In memory of Uncle Stanley Hay

We were in the car this morning when my dad's cell beeped a message informing him that a close family friend, Uncle S, had passed on. 2 seconds later, Auntie J, Uncle S's wife, rang dad and we quickly proceeded to their place at Pandan Valley - making a quick stop to drop R at her playdate on Sentosa and to pick up my laptop at ORQ.

Uncle S is a lawyer and is a very humble person. He came to know Christ about 6.5 years ago at the hospital when a group of people from our church were ministering to someone else in the bed next to him.

He had been admitted from a burst aorta and had undergone surgery to mend that. Since then, his health had been up and down but his faith in the Lord grew in leaps and bounds. Our families got closer when my bro and his daughter R started to take an interest in each other.

E, my brother, used to spend a lot of time with their family before he left for university and then again before he started his PhD. We would periodically go over for lunch and our mothers became very close at one point as they were serving in the same Mandarin Ministry. Auntie J even came over to Shanghai when I had R and cooked lots of confinement foods for me.Uncle S had passed on very peacefully in his sleep.

He had been having abdominal discomfort for a few weeks now and had gone home earlier to rest. His daughter, R was in Beijing on a school trip, had rang him last night and Uncle S had said that he missed her. R then prayed for him over the phone as she did every night when she is away from her father. Uncle S then requested for porridige at midnight and Auntie J, the super cook and loving wife that she is, prepared it for him and fed him his meds and watched him sleep.

Uncle S had thanked her for being so thoughtful and said that he loved her. Auntie J couldn't sleep herself, so took to meditating at the dining table, periodically checking upon him and massaging his limbs and body to make him comfortable.

At nearly 4am, she found him in cold sweat and she tried to wake him up. Hoisting him in an upright position, she rubbed oil on his body in an attempt to warm him and had someone ring the ambulance. Uncle S was muttering "God have mercy on us all" before he passed out and eventually just left very peacefully. What a lovely testimony Uncle S left behind in God's glory.

Despite being a relatively new Christian, his last few hours on earth were spent praising and appreciating his wife and his Lord. What was even more amazing is the way that he had served God through till the end - He had participated in a play last Sunday, and was scheduled to usher with my dad tomorrow and on New Year's eve.

I am sad but am immensely humbled by Uncle S and the way that he led his life for God.