blogpastor – Page 175

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Meeting Professor Lawrence Chan at a wedding

5 August 2013 blogpastor 7 Comments

A doctor with a heart for pastors and missionaries

I have sometimes wondered what had happened to that wonderful gynaecologist who delivered all my children. Dr Lawrence Chan, a Christian elder in a Brethren church, was very gracious towards missionaries and pastors. He delivered their babies free of charge. If the wife was working, they would still get a very special rate for his services. I am sure he delivered many pastors’ and missionaries’ children.

Pleasant surprise at a wedding dinner

So it was a pleasant surprise when we met him at the wedding of my nephew. Professor Lawrence Chan also delivered all the children of the bride’s and the groom’s parents. His name was mentioned from the podium and my wife and I decided we must meet him. This was a wonderful surprise meeting. Dr Lawrence Chan has reached a ripe old age. He looked healthy and he had more hair than me! We introduced ourselves and our son Joshua Chee to him, and chatted for a while.

A traumatic and dramatic delivery

My son Joshua who is the surviving twin in a traumatic and dramatic birth was keen to meet him too. For several weeks, my wife Jenny, and the twins, Joshua and the late Caleb, were all in Intensive Care Units, fending for their lives, as doctors and specialists tried to save them. By the grace of God, at the end of much prayer and suffering, Caleb was taken home to God through respiratory problems and I had to bury him without my wife’s knowledge as it may affect her adversely if she knew. Joshua was discharged but due to the fact that he was born blue without oxygen for many minutes as the incubator equipment was rushed from one ward to the room where my wife was warded for Hepatitis non-A, non-B. You see, the births were sudden and unexpected, and at that time (mid 1980’s), Singapore General Hospital did not have maternity wards.

Joshua will be gong-gong

When Joshua was discharged the doctors warned that since Joshua’s brain had been deprived of oxygen for too long, he would be intellectually disabled. One of the specialist even said that Joshua will be “gong-gong”. Every time we met with the head of paediatrics for Joshua’s medical appointments we were being prepared for the worse. “He will need to go to a special school when he grows up…..etc.” But God had other plans. We prayed for him constantly, laying our hands on him, praying in tongues over him, and commanding the brain cells to be activated with his life and resurrection power (we were desperate and tried everything we knew!). Well, the Lord has answered prayer and Joshua has since graduated from NUS with a second upper honours and is now working in the civil service and active in the church. Praise God.

God’s ways are higher: trust Him

As to the twin that went home to God, the peace of God and faith in His infinite love has helped us to reconcile with what has happened and we believe that God works all things for good and for His glory. Sometimes we do not fully comprehend His ways. However we can go on trusting in Him even when we don’t fully understand the things happening around us that seem to contradict His loving character.

Meeting Prof Lawrence has reminded us of God’s many blessings and the channels God used. To Prof Lawrence Chan we wish God’s blessings of health and satisfaction in the afterglow of a life of faithfulness, integrity and generosity. May his tribe increase!

The right question to ask after the Sunday worship service

25 July 2013 blogpastor 9 Comments

The right question to ask about a worship service

Do not ask “How good was the worship leader?” or “How good was the preacher?” or even “How good was the worship service?” Rather, you should ask, “Which part of the worship service edified or blessed me?”. Paul the apostle wrote in 1Cor14, “Let all be done for edification (building up and strengthening)”. It has to be the bottom-line for any worship service. A person can be edified by the lyrics or power of a song that was sung in worship; a piece of instrumental music that was played or moments of silence; a prayer that struck a chord; a glimpse of the glory of Christ; a moving testimony; a quotation a preacher used; or as is often the case, a story or insight in the sermon. He could be blessed by the benediction, or even after, when someone shook his hands, said something that made so much sense, or listened with patience and care. There are so many ways that God could bless us before, during or after the worship service. So next time, do not ask about the performance of the musicians, the worship leader or the preacher. It only makes you a connossieur of worship services, a critic of performances, rather than a recipient of God’s manifold grace. So over lunch with your church friends, or with your family at dinner time, ask this question instead, “Which part of the service or meeting blessed or edified you?” God can use anyone or any part of the meeting to bless and speak to you!!

Medication and meditation

23 July 2013 blogpastor 7 Comments

Vertigo is literally nauseating and crippling. It happened to me two Saturdays ago. I woke up to go for a Saturday trek to Bukit Timah hill but everything around me spun and I was totally disorientated and vomited. With my hands on my wife’s shoulder, I went to a clinic nearby and was given medication to snuff out the symptoms for a few days. Over the weekend I simply rested and slept like a sardine, still and stiff, speaking my healing and talking to the Lord, and faithfully taking my medication. It was an enforced retreat. I had been thinking of going to Cameron, to my favorite retreat and rest place, but never acted on it. So I reflected, wrote my journal, prayed and read scriptures.

When I was better a few days later and about to go out for an appointment, it hit me again. So another round of going to the doctor and receiving medication. Thank God for doctors and thank God for church elders. Two elders and their wives came by to my home to pray for me with the anointing of oil, and I felt the warm power of the Spirit on my right palm. Over the weekend I improved quickly and was able to move my head briskly and freely without giddiness by Monday. Thanks be to God.

Going back to office and having the mobility makes me appreciate the blessedness of being healthy. I feel for those whose illness give them untold suffering and restrictions of all kinds. Even medicine cannot cure them. Besides caring for the sick, may all believers also earnestly desire the spiritual gifts to alleviate the suffering of the sick. Amen.