The Living Soul

Passages for today

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Genesis 2:7

 

King James Version

24 “The God who made the world and everything in it . . . gives everyone life and breath and everything else. . . .
28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

Acts 17:24 – 28

 

New International Version

Sun 2025-06-08
In loving and cherished memory of my daughter-in-law's dearly beloved father, the Late Foo Check Ping who passed away on Sat 2025-06-07. These thoughts from two passages of scripture came to mind during the funeral wake service that Sunday evening.

(1) The Living Soul gets life from God

Adam got his life from God. He became a Living Soul after the LORD God breathed into his nostrils. Since that day, God's breath became Man's breath. Likewise, all of us today who descended from Adam has the same breath of God in us. Like Adam we also are Living Souls who get life from God.

(2) The Living Soul has life in his Body

When we take a closer look at Gen 2:7, it was after the LORD God breathed into Adam's nostrils that Adam became a living soul. God did not just blow some breath over his head, nor on his hands, nor upon his feet. Instead, the LORD God breathed into his body through his nostrils. Adam received God's life in his body. This life remained in him throughout the years, from young until old.

In Acts 17:28, the Apostle Paul told the Athenians that it is in God that we live and move. Without this God-given life in our bodies, we will not be living souls anymore. We will probably be just like any of the other creatures that God has created, without the breath of God in them.

(3) The Living Soul lives life for God

After Adam became a Living Soul by the breath of God, the Lord God commanded him to go forth and multiply and have dominion over all the other creatures on earth. That was the whole purpose of life prepared ahead of Adam. Adam the Living Soul was given one task — to live his life for God.

Conclusion

Brothers and Sisters in Iesus the Anointed One, as Living Souls who have received the breath of life from God, the same breath that was in Adam, let us live our lives for God everyday until the day of our Lord's return

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Love is patient and kind

Passage for today

4 Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; 5 it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.
7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Corinthians 13:4 – 7

 

Revised Standard Version

Last Sunday during morning worship service in Kampar Wesley Methodist Church, I was reminded of an old gospel song based on this well passage about the Love of God, recorded in 1 Corinthians chapter 13.

During my undergraduate days at Universiti Pertanian Malaysia in the 1980s, we used to sing a song using the lyrics from the Revised Standard Version, quoted above, with a few minor adaptations. Today, I'd like to post the lyrics of this song below. Sadly, I'm unable to locate any audio or video recording of its tune. I shall come back here and post a link should I manage to come across one in future.

Love is patient and kind
Is not jealous or boastful
Not arrogant or rude
Does not insist on its own way

It is not irritable nor resentful
Does not rejoice at wrong
But rejoices in the right

Love bears all things
Believes all things
Love hopes all things
Endures all things

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U P D A T E — Wed 2025.07.16

At last I have managed to write out the tune of this song from memory using numeric solfege notation. Initially, just the melodic pattern, then followed by the rhythmic pattern with the lyrics. Photos below:

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U P D A T E — Wed 2025.07.23

Finally, I have converted the numeric solfege notes above into music notation. Photos below:

I go to prepare a place for you

Today's passage

Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many homes. If it weren’t so, I would have told you.
I am going to prepare a place for you.
If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also.
John 14:1 – 3  World English Bible

This post is written in remembrance of the passing away of my mother one and a half years ago on 01Jan2023.

I began writing these notes on Fri 30Dec2022, two days before she died, as I pondered over the Providence of God during difficult and worrisome circumstances, trying to come to terms with the fact that my critically ill mother was near the end of her life, but not knowing that she would breathe her last, two days later.

I go prepare a place for you

As much as our Lord Iesus the Anointed One has gone to his Father's house to prepare a place for us, I have come to realise that the Lord also prepares places for us to take refuge as we sojourn in this world each day of our lives.

Five years ago, my mother broke her legs when she fell down, first her right leg in May2016, then again her left leg in April 2017. She couldn't walk after surgery, had to be wheel chair bound, and cared for in a nursing home.

However, after a few months, the nursing home, Kinta Medical Centre, discharged her with 24 hours notice because of her disruptive behaviour. I was put in a quandary because I was unable to care for her at home.

