A testimony to a man of God who loves Jesus

The Fire Report, June 2012

By Cyril Seah

Weeks before the day of YTL Concert of Celebration 2010 at the Botanic Gardens, with Andrea Bocelli as the celebrity tenor, YTL Corporation invited members of the public to book their seats. Little did I realise that 62,800 applied, and that allocation will be by balloting. I had assumed simplicistically that since I placed my name for 2 tickets, the seats were reserved. 

The day came for the celebration. It was raining cats and dogs, with swirling storm clouds and lightning, hours before the event in the evening. I wandered how the show was going to be held in the open with such weather conditions in the open. As I left my home in the east, with my wife, we brought along raincoats, dressed for the weather, in the rain. But Praise the Lord, as we reached the Botanic Gardens, the storm had abated. Instead it was the scent of cool fresh air after a storm.

The queue was long into the show. I confidently lined up, only to be told at the gates, that we should have tickets. The Lord was good, though we had none. The favour of the Lord was on us. I explained to the supervisor in full transparency on my misunderstanding that my seats were reserved. What naiveness. She called for her manager, who gave us her personal set of tickets, feeling sorry for us, who had come from such a distance away. We saw the redeeming hand of God. The Lord bless the supervisors.

We thought that her tickets will be for the spill over area, watching the video screen rather than live. We were initially envious of those at Palm Valley, closest to the Cluny Road garden entrance, not realizing that that was not the live stage, but that it was much further back at Swan Lake. We trudged along, my wife always thankful that her prayers to watch the show are being answered. As we reached Swan Lake, we saw many gentlemen and ladies dressed to the hilt, whilst we had come in sports shoes and T-shirts. We did not realise that the tickets we had were for the real live section of the show, and they were meant for the grand stand to the wings and rear for the invited public. The special guests were at the centre. These seats were covered in white covers giving it an air of a garden wedding. Little did we know that President Nathan, the Ministers, the well heeled will be in attendance - what a grand affair.

The Lord had surprised us. It was like an unfolding video show, only in a real life, slowly being played out. Our grand stand had a paranomic view out onto the stage, built over with the trappings of a grand outdoor stage, with the gardens and drama lights as backdrop. Behind the stage were the silhouettes of the trees, as the evening darkened into night.

The Lord was giving us a treat and a memorable one at that. Not only did we have the grand stand, at the live outdoor theatre, the tickets came complete with the dinner box at the gate.

The theatre opened up with the fanfare of bright lights, the tensed announcements of the MC, and the arrival of the dignitaries, before the MD of YTL Corporation, Tan Sri Francis Yeoh came upon the stage. We know him to be a Christian, and a supporter of the FGBMF in Malaysia and who had shared his testimony at the FGB (S) function in Singapore. But we were taken aback, when in his opening address, he gave Praise to Jesus, and thanked Him and gave a flying kiss with his hand to the Lordship of Jesus, his God. He did it in public, not bothered or intimidated at what people may say. That caught us off guard, and realized that truly it is this dependence in the Lordship of Jesus and independent of the dos and ways of men, that brought him phenomenal success. 

The concert was indeed a great treat. It did not accur to us that that was the most expensive concert we ever attended, with costs running into the millions of dollars. Truly the Lord has blessed him, and we too were blessed. The singing was indeed inspiring. Andrea Bocelli, Australian pop singer Delta Goodrem, Slovenian soprano Sabina Cvilak and acclaimed flautist Andrea Griminelli with the accompaniment of the Singapore Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Philharmonic Chamber Choir where the roles fitted were harmonious, bringing across that endorsement of a world class concert. Tan Sri Francis Yeoh believes in the best, so are his products. What's more, the concert ended with a surprise highlight reserved till the end, with the choral singers singing Handel's Messiah, to the background of an awesome display of fireworks of all imagination at close quarters. It was befitting of a concert dedicated to the Glory of Jesus, and we, out of the Lord's favour is a party to this - what an astounding ending, what an event, what a testimony. Truly it was a night to remember, The Lord Jesus is great and He was present.