My name is Nic. I run a trading/importing company that supplies some hardware stores nationwide. I grew up in a business-oriented family; religion was never discussed.

I received Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior three years ago. A friend who worked out at the same gym shared God’s message with me. I perceived my friend to be a bit of a playboy; little did I know that he was quite active in church and a Christian. I remember my reaction when he told me that he was going to Bible study. I laughed and said, “You? Church?!”

He just smiled back. Some days later, he invited me to attend CCF. I began to regularly attend afterward and eventually started going to D-Group meetings.

Since I became a Christian, people began to notice a change in me. Indeed, God’s hands were at work. He gradually transformed me.

As I grew in faith, God challenged me to take part in the CCF building fundraising. In 2006, I saw the presentation for the building fund and was greatly moved. I told myself, “Hey, I want to be part of that!”

Sometime after that presentation, a lady shared her experience of giving a seven-digit pledge back to God. Her testimony challenged me to give a seven-digit pledge as well. I even came up with a plan for how I’d schedule the payments. I went to the extent of making an oath, that I would not spend anything on myself so that I could save enough to give to the CCF building fund.

I wrote it down on the blue pledge form that was handed around that Sunday, but I never got to drop it into the offering boxes. Months passed, and the pledge form remained with me. But I noticed, despite his, that God began to bless all my work. He knew what was inside my heart, after all. Our sales figures rose during the first quarter of the year.

I then toyed with the idea of doubling my seven-digit pledge, even though it would not be easy for me – I am not financially well off. I gave myself time to think and pray about it. I asked my D12 leader to pray for me.

By May 2007, my inventories were running low. All of my foreign suppliers were having problems sending our orders. Our warehouse was pretty much empty, because we hadn’t received any shipments since February. I expected sales to drop to catastrophic proportions – all my top selling items were out! Our sales coordinators were worried that they wouldn’t receive their monthly incentives. I was worried by the sales figures and by the possibility that we wouldn’t hit our monthly quotas.

But, God is faithful. His plan was way better than mine. On June 2, 2007, I received the sales report from the outlets I supplied. Not only did we hit our monthly quotas, but we also broke the year’s sales record! Don’t ask me how we did it, because I can’t give you that answer.

I remembered the story of Gideon in Judges 7. God pared down the man’s army from 32,000 to a mere 300 men, and yet Israel was victorious. God trimmed down the level of stocks in my warehouse, so that I may not boast. We even managed to sell a lot of our slow-moving items that month. God is truly amazing!

On Monday, June 4, 2007, I went to the CCF office and submitted my pledge – yes, double the amount – along with my 10% partial payment.

Truly, God is in the business of the impossible. Though sales were horrible, he turned it around. He gave me the funds to help His building project at CCF…

… not only once. In October 2008, I received an invitation to a thanksgiving dinner for the CCF building fund. I attended with my wife Katherine, who was, by God’s grace, then six months pregnant.

They made a presentation on the progress of the pledges and the remittances. Before the night was over, God impressed upon me another challenge: to again increase my pledge.

I asked myself again how I could afford to increase my pledge when the first increase had been hard enough already. The amount that God had impressed upon me was three times the amount that I wrote on my first pledge form. So I told myself to wait it out and pray about it.

Days went by, and the burden was still there. I met up with my D12 leader, Edric Mendoza, who assured me that God is not a sadist; He won’t ask of you something that you cannot bear. As I shared with him, I began to stutter. I didn’t want to make a pledge that I couldn’t fulfill. I knew that with or without my pledge, the CCF building would be finished. I guess I was just being hard on myself.

One Sunday in November 2008, Rafael Simpao Jr. was the speaker. It was then that God broke my heart. I saw this man cry about his paintings – paintings! Most people would say that I understood him quite well; he was willing to let go of something that was so valuable to him, just so he could be part of God’s amazing endeavor.

It was the first time that I wept inside CCF. I wept as I pulled out the pledge form and signed it. My wife saw that I had signed the pledge form once again. She knew that I had been praying about it for weeks already. With tears in her eyes as well, she assured me that it was going to be okay.

It’s 2009 now. So far, I have been able to keep up with my remittance schedule. Despite global turmoil and economic uncertainties, our company, by God’s grace, still manages to get by.

I was reminded of the book of Exodus, when God asked Moses, what is in your hand? It was then that Moses decided to let go of his staff. From then on, the staff was never addressed as Moses’ staff but as the Rod of God. I am Nic, and my company is no longer my company. To God be all the glory.

My name is Nic. I run a trading/importing company that supplies some hardware stores nationwide. I grew up in a business-oriented family; religion was never discussed.

I received Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior three years ago. A friend who worked out at the same gym shared God’s message with me. I perceived my friend to be a bit of a playboy; little did I know that he was quite active in church and a Christian. I remember my reaction when he told me that he was going to Bible study. I laughed and said, “You? Church?!”

He just smiled back. Some days later, he invited me to attend CCF. I began to regularly attend afterward and eventually started going to D-Group meetings.

Since I became a Christian, people began to notice a change in me. Indeed, God’s hands were at work. He gradually transformed me.

As I grew in faith, God challenged me to take part in the CCF building fundraising. In 2006, I saw the presentation for the building fund and was greatly moved. I told myself, “Hey, I want to be part of that!”

Sometime after that presentation, a lady shared her experience of giving a seven-digit pledge back to God. Her testimony challenged me to give a seven-digit pledge as well. I even came up with a plan for how I’d schedule the payments. I went to the extent of making an oath, that I would not spend anything on myself so that I could save enough to give to the CCF building fund.

