My name is Alex Han. I'm 30 years old and I've been a pastor at Berean Community Church for five years. I was born into a non-Christian family and so I didn't really have any background with Christianity when I was younger. It wasn't until my youngest sister was born that my mom was introduced to the church.

There was this Korean grandmother that helped around the house because my mom had to deal with two kids and a newborn all by herself. She was a Christian and so she invited my mom out to church. From there, that's when my Sunday mornings became occupied with church. I wasn't happy with it.

From there, that's basically when I was being exposed to the Bible and to the true Jesus. I mean there was definitely streaks of disobedience. I remember during high school just getting really involved with whether it be cussing or even pornography. I mean these were sins that were pretty heavily embedded into my mind and into my heart during my high school years.

During that whole time period, I was just wrestling with sin and wrestling with whether I'm a Christian or not. I mean living out my life as if I was cheapening God's grace basically. I would say there were moments in my testimony where significant changes occurred. I think the first significant change occurred in the summer of 1997.

I remember going to a retreat. When the message was being preached, he was making it very clear that Jesus was the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and that he died for his people. I just thought in my head that in most kingdoms, the king is usually the last person to die.

But for Jesus, he was the first one to die. It was at that retreat where I gave my life to Christ. I think the next significant moment was probably in college. That's when I first started coming to Berean. I remember being plugged into a small group. It was during that time in my small group that I was reading the Bible more consistently.

I remember starting my devos in Romans. Romans chapter 3 talks about how there is no one good, not even one. There's no one who seeks after God. I remember reading that verse and I was just utterly broken over not only my sins but the sins of others. It really just gave my world a spin to see that truth and to finally have a better understanding of the faith that I have, to see the measure in which God has gone in order to redeem a sinner like me.

I made a lot of mistakes in my life. Oftentimes when these mistakes are made, there's guilt that occurs afterwards because you knew you did something wrong. The question is, how do you handle this kind of guilt? Do you just suppress it? Do you just ignore it? But there has to be some sort of reconciliation with that guilt.

You just can't ignore it. If you ignore it, then who are you really? In my life, that guilt was really eating at my heart and it really caused me to wonder how will I handle this guilt. It wasn't until I heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, hearing the good news of what Jesus has done for all the mistakes I've made, all the sins that I've committed, to understand that that guilt that I had will be lifted from my shoulders if I submit and seek His forgiveness and place my faith in Him.

That was absolutely liberating for me. Even though I'm not perfect and as I continue to live my life, I know I'm going to make more mistakes, but I trust that my Lord will forgive. That when I confess my mistakes to Him, that He will say, "All is forgiven. You will be restored." That's something that was really key for me and continues to shape me now as a follower of Jesus Christ.

Bless me, Savior, who art Thine.