Hi all, this is
a life truly dedicated to living for God. His name is Kenny. And a friend,
Vincent, posted this short narrative of his life below:-
“Kenny was
diagnosed with cancer in December 2009. A few months later he wrote:
“It did not
paralyze or frighten me, thinking that I might die. I did not think, ‘Why me?’
nor was I tempted to blame God. My focus is to be Christ-like. In the midst of
physical limitation there is still the assurance that God can be glorified
through weakness.”
Kenny had a
rough introduction to life. His father left the Singapore police to join the
triads, he was smoking at the age of five, brought up with gangs and drug
dealers. Thrown out of the house, he slept in cemetries.
In December 1977
he gave his life to Christ through the Hiding Place’s ministry in Singapore,
the same day the Doulos began her maiden voyage. Two years later Kenny was on
board, serving initially in the deck department, as evangelism coordinator and
in line-up.
Bee Lee joined
the Doulos in the same batch. They were married in 1985 and rejoined the ship
together. Debbie was born two years later while Kenny was busy with line-up in
Singapore. In the following years they lived some time in Singapore where Kenny
worked with his home church and then six more years on the Doulos.
In February 2002
the Gan family moved to England. Kenny served with George Verwer in Special
Projects as co-Team Leader — spending increasingly lengthy periods away
preaching and teaching in Iceland, Canada, Cambodia and many other countries
where his ministry and testimony touched many lives.
In 2010 Kenny
discovered he had nose cancer and the family returned to Singapore for radio
therapy.
Though
increasingly weak and in pain, he had the joy of seeing Debbie married to Jacob
in June 2012. He continued to preach, returning from Australia and the
Philippines shortly before he died in November 2012.”
Below is my
thoughts on Kenny’s life:-
“... and
Nietzsche said that there isn't any interesting people in Heaven. He was dead
wrong. Kenny was not only interesting, to put it mildly, he was also deeply
inspiring.
I always ask
myself, we will die one day, that's a safe bet. The question is: will we ever
start to live? And if we do, what do we live for? Here’s where my musing took
flight.
The godly live
for god. The ungodly live for themselves. The romantics live for love. The lost
live one day at a time. The optimists live with hope. And the hopeless live
without. Every life live in its own way, on its own terms. So many ways to
live, but only one way to die. The heart ceases to beat and a life returns to
its pit.
Surely, if
there's only one way to die, there must also be only one way to truly live. But what is it?
People like
Kenny holds the key. In living, he stayed hopeful. And in dying, he remained
faithful. In the words of Bill Clinton, as he paid the highest tribute to
mother Teresa, "how do you argue
with a life so well lived?"
I guess St
Francis of Assisi was spot on when he said, "Preach the gospel at all
times and when necessary use words." Maybe we talk too much about living
and live too little on our talking. Maybe Nike has a point, "just do
it." In our context, it is "just live it."
I am deeply
inspired by Kenny's life because there's something about his life that makes a
difference in mine. I guess people like him leaves behind a legacy for us to
follow, a template for living. One martyr for God said, "you need our
faith to find your own."
That is our
common hope and strength. You see, I can watch a 30-mins sitcom and laugh for a
while. I can listen to a heartfelt rendition and be touched for days. But I
cannot learn about common folks like Kenny with uncommon faith, even to the
end, and not feel a lack in my spirit or a surge of hope in my soul.
I recall one
church leader was asked this, "Why does God allow so many of his people to
be persecuted?" The reply, accompanied with a smile, was this, "Maybe
so that people like you can see what true Christianity looks like."
Honestly, I have
seen what true Christianity looks like and I tremble at its cost. But as one
Chinese pastor consoles, "We may not all sit on the same thorn, but we all
sit on the same branch."
I guess that's
what it means by a life well lived. It is not only in our willingness to die
for God. It is also in our willingness to live on for Him. I know it's obvious but
many forget that living for Him is as hard as dying for Him. We stand in awe of
the dying and wish to emulate them but we forget about those who have to live
on because dying is not even an option.
The fight to
live and the fight to die for God is what true Christianity is all about. And I
quietly respect Kenny for winning on both fronts, for completing the race, and
for spurring us on. While his work on earth is done, ours is not and this
should be cause enough for us to fight on.
I end with Romans 14:8 as I continue my own fight
to live for Him, "If we live, we
live for the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or
die, we belong to the Lord." Cheerz.
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