No Apologies

Last September, after a supper talk, my MLM classmate Josephine invited me to participate in No Apologies Mandarin Training of Facilitators in Melaka organized by Focus on the Family Malaysia (FOFM). As the course would be held on the beginning of the final exams period, I managed to make myself available easily.

Later, I learned that Siew Hong, who was doing counseling work at Agape Care Centre, was also recommended by Josephine to attend this course. So when I reached Straits Baptist church at Bukit Beruang on 29st October, I already had a course mate whom I knew.

According to the leaflet, No Apologies is a programme designed for the youth who are seeing an increasing rate of teen pregnancy, abortion, single-parent households and divorce. This character-based curriculum helps young people make wise choices regarding high-risk behaviors, including sexual involvement before marriage. It deals with upholding the value of the individual, marriage, the family and the importance of keeping ourselves pure for our future husband or wife.

Currently there are over 1000 trained facilitators throughout Malaysia which includes school counseling teachers for Wilayah Persekutuan (Kuala Lumpur), Senior Officers from the curriculum department of the Ministry of Education Malaysia and National Health & Physical Education teachers. FOFM is working towards training additional facilitators to meet the demand for more workshops. And since its inception in January 2003, the curriculum has reached over 30,608 youth in various parts of Malaysia and 27,899 (91.16%) of them have taken the Pledge to remain abstinent until marriage. The response and invitation by schools and organizations has also since grown.

During the two and a half days, sessions of demonstrations, role plays and activities enabled us to familiarize ourselves with the curriculum materials and subjects to conduct workshops in the future.

On the third day, we were required to present a segment of what we had learned in the training.

I wish I had been introduced to this programme when I was in the secondary school, for nobody had told me the truth about life, love and sex at that young age. Now as one of the certified facilitators,

I would like you to know that as long as you are single, it is never to late to make a pledge of abstinence until marriage.

Getting Ready For The Spiritual War

Two weekends ago, I went back to Batu Pahat for two events: One was my former secondary school Chinese High School alumni dinner. Another was my former classmate Loke's wedding lunch the next day. During two days, I was well fed with eight-course meals by Chinese restaurants. But what really satisfied me was the spiritual food I had received that Sunday morning at Berean church.

Previously I had attended their services three times. Each time, there happened to be a guest speaker whose sermon about giving or parenting deeply touched my heart. This time because of Ps Ruth's absence, Ps Lydia from Peace church, Kluang was the one who preached.

To the Bereanese, Ps Lydia in her red blouse that day was a familiar figure. I only knew who she was when she introduced her background: Her late husband was Ps Sunther, whose name I had heard at Calvary Life Assembly and during a MLM class last year after he had gone to be with the Lord.

Ps Lydia shared with us how she managed to pull herself together after the sudden passing of her spouse and the following deaths of her other beloved family members and relatives within fourteen months. God revealed to her that it was He who had allowed these things to happen. Ps Lydia did not blame God. Instead, she trusted Jesus who had replaced Ps Sunther as her husband to totally depend on.

During the long mourning period, Ps Lydia still ran the activities of the Chinese service of Peace church, of which she had always been in charge, and at the same time took over Ps Sunther's English service. After witnessing God's work in her life, she walked out of her grief to continue to serve the Lord in a high spirit.

As the second coming of Jesus is approaching, it is urgent for God's people to fight against the army sent by Satan. Ps Lydia used Deuteronomy 20 to remind us to check whether we were prepared to fight against Satan's army.

We will not be allowed to go to the battle field and will later receive no reward from God if
1. we have not committed ourselves to God. (We have not dedicated our house to God.)

2. we do not produce the fruit of the Spirit. (Our vineyard has not produced fruit.)

3. we have not made ourselves ready to be Jesus' bride. (We do not fulfill the promise of marriage.)

4. we lack of faith. (We are fearful and fainthearted.)

I was greatly encouraged by Ps Lydia's personal testimony and her passion to do God's will despite all the tribulations she had gone through.

I'm checking myself to be ready for the spiritual war. How about you, my brothers and sisters in Christ?

Visitors From The Nature

Grown up in a house with limited space for gardening, the insects I often saw at the front yard were butterflies. Since I started to plant vegetables, fruits, flowers and decorative leaves in my present house, different visitors from the nature dropped by in the garden.

