ORLANDO CHINESE CHURCH MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
AUGUST, 2000
My Journey Home
I was hoping for this opportunity to testify so I can thank and praise God. Many considered that we are a fortunate generation. Indeed, I had a peaceful childhood. But happiness departed from me farther and farther with each passing day of my growing-up. Many things that used to excite me would not be of interest to me anymore. When I entered the college, a dream was fulfilled but I felt lost as if being cheated by a past dream. Soon I left for Switzerland with my biggest dream of going abroad. There, my study went well and I had a good job in Geneva. But instead of being happy, I was discontent in many regards. The beauty of the land of Switzerland did not move me anymore. During that time my granduncle in California wrote to me regularly to share the gospel. In fact, he has been doing so to our family for years. All his letters were full of nothing but God and the Bible. What he said was all true but I had lost interest. To live abroad was hard enough, so I really did not want to read about "you are a sinner...."etc. Many times I wanted to throw his letters away, yet was afraid what if this God he wrote about was true. Every time I moved, many household items were left behind. But that pack of his letters had always been with me moving around many times.
Once settled in Europe I began to travel to fulfill my childhood dream. A writer once said, "a dream may come true then it is not a dream anymore." When I stood in front of the Arch de Triumph in Paris, I said to myself, "so this is what I dreamed of for years!" But there was no happiness once the dream became true. Material abundance can never satisfy the emptiness of the heart.
How can I pick up myself and be happy again? I began to attend Bible study meetings, thinking about myself and life seriously. From the Bible I learned that I was a sinner but I could not do anything about it. It is like the dust exposed by the sun light coming through the window. I know the dust and the germs I inhale everyday but I cannot stop breathing. What can I do? The only thing to do is to pull up the shade to cover the window: So I decided not to go to the Bible study anymore; the Bible was too clear about the ugliness of human sin.
In January 1999 I arrived in Orlando to take my present job in the hotel. Many Christian friends invited me to church but I refused. I just did not want to suffer the message of "you have sinned!" In November, Novell sponsored an international conference on computer technology at our hotel. My boss assigned me to take care of the Chinese delegation. As they drove off after the conference to leave for a tour in Tampa, members of the delegation came to bid me farewell because they were to leave for China the next day. Ten minutes later I was informed that they had a bad accident and I was needed as their interpreter at the hospital emergency room. One of them, a Mr. Ding was seriously injured. When I watched him lying in bed in the emergency room, I recalled that we were just saying goodbye a little while ago. The doctor told me that Mr. Ding was lucky to be alive. He also mentioned that everytime the red-light flashed on the wall it meant another accident patient to be cared for. Suddenly I realized how fragile life is. The red-light kept on flashing in my mind, making me aware of how life can be easily lost. Mr. Ding's wife in Beijing managed somehow to reach Pastor Ting here and Mr. Li, a colleague of mine. They visited the patient in the hospital and presented him with a Bible after praying for him. After returning to China, Mr. Ding sent me an email saying that the accident was not all bad: he realized that his life had been too busy, but only now found time to slow down and read the Bible.
Christmas arrived. It had been a full year since I stopped going to Bible study. Mr. Li invited me to the Bumby church where fourteen brothers and sisters were to be baptized on Christmas eve. For the first time I saw people baptized. The special mood is the meeting shook me off a bit. As the choir sang "though the gift is good, how can you have if you do not accept", I deeply sensed that I was the person who refused the gift. As Pastor Ting gave the invitational call, I reminded myself not to get emotional, definitely not to raise my hand; but I did! There was a strong desire to be a new person again. That evening I opened up that package of letters from my granduncle, recognizing for the first time how much he loved me and how much wealth I possessed. God has His plan: once He has chosen I just cannot escape!
On this past Easter morning I was baptized. It has been four months from my decision to baptism, but seemingly much, much longer. I have come to God honestly to face myself as a person. Now I begin to know God and I will wander no more. He is the realization of my true dream, who will never disappoint me. Soon I will be going back to China. The new journey is filled with peace and joy and I am not afraid, because the unchanging truth I have found will accompany me all the days of my life.
At my baptism my granduncle wrote to tell me that:
(Zhao)
- You are a Christian, not trying to become one,
- you are a child of God, now home in the bosom of the Father, the household of God,
- you are to let Him hold your hand to walk the way of this life.
Be A Missionary
During my recent business trip to Taiwan I attended the Big Forest Church near my parents home. There I heard the testimony of Mr. Ho-chen Lin.
Mr. Lin appeared to be in his 40's, sitting in a wheel-chair. He grew up as a farm boy in the eastern region of Taiwan. His father was the attendant of the local Temple in town. Being brought up by his uneducated grandmother, he was regularly "rewarded" for his good behavior with cigarettes by the grandmother. Therefore, he learned to smoke since young. At age 15 he became a labor moving cargoes around Taipei. After work he mingled with his Mafia brothers. On night he was involved in a fight, during which he fired his handgun. To avoid police checkup, he hid himself in the casino till he was drafted into the Navy at age 20. One day on leave from duty he was in a department store. In the elevator a famous actor demanded the attendant to take him to a floor that was closed off to the public. The attendant therefore refused, ended up to be scolded rudely by the actor. Mr. Lin watched the whole event, and went up to beat up the actor. This eventually led to his marriage with the girl. They hoped for a normal home life. But one day his brother-in-law came to borrow money, and he refused. With anger and hatred the brother-in-law pushed him off the porch. He fell from the third floor to the ground and broke his spine. Since then he has been paralyzed and remained in a wheel-chair. While he was hospitalized, his wife died in an auto accident. Doubly hurt, his desire to live was totally gone. Yet while recuperating in the hospital a Christian lady led him to Christ. That was how he eventually came to the church to help out in the office.
Mr. Lin learned to play guitar when he was young. One night he was awakened by a voice, so he picked up his guitar and came up with a new song entitled "China for Mission". It became very popular in both Taiwan and the mainland. Since then he has composed more than 30 new hymns, always during the night. He has two wishes, one of which was fulfilled last year when he visited China to lead many believers to sing his songs. The second was to stand up from his wheel-chair, for which he is still waiting upon the Lord.
I was deeply touched by Mr. Lin's testimony. Our God is truly all powerful and full of grace and mercy. He used an uneducated and disabled person to write many songs to praise His own Name and to touch many unbelievers. His desire is for all to know Him and to enjoy the heavenly spiritual life. For all of us who are healthy and educated, what have we done for the Lord? May the Lord burden us to be His missionaries, near and afar, to awaken many from their deep sleep with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (Liou)