My Dad
Today, I want to talk about my dad.
My dad is a full time staff with the Singapore Navigators, and has been for the past 25-26 years I estimate. When I was a kid, I vividly remember our little 5 room HDB flat being packed full of korkors and jiejies who would sit all over the floor of our house, with pens furiously jotting away as the listened transfixed to my dad teaching the Bible from the middle of the living room. I would be seated in someone's lap, the designated 'babysitter' for the evening, listening to my dad machine-gun rapid fire his way through a session on Psalms or Matthew and marvel at how he captured everyone's attention. As a younger man, my dad led the now-defunct Military Navigators, of which I don't have very strong memories. Subsequently, he and my mom, upon returning from further studies in South Carolina, led the student ministry at the Singapore Polytechnic. There, Saturday mornings were spent at large group sessions where the Bible was taught in conjunction with worship, small group prayer, and then long long sessions of basketball, captain's ball and soccer. Somehow, the afternoons would fade ever so quickly, and time just faded away on Saturdays.
As I grew through secondary school, I watched as my parents did marriage counselling, consulting with couples and groups of couples who met with them to pray and do Bible study, and as my dad stopped doing student ministry, I realised how much I missed having our house full of students eager to fellowship with each other, and hear the teaching of the Word. In addition, Dad started to write his series of DIY books and devotionals. They started as little memoirs of lessons he'd learnt over the years, but they quickly grew into a respectable collection of literature, which I fondly call 'toilet literature' since they were lined up for personal meditation whilst seated upon the throne. Although I never said it, and more often than not, voiced my frustration with my dad for his bad grammar and problematic sentences, I admired him for his courage and his willingness to share his life experiences and Bible knowledge. He possessed an innovative and entrepreneurial streak that I had not seen in many people - once, he even published a book of memoirs of his friend's lives and experiences in the faith, documenting their struggles and triumphs if only to encourage others to persevere in the faith. Indeed, he was "consider[ing] how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds" (Hebrews 10:24)
My dad is also a champion of books. He loves to read, and is always buying more books. Visitors to our place always comment on the soaring bookshelf that towers against the staircase to the second floor of our home, and it really is a testament of my dad's love for reading and learning. ONe legendary story records that he once found this book he really liked, and in his own quirky fashion, he went to all the LIFE bookstores in Singapore and bought the few copies of the book that remained in stock so as to give them away as gifts for others to read (since it was quite an old book,). LIFE bookstore, thinking that the book had resurged in popularity or something, ordered more copies. However, as it was an old work, it didn't sell as well, and the book's price fell steadily. My dad then gleefully bought more of the same book to give away. In any of my dad's sermons, you can be sure to see him flash a list of "recommended readings" before or after the sermon if only to publicise for good Christian literature. As it stands, his book of the month, I believe is Philip Yancey's latest book on prayer.
Through the years, my dad got involved with other things: taking on a leadership role with the Navigators serving as a senior staff, taking on the portfolio of the missions director and pioneering his idea of "missions as a second career", taking on an eldership in the church and being a strong support for our newly installed pastor, mentoring younger Nav staff, leading the church care group ministry and being responsible for a new service, developing his niche trait for training Christian mentoring, developing discipleship programs for churches and pastors as a consultant, writing more books, preaching different sunday engagements, being a dad to 4 very different children at different stages in life, being a faithful and loving husband, a fillial son, and even just faithfully leading a discipleship group of cancer patients and taxi drivers.
I see in my dad a man who had the humility to let go and trust God for his life. In my eyes, I see him as someone who wasn't afraid to recognise that our little dreams count for absolutely nothing, and the good deeds we do are but "filthy rags" in His sight. My dad likes to boast that "no other job is worth it" than doing God's work, and that even at his age, there're still so many things he's learning about his own walk.
I could go on with more anecdotes and stories about my dad, but I should stop somewhere. So I'll stop here. But let me say that my dad has been a real example for me to follow - not because he pursues success or achievements in the eyes of man, but in God's eyes. And for that, I'm immensely grateful for his life and his legacy upon mine.
