My name is Gary, I’m 22 years old, and I’ve been a part of Asian Students on Kampus (ASK) for about 4 years now, at the University of Alberta. ASK is a chapter focused on bringing the gospel to Asian Canadians on campus.

I said ‘yes’ to doing this speech, mostly because I am eternally grateful to several people – instruments of God, really – who just happened to be within the vibrant community of IVCF. I mean, let me tell you, these are people who will look you in the eye, and say, “Hey Gary, wanna have dinner?” Well, shy as I was, back then, even I couldn’t say no to a pretty girl offering to cook for me. Only, next thing I knew, she was knocking on my door, asking me out… to a bible study. Bear in mind, I wasn’t Christian at all at that point. And there are these ‘coffees’, where we somehow attended to meaningful topics like ‘love’, ‘purpose’, and ‘service’. Before I realized, I was standing at the Urbana missions conference, in front of a frenetic speaker, committing myself to Jesus, committing myself to standing up for the Gospel to be lived out and spread to your generation.

            Some would call this “launching leaders”, and my personal experience is that it’s like strapping a student to an ignited rocket, watching it lift off, and yelling after them, “God is your parachute!” Who wouldn’t want to be put on a trip of facing their mortal fears and risking their lives?

            Well, I did a lot of sightseeing during the ride. I saw and felt things that I never thought I would. The story of how my life has been irreversibly altered goes like this: as a naïve first year student, I counted on going in to university, studying like mad, obtaining an engineering degree, followed by picking up a secure job (that I would eventually come to enjoy). I certainly felt a lot of high expectations from my parents, which I couldn’t understand or match with my own motivation. My blueprint for life was a simple straight line.

            What changed? I saw a glimpse of the ridiculous love in the hearts of students who otherwise were very much like myself. I may claim to be kind, but on one night after watching the Flames on their Stanley cup run at a ridiculous downtown restaurant called Bob the Fish, a group of us came across a homeless woman who asked us for change, which we gave her, along with nearly an hour of our time. I was so surprised to see us talk to her about her life problems, and we saw the rough and the tender parts of what it meant to live on the streets as an ex-prostitute. We even prayed for her, despite her initial hesitancy, and she shed many tears.

            I saw this same love on campus in students who chose to value others over themselves, and lived this out by spending more of their passion and energy on people, rather than their degrees.

            I saw that this same love was available to myself, something my desire for approval from others and my insecurities had blinded me to. It happened when I was canoeing in early May, on beautiful Crimson Lake. My mentor of one full year hence had jumped on the opportunity to canoe together and have a focused chat. Of course, we were thwarted by a neighbouring boat, commandeered by Jon Lim, which wanted to ram us. Being ex-nice Asian Kids, we fought it out, trying to out-row them, out-manoeuvre them; at one point we were side by side, and I reached over to grab their tail end. Yes, I repaid my mentor’s good intentions fully by promptly tipping our canoe over into the picturesque, ice-cold lake. People yelled for help, we were rescued, and my eyes were opened, for the first time, to the way the community came together to drag me out of the lake, usher me into a hot shower, hand me a change of underwear, wrap me up like a cocoon, and sit me by the fire with hot chocolate in hand. I may haphazardly chase after God sometimes, but it’s only because I’ve learned that he blesses us more when our faith leads to mistakes and shortcomings, than when our fears keep us on the straight-line path.

            I came to the University of Alberta four years ago, and truthfully, it’s with a heavy heart that I’m leaving, two days from now, without any degree at all, only a soured transcript. Have I wasted four years of my life? I’m led to believe, not just by optimistic thinking, that I have found something much better. Through the bugle call of the student leaders before me, I was able to open my eyes to God’s desire to love his sheep. My calloused, self-obsessed heart is softened when I am reminded to love others the way I have been loved. I am more confident, deeper in joy and sadness, and I believe I’ve gained a passion for investing in students. I’ve been impacted greatly by IVCF, so I can only say, “Thank You.”