Celebrating Love

Sunday June 21st we had a sumptous dinner for the 'men'( = my son, my brother and my eldest girl's boy fren) in our lives, since it was Father's day. Well, it was supposed to be the gals cooking for the guys, but ended up the boyfren gallantly helped out the only chef in the house - my eldest princess !! The rest of us only pitched in when it was apparent dinner was gonna be late if we sat around expecting the 2 love-birds to do it all!
Actually I m not much for Father/Mother's day or any of those over-commercialised occasions like Valentine. Surely it shld be obvious we dont hv to wait around for dat 1 day out of 365 days in a year to tell our beloveds that we love them... not that i hv anything against special celebs on those assigned days, i like celebs; which for me means just having a nice feast with those dear to my heart....

But now that i m classified in the singles again category, i can empathize with those who have no 'special other' or father/mother around or worse dont find their earthly parents worthy of being celebrated on such occasions. I m sure there are many who tink such things are over-rated; in fact i know of people who would actually find an excuse not to attend church on those days, becoz they feel 'out' and cant relate to the often mushy-mushy sentiments expressed then.

But mushy-ness aside, I myself confess every father's/valentine's day brings abt a tinge of sadness in my heart, becoz it's inevitable to recall past celebrations when my husband, the kids' father, was still with us. Sometimes after all the festivity of the day is over, and i m alone with my thots in the silence of my own room, the old familiar pain of a lost love sweeps over the soul, like a prickly thorn pressing into the soft layers of buried memories . Sometimes it comes even during the climax of the evening when everyone is smiling happily enjoying each other's company, i would catch myself stealing glances at the kids, who were no longer kids really, and wonder wistfully... wasn't it just yesterday ; why couldn't it be ....

But God is always quick to pull me out of these moments before they degenerate into self-pity and regret... He reminds me of the greatest love of all which He has showered upon my entire family as our Abba Father in heaven; the ever faithful One who watches over us all the time 24/7 x 365 days a year... for all the years to come; He call us the apple of His eye. Man, that's priceless, to know that the almighty God who created and sustains all things in the universe, thinks of me as so precious. Not only does He think of me , but He proved His fantastic love by sending His own Son Jesus 2000 years ago to die for my sin and set me free, today, everyday for all eternity. Wow! what a Father....

"Blessed [be] God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort"... 2 Cor 1:13
"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God"... 1 John 3:1

"Our Father, which art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done as in heaven, so on earth ..."

50s bash

 
 
 

It was some b-day bash... finally the plan to gather for a reunion-cum-50th bday bash came to pass on 6/6/09 in Bkt Mertajam. 2 tables of 'lau ee' gathered in Shelaiton Restaurant to oooh and aaah over each other, esp me, since it has been 32 years since i last stepped foot in BM; and some faces i really couldn't place, tho i remembered names. I took the weekend off, taking a break from my street ministry, to travel up north on Saturday morning together with 2 other 'KL-ites' for company, put up at an old class mate's house and returned home on Monday morning.
It was an eating spree all the way from the time we touched down in BM till we left; very bad for the waistline indeed. It started with laksa and popiah, continued into 9 course grand dinner, Penang chee cheong fun, otak2, fried quail, baby octupus, ice kacang, curry mee, steam-boat, hokkien mee, nyonya kueh... where my stomach found the space to accommodate all that, i wonder!!
After the nite's grand banquet, the troupe adjourned to exercise their lungs in a K-OK joint nearby. What a sight to behold 50 year old lau ee macarena-ing and limbo rock-ing under the wires!! Who says only young people have all the fun??
On the serious side, I had prayed before i came that God would find me a church to attend on Sunday, since i really didn't wanna miss going to the Lord's house. Tho i had absolutely no idea where to go, my host was most kind to drop me off early at a methodist church, which service however only started at 11 am. But the kind aunty there directed me to a baptist church further down the road. Still i was way too early by some 1 1/2 hrs for their service; but the young caretaker was most gracious to open the gate for me and let me sit in the sanctuary. I was made to feel most welcome as many were the brothers and sisters in Christ who came up to greet me personally, as obviously i was a new face. They even announced the names of all the newcomers over the pulpit.. truly it felt so good to be part of God's big family.
I was invited after the service to join in the fellowship lunch, but had to excuse myself since my frens had other plans... we went to this place in Bg Lallang deep in some kampung area, which served fantastically cheap and yummy seafood - imagine steam fish head for only $27!! It was open air eating, and despite the heat, so many people were waiting to be seated. The visible cooking area was a hive of activity, so efficient were the chefs, each specialising in their own dish only.. food was being rolled out practically like an assembly line..
As i blog this back in KL, i am remembering the happy faces, the laughter, the jokes, the catching-up of years past; memories of who did what when, updates of where so-n-so is now, wat happened to this/that person... 32 years ago we were all fresh-faced girls in pig tails and school uniforms. Now most of us are mothers with grown/growing kids, some divorced, some widowed, some still swinging single, a handful have passed away from this earth... to have lived 50 years is a long time, half a century. And a question came to my mind - could we ever have imagined then how our lives would turn out as it did?
I for one can't. I remember at age 12, I took on an english-fied name, Christine for the fun of it since it was the fashion then...I remember dreaming about getting married, having kids and living happily ever after...i remember i fell in (puppy) love with my BM tuition teacher and worked so hard at the subject; both of us were so disappointed i got only a C3 for my Form 5 exam....all these things i remember, but...
How could i have known that i would be a widow at age 42? How could i hv known the name i took then would actually define who i am now, as i found out years down the line that Christine actually means a follower of Christ. How could i hv known that the skills in BM i had acquired then would now help me minister to the non-Chinese speaking groups of street people i meet every Saturday?
No, there was no way i could have known all these, but God knew. When i first read in the bible that God already knew me even before I was formed in my mother's womb, that He had plans to prosper and never to harm me, i was totally floored. How could this be; that God already knows me; when i wasnt even made,much less born? And yet looking back over the years of my life, that's exactly the truth... i am not an 'accident', i wasn't 'evoluted' from some ape ancestor; i am 'fearfully and wonderfully made' by the Lord who loves me so much He has planned to save me all along, calling me back to be His very own daughter of the Most High God. Ya, it took me 40 years to return to Him; i hv wandered off the wrong paths, but He is ever the good Shepherd who goes all out to bring back even 1 lost sheep - like me. There's nothing like having the certain knowledge that my life is held in the palm of His mighty hands, for Him the Potter to shape into something beautiful; not becoz of what i can do (which ain't much really) , not becoz i deserve it (i m just another sinner, saved by grace after all ) but becoz of what He can do, and wants to do to me, for me, through me. That's the ultimate meaning of life on earth that gives peace beyond understanding, joy unspeakable, grown out of a love divine... available to all through Jesus Christ, the One who proved through His death and resurrection that He is truly the One and only Way, the Life, and the Truth. Becoz no other man, be they teachers, prophets, gurus, healers, no matter how good their ways, no matter how saintly their character, no matter how noble their lives, has ever died to take the punishment of mankind's sin and rise alive in glory.

So,as i reflect on how gracious God has been and continues to be to me, i know its not how long we live; none of us will be around to greet the next 50 years. God says the length of our days is 70 years, or 80 if we have the strength. But however many/few days i have been given on this earth, i thank God that i can live each one of them knowing, loving, and serving Him who pulled me out of the mediocrity of "my-self" life, and blessed me with the fantastic new life that Jesus has promised to all who would believe His promise:

" I am the gate, whoever enters thru me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full".... John 10:9-10



p/s for more pix of the gathering, chk out http://picasaweb.google.com/laisaikhoon