Dear Brethren,

“Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments.” Psalm 119:164

I want to testify of the Lord’s goodness and grace in my recent trip to Kemaman in Terengganu Malaysia to preach God’s Word at the worship service of Kemaman Life BP Church on 28 February 2014. Indeed like the Psalmist, there is so much to praise God and be thankful for His mercies which endure forever.

Often our hearts grow cold and indifference to the Lord because we have lost the flame of gratefulness in our hearts to the Lord. We have failed to see His goodness and taken God for granted. Let us always be grateful children of God and in everything give thanks to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

My first thanksgiving for this Kemaman trip was the realization that I was given the wrong coach ticket. When it was passed to me by a brother with my name written on the ticket, I happily took it and then kept it with my passport at home. I just glanced at the date and it was the right date to depart on Thursday 27 February. The Lord touched my heart to check on the ticket a few days later. It was never my usual practice as I had already safely kept the ticket. To my surprise, when I looked carefully at the time of departure, it was 9.45am. My right time of departure was 9.45pm.

I quickly emailed Dr and Mrs Wee in Kemaman of the mistake. After checking, we realized the Chinese speaker who was scheduled to depart on 9.45am had taken my ticket scheduled to depart at 9.45pm. In fact, the Chinese speaker did not check the ticket and had presumed he had the right ticket till Dr and Mrs Wee told him of it. Praise the Lord! I cannot imagine what would have happened for both of us reaching the Larkin bus station to realize we had the wrong ticket on hand. The Lord is truly good and wonderful.

The second thanksgiving was to be able to reach Larkin bus station in JB before 9.45pm. I left work at 7pm on Thursday 27 February to catch an express bus from Queen Street to Larkin. I kept praying as I did not know the traffic condition to the causeway and also any delay in the custom. The Lord gave me the peace of heart even with the experience of delay along the journey. Praise the Lord that I reached Larkin station at 9.40pm with 5min to spare before the coach departs to Kemaman.

The third thanksgiving is to be awake at Kemaman stop to alight. There were preachers who overslept and ended up far away from Kemaman. I know that I am a heavy sleeper and can sleep in almost any condition. I thank God for good sleep that I have everyday and anywhere. Travelling alone to Kemaman is a big concern for me as I do not know if I could wake up when the coach arrives at Kemaman.

I told the bus driver to wake me up at Kemaman although I know most of the time, they would not bother about it. I set my HP alarm at 3.30am though I do not know what time the bus would arrive. I did my human responsibility and then prayed and immediately I dozed off around 10pm. Thank God for a most wonderful sleep that I only opened my eyes around 3.15am. I had a really good sleep and I could stay awake till about 4.15am when the coach finally arrived at Kemaman. Praise the Lord for His goodness to enable me to be awake when the bus arrived at Kemaman.

The fourth thanksgiving is to have God’s strength to preach at Kemaman worship service. On that night of the worship service which starts at 8pm, there was a very rich man’s son’s wedding in Kemaman who invited about 2000 people in Kemaman to attend the wedding. Many Church members had to make a decision to attend the wedding or the worship service. Sadly, for that night worship service, only 6 attended the English worship service. I was not disheartened by the number and by the grace of God, I preached the same way to the congregation with all my heart and conviction. The Lord has taught me to preach trusting in the Lord and for His glory whether there be 6 or 60 or 600 in the congregation. Indeed, blessed be the name of the Lord for His strength. In addition, there was someone in the congregation of 6 people, who needed this message from God’s Word. I just want to praise God for using me.

Last, but not least, it is to thank the Lord for safe journey home back to Singapore taking the night coach on Friday at around midnight and arriving back to Singapore on Saturday morning.

“The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.”
Psalm 121:8

Elder John Leong