God meant for good

I’m not bitter.
Surprisingly.

The usual me would have been.
Even mad.
Anger erupting.
Behaviour annoying.

But not this time.

My travel plans were completely upended.
Schedules messed up.
People, couldn’t meet.

——x——x——

It all started well.

I had a couple of days of Hong Kong clay pot rice with 3/4 of a bottle of red one dinner and a couple of beers the other.

Then the whole next day extravaganza with a very good friend in Yuen Long, Tst E, and Queensway.
Pretty much free flow red and white.
All good.
No harm done.

Off to Macau to be with siblings.
Excellent Kwan Kei dishes of course required exquisite red, shared.

Then Johnny Walker Black stared at me in the supermarket on the way back to the hotel.

I hadn’t had whiskey for close to a year so it was hard to turn down an old friend.
So back in my room began our reunion.
Just normal quantity.

The next day same routine.
It was only less than half bottle gone.
Normal consumption.

Fortune turned at night.
Or God started to work good.

Throughout the night frequent bathroom visits made sleep impossible.
Worse, urine refused to come out.

I was just at walking distance to the public hospital so in the morning I checked myself into A&E.

A fateful visit.

Catheter was needed.
Pain though brief was unforgettable.
What followed, tethered to a bag, was absolutely humiliating, painful, and behaviour modifying.

I walked gingerly like an old patient, fearful of any mishap that might rip off the catheter.
The thought of it alone was disabling.

Everywhere I went, even in the hotel room, I had to carry the bag and couldn’t afford to forget it.
Even being able to sleep with the tube tethered to me without incident was an achievement.
My perception of freedom completely reordered.

Funny I didn’t feel bitter.
Nor angry.
Perhaps just overwhelmed.

But now I realise why.

——x——x——

There was good that came out of pain.

First, of the three places on my itinerary—Hong Kong, Macau and Osaka, if anything to happen, there was no place better than Macau.
-  Japan, a foreign country whose medical bill must be prohibitively steep.
-  Hong Kong, I’m entitled to resident’s medical but the back and forth to hospital would have been quite taxing. Besides, getting good care would be difficult.
-  Macau, as resident I have access to free medical including hospital and prescription medication. And it was within walking distance to the hospital. Plus there was Kwan Kei to take care of catering!
His ways are above my ways.
Even in administering pains to bring out good.

There’s also good above the level of money and sustenance.

——x——x——

It’s love amongst siblings.

The next day after I had the catheter, my younger brother arrived. He was to be here anyway to collaborate with me on a family project, and of course to enjoy good foods with me at Kwan Kei. But the way I was, he stayed with me in our double bed hotel room.

It was the good that came out of my misery.
It was the reason for my not feeling bitter with life.
It was, with hindsight, I’m sure the purpose of my pains.

Later I learned that catheter wasn’t meant to be used for so long.
But in my case inexplicably doctors had a public holiday,
and couldn’t afford an appointment with a urologist for 12 days after the catheter was put in.

Throughout this prolonged period, with the exception of a couple of days, my brother looked after me.
He bought breakfast, delivered Kwan Kei’s dinner, bought water, and even fetched items in the room for me.
All because I was his brother.

We’ve been brothers for close to 70 years.
I’ve been the absent elder brother unavailable when my brother was having challenges in school and then later, struggles in his life.
Personal responsibility and autonomous personhood were my excuses.
Deep down I felt I didn’t do enough.

But my younger brother is a good person of tender character.
He didn’t hold that against me.
Had pity on me.
Stayed and looked after me.

For all the pain I suffered, it was one of the “good”.
I realised I have a good brother who loves me.

And, of course Kwan Kei who made sure tasty and nutritious dishes kept coming.
Plus other necessities a patient would need.

Siblings.

——x——x——

That was the one good.
Yet there was another one.
On a higher level.

I have four sisters and one brother; only one sister has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
I desired for them to believe in Jesus Christ but I haven’t been fervent and consistent enough. So over the past three years, I resolved to praying for my siblings’ salvation.
I had no idea how but just mentioned their names daily.

Little did I know my pain and being tethered several days created the occasion for my brother to hear the Gospel in a church whereas in the past there was never a chance for that.

On a Sunday I asked my brother to accompany me to walk across from the hotel to attend worship service.
He readily agreed, wanting to make sure I was ok, I am sure.

So we attended the service.
After hymns, there was a skit, encouraging the audience to try something new.
Then a lady gave a testimony about the blessings she experienced after believing in Christ.
Then came the sermon on just one verse: John 5:24—“I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.” (New Living Translation)
There was no clearer message than John 5:24.

What I had thought as the usual Christian Sunday worship was actually a Gospel Sunday!
And even the bulletin didn’t print it out!

More surprises.

All the persons serving that Sunday, from singers, skit players, testimonial, and the preacher were all not from that church——rather, they were a team on short term evangelistic mission from a church in Hong Kong.
They were just there in Macau for that weekend doing outreaches!

And as if God’s humour had not been manifested enough in me tethered to a urine bag, that visiting church from Hong Kong was the least likely church I would have voluntarily attended had I known.
That was the first Protestant HK church that hanged a Communist China flag in the sanctuary on 1st of October.
That was the first church that openly advertised that it was set up to cater to “blue Christians” and boasted of attendees from police.
The pastor was a former police inspector.
The name: Trinity Theological Baptist Church.

I believe in surprises.
But so many coincidences point to one thing: someone orchestrates events.

As if God was saying, “I have my will and purpose in things, including and despite of your dislikes of people and pains.”

The good that He brought through the misery I experienced hopefully would bring my brother and other siblings good at a spiritual level.

——x——x——

Finally there’s a good that I still am reluctant to accept hoping for more leniency: I have not had a single drop of alcohol since that fateful day!
And I’m begging that it was just God’s humour to administer a temporary injunction, leading to moderation.
For it was really decoloring and de-appetising looking at good dishes yet couldn’t accompany them with a little spirit.
Afterall, hard as it was, though I recognised that Suntory whiskey would be too ambitious, I did obey the injunction to consume tempura and sashimi without either Sake or Asahi.

——x——x——

I hope that reading this long blog you will get the sense that God meant for good, just as Joseph says in Gen 50:20—“You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.” (New Living Translation)

Not only that, God brings about good in a most surprising, benevolent and even humorous way teaching people to be humble and to rest on His plans and wisdom.

As a fitting close to this piece, let me share how I felt God was humorously but kindly dealing with me.

Before I set out on this trip I checked out from library a little book which I had bought decades ago but couldn’t gather enough patience to finish.
I was intending to read it on planes or trains.
I was 3/5 into the little book when I had the catheter.

The book was the classic by C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain.