A Big and Beautiful Rainbow for My Birthday on 25 February 2009

24 February:

After two full weeks away from Singapore, on the eve of my birthday, I finally got to enjoy a restful sleep at home.

I was happy. Happy to be home. Happy to have had my caregroup celebrate my birthday with me.

Photo taken by 69eFan69 from www.clubsnap.com

25 February 2009:

I found it really cool that the table calendar in my room should, on this very day, be turned to the page with the following verses:

"To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent...but born of God" (John 1:12-13 NIV).

It was as if my Heavenly Daddy could not wait to remind on my birthday that I am His child. :-)

And I found it really really cool that before the day (which was cool and peaceful, the way I wanted it to be) ended, I got to see the biggest rainbow I had ever seen in my life.

Photo taken by Qazwer from www.clubsnap.com

I could have so easily missed the rainbow.

It was around 7.10pm in the evening, I was in Ang Mo Kio Center, just had my dinner, and was walking down the street toward the MRT station, when I saw a friend's text on my mobile phone telling me about the sighting of a double rainbow.

I looked up, and there, in front of me, was a huge brilliant rainbow in the canvas of the evening sky.

I gasped. It was an awesome sight to behold. "This must be the biggest rainbow I've ever seen in my entire life," I said to myself.

Because of its sheer size, I had to turned my head from left to right (as if I was watching a tennis match) to see it in its entirety.

Photo taken by Hidden3 from www.clubsnap.com

The rainbow was so big and so beautiful - so big and so beautiful that it felt unreal to me. I blinked my eyes several times to make sure what I was seeing was real. It was.

And within a minute or so, the rainbow disappeared.

I was reminded of the rainbow I saw in Israel. http://livelearnloveleavealegacy.blogspot.com/2009/01/after-week-of-touring-in-jordan-and-in.html

I was reminded of God's everlasting covenant of peace.

I was awed. I felt so blessed and so loved.

To me, the rainbow was a big and beautiful birthday gift for me from heaven. :-)

For more photos of the magnificent rainbow captured all around Singapore on 25 Feb 2009, do visit the following webpage: http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=481342&page=3

Photo taken by FortyNine from www.clubsnap.com

A rainbow in the sky of Jerusalem

After a week of touring in Jordan and in the northern region of Israel, we entered into Jerusalem on 28 December 2008, late in the evening.

Our entry into Jerusalem was delayed because of a huge traffic jam on the road leading into the Holy City. The crisis in the Gaza strip was escalating. As a result, security checks on vehicles entering Jerusalem was stepped up.

At 5.55pm, while our bus was slowly making its way toward the entrance of the Holy City, we prayed for the peace of Jerusalem, and declared "Grace, grace!" and "Shalom, shalom!"

On 29 December 2008, the eastern part of Jerusalem was closed to tourists by the police because some protests were taking place in the area. Thankfully, our itinerary was not affected, as the museums we were scheduled to visit were not located in the affected area.

On 30 December 2008, to our delight, the closure of eastern Jerusalem was lifted. It was a beautiful sunny day with a clear blue sky, and we gladly proceeded with our itinerary as planned.

After visiting the Mount of Olive and the various sites (including the Garden of Gethsemane) on and around the Mount, singing in the Church of St Anne, walking through the Via Dolorosa (The Way of Suffering) in the Old City of Jerusalem in the morning, we proceeded next to Mount Zion just outside the walls of the Old City.

When we reached the entrance of the Upper Room on Mount Zion, because of the large number of visitors at the site, we had to wait for the crowd in the Upper room to clear, before we made our entry.

The area where we waited was an un-shelthered space just outside the Upper Room entrance. It was a relatively small area and had just enough space to hold our group of about 50 people. The other groups before us and those after us were in the roofed areas of the Upper Room or the staircases, and they had no view of the sky.


As ours was a relatively big group, it took several minutes before everyone made it through the covered stairway and was gathered in the open space under the sky. After a couple of minutes of standing and waiting, Natasha, a young girl in our group suddenly pointed to the sky and shouted, "Look!" We all looked up, and saw this beautiful inverted rainbow hanging over our heads.

It was as if God was smiling at us and telling us, "Dear beloved children, take heart, I hear you. I heard your prayers for the peace of Jerusalem. Look now and see the sure sign of My convenant of peace. Remember my love for my people. Remember my love for you. And let your heart and mind be at peace."

"I set My Rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth." (Genesis 9:13)

"For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you...My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My convenant of peace be removed." (Isaiah 54:9-10)

As many among the group started to pull out their cameras and took pictures of the rainbow, I just felt so loved by God. I believe many of us in the group who were from New Creation Church felt the same way too, because just about a month ago, our Senior Pastor preached a message about rainbow. (read blog entry here: http://lipkee.multiply.com/journal/item/103). On the day our Senior Pastor preached the rainbow message, a double rainbow appeared in the sky outside Suntec City Tower Four, where our church services are held every Sunday.

I also found out subsequently that quite a number of the NewCre people in the group had in fact prayed before embarking on the trip that they would get to see a rainbow in Israel.

What made our experience in Jerusalem more amazing was that the "smiling rainbow" did not remain in the sky for too long. Within a minute or so (within a few clicks of the camera), it faded away, even while the crowd in the Upper Room was clearing away and it was time for us to enter into the room.

It was as if God had specially prepared the rainbow just for our group to see. God knew we would be spending a few minutes waiting outside the Upper Room, so He used that few minutes to show us His love, with a beautiful sign in the sky. If we had arrived at the entrance of the Upper Room just a couple minutes earlier or later, we would have missed the rainbow.

He made us feel so special.

We are so loved. He is so good!