It was a humble meal of prawn noodles and iced Milo. Little did Ivan Low expect that it would change his life forever.

He was 15 and had accepted an invitation to attend a youth event at his friend’s church.

“I experienced the warmth of family. I thought: ‘I don’t know you guys, how come you treat me like one of your own?’”

After the event, he joined his friend and an older woman at a coffee shop nearby. Over a meal, the woman shared the Gospel with Ivan.

“She asked me, ‘If you die, where will you go?’ I didn’t know. But I was afraid of death and I was afraid of being alone. I was searching for an answer at the time.”

There was no way the woman could have known what had been on Ivan’s heart. The question about life after death pierced him to the core. Intrigued, he listened on as the woman told him about Jesus’ resurrection, grace that saves through faith and the unmerited favour of God.

Ivan in his youth.

“She said, ‘Can you jump across the Grand Canyon on your own? You can’t, right? Because no one can reach God on your own strength.’

“She shared with me the full Gospel.”

The search for family

Ivan when he was in Primary One.

Ivan was raised in a family that believed in another religion and as a child, he was exposed to a lot of occult practices.

“To me, God was scary. [He was] Someone who, if I didn’t meet up to expectations, was there to punish me. I was walking on eggshells, scared of God. That made me very fear-driven.”

Home life was not very stable either.

“My mother was always with her friends. My dad was the one who was home more. But it was my father’s parents who raised me and my two younger sisters.”

Ivan remembers a night when his mother was out late. In a rage, his father locked her out. Unable to return home, his mother spent the night at her parents’. The next morning, his father packed up all his mother’s belongings and, with young Ivan in tow, brought everything to his mother.

Ivan (right, in white) with his parents and younger sisters.

“He threw the luggage at my grandparents’ front door and told my mother not to come back. That scared me. Even till today, I still remember the incident.”

When he was 13, his parents divorced.

“I felt like my family was broken apart. My sisters were 10 and seven then. I was the oldest. So I was very impacted by the divorce.”

Ivan (with glasses) and his sisters.

His parents would soon remarry and have a daughter each, creating new family units that did not include Ivan and his younger sisters. His paternal grandfather became their primary caregiver.

The search for answers

In his search for security, Ivan began to ask questions about life after death.

“It began with, ‘Grandfather is so old, what if he dies? What happens to all of us?’. Then, I thought: ‘What happens if I die?’”

Ivan’s grandfather who was his primary caregiver.

Then just 15, Ivan began to search for answers in religion. But what he learnt only raised more questions.

“Is there any scientific evidence that suggests that reincarnation exists? Did a dog come back and say, ‘Don’t do this or else you will be a dog?’ There is no research.”

Beliefs of other religions that made one practice acceptable for men but not for women also felt contradictory to him.

“If God is real, whatever God says is true. How can He contradict Himself?”

As his search continued, his fear of death deepened.

Then came the conversation with the older woman after the Christian youth event. Finally, there was someone who could tell him about what comes after death. Ivan listened.

“There was a level of truth to what she said. She talked about the historical evidence of the resurrection and the empty tomb – it was seen by people, it was documented.”

The woman also told Ivan about the far-reaching love of God that resonated with the lonely teen.

“She said, ‘Every religion says you must try hard then maybe you can reach God. But God says we cannot know God, we cannot be like God or be with God.

“’But God came down and lived among us to save us and bring us to the Father.’ The concept was interesting. This thing began to have a place in me that I cannot refute.

“The turning point came when my heart started to beat very fast. Growing up, I hated being lied to. Then this thought came: ‘Which is worse, people lying to you or you lying to yourself? If this is true, then you should receive it. Otherwise you would be lying to yourself.’

“I felt this burning sensation in my heart. When I said the Sinner’s Prayer, I felt joy, I felt happy.”

To this day, he remembers the exact date he gave his life to Christ – March 5, 2005.

What else can satisfy? 

Ivan was quickly plugged into the church family. He joined the youth ministry and became actively involved in church activities.

Ivan (right with glasses) was immersed in church activities after he became a Christian.

At 18, he wanted to go for a short-term mission trip with his church but had no money. He took up a part-time job at a Chinese restaurant and worked from Chinese New Year’s eve to the 15^th day of the celebration. He managed to earn the few thousand dollars he needed to go to China.

On the mission trip, he saw believers who faced hardships yet were still so joyful. God spoke to him through that experience.

“He said, ‘Do you see yourself doing this for life? Is there anything that satisfies you more than this?

“’I want you to have that same joy and to help other people find that joy.’”

Ivan’s reply was heartfelt. “I told God, ‘If I can help people to find that joy, then Lord send me because nothing else can satisfy.’ That just sank in my heart.”

Ps Ivan (right, back) with the youths of 3:16 Church.

After that, he did all he could to get onto the path of doing God’s work full-time. He interned in church, then went to the US where he went to Bible school and got ordained as a minister in a Baptist church.

Today he is a youth pastor at 3:16 Church.

“I am still growing and learning more about Him, obeying God and walking that step God called me to.”

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