by Soo-Inn Tan | Nov 23, 2009 | 2009, Articles, Life Issues, Suffering
When you encounter the same idea two days in a row, from different sources, you take notice. On Wednesday (November 18th) I was reading Leading for a Lifetime, by Warren G. Bennis and Robert J. Thomas (Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2007). In their...
by Soo-Inn Tan | Nov 9, 2009 | 2009, Afterlife, Articles, Death & Grief, Life Issues
What happens after death? Nothing, according to some. Death is the universal anticlimax to life. So we should “seize the day” or “let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die (1 Corinthians 15:32 NRSV).” Then there are those who, like the ancient...
by Soo-Inn Tan | Oct 5, 2009 | 2009, Articles, Church, Life Issues, Meaning & Purpose, Small Groups
“How are you?” “How was your week?” “Can you name one item of joy and one item of concern in your life?” The many groups that Bernice and I lead are terribly predictable in one aspect — there will always be a time for people...
by Soo-Inn Tan | Sep 25, 2009 | 2009, Articles, Christian Living, Life Issues, Meaning & Purpose, Solitude & Quiet Time
Those of us who grew up in evangelical circles know all about “quiet time.” This was spiritual discipline 101 pre-Richard Foster. All serious Christians took time every day to spend some quiet time with God. This usually involved reading a portion of...
by Soo-Inn Tan | Sep 23, 2009 | 2009, Aging, Articles, Life Issues
Last night I was speaking at a dinner for first year Christian dental students. It is hard to imagine that I was a freshman in dental school in 1974. Time has dulled both joy and terror but I still recall starting dental school as a major transition in my life. Not...
by Soo-Inn Tan | Jul 24, 2009 | 2009, Articles, Following Jesus, Jesus, Life Issues, Meaning & Purpose
I was chatting with a friend yesterday morning. His wife, also a dear friend, is fighting cancer with faith and courage. I said he must be very tired. He said he was but that he has also been energised by the fresh realisation of his own mortality. He talked about his...