gifts
Would you return to a stranger you stole from a decade ago to confess and make restit of our key girls in NTU Navigators. A week prior to her 21st birthday, she was convicte to a minimart that she stole from ten years ago to make amends. She shared the follo friends from the NTU Physics Faculty during her recent 21st birthday celebration.
F
or almost a decade, I was a thief.
Grace before entering primary school
It started when I was about 8 or 9. I got 50 cents each day for allowance. 5 bowl of fishball noodles. However, most of my friends had at least $1-2 ea snacks while I couldn’t. So I thought, since my friends had more than me, coins from them. I’d pretend to be unwell during PE lessons and once alon from different purses. I was found out. At home, I was made to kneel dow few hours after I was caned. I was not remorseful. I blamed my parents fo increase my allowance.
Since I couldn’t steal from my classmates, I started to steal from my mom. parents didn’t want to give me more allowance, I’d “rightfully” take what sh mom demanded to check my wallet. There was a 10 dollar note in there. M dollar note from her wallet. The notes had consecutive serial numbers and same batch drawn from the bank by my mom. I got punished again.
But the stealing continued. With the stolen cash, I had the luxury to eat at McDonald’s, buy more snacks I was too lazy to walk from Changi to my school in Pasir Ris. Many times, my parents found out and I w did not stop me. I stole ringgit from my father’s safe. I took the ringgit to the money changer at Loyang P them to Singapore dollars. I bought my first handphone with stolen cash.
This habit continued into secondary school. I remember kneeling many times at my bedside in tears, des with the Lord to help me stop stealing. Actually, I didn’t think that God would be able to help me. I saw case; even God must be sick of hearing my prayers. But God wasn’t. He could and was willing to help m
The turning point came when my dad found out I was still stealing from him. He was angry, but this tim punishing me, he sat down, listened to me and increased my allowance from $1 to $2 per day. God used grace to break the stronghold of resentment and theft in me. I have not stolen since then.
I try my best to avoid cheating, lying or any dishonest act. Some of my friends who do not know my hist naive and impractical, or trying to act holier than thou. Why am I striving to live honestly? Is it because my past deeds to make my conscience feel better? No. The motivation for all this is only because I have ex love for me, and I want to love Him back. In John 14:21, Jesus said “Whoever has My commands and obey one who loves me.” I want to love, obey and honour my God who has always been there for me. Because love, no matter what I face, I am not consumed for His compassions never fail; they are new every morni Lord’s faithfulness!
tution? Grace Yeo is one ed by the Lord to return owing testimony with her
50 cents back then could get you a ach day and they could buy extra it wouldn’t hurt them if I took some ne with my classmates’ bags, I stole wn blindfolded on a bristly mat for a or my stealing because they refused to
My rationale was that since my hould be due to me. One day, my My mom took out a 10 d were clearly of the
Is bringing a man to Christ more important than a job? For Sam*, it was a matter of making sure his heart was in the right place. And God honoured him with an unexpected gift! Sam just graduated from Polytechnic. He made a decision not to seek a job until he was able to lead someone to Christ. Every day, he joined The Navigators’ fellowship on campus and went around sharing Christ with people. Eventually he met someone who was keen to study the Bible. Week after week, Sam met this man, helping him to understand that Jesus is our Saviour, clearing his doubts and answering his questions until he finally made a decision to accept Jesus into his life. God also worked marvellously. Soon after that, a company called Sam up for an interview. The company needed someone to work in the same Polytechnic that Sam was doing outreach in! He went through two interviews and was offered the job. Indeed, God is marvellous! *Name has been changed for confidentiality
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” ~Matthew 6:33
s, take cabs whenever was punished but that Point and changed
sperately pleading myself as a hopeless me.
me, instead of my dad’s act of
Grace (centre) with her friends at her evangelistic birthday party
Photo: Sean Ang
tory think I am I want to atone for xperienced God’s ys them, he is the of the Lord’s great ing. Great is my
Mok Chok Sun and his wife Song Imm are teachers and active members of The
Photo: Mok Chok Sun
Navigators Alumni-Community ministry. Esther, their daughter, is with our NavTeens ministry. On 18 July 2012, Mok felt intense giddiness in class and a colleague rushed him to hospital. What followed next was a harrowing fight with an extensive brain tumour and the story of God’s amazing grace upon him.
The Mok family took part in ‘Run For Hope’ on 17 Nov 2013 to support cancer research
T
here are six months missing in my memory. I piece together what happened to me through photographs and what friends tell me. After that sudden episode of giddiness, my condition deteriorated rapidly. The doctors found a tumour pressing against my pituitary gland and left frontal lobe. A biopsy revealed that I had lymphoma. As the cancer was aggressive and located in the brain, there was fear that it would spread to brain nerves affecting mobility, vision and social behaviours. Because of the size and position of the tumour, surgery was ruled out. Chemotherapy was prescribed. There were many trips to the hospital, and countless anxious days for my family and friends. I was oblivious to my own condition. I was lost within myself as the tumour inhibited certain brain functions. God provided through a wide support network of doctors, family members, friends from The Navigators and church, and colleagues. God miraculously brought Song Imm’s brother Alex, who stayed in Bangkok, to rent a flat nearby during this period. Alex was a great help in driving me around
during the numerous hospital admissions. Many prayed for me. God revealed His power to heal through His Word. The verse He gave me was from John 11:4 “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Six persons also received revelations from God during the period of my hospitalisation that I would be healed. Those six were my wife, three church friends, a colleague and an acquaintance from The Navigators. Miraculously, the treatment worked. The cancer retreated and then was entirely eradicated. Even the doctors were surprised. My friends now call me the “Miracle Man”. At 60, I have received much grace from the Lord. Not only did the Lord bless me with salvation in my youth but I have had the privilege of reaching and discipling many for Christ. Now, in my latter years, I experience God’s miraculous healing. I am filled with an even greater desire to finish well for the Lord and press on in the ministry of discipling others and helping them to do the same.
