After The Storm Has Passed...

Light behind the clouds In the month of December, the rains usually beat down not only in the east coast where the north east monsoon hits but also here in the city. December is also a month where I pull out my comforter & extra fleece to feel all warm & cozy. Somehow, the Yuletide season brings forth that fuzzy feeling where everything feels like winter & hot chocolate is the order of the day. As moths & such seek refuge in my humble abode, I sit on my futon sofa, snuggled up in my leopard print fleece to read the book of Ruth in the Bible. I have never been a fiction reader. I preferred factual & informative scientific books. What a nerd, no wonder I need glasses now. My second older sister used to summarise the stories from Sydney Sheldon, John Grisham & the likes of them to me once she finished with them & I would look forward to the times when she tells them, the way she seems to bring the stories alive with her intonation & the suspense of the drama & the build up to the finale’. As an appreciative audience, I would leave her to her novels once I soak in her presence long enough not to irritate her but to let her know that she would be missed when I leave her alone to read. Sometimes I get impatient & pester her for the excerpt but she always manages to keep the suspense by giving me teasers & trailers. The book of Ruth is a wonderful love story of the loyalty of a widow towards her mother-in-law that led her to find favour with the man whom she eventually marries. When Naomi’s husband & two sons died, she released her two daughters-in-law to find their way back to their homeland but while one did, Ruth chose to remain, eats what Naomi eats, live where she lives & serve the God whom she served. She was determined to continue the journey with her to Bethlehem. Ruth chose to be an alien & endured the resistance of the locals when she could have been well accepted in her own homeland. Aren’t we all here to find favour with each other? What good would I be if I were not of any use to my friends? What good of a friend would I be, if I fail to listen…? What good would I be if I don’t know how to make others happy? I would never have imagined that my life would be lived like how the novels presented them. I’m no Ruth but I sure would like to fall in love the way she did…! The reason why my sister enjoys novels & why I like to watch love stories is to be lost in the sea of emotions that encompass me, something we don’t really get in real life. Even in the bleakest of moments, when the storm passes, the rays that break through the clouds always remind me of God’s presence as I watch Him project the silver lining…..

Langkawi At Present

View from a hotel in Kuah, Langkawi I was up in Langkawi to teach a bunch of regional corporate bigshots how to build an artificial reef using Reefball which would benefit the poorer fishing community in Pulau Tuba, off Langkawi. Not only did I hurt my back from those low-roofed speed boats skimming & bumping over choppy seas, I also forgot to get chocolates for Divemuster. We stayed one night & spent the next day roaming the village, observing & talking to fishermen/women & shopping for Christmas presents. Of course, being the city bumpkin that I am, I got acquainted with the ducks, geese & buffaloes too! Not that difficult, just talk to them, shoot & run for your life…! River running just before the fishermen village, Langkawi. Life was so laid back that if I had lived there, I think my brain would regress. The pace of life is slow & unyielding. I may be the most hurried person but the Langkawians wouldn’t give two hoots. To get something delivered, you have got to plan days in advance to allow for late delivery. Having learnt our lesson from previous liaisons with the people, we planned this event months ahead. Searching for a masseuse was a futile effort. They don’t work before 10am & you can’t find any in town. The ones at the beach look dodgy & the reggae bar at Pantai Cenang swung to the beat of junkies. Hmmm….is this going to turn into another Koh Tao or Koh Samui? Parked boats at the mouth of the river, Langkawi Thai woman fishing using a super contraption! Back then when life was so much simpler, the only discotheque on the island was D’5 at Delima Resort; ice blended coffee was only available at Pantai Tengah; the wooden & thatched roofed Oasis Bar had good food & great company that ran the Crab Cracking Cruises on a yacht; Mokhtar’s Breakfast Bar had the best fried eggs & roti canai with everyone you know having their first meal of the day; the only traffic hazard was the invisible herd of buffaloes crossing the road at night, the solitary traffic lights junction at Kuah was the marvel of the islanders & visitors and the streets were dark.
Conventional fishing, this man caught only a few... Now D’5 is gone, Oasis had become a concrete building called Lighthouse, there are more traffic lights which means more cars and Mokhtar has died of cancer. Sigh….the only remnants of my days in Langkawi as a dive guide are the eagles & the rice fields amidst the azure green sea. Ah, the fishermen remain too….

The clumps & patches of clouds across the sky exposing the lonely lunar...... The montage of food! Christmas dinner at Chit's

What Christmas Was

Christmas tree worms celebrate Christmas their entire lives!!! I had just missed the moment by 5 minutes. An abduction attempt was made on a woman by four assailants with a fleeing car at the spot where I parked & alighted. When I got into my cellgroup leader’s house in Bandar Utama, I was confronted with a tensed group of members who just rescued the woman. She was my leader’s sister. As bluntly as my leader put it, “There you are, Pam! You missed the attempted kidnap by 5 minutes. You should have been taken instead so you can put them in their places!” (I hope I did not misinterpret what he said as a statement of rejection…) And I replied, “Yes! I’ll convert all of them!” It was a time of celebration for the season & a feast of sorts were dished out by members of my home fellowship to make the ‘pot-bless’ a reason to gather. We don’t believe in luck. My leader said grace & I gave my thanks in a silent prayer that I was not the one to experience the ordeal. To think that I missed my alarm to wake up at the time I was supposed to prepare a dish, I rushed through the food preparation to make it there on time. However, my usual route was congested so I veered off another way only to find congestion there too. Being the first one to arrive each week, this was the first time I didn’t feel bad for being late. Yet another divine intervention….. Christmas meant giving pressies & receiving surprises from loved ones. I got a pair of binoculars to bird watch AND bird watch….. It’s a time for turkey & mince pies. It’s also time to get away to celebrate my birthday which comes three days after… (Hint! Hint!) Somehow, this year would be the first Christmas I would not be performing for the church musical. During this time each year, I’d be getting into character, remembering lines, talking to myself while driving & getting ready, both mentally & spiritually, to face the crowd. What people get to see on stage is a played down version of my character. What they don’t get to see is the spiritual warfare that goes on for months leading up to the play itself. Before I took on a role in the performing arts, I had never dreamt that I would be serving in this capacity but somehow God has lead me to use the skills I’d learnt walking down the catwalk & being groomed to become beef to bring the good news to the weary. What can I say? This was not my intended vocation but an accidental one & I’m enjoying it! So I am here. I’ve shelved my plans to visit the islands of Thailand because some Thai guy predicted another quake that would send another tsunami our way. Not that I believe in his prediction but if disaster strikes, I would like to help CREST again. Last year I cancelled my trip to Koh Lipe & escaped the tsunami on Boxing Day because I took up the offer to perform for New Year’s Eve. With God allowing such to happen, perhaps it’s time to heed the message of the Christmas that had been…..

An orchid along the path of my walk with God at Lake Gardens, Kuala Lumpur.