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Ho Kwan Chik
The thought of being baptised was slightly scary. I used to see baptism more of a graduation rather than a confirmative ceremony. I used to think that going to Sunday school, you learn all the things about God, Jesus and the Bible, and then when you have learnt it all, you get baptised. However, I have realised that baptism is a confirmation of faith. I don’t know if I will ever be worthy of God’s grace, but I know that by His grace, I am able to stand here today and be saved by His mercy. I have realised that baptism doesn’t mean an end to my learning. It’s more of a beginning, a new clean place where I can start a fresh start through Christ, and have a new life and live spiritually.
Writing a testimony seemed even scarier! However, if it wasn’t for peoples’ testimonies. I don’t believe that many of the people here would be Christians. It says in Revelations 12:11:
“They overcame him
By the blood of the Lamb
And by the word of their testimony.”This tells me that through my testimony I can overcome the devil and I realise how important it is to give my testimony.
As I have been going to church from a very young age, I can say that Jesus has always been a part of my life whether I realised it or not. I experienced God’s love from a very young age, but at that time, I did not realise it. However, it just shows that even when we don’t acknowledge Him, He still acknowledges us. Not long after I moved to the UK, my daddy was diagnosed with cancer that was a very hard time for my family and me.
However, it was the love of the people from the church which supported us in so many ways. In January 1997, my daddy passed away. At that time, I didn’t realise what was going on, but I knew my daddy had been taken away from me, it wasn’t until I got older I realised that even though that time was hard, it was the love of Christians in the church which helped me and my family through. Although we were not close to those brothers and sisters, God used them to show His love to us.
Growing up going to church did not mean I was the perfect Christian, like everyone, I would have done things that I would have regretted later. However it wasn’t until a few years ago that my way of thinking had changed, and I found that I was going to church because I was more willing to learn than just to see my friends. One of the hard things was telling people I was a Christian. I still found it hard to talk to non- Christians about my faith. However, I have God on my side, and like it says in Philippians 4:13,” “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”
It wasn’t until April last year in which I accepted Christ officially. I mean I believed in Him; however I don’t think I committed. I truly understood that I was a sinner and that I needed to be cleansed through Jesus. Last year, I was old enough to realise why I accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour. I remember I felt a sense of a weight was being lifted from my shoulders, and I was filled with happiness. At that moment, I knew that God had taken away my burdens, and my life was in His hands. Ephesians 2:10 gives me a sense of security that I have a purpose in life that God has planned out everything for me, and I just need to trust in Him. However, even after the commitment to Christ, I still felt there was a piece of something that was missing. This piece was filled by going to PHAT Camp ‘07. During my time at the camp, I truly realised what Jesus Christ did for me which was by dying on the cross. I used to just accept this great sacrifice as a fact and never truly understood what God actually gave up to save me from my sins, and this helped me see just how great the love of God is for me.
Since accepting Christ, I feel He has given me a sense of all round happiness and a spiritual high which has allowed me to be more positive and happy.
I am thankful because God has also given an amazing spiritual family through Christianity. Being among Christians gives me comfort, as they understand my problems and my life, God has given each and every one of them a kind of unquestionable love that only Christians have; in times of need or in times of happiness, I know that they are there for me just as Jesus is with me. I thank God for my mum because I don’t think I can even stand here today if it wasn’t for her bringing me to church every Sunday. I also thank my mum for looking after me all these years, and I know it hasn’t been easy. God has truly blessed me with the best family that looks after me, and for this I am grateful.
I know that being baptised does not mean that all my problems are going to go away. I need the baggage and the problems as part of my spiritual life. I need to take up the cross, just as Jesus did as it is my bridge to Heaven. Asking God to make my cross smaller will only mean that my bridge will be too small and I can’t cross over to Heaven. Taking up the cross and living with Jesus in me are the only two ways that I can get to God and be holy and blameless in His sight.
~*I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me*~
Galatians 2:20
I was born at St. Paul hospital, in Hong Kong, on 10th February, 1993. It is ironic that I am studying at St Paul Catholic School now. I was raised in Ping Chau, Hong Kong. I moved to Milton Keynes, England in March in 2002, and lived in Elliot’s house for about half a year. I went to Loughton Middle School, then to St Paul Catholic School till now.
