It has been quite a while since I last wrote on my blog.It must have been the climb at Mt. Kinabalu that has taken out all my energy and stamina for which I am still recovering from it:-the knee injury. It is much better now.Exams has once again hit the Hoon family. My younger daugther has started her ‘O’ Level exams. She was initally the concern of both my wife and I as she tends to get quite excited about the exams. So excited that she might not get enough sleep because of it. But praise God, she is nearly half way through and she seems to be holding up well. Of course the other worry is if she can get nto the school of her choice. For that we will have to pray hard. Just a thought about exams, I wonder when will the government do away with the exam thing and be like the IB program that provide them with class projects instead. However, I heard that it is more work this way, not less.Church merger is another of those things that has been occupying our minds. Light of Christ City Church has been merged with Christ Church Woodlands to form Light of Christ Church Woodlands. So far so good even though we have some initially disagreements and adjustments between the two congregations. The good thing that came out of this is that we have more resources to do more work in the school and the community. Oh! we even got a newly renovated chapel and office. For a change, we need not use second hand stuff for church or office.As for Medicine, my older daughter has started her course in the School of Medicine in NUS. She is enjoying her study and occasionally even shares with us about her study. She is staying later in the campus and has formed a good group of students that she studies together. Hopefully something else can develop in the study group.Oh, finally, as the year comes to an end, we are hoping to drop over at the most populous nation on earth. Yes, we are planning to visit the mainland of China by the commercial tour. I think it will be fun. We hope to visit our friends who are posted there for work. It has been our dream to stand on top of the Great Wall of China and see the land that so many have been raving about in the past years. That’s all for this blog. Cheerio! |
Filed under: Church
Dear FriendsHi there. I have not been writing for a while. Actually I got good news to share. Just did not get to write down. I remember that it was the night that I was coming back from a meeting (18th May). My hand phone buzz and I saw that there was a message for me. It says ‘S got into medicine’. Hurray!
My heart just filled with gratitude to God for the gracious gift He has given to my daughter. I immediately stopped the car and gave thanks to God. Then I wrote some smses to my closer friends to share the joy with them. Just the other day, again I felt a heart of gratitude to God for the answer to my prayers. I remember that I have brought this up as one of the prayer items during my silent retreat earlier in the year. Thanks be to God!
The other thing I would like to share is about our church camp. Actually there were two camps that I participated in. One was in Desaru. It was the camp for one of our churches. I was to be the retreat speaker. I shared on the contemplation lifestyle. Thanks be to God for a very encouraging response. One of the small groups even planned to have a retreat on their own! I am seriously thinking about how I can be of service to the body of Christ in this aspect.
Our own church camp came next. We had it in one of the very few local camp sites in Singapore. It was held in Chua Chu Kang. A splendid place for the youth and some not so youthful ones like us to gather. Even though only 32 of us actually came to the camp, we did have a great time. We have Benny Ong to be our speaker and he delivered the goods. At the end of the camp and when the altar call was given, four or five of the pre-believers went forward. Two were clear salvation. Others were re-commitments.
Well, yesterday was also the day we bade farewell to our brother Pastor J and his wife G. They have been with with the church for the past 5 years. As they leave us, there is in some ways that a part of our number have been taken away from us. Yet, it is the will of the Father for them to go. We do what we can to ease the pain, but nonetheless there was the pain. They move on to bless an extended body of Christ.
Lastly a little story about changing of pastor. As the old pastor were shaking her hands with the parishioners for the last time, many members said niceties to him. As the standard answer, this pastor said “It’s alright. I am sure that they will send a better pastor to you after I am gone.” The parishioner immediately shot back,”That’s what they said the last time.” Hope you enjoy the story.
After this week I will have some more thing to write. Cheerio
