For the past three years I’ve been traveling at least four times a year to Singapore to visit my autistic nephew Yuan. He is 12 years old. He has an eight-year-old sister Yi. My family only discovered that Yuan is autistic when he was four. Since then, I begin to read books about autism so that I can minister to him. Three years ago, Yuan’s dad passed away because of cancer. Because I wanted to be with my sister-in-law, Yuan and Yi as they processed their grief, I started going to Singapore to help Yuan.

Teaching Yuan helps me to trust God for more patience, compassion and creativity. Since an autistic child has difficulty understanding abstract ideas and verbal communication, I learnt to communicate with Yuan using concrete words and visual aids like pictures or real objects. When I teach him something new, I have to break it down into smaller steps and lots of practice. Therefore Yuan has to spend more time learning English or Math.

To prepare for his spelling test, Yuan has to write the words many times daily so that he can remember them. When he does comprehension, I must help him find the key words in the questions and lead him to find the same key words from the passage. Yuan sometimes loses his temper because of these repetitions. He would pinch his mother and me to show his protest. When we tell him that pinching is wrong, he often feels sorry and apologizes to us. Affirming and encouraging him helps him to study or learn. I begin to realize that even an autistic child has emotion. I learn to treat him just like any other kids.

Yuan likes to repeat phrases when he tries to communicate with us. We help him to stop repeating by teaching him how to talk to us. Sometimes when I look at Yuan, I do envy him because his world is so uncomplicated. He just utters what he sees. When Yuan was willing to talk to me on the phone two years ago, I was really excited because autistic children have difficulty in interacting socially. It is a breakthrough since he can now talk to someone whom he can’t see face-to-face.

Yuan used to be a picky eater. He refused to try something new and he would cry. Now when we bring him to a food court, it is such a joy to see him eating beef noodles, Japanese food and vegetable! His favorite desert now is chocolate wafer.

Recently, I found that Yuan liked to ask: “Will you scold me?” At first, I thought it was his repetitive behavior so I just ignored it. Later I discovered that Yuan was anxious because when he could not answer questions in the exercise book, I would raised my voice to correct him. I was ashamed of my insensitivity and impatience. When I apologized to him and promised that I won’t scold him, it helps Yuan.

There are a lot of things that Yuan and I have to learn. I treasure my time with Yuan and I thank God for giving me a special nephew. He is so faithful in taking care of Yuan and He gives me and his family members wisdom to develop him. Every trip to Singapore is a mission trip to me. It helps me to grow and has an opportunity to support other parents with an autistic child.

by Doris Hoo

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow.” James 1:16 -17

My wife and I have been teaching our children a very important characteristic-gratefulness. Our children (and we) usually take things for granted. They thought that everything–food, money, accommodation, transportation, love and care–comes automatically. That explains why they complain about not having aircon at home, not having mobile phone and so on. We teach them that every good thing comes from God and they must learn to appreciate what they already have.

I think adults are, in many occasions not much better from children. We are not happy with what we have or our present circumstances. We often think that if only we have more or if circumstances change into something we desire, then we would be happier. However, we will not have joy in our hearts unless we recognize that everything in our life is a blessing from God and thus be grateful to Him for all that we have. If you are married, that would include your spouse as God’s best gift for you.

So let’s spend some time before God to express your gratefulness to Him and appreciate Him for what He has blessed you.

The second thing that causes a Christian to be unhappy is resisting the will of God. Bill Bright said this: The most unhappy people in the world are not the unbelievers, many of whom are ignorantly and blissfully happy in their sin, albeit temporarily. The most unhappy people in the world are Christians who resist the will of God for their lives! The Christian who refuses to do the will of God must be prepared to pay the price of disobedience. Whatever we sow, we shall reap.

So, have a grateful heart and be obedient to God. And God will use your life to influence many around you.

Ling Yok Wong

My husband and I attended a marriage conference organized by MCCC in March. We gained a lot from the conference and got to know about God’s blueprint for marriage. His plan is to let both husband and wife be fulfilled and grow in their marriage, and share Christ’s love with others. However, many couples have a broken relationship because they do not know God’s blueprint.

