“This is an article about my faith.
Don’t worry. It’s a very docile article. No one’s going to jump out of the newspaper and start yelling at you if you don’t agree with me. All I’m asking is that you hear me out.
I am a Christian. I spend most of my time in my cave, where I read the Bible 24-7, pausing only to eat and go to the bathroom.
No wait. Or as my freind Laurna likes to say, “Just kidding!” I’m a normal guy. In my spare time, I like to play my guitar and go out with my friends. Really, I’m just a normal teen, but luckier than most because I found my reason for living. I’ll give you an example of how the Lord touched my life.
On November 7, 1995, I was in my room when I discovered that there was a strange lump on my chest. At first, I ignored it but soon after, a nervous feeling began to claw at my stomach. I decided just to be safe, I would tell my mom and go get it checked out. My mom got an appoointment for me at Kaiser, and the next week we visited the teen clinic.
I thought my stomach was going to explode from anxienty waiting for the doctor to see me. Over and over I could hear my Biology teacher repeating to the class that it was entirely possible for men to get breast cancer. True, it was very rare, but it was still a possibility. That possibility was more than enough to scare me. I began to pray that God would watch over me and that the lump I had on my chest was nothing to worry about. After my prayer, I felt a little better, but I didn’t put all of my trust in God so I was still very scared. I was holding back from Him.
Five minutes later, the doctor came in and began his examination. After feeling the lump, he decided that it would be best it I got a biopsy. The operation would not be for a few weeks, so I had a lot of time to think.
For the first couple of weeks, I can remember being scared. I began to think about matters which had never before crossed my mind. I realized how much I wanted to get married and start a family and how much the things I took for granted meant to me. It’s funny how important things become to you when you realize that there’s no real guarantees on anything.
I soon realized the need for prayer support to get through that difficult time. I am so thankful that God has blessed me with people I can turn for support. Because we share the same moral values we can keep each other accountable and can pray for each other when we are struggling. I had three of my closest friends, Josh Adachi, Joanne Sakamoto, and Tina Osumi, praying for me throughout the next week.
A few days after they had been praying for me, God touched me. I wasn’t doing anything special when it happened. To tell you the truth, I was in the shower. That’s the awesome thing about God. He performs miracles when uyou least expect it. He made me realize that once I became a Christian, the life I lived was no longer mine. I had no right to demand that God let me live out what I perceived to be an “ideal life.” God would use me the way He wanted to in order that His perfect plan would be fulfilled. I wasn’t scared of dying anymore. I knew that God would take me through my times of trouble and all that became important to me was for Him to use me for the betterment of His kingdom. I was finally at peace.
When I went to get my biopsy, I wasn’t scared. In fact, I was kind of excited. I would be suffering for my Lord, as He suffered for me. I wanted to show God that I was willing to go through anything for Him.
The doctor spent about two minutes checking out the lump before declaring that it was absolutely nothing. “Nothing?!” I thought. After all that I went through, there was never really anything to worry about. At the same time, I could see why God put me through that. He wanted all of me. He didn’t want me to hold back from Him anymore. Giving up your life is the hardest thing to do. God knew that I wouldn’t have done it had the circumstances been less intense. Make no mistake. God is real. He’s touched me, and He can touch you too.
Before I became a Christian, I would cuss a lot, lie to my parents, and cheat on tests. I really didn’t see my behavior as being all that bad because most kids around me did the same things. Luckily for me, God revealed to me that I was not destined to be a follower. I would be different.
The event that set everything in motion for me was a letter from my Youth Group leader, Scott Sakamoto. I soon found myself going to Youth Group every week. I learned more and more about Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for me, and what He could bring into my life. The weight I felt on my soul was sin; the bad things that I did daily without God’s forgiveness. I decided that I wanted the peace that my Christian friends had.
I gave my life to Jesus Christ
At a Christian camp a little while later, I gave my life to Jesus Christ. I made a decision to let God be in charge. Once I’d accepted Christ’s gift to me (His death on the cross to forgive my sins), I was able to experience God’s grace and He lifted the weight from my soul. After I became a Christian, many of my habits slowly but surely began to dissapear. Because I love God, I want to please Him and not do things that would hurt Him. I realized that every time I lied, every time I cussed, it hurt Him to the core. A truth that I’ve discovered in my walk with God is that living in a way that is pleasing to Him is the only way to true happiness. Sometimes I fall back into my sinful habits and realize just how empty it is to live in sin. God’s way is so much better. Though I am still far from being perfect, I will continue to strive to turn from my sin knowing that one day God will take me up into Heaven and make me holy (blameless; without sin).
Christianity is more than a religion. It’s a relationship. God is not just some kind of impersonal force. Quite the contrary, I have felt Him move in my heart and I can say with the greatest conviction that I can feel Him loving me at times. His love is untainted by jealousy or self-serving desire that we often find in “loving relationships” with other people. His love is perfect. When I sing praises to Him, I can’t hope to explain the feeling of joy that floods over me. I feel so at peace with my life as I realize that giving praise to God is what I was created to do.
This feeling of peace is summed up in the Bible in Phillippians 4:6-7. It says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
I like to see the Bible as a book of God’s promises to us. If it is written in the Bible, and you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord, you can expect to receive that which He offers. If you truly desire to know Him, He will reveal Himself to you. It’s one of His promises. This one can be found in Matthew 7:7-8. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be open to you. For everyone who asks, receives; he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” “