Nurses Day

We were privileged to join our many friends to celebrate Nurses'Day at the Changi Corps hall. The Peacehaven nurses put on an excellent programme on the Wednesday evening.It was worshipful, interesting as well as entertaining. After the programme we joined the guests and staff for dinner. We thank God for giving us the opportunity to be involved in the ministry at Peacehaven.

Modern Pharisees

Last week I met a man whom I have known for many years. He must be about 70 by now. He kept describing himself as "a man truly filled by the Holy Spirit." Kept telling us he would not do anything or go anywhere without the approval of the Holy Spirit. Good for him to be so obedient to the Holy Spirit!

The thing that got my goat was - he kept telling me about the people and the churches that in his opinion "do not have the Holy Spirit." The churches include The Salvation Army. In the end he gave the impression, he was the only one in that crowd of people at the wake who had the Holy Spirit!

Well we do meet people of his ilk everywhere. Arrogant, Pharisaical and obnoxious! They are to be pitied. Recall the story Jesus told about the Pharisee and the Publican at prayer in Luke 18: 9-14. Actually the Pharisee did not pray, he merely boasted, while the tax gatherer prayed "Lord be merciful to me a sinner."

No need for self commendation. It is the penitent tax gatherer, conscious and sorry for his own sin and need that Jesus commends. Certainly not the proud and arrogant Pharisee. "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" Matt. 5: 3

Now I need to watch for it is easy when dealing with matters of faith all the time, I can go along the same road as the Pharisee. I join the psalmist in prayer.

"Search me O God and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Psalm 139: 23-24.

Let me share a prayer by the Retired General John Gowans entitled "Humbug"

You really ought
To deal with him,
For after all he's Yours!
He calls himself
Your servant
If you please!
He breaks up
Everything that's beautiful
And then,
With saintly smile,
He gets down on his knees!
His piety is painful,
He lays it on so thick,
His saintliness quite frankly
Is enough to make me sick!

I don't know how You stand him.
But then I too have flaws,
And I too have the insolence
To say that I am Yours!

Indonesian Congress at Palu

On Sunday our meeting had an additional item, a talk given by Bruce Gale. Bruce an ardent Salvationist is the Bandmaster of our band at William Booth Corps.

Bruce gave a very encouraging talk about his visit to Palu with the Medan band at our meeting. I was thrilled to hear the report for as the International Secretary for the South Pacific and East Asia (1993-1997) I had the opportunity to visit Palu to inspect the work and preach the gospel there.I can picture the scene of this 2009 Congress. General Paul Rader (retired) was the visiting speaker on this special occasion. There were 14,000 participants and 99% in Salvation Army uniform! Attendance by special pass only because of security reasons! Hard for Singaporeans to imagine, but it's true.

What a thrill to see pictures of the Medan band, thirty strong leading the Salvation Army march along the streets of Palu.

By the way in these areas, normally the first worship service starts at 6.00 a.m. No sleeping in on Sunday! Some of our biggest churches are in Sulawasi.

When Bruce was stationed in Kuala Lumpur, he with several members of the Kuala Lumpur Corps band went to Medan and started a brass band at the Boys' Home in 1987. He still visits Medan quite regularly at his own expense to train the bandsmen. (I don't know what happened to KL band)

This Medan 2 Corps band accompanies the congregational singing every Sunday. It also plays carols during Christmas time at shopping plazas.

I wonder how many of you read the article in The Straits Times last Friday 24th July. It had an article by Bruce Gale, the Senior Writer. The title of the article: A perspective on Indonesian affairs. 'Taking faith in the security forces.'

Bruce and his wife Wee Cheng never miss the Adult Bible Class on Sunday morning at our church. They make excellent contribution to our discussions. They and their son Peter are a real inspiration to us. We give God thanks for such dedicated salvationists.

Wheat and tares

At our cell held on Friday, our topic for discussion was on the Parable of the wheat and the tares. (Matt. 13: 24-30 & 36-43)

In the world and in the church there are the wheat and tares - genuine and counterfeits. The counterfeits are planted by Satan who is hostile to God. We are told in the story that an enemy has done this, that is sowing the tares among the wheat. You cannot tell the difference between wheat and tares. They cannot be separated when both are growing.

