Year of the Horse

I faced Chinese New Year that just passed yesterday, being Chap Goh Mei (15th day of the Lunar New Year) with considerable trepidation as my beloved mother just passed away two months earlier. I wanted to celebrate with my two younger brothers but they had their own programmes. Couple with the fact that I was leaving the church for good in the first week of Lunar New Year, I took the opportunity to give out ang pows (red packets) to the worship team members about 14 of them altogether on Sunday 22nd Feb 2026 (all twos, 2202) with each getting also a copy of Departure Points.

That little girl who greeted me all the time in church I gave the same thing and last night and before she and her mother left the house, she whispered to me: "Pastor, I read the synopsis". I did not know that my wife had invited a few ladies in the women's group to visit last night. For a moment I thought she was referring to the Malay version of "Anak Panah", but when I thought about it, she meant the synopsis of "Departure Points" and she indicated to me that she understood its contents. Not bad for a 8-year old girl. 

What happened was that on the 2nd day of Chinese New Year, altogether 10 people from four different groups came to visit me and my wife and we had a wonderful feast and fellowship. These four groups represented the four churches that I had pastored from the first to last (Deacon and his wife; one person from my Ranau church; an elder and his wife from my 3rd church; and four people from my most recent church at Beverly Hills). 

Last night we also had 10 people from three churches that I had pastored. I did not invite anyone from my first church in Likas but lo and behold suddenly one member came over at 6.30pm to ask me to sign his baptism certificate which he lost (I was the witness of his baptism done by an elder in 2005) and it turned out that he was the guest the Lord wanted me to have because we had conversations until 10.15pm. He asked me multiple theological questions and on leadership and the current state of affairs of our denomination. 

All in all, this Chinese New Year turned out to be the most meaningful and joyful because I got to spend time with people who loved me and honoured me, truly my family members are those who hear God's Word and do them (Mark 3:33-35) At the end, only one person gave me a red packet on CNY (14 people gave small gifts to their pastor during the farewell service and later two more during the farewell dinner), she was a young lady in her early 30s and may the Lord bless her in her work and her future is in Your hands, O Lord because You love all Your children dearly and has given Yourself to us in Christ Jesus.