A New Beginning

A well wisher, a friend from Singapore texted me when I told her of my impending 30th anniversary in full-time ministry last November. On the day itself on 1st Dec, I received this message: "A New Beginning [for you pastor]" and a token with a number, 888. She was my student in my class on Revelation twice in Singapore, two night classes, first for 16 hours in 2009 and the second, 40 hours a MDiv course for 14 weeks. I really felt the Lord spoke to me through that, in that my current ministry signals a new beginning for me as if I have come a full circle.

In my 31st year, I found new zeal to commence this second half of my work for the Lord. It happened that the church building is located right opposite to my former rented house where we lived for 2 years before embarking on our adventure in serving the Lord in early Feb 1993. After 32 years later I found myself where I started in the beginning. Decisions affect our lives and ministry. Decision where or what to study determines our future careers and professions. Decisions as to place or places of domicile determine where we live, work and serve. 

Last Sunday I ministered to a group of 20 people who filled the living room of a government built flats. My church member had invited me to pray a blessing on his new home. The owner comes from a faraway village. His younger sister and her husband and their parents were present. When it was time, the owner's sister gave a powerful testimony how she was overjoyed to find out that her brother's application for a govt dwelling was approved. I realised at that moment why I ministered among the Muruts and the Dusuns, especially the poor among them, those whom I had ministered in the past 20 plus years. These are the poor of the land. The owner's sister wept as she spoke of God's goodness. With her brother's house, now they could come to Kota Kinabalu anytime and have a place to stay and perhaps find work in Kota Kinabalu. 

I realised then how hard it was to be poor without a proper dwelling, renting from one place to another. I had chosen this itinerant lifestyle to serve the Church that I am serving now. For the first 12 years in full-time ministry, I had no permanent dwelling and we stayed in whatever houses we could find or homes of generous hosts opened for us. 

My wife and child and I had been travelling and moving from one place to another for 13 years before we finally had a place that we could call our own.  So I told my wife yesterday that when I heard the sister's testimony on Sunday I also wanted to cry, with my heart filled with thanksgiving that we had an abode, a dwelling where we could return to and call home. It's a blessing from God because in a way I did not pay a cent. It's due to my younger brother's generosity more than anything and my wages in Singapore were easy to come by (with skill and hard work no less) and I repaid my brother and cleared my mortgage in no time when I just turned 54 years old. How the Lord has blessed my brother for his goodness. 

Now I work harder than I had worked in Singapore. On Monday my day of rest I prepare for my next sermon and give the title by Tuesday morning to the worship team and they have about 4 days to come up with the songs and rehearse them on Saturday. Tonight I am attending a council meeting and Wednesday is cell group. On Thursday a KK's Malay-speaking pastors fellowship, Friday is prayer meeting and Saturday we have our District's pastors' fellowship where I shall be sharing and on top of that, I shall be preaching this Sunday too.