Little Opportunities Can Lead to Miraculous Moments
I recently came across a video lecture on YouTube called “From Atheist to Christian at Yale” by Dr. Paul Lim. The entire 48-minute testimony is worth listening to, but the first 12 minutes is what caused me to reflect and write this blog. Dr. Lim’s life story is similar, in some regards, to many testimony stories you hear when it comes to faith journeys.
Dr. Lim was born in North Korea and raised in a non-faith-based home. The decision to not believe was made based on various life experiences, that when added up together, caused him to doubt God and eventually not believe.
But ultimately, Dr. Lim went from not believing in God to faithfully following him.
At an early age, his father was incarcerated which made life extremely difficult. He talks about how he would pray for God to release his father, even though he knew nothing about God. But when that did not happen, he began to ‘shake his fist’ at God and was convinced he did not exist. When Dr. Lim was 15 years old, his family immigrated to the United States. Eventually, his family decided to start attending church, to help them get integrated into the local community. This decision forced Dr. Lim to start attending the church’s youth group for the first time in his life.
At this point in many people’s stories of faith, this is the moment when many of those stories tend to merge and share similar details. If a person, like Dr. Lim, was not born or raised in a Christian home, typically that person did not believe in God. Or, if they did believe that God exists, God was not typically a priority in that person’s life. Then, at some point, the person starts attending church and they eventually come to “find and follow Jesus” through the experience.
Unfortunately, this was not the case for Dr. Lim as his church experience caused him to further doubt God and eventually ran from both God and the church. Dr. Lim explains that his experience in the youth ministry made him feel “alienated in church of all places” the most.
He shares that these feelings came because no one, not even the Youth Pastor, cared enough about him to acknowledge his existence in the group. He shares memories of how, on numerous occasions, not a single student, volunteer, or church staff member spoke to him, sat next to him, included him, or invited him to join in activities. This left him sitting alone during Bible study, eating alone afterward when the group would go to Burger King, and even bowling all by himself after burgers. Dr. Lim talks about how this impacted and reinforced his view of God. How could the people that claim to know God and are always talking about God’s love treat him this way?
The thing that broke my heart the most listening to his testimony was that he shared that the greatest joy he experienced in a “church setting” was the moment he graduated high school. This meant he could go far away to college and get as far away from church and God as possible! The good news that you hear about later in his story is that Dr. Lim came to faith later in life through his brother-in-law.
It is a wonderful and encouraging testimony to hear, but one simple thing I personally took away from it was that ‘small can lead to BIG.’ Another way to say it might be, “little opportunities can lead to miraculous moments.” One of my favorite verses found in scripture is Acts 4:13 which reads,
“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.”
How Peter and John responded to this situation made everyone around them notice that these men intimately knew Jesus. The same opportunities are available today for those who call themselves believers. Hopefully, they are not experienced while on trial like the Disciples, but they still happen in other arenas.
Dr. Lim’s testimony proves that saying “hi” to a new person in the church lobby matters.
Making eye contact with people and initiating conversations with them matters. Inviting someone to join you or including someone in your group matters. Making people feel noticed, known, and loved when they take a step of faith and show up to something matters. Earning the right to be heard in someone’s life by showing them how much you care for and love him or her as a person, matters. Expressing genuine excitement and joy toward a person when they show up matters.
It all matters because sometimes, like in the case with Dr. Lim, it is what makes the difference between a person giving God a chance or not, based on how they experience God through you!
