Found – An Ultimate Business Partner

19 May 2013 by James Hoh CM

 

“It was a bit of embarrassment for me that when life was going to the pits, I started to cry out to God and become more serious!” admitted Swa Chee Kian.

He left God behind to do his own thing. When he hit the wall, he felt shy to return to Him and ask for help. But return he finally did and found his business partner in God.  

 

 

It was the year 2002 when Chee Kian embarked on a career to arrange tours to Iraq but this was also a tense period because America was about to wage war against it.

Swa said he made that crazy decision because he wanted to experience Iraq, the Biblical land where he once visited the site on which the Tower of Babel once stood; touched the waters of the rivers of Euphrates and Tigris and amazed by the ancient artifacts of the Assyrians.

“The Bible became alive for me! But little did I know that the company would be closed down not long after my trip to Iraq. I was out of job with no salary and no savings,” Chee Kian recalled.

“This was three months prior to moving into my new double storey house in Subang Jaya and I had spent every ringgit renovating it.

“I felt depressed for three months. My wife went to work in the morning; I hid miserably at a corner asking what was I doing at home.”

He was attacked by negative thoughts every day and then one day my sister-in-law urged me to go back to church.

 

 

“But I was ashamed because during the good times, I wasn’t serious with God but now I had to go back and face Him when I was in trouble,” Chee Kian said.

His sister-in-law didn’t give up and told him about the Prodigal Son from the Bible.

“I felt comforted. That Sunday’s sermon was like God speaking to me alone. I couldn’t stop crying, my tears kept flowing and at times curious eyes were staring at me but the pastor comforted me and assured me that it was ok.

”This went on every time I worshipped the Lord and it was for weeks! But I was refreshed each time without fail,” he added.

God was doing something in Chee Kian’s life. He surrendered his past at the altar. He wanted to start life afresh and prayed that the merciful God would give him a second chance.

The answer to his prayer came in just two weeks when a church elder said he was trying to get a business class seat within a very short time. Chee Kian was asked if he could do it for him.

“It was absurd. I didn’t have a company and wasn’t even working for a company. So why would he want to give me the business?” he asked.

“Nevertheless, I frantically contacted all the people I knew in the travel industry to get a business class seat in just two days. He wanted to travel on Sunday and I was desperately hunting for it on Friday afternoon but no seat was available. He was placed on the waiting list.

“My mind was the battle ground for conflicting thoughts – wanting to trust God and yet having negative thoughts. Suddenly a voice came from God asking me: ‘Why are you doing all these?”

“So I put everything to rest as there was no seat at 5pm on Friday. And I said: ‘God, you are the one who opened the door for me so You will be the one who will get this through. It’s not about me, I have contacted everyone I knew but failed to get any seat.”

Saturday dawned. “Wake up! Your seat on the waiting list is confirmed!” the Lord told him. “I can recall those words clearly. My immediate response was ‘Hallelujah!’ even before I checked the reservation system,” he added.

“When I checked the system, I found the word ‘confirmed’. Praise the Lord!”

But there was no time to rejoice as he only had half a day to arrange for the issuance of the ticket as it was a Saturday and the tour office would close by noon.

When Chee Kian handed the ticket to his elder, he knew that it was the turning point in his life. He knew from then on that God was going to do business together with him when he acknowledges Him and rest fully in Him.

The Lord asked “Why are you doing this?” each time Chee Kian did business his own way without spending time with Him and consulting Him first.        

He is now running his own travel business with his wife, catering mainly to churches and doing it as a ministry. The scope of his work includes making camp hotel reservations and event management.

This is an amazing testimony given by Chee Kian who was lifted out of the valley of despair and desperation by a small miracle, the tip of the iceberg if I might say, compared to what was to come.

Please look out for the second part of the story Found – An Ultimate Business Partner Part 2. 

 

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