A Letter to My Ex-Schoolmates

I've been keeping in touch with some of my secondary schoolmates recently and learnt that many bad news were happening around them, back in Malaysia or Singapore. On the other hand, I also feel joyful when I realised some of my friends are converted to Christianity a few years ago. I've decided to form a prayer chain within my Christian schoolmates and this is what I wrote to them (although now I feel I have overeacted, I hope I've done the right thing):

Dear Buddies,

First of all, this is not a junk mail. This is an email from your “long lost friend” --- This is Choon Ming, your secondary school mate!!! As if anyone of you could remember. : )

A brief update from myself, I’m currently doing my final year PhD in Chemical Engineering in Imperial College London in England and hope to finish everything by end of this year. Let me get back to the main issue that I want to address.

I have absolutely no idea what are you guys and gals up to at this moment, which part of the world you are in and what are you busy confronting with. However, you must have found one thing we all have in common, I hope --- our belief.

I was curious and came across with this fact that out of 57 names in our 4s1 yahoo’s address list, only 9 of us here are saved in the name of Christ, which is equivalent to 15.8%. I was also having this conservation with Siew Wai a while ago and we had nice sharing on our belief. We finally realise there are many sad things happening around our beloved chonghwarian classmates:

(1) Many of them are now professionals back in KL or Singapore. However, they live in a rat-race working life style without realising the purpose of life. Paying mortgage, study loan or debts seem to be the only concern and success is only judged by numbers in the bank account.

(2) We share the joy that some of the couples got married recently, on the other hand, some of them are facing serious relationship problem, some of them got hurt and wasn’t ready to get up again.

(3) Holiness – I think this is the main issue to be honest. Premarital sex with partners, cohabiting issue and probably adulteries don’t only headline the media, but these are seriously happening on our beloved close friends. The outcome of these issues is disastrous and often agonizing.

I hope we can all pray for them (whether or not you know the individuals) for the above issues. We pray that they will soon realise the only way, the truth and the life. We pray that one day they will be set free, we pray that one day they will receive the salvation, with the mercy of God. We pray that they will come to Christ soon.

This might sound like a ridiculous email to you. But deep in my heart, I think we should pray desperately for them. I seriously share the compassion of Apostle Paul:

Roman 1: 14-17
I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome. I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."

I’m not sure whether I should use we are “obligated” to them. What I know is I once was lost, but now am found. If God hasn’t given up on person like me, why should we give up on them?

Let’s pray for them, the least thing that we can do.

Hope everyone is well.

God bless,
Ming