Contributed by Wendy ML Tan • Dec 9, 2025

There are certain routines in my life. For example, I would attend DUMC’s Filipino Fellowship Christmas party every year (except during the pandemic). So, though I was nursing a slight cough yesterday, I put on my mask and went anyway. It was a joy to see many newcomers who responded to personal invitations that the team had sent out. Music and laughter filled the air, and the message was clear, we need food to live. Not just any food, but the One who gave His life up for us.

I have also routinely travelled up to Penang these past few years. Not just for the sea view or my favourite char koay kak, but to visit my 87-year-old uncle who suffered a stroke in 2023. As I was traveling with friends, I could only spend about two hours with him that Wednesday afternoon. We ate roasted sweet potatoes, spicy Hawaiian pizza and fried chicken wings at a cafe in Georgetown. The highlight of the day was when my uncle walked quite swiftly towards the exit without his cane hitting the ground. Last year, I’d challenged him to get better so that we could go for a walk together. As he was about to get into the car, I gestured to my cousin to snap a photo of us. My uncle smiled and gave a thumbs up. Again, I missed the opportunity to tell him about Jesus, but I hope that God’s love that flows through me has touched his life just by my short visit.

I also met up with another uncle and aunt who live in Bukit Mertajam. In our conversations, my uncle said, “My doors are always open, but if your cousins or brothers do not come and visit. What can I do?” I tried to reason with him with excuses like generation gaps and being very busy with career and children, and he replied, “If they want to get to know me, they would make the effort to do so. They are not even interested. But you, you made the effort to come.” I pondered about what he had said, and I pondered too on the question, “where is your joy?” Over the years, I have sometimes hesitated to visit this uncle because he was so staunch against Christians and churches, but somehow I felt the Holy Spirit nudging me to visit him this year. Not that I had any chance to share the Gospel with him, and being well-read, I am sure he already knows the story of Jesus. Well, God opened my eyes to see that my uncle had a change of heart. For the first time, I heard him say something good about the Malaysian churches. It was a subtle breakthrough and I trust that God will continue to soften his heart so that he, a hard nut, will also someday believe in Him.

Sharing the love of Christ is not that difficult. It starts with our hearts wanting what God wants, that is for people to experience His saving grace. It starts with authenticity and compassion.

And I love because Christ first loved me (cf. 1 John 4:19).