I probably have done one of the most important things a person can do for herself in her life time last weekend. I have committed something. I have accepted Jesus as my savior and became a Christian. It was on December 5, 2010.
Many people probably would ask me why now? After all, I have been to The Gathering for many years. Why did’nt I accept Jesus then, since I was actively involved in the church? I can't really explain that. The only thing I can say is that I have come a long way. Over the years, I listened to Pastor Ron's sermons and pondered on many things he talked about. I know that I have changed a lot since my family and I have been committed to the Gathering. The more I listened, the more I learned. I know that I want to do the right things as what Jesus was asking people to do. However, I was not interested about the religion. It sounds like a conflict. How could one accept Jesus' saying, but not accepting the religion. For me, it is easy. Ron often talked about the difference between faith and religion. For me, religion is something people join to tell everyone that they are part of some collective. Faith is personal. It is within you. One has to struggle forever. So I struggled. There were so many things I did not understand. There were so many things I could not comprehend. Worst of all, there are still a lot things I don’t get. Then what changed?
It has started with my work life. Since Steve started working at Oregon, I have become a "commuter". My job function, my co-workers, and my bosses are in Folsom. I take Intel shuttle to Folsom sometimes once a week, sometimes every other week for a day. On the day I go, I get up before 5 am and get to the airport by 5:30 am. I will fly out at 6 am and get to Folsom around 8 am. So every time I go, it makes a long day and very tiring. Since Portland area rains a lot, when I get on the airplane, most of the time the weather is either cloudy or raining. One day during one of these routine flights, it was a cloudy day. It took the airplane a while to climb up all the way out of the clouds. All of sudden, we were above all the thick white clouds. The sky was crystal clear and calm. It was so pretty to see. We were above the sea of clouds and one could see the clouds moving below us. After a while, the sun started to come out. It was the most beautiful sunrise I have ever encountered. The sun rose from the horizon, touched the clouds. The sunlight reflected on the clouds. All of sudden, the clouds were golden. The sunlight spread through the clouds. I was pretty sure our airplane was also bathed in the sunlight. A moment ago, we were in the darkness and gloomy all around. A moment later, I saw this most beautiful sunrise, which made all the travel worth a while. This is faith! It is not religion. It is faith! When one is in trouble; when one does not know where to go and how things are going to turn out; we always have to remember the light is at the end of the tunnel. So I decided not only I will try to do what Jesus asked me to do, but also follow him all my heart and all my mind.
I also have the influence from Solid Rock. After we visited several churches around Beaverton, I have decided to stay in Solid Rock for a while. Like everyone else, I go there because of the teaching. I don't think that I have heard any more blunt talk about Christian faith than John Mark at Solid Rock. He has no problem to call the Christians hypocrites. He criticizes the things Christians don't do. He said Jesus did not point his fingers at the people who were not God believers. Jesus often pointed his fingers at the people who claimed that they were God followers. If you were God followers, why are you not doing God's bidding? The thing is that people did not get turned off by John Mark’s criticism. The people at the church want to hear more what he says about God, Jesus, and what they can do to be a better person. I wonder if it is part of the why within such a short time, Solid Rock has grown to be such a big church. I know that I want to do better. Jesus says "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself." Who can truly reach that?
