From Left - Chong Leang, Thean Khee, Heok Hee, Heok Cheow, Andy Thum
Once upon a time, long long time ago, back in the good old days, these "five wise guys" spent a lot of their waking hours together. Significant time was spent eating, talking, singing the blues BUT actively serving the Lord too. Back in our bachelor days, our blues were mainly about our girlfriends. It has been said that, of all God's creation, women were the hardest to understand and to comprehend. Therefore, many times our little "congregational conversations" were about the near impossibility of knowing what our girlfriends want and why the "dark cloud"! (If you cannot understand what "dark cloud" means in our context please talk to Yeoh Thean Khee. Search for him on the facebook.)
Actually, our regular meeting up for supper after tucking our girlfriends to bed was very therapeutic indeed. These sessions helped Andy through his bout of gastritis due to self-inflicted hunger because he could not eat and sleep over girlfriend issue!
It was also very helpful to Thean Khee because his girlfriend has been pursued by some unabashed suitor! He needed the encouragement, a listening ear, a broad shoulder, and whatever hope we can give to him!
Heok Hee had a long distance relationship. His girlfriend was hundreds of miles away from home, somewhere in the down-under state of Johor, studying to be a teacher. He needed some company to ward off his loneliness. We often caught him in his room reading love letters from her! On the side note (because he would not let us read the letter) we suspected that she might have returned his letter with the scribble of a red ink pen and a bold-letter note at the end of the letter "PLEASE SEE ME!" Of course, it's just our speculation!
Chong Leang and his girlfriend were the perfect couple! You see them you see music all over. They were like hand-in-glove OR should I say like the black and white keys of a piano - flow in and flow out! If there was any dissonant sound in their partnership we didn't hear about it - a very well kept secret! Anyway, for most of us, we were tone deaf, to begin with.
It won't be fair if I didn't say something about the man with an "all round" ministry. His girlfriend issue was like our Malaysian four seasons - hot, very hot, terribly hot, and stinking hot. Most of the explosions were the result of his stubbornness. Hokkien said, "ka kee cho kwei lai" (loosely translated - he creates the mess all by himself). Thank God it was only the initial stages of their relationship. I was told that he had to work very hard to regain her trust. He prevailed in the end. They got married after 6 long years!
So you see, these five wise guys have a lot in common and a lot to sing the blues about. So it says - birds of the same feathers flock together. All of us, after close to 40 years of friendship, we took this photo at Heok Hee's 60th birthday dinner. We were all married to the love of our lives. We raised wonderful children who called us blessed. Some of us are grandpas now or going to be soon!
We stick together like brothers. We serve God together until today. We see our children serving God. Praise the Lord.
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