ビクター・チョン
I was born and I grew up in Vancouver and from the outside my life looked great. I lived in a nice house, I went to a top university in Canada, I had lots of friends, and I played the cello. However, I was not happy. Ever since I could remember, I felt a big hole missing in my life. I always wanted a better family life, or I wanted to have more money, or I wanted to have a girlfriend. I thought that if I got these things that I would be happy. But I couldn't get these things no matter how hard I tried. I thought that I deserved a better life and was never satisfied. Two years ago, I lost almost everything I had. I had just lost my job in Vancouver. I had no money, I was about to get kicked out of my apartment. I had broken my arm in an arm wrestling match, and of course I didn't have a girlfriend. As you can imagine, I was very depressed. I decided to come and find work here in Japan, but things got worse. I became so depressed that I had lost hope in everything. I even believed that God didn't exist. This is how I felt: One morning in April about two years ago, I almost died. I was having trouble sleeping because I was depressed. While I was lying in bed, I felt something attack me. I couldn't move my body, and I tried getting up, but I couldn't walk. The scariest thing was that I couldn't control my thoughts anymore. At that moment, I felt like I was going to die both physically and spiritually. I didn't want to die so the only thing that I could think of was to pray to God and ask God to forgive me and let me live. After I asked God for forgiveness I felt a sense of peace that I never sensed before. That day was April 25th, 2005. Does anyone know what happened that day? Later that day, a few kilometers from my house, a train crashed in Amagasaki and 106 people died and 555 people were injured. That was a very tragic day. But for me, on that day, God let me live. After that experience, I wanted to know more about the God that had mercy on me. I really didn't know him at all even though I had gone to church most of my life. So, I started reading the Bible. I learned that God is perfect and just. I learned that everyone including you and me has sinned against a perfect and just God. I used to think that I wasn't such a bad person; on the outside I looked clean. However, when I really looked into my heart, I knew that I was not as good as I thought I was. I learned that the penalty for sinning against a perfect God is death. I realized that I should have died that day in April because I had sinned against God my whole life. Then why did God have mercy on me? Because of his love. God loved us so much that he sent his Son Jesus to earth to save us. Jesus lived a perfect life that we couldn't live and died a death that we should have died. However. He demands one thing of us. he wants us to believe in him and give him our whole lives. I don't remember the exact day or moment, but two years ago, I eventually gave my whole heart, soul, mind, and body to Jesus Christ. Jesus has changed my life in so many ways, and He continues to do so. He gives me the power to change my bad habits and I can come to Him for daily cleansing of sins. Everyday, through his Holy Spirit, by praying and reading the Bible, I learn more about how wonderful. He is and He helps me to change to be like him. The things that I couldn't get satisfaction in before, I now have satisfaction in Jesus. I hope and pray that Jesus becomes your satisfaction.
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