my father is a carpet king...

today (22nd Feb 2011) marks my father's second year death anniversary. my emotions was well-kept i suppose. I did not want anyone to know that it has been two years since then.

My heart was not sad...i wonder why? but somehow i would remember this important day that my father passed on. is it a case that my father was with the Lord and therefore i am not so sad, but rather rejoice that the fact, that he is with the Lord?

I have fought the good fight, I have run the race and I have kept the faith...2 Tim 4:7. this verse was the verse I picked for myself and for my father as a sign of God's faithfulness.

It is not just an reminder for me, but it expresses God's faithfulness in my father's life. I guess with whatever my father has done in the past, he still know that the Lord Jesus Christ is his Lord and Savior at the end of the day. And this is due to the faithfulness of God.

My father was a pastor at Butu Pahat in Johor Bahru when he was in his younger days. He was trained theologically, he love the Lord, so much so that he went to M'sia at a tender age to preach Christ and Him crucified. I wonder how he is like when he preaches. Does he preaches with a fiery and dramatized voice?

His nickname was "carpet king", this was given to him because of this statement said of him when he was very successful and earned a reputation of selling carpet. "Anyone who can sell God can sell carpet!" Wow! What a compliment that was said of my father. But from this statement, one could read quite a lot into it.

why do i say so? assumption taken is that my father is a very eloquence and persuasive preacher in his younger days. if not, he would not be able to sell so much carpet that people gives him this nickname. or other people presumed that he is able to sell carpet with one experience of preaching the gospel.

i do appreciate that my father is a carpet king however, I appreciate what he passed down to me at a very tender age. when i was staying with him, he often read the bible with me, explaining to me patiently about God and Christianity. he prayed with me, share with me many biblical life example from the Bible. I did not know what impact he has made until i reflect and think about the past.

He is not just a father per se, but he teaches me the way of the Lord since i was young, a strong foundation in my growing up years. i still remember bible stories so well that i ever won bible quiz in my primary school. i could answer it well. all these is done out of love from my father, Tan Hung Leng, Raymond. He does not come across as a spiritual giant in my life, sadly, but I think in a way, to know that he was a pastor in his younger days, helps me to be focus on God's ministry in a way and set me thinking about my future ministry.

on 25th Feb 2009, I committed myself to the Lord into the ministry of word and sacrament, it was not a decision influenced by my father and his past, but it has been in my heart coming to Trinity Theological College to study. God was the one who convicted my heart, was the one who challenged my heart for his flock, his ministry and the lost. more importantly of all, "i want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain the resurrection from the death." (Phil 3:10-11)

My prayer as I enter ministry soon...pls pray for me if you are reading this entry...

O Lord, reveal to me your heart for your people and challenge my heart to do likewise.
O Lord, reveal to me the depth of your love through Your Son, Jesus Christ.
O Lord, reveal to me what you have install for me and reveal it to me in your own timing.
O Lord, reveal to me what it means to be humble before the authority of God's word as i preach Your holy and living word.
O Lord, reveal to me your grace that is always sufficient for me.
O Lord, reveal to me the fullness of Your glory.
O Lord, change my heart, to be like Yours through the Holy Spirit.
Amen.