During my youth, a song titled "Red Dragonflies" from a Taiwanese boy band was very famous. I had seen dragonflies, but never this colour. Last Tuesday, five days after I had given threaded dragonflies to the Doulos girls as souvenirs, I finally discovered a red one in my garden! This living dragonfly was a great souvenir given by God in return on their behalf:

Grasshoppers were nice to watch when they just jumped from one place to another with their long back legs.

When I saw this fellow, I immediately knew that leaves in my garden had contributed to its fat body. If there were more, I might have considered to deep fry them to get some protein!

Many weeks ago, as I was going to watering the plants in the dark, I noticed a frog on the floor near the tap. It soon disappeared. Yesterday morning when I was cutting grass, this small creature suddenly jumped out and gave me a fright. Then it changed its position and remained motionless next to a pot. Even though I kept moving around it, it was not scared of me.

Looking at these visitors from the nature, how could I ever deny that they were created by our Almighty God?

Prayer Meeting At St John's Hill

Since I attended the MLM classes, I got closer to Sis Christine who is also a Calvarite. Having a passion for prayers, she serves in the intercession ministry at Calvary Life Assembly (CLA). Once she told me that she had been so fed up with a barren mango tree at her house that she commanded it to produce fruits in Jesus' name. And the miracle happened the following month! I was very encouraged by this woman of great faith that I also began to pray for my fruit trees.

For months, she had been been inviting me to attend a prayer meeting at St John's Hill on Saturday mornings. As Saturdays were my "housework days" when I stayed in Melaka, I did not feel like going out.

Last Friday evening, I ushered for Permata Pintar kindergarten graduation ceremony at CLA. I had to postponed my trip to Batu Pahat. As Sis Christine was living at Ujong Pasir in the South of Melaka town whereas my place was situated in the North, she let me put up at her house that night, so that it was nearer for me to drive to Johor the next morning.

She again invited me to St John's Hill and asked me to go back only after breakfast. This time, I decided to accompany her. We would have to leave the house by 5.30am. Lately, my sleep had been shallow and I often woke up at around 5. So I had no problem to get up at such an early hour. Before 5, I was awake. So was Sis Christine who had received a wake-up miss call from a prayer fellow.

When we reached the parking at the foot of the hill at 5.40am, two cars were already there. We followed a man who was holding a light to climb up the stairs to St John's Fort. This fort with cannons facing inland was originally used as a Portuguese chapel dedicated to St John the Baptist.

A few people had arrived even earlier. We picked any seat we wanted, either standing or sitting. After a short while, an elderly man said an opening prayer. Then we started our worship accompanied by guitar.

As we sang, more people joined. I recognized Diana and Ps Edmund Smith's faces in the dark. While we were praising the Lord with songs and prayers, the sky slowly became brighter.

We also prayed for our nation and Melaka, the gateway of Christianity in Malaysia.

Many of these twenty over people had been faithfully meeting at St John's Hill on Saturday mornings since 1994. I was told that whether it rained or not, these people of God would not miss the weekly gathering.

Over fifteen years, they had witnessed a lot of good changes at the surrounding area. Bushes were cleared and shelters were built. They did not have to pray inside cars during raining days.

Next time you pass by St John's Hill before 7 on a Saturday morning, welcome to say hi to this group of prayer warriors who are praying for the land where you and I are living.

Doulos Team At My House II

How did my three simple dishes manage to match every one's eating habit?

The pizza was topped with vegetables. In addition, I cooked hot dogs for those who ate meat. After I boiled eggs and potatoes, some were put aside in a small bowl for Salome. Then I added grilled fillet cut in cubes into the rest of the salad. Thank God I did not pour in any mustard or mayonnaise, for I found out later that the girls preferred other seasonings or no dressing at all. At first I also wanted to cook spaghetti as a third dish. Constraint by the time, I cancelled it, Actually, the quantity of the first two dishes was just ideal to fill our stomachs and to allow a little more space for the dessert. All the dishes were shared by five and there was hardly any leftover.

Previously, I had given a short account of my encounter and walk with God to Salome in French at CLA. At my house, I told all the girls a more detailed story. During the meal, we continued our conversations about our faith, world view and differences between our cultures, their experiences in Doulos, etc.

