THE SHEPHERD’S CORNER

We can never fully understand God’s timing. The question of “Why now, not then, or later?” is something we must gnaw whenever we must accept unpleasant reality that comes to us like a thief in the night. However, having surrendered our lives fully into the hands of God and having trusted in His good and perfect will, we choose to accept the lot He has apportioned us. On Tuesday we accepted His divine will to take our brother Oom Tek Sioe home.

Just days before he was fine. He walked off to the front porch, then, suddenly lost his balance and fell. He fractured his hip but what immediately became a serious concern was that he also suffered internal bleeding in the head. By the grace of God, the hospital allowed Tante Lena to visit him in the ICU, so she was also there when her beloved slipped into eternity. Oom Tek Sioe has moved from beautiful Pasadena to peaceful Heaven to be with Jesus.

Andrew Murray, a South African pastor of the yesteryear defines a humble person as, “not one who thinks meanly of himself; he simply does not think of himself at all.” To me this description fits my view of Oom Tek Sioe. I cannot recall hearing him talk about himself; I am sure like the rest of us he must have but apparently, he did not do so frequently. When he talked, he simply talked about the topic of the conversation—whatever it was. He did not seem to have the need to show off—what he thought and knew.

I will miss his singing and his spirit to keep singing. The last song I asked him to prepare was One Pair of Hands, by Elvis Presley. “One pair of hands formed the mountain, healed the sick, raised the dead, nailed to a tree.” He did not get to sing it. Well, he did not need to, because that Pair of Hands have now welcomed him home.

Pastor Paul