I met up with a dear bro over lunch today. Dehua and I had brought him to Christ in his first year, during our NUS days. He joined the Navigators, and then after that, joined Covenant Evangelical Free Church (the Bukit Panjang branch) with his wife.

So C (the bro) and I caught up over lunch. We shared about our lives and what'd been going on. Gosh. About three years since we really caught up! But as he shared, I was so encouraged by how God has grown his faith from strength to strength.

C: "I've been really very joyful. More joyful than the past two years."

me: "Wow! Really? Tell me more!"

So he shared. A couple of years ago, his father had died without coming to know Christ, despite C's best efforts and prayers. So C was shaken and dismayed and very affected. He took two years to get over his grief, but thank God his girlfriend (who is now his wife :D) encouraged and prayed together with him. And now he's more joyful and deeper in his walk with God than ever before.

He shared with me other testimonies, e.g. how God had provided for him at the right times in his studies (he started up his own software company), and how God even helped him get into the Masters programme even though he hadn't gotten honours (his NUS grades weren't good, I guess, in part due to his ministry involvement in the Navigators).

So encouraged again to see how God honoured this dear bro's faith.

And, he also shared with me about the situation for Christians in his home country. (He's from an Asian country that is unfriendly towards Christians.) About how the police can just kick the doors in and arrest you on the spot and break up your church meetings, without any warning.

I looked at him as he shared, and I marvelled at the grace and goodness of God in this dear bro's life. So grateful that he chose to accept Christ even though he knew that if he returned to his own country, he would be likely to face persecution. Wow. And we're so worried about scaring off the people we bring to Christ... but honestly... sometimes we are more scared of sharing Christ to our friends than our friends would be to receive the gospel!

But still, he was all ready to return to his homeland a few years back, but somehow God didn't let him go back. But his spirit was, even though he really enjoyed staying here and with all his friends and of course his wife... his spirit was so sweet and childlike: "If God wants me to go now, I'll pack my bags and go!"

Sometimes I think the threat of persecution, like a cold blast of freezing water, can really help to clarify our priorities, as to what really counts in this life.

Through this meetup, C taught me, through his joy and gladness, that really, to follow Christ without any hesitations, without any reservations, without any second thoughts, really means life. Even in the face of persecution and death, for Christ promised a crown of life to those who endured the first death.

And to do the opposite... to hem and haw... is to shortchange yourself, and your faith and ultimately your reward in heaven.