Intense Conversation

I was still tired from the exertions on Sunday where I conducted a Bible Study in the afternoon after preaching in the morning. And the Saturday before I had shared a devotion before praying for a baby who was two and a half months old. So last night I was invited to a dinner and knowing my politician friend I know that we would engage in some intense conversation. I have known this friend for more than 30 years and way before we bought a house my family stayed with in his family home in KK for four or five days. For the first 13 years of ministry I had relied on the goodwill of church members snd stayed in several homes during my leave or Semester holidays.

It was not until 2007 that we moved into our own house less than a year before I went to Singapore. Last night’s conversation was intense. There were times I had to intervene and not let him dominate the discourse. Often time before I could string two or three sentences together he would interrupt. So that conversation took over two hours at dinner time and I probably for 15 mins in total in that time. 

My main message is that I went into SIB ministry in 1994 as one of the many pastors. I did not enter as a rich lawyer or former lawyer. I gave up everything. I spent all my law career’s savings in 2 years of full-time study in New Zealand having to pay everything myself from house rent and car to my theological education. 

So I told my good friend that I identified with most of my fellow pastors who went into the ministry with nothing. I told my friend that if I find myself where I am now, my fellow pastors could do likewise because we serve the same God and this one God would bless them just as He has blessed me. 

But the reality is all too different. After 29 years in ministry  I am self sufficient from without a house and a car, now I have a house fully paid in KK and my cars too are free from debt. But I did not have time to share with him why that was the case but I kept on emphasising God’s grace and power and He would bless those who truly believe and seek Him earnestly (Hebrews 11:6). And truly God is true to His Word. He spoke to me thus when I was about to return to serve in Sabah in 2014. “As I have blessed you in Singapore I will bless you also in Sabah”.