I did not preach on Sunday

It was quite surreal in many ways. In the past few months I had preached more often on Sundays than just attending as a worshipper. Yesterday I attended service at my church (1st December I shall be the pastor) and after a very short sermon of 20 minutes, we broke for fellowship and we gathered for about 10 minutes discussing the events on the 1st Dec which was a three in one, a welcoming of the new pastor by the church, my 30th anniversary in full-time ministry and the launch of my 7th book. Last night I attended probably my last event before I entered this new phase and I reminded a few present so that they could grace the 1st December evening's thanksgiving service. It has been a remarkable few months.

Preaching & Rest

Yesterday when I stopped preaching I looked at my watch and it was 11.10am after ascended to the pulpit at 10.30am with 30 minutes for praise and worship as the service started at 10am. As I knew I was going to conduct a seminar in the afternoon, I would not preach more than 45 minutes as I needed to conserve my energy. The Seminar started at 12.40pm after an hour plus lunch break and it went until 2.45pm before we ended. We had afternoon tea and by 3.30pm I left the church filled with joy on my way back, only about 10kms away. So Monday is a day of rest for me and last night's sleep was intermittent, perhaps due to the exertions and exhaustion of the day. But I saw the joy in the faces of many church members.

Big Milestone

For the past week, I have been going through my guest list for my 30th anniversary in full-time service. By God's grace, I am still standing and serving the Lord full-time. It is no mean achievement, seeing in my denomination I am the most senior member holding a membership card no. 4. My former President had passed away 7 years ago (no. 1), the Vice-President (no.2 ) had left the denomination and started his own church, the third, Secretary-General (no. 3) after many years of service chose to stand as a candidate in the State's general election 4 years ago and no longer serves full-time. So I am only one standing from the old batch of veterans. For sure, they are those who have served 40 years and above but they are now fewer and fewer, perhaps only 20 or 30 pastors out of about 400 full-time workers.

48 hours

After 48 hours since my ministry in Miri, I really felt the weariness this evening. I only spoke for 25 minutes but it could be the 90 minutes waiting in the changing room for the service to start that took a lot of my energy. I purposely brought my legal gown instead of my PhD gown as the latter is unwieldy and rather cumbersome with hood and stuff. But the events were packed and that added to the lack of rest throughout my 36 hours in Miri. After the convocation started we had refreshments and I spoke with about 10 people for about 45 minutes. A number of people asked to take photos with me which I duly obliged. With about one hour back in the hotel, I was taken to the convocation dinner at 6.30pm and it ended just before 10pm. When I arrived back at the hotel at 10.30pm, I checked a few emails and texts on my phone and went to bed by 11pm. Then I got up at 5am to pack my stuff and went for the hotel's complimentary breakfast at 6am. I had a 30-minute breakfast and by 6.45am I headed to the airport for my 8.55am flight back to Kota Kinabalu. But the joy was palpable.

My Miri Trip

This is a flying visit. I arrive on Saturday night at 9pm taken for supper at 10pm and slept close to midnight at the hotel near the Seminary and the church where the convocation was held. I woke up as usual at 4.30am and prepared for Sunday service though I was not preaching. Last minute I received a text that they would be taking me to BEM Canada Hill for the 8am service, a church I visited back in 1997. That's more than a quarter of a century ago. As it is one of the largest BEM churches in Miri, I brought about 12 of my books (5 titles) and I was surprised that the MC took the books from the lady that I gave a set of books, and the MC introduced me to the congregation and one by one mentioned my books from the pulpit. I listened to one of the BM pastors preached as being a large church there have three pastors for the BM and three pastors for the English service as well.

Hidden in a Corner

Isaiah, the prophet either speaking of himself or of another prophet says that "The Lord has hidden me in a quiver" (Isaiah 49) and the prophet is like an arrow ready to be used by the Lord. Last night I spoke with about 7 pastors gathered around me. There were 14 pastors in all but you can only speak such a number with four or five people engaged in a conversation. We were discussing about doing post graduate study in theology. There are so many courses around that I lost count offered by various Seminaries in Malaysia. I told my fellow pastors to consider carefully when going for a Masters or doctoral study programme in theology. What are the motivations for study?

"I withheld my tongue even from good"

The Psalmist says that he withheld his tongue even from good. Today I did just that. I had a wonderful church service. Six days ago I asked my good friend, an elder in the church that I wanted to be prayed for by the leaders towards the end of the service. It happened that the church was holding its AGM today and most leaders were present. I saw about 15 people came out to the front and prayed for me. I was asked by the presiding elder to say a few words and I spent perhaps 3 minutes to say thanks and explained how it was exactly a year ago I announced my resignation from the Seminary (I was there for one year) and my application to serve again my church, SIB. It looks like I had waited 11 months before I accepted a call from a local church to be their pastor. After the church service, we went for a refreshment about 30 minutes before the AGM started at 11.30am. The senior pastor who is an old friend I know him in 1997 or 1998 during my time as the Treasurer-General and the pastor has always be friendly with me.