Category: My Faith Journey

I had always wanted to write a second book – this time, a memoir of my life before the pandemic. Sometime in July, I discovered that AI could help arrange the gospel songs I had composed over the years. The results were so impressive that I was able to release the songs on streaming platforms such as Apple Music, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes and YouTube Music. I believe the Lord has answered my prayer eventually in His timing. All praise to Him !

That experience made me wonder: Could AI also help me turn the many stories of my life into a book, without my having to worry too much about the flow, the central theme or the grammar?

Indeed, it could. AI helped me proofread, edit and organise my stories into a coherent manuscript. In just one week, I completed the writing, and AI helped transform it into a polished manuscript ready for publication. It even helped create the designs for the front and back covers.

What had remained only a dream for years finally became a reality. The Lord has indeed answered my prayer in His timing. ALL GLORY TO GOD !

In the preface of this book, I wrote :

In this book, I hope to share my life experiences—the vagaries of life, the amusing and the incredible, the hilarious and the sorrowful—from my growing-up years in Singapore in the 1960s to the present. I hope to tell these stories without theological bias, simply sharing them as I remember them.

It was the movie Forrest Gump that inspired me to write this book. But unlike the hilarious chance happenings and improbable episodes in the life of Forrest Gump, I believe in the sovereignty of God over every incident of my life.

I was born in 1960 and have lived through so many phases of technological and societal change. Singapore itself has been transformed almost beyond recognition during my lifetime. I have therefore seen, experienced and sometimes stumbled my way through a remarkable period of change.

My hope is that these stories will at the very least make this an entertaining—and perhaps even hilarious—read. But more than that, I hope that somewhere among the laughter, the surprises and the sorrows, you will see a little of the Singapore that I grew up in, and perhaps a little glimpse of the hand of God behind it all.

We went to Surabaya, East Java with a sister to see if I could share a message of encouragement to the local pastors there in Aug 2025.

The night before the 8 am Sunday service, my wife suddenly fell seriously ill and required emergency medical treatment.  In this remote part of East Java,  I did not expect a clinic to be well stocked with the right medication.  We prayed earnestly for the Lord’s mercy.  We could not return home immediately for the necessary tests and without these tests, it would have been difficult to determine the correct medication.  By the Lord’s grace, there was really a clinic nearby and despite being unable to conduct the tests, they had and prescribed exactly the right medication.  Hallelujah ! I was overwhelmed with gratitude for the Lord’s mercy.

We could continue to sightsee the city before returning home.  My utmost thanks to the Lord for His mercy and blessings.

After 3 years of travel restriction due to the pandemic,  I went on a recreational trip with my daughter in March 2023.  After landing in the capital city of this country,  we took a train to our hotel.   En-route, I was pickpocketed and lost my wallet which contained all my cards.  Three pickpockets worked as a team and they touched my body at the same time which distracted my feeling of my pockets. By the grace of God,  I did not lose my handphone and money in my other pocket. Immediately I terminated the use of the cards using my handphone and made a police report within one hour as the police station was just 100 metres from the hotel. I managed to claim from the travel insurance policy all the cost of card replacement and some cash upon my return.  

All thanks to the Lord for answering my prayer for His journey mercy.  My holiday was not ruined and I did not lose anything substantial due to the insurance claim.   

All thanks to the Lord for the tent-making opportunity of leading tours for these 2 years. Led a group to Xinjiang, China in mid March 2025 which spring was supposed to be starting but the weather was unpredictable and could swing from -10 deg C to 18 deg C in various cities in Xinjiang. Our first stop for 2 days was in Kanas National Geopark in the north and the temperature dropped to freezing. Suddenly a snowstorm was forecasted and access road to the mountains was sealed off by the authorities while we were leaving. We even encountered an avalanche on the way down. All thanks to the Lord for His journey mercy and uninterrupted travel down the mountains. If we had arrived 2 days later, our trip would be ruined due to the disruption.