Thu 26Oct2017

The Lord prepared a place for my mother at a another nursing home, Jln Bunga Raya, just one day after she was kicked out of Kinta Medical Centre.

This new centre, recommended by our visiting psychiatrist, was in an old neighbourhood in Pasir Pinji, along Jln Bunga Raya, a road that we were not familiar with. We would have been lost that Wednesday afternoon under such pressing circumstance, having to look for the nursing home in a strange place at very short notice.

However, the Lord had prepared us beforehand by leading us to Jalan Bunga Raya by chance a few days earlier as we were driving towards Station 18.

The name of the road rang a bell because an old classmate from Form 1, Anglo-Chinese School Lahat Rd, stayed at house no. 151 Jln Bunga Raya in 1972. That day, we drove along the entire stretch of road trying to find my classmates old house but somehow missed it.

So a few days later, when psychiatrist Dr Gurmit asked us to go to the nursing home at Jalan Bunga Raya on Wed 25Oct2017, we already knew the way!

Fast forward — five years have passed, with my wheelchair bound mother under the care of this nursing home, now called Lotus Care Centre

Sat 17Dec22

The Lord prepared a place for my mother in Ward 5B at Ipoh Hospital.

Earlier that Saturday morning, my mother was sent to the Emergency Dept of Ipoh Hospital for severe shortness of breath, gasping for air. She was triaged into the Red Zone as a critical patient.

At that time the Ipoh Hospital Emergency Dept was badly overcrowded and it took a long time for doctors to attend to her.

The next day, her condition being somewhat stabilised, she was transferred to the Enhanced Care Ward in the Yellow Zone. The medical wards upstairs were full and there were no vacant beds to admit my mother.

The Lord sent my classmate's daughter who is a Medical Officer in the hospital to visit my mother and managed to find a bed for her in Ward 5B upstairs.

Thankfully, she was transferred to Ward 5B that night of Sun 18Dec22, where more specific treatment of her condition, initially diagnosed as acute kidney injury and sepsis secondary to pneumonia and dehydration, could be carried out.

She was discharged from Ward 5B on Thu 22Dec22, but admitted to Emergency for shortness of breath again the next day!

Fri 23Dec22

The Lord prepared a place for my mother at Bed 4 of Cardiology Ward.

She was discharged from Cardiology Ward on Tue 27Dec22, but again had to be transported back to Emergency for Shortness Of Breath the next day . . .

Wed 28Dec22

The Lord prepared a place for me at my anxious moments.

• The Lord prepared a place for available time in Pastor's busy schedule to accommodate my sudden and somewhat untimely call for help.
• The Lord prepared a train ticket for her to come over to Ipoh that afternoon when she was unwell and couldn't drive.
• The Lord prepared a vacant parking lot at the busy road outside the Ipoh Railway Station while waiting for Pastor to arrive.
• Later, the Lord prepared a vacant lot for my car at the crowded car park in front of the Emergency Dept.

Thu 29Dec22

The Lord prepared a place for my mother at the Palliative Care Unit.

Finally, the Lord prepared a place for my mother to rest at the Palliative Care Unit where she spent the last four days of her life.

Today, I believe that the Lord has prepared one more place for my mother —

• a place where she no longer has to suffer
• a place where there is neither illness nor hunger nor pain.
• a place where heart soul is free from all troubles

"Let not your hearts be troubled," says our Lord, "you believe in God, believe in also in me, in my Father's house are many mansions, I go to prepare for you"

I believe the Lord Jesus has prepared a final resting place for my mother.

May her soul rest in peace.

God brought back His Servant Iesus from the dead

My reading of the New Testament today brought me through the first three chapters of the Acts of the Apostles.

Three verses in Acts chapter 2 reminds me that the resurrection of our Lord Iesus from the dead is a powerful act carried out by the hand of God our Father. Verse 24 tells us that it was God who brought Iesus back to life. This statement is reiterated in verse 32. And in verse 36, we read that God has made Iesus "Lord and Christ".

Acts 2:24, 32, 36  BBE  Bible in Basic English

2:24

But God gave him back to life, having made him free from the pains of death because it was not possible for him to be overcome by it.

2:32

This Jesus God has given back to life, of which we all are witnesses.

2:36

For this reason, let all Israel be certain that this Jesus, whom you put to death on the cross, God has made Lord and Christ.

