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Steven Yee: I was probably a freshman in high school when I realized that I was probably growing up by myself.
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Steven Yee: I was raised by a single mom and I basically grew up by myself throughout middle school and high school. I basically lived on my own. My mom with my mom’s boyfriend, and even eventually my stepdad ended up starting a business. And that business basically took all their time. When I was in high school, they moved to China to literally work with the manufacturers.
“Home Alone”
I was probably a freshman in high school when I realized that I was probably growing up by myself. Because during the holidays, a lot of my teammates, a lot of my classmates, they were spending a lot of time with their families. And I was home alone for the holidays. So you look at Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s a lot of people are spending time with their loved ones. So it became really real to me that I’m all I’ve got.
“Provided Structure”
Basketball saved my life so many times. Because I can sit at a basketball, park, at a gym, whatever it is, I can sit there for five, six, seven hours and never be bored. While a lot of my friends in that neighborhood grew up in gang violence. Some of them, are no longer here with us. Some of them are in jail, whatever it may be. But basketball literally provided structure for me. It provided a family for me even during high school, during the holiday seasons. My coach would always invite me over to be with his family during the holidays and even a lot of my teammates. But, growing up, it was pretty lonely.
“I Always Believed In A God”
I always believed in a God. I did. I just didn’t know how to approach Him. During the holidays and when I was spending a lot of time, my friends, a lot of them were Filipino and they’re Catholic. So during high school, I attended Catholic Church or Mass very often. I don’t think you know what you’re looking for until you know. What I mean by that is even when I was baptized Catholic I would go to mass just to check a box. I wouldn’t pay attention when the priest was preaching. I would just be there to be there because that was the thing to do. And my friends were there. I felt the same way with everywhere I went.
“I Wanted To Argue And Fight”
My first experience with the Church [Of Christ] was I was a referee at a Unity Games. So we get into the gym, there’s no one in the gym. I get dressed up in the locker room and we come out and it feels like there’s probably 5,000 people in there. I built a lot of our relationships through basketball. And so, it felt like even though I was a Bible student, I wasn’t necessarily a member yet, I was always in contact with our District Ministers.
I remember Brother Jason invited me to a worship service. And when I got there, I remember during the hymn singing, I felt the Holy Spirit. I felt this energy run through me like my hairs on my arms were sticking up. And I was like, I think this is it. And then I remember listening to the lesson and I agreed with everything the minister said. And then the very next Monday I started Bible study. And the cool thing was although I wanted to argue but everything was read off the Bible. The proof was in the Bible. And for me, I didn’t have to argue with that because that was written and those were God’s words.
I remember the toughest lesson for me was the lesson about the Catholic Church. Because that was the church that I was technically baptized in. And I remember vividly when we were going through that lesson, it said you’re not allowed to call anybody else the Father except Me. And then I was like, wait a second, we call the priest father, whatever his name is. And I was like, they just broke a rule. And then it was another thing is you’re not supposed to wear cloaks and, all the stuff that the Catholic priest wear. And I was like, but they do that. And so it was such an eye-opening lesson because it was kind of what I knew for five, six, seven, eight years, whatever it was. And to be able to take all that you know during that time and just throw it away.
“The Person I Became”
My mom and I never really had a good relationship growing up. There were many, many times in our Chinese culture, Asian culture, you’re not telling your kids you love them because that’s, you don’t do that. So I never felt like my mom was my mom. I felt like she was just a guardian. And so I felt like after she went through what she went through and then I went through what I went through to join the Church Of Christ. It felt like we were finally able to connect on a different level.
Those last five years that I had with her, were probably the better years that I had. Because my mom passed away with cancer a few years ago. But one of the coolest things that she said to my wife and I was she was proud of the person I became. And a lot of that had to do with how I was raised inside of the Church.
“Proof God Existed
It was July 26, 2019. They put two sensors. One for mom and one for baby. And the second monitor went quiet. But Janell was pushing you know, Julianna out. And I remember the doctor was…we were like, “Hey, that’s a little quiet. Like, why is it quiet?” And the delivery team said, “Oh it’s because she’s probably too deep in the birth canal. That’s why we can’t hear her heartbeat anymore.”
Okay, you’re the expert, I’m not. I’m just going to follow you. So we push or Janell pushes. And pushes and pushes. And then we start to see her crown. And when she came out she was purple. Most of the time the father’s allowed to cut the cord and they didn’t let me.
The moment she came the three nurses that we had in our room said, “Code white, code white, code white!” And they literally took her away from us. And another ten nurses ran into the room. And Janell and I are, “What is going on? Why are you taking our kid from us?” A nurse cames to us and says, “You daughter is not alive right now. We’re going to do whatever we can to bring her back. Please stay calm.” As you know it’s very hard to probably stay calm.
So Janell’s laying on the bed, I’m on the right side, she grabs me by the shirt. She pulls me directly to her and she says, “We need to pray.” And I led us in prayer. And I pray for about two and a half, three minutes. And I cannot tell you what I said because I don’t know. The moment we said, “Amen.” Jules coughed and cried. And she was alive at that moment. I don’t believe in coincidences because that timing is too perfect. And for me that was proof that God existed.
“God Guided Me Through”
And I felt like God guided me through all that and because He did, what can you possibly do to me now? I feel like any test that’s put in front of me now, it’s a breeze because it would never compare to what already has happened. Which is why I feel all the more closer to Him now because I feel like He got me through all that, and I wouldn’t have been able to get through all that without God.
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