I wish that my life could be filled with more thanksgiving because thanksgiving is the apex of joy because joy is incomplete unless it is expressed. So here is a list of things that I am SO thankful for.

1. I am thankful to you God that you gave me my parents. They have taken care of me and they have kept me physically alive so that I can be used by God as the chosen vessel that I am to shine forth His amazing love and grace to a dark and dying world that God wants everyone to enjoy due to who He is! I ask you O God to give me a heart to sacrificially love them through my laying down my life for them the way Jesus laid down His life for everybody that His Father created in His own image. (John 3:16 for Christ and then 1 John 3:16 for me). Help me to be rich in faith like I was chosen to be (James 2:5) that can only come through the trials that I must endure as I do this task. (James 1:1-4)

2. I am grateful for Cornerstone and Eternity Bible College. I am grateful that I can go to a school where I can learn how to read God's mind as expressed in His Word and where I can actually be blessed in doing this Word and not get puffed up about knowing it. (1 Corinthians 8:1) I thank you God that you are teaching me about yourself through Eternity Bible College and I pray that you continue to do so through my whole time here.

3. I am grateful for all of the brothers and sisters that you have provided while I have been here and the loving care that they have given me while I have been here. I never imagined that I could actually form godly relationships because of my autism induced loneliness of my high school years but I want to just bless you Christ for just walking me through my godly relationships. And I pray that I can be a channel of grace to my parents the way that these brothers and sisters here at EBC have been a channel of grace to me.

4. And best of all, I want to thank YOU O God that you exist and that You have given me Yourself through your Beloved Son Jesus Christ!! This is the indescribable gift that transcends all other gifts combined. (2 Corinthians 9:15) First when I was dead in trespasses in sins (Ephesians 2:1-3), your Son died on the cross to take away my sin and bear your wrath. Then Your Son was raised from the dead conquering my sin and death clearing the way to restoration. You preached your gospel to me through Your Word and gave me the wisdom to understand Your gospel and my sin through the power of the Holy Spirit. (John 1:9, 16:7-11, 2 Timothy 3:15, Romans 10:14-17). You gave me new life by your grace (free gift) through my faith alone (receiving a free gift) APART from ANY WORKS or futile attempts to earn it. (Romans 1:16-17, Ephesians 2:8-9) The new life in me enabled me to see the divine glory that is God's alone! God the Father justified me and declared me son by His grace received on account of my position in Christ ALONE! (Romans 8:1-2). And best of all, I am now an heir of You Father with Jesus Christ so I can now suffer so I can gain reward for eternity. (Romans 8:17) And the day will come where I will look upon your face God with your Beloved Son Christ! (Revelation 22:4) And I will delight in You and show Your Holy Grace for eternity. I thank you for all of this. I didn't deserve it and I didn't need to in order for You to bestow it. You gave it to me through faith alone because you are unfailingly committed to your glory and my satisfaction in You! And You are committed to to Your own glory and my joy in You all because You are Beautiful and Love! (1 John 4:8) I pray that the world will know all of this through my oneness with You and they will ALL repent and believe and be satisfied in worship like Jesus fervently prayed for the first Christians in John 17:20-26 because that would delight my soul and Jesus' above all other things. This is pleasing in your sight!

I close these meditations with a message to all who don't know God. God is infinitely passionate to enthrall you with Yourself and He loves you with the same infinite intensity as He loves Jesus Christ, His own Beloved Son!! And so I ask you to forget about your sin and to come to the living waters of life so that you will never thirst. (John 4:13-14, 7:37-39) Come! Jesus is offering His hand and has given you the wisdom to believe through my gospel and Word. (2 Timothy 3:15, 1 Thessalonians 1:5-6)

Savoring the sweet pleasure of thanksgiving...
Kevin Chu

God working in Sunland

Wow I had an awesome weekend in Sunland chilling with Christian Judy, Jamin Mckeever, Tom Garcia, and Dan Morris!! I want to say thanks to all of you guys for just the love and grace of the Body of Christ that I have experienced out there. And I want to Thank you Heavenly Father for lavishing your awesome grace on me in this regard. (Ephesians 1:7-8) And Jesus Christ, Thank you for showing your face in these wonderful men.

I don't know how to describe it but I think that they guys that I hung out with in Sunland just really show off Christ with their lives and actions, through faith working in love and that just moves me to want to follow their example. Man as I continue to see the grace of God and His amazing love work in our lives together, and how God is relentlessing pursuing my heart to follow Him way more, I can now see the humility in accepting the grace that these guys have given me is one HUGE lesson that I need to learn.

