Across the Street

“Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” Romans 7:24, NAS.

My family is Chinese Thai; we have followed Buddhist traditions for many generations. Our home was across the street from a Baptist church in Bangkok, but I never had much interest in other religions. My life as a youth was a downward spiral. I was involved with gambling, smoking, and drinking. I ran with a gang and often was stole things to maintain my addiction to gambling. My family hated me and blamed me for bringing shame to the family by the way I lived. I had been taken to the temple for a ceremony that was supposed to help me be good, but nothing seemed to help.

A Christian friend of mine encouraged me to go to the church across the street to study God. He said that the Christian God could help me live a better life. I did not understand how the Christian God could help me when my own religion had not been able to make any difference. Yet one day I received a flier from the church announcing English classes. I was interested in learning English so I went to the church to attend the classes.

Three weeks into the classes I had become more interested in learning about God than in learning English. I found that He loved me and that Jesus is powerful to help me change my life. Six weeks into the classes I came to the point of following Jesus and forsaking my former way of living. I was 19 years old. After making this decision, Jesus did give me power to change. I stopped gambling, drinking, and smoking. I also stopped running with the gang. While you’d think my family would be happy with the changes, they were angry that I had become a Christian.

My eldest brother yelled at me and hit me. He told me that I must renounce Jesus and stop being a Christian, or I would no longer be welcome in the family home. I refused. I told him that God had helped me live a good life, and I didn’t want to reject Him. He hit me again and threw me out of the house.

After being kicked out of home, I moved across the street to live at the church. Day by day, month by month, year by year, I prayed for my family to understand my life and my decision to follow Jesus. I prayed this way for eight years before my family suddenly turned up at the church and invited me to come home. They had been watching my life, and they realized that I had changed and that being a Christian was a good thing in my life.

Living at home again was a wonderful time of reconnecting with my family. I got to share the Gospel with each member of my family. My eldest brother, who had hit me and cast me out, was the first to follow me in becoming a Christian. My mother also prayed to receive Jesus at this time. My sister was so impressed with the change in my life that she asked me to take her children to church.

While it was not easy to be rejected by my family, I am very happy that Jesus changed my life. The decision to cross the street for English classes turned out to be one of the best decisions that I ever made!

Pray that:

God will help young believers to be strong in the face of family persecution.

Churches will be sensitive to help new believers who are cast out of their homes for following Christ.

New believers will not grow weary in praying for and loving their families, even as they are rejected and persecuted.

Pacific Rim is a region of the International Mission Board, SBC.