7 Years On (Part 2)

The third verse the Lord gave me and perhaps the most telling was about Moses’ faith in Hebrews 11. Moses and Abraham are the two main figures of faith because they receive 7 and 6 verses respectively while the rest have 1 to 3 verses each. Moses is said to choose to suffer afflictions or mistreatment of his people rather the wealth of Egypt. I realized I could have stayed on in Singapore if I had wanted to. I was not short of offers but I felt these jobs were a bit too easy for me. One church only wanted me to preach once a month and another church offered that I would be lead the pastoral team of 10 pastors but I could only preach like once in 6 weeks because the senior pastor does most of the preaching with a couple of pastors and elders rotating. I told one church that I would die if I preached only once a month.

When I accepted my appointment in a rural church in Ranau I would preach up to 6 or 8 times a month within my church with two Sunday services and a mid week full service. Together with outside invitations I would have preached at least 100 times in 2015 alone, instead of perhaps 10 times if I had accepted the offer of a Singaporean church.  But I knew I had to suffer afflictions with God’s people in Sabah not only because they are mainly the poorer folks but they also suffer due to lack of leadership of those set above them. During these pandemic times, I found out how important leadership ought to be since many churches rely on their leaders to guide them through these troublous times. I suffered many indignities from various peoples including among Christian circles. Most of my English educated or Western educated friends do not understand why I choose to serve where I am. I have to submit to leaders most of whom have 10 times less education or skills than myself but all for the sake of the larger flock, I choose, like Moses, to forsake Egypt (Singapore) in order to suffer afflictions with God’s people and find it an honour to be reproached for the sake of Christ.