Friends Are A Blessing From God

The whole of last week had been a crazy week. As soon as I got back at midnight of monday from the deployment of 70 Reefballs in Redang, I was besieged with calls from my project clients wanting their work copies, NOW. “Pam, write as if your life depends on it. I want an international bestseller.”……..”Pam, I need to fill the pages, get to work right away.”…….. Oh, okay. Before I could soak my dive equipment & call it a night, I had to plan out my work for the week so that I could sleep in peace.

I had to miss fellowship on Friday because of the scheduled extra rehearsal & it ended at midnight. On Saturday was a full day dedicated to students’ first pool session after which, one of them joined me for roti romalee & butter chicken dinner. Timothy & I, drowned our problems over a cup of ‘problem tea.’ I recalled the time when Tim was actively ministering in churches as well as playing gigs in jazz bars in town. He also accepted assignments from men who wanted to send a ‘live’ violinist/saxophonist in tux & all, to the office of their loved ones to present a song & flowers to them….OMG…..how lumm….. My ex & I would be present at his gigs to listen to his sax or violin playing, two instruments which I love & be filled with that tingly-all-over-sensation throughout the night. Unbeknown to me, Tim ministered to me in a way that I couldn’t be thankful enough to God for, at a time when I needed God’s touch through him. We went on diving trips together & it was at that fateful event at Tioman in 2000 that I came to know the host of my home fellowship now. Tim went to Australia to further his studies & continued to work there for 3 1/2 years. We reminisced about the time when we had pool sessions till doomsday & he couldn’t get it right; about the time when he was sitting on a bed reading & it collapsed, toppling him over; about the bright orange frog that landed SPLAT on his balding forehead…….it had been a long time since we sat down & spoke. I spoke fondly of Tim in his absence & laughed so much that it seemed like it was just yesterday when all three of us, jumped & screamed, hands flailing about at the frog on his forehead. We wept…..at the times when he mediated the rift with my ex, the time when he fasted & prayed like mad for me to have a breakthrough, the time when he upheld me in prayer when my mom had a stroke. How wonderful it is to have brothers & sisters in Christ sent in times of need to offer ministry & comfort. We wept & wept. God was with us.

Of course there were times when I was so frustrated with Tim. We had done almost 45 hours of pool sessions & he couldn’t get his confidence up…..sigh…..only from a BSAC instructor could he be so tortured. And the times when he spoke reason & sided with my ex & stood in the line of fire. He suffered as many bruises (emotionally) probably more than my ex did. We celebrated life & friendship at church when he joined me for the 11am service. So did Sen Hon. (Congratulations on being added to the Book of Life!) Much later, Sen Hon came to watch our performance with the vetting committee comprising of elders(founders) & oversight members of the church. I told him that he shouldn’t miss it since it was the only opportunity he had to see us in full costume & be presented with the meaning of Easter. He would be away to do his Divemaster course in Redang from the end of this month & would miss the actual performance. Seated right beside the aisle, on of our flag bearers swung the flag on his head & ooh, I’m sure he would change his mind about accepting Christ if he had not done so already! So much for getting people to church for an evangelistic event only to whack them for coming in! On behalf of the cast, I sincerely apologise for the blunder(though I laughed first, as usual….).

Through all our differences, exasperation, anger, impatience & error, we prevailed to preserve the fellowship with one another in Christ through prayer, acceptance & forgiveness to where God put us today. Just as every friend is sent for a time & a reason, I ask God to release them & let them come back if they value what they left behind. If not, I pray that they would experience God with other people & for His blessings upon them for all the days of their lives.