Chim Hing and I have been married for 10 years but it was only this year that we got to know about God’s plan for our marriage. In the past we tried to work on our marriage but ended up disheartened and sad. After attending the conference, I discovered that it’s not that difficult to get along with my life partner. As I learn to accept him and see him from God’s perspective, there is unity in our relationship. I also learnt to face and resolve conflicts. Once the conflict is resolved, we find that we’ve learnt more about each other and grown closer. The key is to build up and not tear down each other. Today I am able to accept my husband’s weaknesses, appreciate his strengths and love him wholeheartedly.

At the conference, I also learnt much on parenting. God’s main purpose for a marriage is for the partners to reflect His image. Parents are role models for their children — whatever we do will influence them. I am learning to control my temper at home. We hope that we can leave behind the best gift of all to our children — to know the Lord and walk in the light — through our life testimony. We have started to spend time worshipping the Lord every night. The children also pray for each other and take turns to lead in prayer.

The conference speaker reminded us it’s more important for children to know that their parents love each other than for them to know that their parents love them. This is because children feel secure when they know their parents love each other. When the partners in a marriage are united, children learn about the roles of husband and wife and unconditional love. This also helps them to have the right concept of marriage.

We are imperfect and there is much to learn. God is perfect and He is the source of love and unity between a husband and wife. Christians are truly blessed and I believe God will bless us with a happy marriage and family and use us to bless others.

by Cheong Ku Lan

Two years ago, LK was a freshman and a new believer. In his first semester, when I approached him, he spent a lot of time playing games, and was not willing to spend time knowing God and serving Him. However, after encouraging him with the Word of God and building his faith, his attitudes and values changed; he was willing to live a disciplined life and has a good time-management for his campus life.

Now, LK not only walk with God every day, he also encourages those around him to draw near to God, to have good time-management and live a balanced life, in their homework and service. Who or what changed LK? Obviously, it was God himself, His Word and also his obedience towards God. The following is his sharing:

 ”Come near to God, and He will come near to you.” James 4:8a.
Maybe many people have different views about breakfast. Some think that it is not important, others think that it is the most important meal of the day. As a Christian, are we taking our spiritual bread every day? Are we spending time to take His Word as our daily food? Since when did we quiet ourselves to ponder upon God’s plan for our lives? To build a wonderful relationship with God is what every Christian should do. But often times, we are being influenced by outside or inner factors, that cause us to neglect our quite time. When we feel pressurized by exams or homework, do we continue to set aside time for God? This is something that is worth thinking, and we should also encourage one another.

Thank God that through my daily quiet time, He reminds me in different ways how I can experience His power in my life. When I have problems and after praying to God, amazingly my problems just “disappeared”. When I learn to obey God, I see that He blesses me, He opens ways for me in my finance and even in my study. Before, during exams I will “temporarily put my quiet time on hold”, so that I would have more time to do revisions. However, the results were not satisfactory. When I learn to commit my study unto God, and to seek Him daily, I truly experience peace in my heart. My results were out of my expectations. Praise God! Now, if you ask me to stop doing my quiet time even for a day, I can’t. This is because without it, I will feel uneasy for the rest of the day. It has become my daily spiritual breakfast; every day, after washing up, it is time for God and me.

I hope you too will make a covenant with God, to come near to Him daily, and view quiet time as the breakfast that we must take every day.

I think all of us would also like to experience life transformation-a heart that yearns more and more for Jesus and longs for God? What is the secret? The key lies in building an intimate relationship with God and walking with Him continuously. Christians should experience the moulding process from God  (listen to His Word, understand His Word, believe in His Word, do His Word), so that our lives will be more like Jesus, to glorify God.

by Lai Chin Yeong

Not sure if you have tasted that unique fruit from Sabah called Tarap? It tastes like Chempedak but externally it looks like one of those plastic hairy ball toys except it can grow to a size slightly smaller than a soccer ball. I love Tarap… and the last fruit I took was courtesy of a friend who brought one from Sabah for me. When I finally finished consuming all the little fruitlets within that fruit, I saved the seeds and started planting them in little bags of soil… about 12 of them. My vision? To move from germinating seeds to seedlings to baby Tarap plants, and then transfer them to the ground. I envision planting a whole row of them on the road side opposite my house. In time to come, I will have a whole row of Tarap trees bearing Tarap fruit, and then not only I, but others will get to enjoy the fruit.

