Year of the Dragon is Near

It's amazing how John the Baptist and Jesus Christ announced the soon-to-come kingdom of heaven. In about 12 days, the Year of the Dragon is here. When I celebrated it 12 years ago, I was well settled in Singapore, about to be granted Singapore Permanent Residence, but paradoxically upon obtaining the SPR, many things happened until today I found myself in a Seminary located on a hill in Sabah. But 12 years is a one cycle of years and Chinese have believed that if one lives to 5 cycles, it is a good achievement and anything beyond that, the 6th and 7th cycle is a bonus (72th and 84th year). My five cycles of years are to be completed forthwith. I can look back and be contented of what God has done for me, in and through my ministry. But I have a feeling that the greater or better is yet to come for the last wine is the best (John 2) if one does not fall asleep (spiritually) through drunkenness or worldly cares and desires.

Prophetic Voice: The Use of Malay in Seminary

I am close to a number of my colleagues, some new and some old friends whom I got to know 25 years ago. But one colleague who came and we sat together with another colleague over lunch said to me -  "prophetic voice". We were talking about the Seminary's direction since it was dialogue day with the English speaking churches. Both Basel and Methodist church leaders asked for my phone number and one said she would invite me to preach in her church. It is with a certain irony that I had never preached in an English congregation in the past 30 years despite being a local, a Sabahan. Mainly, because my ministry is solely focused on the Malay speaking churches but I am still amazed that none English churches have called on me since English is my first and primary language.

A Dreamer like Joseph

One fellow pastor texted me about the support or sponsor for theological study of church members wanting to be trained as pastors. I half-joked and said they should pray to God and asked help from God directly instead of men or church authorities. I know not all men have the same measure of faith like myself who had never asked for man's help but God moved in miraculous ways to provide me from BTheol to PhD. I am a dreamer. I dreamed about setting a scholarship fund that all church members could apply including pastors' kids. Pastors' kids need ministry and often they suffer much because of their parents' calling to serve God with little financial reward. It breaks my heart when a pastor told me that his Form 3 son asked him how he would manage when he reached Form 5 on his father's meagre salary of a few hundred ringgit a month.

Class About to Start

When I was the Acting Principal I was going to bring in some change to the academic calendar in that the teaching Semester should start earlier. Here, my first class has not started and my first class is on Thursday. If I had my way, students should return by 3rd Jan and orientation should be just 2 full days and lectures should commence by the 2nd week or at the latest middle of the 2nd week of January. Although I had a hectic schedule of ministry of preaching in 7 churches, four times outstation in the last two months of 2023, I had prepared everything in terms of syllabus and course description by the first few days of 2024.

Anti-Hero

We love to watch heroes or anti-heroes in movies and fantasies that it happens in real life. When I left the conference room after my resignation was confirmed I returned to my office and checked my email. Lo and behold an invitation to teach a MTheol module. When one door is closed, another opens. I am like the anti-hero. A kung fu (sifu) master with a black belt and 6 dans (6 published books to my name and when needed he appears and comes to the rescue. Jephthah was an outcast as he was illegitimate, but when Israelites needed him, they looked for him and he delivered God's people from destruction by their enemies. I often played the parts of an anti-hero. Twice during the pandemic I went up to the College to teach intensives when called upon while many hid in caves and cowered in fear. But when I am not needed, my name was struck off the roll. I was never invited to any graduation dinner or even graduation.

Ministry & Conference Schedule 2024

When one becomes a free agent, one is indeed free to go where one wishes, though I have been seeking the Lord for His will in that wherever I go, it is His will and in fulfilling His purposes and not just personal desires. In a week or at most two by the fourth week of January, I shall be deciding whether to attend a Conference in Europe or not since paper proposals close mid-January for one and end January for another. When one travels 13 or 14 hours on a flight, one needs to at least present one paper and I hope I can be a blessing to the nations despite speaking for 25 minutes and taking questions for 10 minutes. If I don't write up a paper proposal, I might just go to Europe for holidays and it could be fun as well without "wasting" four days at a Conference. I plan to spend at least four or five days in UK and a week in Europe including a couple of days in Rome. But my ministry schedule is taking shape besides my three courses which I shall be teaching for the first time, though I could say these subjects are within my specialty since I have written a commentary on the Song of Songs.

My Father is always Working

Jesus said this about His Father when he was accused of working on the Sabbath. In the past several days, I have been getting up real early and starting work just after 6am in the morning. My office is just about 40 meters from my apartment, so it is just walking a short distance across a road and clocking in. All my three courses this Semester are new subjects which I have never taught them before in my 11 years as a Bible School teacher. I look forward to teaching the Song of Songs and Advanced Greek which is really 2nd year Greek for those who have done 2 Semesters of Greek. I am reading critical commentaries as well using about three exegetical studies with exposition on the Greek text from John 14-17.

3 Days & 3 Nights

I went through many emotions and my mind and heart were like a roller coaster with many ups and downs in the past several days. It was not as urgent as Esther’s three days and three nights total fast, but I came close to experiencing many highs and lows more than almost 30 years in full-time ministry. Last Thursday came the news that my resignation had been accepted during the first faculty meeting of the year. It was followed strangely enough a letter of acknowledgment of my resignation in the late afternoon which I thought would have come first before reading about it in the minutes of the faculty meeting. I realised that administration is really a gift not to be taken for granted or lightly.

It is good to Work

There is a verse that says a man goes out in the morning to work in the field and returns in the evening. It is good to work as God has called us to work. Adam is tasked to tend the garden of Eden. Those called to work for God are most blessed. We work all the time as the Father is always working (John’s Gospel). There is no moment that I could say I don’t work. Even in rest and in sleep is in order that we could work well after rest. It is not a matter of being gainfully employed as the world. I am employed by God who has proven faithful. Even when human bosses play the fool or play foul, God is true to His servants and I have experienced this time and time again.

New Year & New Wine

It is usual that in the first few days of the New Year I will spend time waiting on the Lord, waiting for a word or promise from Him to inspire me to serve in the year ahead. This morning I felt the Lord spoke to me from the Gospel of Luke. The first passage that stood out was about the bridegroom being present (my son's wedding took place three days ago) and that the celebrants could only celebrate with the bridegroom eating and drinking, says Jesus. But new wine must be poured out into new wineskins.

New Year is Here

This has been a year that I had been waiting for a long time. It's my year. The Year of the Dragon. It is a year that I could withdraw my little savings on my government's retirement fund (Employee Retirement Fund). As I had only worked intermittently (in the past five years, I have only worked half the time and the rest of the time in writing books), there is little left but as Scripture says, "better little with righteousness than becoming rich through unlawful and corrupt means". It is also a year I can move into "retirement", as Malaysia's retirement age is 60, though as for me serving the Lord is a full-time job until one's last breath. It is a year that I may have to move to a different city or town. There is much uncertainty in the New Year just as in the previous year when I had nothing on the plate, waiting for my next appointment which never came until this current position opened in the second half of 2023. But God is good. He is good all the time.