I was born into a non-Christian family. We thought we were Christians, because we used to go to church on Sundays. But we didn’t know about the Bible verse that says we must be “born again” if we ever want to see the kingdom of God (John 3: 3).
Even if we’d heard it, we never stopped to think about how we could get “born again.” I got a job in a music store. Christine was a sales clerk there.
She was one of the sweetest, most honest people I had come across up to that time. And she was open about being a Christian. I could see there was something different about her, and I was sure it had something to do with her Christianity. Her self-assurance, peace, and love for Jesus Christ made a strong impact on me. When I left the music store I got an office job.
A young woman there, named Ruth, reminded me of Christine from my former job. It wasn’t long before I found out that Ruth was a Christian too. I think these two young women were the only “born-again” Christians I had ever met up to that time, and they both stood out in a wonderful way. Ruth used to ask me about my beliefs, and I would ask her about hers. Whenever I asked her a question she didn’t know the answer to, she said she would ask her pastor and get back to me with the answer. She always did.
On the other hand, whenever she asked me a question I couldn’t answer I would try to bluff my way through. I made some stupid comments to her at times, and looking back I don’t know how she stopped herself from laughing at me. I guess it was her respectful Christian upbringing. I once told her that everyone in the world had been Roman Catholic until the time of Martin Luther.
The Essay on Getting a part time job while at school
I have achieved a quite number of things in life at my age of which some I did not expect, but was by God’s mercy, and what I realized is that it is not good to be discriminative when it comes to getting a job because it is from that job that one can advance to another. When I was still a high school student, I used to have money problems. My parents used to give me money, but it was never enough ...
Ruth had no trouble demolishing that argument. In fact, she had no trouble demolishing all my arguments. Ruth was a happy person. She was always doing something exciting with her church youth group while I was doing little with my friends at all. Even after we both left that job, she kept in touch with me a few times, and made it clear that my spiritual life concerned her. Then events started happening in my life that kept me wondering whether I was missing something by not being a Christian.
I met some more Christians when I went to a camp, and after that I visited a large Christian bookstore. I started reading Christian books and tracts, and found out how to become a genuine, born-again Christian. One Monday afternoon, I gave my life to Christ and received Him as my Saviour. It was the most wonderful and right decision I have ever made. People who have never received Christ as their Saviour just don’t know the difference it can make to their lives.
You have freedom, joy, happiness, and assurance in a way that is impossible without Christ in your life. I look back now and can thank God for the influence that both Christine and Ruth had on me. I have lost touch with both of them, but I know they would be ecstatic if they knew I was now a Christian, serving God to the best of my ability in a God-loving, Bible-believing church. Thank you both.