See also the following passage from Acts chapter 3, which tells us that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has glorified his servant Iesus, who is called the Lord of Life in verse 15, whom God brought back from the dead.:

Acts 3:13 - 15  BBE  Bible in Basic English

13 The God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has given glory to his servant Jesus; whom you gave up, turning your backs on him, when Pilate had made the decision to let him go free.

14 But you would have nothing to do with the Holy and Upright One, and made request for a man of blood to be given to you,

15 And put to death the Lord of life; whom God gave back from the dead; of which fact we are witnesses.

My first conviction by the Word of God, of the fact that God raised his servant Iesus from the dead, took place on Easter Sunday 12Apr2009. Standing among the congregation in the midst of Easter Sunrise Service, I came across the words of the Apostle Peter in his message to the household of Cornelius the Centurion in Caesarea in Acts chapter 10.

I was so strongly convicted by Peter's words that I wrote my first blog post on this "epiphany" - that God anointed Iesus, God was with Iesus, and God raised Iesus from the dead. Please see link below:

• An Act of God (12Apr2009)

Is Chinese New Year similar to Passover?

This note was written about three months ago, back in 2021.02.17.

I received the following post on whatsapp claiming that CNY is like Passover. (My response at the end of the post.)

/// The origin of Chinese New Year and the Jewish Passover.

There are a good many coincidental similarities between these two festivals.

Chinese New Year is called GUO NIAN.

GUO is Passover in English.

NIAN is the monster that killed children. The Angel of Death also killed every first born child in every family in Egypt on the eve of the first Passover.

The NIAN is aversed to the colour of red. The Angel of Death also spared the household with red colour blood on their door frame.

The Dui Lian or couplets written on strips of red paper are pasted on the sides and the top of the door frame. The red blood of the Passover lamb was also painted on the sides and the top of the door frame of every Jewish household.

The family was instructed to gather all their family members inside the house on the eve of the Passover for protection. In the Chinese Reunion dinner, it is compulsary for all members of the family to return and gather around the table in the household on the eve of the Chinese New Year.

The Chinese New Year reunion dinner is celebrated on the eve and not the first day. The Passover Seder meal is also celebrated on the eve. The Reunion dinner traditionally consists of Jiaozi (dumplings), Tangyuan (soup ball like manna), Chunjuan (spring rolls) and Niangao (sticky cake) incidentally are all unleavened food. The Passover meal also consist of only unleavened food.

The Chinese New Year spring cleaning searched out to get rid of any old things or dirt to discard. The Passover practise of Chametz also searched out any old leaven to get rid of it.

People normally do not work for the first week of the Chinese New Year just like the Jewish people who will keep the Sabbath in the 7 days from the Passover.

Do these similarities point to a possible origin of the Chinese New Year in the Jewish Passover ? Possible . . . ///

My response:

Yes, there appears to be broad similarities between the Chinese Guo Nian and the Hebrew Passover.

However, I would like to point out two significant differences between Chinese New Year traditions and the Passover Meal in the Hebrew New Year.

Firstly,

The Chinese tradition of Guo Nian (Pass through the Year) has nothing to do with the Israelite observance of Passover.

The Chinese word "GUO" does not meaning to "pass over". Instead, it simply means to "pass", and can be used for passing by or passing through or passing across a time, occasion or place.

During Guo Nian, the Chinese pass the year by merely using red coloured objects and noisy fire crackers to frighten AWAY the mythical Nian monster. No passover lamb is involved. No blood is shed. No sacrifice is required.

In contrast, during Passover, each Israelite household applies the BLOOD of a one year old unblemished male lamb, isolated from the flock on the 10th day and cared for until the 14th day of the New Year, so that the Angel of Death will pass OVER their household. (Exodus 12:1-13)

In particular, Exodus 12:13 tells us, "The blood will be a SIGN for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you"

The Angel of Death passed over the household not because he was averse to the red colour of blood, but because the blood on the door posts was "a sign" to show that the Passover Lamb has given its life in place of the first born child in the household.

Secondly,

The assertion that the "red paper" on which the Chinese Dui Lian couplets are written, which are pasted on door posts and lintel, is akin to the "red blood" of the Passover lamb is mistaken.

