An encounter with Heidi Baker.

My church held a conference last weekend, inviting foreign pastors to speak the word of God. One of the speakers is Heidi Baker. She is the reason why I want to go to this conference. All that I know when I bought the ticket was she is a missionary in Africa and dedicates her life there. Little do I know that she is far far more than that story. She is a woman who truly loves God, to the point that I who was sitting 50 meters away could be touched just seeing her being immersed in the Holy Spirit. It was said in Acts that even touching the robe that Paul had worn can do healing. After seeing Heidi, I can see why she can perform miracles of healing and such. She truly loves the Lord.

Heidi Preaching in Mozambique (source: www.irisglobal.org)

Heidi was a normal girl particularly really loving ballet. She even spent a one year internship in Switzerland learning them. Please do note that I know nothing about dancing and such, so I'm not sure if there would be some discrepancies about my description in this ballet :). Anyway the point is she really loved ballet. Until suddenly she met Jesus in one point of her life. An encounter so powerful it seems, that she accepted Christ as her lord and saviour in one day and was baptised by the Holy Spirit the next day. Just by hearing her story I realised, God will definitely use her for something big. She said that she was born again in a Pentacostal church, and after she was born again they gave her a long list of what she can never do again. Heidi was so in love with Jesus that she didn't care whatever it was, she would stop doing anything. However one of the things that she needs to give up is dancing. 

Let's pause for a while and reflect, what is the thing you really love doing in your life? Travelling ? Drawing and making designs ? Playing music? Singing? (or if you're like me) Doing some science experiments? Making a whole lot of money? Climbing the career path? Imagine right now that God says you no longer will be able to do it anymore. I will definitely cry my heart out and say "ANYTHING BUT THAT LORD!". Heidi was also like me, she was deeply in pain and grieved. But note this: She loved Jesus more, so she gave up ballet. The grief lasted for around 9 days. Just as it's not enough, now God says to marry Roland Baker. Seems not a big deal, until she told us that she was already engaged to someone which she loved very dearly. Another thing got ripped out of her heart, and she obeyed the Lord. She met this Roland and after just one week of meeting him they got married.

However her obedience leads her to travel the world according to what God says to her. She went to Indonesia, Hong Kong, England, (maybe some other places), until finally landed in Mozambique. Where her ministry remains fruitful until today. There were a lot of struggles in her ministry there, if you're interested to know more you can open this link here . However one thing stays true : her supernatural faith and obedience to the Lord.

After she had spent some time in Mozambique, she got invited to a conference in Brazil. Before it was her turn to take the stage, there were ballet dancers dancing for the Lord. Heidi said that their techniques and turns were just perfect, especially if you were once trained for ballet. It reminded her about the ballet she once so loved about. Then when she preached, at one point the whole audience, her, and even the committee was so full of God's presence that they were all facing down to the floor. Unable to get up, the two ballerinas crawled their way up to Heidi and laid their toe-shoes in front of her. The message they brought was this, "The Lord says: Thank you for dancing with me across the world these past years.". It brought tears to my eyes. Heidi said how could you not feel so happy being thanked by the Lord ? She was completely happy, and then after the ballerinas, now come a man paralyzed from the neck down. He was brought by his friends to Heidi to be healed. Heidi then crawled to him, looked him in the eyes, and said, "Do you want to dance? Get up! Let's Dance!" And so he miraculously was healed and got up. They had the most amazing dance ever afterwards.

After telling this story, she said something like this, "I was so ashamed to think that giving up ballet was painful. Seeing a paralyzed man to walk on his feet brings joy far greater than ballet could ever give". 

I was so touched by Heidi, even though she didn't even laid hands on me at all. When I got home, I prayed and was immersed with the Holy Spirit. I want to love Jesus as much as Heidi Baker did. Then in my heart I felt a glimpse of what God's future for me was. To go to places I have never imagined before. I, was scared. For the first time in my life, I am afraid of God's plan. I am afraid what God has planned for me, requires me to throw away everything I possess today. I have always longed to love Jesus, and to trust Him unconditionally. But this one, it was the hardest ever. 

Discipline for the heart

Last week I got tricked by a guy and lost around 400 Kroners + 50 Euros from my wallet. I was furious and felt really dumb when I realised. However there is more to this story than just that. A story of how God tests the heart of His children. A story of how God chastises his child to always be in the right path.

This is the fourth month I've been in Denmark, and that would also imply I have received 3 monthly salaries. I checked my monthly balance and became surprised of how much I can actually save up in a month. So that tragic morning I was wandering around Copenhagen and Nørrebro to get a cheap haircut. Inside the train and inside the bus, my mind was wandering around on what I could do with the money I have. Should I go on a vacation next month ? Should I buy an expensive racket instead ? I was indulging myself in the imagination of luxury. I guess those are pretty normal thoughts for someone who never earns a lot of money (If I change it to IDR it is really a lot).

Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the LORD?' Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God. (Proverbs 30:8-9)

So I was switching trains in Hellerup Station when someone calls me with Danish (looked like an immigrant) and the only word I can hear is "change" while He is shoving a coin of 20 Kroners to me. Usually I would just shrug him off and say I don't have any change, but that fateful morning I took my wallet out in front of him and showed him the coins I have. Sort of saying which one do you want ? As soon as I took my wallet out He closed in to a really uncomfortable distance that I want to back off, but I didn't. So for a 30 seconds I was just looking at my wallet with Him while showing him the coins I have. After 1 minute or so He suddenly backed off, while before he was really insisting of getting some change. It was really fishy, but then I gave him 4 kroners and went away. Feeling uncomfortable, I checked my wallet just 1 minute after encountering that guy, and realise that all my paper money has been gone. I had a good look of my money when we were looking at my coins, so this really hit me and made me really furious.