Each of us had interesting backgrounds: Essie had spent her childhood in Japan where her American parents were serving God as missionaries. Salome came from a modest family and a church with a very small congregation in her home town in Germany. By God's grace, she was miraculously able to join the Doulos team with the financial support from churches in all over her country. From Tracy's personal testimony on the stage last Sunday, I learned that she had been born and grown up in South Africa before following her family to migrate to Australia. Etna had enjoyed her two-year travel by ship so much that she had applied for another six-month extension.

After the dinner, I invited the girls to watch a movie in DVD. They chose the famous "Phantom Of The Opera" which lasted more than two hours. When the long musical finally ended, it was exactly midnight. So we had spent a wonderful evening relaxed at my house.

When I woke up the next morning, I suddenly had an idea: We would say the Lord's prayer according to the languages we mastered. Though Essie could not quite remember the Japanese version and I forgot to take out my French bible, five different languages were used to declare the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth: English, German, Spanish, Mandarin and BM.

As I had to send the girls back to the church office by 9am for the devotion with the CLA staff, I prepared a simple breakfast. While we were having bread and hot drinks, it was also the last moment of fellowship at my house. We wrote words of appreciation to each other. The girls also left me a picture of them while I gave them a threaded dragonfly each as a souvenir.

Etna had a good rest at my house. Tracy felt very encouraged when I told them that I wished I were already committed to Jesus when I was at their age. My apple crumble the previous night had brought back to Essie memories of autumn with her family in the USA. Salome had regained interest in speaking French after she met me. I was very honoured to be a blessing to these lovely girls who were still strangers to me five days earlier. I also thanked them for being a blessing to Malaysia, Melaka and me.

I especially thank God for giving me a house to open up to these sisters in Christ. I know actually He was the one who opened the doors. I believe it was just the beginning. God will continue to grant my wish to see the world through my guests from all the continents.

Doulos Team At My House I

Early last month, I heard from Ps Rebekah that a Doulos team would come to Calvary Life Assembly (CLA) to run some activities during a service at the children's church. Later, I learned that they would stay in Melaka for about two weeks. Two Sundays ago, while I was on duty as a befriender, Ps Angeline asked me if I could be one of those who would bring the four Doulos girls for a tour in Melaka on a Monday. At first I thought I would be available. When I remembered I had to invigilate an examination that Monday and submit my students' final results as soon as possible during this exam period, I withdrew myself.

During the outing last Friday, the Calvary Care Home boys also talked about the Doulos girls who had visited them and were going to play games with them the next day. Sunday morning, I finally saw these young ladies aged between 18 and 26 introducing themselves on the stage and performing a very meaningful short drama.

After the service, I walked past the table where the four girls were having lunch with Irwin's company at the canteen. I simply smiled and said hi to them. Irwin immediately made the publicity of my ability to speak French. Salome, a German, who had taken a five-year French intensive course in school was very interested with my profile. So both of us began to converse in French while the three other girls continued to chat with Irwin. Later, we simply said goodbye to each other, not expecting to meet again.

During the BM service, I thought of these friendly girls again. An idea suddenly flashed into my mind, "Why don't I invite them for dinner at my place? They can even put up there since I have two available bedrooms. I'll send them back the next morning."

The thought became stronger and stronger. After the service, I happened to see Ps Angeline's daughter coming out from the main sanctuary after her drama practice for the coming drama. I asked her to tell Ps Angeline to contact me if she agreed with my suggestion, so that we could fix an appointment to fetch the girls, preferably on Thursday.

Next, I followed Sarma to the staff office inside which the girls were resting at the guest room. Etna, a sweet Mexican with curly hair, came out after we had knocked the door. I told her about my invitation. She was going to discuss with her friends, check their schedule and get CLA's permission.

Tuesday morning, Ps Angeline telephoned me to approuve my proposal. I told her I would pick the girls at CLA at around 6pm.

"Are you going to bring them somewhere?"

"I plan to let them just hang around at my house. I'll cook for them."

"Do you have time to cook?"

"Now I know they're coming, I'll prepare the food early."

My voice was full of excitement, as if I was the one invited. I felt so blessed to be able to show some hospitality to these foreigners, like what Toitot's family had kindly done to me when I was in France.

I knew people around them must have been making them taste a lot of Malaysian specialities during this half a month. The CCH boys also told me that the Doulos girls liked spicy food. During my first encounter with Salome that day, I had learned that she was a vegetarian. So, I planned the dishes, taking all these into consideration.

Wednesday evening, I began my preparations. By Thursday morning before leaving the house, everything was almost ready.

