Most recent testimony

[Mr. Rogers]

My name is Jim Rogers. I'm 24 years old and a student here in Chicago. I am studying to be an English as a second language teacher so that I can work in Japan after I graduate and begin to get involved with the Japanese people. I have been able to start getting involved with the Japanese church here in the Chicago area through Message for Japan Bible Study at Moody Bible Institute and through these events put on my JCFN.

I was born in Hanover Park and lived there until I was two years old, after which I moved to Aurora (that's a suburb one hour outside of Chicago for the people who don't live around here). I was in church from a young age. My mom always made sure to take us to the Roman Catholic church by our house and, for some time, I went to the school there. I always believed in God's existence and even prayed occasionally, but I never really took God much past that level. I eventually stopped going to church, probably some time just before high school. I pretty much did my own thing during those years and didn't give God, church or any of those topics very much thought.

That all started to change, though, when a pastor moved in right next-door to me. Me and my brother became good friends with his son; who was around our age. He eventually invited me to church he was one of the pastors at. I started attending there with a few of my family members and a friend of mine. Once again, though, it was just as it had been before. I went to church, but it didn't deeply affect my life and I am not sure that I viewed it as very important. Looking back, I see that God was working out a plan to bring me to him in a genuine way.

I attended there for some time, went to Sunday School, and eventually completed a confirmation class. This is a class that the Protestant church has its members go through for basic foundational education in Biblical teaching. I was given a Bible by the elder who helped my through the class. It was some time before I actually started reading it and, to this day, I still don't even know why I did start reading it. I spent hours reading through the stories of Jesus, His life, and the things that He did and said. Somehow, I knew that it was true. I knew that I was not living the life that God had meant for me to live. I had no dramatic conversion. I was just sitting in one of the rooms of my house when it happened. I told God that I wanted to live life his way from now on. From that day on, my life has never been the same.

Before I was a Christian, I am not really sure that I had any purpose for my life. My plan was to study Computer Science and after that, I didn't really have much of a plan. Looking back, I notice that I started gaining an interest in other cultures and places of the world and I started feeling moved to live my life for others. Eventually, I still don't know quite how, my focus was narrowed down to Japan.

The theme for this year's conference is doing the will of God. Looking back on my life the last eight years of being a Christian, even though I am still very much in the beginning, I have seen that God's will is so much more rich and meaningful than any life I could have ever made for myself. Saint Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in youâ€