Maybe I am at the wrong place …

Last Friday, I was sitting at the back in the worship hall at Singapore Bible College (SBC) waiting for the seminar to start. The seminar was supposed to be for pastors, church leaders and theological school professors.

A man came and sat beside me, curious to find out who I am.

Stranger: Hello, I am from Covenant Presbyterian Church. Where are you from?

Me: Hi, I am from Bethany Presbyterian Church.

Stranger: Where is it?

Me: Somewhere in Upper Paya Lebar Road, near Lorong Ah Soo.

Stranger: Are you a pastor?

Me: No, just an ordinary guy.

Stranger: (with a look of unbelief) Ya, ya, a missionary?

Me: No, just an ordinary guy. You’re from Covenant right? Rev Keith Lai, Edwin Wong’s church, right.

Stranger: (start to panic) How you know them? How, ah?

Me: (smile)

Stranger: (looking more curious)

Me: (I think I should put him at ease) Rev Keith Lai & Edwin Wong preach at my church before, lah!

Stranger: (finally a convince look that I am really an ordinary guy. Followed by a “why-are-you-here-then” look)

Stranger shifted his seat.

May be I am at the wrong place. It was an open seminar by Dr Gordan Smith, Professor at Regent College, Vancouver. The topics of his talks were Christian maturity in the morning and Assessing spiritual formation in the afternoon. Ordinary guy like me has no place for the afternoon session. I just wanted to be kaypoh and learnt how so-call spiritual giants assess us ordinary guys in our spiritual growth.

Actually, I have no intention of attending the talk, even though I like Dr Gordan Smith’s book. He is an excellent writer. I knew of his talk many months ago. Then I received Rev David Lim’s email on Monday 2nd Feb about this talk. Still, I shelved the idea of attending.

Tuesday morning, the first thing on my mind when I woke up was the seminar. Usually, I listen to that small voice whenever I woke up. It is the voice that speaks in my quiet time, sermon outlines, ideas to prepare Bible Studies material, and often helping me in my assignments when I was in SBC. Hence, I am perhaps the only odd ball in the afternoon seminar.

Maybe, I am at the wrong place …