Mother's Day

Last Sunday we celebrated Mother's Day in our church. We were quite touched when a number of people came with flowers for my wife whom they recognized as one of the spiritual mothers.

My own mother went to be with the Lord in 1982 shortly before we were appointed to Hong Kong. She had a very difficult life. She married my father at the age of 16; he was much older than she. In those days marriages were arranged by parents. She saw my father for the first time at the day of the wedding.

My father at the age of 12 had run away from his adopted parents' home in Shantou, China. They had badly ill treated him. In desperation he ran to the harbour, joined the crowd boarding the ship and travelled as a stowaway. He was unaware of the ship's destination. On arrival he followed the other disembarking passengers and came ashore.  He worked at a construction site and became a bricklayer.

It was not a good marriage as my father loved to drink and gamble. So the family had a hard time and Mum earned money by washing clothes. She brought up a family of four children - a girl and three boys. I was number three and Mum was only 24 years of age.

All my siblings have gone and I am the sole survivor in the family. God has blessed me and my family of three children and six grand children.

On Mother's Day I remember not just my own biological mother but also the many women who came into my life, Thank God for spiritual mothers.