BPians met for lunch

A good, old friend is in town. Brother Kock Hong was a pastor for many years in Malaysia, Singapore & the States. He did his PhD in the States & is now an associate professor of Marital & Family Therapy at Bethel Seminary San Diego. He is on a teaching trip to Malaysia & Singapore before returning to the States on Wed.

Wah Kam, Fong Yin & I met up with Kock Hong over lunch. All of us are fellow BPians. WK & FY were KH's former classmates & they had not met for some 30 years or so. As for me, how did I get to know KH? It was during my Youth Fellowship days at Saving Grace Church (as it was known then before it changed its name to Gereja Grace BP). As the then secretary of YF, I frequently invited KH to speak at our YF meetings. That was the start of our many years of friendship.

Ask any BPian, the chances are they are very passionate about their hometown. Batu Pahat is a small but vibrant town on the west coast of Johor. It used to be a quiet, sleepy town with no shopping malls, few cars & lots of bicycles during my growing-up years. In those days, almost everyone owned a bicycle as it was the only mode of transport. Today, almost every home, rich or poor, owns at least one car. No one cycles anymore. And mega shopping malls now spring up all over the town to compete for shoppers. The town is booming & the population is also growing. Batu Pahat is the 2nd largest town in the state of Johor, after Johor Bahru. And the town is affectionately known as BP by Johoreans.

Ask any Singaporean who has heard of Batu Pahat & their immediate response is usually this, "Batu Pahat is a town of talents!" Yes, BP has gained that reputation over the years. BP is known for producing doctors. There are many of them in Singapore. It was in BP that UMNO was founded in 1946. And BP produced the 3rd Prime Minister of Malaysia - Datuk Hussein Onn (his father Onn Jaafar was the founder of UMNO).

Back to my story, I am happy to have met Kock Hong today. It has been umpteen years since we last met. As one grows older, one begins to appreciate old friendships. So my advice to one & all : value your relationships with family & friends. I thank God for giving me family & friends. They are the ones who stood by me during my recent crisis.

thanks for journeying with me,
tsk tsk