Thankfully my anger doesn't last for long. I realise what had just happened. Just the sunday beforehand, my church sermon was talking about having just enough (above verse). Cause If we have too much we might be proud and forgets that it was all given from Him. This is the message that I (think) I got :

See Hans, you may have some extra money,  but remember as fast those money was entrusted to you, they can be taken away as fast. Is this not what I said in Matthew 6:19-20 "19"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20"But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal" ? Have you forgotten why I have put you in Denmark? You are here for my purpose, not to indulge in worldly desires. 

I used to pray: "God lead me to the right path. Discipline me if I wander off your path, do anything that you want so I will stay in the right track because I will surely stray off your path." Funny how He answers in such a way. 

(Hebrews 12:11) No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

A Lesson from Wealth

First of all, I want to explain my reason for choosing the word 'wealth' at the title. While I see many people -especially those books at a certain foreign bookstore- defining success as having a wealthy pocket, I disagree.  I do not think a successful person necessarily need to have a multibillion business empire. Success is as simple as a housewife who raise her child to be a man/woman of good values and character. She is a successful housewife, and thus a successful person. Wealth on the other hand, is a completely different subject to discuss (at least for me). Well lets not take my word for it, because 4 years in engineering had taught me to always cite from a reliable source! According to Oxford Dictionaries Online, success can be defined as the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. Read again my opinion, and you'll notice wealth is not my life purpose :). 

The topic, however, is very interesting that I want to blog it. I had the inspiration when I was randomly looking at Indonesia's Top 40 richest person in Forbes. You can look it up yourself here. Initially, my goal of clicking the page was to find out who is in charge at what company. Yet the stories and traits I found is indeed alluring. I have yet to look at the stories for all 40 people, but I have looked at some of them and came with a certain similarity between them. Below, I choose to cover some of the characters short life stories. 

1. Eka Tjipta Widjaja

Mr Eka Tjipta (Courtesy of The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Ltd.)

Mr. Eka is an immigrant from China, and have started working since the age of 9. He barely graduated from elementary school, because of Japan invasion at the time. His economy was very tight at that moment, but even amongst the difficulties he faced he managed to develop a "concept" of door to door selling. He sold stuffs such as biscuits from his parents' store by using bicycle. He faced many difficulties in his early years, but he stand by it because of a principle. 

"We can face any hardships that might arise, as long as we have the will to fight. We must remain persevere every time faced with difficulties, and always be wise in spending the pennies we earn."

Today he is the owner of Sinar Mas Group and holds an asset of USD 7,7 Billion. Mr. Eka currently ranks #2 in Indonesia Richest Man. 

2. Djoko Susanto

Mr. Djoko Susanto (Courtesy of www.eciputra.com)

In his young days, Mr. Djoko Susanto worked at his parents store located in Jakarta. He dropped out of high school when he was 17. The store was not what you would call lively, because it only sold food. It seems food only store was not very consumer-attracting. Young Djoko thought that if things were to go like this everyday, the store would go bankrupt. He decided to change the store concept from food to cigarette store. His "hunch" was right, this made the store gained new customers from smokers to wholesale seller. It tuns out his new idea not only bring a great portion of profit, but also the interest of Mr. Putera Sampoerna, who had the largest national cigarette business at the time. They formed a joint store named "Alfa Toko Gudang Rabat" and this was the root of todays Alfamart. Even though their joint business must be separated later on, Mr. Djoko continue managing the store until it became todays very big chain of convenience store. 

Todays Alfamart franchise have 6.000 stores nationwide -if not more- and this made Mr. Djoko Susanto the #20 Richest Man in Indonesia. His asset, as Forbes count in March 2013 is worth USD 1,6 Billion.

Thoughts 

I will not question their orientation of money. But aside from the justification of selling cigarette, I find their journey very inspiring. How often is it that we've seen people giving up to their situation? Making up weaknesses as their shield to protect from the ever judging eyes of people ? 

"I am poor and uneducated, I can't find a decent job, I'll just blame the government for not establishing a good work opportunity for me." I hope I'm wrong, but I think there are TOO MANY people out there in Indonesia living with these thought. As easy pointing the finger out to someone else is, blaming another will not get us anywhere.

Mr. Eka Tjipta said, we should never surrender to problem. Stay calm, calculate all the resources at hand, play them well, and the most important is to stop being consumptive! Save your income for that dream apartment, not spend it instantly for an iPhone 5. 

Perseverance is enough for some cases, but what if we're trying hard at the wrong road, the wrong business, the wrong career? That's the lesson from entrepreneur Djoko Santoso. Take that risk of changing your pace, it might change our life completely. Analyze our situation, make that big decision. Trust me on this:  Failure is better than standing still. 

Be careful if you think you stand, cause you just might be sinking. - Casting Crowns

Source :

http://www.tempo.co/read/news/2011/11/26/089368569/Kisah-Joko-Alfamart-Susanto-Si-Miliarder-Baru
www.ekatjiptafoundation.org
www.forbes.com
www.eciputra.com