We should not judge another person. "Do not judge or you too will be judge," says our Lord to us. Leave judgement to God. Patience – God doesn’t rush to judgment but waits until the fruit shows. Neither should we judge these people but pray for them.

The day will come when God will gather up all the tares and burn them.

In the meantime, let us draw near to God, keep in close touch with Him and listen to what He tells us to do. Trust and obey for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Keeping contacts

Wednesday was a day of travel. The day began at 9.00 a.m. when my wife and I took a bus from Hillview Avenue to National University Hospital. We brought our sandwiches with us, and after seeing the doctor, sat at our usual place a quiet corner at NUH to eat our lunch. Then we made our way by bus and train to Yishun to visit an old friend to celebrate her 79th birthday. She is now housebound, goes about in a wheelchair. What a joy it was to sit, chat, recall old times and pray together.

We thank God we are in reasonable good health. Every Tuesday when we visit Peacehaven we meet so many residents who are wheelchair bound. We've been very blessed and although we do have our aches and pains at times, we can truthfully testify - The Lord has been good to us. He is great, good and gracious.

My wife spends much time going through the list of friends and sending them greetings on their birthdays or for married couples their wedding anniversaries. Some respond, others don't, but never mind, we keep in touch. There are those who do not have e-mail so she makes cards to send them. Of course she signs the cards or messages as from both of us. I must confess she's the one who sends the messages.

We share the same e-mail account as there are no secrets between us. Lotus notes is in my name, so friends write to thank me! I get the credit! Actually she did the work. We have two other accounts aapclim@hotmail.com and aapclim@gmail.com We try not to use Lotus notes for personal correspondents.

E-mail is great. It enables us to keep in touch with our many friends at home and abroad. Good to stay in touch with old friends.

Some thoughts on friends.

"A real friend never gets in your way, unless you are on your way down." Wayne Dyer
"A true friend is someone who is there for you when he'd be anywhere else." Len Weine.

The Arabs have this lovely definition of a friend."A true friend is one to whom you can tip out all the contents of your heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping and with the breath of kindness blow the rest away."

Thank you friends. My wife and I appreciate you, especially when you take time to drop us a note even if it is a sentence.

Death in life

He always said he would retire
When he had made a million clear,
And so he toiled into the dusk
From day to day, from year to year.

At last he put his ledgers up
And laid his stock reports aside -
But when he started out to live
He found he had already died! (Author unknown)

Take heed. Listen to the words of our Lord. "Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well" Greed does not make us rich. Greed kills us.

Promotion to Glory of Betty Ho

We attended the funeral service for Betty Ho at the Crematorium this morning.We first came to know Betty when we were appointed to Central Corps (church)in 1970. Betty and Joseph were then courting and both attended the Sunday evening salvation meeting very regularly.

When we returned to Singapore to retire twelve years ago contact with them was re-established. They were a happily married couple. Betty had cancer in recent years and went through much pain and suffering. The Lord took her home last Thursday and this morning was the funeral.

We thank God for the privilege to join our many friends in the ministry of comfort.
Certainly those who bereaved need this ministry. The ministry of comfort is important and needed for the grieving family. All of us can minister comfort by our physical presence. It is wonderful to know that God is with us as we go through the valley of sorrow; it is also important to have our brothers and sisters in Christ standing with us.

Last Saturday I was invited to share the word at the wake in the evening. I based my message on Paul's last words to Timothy - 2 Timothy 4: 6-8 Paul's confidence in the face of death does not happen by accident. Paul looks death in the face and says "I am ready" "I have fought a good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award me on that day - and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing."

I was glad to be asked to give the message. It's indeed a privilege to preach the word to the many people - Christians and non Christians.

Caleb

Our Bible study was on Caleb - Faithfulness in action. Joshua 14.

Caleb states that he felt as strong at the age of 85 as he had at 40. I'm sure many of us wish we could say that - we feel as strong today as we did 40 years ago!

Forty five years prior to this Moses had sent ten men to spy out the land. They returned with a report of a wonderful land, but ten spies concluded they, Israel could not conquer it. These ten were very negative and said something like this, "No way we can conquer the land, not with what we have. We are like grasshoppers before giants."

Caleb and Joshua thought differently, but they were overruled. The majority won! The result the nation continued with the wanderings for another 40 years! Read the story in Numbers 14.

