Stanley: God’s kingdom is borderless as He leads, even through visions, to roads less travelled. To obey God and go to places we have never been before is not for the faint-hearted.

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Over the New Year holiday in 2009, Stanley and his wife, Linda enjoyed a few days of relaxation in Malacca in Malaysia. They visited the tourist attractions and enjoyed the food and shopping. On 1 January 2009, as Stanley sat on the beach along the Straits of Malacca, he admired God’s creation of nature.  He did his morning devotion and was reminded that he together with his family should focus on Jesus who is their Rock and Provider. One evening, Stanley and Linda strolled along the jetty searching for a restaurant in which to have dinner. Along the way, Stanley took photographs of Linda on his digital camera and showed her the pictures as he took them.  Looking at one of the pictures, Linda asked, “What is this?”  Without looking at the picture, Stanley replied, “What do you mean? It is you, isn’t it?” Linda passed the camera back to Stanley. One picture showed what looked like a cascading map of India. Stanley was suddenly reminded of his friend, Dr LJ, who had in the past invited him to visit India. Stanley laughed, “Only if God tells me so.” Stanley knew right then that God was prompting him so he awaited further instructions.

In August 2009, Stanley received emails asking him to pray for Christians who were facing challenges in India’s Orissa State. During breakfast that morning, Linda asked Stanley why he had been crying during his prayers the night before. Stanley shared with Linda that he had been praying fervently during the night for India. Then Stanley sent Dr LJ an email to say he would be visiting India. Dr LJ replied the email, exclaiming: “After three years of praying, finally you are coming!”

In September 2009, not even a car accident to the airport could stop Stanley from boarding the Boeing 737. Although he was late, God touched the Captain to open the plane door which had been closed. Stanley arrived in Chennai, India to speak at a retreat to be attended by 85 pastors and leaders from 16 provinces of India. The theme for the retreat was “Encountering God”. Everyone gathered to praise, worship, share and encountered the presence of God among them on the first 2 days. On the third day, the morning worship was extraordinary in the spirit. They saw a glorious light appear at a high corner of the room and it started to fill the entire worship hall.  Stanley and all 85 worshipers were blessed by the Holy Spirit.

After the success of the seminar, Dr LJ invited Stanley to visit some of his ministries in different parts of Chennai for few more days. Stanley visited Dr LJ’s medical clinic. Some of the seminar participants were also there as observers. They had a good chat as they reconnected. In the middle of this, Stanley felt that God wanted him to speak to the other Indians in the clinic. Stanley asked these people why they were there and they told Stanley about their illnesses. Stanley then shared about Jesus’s healing ministry in the New Testament, including healing those who were deaf and mute. Stanley shared that Jesus is the one and only true God and he has granted salvation to everyone. If they were willing to receive him, they would receive salvation. For Stanley, it was important that they understood the message of Christ clearly and that salvation may or may not always come with healing, immediate or otherwise.  Life and death are in the hands of Jesus. After much sharing, three couples acknowledged that Jesus was the only God and willingly invited Jesus into their lives. Dr LJ and other seminar participants were pleasantly surprised by this. They thanked Stanley for the impromptu training session – it was crucial to care not only for a person’s physical needs, but for his or her spiritual needs as well. The session was also about having the boldness to share about Christ in the workplace.

Around the same time, Stanley’s son, Newman, was also in India for a three-month long medical attachment at the Christian Medical College (CMC). Hence, Stanley took this opportunity to visit Newman and stayed with him on campus. At CMC, Stanley became acquainted with Dr SA. Dr SA had such a heavy workload; his clinic was filled with long lines of patients. One morning while resting, and praying in his room, Stanley had an impression to pray for Dr SA to have a pair of healing hands. Stanley telephoned Dr SA to tell him. But the doctor had already left his home on the campus and was on his way to the clinic. Dr SA then booked a taxi for Stanley to go to his clinic. Taxi driver Ramu arrived to pick Stanley up. In his taxi were a cross and an elephant god. Stanley asked: “Ramu, I heard that you have many gods in India. What is Jesus’s ranking in your belief?” “Jesus is my number 2 god”, Ramu replied. Stanley said a short silent prayer asking for Jesus to guide his conversation with Ramu. Then he said: “If you want to believe in Jesus, He can only be your number 1 God and not number 2.” Ramu asked: “But how to do that?” Ramu only understood simple English and Stanley didn’t know Tamil. Stanley guided him to say simply: “Jesus loves Ramu; Ramu loves Jesus and repeat this three times, can you do that?” After a pause, Ramu did. Stanley then asked him again: “Now is Jesus number 1 or number 2 God in your life?” Without hesitation, Ramu said: “Jesus is now my number 1 God and no other gods.” Ramu then asked if he could have some simple Christian booklets to help him to grow and share his new-found faith in Jesus with his mother and sister. When they arrived at Dr SA’s clinic, Stanley introduced Ramu to Dr SA and told him about Ramu’s request. Dr SA happily gave Ramu copies of various Christian booklets and flyers.

So many patients lined up patiently to see Dr SA. Most were women with sad and desperate faces. After Dr SA saw a few of the patients, he excused himself to spend a little time with Stanley in a separate small room. Stanley prayed and told Dr SA that the Lord had asked him to anoint Dr SA’s hands. With tears in his eyes, Dr SA said, “God is good to send you all the way to me to bless me.”

After a few months, they contacted one another via skype and email and Dr SA told Stanley of his new-found boldness and faith to pray and heal patients in addition to using medication. Our God is real, real in our soul.

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Stanley: In India where people believe there are 30 million gods, it is a big challenge to ask them to accept Jesus as the ONLY God in their lives and not just one of their gods. It was wonderful to see God at work in India and to witness the deep faith of many Indian Christian disciples. Even in some destitute and desperate situations, they offered their tithes, talents, time and treasures in serving the less fortunate.”