Big Change: The Aussie who found Jesus in America

Joseph Smith | 25 June 2007

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Who would have thought that I, Adam Fuller, would become a Christian?

I never did and neither did any of my friends. As a good mate of mine put it, “Out of all people, you were the last I would have expected to believe in God!” From memory, I believe he rated Hitler as a more likely candidate than me and rightly so. I must confess myself that becoming a Christian was the last thing on my mind.

Jesus Christ is the reason I became a Christian. Jesus has done what I failed miserably at – living a life of perfect obedience to our maker and ruler, God. In stark contrast, I was living in rebellion against God, not giving him his rightful authoritative place over my life.

The side effects of this were pretty evident especially in the way I treated my family and friends. My sister was often the target of my ridicule and torment. The life I was living was depressing. And unknown to me at the time, I was deserving of God’s anger.

Growing up, I had little exposure to the gospel. As a child I did attend Sunday school but this had no profound impact on me. In fact, I can barely remember it! My family and I never really attended church after this, which is typical since none of them is Christian.

It was not until I left Australia for the United States that I moved towards becoming a Christian. In 2005, after finishing high school, I decided to go back to high school but this time in the United States. I know it seems like a weird, even stupid decision…

However, I can say that I am forever grateful for making this journey, because during my time in the US I lived with a Christian family who loved the Lord Jesus and shared that love with me. Surprisingly, this didn’t intimidate me and I willingly attended church services with them every Sunday.

Yet despite hearing from the Bible every weekend I never desired to take seriously what was said. I was still quite happy living for myself. This was until one Sunday morning before church when I looked at John 14:6 which reads: “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me’”. This was the first time I heard something about the gospel. Until then, Jesus Christ was just a swear word for me. I still didn’t fully understand what this passage meant at the time but it made me seriously consider who Jesus was and what he was claiming to be.

A couple of months before I was to head back to Australia, I started talking to my host mum, Kim, about God and Jesus. It was a very depressing time for me and talking to Kim gave me comfort. When we talked, Kim encouraged me to get to know God through Jesus, just as John 14:6 put it, by asking Jesus to be my Lord and Saviour. After many conversations with Kim I decided to do exactly that.

On the Sunday night of December 18, 2005, I prayed. I asked God to forgive me and for Jesus to be my Lord and my Saviour. I became a Christian!

I must admit, living now as a Christian is not easy. I often find it hard to stop living life for myself instead of living for Jesus. But I can be assured from the Bible that, despite my continual failures, God and I will always be friends because of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Adam attends St Michael’s, Wollongong. The 20-year-old is in his second year of Mathematics at the University of Wollongong but hopes to change to Arts majoring in Italian.

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