One way that this is especially seen biblically is the way of salvation. My humility in accepting the gracious care of my brothers in Sunland is parallel though not exact to the difference between faith and works. Works is attempting to earn your own salvation through the Law or through good deeds or through what you do. The heart of it is the need to want to be made much of because your own works accomplished your salvation. In Romans 4:4-5, Paul contrasts works and faith by saying that works results in wages that is due versus a faith that accepts the FREE gift of eternal life which is the heart of the gospel. (Romans 1:16-17)

The reasons that faith glorifies God

1. It is NEVER initiatory in salvation. God first FREELY offered me the gift of life in CHRIST ALONE before I excersied faith to RECEIVE the free gift. Romans 10:14-15 clearly teaches that because no one seeks God (Romans 3:11), Christ must first bear our sins (2 Corinthians 5:21) in His death, rise again and conquer death, and present the gospel to us. That is the order in Romans 10:14-15, hearing then believing not the reverse. Furthermore, God's act of His provision of the gospel of eternal life is not based at all on my "deserving" of it because if it were, it would no longer be a gift and it would essentialy be a works-righteous salvation. However, there is an infinitely stronger ground for this grace of eternal life and that is God's unfailing passion to glorify Himself (the essence of His righteousness and justice) and His unfailing passion for my satisfaction in Him (the essence of His goodness) which are ultimately one passion.

2. When I accept the free gift of eternal life by resting in CHRIST's work of salvation, Romans 3:27 declares that faith excludes ALL boasting because faith passively allowing Christ to satisfy us in God as Hebrews 11:6 teaches. It is Christ that did all the work. And so Abraham's faith glorified God as Romans 4:20-21 teaches. Just as a person humbly must accept salvation, God helped me to see that this applies to my humble acceptance of the love of my buddies.

I pray especially now these days that I can love my parents in return. Because my parents are unlovable to me in my sin, I desperately need Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit more than ever so that I can still love them anyways NOT because they deserve it but rather because I am unfailingly committed to God's glorification in their lives (my righteousness) and my desire to see them satisfied in God. (my love for them) And the only Person who can help me now is Jesus Christ who was faced with many temptations not to love someone who woud only hurt him like the 10 lepers in Luke 17 (only one loved Him back). And so I feel more motivated to love my parents thanks to Dan Morris and Tom Garcia and Jamin and so please Jesus Christ help me to not be a cul-de-sac of grace but rather a channel of it to my parents. And I am looking forward to my reward that my Father will provide me (eternal glory) when I endure the trials of loving my unlovable parents. (Romans 8:18, James 1:12, 2 Timothy 2:10 1 Peter 1:6-9, 4:12-13, 5:10, notice the pattern of suffering THEN glory).

Longing to be a trophie of amazing grace as a son of God so the world may believe (Ephesians 1:5-6)
Kevin Chu

Exegeting James 1:19b-25

Man it has been a long, spiritually tough, and academically challenging semester here at EBC and now it is coming to a head as I am now about to write an exegetical paper on James 19:b-25 in the Book of James. I have been studying up on that passage as well as verses 1-18 in order to set the proper context and now I am about to write on this passage. There are three primary things that I am feeling right now when it comes to doing this huge paper.

1. I am very excited
I can't believe it. I am actually going to be doing exegesis for the very first time and actually try to find out what James meant to his readers when he was writing to them.. This will be the chance to "lead out of" the text and find the meaning that James intended to convey to his writers and to see the neat flow of thought that comes to the passage. I can now finally understand what was going on at the time and the background of the author and readers' situation that necessitated these verses to be written. I can actualy work with the grammar of the text and find the meaning of words to find all of the rich and colorful details that helps to articulate the meaning of the text. And finally I can see this exegesis as a way that God manifests His awesome beauty and grace and glory which can satisfy forever and forever. PRAISE GOD!

2. I am nervous
I will admit that I am very nervous because I have never made an attempt at exegesis before. This is a new experience and they can cause intense anxiety at times. Because I don't know Greek (yet) and also because by English grammar is horrible, I fear that I could totally slip up when I attempt to do my exegesis and this leads to the third point.

