After a protracted period of praying, seeking counsel, talking with the children, contemplation, soul-searching, and most importantly, seeking the Lord, my husband and I sense Him leading us to serve at the global level. God's call to us to serve Him full time has been very clear even before we graduate. His leading to live out that call in Campus Crusade for Christ has been just as clear right from the start. A year after our marriage, we knew very well that the call was also to a lifelong full time ministry. We feel so privileged to be exposed to a variety of ministries and experiences. And along the way, to get to know many people who have become very close to us.
William's Sharing
In recent days, I have been meditating on two passages of Scripture. One person whom I sought counsel with shared about Acts 1:8 that of being His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. I had served as Director over one campus ministry in Singapore, been a missionary to a neighboring country, the Director over Singapore, a Leadership Team member over East Asia, and a member in the Vice President's team. It seems that next would be to step into the global arena.
In Luke 5, Jesus borrowed Simon's boat and taught the people from there. Simon and his partners were washing their nets and when Jesus was done, He said to put into deep water for a catch. It was as if to say after we are done for the day, putting things back in place to settle down, and then to uproot them all over again to go. To venture to the deep, into the unknown and uncertainties.
We do not know what the future holds but we definitely want to be obedient. Perhaps we will pull up a catch so astonishingly big. That we do not know but leave it to the days ahead.
Both Catherine and I will turn 50 this year. We also rejoice over 30 years of full time ministry for Catherine and 25 years for me. We are extremely grateful for the exposure and experiences accumulated over time. As one person who counseled us put it, all this preparation is for the service ahead. Besides contributing at the global level, my heart is also with the national level leaders and I will really want to continue providing input into their lives and leadership.
In accepting the invitation to serve at the World Headquarters, we will begin the process for Singapore Campus Crusade for Christ to send us as overseas missionaries. Catherine and I are most gratified that the children are supportive of the move. We have been involving them in discussions, allowing them to realize the implications to their stage in life. Of special of concern is our second daughter. JoyAnn does not like changes. However, there were too many that had already occurred in her life. Some of which were not handled in the best possible way by us for her. Yet, she was ready to be uprooted. We are happy for how the Lord prepared them.
For us as a family, both adults and children, we are certainly not entertaining romantic ideals about going overseas. If anything, there were plenty of reasons to hold us back. The children's image of education in the US is - shootings in high schools. Having visited and attended various meetings in the US, Catherine and I are well aware of cross-cultural shock and more significantly, cross-cultural stress we will be facing. We will have to manage those for ourselves while looking out for our children going through them too.
Thank you for journeying with us.
