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Bonn UBF, Germany

June 14, 2013

“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.”

Today I want to tell you the story of my life. It is a love story between God and me. I want to give you the punch line first. I was always on the run. Running away from God looking for love, freedom and happiness. But God never gave up on me. God always waited for me to return. God did EVERYTHING to bless me and to make me a blessing.

I’m Samuel Ryu from Bonn, Germany. My parents are Samuel Peter and Hanna Ryu. My father is a generous, warm-hearted and a hard-working, responsible man. My mother is very artistic. Like my grandmother she is a poet. But more than that she is an outstanding Bible teacher and a woman who prays a lot. I’m happy to have an awesome brother Peter and a lovely sister Rebecca. I’m still in my twenty nine years old and I majored in B2B Marketing and International Management.

Before my parents knew if I would be a baby boy or a baby girl they named me Samuel. They prayed for their unborn child to be a servant of God like Samuel who listened to God’s word and didn’t fail to pray for his people and to teach them the way that is good and right. God answered their prayers. And I was born as a baby boy.

I was born in Korea. When I was two years old my parents went to Germany as missionaries. For two years I lived with my grandparents. At the age of four I joined my parents in Germany. I had a happy and carefree childhood. School was easy and fun. I had many friends. And even church was fun.

In my teenage years though I began to realize how different my life actually was. And I didn’t like it at all. Television, computer games, partying, and especially dating was considered to be a sin, or a bad thing that would pollute my soul and hinder my walk with God. My life seemed so dull. I wanted to be free and happy and enjoy my life and I felt controlled and restricted. I started living a double life doing everything what was expected from a UBF second gen AND doing everything I wanted to do. I didn’t have a clear identity. I didn’t know who I was and where I belonged to.

Msn. Peter Chang from Bonn UBF prayed for me and he thought it would help me to have fellowship with other missionary kids in my age. So he invited me to come to Bonn at weekends, to attend Friday’s testimony meetings and Sunday worship services. Then, in the summer of 2000 I moved to Bonn.

Ministry life in Bonn was very organized. Every day we had daily bread at 5am. We met for worship service, several testimony meetings, Bible studies, orchestra practice etc. Honestly, I had a hard time adjusting to this life. But it was God who led me to Bonn and God blessed me. God raised me as a co-worker for the ministry and Bible teacher. I was active in ministry serving in the orchestra and in the praise team. In 2003, I graduated from high school. After serving one year in a nursing home I started to study economics in the University of Bonn. In 2005, as a 21-year old, I was engaged to the most passionate and beautiful woman of faith Maria Park. Life seemed pretty good.

But even though I was engaged I enjoyed talking to other women. My parents, people in church, and even my friends told me to watch out. But I wouldn’t listen to them. Rather I would say to myself that it’s my life and it’s not a sin talking to other women. I wanted to be free. I wanted to live my life. But the truth was: I was not free. I was a slave to sin. Even though I knew that what I was doing was wrong I couldn’t stop and I ended up cheating on my fiancée. I felt so miserable but I couldn’t confess because my sin just seemed too bad.

But God revealed my sin. I just wanted to die or to vanish. It was too shameful and heartbreaking to see all the damage I caused. God should have left me alone, given up on me. I deserved to die and to be condemned. But God did not leave me alone. He did not give up on me. He gave his one and only son Jesus Christ to die for my sins on the cross. I thank God for my Bible teachers and my parents who loved me although I betrayed them. They prayed for me and helped me to come to Jesus, to repent and to believe in God’s love. I thank God for Happy Maria who really prayed and struggled hard. I cannot fathom her pain she had to endure because of my sin. She accepted Romans 5:8 and made a decision to love others and even me with God’s forgiving love.

God gave me his words from Lk 23:34a, “Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And Romans 8:1, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” God crushed my ego and made me realize who I really was. A selfish, reckless and hopeless sinner. And he showed me who he is. A loving Father who loved me so much that he gave his one and only son to forgive my sins and to save me.

God gave me a new life in Jesus. But I still felt guilty and wanted to redeem myself. I didn’t want to be a curse anymore. I wanted to be a blessing, to make my parents and especially my fiancée happy. So I tried to attend all the meetings, to serve in the ministry, to sin less, get rid of all my bad habits and to study hard. But this only made me self-righteous and exhausted. My life looked good and religious. But Jesus was not in my heart. I had to realize that without Jesus I couldn’t be a source of blessing, I couldn’t make one single person happy.

Again, God had mercy on me. He spoke to me through John 19:30, “It is finished.” God opened my eyes for the gospel. I realized that I don’t need to redeem myself because God is my redeemer. God already made me a new creation, a child of God. He already did everything for me. When I accepted the gospel that God loves me; that God is my savior and my king God filled my heart with heavenly joy and peace. God gave me new life purpose to follow Jesus, to live as Jesus’ disciple, to reveal God’s love and glory through my life.

In 2012 I graduated from college. During college I had the chance to work for DHL and ITENOS and this experience made me hungry for more. So after college I wanted to get a fancy managing job, earn much money. I wanted to proof myself and to others that I can do it, that I can have a fancy career and reach my goals in life. I wanted to serve God and the ministry. But I had to admit that God played just a supporting role in my life. I wanted to have it all. A life with God and a life enjoying the pleasures of this world. And I knew that wasn’t right. I decided to take my time to thoroughly and honestly think about the purpose and direction of my life. Instead of applying for jobs like all my friends did at this time I received UBF-staff training for one year. In this time I received much prayer support from Msn. Peter, my parents, my fiancée and Bonn and Mainz UBF co-workers. God gave me one small decision to really pray for God’s will in my life instead of just following the pattern of this world. And God spoke to me through Mt 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” And Romans 12:2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” God gave me a decision to let God reign in me and to serve God full-time. This decision was a decision to believe and trust in God’s promises completely, to dedicate my life for the spiritual revival in Europe. But more than my own decision it was rather God’s special calling in my life. I thank God for Happy Maria’s decision of faith. She graduated No. 1 in her class in one of the most prestigious music schools in the world. But she gave up her dream to be an opera singer in order to be a Bible teacher. And she decided to work hard in order to support me to serve God full-time. I thank God for my parents and my ministry who supported my decision whole-heartedly.

In May 25^th Maria and I will marry and become one family, one house-church. We were engaged for 8 years. God gave us this time to deeply accept the Gospel; his one-sided, undeserved grace, and his forgiving love in Jesus. 8 years ago, God promised us in Gen 12:2, “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.” In the past 8 years God helped us to accept this promise and God’s hope for us, to be a source of blessing for the spiritual revival of young people in Europe. God wants us to be happy. But God has an even greater hope for us. God wants us to grow in the love and holiness of God. God wants to reveal the power of the blood of Jesus, the forgiving love of God through our family and house church. I pray that we may always remember the love of God and to serve the world with God’s love as shepherds and Bible teachers. God gave us many good friends such as Claire B., Ui Youn H., Jakob B., Mustafa A. and Christian S. I pray that they may open their hearts for the gospel, the love of Jesus. I pray that we can be real friends for them, praying for them, loving them with the love of Jesus, sharing the gospel and encouraging them to let God reign in their lives.

In conclusion, I can testify that God is a God of love and a God of hope. I was just an unthankful, selfish, reckless, dishonest sinner thirsty for love, freedom and happiness running away from God. But God never gave up on me. He waited for me. He gave his one and only Son Jesus Christ. He is working in me to mould me and make me to a source of blessing. My prayer is that God may use my house church as a blessing for our friends and our ministry and even for many young people in Germany and Europe.

One Word: You will be a blessing!