| A
Second Chance
A friend of mine once told me
that we should not wait for a tragedy to happen
in our lives before we start being obedient to
God and also that our sufferings are brought on
by ourselves.
I have been running my own sales
business for the past three years. Initially,
it was a bit shaky but it improved. After about
two years in business, I became obsessed with
making money. Whenever I wake up in the mornings,
I would think of how much I must make to pay off
my bills and expenses.
I met some people who introduced
me to a business deal which was not glorifying
God. I thought to myself that this would be a
good opportunity for me to earn money quickly.
I thought of all the things I could do with the
money I could earn. So I undertook the task of
trying to sell some of the goods involved. I tried
for months to sell them but each time I tried,
there was a problem either with the goods or with
something else. I could not make one single sale.
All the goods had to be returned to the supplier.
December came and I tried to make
one last deal for the year hoping that I could
carry over the money to the next year. However,
this time the deal went wrong. I could not return
the goods and was forced to buy up all of these
goods which I know now to be practically impossible
to sell. I could not afford to pay the suppliers
what they were asking and they threatened to physically
harm me. I was terrified. The situation had become
out my control. I cried for God to help me. I
knew that I brought this trouble to myself. After
going through a few sleepless nights, God showed
grace and mercy to me. The suppliers agreed to
accept only a fraction of the sum they had earlier
demanded. I was out of trouble.
Through this incident, I came
to realise that even when I was disobeying God,
He was constantly protecting me. Each time I failed
in making a sale, I got away without any problems.
When we do not see our wrongdoing, God has to
"wake us up" to see it. That was what
happened to me with that last deal. It is very
true what the word of God says, " The love
of money is the root of all evil". We will
try to use any means at all to earn quick bucks.
Do not fall into the same trap as I did but walk
in God's ways and He will surely prosper you.
ES
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The
Least I Can Do
I used to find it difficult to
give offering to God whenever the offering bag
is passed during church services. I will give
myself the excuse that since my salary is really
little, I cannot afford to give much. Surely the
Lord will understand my situation. I guess I
felt better with that excuse. I would always pick
the smallest note from my wallet to put into the
offering bag.
One Sunday morning, as usual,
I opened my wallet to pick the smallest note available
as the offering bag was being passed around. I
found that I had not a single small note. After
hesitating for a moment, I decided to give whatever
I had to the Lord. I made that decision with a
willing heart.
Since then, I have learned not
to hold back from God when I am able to give that
much. Even though I had given more than I had expected
to, I have not run out of money. In fact,
I am able to spend more freely than before. In Psalm 37:25 "...yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread."
This is where our God always proves
to us that He cares and is faithful not to fail
us even once. Even when we are unfaithful He will
remain faithful to us. When we start to count
our blessings everyday, we will realize that giving
an offering to the Lord is the least we can do.
Grace Goh
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Never Blame God
Year 2000 - a year for a lot of
people to be worried about their bank accounts,
computers, etc. due to the Y2K bug problem, specially
for those people that are in the IT field. I am
also an IT person, but my worries were different.
After much praying and seeking
for God's direction and counseling, my then girlfriend
and I had made the decision to tie the knot in
year 2000. God is so good that He had blessed
me with a very pretty, caring and loving wife.
As I became the head of the family,
my responsibilities have gotten bigger and heavier.
In terms of finances, I was out of job when I
got married as I had just finished my higher studies.
I sought day and night, up and down and everywhere
, to find a job. I thank my wife for
being so considerate and supportive to me. She
didn't pressure me for not working and earning
a living but instead, she even told me: "Don't
worry lah! Slowly, slowly search loh".
Along the way, God opened doors
for me for interviews in some big companies. They
went quite smoothly and each time I would get
the impression that they would contact me very soon
informing me of the date to start work. Days past
and yet I did not get any feedback from them.
That is when I started to blame God. Why does
He want to give me hope and then take it away?!
I kept telling God that it is not funny and it is
not a good joke! I was really desperate for a
job so why is God treating me this way?!
However, once again God proved
to me that He is true and almighty. He is our
loving father, provider and He knows what is best
for us. Almost half a year after my wedding,
God finally blessed me with a great job. Praise
and thank God. I want to thank Brother Chester
for helping me to get
this job.
After I started working in
my current company, everything became very clear
to me. Now I understand why God did not want me
to work in all those companies that I have gone
for interviews. He knows the best for us and He
always gives us the best. Now He does not just
bless me with a job that I like, but also with
a Christian boss and friendly colleagues. My current
job provides me with very good prospects for both
career and financial advancement.
