In this Thanksgiving week, I have been pondering on what I am grateful for.  There are of course many things that I thank God for, but somehow good as they are, they appear to be dim compared to the gratitude I feel toward the assurance and the revelation that once I pass on this world, [&helli...

This week two members of our church went to the operating table.  Budi finally got a hip replacement after months of suffering intense pain and Tante Els had heart surgery.  As I write this, both are still in the hospital recovering; and by the grace of God, both can look to better and hea...

In his book, Surprised by Joy, C. S. Lewis shares that one thing that he hated the most was interference.  What he wanted more than anything else was “a barbed wire fence and guard with a notice No Admittance.”  But that was what he found in Christianity before he became a Christian, a...

On Thursday some of us went to visit Oom Kiat Ong to celebrate his 96th birthday.  He’s weaker compared to the last time we saw him some weeks ago but remained alert.  When asked what he wished to say on his birthday, he said, “I cannot tell you how grateful I am to God for […]...

During our visit to Indonesia, Santy and I had an opportunity to visit Tante Betsy.  She’s healthy and alert, and still remembers almost all of you.  She said hello to all of you.  Frans, her son, filled me in with the details of his dad’s passing.  According to him, Oom Arie...

Today is a special day that calls for thanksgiving.  We are celebrating our church’s 44th anniversary.  There are many things that we can thank God for but today I would like to give thanks to God for Tante Barbara, the wife of our beloved Pastor John Lim, who has been with us since the ...

On Wednesday, October 2, around noon local time in Jakarta, Jesus Our Lord came to take Oom Hein to his eternal home.  I happened to have arrived the day before but that Wednesday I had a class to teach, so, I planned on visiting him on the day after.  Not knowing that he’d already passe...

2 amazing steps: Step 2 Last week we looked at how the community in Thessalonica lived faithfully, living in a way to please God. What more could they do? Do the things they were doing more, and more, and more, and more. Paul says, “we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as […]...

2 amazing steps: Step 1 I’ve been working through 1 Thessalonians a lot lately and have been so encouraged by it. One thing that makes the letter easy to grasp is that there are basically just 2 parts or steps which are separated by prayers. The first step – live faithfully & please God. Thi...

Last Wednesday I felt like being in Heaven.  Friends that I met over four decades ago, three decades ago, two decades ago, and over a decade ago, came to pay their last respect to my father-in-law Peter Subadya.  I guess this is what Heaven must be like: full of laughter and joy; where our...