The Burning Bush - Far Eastern Bible College

The Burning Bush 16/2 (July 2010)
the English Presbyterian Mission Church in Upper Serangoon, now the
Bethel Presbyterian Church. Through primary and secondary schools, I
grew up under the tutelage of Grandpa. He was a man of faith and prayer.
He gathered us grandchildren every night at eight in family devotion. The
sermons on faith and salvation, heaven and hell and Christ’s coming that
he preached made a deep impression in our hearts. He taught us to pray
for more faith, solid faith. He taught us to be thrifty but generous to the
poor and needy. These virtues became our spiritual heritage. How we felt
God’s blessing as he put his hands on us grandchildren, praying for our
salvation.
Mother brought us up with equal attention. From a young age, when
we began to go to school, she would urge us children to study our best, or
else face a hard future. She had high ambitions, like Mrs Zebedee for
James and John. She hoped my elder sister would become a doctor
(which has come true), my younger brothers would be lawyer and
engineer (both are better off as doctors, and one of the two doctors more
than a doctor). As for me, her eldest boy, she offered me to the Lord.
She told me time and again, “You are to be a pastor.” She also said
Grandpa had offered the prayer of dedication to the Lord at my birth. As I
loved my mother very much, I kept her words in my heart, often
wondering.
In 1929 the world’s economy crashed! We had a slump, not as they
try to hide now under a euphemism called “recession”. Grandpa’s stipend
which he received from the English Presbyterian Mission was $30 a
month. A young clerk in the Government service started with a salary of
$45 a month. At a time when our family was bordering on starvation,
when we did not know from where the next meal would come, I felt it
would be more sensible to open a kedai, the Chinese provision shop so
common in those days. How my mouth watered when I passed by the
Cold Storage and had a whiff of the smoked ham hanging near the
doorway. But it was no better than eating in a dream. When I told Mum
how small Grandpa’s salary was, that to be a pastor was not an easy life
to lead, she said not a word. I am sure she prayed in her heart that God
would see me through. She must have rededicated me to the Lord that I
should not retract from her solemn vow.
Yes, it was her vow, her prayers, her tears, her love, her devotion to
God in bringing us up that we are what we are today. (It is said that the
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