3. I must depend on the Holy Spirit.
Because I am finite and fallen, only the Holy Spirit who reveals and who inspires Scripture can enable me to see what is in the text. (1 Corinthians 2:6-16) Only He can help me to find what God said through the human authors. Only He can help me to know the infinite mind of my awesome God. And only He can help me to properly to this exegetical analysis of James 1:19b-25.

So I pray that the Holy Spirit will carry me through from start to end on this paper and to carry me through many more hard times at Eternity Bible College.

Idols of the Heart

Wow as I just go through Bible college I have been thinking about all that I have learned throughout the semester and I am just SO thankful to God for the amazing gifts that He has given me and the wonderful friends that He has placed in my life for me to showcase the awesomeness of our God to and whom I can experience Christ, the hope of all glory (Colossians 1:27) in!! When I attend discipleship counseling, I have come to realize what the primary point is in the class, and that is having a heart that worships God and is satisfied in His Person and Rule through Jesus Christ!!

I have come to realize that through watching Louie Giglio's passion talks on worship, and also from studying in Discipleship Counseling, the basic issue of humanity is that we are ALL worshippers of something because that is the way that God made us. And what we worship is going to determine how we act, how we treat one another, what direction our life takes, who we are.... so what are we going to worship. God made us so that we can worship Him through exulting in (Romans 5:2, 11) and showcasing His all-satisfying supremacy to all the world so that they can join us in worship!! That is why Paul says in Romans 11:36 all things are from Him, through Him, and TO Him.... It is all about God, and our everlasting enjoyment of Him forever! So Paul therefore follows up in Romans 12:1 to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to God that is holy and pleasing because this is what is pleasing to God!

Now sadly we have rejected God as our all satisfaction (Jeremiah 2:13a, Romans 1:23a, 25a) and because we are still worshippers by nature. we will then worship and deify the creation (Jeremiah 2:13b, Romans 1:23b, 25b). Then our sins progress from that into how we live in the world and with each other. The root of all evil in the world is the fact that we have rejected God as our all satisfying Treasure and have worshipped creation instead. And that idolatry in our hearts will drive us to hell unless we trust in the work of Christ that brings us back to God. (1 Peter 3:18)

But for Christians in regard to idols of the heart, the Bible is evidently clear that we need to guard our hearts (Proverbs 4:23) because from there flows the wellsprings of life. O how I ask God that He renew my passion for His supremacy for the joy of ALL people and that I will set my mind on my heavenly position in Christ Jesus! (Colossians 3:1-4) And I say to you unbelievers not to find satisfaction in Michael Jackson, Jerry Springer, or South Park because they are but vapors that fade away (James 4:13-14) but God is Forever (Psalm 102:25-27) and He will not disappoint you if you hope in Christ alone.

May at the end of our lives when trials come that we can sing Who have I in heaven but You and besides You I desire nothing on earth. My heart and my flesh may fail but You are the strength of my portion forever. (Psalm 73:25-26)

Seeing the goal of everything in counseling...
Kevin Chu

Why I want to remain autistic and retain ALL of the weaknesses that come with it

Wow! God has been so good and I am glad that I can sing forever of His love for me and His goodness and I am just so amazed and blown away by His awesome work that He has done through me in my life and especially at Cornerstone and Eternity Bible College. Man do I pray that God will just continue to broadcast how awesome His grace is so that all will believe. This is the reason that the chief of sinners, Paul, was saved as 1 Timothy 1:15-17 makes clear, so that unlimited patience may be displayed for all who believe for eternal life!!

Now I have gotten a brand new revelation from both God and Jesus Christ as I continue on my journey through Eternity and in my Introduction to Discipleship class. When I first came to school here, I wanted to completely rid myself of the weaknesses that came with autism because I thought that it was going to significantly hold me back in many crucial areas of my walk. I was reminded of all of the hard times that I had to go through because of autism, how I was isolated for years and laughed at before I became a Christian. And now everything is in a different perspective as I meet amazing God-glorifying Spirit-filled Bible soaked Christians that I have gotten the chance to bond with and enjoy! Now I WANT to retain this autism and all of the weaknesses that come with it. Now this sounds like an insane request to the world and yes it is an insane request. But the Christian life is SUPPOSED to look insane to the world is it not??

The key to this new perspective on autism will rest on two key texts that occur in the Bible.

1. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

A Thorn in the Flesh

7 Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me--to keep me from exalting myself!
8 Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.
9 And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness " Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
10Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

This is one of my favorite passages when it comes to why I am the way I am. I have realized that God may me autistic and that it is an integral part of me, strength and weakness combined. And so I realized that I shouldn't hate it, I should rejoice in it because that is what glorifies God. (Psalm 139:13-14) Mark Beuving helped me to see that I can actually take delight in God's specific handiwork of me and that I should not try to be somebody else I am not because any attempt to be healed of autism would be a sin because I am trying to escape from God's chosen identity of me.

Furthermore, I realized that I am really actually building godly relationships with other wonderful EBC students and Cornerstoners DESPITE my horribly damaged social skills and I believe there is only one reason that this is true. It makes the power of God and also the GRACE of God shine that much more brightly. People can look at God and praise Him for taking a guy who was a nobody without Christ and make Him into somebody who can build godly relationships, something that is considered impossible for the average autistic. And now imagine if I can actually do effective Christ-exalting ministry and if I can actually get married to a beautiful woman WITH all of the weaknesses of autism that I have. Just think about how much more praise to the amazing grace of God would that bring. I won't be able to say that I overcame autism and that the grace of God really worked, like it did in the life of Paul. "By grace I am what I am" (1 Corinthians 15:10) I am a child of the most High God and therefore I rejoice in my weaknesses of autism, because then grace really starts to look beautiful in my eyes. Autism is really a gift now to me and not a disability, as the world would call it.

2. 1 Peter 1:6-9

6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,

7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,

9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.

All of the weaknesses of autism are trials and I know that I can rejoice in these trials because these are what brings me even closer to God because HE is the gospel, not health wealth or prosperity. And I know that God is using the trials with autism to make my perserverence stronger and to perfect my faith so that I can rejoice in and display the beautiful grace of God even more!! So I know that it would be a sin for me to ask God for healing from this disability because it is who I am and also because that is taking the easy way out. God has big plans for me for what He will do through my disability and I am excited to see this in the future.

Living by faith and not by sight with you (2 Corinthians 5:7)
Kevin Chu

Lamentations over my sinfulness

Today was a rough today because I sinned against my parents and I didn't talk about them in a positive and honoring way that God commands me to. (Ephesians 6:1-3) I just don't know anything anymore and I feel like my sinfulness towards my parents is ripping me apart and destroying my walk with God. I don't know if I can sincerely apologize anymore because I have a deep-seated fear that my flesh is plotting another sucessful victory and I am deathly scared that I will sin again. I feel like the situation I am in with my parents and my attitude towards their authority is like what the Apostle Paul described in Romans 7, how he struggles with the flesh. O how I wish that I could see God face-to-face so that I would never sin again. I am dearly sorry that I am such a sinner against my parents yet at the same time, I have a sinking attitude that my apology is not sincere. O what a wretched sinner that I am and that Christ is a Great Savior as John Newton said at the end of his life.

Why am I so sinful towards my parents. This is not an attempt to excuse it but to use my anyilitical skills to figure out what happened that led to this. The issue that puts me in a dire position with my family is the fact that my parents are not believers and therefore they cannot possibly represent God to me through loving authority over me. It is similar although not exact to the warning that God said to Eve when they sin, that Eve would try to rule over Adam and Adam would rule over Eve brutally in return. (Genesis 3 tells the sad story of this) And now because of both of our sins, we are now in heavy conflict with one another over matters like my actvities down at Eternity. I also believe that it is related to the fact that I am a college student and almost not a teenager and I want freedom from the authority of my parents as to where and when I go to EBC to hang and study. It feels like I am defeated either way.

I pray that you guys will not give up on me as your brother in Christ when it comes to making peace with my parents and having a good relationship with them because grace is what I, a sinner, so despreately need when it comes to my relationship with my parents. O what a wretched sinner I am and how much bigger is the grace of God in the midst of this. (Romans 5:12-21) Thanks Jesus for loving me in my sin and not just when I am righteous. Please pray that God would soften the hearts of my parents as I attempt to find peace with them over these issues.

I am just so grateful that Jesus Christ went through the worst of human experience as a man and was tempted to sin in every way yet he never sinned (Hebrews 4:14-16) and He overcame the world. (John 16:33) And I am just grateful that His mercy is new every day (Lamentations 3:22-23) in spite of all my sins against my family. I pray that our friendships that God has given me are not ruined by this experience and I pray that you guys will not give up on me as I struggle to become a godly man that God wants me to be.

