I was born into a typical Buddhist family where visiting temples and idolising statues were a part of my family’s norm. I believed that Buddhism was the way of life and like many others in my shoes, had no say in such matters.
My parents separated when I was a teenager and that sparked a revolution in me to rebel and stand out. I strayed from the path my parents set out for me and that resulted in me landing in various tricky situations and troubles. No doubt at times I still had the occasional nice people who wanted to share the gospel with me, but I’ve always shied away from their attempts and when I couldn’t get rid of them, would result in heated arguments fueled by anger.
That episode lasted throughout school life until I started working, where I met my (now) wife who happened to be a Christian. My wife and relatives would attempt to share the story about Jesus and I would tune out mostly. It wasn’t until the birth of our second child and my family’s persistence that I felt God knocking on my door.
But it was one of those serious conversations with my wife about our oldest son that sparked a real dilemma in my heart. One day my son opened-up to my wife, saying he was worried about not meeting me in heaven when we die because I did not believe in God. I was dumbfounded, never expecting my young son to have such thoughts and I went to bed that night resigned.
Truth was, that left me with a million nagging thoughts and I wanted to get it out of my head. I told my wife about it and she encouraged me to open my heart to God and speak to HIM for once.
I did just that and that marked my first encounter with God. I didn’t know how to start so I kicked off by confessing my sins and asked for His forgiveness. Soon after I burst out in tears uncontrollably, barely able to contain these emotions and right there and then, I accepted Christ. That very night I slept soundly like a baby, without a worry in my mind.
With a new-found faith, my next course of action was to find a resident church and we found HTBB and that was when I stumbled across Alpha. I must admit, I was resistant to the idea at first and it took a lot of convincing to get me to even attend. My first encounter with Alpha was shoddy at best and I didn’t get much out of it due to my poor attendance. But I did have a good impression of it and decided to give it one more try. Turns out I was just in time for the launch of the new Alpha Film Series and I enjoyed it so much, I didn’t even miss a single session of it!
My biggest take out from Alpha surprisingly, was the people. I always thought that “Godly people” were lame and “uncool”, boy was I wrong! Each time I came for Alpha, these people kept me asking questions after questions. I felt like a young boy waiting for after school activities. These strangers who kept me pondering and questioning soon became lifelong friends, my first batch of “Godly” friends, I jested.
Since then, my hunger for Jesus just grew and through Alpha, I got a glimpse of who He is and Why He died for me, how do I pray and most importantly, how to build a meaningful and closer relationship with Him. If I could sum up Alpha in a sentence, I’d call it a relaxed, highly educational and non-judgmental program that accepts you no matter where you’re from. I didn’t feel obligated to commit to anything or pressured to accept anything I wouldn’t do so willingly.
I now talk to God every day about everything, even the things I don’t usually share with anyone. Life became more structured and I see vast improvement in my relationship with my family. It helped me become a better son, husband and better father to my beloved children.
To sum up my journey finding my faith in a sentence, I’d say – “I was once lost, but now I am found.”
I now have Jesus as my Best Friend, someone whom I can surrender – not just my worries and anxieties, but also my ambitions, hopes and goals into His hands and know He will take great care of them all. I believe He knows what’s best for me
