Baptism Testimony - David Choi
Hello everyone, my name is David and currently a 2nd year student studying criminology at York University. I would like to share about how I came to learn about Jesus and why I made the decision to get baptized today.
I grew up in a Catholic family, but I never felt connected to God growing up and it wasn’t a part of my day to day life. My mom would always force me to go to the mass, but I just did not have the heart to go and never wanted to go. I knew of God’s existence but I felt that Catholicism wasn’t for me.
Throughout my lifetime, I’ve always been a well known person among my peers and classmates. Once University came, it became harder for me to connect with people in the same way. All of my friends left town to go to school and I didn’t bother making friends when I came into university because I thought people would come to me like in high school. My friend Emily reached out to me and asked me to come to this Christian club called Agape Impact. This was the first major impact and influence I had with a church community. At first, it was a very difficult thought, knowing that everyone at the club is Christian or a follower of Christ except for me. As I started to get to meet people, it was the first encounter that really showed me the grace of Christ. The people around me took me in with open arms regardless of my differences and accepted me as I was.
After going out to AI for a month or so, I decided to go to the winter retreat that was hosted by AI. In a way, it felt really strange for me because I felt like I was the only non-christian that was going, but everyone was still welcoming towards me, which I thought was amazing. During the trip, a specific individual stood out. James who is my current discipler, a stranger at the time, and randomly asked me to study the Bible with him. At first, It was very strange because I didn’t expect him to be so inviting. He was the first person that really reached out to me and taught me the first lessons of being reborn again. We ended up having regulatory bible studies that really showed me the word of the lord.
Couple months later, Emily, Josh, and Edward invited me to Every Nation House Church and I started attending regularly. When I first visited House Church, it was another strange thing because people started sharing about their life. I never liked the idea of sharing my life to other people, but overtime I started growing appreciative about it and revealed to me the importance of opening up and repentance. I was glad to be invited to house church and getting to know the members and now I can say they just feel like my family.
I also started attending Church regularly about a couple months ago. I attended GPS (Gospel Presentation Session) a couple weeks ago. It was a one-on-one session with Caleb and it was a unique experience where I sat down with a Pastor to have a conversation about my spirit life. During the presentation, the verse, Revelations 3:20: touched my heart the most.
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”
Because with the faith we have, we are able to see our Father and he is willing to come into our life and all we have to do is just open the door.
Over the last couple months, I have been learning a lot from AI, House Church, and Church. Though, when I started calling myself Christian, I was afraid for me to tell my close friends and my family that I am Christian for many reasons. And I think one of the main reason was that, in the back of my head, there was always this negative connotation of religion, but now I come to realize that this is part of the journey I have to take. With the verse from Revelations, I am proud to say that, I understand what it means to be a Christian, just open the door for Jesus and receive him. And now I am proud to tell my family and my friends that I am a Christian.
There are many things I lack, but my heart is open and I am willing to learn them. So, please help me stay accountable in my walk with Christ and continue to guide me to be a Godly man.
Thank you.
