by Soo-Inn Tan | Feb 11, 2026 | 2026, Aging, Family
A few days ago, Bernice and I were at the supermarket. At this time of year, Chinese New Year music was playing, and suddenly I was gripped with melancholy. I thought of the many Chinese New Year family gatherings we used to have in our family home in Penang. Those...
by Soo-Inn Tan | Feb 6, 2026 | 2026, Mentoring, Spiritual Friendship
He paid for lunch. I jokingly asked him if lunch had exhausted his entertainment budget for the year. He said “no”, that he had paid for lunch out of his own pocket, not from some church budget. He wanted me to be clear that this lunch came from his pocket...
by Soo-Inn Tan | Jan 30, 2026 | 2026, God's Will, Rest & Busyness
Yesterday morning a pastor friend messaged me to ask if I had followed up on a brother who had gone through very difficult and complex relational problems. I had walked with that brother for a while and wanted to follow up with him. I’m sure I told him that I...
by Soo-Inn Tan | Jan 22, 2026 | 2026, Death & Grief, Spiritual Friendship, Widowhood
They are very dear friends. I preached at their wedding ten years ago. But I preached at her funeral late November last year. Early one morning I received a message from him telling me that his wife was in a coma and it looked like she would not recover. They were in...
by Soo-Inn Tan | Jan 16, 2026 | 2026, Aging, Dependence on God, Third Agers
Is an 80-year-old person old? Are his or her best years behind him/her? When I first read the story of Moses and his mission to rescue his people from Egypt when he was 80, I assumed that he was an exception to the norm. It was a special case and Moses had been given...
by Soo-Inn Tan | Jan 9, 2026 | 2026, Aging, Battling Sin
Does the road wind uphill all the way? Yes, to the very end. Will the day’s journey take the whole long day? From morn to night, my friend. (Christina Rossetti, 1861) I was planning to return to this column by writing some inspirational piece to begin the year....
