Life & Faith

SOME GOOD IDEAS and insights have a way of randomly coming to us. Just like the one I had last week whilst having a meeting with a few social workers and counsellors. When asked for a suggestion to help each of them advance their professional development, I suggested that they each take one case and […]

“DO LEOPARDS CHANGE THEIR SPOTS?” It did not take long for me to realise that I was not being tested on my zoological knowledge. I was being asked about the “human form” of leopards. The inquirer wanted to know if men who strayed can ever be trusted to remain faithful again. This question is especially […]

THREE-QUARTERS WAY THROUGH THE SESSION, he let drop a bombshell. In a slow and measured way he said: “I am living under his shadow and he under mine.” His parents, both in their late fifties, looked with sadness and bewilderment at him. They had brought Calvin*, their son in his late twenties, for family counselling […]

  THESE DAYS, it is as if Darwinism has returned with a vengeance – though it is no longer “survival of the fittest” but now “survival of the smartest”. is thought drove home to me when I wondered why the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) has become such a big national event. Am I exaggerating […]

Some couples fight so regularly it is as if they, like boxers, are responding to the ringing of a bell. Some couples re-ignite their bitter fights over the most petty issues. Other couples have grown so exhausted of fighting that they just refuse to communicate or even look at each other. They simply coexist in the same home.

  WE IN SINGAPORE live in a relatively peaceful corner of the world. We have been reasonably blessed with harmonious relationships in our interaction with the various segments of the community. Our last civil strife was in the 60s, beyond the living memory of most of us. The state of harmony, however, cannot be said […]

  I RECENTLY GAVE MYSELF a little treat and made a short trip back to the “old country”. Singaporeans may have several “old countries” or countries of their forefathers, depending on how far back they trace their ancestry. For me, on my mother’s side, it is Kuching, Sarawak. My visit coincided with the Dawai or […]

  “Sometimes, differences are experienced in an obviously pointed and painful manner. When this happens, I hope we will be prepared to allow God’s grace to work in and through us to make these relationships work better.”   I OFTEN JOKE WITH MY WIFE that she is my cure for the disease of punctuality. Some […]

  A MISSIONARY WHO HAD RETURNED from the mission field was sharing with me some of the things he had observed, having lived abroad for some time. One was how accustomed we urbanites have grown to the noise around us that we do not notice it at all. It was only when he lived in […]

  LET ME BEGIN WITH A BRIEF WORD about the choice of this topic. Some might think it rather inappropriate for a Christian magazine. Others might feel rather uncomfortable about reading it. Still others might wonder if the topic of having sex should even be accompanied by the word good. All the renowned Christian writers […]

I HAVE JOURNEYED with this woman for almost 15 years now. I say “journeyed” as this is the word that can best describe my work with her over these years. It has a fuller meaning to it than the word “counsel”. How do you describe the process of walking with a person through many dark […]

  RIGHT RELATIONSHIP “We begin this process of forgiveness not based on the merits of the individual to be forgiven or even our desire to want to rebuild our relationship. We begin with the sincere desire to be in a right relationship with God.”   READERS OF MY PREVIOUS CONTRIBUTION to Methodist Message would have […]