Mum

Mum

It’s not every day that I get a chance to honour my mother publicly. I did it last Sunday. I was preaching in her church, the Penang Baptist Church, in their Sunday worship service. Some time had been set aside to commemorate mum’s 80th birthday. The topic...
Purpose and Meaning

Purpose and Meaning

Once in awhile you read something that sounds really right. It makes you want to put it in a piece but you are not quite sure how. I caught the following passage from Will Hutton’s The World We’re In some time ago: [A good business is much more than a...
Showing the Colours

Showing the Colours

I love visiting North America in the fall. I love the fall colours. My cousin was in between chemotherapy rounds and insisted on driving us out into the country to do some apple picking. In half an hour we were in an orchard outside of Toronto. It was a cloudy day....
What is Important?

What is Important?

My church was very kind. I applied for no pay leave for October and they agreed. There were two key events in October and I had to be away. First, I have to be in Penang to celebrate my mother’s 80th birthday. And tonight (September 30), Bernice and I travel to...
Spiritual Birth Certificate

Spiritual Birth Certificate

My birth certificate is a yellowing document, frayed at the edges. But the vital information it contains is still legible and clear. Among other things, it shows clearly the exact date and time I was born. I have no equivalent document for my spiritual birth. I...
I Wanted to go to Oxford

I Wanted to go to Oxford

There was a time when I was gripped with a desire to go to Oxford University to pursue doctoral studies. I was finishing my masters at Regent College and seriously considered moving on to Oxford for the next stage of my formal education. Now I am no scholar. (I...