Here is a wonderful song about God's faithfulness even when we sin. (1 John 1:9)
Nothing can separate
Even if I ran away
Your love never fails
I know I still make mistakes
But You have new mercies for me everyday
Your love never fails

Chorus:You stay the same through the ages
Your love never changes
There maybe pain in the night but joy comes in the morning
And when the oceans rage
I don't have to be afraid
Because I know that You love me
Your love never fails

Verse 2:The wind is strong and the water's deep
But I'm not alone in these open seas
Cause Your love never fails
The chasm is far too wide
I never thought I'd reach the other side
But Your love never fails
Bridge:You make all things work together for my good

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G_Xj3WAGBk

In sadness over the sting of sin,
Kevin Chu

Christian Virtues that I need to develop and perfect

Last Sunday night I had the blessed privilige to hear Francis Chan at Cornerstone preach from 2 Peter 1:5-8 and I was just blown away by what he had to say about the character of Christianity. The quailities that he mentioned in 2 Peter 1:5-7 are goodess, knowledge, self-control, perserverence, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. These are fruits of the Spirit that we must develop if we want to be like Christ. In fact developing these wonderful qualities are the path to knowing Christ Himself because in verse 8 he says that possesing these qualities in increasing measure will keep us from being ineffective and unproductive in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oftentimes, it is so that we wish that God would take our trials away and change them but the challenge that Francis had was that God would change US, not necessarily our circumstances.

In BSM we are interpreting James 1:2-4 and what we learned in class is that God actually uses trials in order to develop our perserverence and from that to make our faith complete and lacking in nothing. This coincides perfectly with what Francis was saying and I pray that God would give me joy in the trials that I have to face, namely autism. I don't want to be rid of the weaknesses of my autism anymore because God glorifies Himself in the midst of weakness as the thorn in the flesh proves. His grace is sufficient for me. And now imagine that if I can actually make godly friends, get married, and minister WITH all of my current weaknessess that I have (and this includes my deficient social skills and attention span) then God would get so much more praise from my life then if He had healed my weaknesses and then did all of these things.

I will admit that I have not fully developed these character quaiities and I do not believe that anyone ever can here on earth. I will be honest I have gossiped over the last few days and I realize that I was wrong in doing so. And I pray that God will forgive me and restore to me the joy of my salvation. Wow God is just doing great things through me and I want to be a part of what He is doing in my life. May I ask God that my autism would be seen as a gift and not a weakness because God has molded me in a very special way: the image of His son, like He planned for from His eternal realm. Like Solomon wrote at the end of his life in Ecclesiastes that the true meaning of life can only be found in God, may we all realize that real life comes from a relationship with Jesus Christ and through that with the Father. That is the very definition of eternal life that Jesus defined in John 17:3 and died to give us.

Signing off with optimism of God's work in the future
Kevin Chu

Humility in Preaching the Gospel

Well over the last few weeks, I have been writing to an old high school friend named Mike Peters in the hopes that he would repent and receive Jesus Christ for eternal joy in heaven that God infinitely desires for Him. The first time, he mocked me about going to hell, the second time, he threatened to beat me up if I wrote to him again, the third time, I am pretty sure that he pretended to convert to Christ in order so that he could mock me. I have been agonizing over the possibility that I have failed Mike Peters because I didn't fight hard enough for his conversion. And that's when I got a humble correction from my good EBC classmates Mike Clark and Dan Morris.

Dan Morris talked to me about the situation and he reminded me that I cannot save anybody which is so true. Only God has the power to save somebody. More specifically, only the Lord Jesus Christ has the power to save. I may have gotten caught up in the idea that I have the power to save people, to give eternal life, to forgive sins, and open people's eyes. All four of these things are different ways of saying that someone is saved. And now I realize that my only role in preaching the gospel is this fact: I am just a nobody telling everybody about somebody (Jesus Christ) who can save anybody. And so I pray that Dan's words grip my heart and bring humility to me in helping me to see that I am just a man who can save nobody. That's why Jesus tells Peter that with man it is impossible but with God EVERYTHING is possible. (Mark 10:26-27) All I can do is preach the living and active gospel to the person. Only God however can open eyes and give new life and forgive.

