NEW DELHI (BP)–I had some friends from Australia. Several years ago, they invited me to come to church with them. My answer was no thanks! One Saturday, they invited me again. I went with them, but I was a little bit afraid to go inside that building. “If somebody will see,” I thought, “they will kill me.”
As I sat down in the church, I was very surprised to see the people worshipping God and discussing God’s Word with one another by looking at Bibles, not only by listening to what the pastor says and believing it in a second. Yet, the most important thing I liked was the songs, which touched my heart very deeply.
Two years later, I had free time and thought, “I will go to the church to listen to those songs again.” I asked my friend to come with me. My friend and I went to the church on Sunday morning. There was nobody there. The worship time was an hour later. We stood there for about 15 minutes and then one man came. He smiled at us, and we also. So, we sat together in the church and talked for a half-hour. He invited us to come to his place. My friend and I went. It was the morning time, so we had tea together. We talked about many things. After some time, the pastor came there also. He began to talk about Christianity. I was listening from one ear and leaving from another.
I spent some days with that man and we became friends. Before he left India, he gave me one small Bible and a book, “Knowing the Bible 101.” I went to church from Sunday to Sunday just to listen to the songs. I heard more than that -– eternal life, forgiveness of sins, changing people, giving brand-new life, giving sight to blind people, giving His life on the cross to pay for our sins -– but still I wasn’t interested at all.
One Sunday I went to the church. I sat beside one lady. As the pastor was telling the story from the Bible, he told the people to look at what it says. I tried to find that, but I could not find it. Then this lady who was sitting beside me took my Bible, turned the pages and gave me that chapter which I was looking for. She seemed very kind, but I didn’t know that she was going to become my mom.
One day I visited her house, but upstairs, not at her apartment. I had one Christian friend there who was staying in the same house with his wife. As I was talking to them, this lady came upstairs to visit with them for a short time. I was about to leave. I did talk to her, but very briefly. She said to me, “Come sometime. I’m staying downstairs.” I said, “OK, I will,” and I left from there.
One day I had some questions about the Bible. I thought, “I can go to her house and ask these questions to her.” On Sunday, I told her, “I will come to your house.” I went there. She was cleaning the refrigerator and I asked her, “Can I help you?” She said yes, so I helped her a little bit. We talked about the questions and some other things. Then I asked about her life.
Later that same day, I began to wish I could be her son. But I thought, “I don’t know what she will think about me if I will tell her, ‘I want to become your son.'” It was very difficult for me to decide whether I should tell her. I decided that I would tell her. She would say yes or no, but I will tell her.
One day I went to her house to tell her. I knocked at the door. I heard, “Come in.” I opened the door and she was sitting. I stood by the door, and I told her, “I want to become your son.” She was very confused about what to say. She said, “You can call me Mom, and I can call you Son,” but I was sure that she was telling me this just to make me happy.
I was going to the church almost every Sunday. Every time I went there, there was one Muslim security man. He was wondering why this person comes to the church every Sunday. His attitude was not good toward me, so it became a little bit difficult for me to go to the church.
My new mom phoned me at one point and said, “We are going to meet tomorrow at this time, and I want you to come and join with us in worship.” The next day I went. What I saw were people singing, worshipping, praising God and discussing God’s Word with one another -– even at home like this. I was surprised.
By going Fridays and Sundays, I got more of a chance to know my mom. I heard many stories from the Bible.
One day I saw the film, “The Passion of The Christ.” This was very hard for me to see the people beating Him and making jokes, even though He was not a sinner like us. But, the most important thing that I was thinking of was how much He loves us. He gave His life to pay for our sins by dying on that cross. He suffered from this terrible death to cleanse us from our sins. From that day, I believed in Jesus. Something happened to my heart. I found myself saying, “Zechariah, everybody wants to go heaven, but there is no way to get to heaven except Jesus.”
God got me on a track. I began to think, “I will surrender my life into His hands.” It took a long time to think about that, but it was God’s will for me to get baptized. I was very happy that I was born on Friday, and I got baptized on Friday.
Several years ago, I skipped class and began to think, “I will be the first person in this world who will go to the hell because of my sins.” I didn’t know at that time that God had planned to save me through His Son Jesus Christ and to cleanse me from my sins by His blood.
He gave me eternal life. He gave me hope to stand and say, “Jesus gave me a brand-new life. I will leave Satan’s way and I will follow Jesus all the way.” I thank Him for taking my sins and setting me free. I thank Him for showing me the right path. I thank Him for giving me hope and peace. I thank Him for changing my thoughts. I thank Him for giving me strength and power to speak His greatness to other people to tell them how Jesus can change them. I thank Him for all things He has done for me.
I thank Him for my mom. And I thank God for His Son Jesus Christ in whom I have put my trust, who is my shelter and my refuge. I thank Him for the Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Lord Jesus, I need You in every step of my life. Thank You for dying for me on the cross. Thank You for setting me free. Make me the person You created me to be. In Jesus’ name, I ask. Amen.
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*Name changed for security purposes.