SHARING CHRIST WITH TEENS “Save My Soul-SMS Sent” was the theme of our NavTeens camp from 2-6 December at St. Hilda’s Secondary School. 108 campers spent five adrenalin-filled days learning about world vision and what they can do to be a part of God’s plan for the nations.
Doug Erdmann National Director “The Best Year Ever.” This was the subject line of an e-mail recently sent by one of our senior staff. We had just finished our annual reporting days where each ministry shares what God has done during the year. The staff man was reflecting on what he had heard.
Teenagers from various secondary schools attended The NavTeens Camp
They learnt about world famine through a 21-hour fast, and slept on makeshift cardboard beds in the open. They also found out about God’s love and plan of salvation through His Son Jesus Christ and learnt how to share the gospel with friends and family. The highlight of the whole camp was an evangelistic play on the fourth night. Family and friends of the campers attended as the teens played host, served dinner and performed. Aloysius Neo, 15, had the opportunity to share the gospel with some of the 26 non-believers who attended the camp. One of them was Yong Lin. Aloysius says, “When I approached Yong Lin, he said that nobody had taught him how to receive Aloysius (right) with Yong Lin Christ as his Lord and Saviour. So I sat down with him, and under the guidance of my team leader, shared the Bridge to Life Illustration with him. He was ready to make a decision to follow Christ. Words cannot decribe how I felt then. God can use me to bring another to Him!” Aloysius himself came to know Christ in a NavTeens camp three years ago. Looking back, he is thankful for his salvation and how he has grown in his faith. He observes, “Trials and challenges along the way help me see the fullness of God’s plan for me.”
I think I would agree with our staff’s assessment, at least in comparison to the recent past. This year we saw 97 people receive Christ, our highest number for a long time. And this number does not include those not involved in our ministries, such as the many relatives who came to faith through a Navigator son or daughter. We held a national conference, something we have not done for many years. We started EDGE, a new staff recruitment program which holds great promise. We expanded our polytechnic ministry into another school, and are making evangelistic forays into yet another. And finally, as a start to raising up a wave of new young missionaries, we sent two shortterm mission teams to assist a flourishing campus work in East Asia. For many years the Singapore Navigators have prayed over Isaiah 60:22. “The least of you will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation. I am the Lord; in its time I will do this swiftly.” What I like about this verse is not only the fact that God promises to take something small and make it significant. I also like the fact that, if God so chooses, He can make this happen quickly. Is now the time when God wants to grow things “swiftly?” I don’t know, but the pace has certainly picked up!
discipleship in action The Alumni-Community Ministry had the privilege of having Mr Fock Siew Wah, Group Chairman of PSA International Pte Ltd, share his life lessons as a disciple of Christ to 150 Navigator volunteers and their friends at the “Serving in the King’s Palace” seminar on 14 September. “What I have accomplished and what I am today are entirely by the grace of God,” declared this man who is well-known and esteemed in the banking industry and public service. “With the benefit of hindsight, I see that God steered me though a lot of hammering and stress to strengthen and prepare me for the greater jobs ahead that I could not see then.” He had to forego his university education, having to take over as the family’s breadwinner after his father’s sudden demise. He recalled his mother’s words to him as he started at his first bank job, “Work very hard. Learn as much as you can, as quickly as you can. Help others whenever you can.” He worked long days and spent the nights studying. His only free time for himself was during church fellowship on Sundays. It was during that difficult period in his life that God challenged him to share his faith. “I was greatly inspired by the biography of Jim Elliot, the missionary, and his words that ‘he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.’ I had the opportunity to spend a year mentoring a young banker, Kee. Some years later, when we met again, he told me that he had received Christ. He also said something to me that taught me the importance of walking my talk as a Christian.
Fock Siew Wah kept the audience enthralled with his stories
What he said was, ‘I am so thankful to you for sharing the gospel with me. I am also thankful for something you were not aware of. I had been silently watching you. Your sharing and your living out your faith convinced me to accept Christ. What is more, I am also sharing the gospel with my elder sister.’ “
Fock said, “From that incident, I determined that I want to be a cistern for the gospel, to be prepared in season and out of season, to share the Word.”
The Navigators Singapore Statement of Income and Expenditure for fiscal year 2012-2013
Income Expenditure Surplus/Deficit
Budget $ 2,064,596 $ 2,067,262 $ (2,666)
Actual $ 2,083,658 $ 2,018,211 $ 65,446
www.navigators.org.sg The calling of The Navigators is to advance the gospel of Jesus and his kingdom into the nations through spiritual generations of labourers living and discipling among the lost. Views expressed in published articles are those of the individual writers and may not necessarily be the views of The Navigators Singapore. THE NAVIGATORS SINGAPORE • National Director: K. Douglas Erdmann • Editor/ Design & Layout: Patricia Lian 117 Lorong K, Telok Kurau, Singapore 425758 • Tel: (65) 6344 4133 • Fax: (65) 6344 0975 • E-mail: admin@navigators.org.sg • www.facebook.com/singaporenavigators Printed by Seng Lee Press Pte Ltd