Now Caleb wants the land. "Please give me this mountain." He affirms that God had kept him alive the past 45 years. These difficult years include 38 years of wandering in the wilderness and seven years devoted to conquering the land of Canaan.

Like Caleb, God has made promises to us today, but we need to claim them. In Joshua 14:14 we read that the land that Caleb sought became his inheritance because Caleb followed the Lord wholeheartedly. We too can expect an inheritance of spiritual possessions if we put our faith in God and obey Him completely.

God's saints

On Sunday after our usual Adult Bible class, we went to the main hall and what a joy it was to meet two old friends - Freddy Poon Gek Hor and Jerry Goh Seng Poh. When we were Corps Officers (pastors) of Central Corps at Clemenceau Avenue they, and several others came to the meetings. First they attended Sunday School, then Youth group and other sections and adult meetings. They got wonderfully converted and became salvationists.

Now Freddy and Jerry are middle age and resident in Australia, still as enthusiastic as ever. They are older and have matured a lot. It was a joy to chat with them. Both of them are true blue salvationists full of fire for the Lord. I was really blessed this morning.

When we were Corps Officers or pastors (from 1970- 1974) we were privileged to have the support of many good local officers (elders and deacons) and officers (pastors) I think of two couples in particular from overseas who contributed much to Central Corps during our time. Majors Brian and Elma Corfield, and Jim and Marjorie Webb. Major Corfield was the Public Relations Secretary. He and Mrs. Corfield both had true pastor's heart - full of love and compassion for others and would go out of the way to help others. Brian has gone to be with the Lord, and Mrs. Corfield lives in Melbourne. They really loved and cared for the people and did a lot for folk like Freddy and Jerry. Mrs. Corfield was an excellent Corps Cadet Counsellor. She was our Corps pianist and songster organist. Brian was the percussionist in our band. They had two children Michael and Priscilla, both attended local schools and lived like locals.

Jim Webb was employed by Cooper Lybrand, his office was across the road from The Salvation Army. He and Majorie were totally involved with our local people. They really loved our people. We had two adult meetings on a Sunday and after the night meeting the youth would meet at the home of the Webbs at 28 Barker Road for what they called 'Youth Crush.' There Mrs.Webb would prepare a meal for them. Jim Webb went to be with the Lord about a year ago.

When I looked at the two men this morning I thank God for people like the Corfields and Webbs who did so much for our people during their time in Singapore. I don't want to prolong this blog, but one day I shall write more about these two wonderful couple - true saints of God.

Visit Central Corps today and you will meet a number of families who will tell you about the Corfields and Webbs. Many people have been blessed by them and their Christlike living.

Call to the ministry

Last Sunday, 12th July was Candidates' Sunday. In some countries it is called Vocation Sunday. Whatever name we use, it certainly reminded me clearly about my call to officership, in other words my call to the ministry.

I've been reflecting on my own life and calling, not career, job or profession! If it was just a job, I would have remained where I was with the Singer Sewing Company. I was happy there. No mistake at all to me and my wife, officership has always been a calling.

I can never forget that day at the Central Corps Hall, 30 Oxley Road It was the second day of Chinese New Year when young people were going round visiting and paying respects to their relatives and friends and collecting 'ang pows'(red packets)!It has always been the traditional Chinese custom for children to receive red packets with money inside. But that day I was with other young people participating at Youth Councils. My Mum, a Roman Catholic was furious to say the least. To her, Salvation Army leaders must be crazy to arrange worship on Chinese New Year! My mother used to be a Home Leaguer at Balestier before the war but joined the Catholic church during the Japanese occupation of Singapore. (That's another story which I shall tell later)

It's still a mystery to me how the Officer Commanding (leader of The Salvation Army in Singapore and Malaya) of that day, Lieut Colonel William Darby who had been a missionary in China did not understand the significance of Chinese New Year. Try and arrange that today and see what happens! Well our generation was very compliant! We saluted our Corps Officers (pastors) without questioning.

And the theme for the Youth Councils was not relevant to Singaporeans - "Roll the Old Chariot along." Ever seen a chariot in Singapore? If he had called it "Ride the old trisha" or "Push the old bicycle along" it would be more meaningful! Well, talking about understanding culture, the Colonel needed some lessons. Since then I have come across many more of his ilk.

