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
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