Continue from yesterday's sharing.....(one of our niece was very curious as to what happened after both Catherine and I resigned from our jobs)
I left the military service a few months after Charmaine was born and Catherine had already left her senior manager position. I remember that we were still living in the masionette in Jurong West at that time. It was our matrimonial home so to speak. So, we have a new born baby, a house mortage to pay, a calling to China and totally no income. Thank God that we do not have to worry about the house mortage because at that time, we still have enough in our CPF to pay for the mortage. But, still no income at all.
It was in those months of waiting (please do not think that i spend my entire day fasting and praying. i am just a very normal guy learning to listen to His leading) that our good friend, Gordon Hoo shared with us about Antioch Mission, Derek Prince Ministry and Ross Peterson, and what that ministry is doing. I remember in the same week when we were in a prayer meeting, we hear the same presentation about Derek Prince Ministry and Antioch Mission. We take it that Father might want us to be involved with this specific ministry as another step closer to the calling that He has for us for China.
I met with Ross Peterson, shared with him about our calling and he shared about what Antioch Mission and Derek Prince Ministry is doing in Singapore and that there is a sale posiiton open in the Derek Prince Ministry if I am keen to join the team. I have never done sales before except for those months during my pre-university days going door-to-door selling fund raising stickers for community centre to earn some extra pocket money.
But, we felt that it is a good way to start learning what it means to serve in a full time ministry. The 'pay' that I first receive when joining Derek Prince was S$800, which is less than 10% of the combined income that Catherine and me used to receive in 1997. This amount will have to cover my own daily travel and food expenses, and 'supportin' a family. But, we learn to be thankful as this is the amount that the ministry can afford to give us while we fully expected to serve without any salary.
It was not easy but one thing that we learn is never complain about not having enough. We learn to re-adjust to a simple life-style. We had some saving and started using it because $800 is really not enough when you have a new-born baby (those who are parents know how much milk powder and diapers a baby can use!).
I served in Derek Ministy ministry for one year, helping to sell his books and worship CDs to the christian bookstores in Singapore and Sunday booktable in various churches. It was in Derek Ministry ministry that I gained some experience in marketing and also a glimpse into China ministry.
Even though I served for one year only, Ross Peterson gave me a pay raise of $400 i.e. from $800 to $1200 as he knows our financial situation. I remembered that he gave us this increment when the ministry is not doing well financially. But, he saw our needs and felt that the ministry should take a step of faith to give us that 'increment'. Shortly after he did that, Derek Prince Ministry received a huge offering from one of the supporters! PTL!
After one year with Derek Prince ministry, we felt it is time to leave and join another pastor who have ministry inside the mainland. There is nothing wrong with Derek Prince ministry. In fact, it is an amazing ministry with much fruit all over the world. We left simply because we felt our time there is done.
So, we started with Pastor John Lee, learning from him how to work with the mainland Chrisitans and the dynamics of the work within the mainland among the local groups. And our financial support......dropped back to.....'zero' again. Pastor John Lee's ministry is totally a faith based ministry. The only thing that the ministry can cover is my travel expenses into China. As for the living expenses in Singapore, we need to raise our own fund.
It was really a learning experience for us to raise funds. Raising funds to support ourselves is really not a common thing in Singapore as most 'full-time' workers are supported by the local churches. I remembered that we could only raised $600 per month, which is even less than what Derek Prince first gave us.
Again, we learn to re-adjust our life style another notch down and not to complain at all. We sold our matrimonal home and downgraded to a 4-room HDB apartment. We sold our home at a time when the housing market was hitting rock bottom. We did not make any money out of our home but was glad that we can use the proceed from our sales to pay of the 4-room HDB flat completely. And we continue to dig into our saving.
Through that 2 years of experience, we learn that if we set our heart to follow Him, there is no sarcifice too big. I don't remember Catherine complaining about not having enough or that we have to downgrade to a small house when everyone around us is talking about up-grading to bigger house. In fact, we never felt that we had sacrifice. That word hardly come out from our mouth when we shared about our initial years of learning to follow His calling. All we remember is that though we did not draw that same amount of salary, we have never (yes, NEVER) starve once. I have never skip one meal because I had no money and honestly, we never know how that was possible. (He knows that I am one that need to eat all the time. lol)
Tomorrow, I will continue to share how we eventually end up in Hunan.
I am doing this series of sharing because i see that our life is one big story that reveal who He is. It is not who we are. It is seeing how He works in our lives that bring Him the glory. And also to honor and acknowledge those whom Father brought into our lives.
Today, it is about Ross Peterson and Pastor John Lee who took me in and let me learn about China ministry without holding back anything. It is about Gordon Hoo, who was the link for us into the initial years of China ministry.
just got back from my bikng exercise. want to add on to what i wrote above.
it is about the word ' sacrifice'. it is a word that we seldom use as far as our sharing goes, almost a taboo word actually. just like i do not use the word 'awesome' loosely because i feel that only God deserve the word 'awesome', because we stand in awe of Him.
we learn not to use the word 'sacrifice' because we have not sarcifice anything as far as following God in this journey. only God has sacrifice His Son for us. whatever we have left behind like our job, or salary, home or even love ones is nothing compared to what He has sacrifice on the cross for us.
we also learn that if we have the mentality that we have 'sacrifice' alot to follow His calling, than we will also expect Him to provide everything that we need as though He owe it to us. nope, He did not owe us anything. again, it is us who owe Him everything.
i believe this is one of the most important lessons that we have learn in the 1st two years of learning to hear His voice and follow Him. we had so much joy and testimony. yes, there are challenges which are stressful. but the reward of following Him far outweigh all these.
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