4th December 2012 by Natasha Kim – CM.
Massimo grew up in a multicultural environment. With an Italian father and a Malaysian mother, he was born in Malacca, spending the first three years of his life in Malaysia and Singapore. He then lived in Germany, spent his teenage years in Shanghai, China and completed the last year of High school in Switzerland. He then started his higher education in Belgium, completed his degree in Malaysia, got a good job and got married.
Then life threw him some curveballs. A failed marriage ended in divorce and a colourful social life jeopardised his career. Eventually heavy addiction set in. He lost his job, his car, his home, his friends and any motivation to move on. Massimo was in a downward spiral to total self-destruction.
The Mask of Christ
In 2010, by chance he met an old friend from university. She saw where he was and how he was drowning in self-pity and she noticed how he was standing at the edge of life, not having any drive or reason to continue. She took it upon herself to stand by him, talk to him about life, and just hang out. She did not hang around preaching Jesus; she did not keep telling him what to do. In fact she did not say much about God at all. It is what she did that spoke God.
She was being a friend, a shoulder, a support, an inspiration and the light in his darkness. She just tried to be the best listener a friend could have and he really appreciated that, although he did not fully understand why someone like her would want to waste her time on him, having to constantly listen to his stories of depression.
If one would now ask her how she did it or how she knew what to say, which course or book helped her, she would say that she did not know and that she simply spoke from her heart. Massimo realises now that it was Jesus in her heart because she lived and spoke Jesus. She was the mask Jesus wore to reach out to him!
Life-changing Faith
One day, he was in a car with her and asked, “Why are you hanging out with me?” He personally felt that his depression might influence her and take a toll on her one day, because she had a totally different lifestyle from his. She replied saying, “…because I care about you and you are my friend.. I don’t think I could do it on my own. I have God who has my back and God will not let you drag me down.” Her answer impressed him but he provocatively said to her, “If I were to search your God out would you be sure that I would find Him too? …would you bet my life on it? For if I don’t, I will have nothing left, it would just be another disappointment that may just push me off that edge I already stand on. Would you be willing to really bet my life on it?”And to his surprise, she replied without hesitation saying, “Yes! I bet your life on it”. – What faith!
That conversation began a change in Massimo. As a true skeptic, he went searching for God, on a mission to prove her wrong! He says, “In my heart, I felt that I had nothing to lose.”
It just could not be real, or could it?
There onwards he started going to Church both in KL. and Malacca . He had moved back to his family in Malacca but his new job required him to commute.
Massimo thought it was odd as it seemed as if the Pastors were directing the message specifically to him! He quickly brushed it off as professional speaking skills. God was trying to reach out to him but Massimo gave himself so many excuses, even thinking that somebody must have told the Pastors about him. Soon however, he says, “I realized that I was not that important that people would go around talking about me or that pastors would go and make a sermon just for me.”
In just a short period of three months of constantly having messages directed at him he says, “I just realized that God was speaking directly to me. It didn’t happen all the time, but there were many incidences when it really happened.” During this time, he started going to Church regularly this period of seeking included instances where Massimo met his friend’s cell group leader who made him pray out loud in public. He said, “That started my prayer life where I learnt how to pray”. He eventually joined that cell group. There was also the situation where Massimo had a business meeting that had to be interrupted by the contact’s previous engagement. Since they hadn’t finished their discussion yet, he invited Massimo to go along. Since Massimo had the time, he agreed.
There, Massimo found that it was a Christian meeting ( a FGBMF Chapter meeting) that this man had to attend and thought to himself, “I got conned la!” but joined in anyway because the peer pressure was immense. There, the strangest thing happened. He heard the testimony of a man which directly spoke to him because it really related to his life. He thought that was surreal.
Not Coincidence – God!
After a while, things started to make more sense to him.. He began to connect all the recent incidences in his life. He thought about how his friend had come into his life at a crucial moment, the messages from one Church to another matched, the business meeting, the cell group leader, and everything else that had happened. “I started to realize that these were all not coincidences. They were incidences of God happening in my life. It’s too many things happening in a short span of three months to not have God labelled all over them!” he says. Moreover he recognizes that his mother’s 15 years of fervent prayers and perseverance in serving God, and his father’s recent acceptance of Christ, which poured new blessings upon the family had contributed significantly to his salvation.
In a humorous manner he adds on to say that, “I’m a logical person so I started doing mathematical calculations to find out what’s the probability of this happening. It’s just impossible! I now know that these people did not go out to save Massimo but they went all out to do God’s work. I getting saved was merely a by-product of people serving God! .”
Philippians 4: 13.
“My life had already changed as my sorrow was already gone. However it was after reading the book of Philippians that I really believed that through God I can change my life and kill my addictions. The very next day I began to overcome my weaknesses, daily, through prayer, God made it really easy for me to change” . Massimo then accepted Christ at the end of 2010 and was baptized a year later in April 2012 at the church he now attends, C3 Church Subang.
A By-Product of God’s Grace
In the near future he says, “I definitely see myself doing some sort of Ministry. I’m actively looking out for it now and still believe I’m at the learning stage and that’s why I engage my week a lot with Church , Bible Studies and Cell Group meetings. At the moment I understand that I need to grow, and I’m preparing myself for some sort of full time Ministry.” Though he does not know what Ministry specifically just yet, he is confident that God will show him and open his heart for where ever His purpose may lead him to create more by- products.
“Dear Viewer in Christ , if you do find this article edifying to you , please do not hesitate to click on the “share” button below to bless your friends. The Lord will surely bless you even as you bless others. May the Lord’s peace and love be with you. Amen”
Massimo, the good Lord was besides you since you were a child, a beautiful child who I loved