Again, it is not so much the use of red paper but rather the tradition of posting "good words" on the door posts that is significant. This practice runs parallel to the command in Deuteronomy 6:9 where Moses told the children of Israel to write the word of God (good words) on their door posts and gates.

Conclusion:

One should not associate the chasing AWAY of the Nian in Chinese New Year tradition with the passing OVER of the angel of death in the Hebrew New Year.

Whilst the Nian is averse to the colour red, the angel of death passed over the Israelite household not because of any aversion to red colours, but because of the SIGN of the blood of an unblemished lamb on the door posts.

Likewise, one should not associate the red paper used in Dui Lian couplets with the blood of lamb on the door posts, but rather the writing of words should be associated with the command given in Deuteronomy 6:9.

Motherless children, Fatherless Christians

Monday 05April2010, John 15:1-17 CEV

Last Saturday was a memorable day for me. I had arrived with my family at the Hokkien cemetery in Sungei Jelok in Kajang in the early afternoon to clean up my late father's grave and to reflect briefly on his days together with us before he had left us after a long illness in 1995.

As we were walking down a gentle hill-slope to return to our car, we met a group of three children who had just arrived at the cemetery. If I remember correctly they were a sister with her two brothers, and they all appeared to be of about primary school age. They were talking happily to one another as they ran towards one of the newer graves in front of us.

Following behind them, a short distance away was a gentleman who called out loudly to them in Chinese, "Over here! This is your mummy's grave. This is where your mummy is buried. Next year ask your papa to bring you here again, understand?" And the children nodded quietly to this man, whom I presume by then was their uncle.

The kids had come to their mummy's grave empty-handed. They stood close to each other, looking somewhat awkwardly after hearing what their "uncle" had told them. Their happy chatter had stopped suddenly and there appeared to be a tinge of sadness and longing on their faces for their mummy.

I was saddened by the scene.

As we continued to walk down-slope to our car, I turned to my wife ChooyLin and remarked, "Poor children! They are so young and they've lost their mother already. . ." I couldn't understand why their father was not with them that afternoon, and why they had to be brought there by an uncle, if indeed the gentleman was their uncle. I only wished somebody could bring their mummy back.

-----------------------------------------

That evening ChooyLin and I attended the 36th Anniversary Dinner of IKUPM at a restaurant in the Mines Shopping Fair. It was a pleasant evening, filled with the joy of meeting with brothers and sisters who studied and fellowshipped together with us back in the 1980s in the CF. The current batch of students were also warm and friendly. At our table was Grace, LiNa, Gloria, Sheryl, Eugene, Au Yong Chee Meng and also Colin (who later went over to a nearby table).

We chatted happily together, and soon the sadness of seeing those three empty-handed children at their mother's grave began to fade from our thoughts.

All the more so, when a very interesting, meaningful and entertaining sketch was performed by three very talented young people on stage by BiYao @ Gobby depicting a young graduate who was being severely tempted by a seductive looking Devil played by BeeKoon as he stepped into the working world, while a serious sounding Angel played by Ivan Lee tried repeatedly to urge him to turn to God. Eventually, after falling badly, this young man decided to pick himself up and return to God - to the joy of the Angel and the dismay of the Devil.

I enjoyed the sketch very much and I must congratulate Gobby, Ivan and Bee Koon for their excellent acting on stage. By then I had all but forgotten about the sad scene of the motherless children at the Kajang cemetery, when quite unexpectedly I came across a passage of scripture printed in the programme booklet. It was the passage from John 15:1 - 17 taken from the Contemporary English Version, which I'd like to quote below:

"Jesus said to his disciples:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts away every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit. But he trims clean every branch that does produce fruit, so that it will produce even more fruit. You are already clean because of what I have said to you.

Stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you. Just as a branch cannot produce fruit unless it stays joined to the vine, you cannot produce fruit unless you stay joined to me. I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I stay joined to you, then you will produce lots of fruit. But you cannot do anything without me. If you don't stay joined to me, you will be thrown away. You will be like dry branches that are gathered up and burned in a fire.

