Grades do not Matter, Alfred Tsiang

I grew up in a typical Asian family that was, for the most part, fairly normal. Just get good grades and meet my parent's expectations and everything will be fine. This idea of getting good grades was instilled in me from a very young age. It seemed to me that getting good grades would lead to a very happy and prosperous life, and so throughout elementary to high school, I did my best to get the grades to make my parents and myself proud. But towards the end of high school, I felt that something was amiss. I got the grades I wanted and I got accepted into the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and I overall felt pretty good.

But something still didn't feel right. It was also during this time in my senior year that I was wondering about life. I knew there had to be something more than to just go to college, get a job, get married, have kids, retire and die. In high school, I was surrounded by fellow students who were Christians, and in some ways, I knew that they were different but didn't exactly know how they were different. This made me begin to look at religion. I was wondering whether religion could satisfy this longing deep within.

So when I started college, the first thing I did was to look for Christian clubs. UCLA had many clubs to choose from, but I was looking for the right one. As I was looking on campus, I met a friend from high school who was part of a Christian club and she invited me to her group. Since it was the first week of college, I didn't have anything better to do so I decided to give it a try. At that meeting, I realized that something was quite different about these Christians. They were enjoying something. I couldn't quite figure out what it was that they were enjoying. There was a lot of shouting and much of the shouting was “Oh Lord Jesus”. I was wondering, “Isn't it good enough to say that once or twice? Why did they say the name “Lord Jesus” so many times?” Afterwards the brothers shared with me that besides the Lord saving us from eternal perdition, the Lord also wants to be our life and wants to come into us. I was shocked to hear how the Lord could come into me and be my life. The Lord comes to us as the Spirit and our spirit is the “organ” where we can contact the Lord (John 4:24). After a few more meetings, I was not convinced. I had a bunch of questions that needed to be answered first before I would call on the Lord and receive Him. But after trying to answer my questions, the brothers said that if you don't try it, you won't know. It is like looking at a steak. Outwardly, it may not look so pleasant but once you try it, the steak tastes pretty good. So having heard that, I just simply opened my being and called on the Lord. Ever since calling on the Lord, my life has been revolutionized. Not only did I get saved from eternal perdition, but now I have the life of God. I so much appreciate that I can enjoy the Lord. Now I know God who isn't just simply in the heavens but He is in my very being. He is not someone who is far, far away. He is very much approachable and I can talk to Him like I can talk to a friend. Looking back, it has been almost ten years since I called on the Lord and got saved. Many things have occurred since then. Nothingnot even getting good gradesis more precious than calling on the name of the Lord and having a personal relationship with the Lord.