Now about myself: Psychologically, I have a medium low self-esteem, so I tend to argue a lot, and am quite insubordinate. Spiritually, I believe that God is the alpha, omega and above all; with that in mind, I have started to read the Bible more regularly, and haven’t skipped a day of daily devotion even just read a few verses, I read depending on how tired I am. Materially, I can do better about to my fitness, and I am just doing that. In general, I have a moderate good health, and I don’t have any particular health problems.
All my life, I was brought up in a Christian family. The existence of God and the events in the Bible are all facts to me. To be honest, I thought I would make a better Christian than I was a bit younger. I was pretty familiar with all the Bible stories that the teachers taught at Sunday school; however, they didn’t go into deep study of the meaning, only taught the brief morals of each, and I occupied them in my life. My life was pretty perfect, and I could care less about today, and the future was an unknown to me.
I committed my life to Christ early teens, as it was very natural to me: being brought up in a Christian family, going to church every Sunday, and going to a Christian school. The theme of God was all through my life, and it blessed me with happiness. The innocence of not knowing anything beyond what I could see. The reason I have for my belief is that I believe that Jesus is the only way. The lyrics “the way, the truth, the life” in the song of “One Way” by Christian Band Hill, and in John 14:6 “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Both have clearly told and made me believe that Jesus is the only way. I didn’t choose to believe in Him, as Evan Almighty said, "He chooses all of us. It’s up to us to respond.
The Gospel, in its original language means “good news”, and the four-gospel basically tells us about the good news of Jesus: His birth, life and death. And I think the diagram on the right demonstrates this very well. It shows the birth of the Son of God stooped down to the lowest of the low, was born in a stable where animals dwelt, raised as a carpenter, came to save and die for those who mocked Him, and was crucified on the cross for the crime for being the King of the Jews. Now the cross symbolizes Christianity.
Converting to Christianity was nothing dramatic, but that didn’t mean to say it wasn’t important. I was not quite sure of the specific date of my commitment, but I believed that even after I “committed myself to Christ”, I wasn’t really a Christian. I think I truly became a Christian sometime after that when I truly understood what Christianity meant: to devote my life 24/7 as a child of God. “to be a worshipper 24/7”. As a friend put it, “To be not just a Friday-and-Sunday thing; it’s every moment of my life, that I will be a Christian till the end of my life doing what He calls me to do. And to show the world who I am, and what I am by reflecting the glory of Jesus through my actions.
After believing in Him, I thought deeper about the Bible stories, instead of knowing just the surface of them. Thinking about what they could mean, applying them to my life, building up a dictionary of what I should do and be like, so that I truly “look good for Christ”, as a Sunday school teacher once said. I also think I received a vocation from God, and I believe God wants me to be a medical officer in the army and I working towards it. As ridiculous as this vocation sound, I jog at least four times a week in order to meet the physical requirements for it. I have been studying, for the first time in my life, diligently to do well in the subjects that I need. I also pray every day to ask God if this was really what He wanted me to do. And I’ll continue to do this till I get there, or when God tells me He wants me to do something else, then I’ll do it! Paul Washer used this example: “He claimed he was late due to being hit by a logging truck.” Then he said the audience’s response was, “You’re either crazy or a liar! You can’t be hit by a logging truck and remain unchanged.” (Not an exact quote) And then he responded, “Which one is bigger? A logging truck or God?” So many people claim to have had an encounter with Jesus, but their life remains unchanged. Are they really saved if they’re unchanged? I think this is a perfect example of committing to God. It will have effect on you, maybe not instantly, but gradually it will have a clear significant impact on you which imprints God’s initials “A.O.H.” (“alpha and omega hardware” --Evan Almighty) on it.
In my early life, all I really cared was having fun, but this attitude had all been changed when I found God in my life. Now He is the top priority in my life, and I’m willing to put Him above all things. I started going to church from a very young age, but at that time I didn’t really know what the meaning of going to church and all I really cared about was; all I really cared was about going to church to have fun.
I committed my life to God in 2002 when I was 12. At that time, Auntie Candy came up to me and said, “I want to talk to you, and I thought I was in some kind of trouble, but then it turned out that she asked me if I wanted to commit my life to God. And of course, my answer was yes. Before I committed to God, I would get annoyed with things or people really easily, but now I would try to look at things from a different perspective instead of focusing on my own views. Also, I used to say things without thinking or considering about other people’s feelings whatsoever and would do things without thinking about the consequences and didn’t even care about anyone apart from myself. I have become a better person because of Christ, and through believing in Him, I’m now living a new life.
The main reason that I committed my life to God was because I really wanted to build up and improve my relationship with Him, I wanted people to see that I’m a Christian through my actions in life, and I wanted to tell everyone that I believe in the one and only God, and I am not ashamed of it.
