It took 3 near-death experiences before “a new Johnny Lim” was born at the age of 69
By
Christine Leow
, 19 August 2024
Johnny Lim having breakfast with a hawker from the 3838 Coffeeshop in Siglap. The old Johnny Lim was "self-centred and would not have noticed people around". Screenshot from video by the Thirst Collective.
Close shave #1: Johnny was in his 30s and driving in Malaysia when a lorry coming from the other direction swerved into his path.
He found himself “face to face” with the large vehicle. But instead of crashing headlong into him, the lorry skidded past.
By the time he was in his 40s, Johnny had three brushes with death. All photos courtesy of Johnny Lim unless otherwise stated.
Close shave #2: When he was in his early 40s, Johnny was driving along Bukit Timah when a big branch fell right in front of his car.
“If it had hit the top of my car, I don’t know if I would be talking to you now,” Johnny, now 77, said.
Close shave #3: A few years later, while playing golf in the United States, an iron club flew out of the grip of a golfer and hit Johnny near his eye. At that time, Johnny was CEO of the Singapore outpost of a manufacturer of hard-drives.
“There was a lot of blood and my head was spinning.
“The doctor told me, ‘You’re lucky. A bit more and your eye would be gone.’”
The scar from the flying golf club is still visible today. Johnny didn’t need stitches or surgery.
Back then, Johnny dismissed the near-death experiences as just “one of those things” in life.
“It’s time, Johnny”
For the first 69 years of his life, it didn’t dawn on Johnny that God’s protective hand was over him.
Johnny, at the age of 43, at the golf course in California, where he was accidentally hit by a flying golf iron.
His wife Nelly, who was a Christian, often asked him to go to church with her.
And after many years, he agreed to accompany her on special occasions like Christmas and Easter.
“People sing, I sing. People pray, I close my eyes. But it didn’t make sense to me. I did not feel God’s presence,” Johnny admitted.
Decades passed.
“People sing, I sing. People pray, I close my eyes. But it didn’t make sense to me.”
In 2016, Johnny agreed to accompany Nelly to a dinner with her small group from church. There, one of the men invited him to attend the Alpha course.
“Normally when people ask me to attend such things, I will say, ‘Let me look at my calendar.’”
“But that night, without hesitation, I said, ‘Okay, I go with you.’
“I didn’t even know what Alpha was,” he said.
(Alpha’s loving, non-judgemental, no-pressure approach welcomes all to ask questions about the Christian faith.)
“Looking back, I believe it was God saying, ‘It’s time, Johnny’.”
“The day I attended the first Alpha session, my wife Nelly was probably smiling. She had been praying for me for close to 50 years since our courting days. God answers prayers,” said Johnny, who was 69 at that time.
The videos and discussions at Alpha piqued Johnny’s interest in Christianity. At each session, Johnny took notes and participated fully in the discussions facilitated by “anointed” leaders.
He had many more questions when he went home.
“Nelly became my mentor at home. I also asked her for a Bible and began reading it.”
Johnny began to think of who Jesus says He is, and started asking himself if events described in the Bible – like the parting of the Red Sea (Exodus 14: 21-30) and the miracle of five loaves and two fish (Matthew 14:17-19) – were true.
“I came to the conclusion the Bible contained love letters from God – not made-up stories. I wanted to know more and more about Him.”
At the end of the 12-week course, the facilitator asked Johnny if he wanted to invite Jesus into his life.
“It reminds me that I am not the old Johnny Lim, but a new Johnny Lim.”
“I prayed there and then, right away. It was not in my character to do so. But I believe God cleared my mind and thoughts, and was guiding me,” he said.
That day, the verse Ephesians 4:22-24 came to his mind: “Throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life … Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God …”
Johnny has a copy of this verse on his desk.
“It reminds me that I am not the old Johnny Lim but a new Johnny Lim,” he said.
Johnny started going to church regularly with Nelly and started asking himself questions from sermons he had heard, and classes that he attended: “How does this affect my life? How does this touch me?”
“God was behind it all,” he said.
L-O-V-E all
The new Johnny found himself waking up in the early hours of the morning to spend time with God. One morning, he had a vision of a bright light.
