grateful

John and I with Rev Dr Patrick Lau, Senior Pastor of Calvary Assembly of God. My first pastor. His ceiling is my floor.

i sat at the 50th anniversary dinner of Calvary Assembly of God tonight holding back tears that welled up at least 4 times throughout the evening. i celebrated not just God's faithfulness in seeing this church through 50 years but what that meant to me too. as i watched the laugh-inducing musical put up by the friends of my youth, a strange mix of bittersweetness welled up in me. then I heard God say to me, you're coming back to the beginning, where it all started. 20 years ago, you believed in me here. 20 years later, you're seeing things from a different perspective. as you embark on the next season of your life, i want you to see where you've come from and how far you've gone, and how far more i'm going to take you.

in this season, i've learnt to appreciate the life and ministry of my spiritual fathers and mothers so much more. tonight i met again so many of the men and women who had sown into my life, often thanklessly. i was so glad i made them proud. and i'm so glad that God got all the glory because they know as well as i do, that it could only have been God that i can be living the life i'm having now.

being around the people of calvary a/g always gives me a sense of home. i love this church. it was here that i first experienced youth group, spoke in tongues, sang, played keyboard, played drums, performed in a musical, fell under the power of the Spirit, captured a vision for the nations, fell in love, fell out of love, and made friends that will last for a long long long time. i experienced family out of a family. i learnt to give, to serve, to pray, to worship. i learnt that God's the Healer, the Provider, the Deliverer. God and this church remained faithful even when i was faithless and gave my heart to another. but when i decided to turn back, they were always always there. this is truly a place for the prodigal son (and daughter, as was my case).

thank you God for this church, for this pastor, for these many men and women who had reached out to me over the years. i ask for Your blessings to be upon them, that they would enjoy the reward of their labour and service to You. that they would experience the fruit of their ministry and continue to have their strength renewed. i ask you for success and favour in all they do, that they would always be in more-than-enough mode. i ask for your grace, tenderness and peace to dwell in their households. thank you God.

Psalm 78:4-7

⁴ We will not hide them from their children;
we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,
his power, and the wonders he has done.

⁵ He decreed statutes for Jacob
and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our forefathers
to teach their children,

⁶ so the next generation would know them,
even the children yet to be born,
and they in turn would tell their children.

⁷ Then they would put their trust in God
and would not forget his deeds
but would keep his commands.