A Searching Tourist

Travelling through Europe as a twenty year old student, I became seriously interested in the Christian faith while on a visit to a Greek Orthodox monastery in Essex, England. Just at this time, I came to realise that I could not be a true Christian myself, because I did not believe in the resurrection of Jesus. This realisation deeply unsettled me, and from then onwards I could not let go of thoughts about God. I met various people, and was confronted with different texts from the Bible, and I was continually battling with questions about Who and What God really is. It was basically a battle between Jesus and Buddhism, and to some extent also, Judaism and Islam.

Visiting a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Scotland, I asked the leading monk if he believed that Jesus was enlightened — but he could not give me an answer. After this, I lost confidence in the Buddhist teachers, since it seemed quite obvious to me that Jesus Christ was the most enlightened Person Who ever lived.

Later, when I was visiting a Catholic Benedictine monastery outside London, I met a man who realised I was a spiritual seeker, to whom I confided that the thing that hindered me from fully believing in Jesus was the other world religions. His answer really made me think. He said that Buddha himself had never made any claim to being God, or the Son of God — but Jesus did. He also told me of a Muslim lady who, when praying to Allah, experienced a hand being laid on her shoulder, and was told quite clearly that Jesus is God. The man then quoted Jesus’ words: “I am the way, the truth and the life,” (John 14:6).

A few months later, while I was travelling to Greece, I got talking to a man on board the same boat. He was cooking himself some food, and as I had a picnic-cooker, we started cooking together. It turned out that he was a Christian working for an organisation called Operation Mobilisation.

I kept company with him and two other missionaries for a few days. While we were together on this journey, I felt a longing to have more faith in Jesus just like they had, and we prayed together. Faith had begun to grow in my heart and I believed that Jesus is the risen Son of God. I surrendered my life to Him and continued my journey with great rejoicing because of the new life I had received by faith in Jesus.