This is me, Brian Sun, talking to a group of 300ish college students about rejecting fake Jesuses and choosing to follow the real Jesus of Scripture.
Ya know the cheesy cliche “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone?” Well. It’s true.
I jacked up my knee yesterday (breakdancing, of course) and am constrained to crutches and a lot of pain. Being injured has made 18,352 things that much more difficult. Little things that I take for granted that I’m able to do with ease when I’m in my normal state of functioning.
Things like:
Taking a shower
Brushing my teeth
Getting a tortilla
Taking my orange juice glass to the table
Walking up stairs
Carrying a book with me to the bathroom
Putting clothes in my closet
You know, those things you did this morning. Those things.
And although it sounds cheesy to the extreme, I’m grateful for the little things today.
Remember how physics students don’t scare God? Apparently, He wants them to know Him, too.
Yesterday, we (a student named David and I) met with our international student friend, Ernesto, for the fourth time to talk about physics, God, and everything else in between. Here’s what happened:
David and I were walking to meet Ernesto and we were talking about next steps to encourage him to get connected with believers back home. Remember, at this point, Ernesto isn’t a Christian (this an obvious attempt at foreshadowing). And he’s leaving for his home country after this semester. At one point I said to David, “I’m pretty sure he’s not going to convert today, so we should plan for that.”
We met up with him in front of the grassy knoll outside of the union. Our conversation went like it usually does, some abstract stuff about physics that 99.9% of the population doesn’t care about at all and then some random geekiness like Star Wars (that was David and Ernesto, not me). But then we started talking about morality and the difference between relative truth and absolute truth.
Then really ridiculously cool stuff happened, here’s the dialogue:
Ernesto: How do you know when something is right and wrong then?
David + Brian: The first step is asking Jesus to take control in you, to change the way you think, your emotions, everything.
Ernesto: How would you ask Jesus to do that?
David + Brian (with hidden excitement): Well, it’d be like the three of us praying, I mean, talking out loud to God and you just telling Him in your own words that you want him to do that.
Ernesto: …could we do that?
David + Brian (with shock and excitement): ….Yes. Yes we can. Alright, well, uh, let’s do it.
I prayed, David prayed, then Ernesto prayed. The first words out of his mouth were, “Jesus, I want to know you. I want you to be part of my life.”
After we prayed I asked, “how’d we go from unified physics theory to praying to Jesus?” Ernesto said, “I realized that physics is shallow.”
Whoa.
Still really humbled and shocked at this point David and I scheduled another meeting with him to give him a Bible and talk about his next steps as a believer.
The party in Heaven must’ve been awesome last night.
Jesus, You are so much cooler and smarter than we are. Sorry for putting You in boxes that You don’t belong in. You are the One who draws people to Yourself and our trust is completely in You, amen.
He is alive and active. He sits at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in Heaven. There is none like Him.
Who can compare to Him? He is unrivaled.
He is not like the puny false gods that cannot see or hear or speak. He is clothed in unapproachable light, He gives sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and makes the lame leap like a deer.
He is unwavering, unrelenting, and unstoppable. His enemies will be made a footstool under His feet.
Nations will dance before His throne, angels proclaim His endless wonders, and the heavens declare His glory and splendor.
When we see Him as He is, we cannot help but worship. At this moment, He is sustaining all things by His powerful Word.
He Himself is the Word. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Through Him all things were made, without Him nothing was made that has been made. The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.
He is the Beginning and the End. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He rules outside of time and space, yet interacts with those whom He has made.
This God is three, yet one. Just, yet merciful. Far, yet near. Peaceful, yet a Warrior.
Who is this God?
He is the King of glory. He is the Almighty. He is the Lord.
My typical view of Chinese international students is that they grew up atheist and rich.
Atheist because the Chinese government doesn’t exactly like Jesus.
And rich because if they are studying in the United States that takes lots of money.
I love being proven wrong.
The other day my friend Emily and I talked to a Chinese girl who crushed all my preconceived notions about Chinese international students and God.
We dialogued with her and she told us that she believes in God, and that this God created the world and people, and that this God’s name is Jesus.
What.
I learned something: God is not hiding in America or Africa or wherever. God is everywhere. The whole omnipresence thing is true. And people made in the image of God fashioned by Him in their mother’s womb live in China. In fact, there’s 1.3 billion of them. And our global God is at work in the hearts of people all around the world.
Scripture is clear that one day people from every tribe, tongue, and nation will worship before the throne and in front of the Lamb. And all I have to say to that is amen and amen.
This is me, Brian, talking about building the foundation of our lives’ on the Word of God, and what that looks like practically in day-to-day life.
