Zhong was born in a small village in southern China, and his parents divorced when he was young. He lived with his fiery father, who often beat him. As a result of this kind of violent parenting, Zhong was traumatized physically and mentally. His character also became manic, and his values became increasingly distorted.
After dropping out of middle school, Zhong went to a southern city to work, and soon was hanging out with the local street gangs. They often used to smoke, drink alcohol, and even take drugs for a thrill. However, they, short of money to eat and drink, and in order to maintain this kind of life, which caused these idle people to turn their claws on innocent students. They often lay in wait in the alley near the children's library, beating children who were passing by and then forcing them to go home and take out money, or they would be punished.
They attracted the attention of the police and soon were arrested one after another. Zhong spent more than a year in jail. When his father knew about this, for the sake of "face", he disowned him, which filled Zhong with despair for life.
After Zhong was released from prison, he worked in a factory. At the beginning, it was hard for him to change his bad habits, so he often clashed with his workmates. But Zhong noticed that some of the workers were so different from the others that they quickly forgave him even when they had an argument. For the first time in his life, Zhong felt respected and loved.
He grew closer to his fellow workers, and he was invited to church by them. When he came to church, he felt very warm. The believers received him so warmly that he liked to go to church on Sundays.
Once, the pastor was telling the story of "the prodigal son". This sermon deeply touched Zhong's heart, and he felt that he was the prodigal son who had done many bad things. At the end of the service, to the song "Jesus Loves Sinners," he burst into tears, regretting all the sins he had committed which caused pain to many people, including innocent children.
In this way, he accepted the Gospel and formed the habit of reading the Bible and praying every day. His life had undergone a huge reversal, his bad temper gradually disappeared, and he is now always pleasant in his dealings with others. Moreover, he also discovered his gift of singing, so he joined the youth choir and became a core fellow worker.
After Zhong became a Christian, once he was back home, he apologized to his father for his bad behavior in society, which caused the loss of the father's reputation. At the same time, he also forgave his father for his violent parenting. Moved by his sincerity, his father wept and held him in his arms. From then on, their relationship improved, and his father was baptized soon after.
At that time, Sister Zhuang was his fellow worker. Attracted by Zhuang’s beauty and kindness, he chose to hold back at first because the young and beautiful woman was pursued by many male believers. This contrasted with Zhong, who was poor and his appearance was more homely.
However, Zhuang, moved by his enthusiasm and diligence, made advances to him. They finally came together and formed a happy family.
- Translated by Sophia Chen
