Be Ready

When the disciples asked Jesus to tell them the signs of end times, Jesus said:  “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” (Matthew 24:42-44)

In late 2019, I took the Perspective Missionary course at church. I had to read more than 20 pages and do homework for 12 classes. Finally, I had to finish a paper of 2000 words. As a software engineer, it is a difficult task for me to read, digest and write. After completed the course, I decided that I needed to apply what I learnt because I spent so much time in completing the missionary course.

I went to my Pastor and asked him what I could do for spreading gospel to local communities. He suggested me to do Alpha course which provides a chance to explore life and the Christian faith in a friendly, open and informal online environment. Thank you God my church friends immediately support me to host the 2020 Spring Alpha course at church with delicious breakfast including homemade Quiche, cinnamon rolls, fruit and yogurt. Everyone was so excited to join the Alpha course on Sunday morning with great aroma of coffee.  

Pang! We had COVID-19 quarantine hitting us at the 10th course session. I asked God what He wanted us to do. My church brother immediately studied how to use Zoom for online Sunday school class. We missed one Sunday class in year 2020 only.  While no one knew what would happen in our lives, we decided to follow the guideline of Jesus: be ready and do not stand still.

Since then, we hosted 5 Alpha courses in English Ministry plus the Alpha courses hosting in both Mandarin and Cantonese ministries in year 2020 and 2021. Three ministries in our church faced the crazy world with Alpha courses as a basic Christianity foundation for our brothers, sisters, friends, families and local communities. I thank you God for pushing me to take Prospective Missionary course in 2019 fall. I am sure the Holy Spirit orchestrated all the Prospective missionary course, Alpha course and online church events. He built a strong bonding among our brothers and sisters to watch each other at the uncertain time. We did not stand still and do nothing.

Now, thank you God that Massachusetts, USA, finally reopened in June after one year’s quarantine. We did not loss one person in our English ministry. Instead, we gain several new people because of hosting the Alpha courses. One Alpha course guest said that she was so happy to join several Alpha courses for building the online relationship with people. The Alpha course gave her a new life.

Dear God, please continue to guide our foot step in You and teach us how to serve You. Please lead us to be ready all the time for waiting your return. Pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.