On the way back to Urumqi, we encountered very strong winds and the main highway was closed. We had only one longer alternative route which we prayed that it would not be closed as well. Again, our trip would be ruined if we had to turn back to Turpan city. I was nearly blown off by the strong winds when I went to the toilet at the R&R stop along the way. It was the first time I had such an experience. I saw a 40 ft container being overturned.

All thanks to the Lord for His journey mercies. Giving thanks also that our trip was not ruined as a result of such unpredictable weather. Everyone returned safe and sound. Nobody was sick as a result of such wild swing of temperature also.

I joined an 8 day package tour to Yunnan and Hainan from 30 Aug to 6 Sep 2024. When we arrived in Haikou Hainan on 4 Sep, the tropical storm from the Philippines had morphed into a super typhoon about to hit Haikou on 6 Sep. All flights out of Haikou on 6 Sep were cancelled and all modes of transportation were halted on 5 Sep to facilitate safety preparation. My youngest son hoped I could attend his army basic training passing out parade on 7 Sep and we had also planned and booked an overseas holiday together from 8 to 13 Sep. The return flight rebooked by the airlines was scheduled so far out to 11 Sep as all flights from Haikou back to Singapore from 7 to 10 Sep were fully booked. Knowing the near impossible odds of making it to the parade on 7 Sep and going on our overseas holiday on 8 Sep as well, I prayed to the Lord anyway that somehow the impossible could happen.
In this package tour, the owner of the travel agency also joined us surprisingly. He checked on a possible flight to return from Sanya in the south away from Haikou in the north. (See the path of the super typhoon Yagi.) He made a quick decision to transfer us down to Sanya on the 5 Sep. We were actually on the way to drop one couple who preferred to stay in Haikou and in the nick of time, we made a U turn back to Sanya and as a result, we avoided a lockdown on all modes of transportation out of Haikou on the 5 Sep. And he managed to get seats on the Cambodian Airways 12.50 pm flight out of Sanya on 7 Sep. I prayed that the Sanya airport would be opened to allow inward flights on 7 Sep morning or the 12.50pm flight would be cancelled too and that would nullify the alternative effort. And it was a direct 3 hour flight back to Singapore. Had there be a stopover in Cambodia, I would have also missed the passing out parade held at 5 pm.
Hallelujah ! All thanks to the Lord for answering my prayer to clear all obstacles. I made it to the passing out parade on time. The ceremony was held in a stadium just 10 mins away from the airport.

PS – Another typhoon was on the way to Shanghai when my son and I were in Shanghai from 8 to 13 Sep. We left before the typhoon hit Shanghai in 75 years on 16 Sep 2024. I would normally rest for a few days before embarking on another trip and not immediately the next day after returning on 7 Sep. Had our holiday been delayed to 13 to 18 Sep, our holiday would be ruined due to the arrival of the Bebinca super typhoon on 16 Sep 2024. All thanks and glory to our Lord !

In the past, I used to partner local pastors serving in non-grid areas and disaster hit areas in giving such lamps as a bridge to help the poor people and victims respectively, and reach them for Christ.   But unfortunately the early design of these lamps were found wanting.  The batteries used in these lamps then were custom made and not readily available.  The cost was also inhibitive then.  

After the pandemic restrictions were mostly lifted this year, the Lord led me to re-visit the use of such solar lamps.  I went to Guangzhou in October 2023 in the hope to discuss with the manufacturer on a particular design that can allow standardized batteries to be replaced easily.  

To my pleasant surprise, there was a lighting exhibition which was ending the very day I visited the city Zhongsan.  And at the very first cubicle stall,  I saw the very design I wanted.   The rechargeable batteries are manufactured by independent factories and so they are not customized but standard products.  The cost of the solar lamp has gone down by half !   

It is now affordable for the poor users in non grid area to buy such lamp and they can also replace the batteries easily when the lifespan of the batteries is up.  

Considering the odds of the various events coinciding together, I am sure it was another instance that the Lord had led me by His sovereign grace.

Hallelujah !   All thanks and glory to our Lord for His provision.  We are now able to reach many more poor people in the third world countries without the need for big funding.

