I led a two-week Holy Land tour to Egypt, Israel, and Jordan at the beginning of December. Having done this kind of trip several times already, I was more excited and anxious about the group I was shepherding than the sites we were visiting.

Put a group of 35 people from Singapore, Hong Kong, Edmonton, Toronto, Seattle, and Houston in one bus and one tour, with different personalities, cultural backgrounds, church experiences, and expectations, and sure enough, I got a small taste of what Moses faced during the exodus - “Are we eating the same food again?” “Do we have to get up that early tomorrow?” “Why can’t we spend more [or less] time at this site?” “Why can’t the rest of the group walk faster [or slower]?”

Thanks to God, I had prepared all my messages around a single theme – experiencing communion with God and sharing this communion with those around us. A major breakthrough was felt when we took Holy Communion at the Garden Tomb. We had been sharing table fellowship with each other for about a week, eating three meals together every day. But the Holy Communion reminded us that it was Jesus who gathered us to His table in the first place to share communion with Him, and because of Him, we also shared communion with each other. On our last bus ride together, we had a time of sharing, and everyone felt we had become a family in these two weeks' time, enjoying fellowship and communion with each other in Christ.

When we were by the shore of the Sea of Galilee, I shared with my group the passage about Jesus reinstating Peter in John 21. As a shepherd, the flock I am feeding is God’s and not mine; I can only shepherd by first following Christ; the way of shepherding is ordained by God and not determined by me. When I turned my eyes toward Christ and put my communion in Christ as foremost, the Spirit drew my group into the same communion and used me to shepherd them in with the love of God. I am thankful to God for putting this message on my heart and letting me experience this message on this trip. May this also be the message I carry into the new year of 2023 as I shepherd and serve the flock of God at ECC.