups. It is also a model of cooperation, since these diverse groups all manage to get along with one another. I must confess that one of the reasons I enjoy this place is that everyone speaks English, so I don't feel illiterate or cut off from the local population.

On Sunday I attended a worship service at Providence Reformed Presbyterian Church, pastored by Christopher Seah, formerly of Tenth Presbyterian Church. The church meets in a school building, on the third floor in a suite of rooms that is particularly well suited for the congregation.
While talking to one of the elders after the service, a transplanted New Zealander named Brian, I became aware once again of the broad influence of Tenth Presbyterian Church. He told me that some years ago he was an athiest and teaching in a small village in Japan. Also teaching in that area was a young Japanese American man who was a Christian and who had long talks with Brian, with whom he shared recorded sermons and lectures. Brian said that the very first Christian sermon that he ever listened to was by James Montgomery Boice. He later listened to R.C.Sproul and others, but his first dose of biblical Christianity was our own JMB. He eventually came to faith and is now serving at Providence Church here, but he has a real sense of gratitude for Tenth Church and Jim Boice's teaching.