Awesome Display of God's Glory

Malaysia's Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC) had the privilege of being the host of the first Malaysia International Fireworks Competition (MIFC) this year and from 18 August till 2 September, the skies over Putrajaya would be lighted up with performances from the pyrotechnic teams from Australia, Japan, Italy and Malaysia.

Thus far, my experiences of fireworks had been limited to the meagre firecrackers that we get to light during our annual Chinese New Year celebrations, which were just a lot of noise and smoke with nothing much to look at. Occasionally, we do get to see from way, way away, the fireworks fired up at KLCC or over Merdeka Square, that is, if we managed to get permission from a friend kind enough to allow us to squat in his/her high-rise apartment, to ooh and aah our way through the year-end or countdown or Merdeka celebrations.

But this time, it was different. We caught the full blast of the action and got to witness the beauty of Italy's creative juices, the whole 25 minutes or so of it. Fully expecting throngs of people and massive traffic, the "kiasu-sm" in me got my family there early to try and get a strategic parking spot so that we could catch the sights, not have to walk too far and still make a quick getaway after the event. We reached at 6-ish and found out that the display was not to start till 9pm...now what are we to do for the next 3 hours, you say. Not to worry, I'm sure we'll be able to think of something. There were about 10-12 rides and a handful of games at the funfair ...enough to kill time. So, my husband and I led our 2 young boys through the whole drill, had a quick snack-dinner and it was 8:45pm. Great timing, so we headed back to our car to set up and get ourselves comfortable for the show. The crowd was really building up by now, with squalling children and thinning moods. When we got to our car, the road was already filled with triple lines of parked cars, thankfully not on our side of the road.

9:05 pm

... nothing happened, maybe they were waiting for the VIPs...we did see a helicopter heading towards PICC...

9:15 pm

...anytime soon now, we could just feel the excitement in the air, waiting to see the first starbursts...

9:30 pm

...hello, anybody there? Did they misplace the fuse or something?

9:35 pm

...a couple more cars drove by trying to double-park next to us but we managed to shoo them away and they drove further into the inner parking lot, which would be one of the biggest mistakes of the night...
9:45 pm

...the air was really crackling now...with abusive words from the crowds I'm sure...
10:00 pm

...hey, I want my money back...imagine having to wait in the car with 2 restless boys..."Mom, where are the fireworks? I'm hungry, Mom. Why so long, Mom? Very hot, Mom. Mosquitoes, Mom. I want to go home, Mom ... and the list goes on and on...

10:05 pm

...and then it happened, the countdown began to signal to the organisers to turn off all the lights in the area...the first single starburst into the night...and then 2 starbursts...and then 3...

And for the next 25 minutes or so, the skies burst into an array of light and sounds unlike anything that I've experienced (talk about being the "jakun")...and it really made me marvel at the ingenuity and creativity of man...

But then again, not really. Because Genesis 1:26 says this :

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the lifestock, over all the earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

Man is because God made and man has because God gave. God in his infinite wisdom, power and grace created man out of dust to be made in his likeness...the ability to think, to reason, to feel, to love, to use our God-given skills to fulfil God's purposes.

So how does the fireworks display come in? Well, the experience confirmed a few things :

1. Fact # 1 : The mix of colours and the variety of patterns designed to bring out the wonder and awe in all, took many years of research to develop the concept of fireworks; certainly much time for planning, designing and preparing and no less, headaches and many more attempts to coordinate. I suppose in this world of individualism, one cannot help but give all praise to the engineers and experts behind it all but our Word for the day states that man were made in God's image and likeness...so the perspective is, without God, man is nothing. All that we are and have comes from God.
2. Fact # 2 : God is all-powerful and self-sufficient because the Bible in Genesis 1:1-25, gave an account of how the world came into being. Need more proof...Psalm 147:4 - He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name (now that's what I call an awesome display); Psalm 147:8 - He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills. God created everything out of nothing and by his mere spoken word, now that's power!
3. Fact # 3 : The ooh-ing and aah-ing needs to be re-directed...from the human and limited engineer stationed here on earth (which God made) to the Divine and Unlimited Engineer who's All-Present, deserving of all man's glory, praise and honour.