On the 23rd Dec, after my last day at D.light, I was looking forward to flying home on 26th Dec. But before that, I knew that there was a special Christmas in store this year - my husband and I had made the decision that I would serve in Hong Kong and he back at our church in Singapore for this Christmas - and God always honours such offerings of love to His name. And every sentence you will read here tells of God's grace:
During those last few days in Hong Kong, a Christian brother had granted me free reign of his apartment while he was overseas. I had spent my 24th Dec helping with preparations for the Christmas Lunch at the Vine church - within those 24 hours, I witnessed how God quickly provided the 62 presents we were short of. Also, God kept bringing in amazing people to help with the preparations.
I managed to wake up early on Christmas and had my breakfast at my favorite Tsui Wah before heading to the Vine. It was 9am and time to prepare for the Christmas Lunch. As scheduled, the volunteers for logistics headed out to pick up the pre-ordered ice at the nearby supermarket only to find out that they had sold it to someone else. However, by God's grace, they found the ice at a neighbouring 7-11. That morning, several new volunteers turned up - their spirit of giving and service was so evident that I just asked them to stay and mingle with our lunch guests.
As the first Christmas Service at the Vine began, we quickly found out that we had overlooked rostering teams to serve for the service! Impromptu sound crew and offertory teams were created by the regulars who just responded to the need. When it rapidly became clear we didn't have enough chairs, one of the regulars described to me where more chairs were upstairs, but I didn't really have a clear idea. It was truly the leading of God that led me straight to the cupboard where the chairs were. The logistics volunteers for the lunch jumped right in and began serving as the logistics team for the Christmas service as well.
The team for the lunch was scheduled to meet at 1045 to pray and go over the event schedule, but the service over-ran by some 20 minutes. While I was having the jitters to run an event without a briefing, we were carried forth by God's blessing that the whole event ran smoothly. There were occassions when we couldn't locate some items and people, but it all came through just in time. The saying goes that the devil's in the details, but I'm glad that so is God.
During the event, I was extremely blessed to be prayed over by our guests - most were asylum seekers, but they also included our church volunteers as well as people who didn't have anywhere to spend Christmas. When the event ended at 1530, it was also truly inspirational cleaning up the Vine with the volunteers. They weren't in a hurry to move off anywhere and just wanted to fully clean up this second home that was dear to everybody.
After cleaning up, I had some 4 hours before my supper appt with a friend flying in from India, and thought of heading home to grab the much needed forty-winks. An old friend then opened his house in town for me to rest, saving me from the long journey. I was also emotionally and mentally drained from completing my tenure in China as well as the Christmas lunch, and the Lord used those 45 minutes while I rested to restore my strength. Angels had surely ministered to me as I lay there - I found myself unable to really sleep but my entire self experienced a strange buzz and a sense of release as I laid there in His presence. Just as amazingly, my friend's mum invited me to stay for dinner. Thus I was able to have my first meal with a family, in more than 3 months, on Christmas day. And all these began from the point when God brought my friend from HK to Singapore some 8 years ago, when I met him at Living Waters Methodist Church.
For some strange reason, I was not able to meet up with my friend that Christmas night. While waiting around the area for her to call, I had the thought that it might be nice if I could bump into a volunteer from the Vine this morning. Taking in the populous nature of Hong Kong, I quickly brushed aside this thought. But I did not have to wait long - a volunteer called me on my handphone to check that I was alright - he had known that I might be alone and would be flying home the following day.
As I reflected on my blessings at Christmas that night, the phrase floated in my heart:
"Alone, and yet, not alone". For within God's kingdom and in the family of God, we will never be alone.
My Caffeine Fix
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