Finding Reality, Kris Kimmell

Growing up in a Christian home, I was familiar with the things of God from a very young age. My grandmother, a Catholic, taught me the Lord's prayer before I was able to read. My mother, a newly saved Christian, earnestly sought to find the reality behind her faith in many places, finally discovering a match to what was deep within her in the writings of Watchman Nee. Though this name sounded strange and unfamiliar, the affect of his writings on my mother's life was very evident. She became a new, wonderful, more patient and happy person. This change also became greatly augmented when my mother first met the local church. For so long, all I had was my mother and my grandmother as my family. Now I found myself with an even greater extended family who loved me more than I had ever been loved before.

Throughout my youth and teenage years, though humanly short-sighted and immature, the love of all the people in the local church warmed and encouraged me not to give up on life. My friends, work, entertainment, pleasure, and education increasingly left me empty and unstisfied. However, sincerity and meaning always abounded at home and with the local church. Eventually, when I reached college, what had long been almost within my reach was now my reality. Although my mind was being expanded to consider new ideas and broader horizons still I was left empty inside. Every form of entertainment I had ever pursued left the same bitter taste. The people in the local church, who opened the Bible, God, Christ, and the Christian life to me, opened my eyes to see what my life was really for. Although I was reading masterpieces of literature everyday and studying the intricacies of the world around me in the sciences, the most stimulating readings for me day after day were the Bible and the writings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, which made the words of the Bible so real, practical, and experiential. What my mother had discovered so many years ago, I now had as well.

The reality of my human life was in the palm of my hand and surrounding me at home was the local church. The deeper meaning of my Christian life became incredibly clear through the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, who reproduced their intense love for the Bible in me with every word of their writings. I owe the joy of my Christian life today to them and to all the other believers in the local church.