I wrote it down on the blue pledge form that was handed around that Sunday, but I never got to drop it into the offering boxes. Months passed, and the pledge form remained with me. But I noticed, despite his, that God began to bless all my work. He knew what was inside my heart, after all. Our sales figures rose during the first quarter of the year.

I then toyed with the idea of doubling my seven-digit pledge, even though it would not be easy for me – I am not financially well off. I gave myself time to think and pray about it. I asked my D12 leader to pray for me.

By May 2007, my inventories were running low. All of my foreign suppliers were having problems sending our orders. Our warehouse was pretty much empty, because we hadn’t received any shipments since February. I expected sales to drop to catastrophic proportions – all my top selling items were out! Our sales coordinators were worried that they wouldn’t receive their monthly incentives. I was worried by the sales figures and by the possibility that we wouldn’t hit our monthly quotas.

But, God is faithful. His plan was way better than mine. On June 2, 2007, I received the sales report from the outlets I supplied. Not only did we hit our monthly quotas, but we also broke the year’s sales record! Don’t ask me how we did it, because I can’t give you that answer.

I remembered the story of Gideon in Judges 7. God pared down the man’s army from 32,000 to a mere 300 men, and yet Israel was victorious. God trimmed down the level of stocks in my warehouse, so that I may not boast. We even managed to sell a lot of our slow-moving items that month. God is truly amazing!

On Monday, June 4, 2007, I went to the CCF office and submitted my pledge – yes, double the amount – along with my 10% partial payment.

Truly, God is in the business of the impossible. Though sales were horrible, he turned it around. He gave me the funds to help His building project at CCF…

… not only once. In October 2008, I received an invitation to a thanksgiving dinner for the CCF building fund. I attended with my wife Katherine, who was, by God’s grace, then six months pregnant.

They made a presentation on the progress of the pledges and the remittances. Before the night was over, God impressed upon me another challenge: to again increase my pledge.

I asked myself again how I could afford to increase my pledge when the first increase had been hard enough already. The amount that God had impressed upon me was three times the amount that I wrote on my first pledge form. So I told myself to wait it out and pray about it.

Days went by, and the burden was still there. I met up with my D12 leader, Edric Mendoza, who assured me that God is not a sadist; He won’t ask of you something that you cannot bear. As I shared with him, I began to stutter. I didn’t want to make a pledge that I couldn’t fulfill. I knew that with or without my pledge, the CCF building would be finished. I guess I was just being hard on myself.

One Sunday in November 2008, Rafael Simpao Jr. was the speaker. It was then that God broke my heart. I saw this man cry about his paintings – paintings! Most people would say that I understood him quite well; he was willing to let go of something that was so valuable to him, just so he could be part of God’s amazing endeavor.

It was the first time that I wept inside CCF. I wept as I pulled out the pledge form and signed it. My wife saw that I had signed the pledge form once again. She knew that I had been praying about it for weeks already. With tears in her eyes as well, she assured me that it was going to be okay.

It’s 2009 now. So far, I have been able to keep up with my remittance schedule. Despite global turmoil and economic uncertainties, our company, by God’s grace, still manages to get by.

I was reminded of the book of Exodus, when God asked Moses, what is in your hand? It was then that Moses decided to let go of his staff. From then on, the staff was never addressed as Moses’ staff but as the Rod of God. I am Nic, and my company is no longer my company. To God be all the glory.

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
And there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail,
And the fields produce no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold,
And there be no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will exult in the Lord,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
Habakkuk 3:17-18

The book of Habakkuk has three chapters, all relevant to our times. In Chapter 1, Habakkuk was complaining to God about wickedness and injustice in his country. He was worried. Then, in Chapter 3, you’ll see Habakkuk praising and singing to God — no more worries. What happened?

We see in Chapter 2 that God spoke to Habakkuk and told him, the secret of life is to trust God and live by faith. How do you experience this kind of faith?

Everybody has faith. Even the atheists have faith. When the atheist says ‘I don’t believe in God’, he is saying ‘that is my faith’.

When a wife tells me, “I lost my faith in my husband,” the wife still has faith; it’s just that the object of her faith has become unreliable.

Years ago, I had an American guest. He is a super heavyweight wrestler. He came to my office and sat in front of me. Well, my chair at that time was a modern chair. It was molded from a sheet of metal, and it did not have four legs; it did not have legs at the back. As my guest began to relax, putting all his weight in the chair, slowly, it began to bend backward, and then he rolled onto the floor. When he fell, he was embarrassed. Of course, I was also embarrassed. I didn’t want him to think that we Filipinos have bad chairs.

So, I helped him up and told him to sit in an identical chair. But he didn’t want to. Do you know why? He had lost his faith in the chair. You know how he eventually sat on the other chair? It’s called “Sariling Sikap Program.” His weight was supported by his own legs.

Many Christians are like my friend and the chair. These Christians don’t trust God completely. They cannot relax. They’re always worried. Biblical faith is trusting in God for who He is and trusting His promises.

Today, people say they have faith, but they don’t know the object of their faith — just whom and what they believe. The reason is they have not bothered to study the Bible and obey it.

Habakkuk learned to put his faith in God, trust in Him in the midst of his problem. And he was able to relax and praise God. (PTC)

Blessed be Your name
When I’m found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be Your name!
Every blessing You pour out
I’ll turn back to praise.
When the darkness closes in, Lord,
Still I will say,
“Blessed be the name of the Lord!”
Matt Redman