Johnson Samuel
I was born in India into a Christian family. Being brought up in a church background I was involved with lot of Christian activities and customs but it never meant anything to me on a personal level. I used to worship Jesus, but only as a distant God who could be connected once on Sundays and whenever I encountered troubled waters.
I got obsessed with studying during my high school years and went on to do my bachelors in mechanical engineering. I graduated with a Gold medal from the University of Bombay in 1999. I was really surprised when I got that honor because I knew I never deserved it. Little did I know how Jesus was going to use it as time passed. This medal helped me get into graduate school at the U of I to do my masters in industrial engineering. Not to mention that He also provided for my assistantship here and also a no hassle visa processing. I remember sitting in the airplane for the first time leaving my country, that August morning of 2001 thinking "wow this has been so smooth a journey, where would it lead to?" I was dreading for and an upcoming downfall, because never in my life had it happened that I had such a smooth sailing.
The downfall did come and it was in a form I never expected it to be. The first year in the US was a dream come true for me to experiment with the US culture. It was also a time wherein I was trying to recover from a failed romance. So I started indulging in drinking and partying to get over that heartache and also as a means to meet new people in this country. But what started, as a means to overcome my loneliness soon became a regular feature of my life in the US. It was all a heady cocktail, which I did enjoy at first but I soon realized that there was emptiness in my life, which could never be filled by my lifestyle. Though I was doing well on my academic and research front there was a deep sense of emptiness inside. I knew there was some thing missing here. Jesus really tugged on my heart that summer of 2002 and I made a conscious decision to find myself a small Bible study group during the fall semester.
So on Quad Day, I went and signed up for many Bible study groups. However I never had the time to go for any of their meetings given the fact that I was a "busy grad student". I still remember the day Students for Christ was meeting for the first time; I had a lot of work to do and had decided not to go in for the meeting. In walked a friend of mine and he offered his car for a ride. I was happy about the pick up and so ended up attending the first meeting. As I enter the room, a guy named Steve says "hello and welcome" to me. Shaun, Leon, Barbie, Heather, and Eric along with some others were present. As always people started with introductions. And I was one of the last persons to introduce myself. One thing I realized was that when each of them talked about their spiritual lives it just amazed me the passion with which they spoke about their "relationship" with Jesus. I knew that they as Christians had some thing, which I never had, though I was brought up in a Christian family. I was very desperate to have what is it that they had.
Then started the Bible studies in the Gospel of John with Shaun, Leon, Hari, Brandon, and myself. After a few weeks Shaun and Leon walked into my office in the Mechanical Engineering Building and shared an illustration about the Gospel with me. While seeing that illustration, Jesus really stood out to me like never before. That night I received Jesus into my heart. I did not know what my decision actually entailed at that point but I knew it was the only hope for me.
As Jesus promises in Revelation 3:20: "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." He did come into my life and change me completely. He helped me clear up all the dirt I had carried in my closet all this while. I confessed before Him for the first time in 24 years .I still remember how great it felt. He got rid of my drinking and heavy partying habit. He took care of purity issues in my life. My new brothers and sisters in Christ were also very awesome. They have been the only family I ever had here in this country. A family that took care of me and watched out for me when I was a young Christian. The way Shaun served me in my walk with Jesus really humbled me. I am here because some one took that decision to share Jesus with me. This has made me realize that now it's my turn to one-day lead some one to Jesus.
Since that November day of 2002, 2 Corinthians 5:17 (Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come) has been found to be so true in my life. Jesus has been working one day at a time on every area of struggle in my life and has always been sharing amazing promises with me. He has started to give me a heart for others, a heart which desires to tell others about Him. Now my life has a totally new meaning. Today as I continue in my PhD program, I look back 4 years and see His work in my life. I have enough reason to say that My God is an awesome God and I know that He brought me to the US for a purpose much higher than my degrees, a purpose which involved me having an encounter with Him and reaching out to others.