As the melody of 何等恩典 (Such Grace) filled the room, emotion welled up within Uncle Oon. He sang the familiar words as his beloved granddaughter gently strummed the acoustic guitar.
It was the same song that had once brought him to tears – the day he first encountered Jesus. Singing it again, he was overwhelmed by how far grace had carried him.
As a little boy, Uncle Oon would tag along with his aunt to church. At that age, church wasn’t something he took seriously – it was simply a weekly outing. He sat through the hymns and sermons, but none of it meant much to him then.
Yet that neutral view shifted to disappointment when the leadership turned down his aunt’s request for help to endorse documents needed for her husband’s return from China. To young Oon, the church appeared cold and heartless.
As the years passed, he drifted further away from anything to do with God. As a teenager, he associated with the wrong crowd and soon became entangled in gangsterism. Street fights, violence, and even time behind bars became part of his story.
“Those days taught me to shed blood, not tears,” he said quietly. “I hardened my heart to survive.”
In his twenties, his life took a spiritual turn. During a Taoist ceremony he had gone to with his gangster friends, only as a spectator, something out of the ordinary happened.
He felt a strange sensation – as if something had entered him. From that day on, before he even reached the temple gates, his body would begin to move on its own, dancing involuntarily.
He became known as a medium, a bridge between the living and the spirits.
For nearly twenty years, he performed rituals and offered counsel. Outwardly, it seemed meaningful. But deep inside, he was empty. The spirits he served never gave him peace, only weariness.
Nonetheless, life went on. He got married and became a father to three – a daughter and two sons. When his eldest daughter became a Christian, he didn’t stop her. He simply watched.
“I saw how she changed,” he said. “She became gentle, kind, and respectful. If the church could do that, then let her be.”
Years later, his youngest son went through a crisis. Uncle Oon tried to help him through familiar Taoist rituals, but nothing seemed to change.
Helpless, he watched as his eldest daughter stepped in – praying for her brother, comforting him, and eventually inviting him to church.
Out of curiosity and perhaps a father’s quiet concern, Uncle Oon agreed to go along that Sunday. It had been decades since he last stepped into a church.
He wasn’t expecting much, as his last memories of church were cold and heartless. He only wanted to see what his daughter had found there.
When worship began and the song 何等恩典 (Such Grace) filled the sanctuary, something stirred within him, and the next thing he knew, tears began to flow uncontrollably.
“It was strange,” he said. “I’d never cried like that before.
During my gang days, I could fight, bleed, and never shed a tear. But that day, I couldn’t stop.”
What he felt that morning was unlike anything he had ever known.
“The spirits I served before made me restless and lost. But this Spirit brought peace. It was gentle, liberating and full of joy.”
Uncle Oon returned to church the week after that, and the week after, and the week after. He was hungry for more of what he had first experienced.
When he witnessed his youngest son give his life to Christ, something moved within him. That very Christmas, Uncle Oon made his own decision to be baptised.
His family was pleasantly surprised by his response and his wife even asked why he decided so suddenly.
Uncle Oon simply replied, “Once you’ve found the truth, why wait?”
It became the turning point of his life. The man who had once been a Taoist medium laid everything down at the feet of Jesus. He cleared the idols from his home, left all his old practices behind and began serving faithfully in church.
Before knowing Christ, Uncle Oon was easily angered and quick to erupt. But after his encounter with Jesus, he became a different man. Even when friends ridiculed him for becoming a Christian, he stayed calm, constantly reminding himself to be Christlike.
Now, he lives with a peace that once felt impossible.
Now at 80, it is physically more challenging for Uncle Oon to go to church in person. But every Sunday without fail, he joins the service on Youtube.
The Bible has become his daily companion. He reads it a few times a day and often shares how real and close the Holy Spirit feels to him.
Beaming with gratitude, he says, “My whole family has come to know Christ. Many of my children and grandchildren are actively serving in the church, and my granddaughter is now a pastor!”
His eyes glisten as he speaks of God’s goodness.
“I was a broken man, so undeserving, but God gave me a new life”, he says with tears in his eyes.
“He didn’t just redeem me – He blessed me through the generations, with a family that walks in faith. That’s grace. Such Grace.”
And so, when Uncle Oon sings 何等恩典 (Such Grace) with his granddaughter, it’s more than a song; it’s his story.
it’s more than a song; it’s his story.
Every word echoes the journey of redemption and the God who never stopped reaching out – no matter how blind he was, how wrong he had been, how far he had gone, or how deeply he had been entrenched in other strongholds.
Reflections:
Uncle Oon’s life declares one unshakable truth: No past is too broken, no heart too hard, and no age too late for grace to reach.
- Is there an area of your life you’re believing for God to bring breakthrough?
- Is there a loved one whom you’re interceding for?