Anyway, we sang the chorus many times,"So we'll roll the old chariot along and we won't drag on behind." (Chorus Section 224 SASB) In fact one verse says, "If the devil's in the way, we will roll it over him." That easy? Well, those were the days!

God works His way in spite of man's mistakes and idiosyncrasies.The Lord works in a mysterious way His wonders to perform. That does not mean in God's work anything goes. Nothing but the best is good enough for the Lord.

It was at this meeting that I heard the call to become an officer - very clear call. And God has not changed His mind, neither have I! The covenant was made at the Mercy Seat. My mind was made up that night in 1949 Youth Councils at 30 Oxley Road. And in that same meeting a young lady responded at the same time at the same Mercy Seat. We did not know each other then.The Lord brought us together and we have been married 51years. We are now retired officers, but still active in ministry. We'll work till Jesus calls us home!

The call to officership or to ministry is a holy one; one that has its origin in the heart of God. There have been good times and bad times. We've been through all kinds of situations. We have worked with all kinds of people - good, bad, indifferent. We have worked with saints and sinners. We are where we are today because of His call and the provision of His grace.

I've been much blessed using the devotional booklet produced by Love Singapore. I wish this is not just for 40 days, but for 365 days. Look at the first sentence on July 15th regarding Jeremiah's call, "He didn't download his prophet's badge from the web." The writer certainly knows how to communicate. He didn't write about the Theology of vocation etc. Jeremiah "was a true blood prophet from the womb to the tomb." Read on if you have the book, otherwise, beg or borrow (but not steal)from someone. I pray that by the grace of God to be faithful and serve Him till I hear the summons to go Home.

I love Jeremiah and I am gathering material for a new series for the Adult Bible class I conduct on Sunday morning at William Booth Corps. It was from this book that I got the title for the blog - burning in the bones. Jeremiah felt the word of God burning like fire in the bones.

Officership is a calling. I've sat in meetings where Candidates' Sunday passes by with nary a mention about God's call to the ministry. I've been disappointed. I'm not refering specifically to any one Corps (church) in this territory. Some folk do not see the urgency of proclaiming the gospel and officers are needed.

I was pleased to receive a copy of the Penang Corps bulletin and my article written at the request of the Youth and Candidates' Secretary, was printed in it. Well done, Major Francis Ng for putting emphasis on the call to officership.

There is a world wide shortage of officers, especially in western and developing countries. We want the best of our young people to respond to the call. Officership is a privilege, it is a joy to serve. After all these years as active and retired, I can truthfully say there has been no regrets. The covenant made in 1949 and publicly signed in 1954 is still intact. To God be the glory.

Peacehaven

Good to be able to visit Peacehaven again after absence of three weeks because of the HINI virus. Pleased to see our Poh Chin again. She was in the swimming pool with Anthony Yeo having her hydrotherapy. She was walking in water with Anthony Yeo, salvationist of Changi Corps. What a sight to behold. I watched from the upstairs window and thank God again for Peacehaven and the many carers. I could hear the Lord saying once again to these wonderful caring people "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers (and sisters) of mine, you did it for me."

We conducted two chapel services. You should be there to hear the singing from some of the elderly. Perhaps not quite in tune, but the radiance on their faces, told us they were certainly in tune with God. And that is all that matters! The message was given in Cantonese, Hokkien and English. So many have come to know the Lord Jesus since coming to the Home.

We joined the staff for lunch. The cook Patrick a wonderful Christian gave us all a treat to celebrate his son David's first birthday. It must cost him a lot personally to provide for so many people but he said, "Never mind" he said, "the Lord has been good to us and we want to share His blessings." Patrick is always beaming with joy and it's great to see him. To cook for 400 residents plus staff is no easy task, but it is always service with smile. The joy of the Lord is our strength.

We go to Peacehaven to minister, instead we are always being ministered to by the staff, nurses and residents. God always provide us with opportunities to share His blessings with others.

The Lord's protection

On 8th July, Maria Hertogh died at the age of 72. Those of my generation can recall the riots that broke out in December 1950 causing much damage to property, vehicles and loss of lives. Eighteen people were killed and 173 were injured in the rioting.

The riots were the result of a dispute between Maria's Dutch biological parents and Aminah the woman who had looked after Maria during the war when the parents were imprisoned in Indonesia by the Japanese. The Judge decided that Maria should be returned to her parents, but Aminah disputed the claim stating that Maria had been given to her for adoption. Aminah's supporters and sympathisers felt that the judge was biased in his decision.

