Christianity has never really  been a foreign concept to me. From tender pre-school days, my family had been following my auntie around to whichever church she attended. We tagged along to a variety of churches, from Wesley Methodist to FCBC to St John St Margaret’s. It was never really a question of, “Are we going to church today?” but more of, “Which church will we be attending today?”.

And so I went along to Sunday School after Sunday School. And the Christian principles I learnt were reinforced by my education in a mission school. Make no mistake of it, the fact that I was placed in a mission school despite my parents not being serious believers (definitely not my father anyway), was no coincidence. As I would later learn, it was all in the great MASTER PLAN.

Primary One. The first time I said the Sinner’s Prayer. Actually, it was probably some simpler version that a 7 year-old would understand. It was during a music lesson in school when my form teacher asked those of us who’d never asked Jesus into our lives and who wanted to ask Him in, to say the prayer after her. And at that time, in all my childlike earnestness and sincerity, I wanted Him in my life. I really did. And so I closed my eyes real tight and clasped my hands together and asked Him to please come into my life and lock the door behind Him. And I meant every word I said.

After a while, my family stopped following Auntie around. Sunday mornings were spent watching “Smurfs” instead. This carried on until I was in Secondary 3. Thankfully, I was still in a mission school (part of the great MASTER PLAN remember?) so I did not completely lose touch with Christianity. I always considered myself a Christian. Up till then, from Primary school, I had been enthusiastically singing along (and singing very loudly too) during Chapel services and listening to the messages. Then one fine day, an ex-teacher came to speak at our Chapel service. She said that it was possible to be a Christian and not go to church. But the only way you’re ever going to get to know God better is if you go to church and mingle with other Christians and listen to God’s Word. That made me sit up. And I realised I had to go to church. That was the defining moment for me in my early Christian life. And that began my journey in the Christian church.

The only church I thought of then was Faith Methodist Church. I attended kindergarten there and decided that would probably be a good place to start. Plus, I knew a friend who went there so I asked if I could go along. My original intention was to attend adult services in the sanctuary and slip out to go home after that, without mingling or having myself commit to anything else. I guess my friend had other plans for me. I ended up attending youth services and Sunday School there.

The next 3 to 4 years were spent as a “Sunday Christian”.  Although I was serving in church as the editor for our youth newsletter, I was hardly in an intimate relationship with the Lord. This changed when a dear friend of mine challenged me to go deeper in my relationship and daily choose to follow the Lord. Only then, somewhere in my varsity days, did I truly encounter the Lord and walk with Him as His disciple.

And that, I believe, was when I really became a follower of Christ.