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.

Then came Friday, I received a letter from my denomination’s HQ about my application to return to serve with the Church. Was it a coincidence that it just happened that my resignation was only made official the day before? I was glad and sad at the same time because in the letter there was no guarantee of an appointment, only an acknowledgment of my application and the possibility of a pastoral role somewhere in a local church. For that last line, I was glad, at least I had hope for the future. In fact, I did not expect the letter so soon as the leaders indicated to me that they would come back to me only at the end of January. 

So on Saturday I communicated with my church pastor and asked for his permission to speak for 4 minutes about my course offerings at the Seminary just in case any church member wanted to enrol in one of the courses. I took 5 minutes, a minute more than I planned for but I included my testimony at the end how I gave up my Singaporean Permanent Residence status to return to Sabah to serve in the Malay speaking churches. At least one person who heard about it was touched and moved by the testimony. 

The preacher yesterday also spoke about how in every 10 years of his life and ministry he would seek the Lord for realignment and renovation, in his own words. So I took that cue to end my sharing in that just as I was about to turn 50 years old I left Singapore for Sabah and now in July I shall be turning 60 and I am making another big move in my life and ministry with the hope of returning as a full-time worker in my denomination of mostly indigenous believers whose main language is Malay.