BESIDE YOU
Lyrics and music: Wah Lok
(recorded in memory of Leslie Koch)

Leslie Koch joined Full Gospel Tabernacle (FGT) in 1982 when we were still a small church with just around 30 members. At that time, he was already an established and successful architect in the corporate sector. I was studying Engineering at the University of Malaya. I admired his life as he had a genuine concern for the poor and needy and served actively at Malaysian Care. I wrote this song to encourage Leslie when he discovered his wife, Hilary had breast cancer. 

Strangely, a few months later, Leslie himself was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer. When we heard Leslie had terminal cancer, most of us believed that God will heal him. We fasted and prayed intensely for his healing. But several months after this discovery, he went home to glory. I still find it hard to explain why God had chosen to take him home at such an early age. For months after his death, I would ask God why a good man had to die at such a young age. As a small and struggling church, it was also hard to lose one of our own. 

It is almost 20 years after his death that I am recording this song. It brings back some of my good memories of a close friend. This song was sung only once in FGT and has been locked away in my heart for 20 years. I always felt it was a very personal song for a close friend. However, at the time of recording my album "Shining Stars", I felt a prompting to record this song to remember a "shining star" I once knew and also to encourage Christians to stand with their friends who are terminally ill.


Brother let me stand, close to you now
In your time of need, Let me be there
Let me share, Let me bear your cares
Brother let me stand, Beside you now
In your time of need, I will be there
I will share, I will bear your burdens and cares.

Chorus:-
The Lord is your shield
The Lord is your guide
The Lord is your strength
For I believe that through the darkest nights
Jesus will be there, 
He will see you through.

1983 Ng Wah Lok E mail: ngwl@pc.jaring.my