Riots broke and the rioters targeted the Europeans and Eurasians. You can read the story in the Internet. I want to highlight the story as told to me by Lieut. Colonel Frederick Harvey, the Officer Commanding at that time. They later became Commissioners, his last appointment as an International Secretary at IHQ.

Lieut. Colonel and Mrs. Harvey had just left office of The Salvation Army Headquarters at 30 Oxley Road. He turned into Orchard Road and saw crowds of rioters screaming and yelling and looking out for Europeans to attack. One Malay man, obviously the leader stopped the Colonel's car, saw the couple in Salvation Army uniform and immediately shouted to the others not to attack them. "Ini orang baik" he shouted, meaning "These are good people." This chap then climbed on to the bonnet of the car, sat on it and ordered the Colonel to drive back to office for safety. They could not go home and spent the night at Headquarters.

The Harveys would have been killed that day had it not been for this man who knew The Salvation Army and the work we were doing for the people. He might have been one of the beneficiaries, we don't know. But one thing we know the Lord was there to get this Malay man to protect our leaders. It's a miracle and God is still working miracles today!

Sunday's activities

We began the day with our Adult Bible study on the Book of Joshua. We came to Chapters 12 and 13 - Joshua fighting remnants in Canaan and dividing the land. It was no easy task for Joshua trying to please everyone. Human nature is such, we all want the best portion. Read our papers and the pages are full of stories of disputes over property, land etc. even among siblings. Most people are not content with their lot because they want a lot more!

When it came to the Levites, well it appears they got ripped off! Some people might have thought having land makes you more powerful. Nothing wrong in having possessions as long as they don't possess us! It's not a sin to be rich neither is it a virtue to be poor. It depends upon our attitude.

I don't own land not even a one room HDB flat, and no regrets, but I thank God my inheritance is in Christ. It's a deep and rich kind of inheritance - an heir of God. Yes, contentment comes from living a life where you understand your priorities. Everything in life pales in comparison to knowing Jesus Christ. It's a fact I've proven.

It was Candidate's Sunday. The need for officers was highlighted in the meeting. O we need to continue to pray hard to get young people to answer the call and to offer themselves for officership.

My wife and I have been officers since 25th October 1954. We've been through all kinds of experiences - joyful moments, sorrowful moments, laughter and tears. We served 14 years in Malaysia, 14 years in Singapore, and the last 15 years outside this territory. It's this call of God that has kept us going and the grace of God that has sustained us all through the years. To God be the glory.

In the evening we went to a wedding dinner at the Marriot Hotel. It was a family gathering and I was asked to give a short message and pray for the couple. We know the family, the father was one of our young people from Balestier Corps during the 70-80's. Grandparents, aunties, uncles, siblings were all there. Grandpa, as soon as he saw us recognised us. He is 91 years old still very alert. Good to meet old friends and make new ones. We went in our uniform as we wanted to show the rest of the family we are still pastors!

Normally we don't go out at night, but this was an exception for the sake of old friends. I pray that the seed we are sowing each day will bear fruit.

Faith

"I believe in the sun even when it is not shining.
I believe in love even when I cannot feel it.
I believe in God even when He is silent"
(written on the wall by a Jewish prisoner in Cologne)

Faith is not shelter against difficulties, but belief in the face of all contradictions. (Paul Tournier)

Divine healing

On 4th July I wrote the story about our dear daughter, Dora Poh Chin. It was not meant to elicit sympathy or empathy let alone pity from anyone. My intention was to encourage fellow pilgrims on life's journey. That's the purpose of my blog. Anyway I received an encouraging comment from a Christian brother. His comment meant a lot to me and I thank God for him.

Let me state clearly. I believe implicitly that God is all powerful. He is our Creator and is sovereign over all the earth. He still rules the universe. He answers prayer always, not necessarily in way we anticipated. I have been reading Philip Yancy's book "Disappointment with God." Yes, there are times when we do not understand God and we get disappointed, but I still love Him just the same.

