“He knew life was short, and he seized every moment of it”, says family of Jon Lau, who drowned near Pulau Bukom

On Saturday, January 30 this year, Jon Lau, 45, managing director of Strategic Data Governance and an avid fisherman, tragically drowned on a fishing trip near Pulau Bukom.

Besides being a Christian brother to many, he was a believer in bringing God’s Kingdom to the marketplace. His heart for struggling small businesses during Covid led Jon to co-found 5 Loaves & Two Fishes on Salt&Light, a database of Christian-owned F&B businesses in Singapore.

Jon’s wife, Emily, and his two elder sisters, Lynn and Valerie, pen their memories of Jon and the spiritual legacy he has left.

Jon Lau posted this on his social media feed in July 2019:  

“When Jesus died on the cross, He said, ‘My work is done’.  I believe that’s our purpose in life, to find and complete our work here.  To me, that is sufficient explanation for the duration of our lives.”

These words became so real and resonant when Jon was called Home to the Lord suddenly in a fishing accident on 30 January 2021, at age 45. 

His death triggered an outpouring of grief and tributes from friends. Since then, his family and friends have been pondering and struggling to make sense of his sudden homegoing.

Some say 45 is the prime of life. Others say this is a life cut short.

Looking back, we trace God’s hand in his life and in his business.

A life of purpose

Jon came to know the Lord as a teenager. As he entered the workplace with its highs and lows, he confided that he could not feel God. Motivated by a search for life’s purpose and God, he began to seek learning and understanding through Bible study and other courses.

Jon and his family on holiday together.

One example of Jon’s inspirations was from the TBN Conference, where he met business founders whose motivations seemed to be different from the usual business world.

TBN, or Transformational Business Network, is a platform for social entrepreneurs who seek to use business to fight poverty.

He asked these founders why they chose to start these businesses or focus on their chosen customer segment.  Often, the response was “because I am a follower of Christ”. 

The business owners aimed to be sustainable, but most often, were motivated to meet a community need, to improve the quality of lives of less privileged, or to alleviate poverty.

Jon began to be deliberate on applying what he learnt. He laid out a life purpose for himself, and he sought to be intentional about seeking opportunities to encourage others and to bear fruit.  

Jon’s love for Jesus and for his family were evident in his social media posts.

He sought reconciliation in family relationships to make up for lost years. His gentle spirit, cheerful smile and willingness to help, drew many to him.

Jon wrote in his social media: “This lifetime I try to live a life that reflects Christ and bring people to Him whenever possible, starting from my loved ones. I know God works in miraculous ways, and in His time.”  

Involving God in the busyness

Jon’s business philosophy began to focus on building relationships. He spent time with people whom he met, laying aside his agenda and offering genuine friendship when they wanted someone to talk to, or to get life advice. 

Another fellow business owner at their co-working space noted that Jon would pray for any of them whenever they were going into a client meeting. 

For another friend undergoing financial difficulties, Jon looked out for potential client referrals. Yet another owner said that Jon helped to counsel her young staff; she even joked that he was her “HR function”. 

Jon adopted an intentional approach regarding the daily busyness of tasks before us, and the danger of crowding God out of our lives. His philosophy was simple: “Just involve God in your tasks.” 

His rules for prioritising his tasks were:

• It should be Kingdom goals/have a biblical basis;
• It has to honour God;
• Prioritise family and relations;
• If it only takes 5 min to help, just do it without thinking.

Leaning on divine provision

Using his IT skills, Jon started a social media campaign to raise funds for The Autism Network children and their families to watch a locally produced movie, The Wayang Kids. In 13 days, the campaign raised enough funds to buy 1,081 movie tickets.

At the movie premiere of The Wayang Kids. Jon had raised funds for children and their families from The Autism Network to watch the locally-produced movie.

In his speech at the movie opening, he remarked that “the campaign may have touched our busy lives in small ways, but it has impacted the kids in big ways. Don’t stop doing something nice for strangers. Ultimately we benefit the most”.

During the Covid Circuit Breaker, he banded together with like-minded friends to build 5 Loaves and 2 Fishes, a web directory of F&B businesses under the saltandlight.sg banner, to encourage Salt&Light readers to patronise these businesses.

Jon’s business was an SME (small and medium enterprises). When Covid-19 hit our economy, he looked at the cup half full instead of half empty, noting that he was thankful for a time to retool and refresh.

Indeed, God provides. Jon said he was grateful that “God saved his business multiple times”, sometimes against large competitors. 

As one of his friends wrote in memory of him: Jon had discovered his life purpose because he had rediscovered the Source.

“A renewed and deep sense of love and regard for his loved ones, especially his parents, came about when he returned to the Source of that Love (1 John 4:16). And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.”

“Jon could not stop sharing that Love to all who have crossed his path since.”

Jon and his wife Emily. Just 23 days before his passing, he had sent Emily a photo, saying he was imagining her by his side.

As the grieving family tries to make sense of his sudden homegoing, we are reminded that life is measured by its strength, not its length. 

Indeed, Jon understood that.

One of Jon’s young friends related that Jon knew that time was short, sending him a Bible verse from Psalm 103 noting that “man’s days are like grass … For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting On those who fear Him”. He was motivated to live out his life for the purpose God had given him.

For those of us who remain, do we know our purpose that God has given us. Are we living it out?  That is the question we now ask ourselves.

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