What was I going to offer my Western guests for dinner?

Twelve hours later, when Essie, Salome, Tracy and Etna's eyes were shining in front of the homemade pizza, potato-egg-celery salad, apple crumble, sparkling grape juice, forks and knives, I knew my Western menu had aroused their home nostalgia.

Birthday Celebration Surprise For The "Principal"

Last Friday after dinner at Dataran Pahlawan, the boys wanted to buy something for the four girls from the Doulos team who visited the Care Home a few times during their stay in Melaka. After discussion, they decided to offer them our local snacks. While Albert P was choosing the items at a shop with the boys, I thought, "If the boys are so thankful to these occasional visitors, how much more they are grateful to their 'principal' who has been spending time with them almost every day since last year?"

I also suddenly remembered his birthday was in less than a week. I had come across his date of birth in the Calvary Life Assembly directory while verifying the phone number he was using to contact me. The day and month of his birth were the exactly the same as my former high school good friend TH's. I immediately had a plan in my mind. After Albert dropped us at Calvary Care Home (CCH), I talked to Isaac from whom I had got the idea for Albert's birthday present, and Luke who would be in charge of drawing something on a card. They were very keen to give Albert an early birthday surprise. When I asked Luke what kind of cake they liked, he immediately answered "chocolate cake!".

I was hesitating between two bakeries. During the Sunday service at chuch, Jagan gave me a few pieces of fresh chocolate cake that she had bought from a home bakery in her residential area which was very near to CCH. That was exactly what I desired! So I asked her to place another order on my behalf and would collect it on my way to CCH on Tuesday. Monday, Jagan informed me that the home bakery did not sell any 0.5kg cakes I wanted. She suggested another bakery. But I still could not decide where to get the birthday cake.

In the evening when I talked to Siew Hong at Agape Care Centre (ACC) about it, she said, "We also sell very tasty chocolate cakes here baked by single mothers. You can order from us." Later, I learned that their recipe provided by Auntie Gek would produce a 1kg cake. Since they only charged RM30, the price was not expensive at all. Moreover, it was another way to help their ministry besides my voluntary work. I could not be more willing.

When I arrived at CCH Tuesday afternoon, Albert was still having a meeting in school. So the boys and I had ample time to plan the surprise. We passed around the birthday card that Luke had designed to others to sign or write a few sentences. When Albert came about twenty minutes later, we acted like nothing special.

Albert was staying in the dining room when John and I took the cake out of my car. Then William found an occasion to bring Albert to the office with the door closed. Wilson lit the candle, carried the cake and led the other boys to sing the birthday song while marching into the office. The "principal" was not expecting his "children" to remember his birthday and to celebrate a day earlier. He seemed to enjoy the good surprise

and began to act funny when cutting his birthday cake.

When I told him that the cake was baked by single mothers from ACC, he said, "I'm also a single father!"

I suppose he, as a committed teacher for years, had received numerous cards or presents from his students. But I think reading words of appreciation from the CCH children must be more meaningful to him as a loving volunteer. His birthday present was something practical that he needed, especially when he went out with them.

All of us gathered at the dining room to eat the moist chocolate cake and drank my version of pandan tea which I had tried to imitate the one we had had at "Johnny's".

Without knowing my plan earlier, Wilson and John had also ordered another birthday cake to celebrate Albert's real birthday the next day when other staff and the Doulos girls were around. The CCH children were no doubt the happiest ones as they could eat their favorite chocolate cakes for two consecutive days!

My Latest Collection Of Decorative Flowers

Last week, I received Jack, his mother and brother at my place on and off while his father was receiving some treatment at a private hospital in Melaka.

The next morning after the first night in my house, Jack's mother woke up very early and walked around in the garden. She also loved plants, like Mum. When she returned to the dining room, she suggested that I used real flowers for decoration.

Actually there were flowers at almost every corner of my house. They were fake flowers collected from hampers,

bought at a shop,

bunga telur (an egg holder in the form of a stick of flower) kept after attending a Malay wedding,

carved wooden flowers bought at Jonker Walk,

dried flowers brought back from France,

paper flowers shifted from Batu Pahat,

printed flowers in a frame,

on a greeting card,

on a table lamp,

on the sofa, curtains,

on the washroom doors, etc.

