Someone mentioned, yesterday morning, that in the front pages of news coverage, COVID stories have been replaced by the war in Ukraine. War is upon us. Many believe this is not a war of the Russians’ making. It is a war of Putin’s making.

So in a special prayer meeting in St Alf’s yesterday afternoon, many prayed that Putin would change, or be removed. He comes across however, as a very powerful person in Russia so I’m not sure his removal is a realistic hope and yet, that’s why we pray. God can and often does, work wonders.

For the sake of the people of Ukraine (and many other parts of Europe), I sincerely hope God works his wonders, and soon.

Sunday morning at St Alf’s was special in that for the first time in nearly 2 years, not only can we meet freely, but also without having to wear a mask. It was wonderful to see familiar, whole faces again.

In recent weeks, some old colleagues have made contacts. Michael Loke and Philip Koh, through Lim Liang Hua, made contact after so many years. Philip is preparing to give some talks in a Monash Malaysia Business School and he wanted to cite the Phileo experience. “The Phileo Story”, a book that was recently re-published, told a story of an enterprise that is a microcosm of corporate Malaysia. Philip wanted some inputs, from a “field soldier” I suppose, as data for his presentation.

It made me recall some hairy experiences and I guess for the first time since nearly 20 years ago, I shared those experiences with David, my brother. He said he never asked why we moved out of Malaysia to come and live in Melbourne but he guessed it had something to do with what happened when I was at Phileo.

Men like Putin and Mahathir make decisions and take actions that cause all sorts of upheavels in many lives. Why do they not care? Can their “larger, macro visions” simply dismiss considerations of micro concerns? I know there are always complex permutations of issues and there can be no perfect outcomes – there will always be adverse unintended consequences – but there are decisions and actions that can be nothing but bad, evil even. Surely they – men like Putin and Mahathir – know when such decisions and actions are before them.