Have any of you
wondered just how amazing, powerful, and timeless God is? Imagine a
monkey on a typewriter randomly typing. Given the time, a long time, it
will eventually rewrite the Bible word for word. Yet God would have been
there for an infinite amount time before the monkey started typing, and an
infinite number of time when the monkey finishes typing. That’s a long
time! God is truly amazing.
Anyways, about
me. I was born in Toronto, Ontario. Like most babies, I was born
ugly and chubby. Hopefully, I grew cuter, but I remained chubby. I
moved to San Jose when I was 7, and started going to church around that time.
For the next few years, I would call myself a Christian, even though I
didn’t know what it meant at all.
By the summer
before my freshman year, my old church split, and, after a few months, we got a
new pastor. Also, around this time, I started going to Valley Christian
High School. Soon, I started realizing that being a Christian was more
than going to church and avoiding major sins.
Even though I
learned a lot about the Bible and Christianity, from church and my Christian
school, I still felt a lack of connection with God, and lived a non-Christian
life. I knew about Jesus and what he did for me in my head, but my heart
was totally unaffected. I would have doubts of whether or not I was
really saved.
The summer
before my senior year, I went on a mission trip to LA with the youth group.
I remember the first day there, our pastor asked us, “Why did God bring
you here?” I was caught totally off guard, and came up with a random
answer that I forgot the next day. Over the next few days, I could feel
God with me through all the people I met. Two people I will never forget
are Patricia and Martha. Both were elderly women who had a solid faith in
God.
The first time I
saw Patricia, I was in a group with a few others. We were on a “mission”
to find someone to talk to and show them God’s love. We also had some
cookies that we could give out. It was night and our group was in fear of
talking to random strangers. Soon, we saw a woman pulling out some
cardboard from a bush behind a bench she was sitting on. Our group was
debating on how to approach her. Finally, we gathered the little courage
we had, and walked up to her and started talking. Fortunately, she was
very friendly, and accepted our cookies without much thought. After a few
minutes of talking, she asked us if we believed in God. Ironically, we
were hoping to share the message of God with her, but she was the one who
shared it with us. Then she went on to say how God has provided her with
everything she needed, food, water, and a place to sleep. She also told
us of a miracle she had. She was hit by a car, yet she got up, and felt
no pain, and was perfectly fine.
Later that week,
I was with a different group on Santa Monica beach. We were going around
looking for people that we could pray for. After walking awhile, I
met Martha. When I asked her about what I could for, she surprised me by asking
for help in finding people in need whom she can help. Being elderly, I
expected her to ask for more energy, or more money, or less back pain, yet she
thought of not herself, but of others. Though she never explicitly said
it, I could tell she was a Christian by her compassion and actions.
By the end of
the mission trip, I felt a tremendous change in my life. I truly felt God
in my heart, and not just in my head. I remember the day after getting
back from the trip. I was crying with both joy from feeling God so
personally, and sadness that the trip was over. Then I told God that I
will always try to do His will, even though there will always be times when I
fail miserably.
From then on, I
felt a change in my life. For one, the Bible was generally less boring to
read. Also, I became more outgoing, not just in church but also with
strangers. Also, I started worrying less and less about the troubles of
this world and started trusting God more. I remember one day I was
driving to volleyball practice at a high school. I had been there before
with a GPS, but the GPS broke, and I was still fuzzy on the directions. I
decided to trust God and just go with the fuzzy directions I had. While I
was driving, I had a major brain fart, and could not remember whether to take
highway 82, 85, 87, or 17. I was driving about 75 with the windows down
when suddenly a paper flew from the back seat in front of me. I grabbed
it to keep it from blocking my view and I saw that it was a map. It
turned out to be a map that I needed to get to practice.
Even after all
of this, I still had some doubts about my faith. If I were to die, I
would not have been 100% sure that I would be in heaven. Soon, Pastor Lee
left, and Aaron and Lynn Chung came to be our new pastors. They
introduced me to life journaling and Aaron showed me a book called Living The
Cross Centered Life by CJ Mahaney. Even though the book was really
repetitive, and I never finished it, it helped me understand more about the
Gospel, and the depths of what Jesus went through to deliver all of us from
sin. However, from reading the parts I read, I am now sure that if an
airplane suddenly crashed into my house, I will be meeting my creator face to
face. Acts 16:31 says “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.”
Now, from
realizing the depth of what Christ saved me from, I love Him more than I ever
did before. For a sinless, holy, perfect being to willingly save me, the
worst of sinners, is totally mind boggling. Even though I fail on a daily
basis, I am trying my best to always keep God in my mind and glorify Him and
spread His kingdom. Because getting baptized is a symbol for my unity
with Christ I am truly thankful for getting baptized, and I know this is just
the beginning. My walk with Christ is a journey that will last for the
rest of my life.