When Jack's mother came to the house again for the second night, she brought flowers from her own garden in Batu Pahat. The following morning, she plucked other flowers in my garden and arranged them in a small transparent cup. What a wonderful combination of colours!

Although the flowers faded very fast, they had beautified my dining room for two days. And I remembered Jesus' teaching:

"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matthew 6:28-34 NKJV)

Cinema And Restaurant With Care Home Boys

Last Tuesday when I was at Calvary Care Home, Albert P invited me to join the children's outing on the coming Saturday afternoon under the "rewarding programme": Those who had behaved very well during the whole month of October would be given a treat of movie and dinner at the restaurant.

Friday at about 1pm, Albert called me to announce that he had decided to bring forward the outing one day earlier as his cell meeting that night had been cancelled. He also asked me if I could be at the care home by 3pm.

I was at Alor Gajah campus. It would take about forty-five minutes to reach there. Rain started to fall when I was stopping at my house to get changed in casual clothes. It became heavier when I was driving towards Ayer Keroh. Thank God I was able to arrive at Bukit Baru on time despite the slow traffic due to the bad weather.

I thought we were going out with the care home van. When I noticed that many of them did not seem to be excited, then I realized only four boys out of nine were qualified: Isaac, Matthew, Luke and Daniel.

Since all of the passengers were small sized except for Isaac, we managed to squeeze our bodies inside Albert's car. We had made a good decision to go with one vehicle instead of two, because it was extremely difficult to find a place to park around the shopping malls at Bandar Hilir, especially since the front parking lot at Mahkota Parade was temporarily close for renovation. We prayed hard, turned several rounds before finally getting an available space near the entrance to the cinema at Dataran Pahlawan.

It was almost 4.30pm. So we bought the tickets for the nearest show at 4.50pm and went to the snack counter to get ourselves a set of popcorns and soft drinks each. The casher was wondering how these children of different races were related to two of us. Previously, Albert had been going out with the care home boys quite regularly. He was already used to people's curiosity.

The film was "The Fourth Kind", a thriller about ongoing unsolved mystery in Alaska, where one town has seen an extraordinary number of unexplainable disappearances during the past 40 years. During the movie, I was more and more irritated by the scenes of people under hypnosis. So I asked God to forgive us for choosing this alien abduction movie and pray that the Holy Spirit would remove from the children's mind what was not from God.

I was relieved when the boys told me that they had found this movie boring. I was also glad that as Christian elders, Albert and I could immediately give explanations on aliens based on the Bible. To us, they were evil spirits if any. I also told Isaac, "You don't have to go so far to the USA. Just walk into a Chinese temple and you might see mediums doing similar things." Albert also gave his comments on certain disturbing scenes where the Holy Spirit purposely blurred the recorded images. Though this movie was classified as PG13, I suspect that many adults, not knowing the truth, would also need guidance themselves.

When we went down to the ground floor again, it was time for dinner. We looked for "Johnny's" Thai restaurant but could not remember its exact location. So we approached a security guard who led us. Luke and Mark quickly followed the man closely.

Albert teased that they looked like as if they had been caught for an offense. I answered that the guard would be holding their hands each instead of letting them walk behind.

When we arrived at the restaurant, the two boys replaced the head waiter to stand outside, waiting for the rest of us. Daniel's missing eyebrows were still hardly visible, which gave him an alien look. Had he stood at the entrance longer, he might have scared away potential customers!

A polite Nepalese waiter attended to us with an English that the children liked a lot. Each of us ordered a set dinner which included a bowl of tomyam soup, a main dish, a scoop of ice-cream and a glass of Thai pandan tea. I would not hesitate to take a beef dish when I dined outside.

I was very blessed by my first outing with the care home children and looked forward to getting involved in their activities more often. I had learned to show care and attention to children regardless of their skin colours which God completely ignores. The true spirit of "One Malaysia" is here in this God's family in Melaka.

The Road To Reality

Last May when I went to "Bible Gateway", I noticed that the website was giving out free copies of K.P. Yohannan's "Revolution In World Missions". I had never heard of the book nor the author, but I was interested in knowing more about missions after reading Brother Andrew's "God's Smuggler" early this year.