It is the will of God for man to be healthy in body, soul and spirit. Let us not fall into the erroneous belief that God wills sickness on us as a punishment,a form of discipline or preparation for Heaven. Francis MacNutt once said, "When we say that God sends sickness or asks us to endure it, we are creating for many people an image of God they must eventually reject. What human mother or father would choose cancer for their daughter in order to tame her pride? Those preachers and chaplains who try to comfort the sick by telling them to accept their illness as a blessing sent from God are giving an immediate consolation, but at what ultimate cost! In a sense we unwillingly treat God as something like a pagan, placated by human sacrifice."

The belief that God sent sickness to sanctify us can be traced back to the early church when Christians suffered much persecution. Tertullian said, "The blood of martyrs is the seed of the church." Suffering brings benefits.

Later in the time of Constantine Christians were well respected and protected by the State. Christianity became the official religion. Degeneration set in. In order to overcome this, Christians resorted to self inflicted punishment. Suffering was looked upon as of value for our spiritual growth. True some of the finest saints have been through pain of sickness and suffering. God can work through suffering and sickness as in the case with our daughter and our reaction to her handicap. But this does not mean that it is God's intention that we should be sick. We need only to look at the life and ministry of Jesus to see that God wants us to be healthy.

The Bible abounds with stories of miraculous healing. Some people, He simply touched and were healed; others He issued the word of command. With yet another He went through of process of mixing clay with spittle, spreading over the man's eyes and commanded him to wash in the pool of Siloam. He used different methods for different people. In the same way with the early church as recorded in Acts. God loves variety!

The power of God is the same today as in the past. God gave to some the gifts of healing. However, the important thing to remember is not to expect God to do our bidding. Some people want God to be like their puppet! "Lord, You do as I tell you or I won't come to church or believe in You." That is sheer arrogance and pride! He knows more than we do and He gives the best to those who leave the choice with Him! I've proved this to be true again and again!

There are times when our request for healing is denied, for reasons only known to Him. That does not alter the fact of divine healing. God's power is as near us in sickness and in death as it is in healing. When we pray and immediate healing does not come, it is not for us to question the reality that God is still the Healer. My duty is simply to love and trust Him for healing and at the same time be aware of the effect of this fallen world world on us.

Recall the story of Joni Eareckson Tada the lady who became paralysed as a result of a diving accident. I personally attended a meeting where she was present to give her testimony sitting in a wheelchair. She believed in faith healing and equated this with instantaneous healing. For her this did not happen and after much prayer and agonising she learned to accept her infirmity and allowed God to use her for His glory.

I end with a poem by Dr. A B Simpson called "Himself"

Once it was the blessing, now it is the Lord;
Once it was the feeling, now it is the Word;
Once His gifts I wanted, now the Giver own;
Once I sought for healing, now Himself alone.

70th birthday celebration

Reliving old times again last Saturday. What memories of the past! We were privileged to be invited to James Lim's 70th birthday dinner! Our association goes back a long, long time - before second world war.

His father Norman Lim was my Sunday School teacher way back in the 30's.Balestier Corps was in a shophouse along Balestier Road itself. I was only five years old when I first attended Balestier Corps Sunday School. (1937) That was before James was born! O how I enjoyed handling and playing the figurines in the Sand Tray! Then we would go into class at the back of the hall in the open courtyard where Norman would tell the children's story. One day he was telling the children the parable of the lost sheep. Suddenly he picked me up, and pretended I was the lost sheep! Thank God for Sunday School - the lost sheep was found by the Saviour!

Fast forward to post war. The Corps (church) was now in Martaban Road - an atap house with no electricity or water. We used kerosene lamps! I was a teenager teaching Sunday School kids. We were called Company Guards in those days, and we met during the week with the Corps Officer who explained the lesson to us before Sunday. They called it Company Guard Preparation class. And James Lim was assigned to my class.

The years went by and Andy Lim, James' son became a cadet and I was one of the teachers! Fast forward again, we were appointed overseas. Our children worshipped in Central Corps and Major Andy Lim was their Corps Officer (pastor) How the Army wheel turns.

James' wife, Peggy was our neighbour in Lorong Limau - my family lived in J-13 and Peggy's family J-17. We all shared the same common tap. There were no taps in the tiny Singapore Improvement Trust's flats! So twelve families shared one tap. There was good fellowship there were also frequent fights! I used to get water at midnight or at 5.00 a.m. so missed the fellowship and fights.

So that night I met again my old neighbours - elderly ladies. It's all right, they won't be reading my blog! I don't think they blog.

