Ben Teo

I grew up in a poor family, with two brothers and one younger sister and myself. My parents have been Buddhist for many years and we adopted the Buddhist culture. Life was tough during those days. We stayed in a rented house with two separate rooms. The house was very old whenever it rained we had to use a lot of pails as water dripped down from the ceiling where we slept. There were also a lot of pests flying and crawling around in the house, however I was used to this kind of lifestyle.

My father loved to gamble, from betting on horses to 4D to 12 stick (Cha Ji Ki). My two brothers and I mastered a lot of skills from him in this area during our childhood days. I worshipped a lot of idols during those days with my father and brother. We joined the temple activities and were members of the temple. We were even dedicated to the idols. We went to different temples to worship and even helped out in building temples in Indonesia.

I hated studying and disliked going to school. I followed in my father’s footsteps. I liked gambling, buying TOTO, 4D and playing mahjong. I recalled playing mahjong every weekend till the wee hours. I was also involved in Internet soccer betting. I stopped school at the age of 17 after completing my N-level. I decided to go out and work and earn money to support my family plus extra money for my own leisure. But that only lasted a year. I completed NS at the age of 20+ and worked as a delivery man for my aunt’s company for just one year. It was my first job. There after I look up for other job opportunities. God is great to me even though I am a pre-believer. He had purposes and plans for everything in my life.

He led me to a job vacancy while I was reading the newspaper one day. It said to hire notebook salesmen. I thought it was doing notebook stationery sales and I went ahead for the interview. To my surprise they wanted to look for computer sales personnel selling “notebooks” which I do not have an interest in. Somehow I just took up the job earning a salary of $600 a month. I told myself since I am not highly educated and had no skills what could I do then? I believe this was when God was trying to mould me and to help me carve out my career path in the IT field. I worked very hard to learn and sell as a sales personnel dealing with computers, not to fear them at all.

God also helped me to find a partner in this field. I met my girlfriend who is my wife now. We had a courtship that lasted for about 8 years then we registered at ROM. As a couple, I have caused her a lot of headaches and problems due to my gambling habits and attitude problem. I also neglected her and `Bo Chap’ her feelings. I always put her as the last priority. My friends came first. Six months after our ROM, our marriage hit the rocks. We both could not tolerate each other anymore and almost ended up in divorce. She went back to God in 2003 July and our differences became greater as I do not know God and did not understand why she follows Jesus and keeps going to church. Later I discovered that she married me when she was backslidden, she has been a Christian since Primary 6. God has an amazing way of leading my wife back to church.

However because she had gone back to church, she had a group of people supporting her through the difficult times in our marriage. I got to know Pastor Caleb and Christina through my wife. They would counsel both of us and help us weather through the storms. Pastor Caleb also encouraged me to give my wife a wedding ceremony. Thus we went for Pre Marital Counselling (PMC). I am thankful that during those days when I was still an unbeliever, FCBC accepted my wife and I for PMC. Through the PMC, I served in Gkidz and got to know many other people in the church. During those days my wife always invited me to go for Marriage Encounter. I went twice! Finally at the second one in 2005 I received Jesus into my life. According to my wife, she fasted and prayed for me to go. After our PMC we finally had our wedding ceremony, Pastor Caleb led us through rededication of our vows.

In 2003, my wife prayed with me as I started my own IT business and told me that the Lord had told her to give me her support. Today all glory goes to the Lord who paved the way for my career and business. He is indeed the Jehovah Jireh who provides every resource I need for my business.

The Lord had not only blessed my business, He has also blessed my wife and I with a son. Timothy is 2 plus years today. He was born with a hole in the heart and the Lord closed the hole when he was 8 months. He is Jehovah Rapha our healer.

I give thanks to God for salvaging my marriage and the community he puts in my life. I thank God for the lovely family He has blessed me with. How wonderful is God to transform me as father and head of the household in the family. He has blessed me and the business and my family. Praise be to God.

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