I regretted my faithless
thoughts towards God. I really want to seek for
God's forgiveness and want to thank Him for always
being there taking care of me and my wife. I want
to encourage all brothers and sisters in Christ
to trust God wholeheartedly and NEVER blame Him
for anything that doesn't go our way. He knows
the best. God loves us so much that He gave His
only Son to die for us, so do you think He will
allow anything harmful happen to us?
Henry Yeap
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Blessed
Year 2000
God has been good and the year
2000 has been a blessed year. I thank God for
good health and giving me a simple job that I am
able to serve in the children ministry for two years
since it started in 1999. I am so thankful
for that because it has given me great joy.
I also thank God for protecting
and providing for my family. Indeed, He is faithful
and wonderful. I will serve Him even more and
want to see my spiritual life grow to a higher
level.
Jacqueline Tang
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Jesus Loves Me
I am glad I was saved during my
schooling days. The person that I am indebted
to is Brother Mark Khaw. I remember that I was
just 14 years old when I accepted Christ into
my life. My parents were non-Christians and they
will worship anything ( any gods ? ) for their
own benefit. Imagine being raised as a boy going
to temples, "datuk kong" under a tree,
cemeteries and etc. to pay our respects just to
earn more favours from these so-called gods. I
know that worshipping all of these is very stupid
and meaningless. For example, it is not fair when
a richer neighbour celebrated a particular Chinese
festival by offering a roasted piglet. The significance
was if he could give a better "offering",
he would receive a better and prosperous life.
But for us or my parents, giving only oranges,
apples and other smaller items as an offering
would be less favourable to the gods. It seems
to me that the rich gets richer and the poor stays
the same.
My friend, Mark was already witnessing
to me even when we were both at primary school.
At that time, we were already good buddies, but
when it comes to the subject of religion, I would
reject and even make fun of him. To cut the long
story short, I was actually "scared"
into heaven. What I meant was, I am scared of
dark places and so-called ghosts that exist in
my mind. I have never actually seen any ghost
before, but I remember those paintings of "hell"
the Chinese believe in. The paintings depict that
if you lied a lot while you are alive, the punishment
would be a demon would cut your tongue slowly.
These and other horrid images would be displayed
during 7th month of the Chinese calendar called
the "ghost month". My fear of hell was
real, because I know I have lied before and lied
a lot actually. Mark hit the right button to tell
me that all human beings that have wrongdoings
will go to hell one day if we do not accept Jesus.
The hell that Jesus portrays in the Bible is worse
than what I have known. It is a place of continuous
suffering and agony and darkness... I accepted
Christ in the streets. Hallelujah! We can be saved
in any way God chooses. Praise God again for me
getting saved at an early age. I think that if
I had been older, say 18 or 19 years old, I would
not have been interested in God and I would be
heading towards a Christless eternal damnation.
Whatever happens in my life, this one thing I
know - Jesus loves me!
Jeffrey Kee
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God Knows
I am a born again in a non-Christian
family and none of my family members would understand
whatever that I was doing or enjoying at church,
with God. However I found family amongst fellow
church members and most of all, my beloved care
group members.
When I first became a Christian,
I was still attending lectures on Sundays, which
makes it more difficult for me to attend Sunday
church services, what more to participate in the
worship team. I really love to sing and I will
always sing no matter what the situation may be.
The desire to serve Him in the
worship team came strongly one day. With me still
attending Sunday lectures, it makes it near to
impossible to join the worship team not to mention
that I did not know most of the songs sung in
Church.
I prayed and prayed and prayed...
By His grace I was able to catch the songs rather
quickly. It was within a few months before He
answered my prayers. I was given the opportunity
to attend singing lessons with the rest of the
worship team and learnt most of the songs. Thus
He not only answered my prayers but I believe
He gave me that few months to 'train' me on the
songs as well.
I thank the whole worship team,
led by Joseph Chong and Jeffery Kee for giving
me this opportunity and for allowing God to use
me. He does know the desire of my heart!
Melissa Tan
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Music
In My Heart
In 1996, I started taking piano
lessons but due to lack of practice, I was forced
to quit. However, the desire to play the piano
for the Lord remained.
