Jeremy Duchêne: I swore to myself that if ever, in my future life I’ll be married and have children, it will never happen. I had promised myself that I would never become like my father.
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My name is Jeremy Duchêne. I’m 36 years old. I was born in Échirolles, France and I grew up in the towns of Marnaz and Cluses.
Feeling Fear All The Time
I had a younger brother and we grew up together until I was 10. My parents, when I was that age had divorced. We ended up with a separated family. I remember one argument, in particular, that happened between my mother and my father. It was the first time I saw my father become violent. I have this feeling of fear, in fact I envied the other families because I saw the moms who looked happy with the dads who were taking care of and had fun with their children, it looked like a united and happy family.
A Way Out
I had this passion at the age of six. And then I followed the evolution of the video game. When I’m interested into a game, I want to play it, discover the story and then move on. It was a way out, a way to get away from everyday life.
Living In The Moment
I didn’t really know what I really wanted to do with my life. Usually on weekends, I would ask my best friend to come over to my house. He would come over to either watch movies or we’d play video games or parties with alcohol. We would drink, go out and smoke. We would go to nightclubs. We would go to fun fairs and to all kinds of events. I was just living the moment without really having a goal or a particular idea of what I’d like to do later. I’d say I was also lost.
Started To Get Along Well
It must be in 2014, 2015, 2016. I came across a game where there were Filipinos playing. We were on the same team and played a good game. We had fun and then we started to get along well. After, we started to exchange friend requests [on social media]. They were cheerful people, always in a good mood. Then, the next days, we would invite each other and keep playing. Until one day, they asked me if I went to church, or if I had a religion in particular but I said no. There, they started talking about their religion.
Living In The Moment
One day, I wanted to go to the Philippines on holidays, so I decided to meet them [on-line friends]. And that’s when they started talking to me more about the Church Of Christ. They told me that it was the true religion, and they began to gradually explain about the doctrines. And they even invited me to a worship service. So at first I was a little reluctant, but I’m someone who tries to stay open-minded. In general, people always make judgments without really knowing and I said I wanted to discover. I thought: “Well we’ll see a little bit, what the Church Of Christ is”. I’ve never practiced any religion, I’ve never been to church or a mosque so I don’t really know what it is. I went to the worship service out of curiosity. I was impressed by how things are put in order, how it was organized. The women would sit on the right side and the men on the left. I felt a relaxed and solemn inside. This worship service marked me especially because the lesson taught that day was about the importance of the bonds of a family, on the education of the children too. On how to educate children in a world in which one lives as a member of the Church Of Christ and I agreed with what was being taught. I found myself in what he [the minister] was saying and that was exactly how I saw things.
Questions About God
So I grew up in a family where we didn’t practice and believe in any religion. My father came from the Catholic Church. He was baptized, but then he stopped practicing. I had some questions about God that I had to ask when I was a kid. They said that God didn’t exist, that it was an invention, a fable or that the Bible was an invention. For me, there was no real church. To me, all churches were all the same. Until I became an adult, I came to believe that, in fact, all this is not due to chance and that there has to be someone who created all of this.
My Faith Grew
For a very long time I always asked myself the question, why am I here, why I was born. For what reason. Do I have a goal? I think these questions everyone asks throughout their lives. I think it’s something that everyone wonders about. And I was always searching for that truth. To know why I am here, for what reason? After my return to France, I wanted to know a little more about the doctrine. I was able to get the contact of Brother Jaereb from the Local Congregation of Geneva North, Switzerland. The first time I met brother Jaereb was at the start of COVID-19 by video conference on Skype. My faith grew over time as I learned lessons from Bible studies, with the many different lessons that were taught. I started to believe it more and more, as the lessons progressed until the last lessons. Then I wanted to continue after that.
Focused On The Doctrine
During the Bible study, there’s a lesson that already convinced me. It was about the predictions that were made about the world, on what will happen to the world. There would be wars, epidemic spread, natural disasters… I immediately understood that these were actually happening: COVID-19 which was current. The time I learned this lesson, we were all confined with the epidemic. This pandemic has helped me focus on the doctrines of the Church Of Christ and learn all the lessons. It came just at the right time, to give me the time I needed, to stay focused on the doctrine and lessons of the Church.
The Purpose Of My Existence
We are going through very difficult times these days. And life is going to be harder and harder. I wish I had known that back then God really existed and had a plan for each of us. He will always be there to guide us and give protection. What makes me happy? Knowing that I could be saved on the day of judgment. And to be able to keep trying to invite other people to come, to try to save a few more people. I finally found the purpose of my existence.
