Last October, my eldest brother Charlie who resides in the Southern part of Johor was baptised. In fact, my sister-in-law had professed faith in our Lord just several years earlier. My family and I give thanks to the Lord for His loving touch. We rejoice and welcome Charlie [and our sister-in-law] to the family of God. This miracle of conversion was preceded by almost four decades of prayers!
Winding the clock back 40 years, I recalled the occasion when Charlie approached my church pastor to inform him not to admit me to the pastoral ministry. The reason is that we came from a predominately Chinese folk religionists background. We had observed religious activities faithfully and diligently through the generations. Hence a change in terms of faith is unthinkable then!
A breakthrough came about when I first responded to God’s call to follow Christ when I was in the year preparing for my ‘O’ Levels. By the grace of God, I learnt that in Christ, I became a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). I had much joy in this new faith. Several years later, I took a bold step of faith to answer the call of God to join full time pastoral service. At that time, I was serving the tail end of my National Service. With much encouragement from my church pastor and cell group members, I took the challenge to submit my future to the Lord. However, when my family heard about my decision, several of my siblings, including Charlie reacted negatively. But after much prayers, dialogue, and conversations, they gave their blessings for me to enrol in a Seminary. Naturally, I had begun the process of praying for my entire family to turn their hearts to our Lord Jesus Christ! The lesson: Do not lose heart in prayers. Perseverance in prayers is like knocking at the doors of the heaven for miracles to happen. The recent baptism of Charlie is an example of submitting our petitions to our Lord and waiting for Him to answer in His good time!
In addition. I would like to share the joy that I shall be baptising my two grandchildren, Josh (4 ½ years old) and Kayla (6 months old) this Easter. I covet your prayers that they will grow to love the Lord and the people around them. Hallelujah!