Sunday Breakfast & 2016's Korean Trip

On a Sunday when I am not preaching, I normally attend a church service in the city because it starts at 8.30am and finishes by 10.30am. It's a kind of habit for me now to drive into KK by 7am and enjoy a long quiet breakfast before I walk up to the church on the 5th floor of one of the Malls in KK. That would mean my Sunday breakfast would last an hour and I sit and meditate on God's goodness over the past week, from Monday to Sunday morning. This week had gone quickly due to my rest for two full days on Monday and Tuesday as I preached and taught in church last Sunday until 3.30pm in the afternoon. I am glad I have committed twice more and then that's it as it is really too taxing for me since the service starts at 10am and the Bible Study begins after the lunch break at 1pm. But that church has been good to me and I have to return the favour. I was still praying about my April-May holidays and whether I should make a trip back to New Zealand since I have not visited NZ for more than 10 years.

I have a good friend in Singapore who visits NZ every year and on occasions twice a year. Wow! Even a short holiday will do my soul plenty of good as for the past 10 months I have been waiting for my ministry appointment which never came and then suddenly, the Lord opened doors for me to serve in another institution. As most of my friends are from my own denomination which I had dedicated the best part of 20 years in active service. There must be 30 plus pastors who congratulated me on the official pastors' group of 200 pastors (we have more than 400 pastors in our denomination) and another 15 pastors or so texted me privately and sent well wishes. 

A couple sent voice messages with heart felt messages and my spirit was lifted. Now my feet are back on the ground and suddenly I was invited to be part of the Faculty (my new colleagues in June) trip overseas but I politely declined because of my financial situation. I do not want the College to pay for my air tickets or any of my future colleagues to think that I am in any financial need. God is good and He is good to me. 

When I thought about His goodness and how I travelled to South Korea in June 2016, 7 years ago it was all due to His power and grace. I bought my tickets early in Jan 2016 when I was just about to enter into my Acting Principalship. I bought the tickets and registered for the Conference by faith. Some months later, when all seemed so uncertain as from April to August 2016 I was without pay when I resigned from my pastorate in March 2016 to focus on the affairs of the Bible College.But somewhat I bought my wife's tickets as well. I wanted her to go and we planned for a few extra days in Seoul after the SBL International Meeting in Seoul at Yonsei University, South Korea. 

A week before the Korean trip I went to Singapore to attend one of my former student's wedding at Wesley Methodist Church and on Sunday I preached at St Matthew's Anglican Church. Lo and behold, blessings poured forth in terms of love gifts not so much from the church but from the members of the church who gave me a total of close to RM4,500.00 (7 or 8 members put money into envelope or angpaus). Plus the prayer meeting at True Light Anglican church where I also preached, I received for my Singaporean trip about RM5,000.00 in love gifts. That amount covered the expenses of both my wife and myself over 8 days when we were in Seoul with stop-overs in Hong Kong. At the end, I only had to pay for our return tickets. Praise be to God.