I started taking music lessons
again in 1999 but this time on the electronic
keyboard instead. One day in April 2000 after
one of my classes, my music teacher and I had
a long chat. She revealed that the Holy Spirit
had been prompting her to give me free lessons
but she resisted and had "negotiated"
with Him to give me a 50% fee cut instead. However,
the Holy Spirit had insisted she give me totally
free lessons. I could not believe what I had just
heard. However, it was absolutely true! I continued
to have free music lessons for the next 6 months.
His blessings poured upon me as I obeyed Him to
do His work.
Not only was I blessed, but my
music teacher was too - God had amazingly added
another 9 students to her existing 5 students
in a matter of only a few days after that conversation
with me! God was just waiting to pour out His
blessing to her as she acted in obedience to Him.
To my amazement, the Lord further
blessed me by bestowing upon me the gift of composing
songs!
It all started in May 2000 when
my music teacher shared with me a song she had
just composed. She encouraged me to start composing
songs unto the Lord but I doubted whether I could
do it as I thought that I needed to be able to
play the keyboard better first. That night as
I was writing in my journal, 2 scriptures (1 Pet 2:9
& John 10:10) spoke to me. I began to make
a melody unto Jesus. Thus the song, "You
Have Called Me" was written. Yes, He had
called me to sing unto Him a new song!
Throughout the subsequent months,
He ministered to me in the different situations
I was in. This resulted in another two songs,
"God is Real" and "Your Call in
Me". While composing the latter, He challenged
me to serve Him in a deeper dimension as a Care
Group leader and to have a shepherd heart for
the sheep. He revealed that in order to serve
Him, I need to serve His people.
Praise God for His generosity in His blessings
and His personal touch in my life!
Melissa Teoh
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My Story
I am from a non-Christian family.
I first heard about Jesus Christ when I was in
Form Three. I followed a couple of my friends to a
party organized by the youth group of a local
church. I had a lot of fun that night. I enjoyed
the food and games. From that time, I began to
attend the youth meetings quite regularly. I heard
a lot about Jesus and His life and I prayed the
sinner's prayer at one of the meetings.
However, I did not understand
nor pray the prayer from my heart as I was influenced
by my friends. It took about half a year for me
to fully understand and accept Jesus Christ into
my life. My parents were not happy when they found
out that I had become a Christian. I was warned
not to get involved in church activities other
than attending the youth meetings in the weekends.
But as time goes by I got more involved in other
activities. My father came to the church during
one of the meetings and asked me to go home with
him. When I refused, he scolded me and my pastor
had to cool him down and talked to him. My pastor
then advised me to go home with my dad. A few
days later, I went to have a chat with the pastor
and he told me to obey my parents as it is one
of the Ten Commandments. He told me that by obeying
my parents, God will bless me and He will do wonders
in my life. I did obey my parents and they gradually
allowed me to be involved in church activities
as they knew that I was not involved in unhealthy
activities and they can get in touch with me any
time by calling the church office.
I had a lot of support from my
pastor and church friends. They comforted and
guided me when I was going through hard times
with my parents. With their prayers and support,
I managed to go through those times.
There was one time when I was
asked by my youth leader to attend a national
youth prayer conference in Muar, Johor which was
organised by Pastor Jonathan David. I managed
to get approval from my parents but they did not
give me any money. So, I went to this conference
with only about RM 15 in my pocket. That was in
1991. Our youth leaders who knew about my situation
supported me during the conference. They paid
for my expenses.
I thank God for them, as with
their support and encouragement, I am still a
Christian and is serving faithfully in the church.
My parents have since accepted me as a Christian.
They even set aside a portion of food for me which
is not offered to the gods that they were praying.
At this moment, my parents and siblings still
have not accepted Jesus Christ into their lives.
But I believe that with my prayers, grace and
mercy from the Awesome God that I serve, they
will one day know Him and accept Him.
Richard Ch'ng
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Faithful Is The Lord
I want to thank God for the year
2000 as I have grown to love Him more and be closer
to Him. I started off 12 years ago as a student
who loved God and was very active in church. Through
the years, I somehow drifted from God but still
attending church. I really want to thank Him for being
so faithful and patient with me all these years. I can never find anyone in
this earth who touches my heart and life and understand
me like He does.
I thank God that in the past two
years, I have met many friends who had inspired
me in one way or another to love and serve God
more. I treasure them all. My heart's desire for
the church is that we will be faithful in small
things, faithful to HCC. Always be reminded that
your attendance in church counts! Unless and
until God gives me the permission to leave Penang,
I will build the church together with all of YOU.
Siew Geok
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