Editing my Essays

I was not looking to publish another book since my last book was published just 8 months ago. Knowing how difficult and strenuous the whole process of editing, formatting and publishing is, I thought I needed at least 2 years of rest before working on my new book in mid-2024 and publish it in 2025. But alas, I had this window of opportunity of one week's break from work and also the urgency of some issues arising like the doctrine of Trinity, the future of theological education and even some practical issue like marriage and divorce which I had prepared a 40-point paper for a meeting of our doctrinal committee which was cancelled the last minute more than a year ago. I have a collection of 5 long essays and papers in Malay and at least another 5 or 6 essays in English which I shall publish in another book at another time including the papers I had presented in a number of Conferences.

Spiritual Authority

I attended the graduation of my former College in 2019 where I served three years full time and twice during the pandemic I went up to the College to teach intensive courses. But I have never received any formal invitation to any of the College's events, be it graduation dinner or the graduation except only once when I was the speaker at the 2014 graduation service. In fact it was the invitation of my present College to their graduation last year that could have triggered the events that led me to joining them last June. Again I am comtemplating of attending an event this Saturday at my former College.

Collection of Essays in Malay

The whole evening yesterday I compiled my essays into book form for publication. It’s just started and my aim is to get them published by graduation day first Saturday in November. But there is still a lot of work. I have three long essays (5,000 words) and two short essays of 3,000 words. Then I have five sermons of various lengths between 1,200 to 2,800 words. The longest was my sermon preached in a pastors’ conference in 2017. I spoke for exactly one hour and it was well received. But I rarely write sermons in full, only five sermons out of possibly 1,000 sermons preached in a three decades’ long ministry.

Korean Trip Aborted

I don’t know why I felt so strongly last weekend that I should not go to Korea. I was ready to fall on my sword and take full responsibility for withdrawing. But I am relieved that only this evening I had a sense of peace of what I was to do this one week of Semester break. I had worked non stop for three months since starting afresh in this new place of ministry. Eight weeks of lectures three hours each day from Tuesday to Friday. There were times by the time I finish my Wednesday’s lectures I would be so fatigued. Now there is a short break. And I have to mark two sets of assignments.

Time for a Break

Tonight's lectures will be the last and we will have one week's break before the teaching Semester commences again and it will go on for 7 weeks of teaching before exams and graduation scheduled on the first Saturday of November. As I have been teaching non-stop for 8 weeks, yesterday after the 3-hour class on Galatians I actually felt dizzy and thought I was going faint or black out. Added to the pressure was the Korean trip that took much discussion and debates but at the end I decided not to go.

Preaching in Sabah's Churches again

After a lull of three months, I started preaching in the churches of Sabah. In fact I had already preached thrice, twice at the place of my ministry and two weeks ago in KL. But today marked the first time since late April when I preached in Kinabalu district at the foot of the mountain and at a new home where the owner asked me to pray and bless the place in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Preached I did today and it lasted 38 minutes. I felt the anointing surging more than once despite being invited only on Thursday and being so busy at the Seminary until late Friday. The church gave me the verse from Romans 6:22 and I started with Romans 1:16-18 and the list of sins and vices of Rom 1:19-24.

A Man's Lifespan is Short

Some thirty years ago, I gave up my law practice to pursue theological education in preparation for theological study. Today I received news that a special event will be held as a remembrance and memorial for lawyers who have passed away in the last 10 years. Many of the names in the list I know and I shall make an effort to attend as a mark of respect to my former colleagues. Just imagine these people were once healthy, active and making an impact in society and now they are gone forever. That's why I am in some sort of a hurry. Not to rush but understanding one's life span is short and I am just passing by this world in a few moments given by the Lord and I am accountable to how I make use of my time here on earth while still healthy.

Mid Week Travails

It is tough going through a week. It is relentless. From Tuesday to Friday delivering a series of 3 hours lectures on NT studies. As much as I enjoy teaching, fatigue sets in by mid-week. I have three hours on Ephesians tomorrow night. And I shall be preparing for them tonight and tomorrow morning. And there is no Semester break as we are going off to Korea where I shall be preaching after two days in Busan and then to Daegu.

A Collection of Essays

I must tossing up between submitting my essay for publication or publish on my own as a collection of essays. I realised that i had written four lengthy essays in Malay and two of my articles could easily be translated from English to Malay and I hope to write one more before year’s end and then I would have a total of 7 essays between 3,000 to 5,000 words.

Preaching in English and Lecturing in Malay

The past fortnight was really intense. After returning from KL during which I conducted a 5 hour seminar over two days and preached on Sunday (in English) I only had Monday for a short break and then on Tuesday I was again busy preparing lectures on Romans and Wednesday, Galatians, Thursday, Matthew 23-28 and from 10.30-12.30pm I lectured on the texts and manuscripts of the Bible, all in Malay. Then after almost two weeks of non-stop work I slept in the afternoon and it was sweet as the sleep of a labourer has no worries attached to it unlike the rich who would worry much about their money and many possessions.

Flying for Ministry

Just less than a year ago, if you tell me that I have flown three times in 2023, I would not have believed you. In fact, I am going fly for the fourth time in 2023 at the end of the month to South Korea where we will be visiting 5 Universities and Seminaries in 7 days. And I also get to preach a short sermon at the second stop on the second full-day near Busan. My last weekend travel to KLIA2 was an eye opener in many ways, not having used the low-cost terminal for quite some time. I flew with MAS to NZ via the main terminal. The low cost terminal was packed with people when I returned to KK on Sunday afternoon. It was good that I had more than 2 hours spare before the boarding. Check-in and drop luggage took a while because of the long queues at the check-in counters. But ministry over two days was smooth in the sense that I did not get tired despite getting up at 3.30am on Saturday and starting only at 3pm after a flight that took 2.5 hours and an hour long taxi ride.

In the Midst of the Week

After preaching for 2o minutes at Chapel yesterday and singing a song before that, I was again fatigued by it all, with the afternoon not overly productive as I prepared for three hours of lectures last night. But last night I taught on 1 and 2 Corinthians with the 1 Cor 11-14 being the focus for the first 80 minutes and the second 70 minutes were given to discuss Paul's teaching on giving based on 2 Cor 8-9. One student asked right at the end about what about "tithing" which all the apostles are silent about and it would take age least an hour to discuss tithing properly. So I was saved by the bell and after such an intense day of preaching and teaching, I slept just about midnight and got up after 6am which was unusually late.