faces of Melaka

an update

The year is drawing to a close and comes with it the thought that perhaps I should write something after a long period of silence. This past month was a mixture of rest and work. Thank God for the rest! We made a trip up to Melaka, the historic town in Malaysia that shares something with Edinburgh: it is on the UNESCO world heritage list as is Edinburgh. (Some pictures later.) The few years in UK instilled in me an interest in history, and we took time to look in greater detail at the historic sites and museums there. In terms of work, looming is the on-going preparation for the three subjects that I would be teaching in the coming term: Research & Report Writing, Acts of the Apostles, and the World of the Early Church Fathers, especially of Athanasius. The last of the three subjects takes me out of my comfort zone of the New Testament. It has been an interesting journey into the world of the church fathers so far. Besides these weekly/fortnightly offerings for Jan to April, I also bear in mind a translation work for the NET Bible notes that is quite overdue, an article to an online journal "Testamentum Imperium", and preaching and seminars to be conducted. Added anxiety comes from the need to arrange a place to stay in the coming months, and a health check-up scheduled in February. But isn't 1 Peter 5:7 a helpful instruction to such concerns? More interestingly, the "three muskeeteers" here from THECE ("Theologically Hopeful Ethnic Chinese in Edinburgh", if you don't know what that means) look forward to a visit by the originator of the group (or of its name) on 7-9 January. Though it is a short visit, we hope to have some time to meet.