My name is David Chong. My family and I have been attending SJSM for more than 10 years now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I was 16 years old, I was cycling on the road with my brother during Chinese New Year when I was hit by a car. I remember hitting the windscreen and then flying before hitting the road face first. The last thing I remember was vomiting blood. I felt severe pain in my chest, and I could not inhale to draw breath.

 

In my unconscious state, I found myself floating bodiless in an extremely dark place. It was not like the warm darkness of night when you sleep but a cold empty desolate darkness with no sensation of anything. The loneliness was so tangible, and hopelessness pervaded everything. The loneliness was absolutely crushing. My despair was complete when I realized I did not even have a voice to call for my mum. My life flashed before me and I wondered what it all meant. I then cried out in this darkness and said, “If there is a God, let me know you or just to know you exist, then even if I had to come back to this place, it would be less agonizing for me.”

 

I woke up in the hospital. The doctor had to cut off my shirt because it was full of blood. They had to give me painkillers, took an MRI of my head because I hit the road face first. What surprised the doctor and me was there was a hole in my lung which had clotted over with blood, but my ribs were fine, and my skin was just bruised. That really confused the doctor.

 

A few days later, there was an Indian lady seated beside my bed who told me about Jesus. She told me about the gospel of Jesus and how much He loved me, suffered and died on the cross for my sins. I was so touched; I cried and accepted Jesus into my life and became a believer. I started attending a church in Ipoh, Malaysia and was active in the youth fellowship.

 

God was not always on my agenda but

I remained on His.

When I turned 19 years old, my mum,

who worked in OCBC, encouraged me to

come to Singapore to work. I did and the

Lord blessed my career in banking. I was given increasing responsibilities and delivered good results despite not having a university degree. However, the success made me backslide. God took second place to my work and lifestyle. Even though God was not always on my agenda, I very much remained on His. My cell leader and mentor then, prayed with me and opened my eyes to see my workplace as a ministry. Little did I know that it would change me radically – from a banker to a bike mechanic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The genesis of The Bike Shack

One day, my son came home and said he wanted a used bicycle because his school said he should ‘reduce, reuse and recycle.’ I got him a used kid’s bike and I refurbished it. And I felt a lot of peace. So, I just kept going – refurbished my wife’s bike, my neighbors' till we ran out of bikes. That’s how I learnt to be a bike mechanic, and this year, my wife and I started The Bike Shack – an SPCA for bicycles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At The Bike Shack, we take unwanted bicycles, refurbish them, and we give them to low-income families.

 

We collaborated with institutions like Care Corner, Fei Yue. Lakeside and Singapore Anglican Community services. We send free bicycles to low-income families. Since then, God has sent people who donate their bikes and money for repairs even though we did not advertise at all. It breaks our hearts to see so many bicycles neglected and yet we have a long list of requests from low-income families. But we believe God has led us on this path to support the charities and bless the needy.