Dear brothers and sisters,
Praise the Lord I finally meet you again in my reflection. I shall share with you my update in my thesis writing, and a wonderful experience of a Chinese chess game with my father-in-law this afternoon.
Thanks very much for remembering me and my family in your prayers. Julia is going to do her heart check again at Kuching this 20th March. I will be visiting my family at Miri this 15th to 20th March.
I visited my family last month, and praise the Lord I was able to visit 3 small groups of Grace Methodist, and I was very encouraged to see brothers and sisters loving Christ in their life.
Thesis Writing
Praise the Lord my thesis proposal was approved last month. I have finished writing chapter 1 (out of 6 chapters). My supervisor did a thorough reading and analysis, I am in the midst of learning to rearrange all the paragraphs of chapter 1 and writing with precision. I have almost finished chapter 2. I will try to finish the correction of chapter 1 and pass up chapter before I go back to Miri this month. My thesis is basically about developing a cross-cultural pastoral care disciple making approach. It is my mission here in STS.
Chinese Chess Game
Praise the Lord I was able to spend a solid 2 hour time with my father-in-law (95 years old) this afternoon in a game of Chinese chess. After the Chinese New Year, I thought he was not able to sit up for long, so I thought I might not have a chance to play chess with him anymore. I think this afternoon he tried to sit for a longer time by playing chess with me, he did it! I am always very keen to play with him as I can learn a lot from him in the midst of playing. I was so happy that we could play again. His mind is very powerful. He calculated every move carefully. He made no careless mistake.
From the beginning, I reminded myself not to be scared of him and I could defeat him though he is much better than me. (I told him the psychology after the game; he laughed and commended me) I played very well and I was confident of defeating him when it came to the end of the game. To summarize the finishing game, he left only one vehicle, the king, one bus, two elephants. I left one vehicle, the king, two buses, two elephants and 4 soldiers! I should beat him with the 4 soldiers and the vehicle.
He moved his vehicle around skilfully to finish my 4 soldiers. He forced a draw. I have to humbly accept it. I learn from this game a few things in sequence of their importance. Firstly, in life, I need to make full use of whatever resource I have to meet the challenges. My father-in-law moved about the vehicle skilfully and resourcefully. I had not made full use of my 4 soldiers and allow him to kill them one by one! Secondly, my father-in-law never gives up even though he seems to be losing the game. In life, I should try my best to do everything for Christ even though things at times may not look good. Thirdly, my father-in-law refused to believe that he could not sit up for long. He came up of the negative mindset and he was able to make it. I learn that I must not remain in my negative mindset. As I decide to come out of it, Christ will carry me through.
After the game, we analysed the game, I told him my miscalculations of his game, and I encouraged him about how he powerfully moved his vehicle. He reminded me that a horse could be more powerful than a cannon when it came to the final stage of the game. I did the right thing to exchange my canon with his horse. We closed the game with a prayer. I really prayed that we would meet and play chess again next Sunday.
I pray that you learn spiritual lessons even through little things in life.
A faithful disciple of Jesus,
Pastor Law Hui Seng (4th March, 2012, STS, KK)
Posted By Teresa Han
