Testimony…
Listen for 6 min
He was born in extreme poverty, but through his hard work, he achieved great success in society, and because of God’s miraculous arrangement, his life took on a completely different track. It is hoped that readers will experience the value and meaning of life from the life journey of this entrepreneur who was called by God to become a pastor and serve God wholeheartedly.
In the past 40 years of my life, I have had many benefactors and good friends that I have missed. I often think of giving them the best gift to express my love and gratitude to them, what gift can I give them that represents my heart, is meaningful to them, and has real value? Today, I would love to share my life experience as a gift to you, my dear siblings and friends. I love you!
Poor family – looking for change
I was born in a very poor, remote rural area in Hunan. In my childhood, starvation and freezing were the most vivid memories of me. Most of our clothes were coarse cloth woven from cotton threads, and we were often unclothed, our staple food was shredded sweet potatoes, and we were often hungry. My parents had five children, but my father was bedridden due to overwork when he was 37 years old, my father had sold everything in the family for treatment, and even demolished two of the small mud houses he lived in, selling them for less than 300 yuan, which was still far from enough to pay for my father’s medical expenses. His father’s illness dragged on for nearly three years, and finally, at the age of thirty-nine, his father left this world. It was my eighth birthday, and my father’s birthday present was a cry for the whole family, I didn’t shed a single tear at that time. I seem to be sensible. I was determined that one day, I would be able to go out and earn money so that my mom my siblings, and I could have a meal of white rice and be truly full!
A few years later, I left my secondary school Xi to work as a migrant worker, doing the lowest job and receiving the least income; I had no human dignity, let alone any labor insurance or medical insurance. I’ve moved cement, I’ve pulled pallet trucks, I’ve been a quarryman, I’ve been a construction mason. In winter, we migrant workers slept in simple sheds, in the cold wind; in summer, we spent the night on the construction site and the side of the road, accompanied by mosquitoes! On a hot summer day, I dragged a cart to pull goods in the city, and when I passed by the door of an office room, the cold air seeping out of the cracks in the glass door made me feel very cool, and I thought that if I had the opportunity to spend an hour in such a room one day, I would be very satisfied! This was my greatest wish for a happy life at that time.
The day of the Dragon Boat Festival in 1985 was very special in my life, because Xiao Qiao, a migrant worker who slept in the bed next to me, suddenly had an accident! At that time, we were digging trenches and laying communication cables along the Beijing-Guangzhou railway line. Little Joe and I finished our work that day and went to the ditch on the other side of the railroad to wash our clothes, and turned around and stood in the middle of the double-track line waiting for the train to pass, and when the train in front of us passed, Little Joe, who was standing next to me, was gone!
It turned out that he had not paid attention to the train coming from behind while waiting for the train in front of him, and the fast wind of the train swept him in! A living young man, in an instant, became a blur of flesh and blood, and his face was unrecognizable. Another migrant friend and I dragged him out from under the stopped train, and when he saw that his mouth squirmed twice, but he didn’t say anything, he died. His skull was smashed by a train, and his brains flowed out. The man had already made several turns under the car, his whole body was covered with oil and blood, and his left foot was broken into two sections, leaving only a piece of skin attached. I and another migrant worker friend brought his body to his house and saw a father in his seventies, a child of about three years old, and a baby who was about to give birth in his belly.
The whole family was counting on this young man to go out and earn money to support the family, but a sturdy man went out and returned with a mutilated corpse! Only then did I understand what Xiao Qiao wanted to say but did not say before he died! When I left the deceased’s house, I was very emotional: It is really hard to be a migrant worker! I have no identity and no insurance. Will I be the next one to die in a car accident? What is my future? I am at a loss.
Personal struggle – struggle to the death
I decided to go to school, maybe reading could change my fate, I thought at that time. Through the financial support of my uncle, who was a farmer from a slightly better family, I was admitted to university after a year of hard work. I have always been an excellent student in college, and when I was about to graduate, I received a letter from a professor at East China University of Science and Technology, asking me to be his graduate student without examination. However, due to the inopportune time, some special circumstances at that time prevented me from continuing my studies. But I believed that man would win the day, and I would be in charge of my destiny, so I applied for a job at the “Zhengda” Group, a foreign-funded company that was a bit famous at the time, and was exceptionally admitted with my three-inch tongue. Unfortunately, two years later, our department was shut down, and the “iron rice bowl” really didn’t work at that time. I declared war on fate again – to start my own company. At that time, there was no private enterprise, so I used my cleverness to make flexible use of the name of the Science and Technology Commission, and I quickly got the business license.
In 1994, when the Chinese Company Law was officially promulgated, my company became one of the first private enterprises. The business was also relatively successful, and soon I was making some money. At the beginning of 1999, I passed five more hurdles, six generals, passed the exams, became an EMBA student of CEIBS, and set up branches in the United States, Hong Kong, and other places. At that time, the expectation was to create a successful career, make my company into the Fortune 500, and become the second Bill Gates.
I’m proud of every step I’ve walked and proud of myself. However, my life was corrupted day by day, and I spent most of my time at the wine table, card table, or dance hall except for working hard. My children felt strange to me and refused to call me dad, and my wife often troubled me. Sometimes I am also confused: I have doubled the dream of eating white rice and dreaming of blowing the wind in an air-conditioned room, but not only can people not be happy, on the contrary, they have more sorrow. Today, I am saved, I wonder if someone gave me a gift at that time, it was the words of the Lord Jesus: “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world and lose his life? What can a man exchange for his life?” (Matthew 16:26) Maybe I’ll think seriously and ask why I’m struggling for my futile pursuits, or maybe I’ll see my sinful nature and repent and turn to the Lord. But no one gave me such a gift. Today, I am also thinking that even if someone gave me such a gift at that time, I might not accept it at all.