Stay joined to me and let my teachings become part of you. Then you can pray for whatever you want, and your prayer will be answered. When you become fruitful disciples of mine, my Father will be honored. I have loved you, just as my Father has loved me. So remain faithful to my love for you. If you obey me, I will keep loving you, just as my Father keeps loving me, because I have obeyed him.

I have told you this to make you as completely happy as I am. Now I tell you to love each other, as I have loved you. The greatest way to show love for friends is to die for them. And you are my friends, if you obey me. Servants don't know what their master is doing, and so I don't speak to you as my servants. I speak to you as my friends, and I have told you everything that my Father has told me.

You did not choose me. I chose you and sent you out to produce fruit, the kind of fruit that will last. Then my Father will give you whatever you ask for in my name. So I command you to love each other. "

I have read this passage many times before but that evening I noticed, for the first time, that in the midst of our Lord Jesus' commands to his disciples to abide in him and to obey him, there were at least three references to the Father. Once at the beginning, several times in the middle and once more at the end of the passage.

At the beginning of the passage, I read that our heavenly Father is our Gardener. God is our Father who cuts away fruitless branches from the vine and trims the fruitful ones so that the fruitful disciples will bear even more fruit. Every Christian who abides in the commands of our Lord Jesus remains as part of this vine in this garden.

And those of us who bear fruits in Christ will be pruned, trimmed and tended to by our Father in heaven, so that we will bear even more fruits. However, we must beware of the pitfall of living fruitless lives should we depart from obeying Christ in our lives - our Father will cut such people away from his kingdom!

Then about halfway through the passage, I realised that our heavenly Father is our Guide. The Lord Jesus told his disciples that their fruitfulness in life was to glorify his Father (rather than to glorify Jesus himself). He went on to tell them twice that he his love for the disciples was guided by his Father's love: first by saying that he loved them just as his Father has loved him, and again by saying that he would keep loving them if they obeyed him just as his Father keeps loving him because he had obeyed his Father.

Indeed, it is clear that our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, the only begotten Son of God looked to his Father in heaven as his guide in his love for his disciples and in his obedience to his Father. This is the same God who is our heavenly Father today, who is our guide as we obey the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And finally, at the end of the passage, I saw that our Father in heaven is our Giver. The Lord Jesus told his disciples that he had chosen them and had sent them out to produce fruit in life that will endure. And then his Father will give them whatever they ask for in Jesus' name. This is the joy that all who follow and obey the Lord Jesus Christ can have everyday of their lives: the joy of being chosen, of being sent out to live fruitful lives and the joy of receiving from our heavenly Father whatever we ask in the name of Christ.

Suddenly it occurred to me that those three poor little motherless children whom I encountered at the Kajang cemetery could still have hope and joy in life. Although they can't have their mother back in this world, someone can tell them that there is an everlasting Father in heaven.

There is a Father for these little children to turn to the rest of their lives. They can turn to God always as their Father!

Sitting there at the dinner table, looking at this passage in the programme book, I was strongly convicted that we Christians must live our lives by continually turning to our Father in heaven to be our Gardener, our Guide and our Giver. A Gardener who tends our lives to become more fruitful. A Guide for our love towards others and for our obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And a Giver for all that we ask in Jesus' name, in obedience to Christ.

Now my sadness for those motherless children at the cemetery is accompanied by another sadness. It is the sadness of knowing that there are many Fatherless Christians around me. Christians who profess and confess the name of Christ, but who do not turn to God: the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Dear Christian, I urge you to return to our Father in heaven in your life. In your prayers, ask good things from our Father. In your obedience to the Lord Jesus, glorify the Father. In your love for others, follow the Father's love just as our Lord Jesus had done so in obedience to his Father.

Let us beware, that we do not become Fatherless Christians.

An act of God

12Apr09 Acts 10: 34 - 43 NKJV

Him God raised up on the third day . . . v.40

This morning as the cool morning sun gradually emerged from the hill-tops overlooking Pearl Garden, I was sitting among the congregation attending our annual Easter sunrise service. I listened quietly when one of our members read the passage about Peter testifying as a first-hand witness of the Lord's resurrection to the household of Cornelius in Caesarea.

It occurred to me that Peter's testimony was full of references to the acts of God in the earthly ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It was God who anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power (v 38).

God was with Him (v 38b).

After he was killed, God raised him up on the third day (v 39).

