Veteran American tennis star shares his witness of God

HONG KONG (UCAN) - Michael Chang Te-pei 's mind was filled with questions for God when he won the French Open in June of 1989. At that time, the Chinese-American tennis star was an unseeded 17-year-old player who had just become the youngest man ever to win a Grand Slam singles title.

Almost 17 years later, now retired from professional tennis, he shared his faith earlier this year with about 3,000 people in a Baptist church in Hong Kong. He recalled asking why God made him only five feet, nine inches (1.75 meters) tall, a height considered too short for a tennis player. Many of his opponents were at least six feet tall, he said. "I also asked God why he made me a Chinese." There were no Asian faces on the courts when he turned professional in the late 1980s, he noted. "God loves to accomplish impossible things," Chang said, citing his success at the French Open. "I was neither the strongest nor the tallest, but only a fresh Chinese player," he said, adding that he asked God after winning the final on June 11, 1989, "How could I become winner of a Grand Slam singles title?" The annual Australian, British, French and U.S. open tournaments are the prestigious Grand Slam events in tennis. Speaking with the congregation in English, Chang, 34, said he eventually received all the answers. As he was battling his way toward the championship, the June 4, 1989, incident in Beijing's Tiananmen Square happened. He recalled how this distressed Chinese people all over the world. "God made use of my winning photo to allow Chinese people to have smiles on their faces," he said. "God loves Chinese people immensely," Chang declared, seeing in this the reason why he was born Chinese. "My being five feet nine inches tall was to let people know that being a champion was not due to my strength, but his work," the athlete explained. Chang was born into a family that had been Christian for a few generations and was baptized at 16. After retiring from professional tennis in late 2003, he started what he called a "busier" life doing evangelization and charity work in the United States, China and elsewhere. Currently he also is pursuing his master's degree in theology. Besides running the Chang Family Foundation, established in 1999 to "introduce the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world," Chang has spoken in churches around the world, including in Beijing in April 2004. In Hong Kong, he expressed his concern about the growing number of suicide cases. He observed that many people under great pressure have a twisted perspective of life that is negative and hopeless. "However, if we look from God's eyes, we will realize God wonderfully made us beautiful from inside to outside," he said. He told his audience, "Love yourself and have confidence in who you are." In talking about his faith life, Chang testified: "Jesus Christ is our personal savior, who grants us the greatest love, joy and peace. Seventeen years ago, I decided to accept God as my Lord, which was the most important decision of my life ever." He also told of his great-grandmother's recovery from terminal cancer, without medication, after listening to a minister talk about the gospel by her bedside. Afterwards, she and other family members became Christians. Chang's parents both grew up in Taiwan and were educated in the United States, where they met. His father, Joseph, was born in southern China and moved to Taiwan at age 7. The evangelization assembly at the Baptist church attracted thousands, and a 400-meter queue stretched from the front of the church building even after the assembly had started. Hundreds of people could not attend due to the limited number of seats. Rev. Chan Young-man, who translated Chang's remarks into Cantonese, delivered his own sermon afterward, in which he likened life to a tennis match. "It becomes meaningful only when we master our game, which we do with the guidance of God," he said. "We will surely win if God is with us, and even win double, as in this life we will 'receive a hundred times as much and also inherit eternal life,'" he continued, quoting from the Gospel of St. Matthew. At the end of the assembly, more than 100 people from the audience who were not Christians came to the front to declare their acceptance of God and the Christian faith. This was Chang's first trip to Hong Kong since his retirement.

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Republished by Catholic Online with permission of the Union of Catholic Asian News (UCA News), the world's largest Asian church news agency (www.ucanews.com).