As Malaysia was not in the list of the countries where the book could be delivered to, I requested Emi to sign up on my behalf, hoping to get it when I was in Japan in June. During my stay, the book still did not arrive. Several weeks after I came back, Ah Yu posted it to Batu Pahat from Japan. I spent two days to devour the whole book, putting aside others that I had bought earlier but had not even browsed through a single page. This founder of Gospel For Asia, a ministry that trains and supports native missionaries, inspired me a lot with his obedience to the Lord and his compassion for the lost souls in the remote areas in Asia where the Gospel was not yet preached.

During my outing to Mahkota Parade several weeks ago, I walked into Thai Kuang bookstore. There were two long rows of new and used books for clearance. My eyes were sharp enough to notice the names of a few Christian authors. K.P. Yohannan's was one of them. This was his second book published in the USA where he had been a popular speaker at missions conferences to raise awareness about God's unchanged calling to Christians to spread the good news of salvation to the ends of the earth.

Here’s an excerpt from the Chapter 6:
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The Lost Message of the Cross

But something is still very wrong.

Why are so few living out of the "not I but Christ" life-style that Paul describes in Galatians 2:20? Although God eagerly desires to manifest Himself within us, I believe it is because so few of us have learned to let the cross do its deadly work in our flesh on a daily basis. We haven't yet come to a full understanding of the cross.

We must return to Calvary. The glory and presence of Christ will return to our lives and churches only when we have rediscovered the cross of Christ.

The cross has two operations. First, on it Christ paid the penalty for our sins and thus bought our eternal salvation. But it doesn't stop there. The second work of the cross provides for our ongoing sanctification -- the daily, continuous crucifixion of our flesh. This great doctrine is not very popular lately because it requires a voluntary acceptance of death to ego or self.

Someone has put it this way, "If self is on the throne, then Christ is on the cross. If Christ is on the throne, then self is on the cross."

This is why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:10 that we are "always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body." Accepting death to my ego is the only way to manifest the life of Christ. Putting my "self" to death is the only way to exchange my life for His.

I believe that this is the real meaning of Galatians 2:20 where Paul says, "I'm crucified with Christ."

So here is the spiritual law of the flesh: The measure to which I will manifest the life of Christ is the same measure to which I am willing to put my "self" to death.

When Jesus walked on earth, God was showing us not only what He was like but also what He wanted man to be like. Jesus had authority and power because He constantly submitted Himself to the will of the Father in every matter. Christ pleased the Father and reflected the Father perfectly because He perfectly put to death His flesh. And we repeat this cycle as we submit to our head, the Lord Jesus.

This is the life that is connected to Jesus, the head, on a decision-by-decision basis. It is the submitted, dead-to-self life that the Lord can animate and used for His glory. It is the only kind of life He will empower and use.

If we're rightly connected to the head in this way, it would be hard to imagine making any decision without first submitting it to Christ for His approval. What would that do to the way we spend our time? What does Christ say about TV and the films we view, the music we listen to, or the catalogs and magazines we read?

What about our activities -- church, clubs, leisure time, friendships, hobbies, prayer, service, sports and study?

What about our relationships with boyfriends, girlfriends, mentors and role models? Whom do we idolize and pattern our lives after?

What about our purchases, both the large and small ones? Is our shopping basket under His control? Does He direct the checks we write? What about the "big buys" -- our car, home and insurance?

And of course, there are those major decisions in life -- full-time missionary service, career and job plans, education and the choice of a mate.

For the Christian, none of these things is any longer a personal decision. It is not what others say, what self says or what circumstances dictate. The only valid question is always, What does Christ say to me about this decision?

But most of us find ourselves making even the big decisions without prayer and waiting for guidance from the Holy Spirit.

Obviously, the gap between this kind of biblical Christianity and the shallow spirituality of our day is a significant one. How different is this kind of self-sacrificing faith from the pleasure-seeking, self-serving, wimpy religion so often preached and practised in our churches!
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This message is not only for the western countries. If you are a Christian like me who is so blessed with material comfort, I highly recommend this book to you.

Real Love Ministry's Thanksgiving Fundraising Dinner

Early this year, Pastor Edmund Smith was invited to a Sunday service at Calvary Life Assembly (CLA) to give a short presentation of his Real Love Ministry (RLM). I was very impressed by his frankness with his status of an ex-homosexual.

Later, Jagan showed me a local news article on Ps Edmund, his family and his ministry. I was further touched by his courage to reveal his identity to the public and share his early struggles. Two months ago, Sis Christine approached me with tickets of Thanksgiving Fundraising Dinner (TFD) organized by RLM which she was helping to sell. Since the Lisbon Chamber Choir, I had learned to support Christian ministries. So this time I did not hesitate too long to get myself a seat.

