When I stepped into church last Saturday night for rehearsal, the song leader for the first Sunday service was singing the Psalm where the Psalmist says that he waits on the Lord more than the watchmen wait for the morning. I just read that Psalm in English over dinner. It was a confirmation of sorts that I needed to spend more time in waiting on the Lord and praying, seeking His will for myself and the church next year. We are planning for the church's programme for 2016 and I can't put my mind into planning, partly because I was occupied in sermon preparation the whole week. I had preached 4 full sermons (Wed, Thursday, Sunday x2). I am glad my week-long annual leave is coming up again, though this time I have to go to Keningau for a day long ministry this Saturday. Although I had taken a week off in September, it was the first time that the pastor's leave was announced in church yesterday.
I was pleasantly surprised that several members wished me "Selamat bercuti" and "hati-hati". For a while I did not understand why they asked me to be "careful" but most likely, the meaning of the word, "hati-hati" is "take care" and in Malay it rhymes with the word, "cuti-cuti". I was even more surprised when an elderly member who had shared with me her dreams and asked for prayers came up to me after service and said to me, "Pastor, please don't go". She thought that the pastor was taking holidays in anticipation of a move to another ministry or place. I quickly realized that in our denomination's context, many a pastor had taken holidays (short-term) but never came back. It was a polite way of moving out without causing too much troubles or heartache to the pastor or the church family he is leaving behind. Anyhow, I was encouraged by her words. It is to these old widows, lonely and living on the margins the Lord has come to serve for He is the defender of widows and orphans.
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