Life Before and After Meeting Jesus

I was born Catholic in 1982, and remained Catholic along with my whole family until 2002 when I accepted Jesus into my life.

Before knowing Jesus personally, I used to think “God” and “Santa” were the same thing - a myth people tell from one generation to the next. So I was closer to an atheist in a way.

We used to be a middle-class family, until my father experienced bankruptcy in his business in 1995 when I was in middle school. We lost our only home which was pledged to the bank.

My father fought a legal battle with the bank and fell into a depression. My mother, who worked at a French company, became the sole provider while harboring resentment over Dad's failed business.

In 1997, my sister Josephine found Christ at a Christian service after a neighbor's invitation. Through Charismatic Catholic services, she later brought my mother, two aunties, uncle and grandmother to Christ.

My father and I initially resisted. I came to believe after witnessing my grandmother's cataract being healed, which allowed her to read again. My father came last, experiencing the most powerful encounter when Jesus audibly called him when he was alone at home.

Over the span of about 7 years, three generations were won over to Christ - from grandmother to grandchildren.

My dad was a stubborn and hard man. He resisted God until the last moment when Jesus himself came to speak to him. This became a monumental moment in our family's life and continues to be a reminder of how God can break through even the hardest person.

This reminds me of the quote by Corrie Ten Boom, "No darkness is so deep that God's love is not deeper still." No matter how hard someone is, God can break through.

It's also a reminder of the power of prayer. My sister prayed for all of us until three generations came to Christ. It shows how powerful prayer is in activating the power of the spiritual realm.

I was a very strong-willed and active teenager throughout my school years (before I knew Jesus).

This drew me more toward sports than academics. Even though I was one of the top students in my class during middle school and knew I had the brains for it, dating girls, pornography, rock music, sports, video games, and other extracurricular activities completely took over during my high school years.

It wasn't exactly disruptive, but I was becoming increasingly ambitious and hyper-competitive.

I wanted to be the best—first in basketball, then volleyball, and later in my career. This drive eventually sucked me into workaholism and nearly destroyed my marriage and my Christian life altogether. I share more details in this section.

Not only did I realize that Jesus wasn't the same as Santa, but I was also blown away by how close and personal God could be in someone's life. When I committed my life to Jesus at a charismatic Catholic service, I truly gave it my all.

One lesson from my mother that stuck with me, “When you go into something, you go all in.” So I went all in into God - entirely, and in hindsight, naively and blindly.

I held nothing back. I was in a sexual dating relationship with a girl who also accepted Christ with me. We realized we were in the wrong with God. We ended our relationship and remained friends.

Looking back, I think my naive heart actually worked in my favor. Shortly after 2002, I started receiving personal visions about my future—some came through Bible verses that really jumped out at me and spoke directly to my heart (what we call Rhema), and others came through fellow Christians who reached out and prayed over me.

One thing that was crystal clear to me back then—something that came to me long before I ever got into the stock market—was God's calling to become His treasurer (to manage God's money).

Continue in the next section.