I nearly forgot to put this testimony in this blog. I felt it was necessary because the visions for the Sep 2008 Great Recession could be corroborated.

It was in late 2004 that I started to have the vision of a great recession.  I blogged about it in 2005 in one website Antioch.sg and I entitled it “The Coming Financial Tsunami”.  (I was surprised as well that the media also called the crisis a financial tsunami later in 2009. Another surprise was that it turned out to be caused by the US subprime loan crisis which I had blogged.)  When I was first called to missions in China in 2007,  I started warning the Chinese church to be prepared for the looming economic crisis.

In late 2007, I went to the Hakka region between Fujian and Guangdong province to warn the three-self church in Dapu.  The church leaders were not happy for they misconstrued that I was slighting the economic progress of China.  Nevertheless I started to save up the ministry funds in case of need.

In early 2008,  I went to a rural city in Liaoning province near to Shenyang.   The church gathered several pastors and ministry workers from other remote places to meet in a three day conference in an obscure village.  (It was still not allowed then to hold such conference without official approval.)  I spoke and warned of the looming economic crisis which would happen after the Sep 2008 Olympics held in Beijing. I just blurted out the date spontaneously when I was giving the message. My traveling partner CH Goh, a missionary based in Hong Kong, translated for me for I was not fluent in speaking Mandarin then.  (Later he told me that he lost USD 20,000 in his stock portfolio.  Though he translated for me, he admitted that he was not paying attention to what I shared then. The picture below was taken when he was leading the worship then.)

In early 2009, I went again to the Dapu church bringing funds to relieve the financially strapped elderly brothers and sisters.  Their children, who were working in Dongguan, did not remit money to them after the financial crisis hit.  I believed they were laid off.  The church leaders were awkward when I reminded them of their unpleasant attitude towards me in my last visit in 2007.  We had a good laugh to break the awkwardness.

All glory to the Lord.

One evening while I was doing my walking exercise, the Lord’s Spirit prompted me to pray for the Lord’s hedge of protection against physical harm for my family. (I was perplexed but I obeyed anyway. I searched the web to read up on the three words – hedge of protection – which I often heard in prayer.) About five days later, my son had a car accident on the way to work. The great impact caused the airbags to activate.

By the grace of our Lord, he had no visible injury. He was hospitalized for a few days to undergo scans and other tests to ascertain there is no other internal injury. All test results did not reveal any internal injury as well.

All thanks and glory to our Lord Jesus. Hallelujah ! Too thankful for words.

I believe all healing is divine healing. At times when we pray for an incurable medical problem, our prayer is answered when medical science discovers the cure timely. I had very sweaty palms since young and I prayed for healing despite doctors telling me it was incurable. And the cure came in 1998.

I was distressed over the severe inflammation on my face for the past few months. Anyone looking at me would notice it. I have tried the steroidal cream prescribed by the national specialist clinic for a month without any effect. I prayed for healing and at the opportune time, a brother gave me a spray he invented to try. (If I did not travel overseas for a ministry purpose, I would not have met this brother.) The inflammation was gone after a week of applying it. Hallelujah ! All thanks to the Lord for His healing !

I was sharing the message on the coming economic flood based on my book in a fellowship worship service a few weeks ago when I suddenly remembered and mentioned that the editing of the book by the US publisher was stringent.  Written approval from  all sources of information mentioned in the book were required to prevent falsehood and plagiarism.  I would have to travel to Indonesia, Philippines and China to get the approval from a few pastors.  If I had to send the written request by post,  the launch of the book would be delayed.   I prayed that there could be a waiver from the publisher, but to my surprise,  the Lord granted my prayer by having all the pastors from these countries coming down to Singapore in the same week ! One was sponsored to attend some sort of anniversary of a local church. The others came on personal matters. Unbelievable considering the odds. Hallelujah !

After I got their signatories on my own draft forms,  the publisher sent me their forms.  I prayed again that my own forms would suffice.  By the grace of God, my plea was granted again.  Hallelujah !  All thanks and glory to our Lord.