Michael Clark adds that I didn't fail anybody but rather that Mike Peters failed God by refusing the offer of life. And then he thanked me for having such a good heart but there are many improvements that need to be made to my life. First, he reminded me that preaching the gospel is not just merely doing it with lips, in Greek it means doing it with action!! I pray that God will actually teach me to live the gospel out wherever I am and that He will shine like a blazing sun through me. Second, Mike reminded me that their is a need for patience and God's initiative when preaching the gospel for the battle to save souls. In Galatians 5, one of the fruits of the Spirit is patience and I need to ask the Holy Spirit to give me that power. And finally, Mike reminded me that there is more than just winning over another convert, discipleship is the ultimate goal. Jesus' Great Commission is that we make disciples, not just converts. I realize that I have the goal of getting that person to become more like Christ in all that he or she does. And so I must ask God for wisdom with faith so that Christ's incarnate wisdom can radiate.

I thank these guys for their desire to see me grow in the Christian faith so that I can really actually learn to be Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world. I must preach the gospel by pointing them to the one Person who can save their souls and bring them to the eternal God that can satisfy them, Jesus Christ. But that is all I can do, I have no saving power. May God alone be glorified for saving souls.

Amazing grace over Halloween weekend

By the God of all grace, I had an amazing weekend in Simi Valley partying it up with my fellow Cornerstoners and brothers and sisters from EBC! I want to say thank you so much for the fun moments that we have together and I truly would love to return the favor by being a blessing to you and a channel of the awesome grace of our God poured out to us from His unfailing passion to glorify His Awesome Holy Name. I also want to add that I felt so loved by God in a way that I never have before in all of the days of my life that I have existed. Thank you for everything!!

As an autistic, I have come to the realization that I do not hate having it anymore. I actually have embraced it and I know why I have! An awesome friend Mark Balylult told me yesterday that he was encouraged to see a life without Christ (since I didn't grow up in the church and he did, it helped him to see that) and a life that was hopeless and didn't have any future, a life filled with years of rejection, and then that life, by the grace of God, through faith in Jesus Christ and accepting His wonderful love, changed drastically into one that is radiant with the incomparable riches of the grace of God and will be more radiant of that in the future. I was so encouraged to hear that from Mark and I am grateful to him for it. And now this brings me to this wonderful realization.

In Ephesians 2, Paul starts this simple chapter with what a non-Christian looks like. He is dead in sins and is following the hopeless Gods of the world and by nature is a son of disobedience and wrath. (2:1-3) That was me before I became a Christian and this is illustrated by the fact that I have hated God and have followed the gods of the world that do not satisfy and I have put up with lonliness and rejection my whole life. But then Paul talks about the unconditional rich and great love and mercy of our God that saves us through Christ making us alive and even better, seating us in the heavenly places! (2:4-6) This is so true with me and my life became filled with love for God and acceptance by God on account of Jesus Christ and also by the amazing brothers and sisters that God is only STARTING to get me involved with. Wow! This is unspeakable and indescribable just the amazing grace of our God that He is offering to all creation. I am blown away by what my life looked like before and what it looks like today because of God. I plead with all those who don't know the love of Christ receive Him by faith so that you can expereince such a life change that I have!!

Now in verse 7, Paul gives the big reason why God saved me and why seeks out a relationship with His lost creation, "so that in the coming ages, He might SHOW the incomparable riches of His GRACE, expressed in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus!" Two things come to my mind when I ponder this life-changing passage of Scripture.

1. Salvation is about me??? It is not! It is all about God and His wonderful passion to glorify the inexhaulstible wealth of His grace!! That is the chief reason why God saved Paul. (1 Timothy 1:15-17) This is incredibly humbling as I have come to see just how God has reminded me that He and His grace and my enjoyment of Him forever is what his saving acts are all about!! It is also my greatest security because God's righteous unchanging passion to glorify His grace is my only hope of grace and it is the only hope for sinners.

2. I want to be a testimony of grace to both my brothers and sisters at Cornerstone and at EBC as well as to a lost and dying world. God took a guy who was autistic and had no hope and turned his life around and blessed him abundantly. My life is literally a living testimony of hope and I pray that God will break down all of the pride in me so that His grace and continue to shine like a sun shines on the earth. And I know that is why I am a student at EBC and why I am passionate to be involved with the community there. And God is so good that He is going to work wonderful displays of Himself through me there in the future. I pray that all unbelievers will be convicted by this awesome display of power and give their lives to Christ so that they can undergo a simliar unique transformation of life that I have experienced. I would love it if all you guys can actually help me to actually be a display of grace in light of the seemingly insigificant affliction of autism!

I want to thank all of you for taking the time to get to know me and I am pleading with God for a closer relationship with all of you and I can't wait to see you in the future.

Rejoicing in God with you all, Kevin Chu