My eyes welled up with tears as I looked out from my balcony. It was raining heavily outside. Suddenly I burst out crying uncontrollably. But my sobbing was drowned out by the sound of the heavy rain. “Why? Why? Why is this happening to me? This is only the beginning of the year. Shouldn’t it be a good beginning for my life? I have such high hopes for the new year. But now, I feel so useless as I am now confined to my home. Why?”

I did not know who I should throw the questions to. But I knew someone is listening. He is my God. After sometime, I stopped crying. I started to rise from my seat at the balcony. The pain that shot from my pelvis down to my feet was so unbearable. I took a minute just to straighten up my body. Slowly and painfully, I inched my way back into the living room. It took me a few minutes just to make that short distance though it is only a few-second walk in normal circumstances.

I played some gentle music from the CD that I bought in Indonesia. Slowly, the living room was filled with Christian songs. My heart quietened down, and I began to be still before the presence of the Lord. I could feel His warmth and the peace of His comfort.

As I meditated on the lyrics of the songs, God reminded me of His blessings. I began to give thanks for my present condition. Yes, the prolapsed disc has caused me lots of discomfort and disabilities. I even have to stop serving in the ministry field temporarily. Though I cannot walk, stand and sit for more than 10 minutes at a time, though I cannot drive and have to depend on others for transport, and though I cannot sleep well at night because of the pain, yet I have gained so much from this thing called “suffering’.

I am so blessed with so many friends, family members , brothers and sisters-in-Christ. Because of all my “disabilities” I can spend much more time with them, whom I have neglected for so long due to my heavy ministry schedule. Now I can listen to their sharing and not rush off like before. Most of all, I’ve learned to spend much more quality time with the Lord. I can rest in Him, depend on Him and find my comfort in Him. Indeed I am so blessed. This blessing is much more than what I have lost. Suffering is indeed a blessing in disguise.

Teng Pei Kin

It’s been almost two years since I started working. Thank God for His protection and leading. He is the Lord of both my work and ministry. In my last year of university, I prayed for direction. I had many wishes and dreams. When I thought of the new environment and lessons awaiting me, I was both excited and fearful.

I learnt about One Office, One Influencer through MCCC’s Impact! Ministries. It helped to remind me to be Christlike, whether in church or in the workplace. There is no such thing as giving 60% or 80% of ourselves to God in the marketplace, instead we need to offer ourselves completely to Him to use us as salt and light.

In June 2005, I started work as a quality assurance and R&D supervisor in a food factory. I strived to improve the quality of the product, the manufacturing process and the workers’ performance. I also carried out research on new products. Three months later, after much prayer I left the company. This was despite knowing that I’d be jobless and unable to help my family financially. I decided it was more important to honor God. I refused to give in to the financial inducements offered by my boss, who also pressurized me to carry out his instructions. It is wrong to contravene the Food Act 1983 and Food Regulations 1985, and I did not want to be responsible for producing food that did not meet food safety and quality standards.

Later, I went to work at another food factory. In one and half months I was confirmed and even given a salary increment. By God’s grace, I had the opportunity to share the Gospel with my colleagues and foreign workers. They poured out their problems and grievances and I tried to comfort them and prayed for them. However, my boss and I couldn’t see eye to eye on the issues of staff management and food safety. The staff and foreign workers were oppressed, cheated and humiliated. I resigned because I couldn’t tolerate his conduct.

All that I had gone through in the two jobs — the trials and temptations, the oppression and stress, the struggles and helplessness — I committed to God. There were times when I was weak and tempted to compromise. I thought of staying on in my job for the money and for career development. But I was reminded that “we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people eager for money have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1Tim 6:7,10).

