“Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)

I vividly recall the Sunday this “common” verse leapt at me from my hardcopy Bible as I sat listening to the sermon on Philippians 1:1-11. My fellow Elder, Caleb Chua, was preaching that Sunday, March 1, 2015.

You see, just moments earlier, while worshipping in the pew, a text came that a fellow church member, Dennis Koh Khek Cheow, had slipped quietly into glory that very morning.

Uncle Dennis with his wife and eight grandchildren taken just one month before he passed away unexpectedly in 2015.

It was an unexpected turn. Just Saturday evening he was chatting with his dear wife and family, making plans for the weeks ahead.

A week earlier, Uncle Dennis, as I called him, had celebrated his 85th birthday.

In fact, he was so looking forward to be discharged once he was deemed stable enough. First he had to cross the hurdle of a stent operation.

But his Heavenly Father decided his race was complete.  

I had visited him four days earlier on Wednesday. Strapped down by tubes to machines at his ICU bed, he could still chat with me, holding court rather energetically for a good 45 minutes. To my surprise, this rather soft-spoken man (at least, it seemed that way to me in church) started relating how he was once very angry with God. 

He detailed how he had missed securing not one but three precious scholarship opportunities – opportunities that would have made him either a pilot, engineer or doctor.

Disappointment and detour  

With the triple whammy rejections came unresolved, simmering anger which caused this young adult to drift away from church.

“Why are You so grudging to me?” he remembered hurling at God. 

Not long after, he stumbled into teaching.

After the prerequisite training, he was posted to Raffles Institution (RI), an assignment that was to last quite a number of years. One of his students, he said, included a certain lanky boy named Goh Chok Tong, who, he proudly said, still remembers him!

Change came just as he grew comfortable with his assignment. Singapore was fast developing as a fledgling nation and the education system was reviewed to address the needs then.

He was handpicked to be part of the pioneering group of teacher-trainers at VITB (Vocational and Industrial Training Board), the precursor to ITE (Institute of Technical Education). While somewhat honoured to be asked, it was a stint he didn’t think he could hack, he said.

But as it turned out, his bosses were pleased. 

Finding his way forward

That’s not all. Along the way, his CV would notch a certain “notorious” school in the Geylang area and then another school, this time a Chinese-medium one (but this Peranakan does not speak Mandarin one bit!).

He taught academic and technical subjects, sport (avid sportsman that he was) and was often assigned as discipline master. 

At this point, he paused to tell me he really enjoyed his career in education. “I accumulated experiences I wouldn’t have traded for anything else.”

And so, somehow, as he began to enjoy teaching others, his own heart was tutored. His bitterness dissipated as he returned to his senses. Before long, he would step back into church. 

“It was God who had led me each step of the way,” Uncle Dennis reflected.

For while he thought he had good plans for his life, God had a better one.

Then he looked intently at me to add: “I realised God will never ask you to be what you are NOT!” … before he steered the conversation to say he had other things that were on his mind.

I am so glad I didn’t take my leave at that convenient pause.

An appointment with God

Uncle Dennis continued about how, when he was first warded, God had immediately answered his desperate prayer one night to breathe easier. It was immediate, he said, marvelling at His Heavenly Father’s swift response.

He then told me about how it dawned on him what being a church community finally was. He was moved by members who made brief visits and prayed for him – people he would often only say “hi” and “bye” to on Sundays.

With a warm smile, his last words to me were: “I’m really looking forward to joining in the Sunday worship service again once I get my stent inserted.”

Well, God had a different venue in mind for Uncle Dennis’ worship service that Sunday. 

And sitting there at service, I couldn’t help imagine but how uncle Dennis must surely be holding court swapping stories with all the other saints there. 

One story would be that though he “missed out” on the three opportunities, his three children grew to become, would you know it, a doctor, a pilot and an engineer!  

Uncle Dennis and his wife, Doris Khoo, whom he met as a teacher. They had three children who grew up to become a doctor, a pilot and an engineer – the precise professions he had once dreamt of having as a youth.

And here’s another story – that it was precisely in the teaching profession that he met the love of his life – his wife of 58 years, Doris Khoo.

They were married on December 8, 1956, five years after his baptism on 6 August 1950, after he had repented and returned to His Creator.

The plans God has for us

As I marvel at the way Uncle Dennis’ story unfolded, I really shouldn’t be surprised.

Yet it is so easy to blink and lose that steady sight of Christ when living out this faith-by-faith, grace-by-grace venture with our loving and best-intentioned Maker.

Painful or uncertain, God’s ways are really … well, His ways.

But one thing we know, He will finish the work of maturing us into the best version of ourselves in Christ, if we but let Him (Philippians 3:12-14).

Yet, oh the stories we will swap on that Day.

Till we chat again, dear Uncle Dennis, my brother in Christ. When I think of you now and then, I will remember again not to attempt to write my own story when Someone else already is.

First published in READY (Issue 7), a publication of Bethesda Frankel Estate Church. Edited for Salt & Light.

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