“If it was a dream, you would forget it when you wake up.
“But when I sat there, I could still see it – the cross in front of me with the bright light. There were four letters: L-O-V-E.
“I asked God, ‘What are you telling me, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I love you and I want you to share this love with others.’”
In the quiet of his daily morning walks around his neighbourhood, Johnny speaks with God and listens for His voice.
“When God tells me to talk to this person or that, I obey, and pray for wisdom for what to say to them.”
Handyman Johnny putting up a shelf for an 85-year-old cleaner at the 3838 Coffeeshop in Siglap.
Fighting fit at 77: Johnny (third from right) is a master taekwondo instructor who has a 7th dan black belt. He was 12 when he started learning, and has taught various forms of martial arts for 60 years. “Students who were 8 years old when I taught them now visit me with their own kids,” he says.
The old Johnny Lim was “self-centred and would not have noticed people around”. He was a hard boss who would tell his staff, “get it done, don’t give excuses”.
The new Johnny Lim makes time for people – new and old friends from all backgrounds – whom God brings into his life. He makes an effort to understand where they are coming from.
The old Johnny Lim was a hard boss who would tell his staff, “get it done, don’t give excuses”.
They have included a cleaner he met.
“First week, when I greeted her, she said, ‘Mai mai (no, no)’. Next week, I greeted her with a Milo drink and bun. Third week, I walked to her, she waved at me. Then I sat down and talked with her.”
When he feels moved to, Johnny shares how God has been real in his life, and will offer to pray for them.
“I haven’t had anyone refuse when I offer to pray for them.”
Johnny sometimes wonders why it took him so long to come to the Lord.
“I sometimes ask God, ‘Why in the 39 years since I married Nelly You never touched me?’”
Looking back, he realises that “it’s never too late”. God’s timing was just right.
Because of his own experience in coming to faith at the ripe age of 69, he has “a lot of patience” when he talks with seniors – including those who don’t think they need God.
“You have a big house, but you can’t take it with you when you die …. Do you know where you’ll go?”
Often, their conversations lead to the inevitable: “You have a big house, a big car, but you can’t take it with you. We all know that you and I are going to die. Do you know where you’ll go?”
Said Johnny: “Many friends reply, ‘Si si (die die in Hokkien), I don’t care’.”
“I thought this way 30 years ago,” Johnny admits.
He is often asked, “If God is so good, then shouldn’t everybody be saved?”
He replies: “We need to dare to believe in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour to have eternal life.”
Befriending Saturdays
At the age of 77, Johnny is usually the oldest in the circles in which he moves.
He is the oldest in his group of men who go every Saturday morning to the 3838 Coffeeshop in Siglap.
Johnny Lim (seated, left) is the oldest in a group of fathers (pictured) from Christ Methodist Church. who befriend hawkers at a coffeeshop in Siglap.
They go, not to have breakfast, but to buy breakfast for the hawkers there. It is a friendship that has been happening since 2019. (Read about it below.)
Johnny was among those who supported chai png (economy rice) stall cook, Ah Wen, when he was dying from cancer. The group also helped raise funds for the Malaysian worker’s treatment and last journey home to see his mother before his death.
Johnny was with him for three months, buying breakfast and dinner for him, sitting and talking to him.
Johnny cleaning up Ah Wen’s flat when the later underwent chemotherapy. “I thank God for sparing my life so many times, and for keeping me physically and mentally sound so that I can work for Him,” said Johnny.
On Saturday afternoons, Johnny goes on to join volunteers in distributing food to some 180 residents in six blocks of one-room flats in Marine Parade.
The food rescue team from Marine Terrace Breeze RC repacks surplus vegetables for distribution, while volunteers from Christ Methodist Church contribute bread and eggs to add on to groceries supplied for residents in need. Screenshot of video from Marine Parade Gives Back Facebook page.
To alleviate the residents’ loneliness, Johnny set up a coffee corner to encourage residents to linger for a chat after they have collected their supplies.
Where does Johnny’s compassion for people come from?
“I told God, ‘You are the one who transformed me and I will serve You as a faithful servant in whatever that You need to do’.”
Additional reporting by Gemma Koh. Part of this story first appeared in Salt&Light.
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