On Monday, June 1, in the wee morning hour, Jesus Our Lord came to take Aunty Ratna Lim home. Two years have passed since the day she was diagnosed with cancer but by the grace of God, cancer did not stop her from living fully. Even days before she passed, she was still alert and promised to make me choi pan, and a couple of weeks prior, she still came to church. Last Sunday night she went to sleep in her home, on earth, but she did not wake up on earth; she woke up in her new home, in heaven. Till we meet again, Aunty Ratna.

On the day of her passing, I shared with the family Word of the Lord from Psalm 116:15, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” I call her a saint because I never saw her angry or yell at anyone, and I never heard her speak ill of anyone. She was always positive and upbeat, and she never stopped smiling no matter what happened. She fully trusted in the Lord and rested in His care. She did not worry and if she did, she did not let it rob her of the joy of living. She lived as intended by Jesus Our Lord, “Do not worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will have its own worries. The troubles we have in a day are enough for one day” (Matthew 6:34). Amen!

In his book, Run with the Horses, Eugene Peterson writes, “There is no human being who is not useful with a part to play in what God is doing.” I know it is not always easy to see our part especially when we are not young anymore and increasingly dependent on others to perform basic tasks. Yes, as grow older, the part we play is getting smaller but by no means is it getting less significant. When we are young, we are like a beam, shoring up a structure; when we are old, we are like a screw, small but make no mistake, it is very important. Take a screw out, the whole structure will crumble. No wonder God does not remove a screw without replacing it first. So, we, who wish to go, must wait patiently; God is still calibrating another screw.Pastor Paul

Pastor Paul