It was God who showed the resurrected Lord Jesus openly to selected witnesses (v 41), witnesses whom God had chosen, so that they could even eat and drink with Him.

Finally, it was God who ordained the Lord to be judge of the living and the dead (v 42).

In other words, everything that leads up to Easter, and thereafter, is an act of God. This Easter, I am persuaded that we are not commemorating nor celebrating any human act, nor any man-made event. Instead, as we sat there under the cloudy morning skies, as the sun began to peek over the top of the eastern hills, as the reading of this passage from Acts chapter 10 was clearly heard, it was an act of God.

Doing great things

11Apr09   John 14: 11-14 NIV

He will do even greater things than these . . .

Last night a mild mannered elderly brother came all the way from Sandakan to share his testimony and sing to us at our Good Friday service.  His name is Dannis.  He is 55 years old and he has just retired from work.  He told us that, in contrast to many people who have entered retirement,  his real work is just beginning. 

With a simple acoustic guitar strapped to his shoulder, Dannis gave a sincere and touching testimony of his life.  As a young boy, he followed his elder sister to church and grew up among the Christian community, getting acquainted with many lessons about Jesus Christ. He was active in music and singing.  He also took Bible Knowledge in his Form Five exams. However, he didn't read the Bible very much for himself.

Subsequently, as a young working adult Dannis drifted away from his Christian beliefs and fell into depression.  At the persuasion of a colleague, he joined a syncretistic religious group that appeared to involve themselves in occult practices.  He went around wearing some kind of amulet around his neck.  After some time, Dannis began to fall strangely ill. He developed a growth on the left side of his neck, below the jaw. Strange rashes began to appear on his skin. He didn't know what was going wrong.

The last straw came, when the leaders in this group began to teach that Jesus did not die on the cross. Although Dannis didn't read the Bible very much, his years of having been brought up in the Church meant there was this part of his belief that he could never compromise - that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of the world. He could not agree with them.

So Dannis left this strange occultic group. With the help of a Christian sister, he began to read about how God healed his children of severe illness. He attended meetings where the preachers prayed for his healing. He was advised to discard the amulet that he continued to wear around his neck, and to renounce all the occultic practices that he had involved himself in.  However, in spite of going from one healing meeting to another, feeling somewhat embarassed that he appeared to be going forward so many times for prayers, Dannis was not cured of the lump on his neck.

It was late in the year 1986, and one day a doctor friend who returned from the UK brought Dannis to see a specialist who diagnosed the lump on his neck as goitre. The growth was so large that it was pressing on his wind-pipe, making it difficult for him to speak and sing. An operation was scheduled several weeks later but Dannis was apprehensive about the prospect of having to go under the knife.  Eventually, he defaulted.

One day in early 1987, while dressing up for an occasion, Dannis was surprised to notice that he could button up his shirt collar when putting on his necktie. He had not done that for a long time, not with the goitre on his neck. On taking a closer look at the mirror, he discovered that the growth has disappeared! Dannis did not have that painful lump under his jaw anymore. How marvellous.  The specialist who examined Dannis earlier was called to have another look at him again.

"It has completely gone away.  I don't know how it happens.  It's a miracle . . .", the specialist remarked.

Today, by the grace of God, Dannis goes around the country, being invited by churches to share his testimony about his miraculous healing. He has also been blessed with a new gift from the Spirit: the gift of composing songs of praise for the Lord.  He told us that when the inspiration came, sometimes he would only take five minutes to compose a song.  

And last night Dannis sang to us a beautiful song that he had composed about the love of Christ and his sacrifice for us, in a sweet voice, accompanied with the cheerful strumming on his acoustic guitar.  In his mild and simple manner, Dannis is bringing edification to many Christians in churches all over the country.

"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.  He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."  v 12

Dannis has begun doing great things for the Lord.

Table Number One

Mon 06Apr09 Hebrews 10: 24,25 KJV

"And let us consider one another . . ."

It is always an honour to be asked to sit at the most prominent table in a feast. Last Saturday evening, my wife and I attended the 35th Anniversary Dinner of the Christian Fellowship of our alma mater, UPM. We were directed to sit at Table No. 1.  It was the first table in front of the banquet hall, with the best view of the stage, and it was reserved for the oldest batch of alumni who graduated almost thirty years ago.  We felt rather important. 

