For Lucy

Dear Lucy,

Welcome to the world!! Your daddy sent me some pictures of you - gosh you are tiny. I'm so glad you are finally here.

You'd probably not meet me anytime soon due to the distance between us. But I think of you, and that's why I am writing. Thought I'd share with you some of the great experiences I had in Nottingham where you live; when daddy and mommy was in the same homegroup as I.
Daddy and mommy never fails to update me with what's happening over where you live. So exciting. Daddy did say he was going to come to Malaysia for a quick visit, but because you were on the way, he didn't. But please come!! When you are old enough to travel, you must come here, you hear? If daddy and mommy forgets that they were supposed to pay me a visit, you remind them, ok? (By the way, your daddy laughed at me coz I drink tea without milk - he promised to send me tea from England, but I have yet to receive it. You must defend me and annoy him by drinking tea without milk ok?

You must have already met Pat and Bob - they are wonderful people. When you finally grow teeth, you must ask Pat to cook for you. Trust me on this one. She can whip up a storm in seconds. I miss them so much. Every Sunday morning at the Oasis, they greet me with a warm hug. This is especially nice when it was winter time and I was all 'frozen' from the cold. God bless them.

You'll love the Oasis. When you enter, there is a certain warmth (and I'm not talking about the 'heater warmth' here) that you cannot explain. God spoke to me so many times there. I can still imagine in my head how Oasis looks like. And the kitchen; where I spent most of my Friday evenings helping out.

You are so lucky to be living in the suburbs. I love the suburbs. Here in Kuala Lumpur, city life is rather hectic. It's harder to say hello to people you meet on the street coz it doesn't feel as safe as it does in Beeston. At the moment now, we are battling the haze due to forest fires in Indonesia. The Air Polution Index is at the hazardous level at the moment. It's hard to breathe, coz there is no fresh air. People are advised to stay indoors and not go out unnecessarily.
Please ask daddy, mommy, Bob and Pat to pray for us here in KL ok? I wish I was in England. At least it will be cold, nice and fresh. Trust me, you'd rather have the cold than this.

Anyway, meanwhile it's back to work as usual. Take care, Luc. If I get a chance, I'll certainly come visit you. Send my love to daddy and mommy.

Love,
Me

Road to Maturity

As I grow older (and hopefully in maturity), I've come to realize the importance of separating work with play and differentiating how I deal with people at work, in church and at home. Of course, this is by no means being hypocritical - just handling different situations/people differently I guess.

For example, if I am to be nasty at work just so that people don't take advantage of me (she's nice, she'll do anything we ask her to, she won't get angry at us), it doesn't follow that I should be nasty in church just so people in church doesn't take advantage of me. Just because work culture is "do this pronto without being asked" doesn't mean church culture becomes "you are serving God right? So you should do this pronto without being asked." If work is similar to church, then what is the meaning of grace and mercy?

Sadly, so many people bring their work culture to church. "Hey we should be doing this man, coz it's good. Why ask so many questions? Do it, pronto." And then, there is "So and so used to serve together with me in X ministry. Not so efficient. Maybe not a good idea to ask her to do this."

Are all these really necessary? What happened to encouragement and speaking life into people? What happened to being tactful so that we do not discourage unneccesarily?

The other thing I am struggling with must be separating work issues on a case to case basis. I think I have a tendancy to label people. If someone does something wrong, I find myself saying "Ok that's it. I'm not letting her do anything anymore coz that just gets me into trouble". And then, I have a difficulty talking with him/her when it comes to other matters.

Recently too, I did something wrong at work which boss found fit to shout at. After which, I felt really bad and was really angry at myself. I was also thinking, oh gosh, she'll never trust me with anything big anymore. There goes my increment. There goes my annual review.

But, (and I thank God for this 'but') the next moment we were discussing about another matter, and yet again she entrusted me with it. So it got me thinking. Maybe we are not supposed to label people like "irresponsible", "lazy", "can't handle big things", etc just coz they've represented to be that way on occasion. Otherwise, we can never trust anyone!

And now, I'm sure we are not supposed to label people like that. I think a lot of people (including me) forget we are all human who make mistakes, and just because we see someone else make a mistake does not mean we won't make the same mistake if we were in that person's shoes. If we readily judge people and do not give them chances, and other people do the same to us, no one will never have a chance to do anything!

So yes... another day, another lesson.... on the road to maturity...