From the ticket, I got to know their website. Ps Edmund Smith's own testimony led me to understand why he has a heart for the ex-homosexual, the deaf and the street people. Since, I became a regular follower of their blog. I would love to attend their sign language class on Monday evenings but I already had a commitment with Agape Care Centre (ACC).

A few weeks before the TFD, Siew Hong telephoned me to invite me to the same TFD under ACC as their chairlady Carol had sponsored a table to bless those who were involved in the single mothers' support group. Now I had two seats. SR who was interested in the dinner had not given me any reply. VC told me he would not be around. As the programme would be conducted in English and sign language, Mum would not be keen. One week after I talked to PG who was willing to travel from Batu Pahat to Melaka to attend this dinner, he was sorry to turn down my offer because of an anniversary.

People around me seemed to be busy with other charity events or their own activities. During the last Sunday service at CLA before the TFD, sis Christine, knowing that I had an extra ticket, asked me if I would like to bless a church member. Without hesitation, I let go the ticket.

On Friday evening, I received a call from Albert P.

"This Saturday, you're invited to join us for Ps Edmund Smith's dinner. Ps James has bought two tables. Previous years, the staff would attend but this year, they have decided to let the Calvary Care Home (CCH) boys, staff and volunteers to go."

"I already knew about this dinner and I'm going. But you'll have to cut me into two pieces."

He was puzzled. So I explained my situation briefly.

"But I think it would be nice if you could sit with the care home children."

Since I was a Calvarite and I started to serve CCH earlier than ACC, I thought it was quite reasonable to "immigrate" back.

"OK then, I'm transfered to your table. I'll inform my friend from Agape. If there is any problem, I'll call you back."

I knew Siew Hong was still having a headache in contacting people to arrange seats and transports, especially after ACC was given more sponsored tables. The latest change was that VC would be in Melaka on 31 Oct and he agreed to go for the TFD. So he would represent me to sit at ACC table while I would be at CCH table. I planned to travel often between the two tables to chat with people during the dinner if necessary. Moreover, I would be still fetching a few persons from ACC as promised. The problems had been solved even before they existed!

Last Saturday early evening, when I reached Ping Ming School with my passengers, Ps Edmund Smith and his team members were welcoming us at the reception on the second floor.

Other ministries for the marginalized communities and community services in Melaka were having an exhibition and selling items to raise fund.

Ps James' daughter Cathy was also in charge of one of the booths. Siew Hong's two little angles Nathanael and Nadine who came with my car were running everywhere among the crowd. I had to keep an eye on them

while waiting for Siew Hong who arrived later with her eldest son Johanan and others who needed a lift from her. Auntie Gek had been on duty for ACC booth since 5pm.

I was given the tickets of two tables to pass to the ACC diners.

But I could not enter the dining hall myself since I was no longer with ACC, but CCH. Albert was the one holding my ticket. As VC was about to go in first, he noticed the care home boys were already seated near the entrance with their "principal".

I immediately waved at Albert from outside who passed my ticket to me. Before the dinner started, I had talked half an hour with my friends of all ages from CCH and ACC. It was not a surprise to see some Calvarites and my MLM classmates there to support this annual event.

About seventy tables were almost occupied when the first dish of the seven-course dinner was served.

I was sitting with other CCH staff and volunteers next to the boys' table. When we could not finish a dish, I would pass the plate to the boys who helped to clear it within little time.

While we were savouring the Chinese halal food, we were also enjoying the performances and listening to testimonies from RLM members on the stage. A sign language translator would always make sure that the deaf diners at the reserved front tables knew what was going on and understood the message.

The special guest was our famous local artist Francissca Peter who presented praise and secular songs in English, Malay and Mandarin.

The TFD was also a time to appreciate the RLM key servants whose lives had been transformed by our loving Saviour Jesus Christ and whose turn it was to bring other lost souls to know our Lord.

As the dinner lasted much longer than scheduled, many guests did not wait until the blessed draw. Albert had to bring the boys back to the home early, so he left all their tokens with me. God blessed CCH with two quantum necklaces at around RM500 each, sponsored by a company which gave away its profit to help the poor. When I walked on the stage to receive one of the prizes on behalf of CCH, I was excited as if I had won the prize.

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