That was, until a flash-back of the history of our CF was presented on the large screen. In a somewhat dramatic manner, the presentation began with a montage showing a herd of dinosaurs. It was aptly used to impress upon the audience how old our CF is.

And sitting there at Table No. 1, we felt a fleeting moment of discomfort: we were alumni, and we're being likened to those dinosaurs. As the presentation progressed, the feeling of being old and dated (or carbon-dated . . .) sank in further. Since we left UPM, the 'P' has been changed from "Pertanian" to "Putra". So the farmers have now been replaced by the princes. How clever! As for guests at Table No. 1: we felt obsolete.

Then there were the statistics. The university had only five faculties in those farmer days. Now, in its princely era, it has nineteen. There were only six residential colleges and CGs, compared to the present seventeen. Now, Table No. 1 felt small.

And, oh dear, must they do that? They displayed old photos which successfully reminded us how much we've aged. We've grown considerably larger, mostly at the waist, and more wrinkled. And for many of us, our hair was either greying or gone.  And Table No. 1 felt old.

There is, however, one characteristic which had not changed, and in this we rejoice: we still held fast to our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We could still sing and pray together, just like we did on campus almost thirty years ago. And we had not forsaken the Lord. It didn't matter any more that we were likened to paleontological fossils, for our faith, hope and love abides. Table No. 1 felt the joy of being reunited in Christian fellowship with one another after so many years.

After the dinner, one of the bible verses which we often quoted during our CF days on campus took on renewed freshness:

"And let us consider one another, to provoke unto love and good works. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but all the more as you see the day approaching. "

For this, we're indeed grateful for all the pains taken by the current executive committee of the CF to bring together so many believers in the Lord, both students and alumni dating back to 1982.  I understand that they did all this while having to prepare for final exams which is just around the corner. It was indeed a sacrifice on their part, to bring about an evening of Christian encouragement and joy.

Brothers and sisters, whether we sit at Table No.1 or No.10, let us always consider one another!

A peaceful neighbourhood

Romans 13: 1-7 NKJV

"Let every soul be subject to the authorities . . ." (v.1)

This morning, I brought my family to visit my father's grave at a Chinese cemetery in Kajang. It was a quiet cool and sunny morning, and many families had already arrived to pay their annual customary respect for their departed loved ones. The cemetery appeared busy and, in some places, even crowded, with people burning paper money and other offerings to the departed souls, while others were clearing the graves of weeds, undergrowth and rubbish.

In spite of the busy activity, the cemetery came across to me as a very peaceful place. A "neighbourhood" of so many families who put on some of the best behaviour one can encounter on any ordinary day. People worked and talked quietly without complaining. There were no disturbances nor arguments of any sort. They even walked carefully, making sure that they didn't tread on the graves of other families.

What a peaceful neighbourhood.

Then, I realised that peaceful neighbourhoods, like this cemetery in Kajang, is brought about when people live in fear. Fear of punishment. Fear of angry spirits. Fear of misfortune. In a Chinese cemetery, traditional non-Christian Chinese families are very careful and particular about not offending the departed souls (a.k.a. spirits, souls or ghosts). No careless stepping or walking over the wrong places. No silly talk. No coarse joking. Burn the paper-offerings and "pray" to the ancestors' spirits solemnly.

Perhaps, they will bless your family this year. Otherwise, woe betide you all. Offending the spirits may bring illness, disputes, financial troubles and the like. So, behave yourself and get "their" approval. Misbehave and be afraid, be very afraid.

This morning, I am reminded of Romans 13. The apostle wrote that, similarly, rulers (kings, governors, officers etc) are a terror to those who do evil. Do good and we will have praise from the authorities. Avoid living in fear all the time. A ruler is a minister from God, entrusted with the task of executing wrath on any one who practises evil. In this passage, doing good refers to obeying authorities while doing evil means committing offences.

Let us create a peaceful neighbourhood. A peace that is not confined to a brief annual visit to the cemetery but, instead, one that lasts the whole year round. A peace that is not brought about by some fear of offending angry departed spirits, but by doing good in obeying authorities instituted by God.