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Near kinsman

We were relatives but we hardly knew each other. She knew I was a pastor and I knew she was a missionary with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). We would greet each other when the Chee clan gathered for its annual Chinese New Year meeting. But we never talked at length before. That is until we bumped into each other at the Love Singapore Pastors’ Prayer Summit (2012) at Equatorial Hotel, Malacca. Let’s meet up for breakfast tomorrow! and the appointment was made.

Was YWAM missionary

Lindy Chee Wei Ling is twenty five years younger than me and as we soon found out, she is my cousin’s daughter. There is probably a Mandarin term to designate this relationship but the English term would be the ambiguous “cousin once removed”. She graduated in law and worked for some time in the civil service before she attended YWAM’s Discipleship Training School(DTS). After that she served on staff with several DTS batches before she went with James Chan to Kuala Lumpur to pioneer a YWAM base or school there for about 2 years. For several years she also went back to legal practice but always remained an active friend and supporter of YWAM Singapore. Today she does freelance legal, training and consultant work, and is active with YWAM. I sat there amazed that quite a number of relatives of the Chee clan were serving the church and missions.

Family destinies?

Somehow we talked about David Demian and what he shared about national, individual and family destinies. We looked at our ancestral clan and concluded that the destiny seemed one of calling to fulfill noble or good causes. Many served in public service or served the good of people in education, medicine, or church – alleviating suffering, helping the poor, fighting for what is just. Out of Judah were to come rulers. Out of Levi, the priesthood. Could it be clans too can awaken to a fuller fulfillment of their God-embedded destiny through faith in Christ? Interesting thought. Today I again read my old blogpost on my grandfather and it got me thinking again. Yeah, there may be something about this clan spiritual destiny thing.

Rooming in Equatorial Hotel

The Equatorial Hotel looked newly renovated and well maintained and the food was unusually good for the numbers of diners they were handling. I roomed with Pastor Richard Wong of Canaan Christian Church and he was very accommodating and we had some time getting further acquainted. We had time to talk shop and just share our lives and what was happening in the conference and the Church. It would be nice to climb Mt Kinabalu with him when he goes for one of his T-Net consultation trips in Kota Kinabalu. Use the Mersilau trail, which I never used before. Sleep overnight at Laban Rata, and for once forget about waking up at 2am to conquer the peak. Just enjoy a restful and slow morning breakfast over a lovely sunrise. Hmmm…just the thought of it is sweet.

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This old family photograph brings back memories of a time when my children were still in nursery, and kindergarten and primary school. It was about twenty years back in the 1990s when I lived in Bukit Batok East Avenue 4. The long wooden TV console in the background, the cane furniture by the side and the beige ceramic tiles on the floor of the four room HDB apartment.

Their mum had gone so my wife helped her younger sister, Baby, through her confinement periods, when both her children, Wen Mun and Wen Por, were born. Wen Por was a toddler in the picture so I wonder if the family was there because Wen Mun was then born.

Joshua was wearing spectacles at such a young age. He loved to read – always borrowing books from the library. Still does. Matthew was the good-looking one. Still is. Elaine was the amiable one. Still is. All were very huggable and adorable and surprising at that age. But not anymore. Now they are all in their twenties. They are more educated and smarter than me, and taller too(except Elaine), as can be seen in a recent photo below.

Twenty years have come and gone at the snap of my fingers. Will I be staring at an empty nest in another snap?

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