Farewell Address

In barely 3 months, I have to say goodbye twice, first to my Ranau congregations and now to my College community which I have grown extremely fond of. There were no tears as I did not once say goodbye or the word berpisah or perpisahan though it was printed in bold and large letters as backdrop. I am grateful to my faculty colleagues to have held a farewell service for me, even my lawyer friend who came up with me was duly impressed how the service went (photo: my colleagues and staff singing a song for me). He singled out the MC and song leader for special praise. This time I did not say thanks as in the closing service at the end of the last semester a month ago I had thanked everyone who had supported and worked alongside me. This time I spoke about why I chose not to accept my appointment as lecturer.
I linked it with the College theme for June which is serving according to one's calling and gifts and the July's theme that a servant of God is to be honoured (1 Tim 5,17). I explained the Greek of the verse where time is used denotes honour or price/value of a thing or commodity. Second I clarified why I went to Singapore for a few days and shared how my friends in Singapore were so welcoming and blessed me with their hospitality. Third, I asked them to pray for my Korean trip. It has been a week that I set aside for writing but lo and behold so many things just taken a life in itself after the turning down of my appointment.  I will get the papers done somewhat even if I have to write in the air during flight time. After the service there was plenty of opportunity for phototaking, handshakes and another round of goodbyes during a farewell lunch and when they saw me carrying my stuff into the car. A couple of students stayed behind until the end, and we drove away from the College at 1.30pm.