Date: Sep. 23, 2010
The week of September 6th was bittersweet for all of us at IIT UBF. It was bitter because one of our dear friends was leaving us but it was sweet because Ping had finished his phD and got a job. And as we know that is not as easy as it has been in the past. Ping has been in our fellowship for the past 5 years and the word of God has really grown in his heart. His life testimony is below. .
Here is Dr. Ping sharing his testimony.
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Life Testimony
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Key Verse: Genesis 12:1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.â€
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Prayer: Dear heavenly father. Thank you for what you have done for me during the last five years in Chicago. You have changed me from hopeless sinner into a disciple. Please help me remember your work in me and give thanks to you. Also, help me set a new direction for my life of faith through this testimony.
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Part 1. My life before meeting Jesus Christ.
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I was born on November 23rd, 1979 in Ezhou, a small town in Central China. Since I am the only child in my family, I can feel that my parents put all their hopes and dreams into me. This always made me anxious and stressful. Whenever I came home with a bad grade on a test I try to hide it, because I know my parents will be disappointed. This made me eager to be excellent in my class. I am not a genius so to achieve this goal, I must work harder than my classmates. Year after year, I become a person that get used to hard working. And this character helped me a lot to survive in my advisor, Dr. Q’s research team - To be honest I am the only one who survived in his Lab.
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The power that supported me go through all the difficulties is my parents’ love and my own dream. As I was a child, I developed a deep interest in science and from the time I was in primary school I dreamed to become a mechanic engineer on a spaceship and explore in the outer space. At that time I admire all the scientists, for example, Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. Actually, they have been my idol. I also dedicated myself to science and technology. I believe that with science nothing is impossible. I believe that the clarity and simplicity of science is the only way to touch the true of the universe. For example, Newton's laws of motion and Einstein’s equivalence of matter and energy. Anyway, I became a believer of “Science religionâ€. Hope that it can save us from hopelessness, unhappiness and eternal death. However, when I became older and explored deeper in science and technology. I found that science cannot answer all the problems in this world. For example, the origin of the world (although we have the big bang theory, it is still not convincing). And sometimes, science can be used by the evil spirit, and make our life more miserable. For example nuclear weapons.
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Part II. New life in Jesus
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Because of the losing faith in Science religion, I felt more and more empty. Trying to remove the feeling of meaningless and insignificant, I setup a new goal, that is studying aboard in the US. In spring 2005, I arrived at Chicago and left my family and my homeland far behind. At that time, I was home sick. My English was poor. This prevented me to make new friend in Chicago and gave me a tough time in my first semester at IIT. Moreover, my advisor Prof. Q is an ambitious assistant professor. He demanded us to work eighty hours per week and have a meeting once a day. In this hard life situation, I began to re-exam my decision: I asked myself why I suffered a lot to come to this country. My life in US was even worse than my old life in China. I was wandering with empty life, fear of future and death. At this lowest point of my life, God invited me to UBF Bible studies. It was a sunny summer day, on the way from my apartment to my Lab. Ms Kim stopped and asked me to study bible with her. At that time, I followed her immediately, without one second’s hesitate. At that moment, a voice in my heart, told me to follow her and study the bible, that’s what I really want, I really seek for.
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In the following days of 2005, I studied Genesis deeply in one to one bible study with my shepherd Ms. Kim. Step by step, I came to Jesus, I struggled with my doubt and fear and I tried to be a righteous man in God sight. All these are because our Lord Jesus’ wonderful call and blessing: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Finally, one day, at HUB during the 1to1 bible study, I believed his word and accepted Jesus as my Christ. At that time Holy Spirit filled me with joy of finding truth and joy of possessing eternal life from empty and meaningless life. I am no longer pursuing for dead hopes: be excellent in school and company, a good job, a happy family. These dead hopes made me burdensome and none of them can truly satisfy us for ever. Now I have a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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After that, I can see that I’ve grown up in Jesus day after day. In the beginning, I refused to attend Sunday worship services, but now I join Sunday worship service every week. In the beginning, I don’t know how to write testimonies and just pick some words from bible as my testimony, but now I can write pages of testimonies with my heart. In the beginning, I can’t put the offering to our Lord God as the first priority, just like Cain in the genesis. But now I can fight with my worldly desires. In the beginning, I don’t know how to pray. But now I learnt to pray whenever and wherever I need God’s help. God blessed me so abundantly when I came to him even though I didn’t do many things to serve God. Thank God, who gave the most wonderful gifts –my wife and my son to me. Also I have overcome my homesick and get used to the hard research work in my lab.
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However, in the end of 2007 and beginning of 2008, I had a very hard time: some of my Chinese friends turned away from Jesus. Moreover, my wife quit her bible study and lost her faith in Jesus. Because of these, I became very frustrated and my faith has been influenced. However, MS Kim helped me to go through this hard time with weekly bible study and prayed for my family and me. And encouraged me with Matthew 11:28: “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you.†I also received many other supports from many other brothers and sisters. For example, when I surrendered to the pressure from my advisor, Gideon and Peter prayed for me and encouraged me to fight against my weakness. When I had Dan studied and prayed with me so that I can catch up in the courses and pass the exams smoothly. Thank God that I can stand firm in the past and I pray that I can keep standing firm until Jesus Christ’s second come, because to enter heaven through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we must stand firm. As it is said in the 1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vainâ€.
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I have graduated in this semester. Thank God for granting me a proper job in current recession. However, this cannot prevent my selfish thought that if the job location is not Albany, NY but Chicago, it will be perfect. I feel anxious about the coming change of my life. Because I don’t want to separate with my wife Xiao. More importantly, I really worry about my little faith. Supports from brothers and sisters in our IIT ministry helped me a lot in growing in Jesus. How may I keep my faith and grow in Jesus after I leave Chicago? However, I must submit my selfish desire to God will. God have prepared a mission for me. I should trust God and put my future in his hand, just like Abram, who gives us a great example of being faithful to God’s call. When God asked him to leave his own country, he believed God’s word and he showed his belief by obeying God's command. In Genesis 12:4 says, "So Abram left as the Lord had told him...". In this verse, God also made a great promise and blessing to Abram. With this promise, a covenant relationship has been set up between God and Abram. Lord, I pray that I can setup a covenant relationship with you, just like your servant Abram. Lord, please help me to be faithful to the promise. Please help me grow up as an active and independent missionary in Albany, NY. Please help my wife, my son and I setup a house church in Albany. Please also send co-workers to me and help us initial a new ministry in Albany. Please use me as your servant and use my graduation as a chance of me to breach your word to the whole world. Please make me as a source of blessing to others, especially my people in China who are thirst for the truth.
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one word: Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.
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Here the IIT elders pray for Dr. Ping
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Here is Dr. Ping with Orlando
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