It's not only the ten course dinner we enjoyed, it was also a trip down memory lane!
Where have all the years gone?

I keep thinking what a wonderful time it will be when we all meet in heaven. When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be! When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory. So let's keep pressing on towards our goal. There will be lots of friends and lots of time to reminisce. We'll keep praising God in eternity.

40 Day 09 -Devotional readings

I read the Words of Life (Salvation Army publication) regularly, in fact since the first issue called "Soldier's Armoury was issued. I use a couple of other devotionals. The one that I look forward to receiving is produced by Love Singapore. It is a devotional and 40 Day Prayer Guide beginning from 1st July and ends on National Day 9th August. I have been gladly blessed in using this book.
This year the theme is "when darkness falls" based on the book of Jeremiah. Get hold of a copy if you have not already done so and spend time reading and meditating on God's word.

Today we meditate on Jeremiah 4 - "defaulting on repentance." We want a revival. We need a revival. The Salvation Army desperately needs it. We must begin with repentance. Prayer without repentance will not bring revival.

This week in London, the International Leaders' Conference is in session and we need to pray for General Shaw Clifton and our Army leaders. The theme is "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever." Our territorial leaders, Colonels Keith and Beryl Burridge are at the conference and we must remember them in our prayers.

Dora Poh Chin - God' special child

Normally on a Tuesday we are at Peacehaven to conduct chapel services. Now with the NIHI virus, activities are stopped for the time being. Of course, when we visit Peacehaven we also see our daughter, Dora Poh Chin who is a resident in the Home. Some people are not aware we have a second daughter who is seriously handicapped.

Poh Chin was born on 26th April 1969 when we were stationed in Kuala Lumpur. She arrived at a time when the country was very tense politically. In fact about two weeks after her birth racial riots broke out and the whole of Kuala Lumpur was under curfew. She was not a normal baby and we concluded that her condition was due to the tension at that time. Soon after that we received farewell orders to go to Ipoh Boys’ Home where things were very difficult. So we thought there were the factors that contributed to her condition.

In January 1970, we were appointed to take charge of the Singapore Central Corps. It was during this time that we were told by the paediatrician in a terse statement “Your child is mentally retarded.” He was a clever doctor, but perhaps lacking in tact and diplomacy. He could have shown a little more sensitivity which might lesson the pain for us. Anyway, soon after that Professor Freda Paul, a lovely Christian lady took over and she gave us a lot of encouragement and help. Through her efforts Central Corps had a very fruitful ministry at the Children’s ward at Singapore General Hospital.

We prayed for healing. We believed and still do, in divine healing, for this is scriptural. We prayed very hard. A very good friend of ours, Rev, Prabhu Das, pastor of the Tamil Methodist Church even brought a Divine healer to our quarters to pray, but nothing happened. We went in faith to a Divine healing service at St. Andrew’s Cathedral and the evangelist prayed very earnestly and fervently for divine healing. As he was praying, I had visions of bringing home, Poh Chin completely healed! But no, she remained the same - no change at all.

One dear lady, a Salvationist at our Corps, the one who recommended to us to the faith healer visited us during the week and said, “It is your lack of faith Major that prevents your daughter from being healed.” Momentarily we were thrown off balance and cried to the Lord for help and mercy. Talk about broken hearts – ours were completely broken. But our God heals broken hearts and that is divine healing.

We still do not know why God did not grant instantaneous healing, but we believe she brings healing to others. She makes us see human suffering in a different light. Certainly she brings a new note into our ministry resulting in healing to others.

I believe one day, our Poh Chin will be healed, and for this I am certain. We don’t know when this will be; only the Lord knows. Certainly we will meet her in heaven, completely healed. There is no mental retardation in heaven. We will hear from her for the first time, “Mummy, Daddy, I love you.” And we will respond, we love you too.

You see, our Poh Chin, although born in sin like all of us has not deliberately sinned. She has not consciously offended God or anyone. She is completely innocent. We look at a person’s actions and pass judgement, but the Lord looks at the heart. He is a gracious God.

She resides in Peacehaven Nursing Home and is very tenderly and lovingly looked after by the nurses, therapists and others involved in the welfare of the residents of the Home. At our age it is impossible for us to take care of her, but the Lord has wonderfully provided this facility. To God be the glory.