Wednesday, February 6, 2013

My Story 6

This year marks the 24th year since my dad went home to be with the Lord. How time flies! That year in 1989 was a trying year as my dad was diagnosed with cancer that affected his gall bladder making him jaundiced and weak. With a lengthy month-long private hospital stay that almost wiped out my Medisave and  my bank account, we truly had to rely on God to provide our daily needs! On top of this, my wife was expecting our second child and we had to rely on my single income to get by.
Again, our faithful Heavenly Father was there to provide and helped us through that trial. Praise be His Name!
But more than His provision, the best thing that came through that period was my parents' salvation.
It was in early 1988 that my dad was first diagnosed with this inoperable cancer. My mum at first kept the news from him but after his condition worsened, allowed me to inform him. It was during the period before my dad was told about his real condition (though I believed he already suspected), that both my parents allowed us to invite a brother and a sister in Christ from the Church of Singapore to share with them the gospel. Both of them prayed to receive Christ that fateful night in 1988. It was a joy to see both of them growing in faith as we brought them to church those few months.
Prior to my dad's conversion, he had every night faithfully (for almost 2 years) read a chapter of the Bible that I gave him. After completing a book, he would write the date that he completed that book. I believed that reading the Bible, though he was still a pre-believer, helped him to be ready to believe when the time came.
In early 1989, my dad and mum went through the waters of baptism making a stand to their siblings and relatives their commitment to follow Christ. Before my dad's condition took a turn for the worse, I had invited him to a Pentecostal rally (with Ps Cho and other pastors) telling him that God will heal him. He was all ready to go but a few days before the rally, he went into a semi-coma which lasted almost 2 months before finally the Lord took him home. He had just turned 56 and was preparing to study for his law degree after his retirement.
Was God unfair to take him home so early? Was He unfair too when He called home my elder sister last month at age 57?
No, I believe that God in all His wisdom and goodness, knew what He has doing. My dad had lived a full life   , as has my sister, and he had received the most important gift of all - the gift of eternal life by accepting Jesus  Christ as his personal Saviour and Lord. That I believe sums up a life of a person - does he or she have a personal relationship with God? If yes, than whether short or long, that person is living or has lived the good life promised to all who believed in Jesus.
Dear reader, don't delay. Get right with God today for today is the Day of Salvation to all those who called upon the Name of Jesus!