Before I Was Born

I Believe

Nick Girgis

For many, their journey of faith begins in a Sunday School class, in the aftermath of a crazy life experience or simply by picking up a Bible. These elements exist in my story, but ultimately, I believe my testimony began well before I was born. I am the grandson of Joseph and Niemat Girgis. Both my grandparents were born and raised in Egypt and both had the incredible blessing of being born into Christian families. Both also experienced great pain early in life that God would use to change their hearts.

My grandfather had pneumonia at age 17 that was so severe his physicians thought he would die. In response, my grandfather prayed earnestly to God, saying that he would fully commit his life to Christ if the Lord spared him. The Lord answered this prayer, and my grandfather followed through with his promise. Anyone who knew my grandfather knew that he was a faithful follower of Christ. He was a man of noble character, who regularly shared the gospel and showed love towards all he encountered. My grandmother, on the other hand, lost her father at a very young age and embraced her Heavenly Father as a result. Her life was defined by constant prayer and the embodiment of a tender love that is only a result from a life spent walking with Jesus.

My grandparents married in 1951 and spent a large portion of their married life in Egypt running a car dealership while raising four sons. At the time, Egypt was a corrupt nation, where dishonesty was rewarded and the freedom to follow Christianity hindered. My grandparents saw this and made the incredibly difficult decision to leave everything and move to the United States. Not only did they face the typical hardships that are characteristic of immigrant families trying to find stability and success in a new country, but they also endured the devastating death of their son Peter who lost his life to Lupus at the age of 21. Despite this, they stayed committed to the Lord. When I have asked my grandparents about these times, it is not the sadness they recall, but the many ways in which God remained faithful. The history of my dad’s family is one characterized by pursuing the Lord and appreciating his goodness.

By God’s grace, my mom’s family has a similar story that has been defined by a commitment to Christ despite many challenges. As a result of all this, I had the invaluable privilege of being born to parents who sincerely loved Christ and encouraged me to do the same. Growing up, I went to a church where I regularly attended its AWANA program. AWANA is a Bible-based youth program where kids memorize verses, play games and hear Bible lessons. When I was in third grade, I remember the Bible teacher talking about the horror of hell and how we would end up there because of our sin and the punishment that it deserves. He explained that by believing in Jesus and his death and resurrection on the cross, we could be saved from this fate. That night, I prayed to accept Christ as Savior.

From that point on, my faith was expressed in church attendance on Sundays, participation in other church programs, and from time to time, Bible reading. I had not yet made my faith my own. Unfortunately, my story occurs all too frequently with those who grow up in the church. For many, Christianity is something you do rather than a relationship in which you engage, and this was the case for me until my high school years. Thankfully, God changed this by transforming my relationship with him through two specific chapters of my life.

The first chapter occurred during my freshman year of high school when I attended a two-week service leadership program at my church camp. The program focused on helping students see the importance of imitating Christ’s example of service in their lives and making their faith their own. These two weeks of teachings challenged me to walk daily with the Lord and serve him by serving others. As a result, I went back home and started living a new life.

My renewed relationship with Christ had an impact on the extracurricular activities that I participated in during high school, how I woke up every day and how I viewed my purpose in life. Eventually, it also inspired me to attend Wheaton College for its faith-based education and to pursue a service-oriented career of dentistry. Toward the end of college, a staleness set in once again, where my faith felt like a series of necessary disciplines. I knew all the right things, but there was something missing.

This brings me to the current chapter of my life where I have really seen God work. I started dental school back in the fall of 2019. If you are familiar with the dental school process, you would know that the first year is notorious for long days and little sleep because of the amount of studying and lab work required. At my school, the first-year students can be quickly identified by their raccoon-like appearance—dark circles around their eyes and yellowed teeth from consuming too much coffee. But what should have been one of the most stressful years of my life was the one that I look back on as most defined by joy due to the work that God chose to do in my life.

Since I live at home, I spend about an hour in the car each day on my commute to school. I could have spent this time listening to the news or to the radio but because of the encouragement of my brother, I decided to spend the time listening to sermons and the Bible on tape. It was through these messages that God really started to open my eyes to the beauties of the gospel. I began to see how depraved I was and how much I needed saving in a whole new way. But even more than this, I started to truly appreciate the beauty of God.

I differentiate this chapter of my life from the rest because I believe that it is in this time that God has been opening my eyes like never before to who he is. I always understood that Jesus died on the cross for my sins but now the magnitude of his sacrifice means so much more than it did. To think the God of the universe, who put the stars into place and spoke the universe into being with a word would consider my fate was amazing in and of itself. Beyond that, this same God chose to show his love for me in the most unimaginable way possible. He chose to submit to the most humiliating and brutal form of punishment humans could conceive – death by crucifixion. God seemed to have been saying, “Yes I love you that much. Even this is worth it.” It is through reflecting on these truths and who God is that I have come to know that following Christ is a lot more like falling in love than adhering to a list of commands.

Now, the beauty of the gospel motivates me to live for Christ. It makes me want to live my life daily for him. The love that he has for me makes me want to show the same love to others. Spiritual disciplines have lost their monotony, and I instead see them as ways to reencounter the beauty of Christ. I have come to know that the life God calls us to is one centered around him because he knows this is how we, as his creation, can experience the most joy.

There is a quote I think about often and that I aspire to live out myself. This quote comes from William Borden. He was the son of a very rich family in America in the early 1900s and came to know the Lord early in life. He attended Yale University, but then decided to leave his riches and opportunities and enter the mission field. He went to Egypt where he intended to share the gospel with Muslims there. Early on in his missionary career, he died of cerebral meningitis. The world sees this as a wasted life, but Christians must view it differently. Borden laid his life down for Christ in such a way that it made (and still makes) the world wonder about the motivation that would lead to such a life. That is why Borden’s gravestone is inscribed with these words: “Apart from faith in Christ, there is no explanation of such a life.”

I pray that this will describe my life when the Lord calls me home.