When I was young, I never enjoyed reading, and especially not the Bible, because it had thousands of pages of just plain writing. But after knowing what Jesus Christ had done for us, I was willing to set this bias aside and started willingly to read the Bible. The more I read it, the stronger our relationship has become. At this moment in time, I would describe my relationship with God as two best friends. I used to keep my problems to myself and didn’t want anyone to worry for me. So, I would never ask for help from anyone, not even from God, and I would try to resolve them by myself. But now I have learnt to fully rely on Him without any doubt and to trust Him with all my heart. Whenever I have a problem, now He would always be the first one to know and the first one whom I would turn to.
At first, I didn’t know if I wanted to get baptized or not, but then the main reason in me decided to get baptized while I was at the PHAT Camp. I wanted to tell everyone in the world that I believe in the one and only God. From this camp, I could really experience God; I could clearly see how amazing and great God’s unconditional love is. He loves us so much that He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, down to us to suffer and pay for the sins that we have committed by dying on the cross for us. Even though we have committed so many sins over and over again, He has never given up hope on us, or stopped loving us, or left us behind. He is always there for me and will always be with me in times of pain or happiness.
I deeply appreciate God’s blessings towards me: giving me a loving family, and a bunch of amazing friends, who always look out for me. Today I can be baptized with three of them is like a dream come true, and this special day will forever be in my heart.
Amen.
Before I believed in Christ, I would hurt people, swear a lot and lie all the time. I would be bossy, greedy; I wouldn’t care about others. My Mum would say that my actions came before my thinking that was the reason why I was always in trouble.
How did my family ever get to know God? Well, when we first moved from Plymouth, my Mum quickly found a Chinese school to go to. In there she met a friend who went to church, and she told my Mum about Christianity. We soon started to go to church.
One day, in a sleepover, while I was playing with my friends, Auntie Candy appeared in front of me and said, “Can I talk to you?” Immediately, I knew I had done something wrong in church. I reluctantly went with her into a room. I remember there was a moment of silence; I was getting ready to be told off. Then she said, “Do you want to commit your life to God?” I was shocked on the spot; I would never have expected this. Many times, I had been told off in Sunday school, but never had I been asked this. Immediately, I said, “Yes.” I remember a smile spread across her face as I had said that.
Now, Christianity has really changed my life; I had committed for nearly three years. In the past years I have done a lot of good and bad things. I guess, at first I didn’t really know the meaning of being committed to God meant, as I was no different from before. I had always taken church as a place to see friends and played around with them. I’d listen to Bible stories, but I would make silly comments on them. The worse thing was when they told me to memorize a Bible verse for the following week. Of course, I could recite it on that day, but by the next day it was gone, and most of the teachings had already disappeared.
This year’s PHAT Camp really changed my view on Christianity, and what it meant by being “committed”. I learnt many things there, which explained to me the true meaning of being a Christian, it showed me what I, as a Christian, should do and follow and which was not necessary. From there I made a lot of new friends and realised that God was really present within me and with everyone. What made the learning effective was that I understood everything they taught me because they would put it into real life situations. Even if I didn’t understand, I could ask people my age that understood. I praise God that He has opened my eyes and made me clearly see the road ahead of me.
My relationship with God is good, but some events lead me away from Him for a period of time and I doubted Him a lot. So, I prayed more and more, and I felt my relationship with God, even better than before. I thought, in Christianity, praying was the most important practice, and I would hardly do any daily devotions, and I knew it was wrong. So, when people asked me, “What Bible verse did you read yesterday?” I would avoid the subject and walk away. Knowing in my heart that I was wrong in how I was doing as being a Christian. When September 2007 neared, Auntie Candy asked me if I wanted to baptise.
At first, I couldn’t decide and asked God, “Was this really the right time for me to do this?” I was scared at the thought, and without thinking, I decided I wouldn’t baptise. Again, saying things without thinking. Two days later, when I was praying just before I went to sleep, a voice called out: “Why do you doubt me?” It came from a voice deep in my heart; I knew that was God. I felt deeply ashamed that I had followed God for so long and I hadn’t even thought of this important issue properly.
Now, I have baptised and shared my story; I hope others may know that living as a Christian always will be difficult. Occasionally, you will fall, but God will always be there to pick you up to walk with Him again. I hope I and all other Christians will reach out and spread the Word of how great our God is. May all glory and praise belong to God!