My dad is a full time staff with the Singapore Navigators, and has been for the past 25-26 years I estimate. When I was a kid, I vividly remember our little 5 room HDB flat being packed full of korkors and jiejies who would sit all over the floor of our house, with pens furiously jotting away as the listened transfixed to my dad teaching the Bible from the middle of the living room. I would be seated in someone's lap, the designated 'babysitter' for the evening, listening to my dad machine-gun rapid fire his way through a session on Psalms or Matthew and marvel at how he captured everyone's attention. As a younger man, my dad led the now-defunct Military Navigators, of which I don't have very strong memories. Subsequently, he and my mom, upon returning from further studies in South Carolina, led the student ministry at the Singapore Polytechnic. There, Saturday mornings were spent at large group sessions where the Bible was taught in conjunction with worship, small group prayer, and then long long sessions of basketball, captain's ball and soccer. Somehow, the afternoons would fade ever so quickly, and time just faded away on Saturdays.
As I grew through secondary school, I watched as my parents did marriage counselling, consulting with couples and groups of couples who met with them to pray and do Bible study, and as my dad stopped doing student ministry, I realised how much I missed having our house full of students eager to fellowship with each other, and hear the teaching of the Word. In addition, Dad started to write his series of DIY books and devotionals. They started as little memoirs of lessons he'd learnt over the years, but they quickly grew into a respectable collection of literature, which I fondly call 'toilet literature' since they were lined up for personal meditation whilst seated upon the throne. Although I never said it, and more often than not, voiced my frustration with my dad for his bad grammar and problematic sentences, I admired him for his courage and his willingness to share his life experiences and Bible knowledge. He possessed an innovative and entrepreneurial streak that I had not seen in many people - once, he even published a book of memoirs of his friend's lives and experiences in the faith, documenting their struggles and triumphs if only to encourage others to persevere in the faith. Indeed, he was "consider[ing] how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds" (Hebrews 10:24)
My dad is also a champion of books. He loves to read, and is always buying more books. Visitors to our place always comment on the soaring bookshelf that towers against the staircase to the second floor of our home, and it really is a testament of my dad's love for reading and learning. ONe legendary story records that he once found this book he really liked, and in his own quirky fashion, he went to all the LIFE bookstores in Singapore and bought the few copies of the book that remained in stock so as to give them away as gifts for others to read (since it was quite an old book,). LIFE bookstore, thinking that the book had resurged in popularity or something, ordered more copies. However, as it was an old work, it didn't sell as well, and the book's price fell steadily. My dad then gleefully bought more of the same book to give away. In any of my dad's sermons, you can be sure to see him flash a list of "recommended readings" before or after the sermon if only to publicise for good Christian literature. As it stands, his book of the month, I believe is Philip Yancey's latest book on prayer.
Through the years, my dad got involved with other things: taking on a leadership role with the Navigators serving as a senior staff, taking on the portfolio of the missions director and pioneering his idea of "missions as a second career", taking on an eldership in the church and being a strong support for our newly installed pastor, mentoring younger Nav staff, leading the church care group ministry and being responsible for a new service, developing his niche trait for training Christian mentoring, developing discipleship programs for churches and pastors as a consultant, writing more books, preaching different sunday engagements, being a dad to 4 very different children at different stages in life, being a faithful and loving husband, a fillial son, and even just faithfully leading a discipleship group of cancer patients and taxi drivers.
I see in my dad a man who had the humility to let go and trust God for his life. In my eyes, I see him as someone who wasn't afraid to recognise that our little dreams count for absolutely nothing, and the good deeds we do are but "filthy rags" in His sight. My dad likes to boast that "no other job is worth it" than doing God's work, and that even at his age, there're still so many things he's learning about his own walk.
I could go on with more anecdotes and stories about my dad, but I should stop somewhere. So I'll stop here. But let me say that my dad has been a real example for me to follow - not because he pursues success or achievements in the eyes of man, but in God's eyes. And for that, I'm immensely grateful for his life and his legacy upon mine.
posted by leb at 11:34 PM
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