Santy and I would like to thank you for letting us go to Indonesia to celebrate my mother’s 90th birthday. She is doing fine and to this day, she’s never stopped praying for our church. Thank you for the many birthday’s wishes. May God bless you for your love and care.
While there I had the privilege of attending our 50th youth group’s anniversary with Kak Thomas and Cie Poppi, who happened to be our youth pastor, then. Out of this small youth group and by the faithful and steady mentoring of Cie Poppi and Kak Thomas, we all grew up to be the men and women we are today. Thank you, Jesus!
Santy and I also had the privilege of going to Malang and staying at our former residence. For Praise and her family, the three-day stay became something nostalgic and special. It’s the home where she grew up; it’s the home where we built many fond memories. It just so happened that the seminary’s professor who used to live there moved out several months ago, making it possible for us to re-live our past, albeit for only several days. Thank you, Jesus!
While there in Malang, we also had the opportunity to visit a friend in ministry who’s been battling Stage-4 metastatic lung cancer for the past five years. What’s happening to him is nothing short of a miracle! He’s still teaching, and he even took us out for breakfast while receiving chemotherapy that week, which reminds me of the truth of God’s Word in Ecclesiastes 8:8, “As no one has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has power over the time of their death.” All in the Mighty Hands of God! Our part is to surrender to His care and trust in His will, as Paul says about Abraham, “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed” (Romans 4:18). What a sweet contradiction! Against all hope, earthly hope, that is, we, in hope, believe, in heavenly providence, that is. As God’s beloved, “we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). Thank you, Jesus!
Pastor Paul