I did not see him for two years, and I felt hurt andconcerned for his spiritual well being. When I saw him again, I asked why he had been avoiding me for so long. He looked embarrassed.
“I wanted to know Jesus, and you gave me a library.”
I reexamined some of my concepts about studying the Word of God. The Early Christians certainly had no Bibles; they must have learned another way. For those who could read, I suggested they take a few moments from their factory benches by retreating to the toilets to read a few verses. Others found they could memorize a few lines. I tried to see all the boys I knew as often as I could, encouraging them to follow Christ’s teachings. They did make progress, but there was never enough time to see everyone. My school duties curtailed my time and my inadequate Chinese meant that I found it pretty difficult to convey spiritual truths. I needed more hours to study; practicing with the boys was not enough when I did not understand the complex structure of the language.
As the pressure grew worse, I began to pray about it. “Lord, I’ve got too much to do. I need more time to spend with these boys. And I can’t do this if I have to spend much of the day teaching. You have promised to provide our daily bread; please let me know if you will provide mine without my ‘earning’ it.”
Three days later the phone rang; it was Clare Harding, the friend who had introduced me to the Willanses. She came straight to the point. “Jackie, I wanted you to know that when you leave St. Stephen’s, we want to offer you some money.”
I was staggered; no one knew that I was even considering such a move. “But hang on a bit,” I gasped in reply, “who told you I was leaving St. Stephen’s? As it stands at the moment, I’m not.”
Clare did not hesitate. “Yes, I know you aren’t leaving right now. But Neil and I have been praying together. And I wanted you to know that if you were thinking of leaving, we’d like to offer you HK $200 a month.”
“Well, in any case, if I left it wouldn’t be until July at the earliest, because I must continue teaching until the end of the school year.”
Clare replied, “The money can’t be available until July anyway, but I just felt I had to ring and tell you now.” It was mid-November.
Her call was a great encouragement. I felt that if God could tell someone who did not know I was even considering leaving my job to offer me a monthly check worth about US $33, it was nothing for Him to provide my whole living. Now, many years later, I realize that this was the point where I decided to live by faith. 9 But at that time, I had never even heard of the phrase, and I would have found it hard to tell anyone about my financial needs. I knew, surely, that if God wanted me to do this job, He would provide. It never worried me in the slightest as to how He would do it.
7
BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU
T he telephone was ringing and ringing in my dreams. I struggled awake, clambered out of bed and lifted the receiver. It seemed to be the depths of the night; actually, the time was around 5 A.M. Ah Ping spoke in a quick, strained voice.
“Poon Siu Jeh, you’ve got to come quickly. Someone has broken into the club, and there is a terrible mess everywhere.” He hung up.
Despite the sticky heat, I shivered as I hurriedly climbed into yesterday’s clothes. I had moved by this time to the Kowloon side of Hong Kong and was sharing my apartment block with 8,000 other sardines. When I reached the street, it was still asleep and deserted. No buses were around that early, so I ran and ran.
My friend at the baker’s stall was lifting a tray of hot pineapple buns out of his oven and carefully parking them on the pavement. At last, I found a cab that would take me to the Walled City. When I got there, I hurried again through the tortuous alleyways, the smells and the filth to the clubroom. I was ready to find a mess. The scene that greeted me was beyond my
“I wanted to know Jesus, and you gave me a library.”
I reexamined some of my concepts about studying the Word of God. The Early Christians certainly had no Bibles; they must have learned another way. For those who could read, I suggested they take a few moments from their factory benches by retreating to the toilets to read a few verses. Others found they could memorize a few lines. I tried to see all the boys I knew as often as I could, encouraging them to follow Christ’s teachings. They did make progress, but there was never enough time to see everyone. My school duties curtailed my time and my inadequate Chinese meant that I found it pretty difficult to convey spiritual truths. I needed more hours to study; practicing with the boys was not enough when I did not understand the complex structure of the language.
As the pressure grew worse, I began to pray about it. “Lord, I’ve got too much to do. I need more time to spend with these boys. And I can’t do this if I have to spend much of the day teaching. You have promised to provide our daily bread; please let me know if you will provide mine without my ‘earning’ it.”
Three days later the phone rang; it was Clare Harding, the friend who had introduced me to the Willanses. She came straight to the point. “Jackie, I wanted you to know that when you leave St. Stephen’s, we want to offer you some money.”
I was staggered; no one knew that I was even considering such a move. “But hang on a bit,” I gasped in reply, “who told you I was leaving St. Stephen’s? As it stands at the moment, I’m not.”
Clare did not hesitate. “Yes, I know you aren’t leaving right now. But Neil and I have been praying together. And I wanted you to know that if you were thinking of leaving, we’d like to offer you HK $200 a month.”
“Well, in any case, if I left it wouldn’t be until July at the earliest, because I must continue teaching until the end of the school year.”
Clare replied, “The money can’t be available until July anyway, but I just felt I had to ring and tell you now.” It was mid-November.
Her call was a great encouragement. I felt that if God could tell someone who did not know I was even considering leaving my job to offer me a monthly check worth about US $33, it was nothing for Him to provide my whole living. Now, many years later, I realize that this was the point where I decided to live by faith. 9 But at that time, I had never even heard of the phrase, and I would have found it hard to tell anyone about my financial needs. I knew, surely, that if God wanted me to do this job, He would provide. It never worried me in the slightest as to how He would do it.
7
BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU
T he telephone was ringing and ringing in my dreams. I struggled awake, clambered out of bed and lifted the receiver. It seemed to be the depths of the night; actually, the time was around 5 A.M. Ah Ping spoke in a quick, strained voice.
“Poon Siu Jeh, you’ve got to come quickly. Someone has broken into the club, and there is a terrible mess everywhere.” He hung up.
Despite the sticky heat, I shivered as I hurriedly climbed into yesterday’s clothes. I had moved by this time to the Kowloon side of Hong Kong and was sharing my apartment block with 8,000 other sardines. When I reached the street, it was still asleep and deserted. No buses were around that early, so I ran and ran.
My friend at the baker’s stall was lifting a tray of hot pineapple buns out of his oven and carefully parking them on the pavement. At last, I found a cab that would take me to the Walled City. When I got there, I hurried again through the tortuous alleyways, the smells and the filth to the clubroom. I was ready to find a mess. The scene that greeted me was beyond my
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