A pleasant surprise
A pleasant surprise
I was pleasantly surprised today - as I opened my mailbox to retrieve what the postman had deposited. It was a Christmas card, addressed to my name, and all the way from Australia!! For a while, I thought it was my ex-colleague who's studying there right now who had sent me this card, and I wonder how did she ever figure out my address ...
As I unseal the envelope, I had an even greater surprise =) It was a card from my ex-Sunday School student, who's now a young adult residing in Canberra and working for the Australian Bureau of Statistics ... the first surprise was the Christmas card received - in this technological age, you hardly receive any hand-written card anymore!! The second surprise was he still had my address with him when I gave it to him a few years ago ... the third surprise was the wonderful encouragement he gave me in his updates to me ... all surprises - PLEASANT, heart-warming and encouraging =)
I don't think it's appropriate for me to blog about what he wrote, but in a nutshell, I was so encouraged by the fact that this young man who was once such a shy, quiet boy have now grown to be so God-fearing and compassionate. When I taught him then, he hardly had anything to comment, or anything to say in class. Now he's telling me that he's speaking in schools and churches about a child sponsorship program to raise the awareness of poverty in third-world countries. He has also led teams in this program, and I believe faithfully playing keyboard as a fragrant offering to the Lord still. He has grown much in his confidence and is such a fine young man now. Although he's in Australia for many years, but he has never forgotten his ex-church members back in this little red dot, and those who he had served alongside with in the music ministry. As I read what he wrote, my heart is just filled with so much of thanksgiving - somehow, in that instant, I could identify with the apostle Paul as he wrote with thanksgiving, the letters to his spiritual children.
Yes, I thank God for this pleasant surprise, and I thank God for the way He has watched over SO even though we are miles apart. I definitely hope I can visit Australia one of these days and have a good time of catching up with him - I'm sure his sharing will bring much blessings and encouragement to me ... =)
I was pleasantly surprised today - as I opened my mailbox to retrieve what the postman had deposited. It was a Christmas card, addressed to my name, and all the way from Australia!! For a while, I thought it was my ex-colleague who's studying there right now who had sent me this card, and I wonder how did she ever figure out my address ...
As I unseal the envelope, I had an even greater surprise =) It was a card from my ex-Sunday School student, who's now a young adult residing in Canberra and working for the Australian Bureau of Statistics ... the first surprise was the Christmas card received - in this technological age, you hardly receive any hand-written card anymore!! The second surprise was he still had my address with him when I gave it to him a few years ago ... the third surprise was the wonderful encouragement he gave me in his updates to me ... all surprises - PLEASANT, heart-warming and encouraging =)
I don't think it's appropriate for me to blog about what he wrote, but in a nutshell, I was so encouraged by the fact that this young man who was once such a shy, quiet boy have now grown to be so God-fearing and compassionate. When I taught him then, he hardly had anything to comment, or anything to say in class. Now he's telling me that he's speaking in schools and churches about a child sponsorship program to raise the awareness of poverty in third-world countries. He has also led teams in this program, and I believe faithfully playing keyboard as a fragrant offering to the Lord still. He has grown much in his confidence and is such a fine young man now. Although he's in Australia for many years, but he has never forgotten his ex-church members back in this little red dot, and those who he had served alongside with in the music ministry. As I read what he wrote, my heart is just filled with so much of thanksgiving - somehow, in that instant, I could identify with the apostle Paul as he wrote with thanksgiving, the letters to his spiritual children.
Yes, I thank God for this pleasant surprise, and I thank God for the way He has watched over SO even though we are miles apart. I definitely hope I can visit Australia one of these days and have a good time of catching up with him - I'm sure his sharing will bring much blessings and encouragement to me ... =)
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