Parents, I want you to be safe!

【Children Chapter 2】

Oral narration and photos provided/Zeng Zhixiong
Interview compilation/Zhou Weiwei

If a person abides in Christ, no evil in the world will harm him

Zeng Zhixiong, who is from Guangzhou, is the first of three children in his family to leave home and live independently. From the time he was seventeen years old, when he went to college abroad, and later went to the United States to work and settle down, Zhixiong had actually been away from home for more than thirty years. Although I had the opportunity to go back to my hometown to visit my parents, relatives and friends during this period, my stay was always short and short. After converting to Christ in Philadelphia in 2002, Zhixiong felt that the stability of having Christ Jesus in his life was far better than the temporary joy of having all his five sons admitted to college. That heavenly and transcendent eternal peace is enough to make all tangible things on earth pale in comparison.

Before he believed in the Lord, Zhixiong relied on his own strength and hard work to achieve quite a lot in his work. But in a shopping mall full of competition and deceit, people are invisibly made to be particularly sensitive and indifferent. Zhixiong admitted that his heart was often entangled with complicated emotions such as selfishness, competition, pride, and suspicion, and he lacked peace and tranquility. After he believed in the Lord, he realized that the emotions in his heart were originally controlled by the sinful nature living inside, which was conceived while we were still in our mother's womb. Man cannot overcome the bondage of sin on his own. Only Jesus Christ can help us resist the bondage of sin and live a new life of freedom. After knowing Christ, Zhixiong is always grateful and contented, as if he has received a piece of spiritual medicine. He can deal with the adversities in the environment calmly, and understands that "if someone lives in Christ, no poison in the world will invade him." The mystery of life.

▲My great-father received a water ceremony from the priest.

The jet lag turned into a turning point, and the overseas phone call brought good news

As Zhixiong embraced his new life, the first person he wanted to share the good news with was his parents living in his hometown. As my parents are old and suffering from physical ailments, every time I talk to them on the phone, I can feel their helplessness, dissatisfaction, complaints and moans about life. Although his eldest sister took care of his parents' daily life in the local area, seeing his parents in a lonely and hopeless situation, Zhixiong, who was far away in the United States, often sighed in his heart and racked his brains to open a gospel path for his parents. Taking advantage of the time difference between the two places, he began to use the limited time on his way to work every day to preach the gospel to his mother on the phone. Zhixiong comforted and encouraged his mother through different scriptures, trying to take away her worries. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:6) “Which of you by worrying can add one moment to your life?” (Matthew) Matthew 6:27)

▲Zeng’s mother accepted the sprinkling of water from the pastor.

Zhixiong often told his mother on the phone, "Mom, I want you to be safe!" His mother's considerate filial piety and the profound change in his life were all hidden in his heart. As a result, the seeds of the gospel gradually sprouted in my mother’s heart. Amazingly, one day on the phone, Zeng’s mother actually promised Zhixiong that she was willing to attend worship services at a church near her home. When he was relieved, he immediately contacted his classmates who also attended the church and took care of his mother nearby. After joining the church, my mother had more and more common topics with Zhixiong, and her complaints and worries decreased day by day.

▲Great mother (Yu Ai Duo) and great father (Zeng Jinguo) walked hand in hand on the road to heaven.

In the collision of life, truly experience Jesus

But after a period of time, Zhixiong discovered that the local church had too many people and lacked fellowship, which meant that his mother’s understanding of God was only superficial, lacking the level of caring and influencing each other as members. In the early spring of 2014, in order to bring his parents closer to church life, Zhixiong took the initiative to invite them to live together in New York. During those days, he took his parents to participate in various church activities: Sunday worship, small group Bible studies, sisters’ fellowship, Evergreen Fellowship, fundamental truth classes and other gatherings of different natures.

▲Zeng Zhixiong and his wife (first from left, first from right) were overjoyed when they saw their parents being baptized and embracing new life.

Zhixiong allows parents to experience diverse gathering forms on different occasions, and through getting along with church brothers and sisters, parents can experience the close relationship of "faith into life, life into faith". On weekdays at home, Zhixiong and his wife will take their parents to read the Bible, pray, and sing hymns to praise God, letting the elderly know that worshiping and praising God is not bound by time, space and location. Coupled with frequent interactions with pastors and personally experiencing the rich power of God’s words, the two elders of the Zeng family tasted the sweetness of the Lord’s grace during their four-month stay in North America. Their body, mind, and soul were renewed and transformed as if they were soaked and washed in the river of life. .

▲Many church brothers and sisters happily participated in the baptism ceremony of the two elders of the Zeng family.

Just before leaving, Zhixiong's parents decided to believe in the Lord and were baptized as Christians. On the day of the baptism, brothers and sisters from many churches gathered at the Zeng family, surrounding the two elders and witnessing this precious moment. Because of Zhixiong’s heart of caring about the eternal life of his parents, the song of heaven has always flowed in the Zeng family from the United States to China. The music of praise goes back and forth across the ocean!

The two elders of the Zeng family embraced their new life. After returning to their hometown, they actively participated in church activities and began to read the Bible regularly. When Zhixiong talked with them on the phone, he found that his parents' original anxiety and worry had gradually been replaced by peace and joy. Even though he is still thousands of miles away from his parents, he knows that they have found the trust in their hearts and the eternal destination of their lives.

Interviewee profile
Zeng Zhixiong graduated from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou and was sent to Hong Kong by his employer. He came to the United States in 1996 and was baptized as a Christian in Philadelphia in 2003. He now lives in Long Island, New York, where he is engaged in food marketing management. He and his wife have two sons.

記者小檔案 周瑋瑋，來自臺灣，紐約州公立高中教師，熱愛教育工作，獻身文字事奉。醉心用故事描寫人性，以文字捕捉屬天靈感。與先生解永平育有一子一女。