I am all too aware of my weaknesses but I am willing to offer my five loaves and two fish for God to use. He is the source of wisdom and He will lead me until the end. I hope we can all be like Christ, rejecting the world’s mindset and influencing society by following God’s word.

Yap Siew Hong

My yet-to-be-Christian father subscribes to many newspapers and magazines that contain countless articles on Feng Shui. When I was home during the Chinese New Year in February, I got to browse through these articles. I discovered that Feng Shui teaches people how to lay out their house and what to wear so that one can be prosperous, healthy and safe throughout this Year of the Boar. I used to think that this kind of belief only influences those who are not so educated, but I was wrong…

During my high school classmates’ gathering, one topic that never leaves us is also concerning Feng Shui. One friend even searched on the Net for the correct direction to place the character of “wang” (meaning prosperity). These friends are not without scientific knowledge, yet they’re trying to look for a path that leads to certainty in the midst of this chaotic world.

I believe many of you are facing similar difficulties in sharing the Gospel. From my own experience, I realized there are some thing we can do to prepare ourselves to be an influencer for Christ with this group of people.

We need to keep in touch with them, and don’t just wait until Chinese New Year reunion. This will help us to know more about their daily lifestyle, ups and downs and responses to life problems. We Christians many a time are too busy with our own business until some big events in church then we call our pre-believer friends to join our activities.

We need to have some knowledge in Chinese beliefs and principle of Feng Shui. May be you would say a Christian should not touch on these topics, but for the sake of sharing the Gospel and to be relevant to them, we need to at least understand what they embrace in their mind. We may not be the expert, but never put ourselves as naive or ignorant in their eyes.

For me, as I glimpse through some articles I discover man that many of the so-called experts not only share about Feng Shui, but also modern psychology. This really suits the taste of modern people.

We must be prepared to face opposition. When we want to make our stand firm, it is like going against the current. Yet, the Holy Spirit will definitely strengthen us and give us the right words to speak even when people mock at us. For example, “Ai-yah, you Christians don’t believe in all this one-lah.” Normally we just respond with a weak smile. Why not try to say, “Yep, it’s because I know there’s one Creator who takes charge of this world. Do you know there are many stories in the Bible about how this Creator change the fate of His followers by controlling the wind, rain, and hour? Would you be interested to read these stories?” Of course, our attitude is not to challenge them, but to stir their curiosity.

Many of us are so caught up with our own business and treating the lost souls surrounding us like trees–grow, fall–none of our business. Unless and until we see this group of people with the eyes of the Creator God, we will not feel how pitiful it is to place our trust on stone, wind, water and gold. Or, are we ourselves also into the world of Feng Shui without realizing it?

Christine Loi

I have a dream - a dream of countless young people flooding the streets. It looks like they are in some “reformasi” type of thing but it is not. They are there - an exceedingly great army of young people. Smiles on their faces, beams of joy radiating forth from their lives, warm handshakes to all around. And as they move, and touch, and speak, people walk away from them carrying the same smiles, beams of joy and spreading warm handshakes to yet others.

They are young people who have a touch of God deep in their hearts. They are young people who know the heart of God for the world. They are young people who have wisdom how to connect to others. They are young people who not only understand their own youth culture and their world, but also take the pains to understand the other culture and the people outside their world. They are young people who choose to intentionally connect with others that they may bless and touch and help transform others with what God has placed in their own hearts. They are young people who become conduits of God’s blessings and transforming power. They are the new generation of Influencers for Christ.

Josh Chang in his teenage and college years, was one who desired strongly to walk with God and honour Him. His love for the Word of God was so deep that he would be concerned about being “addicted” to reading the Bible. As he was being mentored by an Influencer for Christ, he chose to be in situations where he had opportunities to influence those younger as well as older. He not only knew how to walk alongside those younger, but he also lovingly encouraged and affirmed those older than he in their faith journey. Today in his 30’s, married with 3 kids, he is a leader in the ministry of his local church as well as equipping himself for greater influence through part-time training in a local seminary. He continues to influence those in his church, in his workplace, and in his community. It all started when he was young.

Would you be one of those young people?

Herbert Tan