How Hard It Is to Leave behind the Nets Immediately

Wai-shun and his wife, Bik-yee

The Re-emergence of a Thought Repressed for 11 Years

　　It was 1997 when I went to study in Seattle, U.S.A. and lived with my elder sister. In October that year, my sister and I joined the church choir to go on a friendship tour of churches in Vancouver together. On the homeward journey, a Christian brother drove a Christian sister, my own sister and me back to Seattle. As the brother was driving, the sister jokingly said, “Brother, you drive well, don’t you?” The brother responded, “Don’t worry, we have eternal life!” After a while, he exclaimed, “No, the little brother at the back still has not come to Christ. Little brother, do you want to be a Christian?” Without hesitation, I nodded and said, “Yes.” When we arrived home, they led me to pray the sinner’s prayer and it was then that I became a Christian.

　　Two years after coming to Christ I joined a winter camp. In his message, the pastor challenged believing Christians to commit themselves to serving God fulltime. I was then twenty years of age, having lofty ideals and high aspirations, responded by raising my hand. Without doubt I would love to serve the Lord but I was afraid that my parents would be against this idea. Added to the fact that my English proficiency was not good at all, I was worried that I could not manage. The thought of seminary study was suppressed and deeply buried in my heart. In the twinkling of an eye, eleven years had passed during which time I had completed my studies in two degree programs, had returned to Hong Kong and worked for eight years, and had had a blissful marriage. It never crossed my mind that God would uncover this long-repressed dream from deep in my heart and then place it clearly in front of me.

　　In 2010 I joined a discipleship training course. The teacher often challenged me to be a leader of believers. I could not quite understand – was I not a teacher of teenagers and the head of the youth fellowship? What further leadership did God have in mind? Back then, I had no idea. In July the same year, a course on spiritual gifts was offered in my church. The instructor of the course helped my wife and me to realize that we both had the gift of teaching and had encouraged us again and again to consider how to make good use of God’s gift. At that moment, the thought of serving God full time began to re-emerge.

How Hard It Was to Leave the Nets Immediately

　　In early September, the minister in charge of the youth ministry resigned from the church. When I considered that there was a lack of ministers to care for our teenagers, I began to feel that the lambs in the church were in need of shepherds to guide them, and as their teacher I had to try my best to teach them. Therefore, I went to inquire about the part-time, master’s level study programs in a seminary. However, for a number of reasons, I had to give up the idea of seminary study for the time being. First of all, my wife had already resigned from her job, leaving me as the only breadwinner of the family. Then, my boss put aside my monthly bonus using the excuse that it was the company’s operational policy and so our family budget continued to tighten.

　　In mid-November, God graciously enabled my wife to find a new job so that our financial load was slightly reduced. Towards the end of November I joined the “Holy Land Tour” organized by The Baptist Convention of Hong Kong and had the opportunity to set foot in Israel – the Promise Land. At the Church of the Primacy of Peter in Galilee, I meditated on how Jesus had urged Peter to feed his lambs, and began praying to God, asking God to lead me and show me how to serve Him.

　　Throughout those days God kept blessing both my wife and me so that we lacked nothing in our daily lives. Every day during my prayer time, I continued to seek God’s will and to be open to His call. When I once again read the Scripture of Jesus calling Peter and Andrew, I wondered how they could “leave the nets immediately” and follow him (Mt 4:18-20). How hard it was to do this! How I wanted to be of use to God so that parched souls could be cared for. Yet, being timid and of little faith (Mt 8:26), I was still afraid to let go of what I had got.

The More One Gets the More One Gives up

　　I was still sure that if I quit my job to begin studying at a seminary to prepare for the ministry, my parents would never accept my new life. Besides, my wife and I had to manage the monthly mortgage repayment. Once I had no income, my parents would be awfully anxious. It was March 16, 2010. At that time, my mother even asked me to increase my mortgage repayment. I had to tell her that I was planning to quit my job in order to enter the seminary. I told her I did not want to exacerbate my financial worries. My mother reacted strongly against my plan and still insisted that I should increase the mortgage repayment. As I was at the exploratory stage and as I was not certain whether I would actually study in a seminary, I could only yield to her demand. Back home, I prayed with my wife asking for God’s guidance. Much to my surprise, God answered my prayers much sooner than I had expected.

　　The next day when I went back to my office, a company director gave me a letter informing me of a promotion and a pay rise. I did a calculation and found that the pay rise, after putting aside my monthly offering and the mandatory fund payment, was exactly the amount of the raised mortgage repayment. God’s plan seems to fit into mine! On March 19, when I shared this with my church pastor, he reminded me that “the more one gets, the more one gives up.” I did not accept his opinion. I said to myself, “Who knows when God’s call comes, only He Himself really knows!”

Can You Respond Immediately?

　　The next day was Sunday and I had originally planned to lead the teenagers’ fellowship that day. However, there had been a swap between the ministering leaders a month before, and this left me with the opportunity to join the Sunday worship service instead. During the service, the congregation was led to sing, “God’s Grace Is Too Beautiful.” Since I had sung this song over a hundred times, and since the worship leader was not all that skilful, I should not have been so touched by the song. However, without knowing why I seemed to have come to the fields and seen the picture described in the song – God’s immeasurable harvest was right before me. I must listen attentively to God’s commission. Never had my heart been so touched that tears rolled uncontrollably down my cheeks.

　　The preacher that day was the President of HKBTS, Dr. Joshua Cho, speaking on the topic, “The Vision of the Gospel.” President Cho shared his vision of the gospel, about how he resolved to be a preacher when he was young. I could identify with him as I recalled raising my hand promising to consecrate myself to God when I was 20. In his message, he mentioned that the Apostle Paul in Acts was sent by God to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. He reminded us that the gospel has the power to go beyond the boundaries of gender, ethnic group, and social status and reminded us that any relationship can be set free. With God’s help, this is all the case for individual believers or for churches. I found myself weeping during the message. Then when President Cho gave the closing prayer I thought I could take a deep breath and relax. However as soon as I closed my eyes I heard him say he was going to make a consecration call. Upon hearing the words “consecration call,” my heart was like a boat caught in a surging sea and I could not control the tears rolling down my cheeks. I asked God why this call came so soon after I had just been promoted and had received a pay rise. I seemed to hear God saying, “Haven’t your prayers been granted in no time? If you are called to serve me now, can you respond immediately?” At that very moment, I found my body, heart and soul in surrender to the Lord. I raised my hand in response and accepted God’s call.

An Immediate Response to My Prayer

　　In retrospect, the reason God grants me the opportunity of promotion and pay rise is not that I should keep on working to cope with the increasing mortgage burden. Instead, He wants me to know that He is God who answers our prayers. He also wants me to believe that He is willing to grant us our desires and to give us sufficient grace at any time to supply our needs. Ever since I began considering consecrating myself to God, the following verse had been with me all along. “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit — fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.” (Jn 15:16) Right now, my heart has never been so resolute; I know clearly that it is time for me to leave behind my nets. I also know that it is God who has chosen me and called me to be His servant to feed His lambs.

　　After I entered the Seminary as a full time student, my family gradually began to come to understand the reason for my seminary studies and they changed from strong opposition to growing encouragement. I truly thank God for this. I am convinced that such a change did not come from my own work but only from God who has once again answered my prayers quickly.

Translated by Carmen Wong