In loving memory of Philip Goh Toh Fook...

Yesterday the church gave Philip Goh a sending off. I want to write this down before it gets foggy and other things bog me down. Philip and Eva (Ee Wah) were the people who came alongside PCK and I when my parents-in-law first accepted Christ. They lovingly cared for them, took them for meals, ferried them to church and back for all sorts of senior citizens activities organised by the church. They drove them to cell group meetings and back, visited them regularly and were one of the people alongside the seapark chinese congregation who cared for my in laws and "fed" them spiritually as well as offered them practical love.

I am so grateful to them for their ministry to my in laws for it takes much time, effort and money to care for others in this manner. They then had young school going children and could have spent their time doing many other things but they chose to care for the senior citizens.

When my inlaws were more settled into the church life, they slowly went on to care for others and were even then already very involved in so many other ministries including the worship ministry.

It has been many years now and they had since then moved to the Puchong congregation to serve there. In the course of those years, I have had the privilege of serving alongside them in some of the churchwide worship sessions. We do not keep in touch so to speak and thus I do not know Philip or Eva well but have always held them in high esteem and they've been an encouragement to me because I see their faithfulness and passion. I also see us in a way as "rakan seperjuangan" each in our respective ministries, feeling the connection, knowing that we have things of God to do and thus do not have the time to meet one another as we would have liked to, yet not holding it against one another. I don't know exactly how to put it in words, this feeling.

When I heard the news of Philip's passing, I was stunned and immediately thought of Eva, It isn't that he was a close friend or someone I saw regularly, but being from the same church, although serving in different centres, I could still feel a deep sense of loss and sadness.

Thinking back now, I do feel some regret now, as I shall not be able to see Philip anymore here on earth and as a wife, I can only imagine Eva's loss and grief of a soul mate, friend, lover, business partner and "rakan seperjuangan" in God's Kingdom. The children were absolute gems and the way Grace, Richard and Aaron supported her throughout this time is simply beautiful! They are such pillars of strength to Eva. Even in their grief, they are able to surround their mother and one another with love and devotion.

Also, the entire family also showed up in church on sunday itself, even before Philip's funeral. Aaron served in the worship team, whilst Grace danced for the father. They also prepared a lovely multimedia presentation in memory of their dad! All the time, Richard was right beside Eva.

Philip was supposed to have worship led yesterday and the entire Puchong congregation, to me, honoured the memory of their beloved deacon and the Lord by continuing to serve in the service despite their loss.

Dear brother Philip, you are loved and shall be missed dearly!

(This entry has not been thoroughly thought through but I wanted to put in my thoughts soonest)