Rain, Rain, Rain

It has been a long time since I experienced non-stop rain for 30 hours and it is still raining as I write. In fact, there was heavy rain on Saturday night almost causing a few of our worship team members from missing rehearsal but at the end they all turned up. But Sunday morning brought clear skies and we had a wonderful Sunday service celebrating Malaysia Day when Sabah gained independence through the formation of Malaysia on 16th September 1963. In fact I posted on instagram at noon that I was glad that we celebrated Malaysia early on Sunday morning because since Sunday evening about 4pm, it has not stopped raining until now. Many towns and villages are flooded with many reporting landslides throughout the State with the worst hit in Beaufort, Penampang, East Coast of Sabah and some parts of Kota Kinabalu.

Following the Leader

 Last night we had an hour long prayer meeting. The devotion went for 20 minutes, singing 15 minutes and sharing of prayer needs 10 minutes which means actual praying was only 15 minutes. I learned much from the devotion on Joshua 6 on how God destroyed the walls of Jericho. But the lesson I got was following the leader. Every instruction of Joshua was obeyed without question. The Israelites believed that God spoke to Joshua and what he commanded was God’s command. The Israelites obeyed Joshua.

Alutok Awe

Alutok is in many ways the last frontier for me. It is the farthest village from Kota Kinabalu close to Sarawak and Kalimantan borders. Long Pasia and Long Mio which I preached in 2016 is also very far about six hours by road and I have done the Alutok trip twice now. I had to rest for almost two full days in Tambunan before driving back to KK on Wednesday. I rested yesterday still in awe of my Alutok trip. Two things stood up for me, one I was asked to participate in the Murut dance and I managed to last only two rounds before returning to my seat. Second I was asked to present an item and I sang “Fall afresh on me Holy Spirit” for exactly two minutes. I received a good round of applause.

Alutok Adventure 2025

The photo of Alutok village graced the front covers of both my biographies, one in English (Departure Points) and one in Malay (Anak Panah). It's been on my bucket list in the past few years to revisit Alutok village since my first visit there in 1996. I had planned to do so next year in July, the 30th anniversary of my time there, but God had other plans. I was invited to speak in two sessions of the Central Ulu Tomani cluster of churches. I probably preached 4 or 5 times during my first visit there starting Friday night until Sunday morning.

I came I saw I conquered

My latest conquest was my latest visit to Alutok which took me about five hours of driving one way. I went there 29 years ago and all the leaders and two Masters of ceremony on Saturday and Sunday made much of the fact that I had returned for a second time. It was the ends of the earth as far as the land below the wind is concerned. But God watched over me and blessed my ministry.

Serving as if there is no tomorrow

 John Wesley said he would preach as if it were his last sermon. And he preached for more than 50 years. I now take the approach that my ministry can end anytime and I will serve as if there is no tomorrow. There is no plan B but I know if one door closes the Lord will open another. There is no reason to flog a dead horse. Anyhow I was invigorated last Sunday as we prayed for 10 or 11 children dedicated by 9 couples.

Ten is the Number

This morning I was almost glad that I shall be going outstation this weekend. I had had another exhausting weekend. With teaching a preaching seminar on Saturday from 9am to 2.45pm in a village 90 minutes away and then preaching a 44 min sermon yesterday, I laid in my bed at 5pm Sunday but just could not fall asleep. There were just so many things in my mind, not least after my sermon I prayed for 10 children in a dedication service.

Crossing the Finish Line

I had a sense of my frailty this morning. I declined an invitation to speak in a village 4 hours’ away. Why did I accept an invitation to speak in a village 5 hours’ away next weekend? Perhaps out of nostalgia since I spoke there when I turned 32 years old. Now more than 29 years on I am still pressing on in the Lord’s work and I sense I might be reaching the end, almost crossing the finishing line. Even my city ministry may be reaching the end as the last council meeting reported a constant deficit.

After Monday

Monday, being a rest day is also a stressful day as a jammed weekend ministry can easily boil over to Tuesday before one regains one's bearings. It was like that for me in the past weekend. I went to bed last night tired, but praise be to God that I had a good night's sleep before getting up before 5am. It is rare that I can sleep until 6am nowadays. As I feel refreshed, Tuesday is the day that I could run some personal or family's errands like going out with my wife for shopping and stuff. It is one reason that I don't like council meetings on the Tuesday nights because I had to rush home to rest and often would not get enough done before being occupied by church work.

Dead Tired

Today at noon I slept like a log. I got up at 2pm for my lunch and now preparing for a day-long seminar in Kota Belud this Saturday. I had had one of the busiest weekends imaginable. After Friday night prayer meeting, I got up early on Saturday to go to our pastors' fellowship 18kms away. My house is far from the district within which my local church is located so most of our pastors in that district live in the East of the City while I am in the West side. But preaching 35 minutes to my fellow pastors took some energy and then a formal meeting followed by lunch fellowship. I did not reach home until 2.30pm after a 4am start. I rested for a little while and went to church again for the worship rehearsal at night. I felt I needed to and I was glad I did as I had to offer advice how to improve the lyrics of the songs (write proper Malay) and also train the reader how to read the biblical passage for Scripture reading.

Middle of August (A bit of History)

August throws up quite a few surprises. I applied for a writing scholarship ready for next year, but I leave it to the Lord whether I get it or not. It will be in the winter months and I will see whether I can last for a month of the cold a few degrees Celsius. For a couple of days, suddenly the weather changed from extreme heat to cool weather, in the low 20s at night and I am already feeling the chill. I can't imagine living in a cold country, but as they say humans are resilient when we are forced either by design or compulsion, humans normally survive under the harshest conditions.