Hear the Gospel – Salvation by grace
I became more and more selfish and stubborn, more and more self-righteous, and often self-righteous and proud. If it weren’t for God’s special mercy, I don’t know where I would be today. In September 1999, by chance, I came to the United States on a business trip. I went to see a friend in Denver and he told me, “I’m grateful that you’ve come from China to come and see me in such a tight time, but I’m sorry I don’t have time for you because we’re preparing an evangelistic meeting, and if you don’t mind, please come too.” “I thought it was a little funny at the time, I said that I had never seen any immortal emperors, and every step I took was made by myself. But I am also amazed: Why is the United States, a place that stresses civilization and science, so ignorant and still believes in God? Even those intellectuals with doctorates are like this. Anyway, out of respect for my friends, I went. Who knows, I got a very unexpected gift, the value of which is not 10 million, not 100 billion, it is worth everything and even my life to seek, but it is a grace that I have obtained for nothing!
That was the first time I heard the Gospel. I realized that there is a God who is in charge of our lives and is watching over us every day! I realized that money does not bring peace, education does not bring peace, and identity and status do not bring peace! It turns out that the root of all human disasters is “sin” – the thoughts and actions that deviate from God’s standards. Ever since our first patriarch Adam disobeyed the Creator’s command to sin, “sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and death came to all men because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). There can be no true peace and joy in the bondage and curse of sin! Thank God that “Christ gave Himself for our sins, according to the will of God our Father, to save us from this sinful generation” (Galatians 1:4). The Creator loves us, and He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, His blood on the Cross for our sins and His resurrection from the dead, providing us with saving grace.
It was the grace of God that moved me that day to accept Him as my personal Savior and Lord of my life. When I knelt before God, my sins were revealed before my eyes, and these sins have always been righteous and glorious in my eyes in the past. Now it makes me feel indebted and guilty. I wept bitterly over my sins, weeping that I was born of sin, that our sins crucified our Lord. I wept over my filth, and I was not worthy to come to God, because God is a righteous God and a holy God. After a long confession of sin, I calmed down, and I also felt Jesus take me by his loving hand and say to me, “Son, I have taken all your sins upon me, and I have given you new life!” I was completely freed, and I knew that I was no longer a slave to “sin”, but the creator of heaven and earth, and a child of God the Father!
After I came to faith, my life changed radically, and my wife began to seek it because she saw my change. Thank God that the next year, my wife and eight-year-old daughter were baptized! With God’s love, my wife and I began to learn to love each other Xi, and to love our children with our hearts. Later, God wonderfully gave us three children: the second daughter, the second daughter, the third Geshun, and the fourth Caleb. Our family has time to gather together for prayer almost every day, and we often have thanksgiving worship as a family, sharing God’s grace, and we all have endless testimonies. Temptation of distress – God gives faith。
After I became a believer, God showed me to stay away from sin, especially from too many sins in business: eating, drinking, prostitution, gambling, bribery, and tax evasion. Many people ridiculed me for being “ignorant” and “living a Christian life in a vacuum.” In the meantime, we have lost many customers as a result, and some employees have gone to companies with “advantages” because of inflexible company policies and difficulties in “operation”, and sometimes I am confused. But God’s Word always gives me confidence and strength at this time. I believe that everything is under God’s control, and it depends on how God leads. During that time, we lost some employees and lost a lot of customers. Amazingly, by the end of the year, I found that our employees’ business capabilities had grown in particular, we had added a lot of direct users and agents who did not talk about business at the wine table but did serious things, and our turnover and profits that year were higher than in previous years!
The Lord has led me through many victorious experiences in the mall, in my family life, and my personal growth. Many things that seem impossible to people are happening around me. Although I have been weak and failing, the hand of the Lord’s grace has never forsaken me, and I have been upheld by Him. Sometimes some difficulties or things don’t go your way, but when you come to the Lord, you will have an answer immediately.
God’s call—for the Lord’s use
At the end of 2001, when my company was at its best, God moved me to give up my career and receive equipment to better use the Lord and feed the Lord’s sheep. After a period of preparation, God opened the door for me to be equipped at Moody Bible Institute, allowing me to be theologically equipped and edified! My greatest takeaway at Moody has been to know our Lord better. The more you know God, the more you see your shortcomings, the more you know God, the more sensitive you are to your sins, the more you know God, the more you see your grace, the more you know God, the more you see the meaning of your life in this world. I have no reason to live for myself, I should live for Him who shed His blood and died for me. Galatians 2:20 is the verse of my life: “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and I now live in the flesh, by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” ”
Although my material living conditions as a preacher are far less privileged than those of my “entrepreneur,” and although the work I do today is not as handy as my work as an “entrepreneur,” God has taught me Xi humility, Xi to look up to him, and Xi to be a servant and a minister. That’s why every day I am filled with peace and joy and experience his presence! This is the peace and joy that I didn’t have in the past, whether I was a migrant worker or an entrepreneur, whether I slept on the road or slept on Simmons, whether I ate shredded sweet potatoes or ate a five-star hotel. Especially when my relatives and friends receive the most precious gift of my life because of my evangelism, I am happier than anything else. This is the true meaning and value of life that I have found!
