Thank You Mr.Smiley !!!

On November 12^th, I went to Malacca to visit someone in one of the hospitals there. While I was waiting for my bus in the bus stop just opposite my college, a skinny and smiley guy came and asked, “Do you know how to go to Malaysia?” Then I told him that I wanted to go to Malaysia, but since I had never been there, I was also not sure. Then he was very happy because he found another “blind man” to go together with him.

He was very friendly. He told me that he lived in a condo nearby. Later he found out that I was a theological student and I discovered that he was a Sunday school teacher. We were really enjoying our chat while we were on the bus going to Johor Baru. Then he started to share that he had a cancer and just done chemotherapy. He was going to go through radiotherapy soon. I almost could not believe it. Because he looked so happy! How could someone whose stomach had been removed be joyful like that? At the end I found the secret. He said, “We don’t know when our lives will end. What we can do is to choose how we want to live. And I have chosen to live happily, enjoying whatever God has given to me. God is good all the time.”

Of course it was not the first time I heard such statement. But, being said by a man who had gone through such agony, that statement became extremely powerful! He is the man who really understands what Proverbs 17:22 says, “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” He has taught me a very meaningful lesson which I might never learn even from a prominent theologian! He also has reminded me of two things. Firstly, a message will be powerful if it is said by a person who really knows what it means by experiencing it. “God is good” might mean nothing if it is said by a person who has never gone through agonies in life. Secondly, a theology must be born from “the street”, not from an ivory tower. Being a theological student, sometimes I feel like being separated from the world. There are too many books which I have not read. Sometimes, or may be most of the times, this makes me forget that I also need to learn from the living text, such as the smiley man I met. In fact, I do believe that a good theology must be born from a dialectical process between the Word and the world. Having said this, I think that smiley man is the right person to write about and develop a theology of suffering.

At the end of our meeting, I said to him that I was very blessed to meet him. I truly thanked God for giving me the opportunity to meet and learn from him. And I really thanked him for his passion and openness to share his life with me. Thank you Mr. Smiley!!!