Grow Up

Is spiritual growth necessary for human life?? Are moral values important? Those questions are essential for my life and many problems in my life involve whose question. When I was at the twelfth grade of senior high, I faced a big problem to make a decision. The decisions were whether to abandon moral values by cheating in UNAS or to keep moral values by doing UNAS honestly. Finally, I made my promise to God and did the UNAS honestly. What about the result? The result was fantastic; I passed UNAS with good marks. With this process, I grew up spiritually, be more mature and get myself right here at UPH.
My name is Gunanto Suhartono. I was born on a warm, sunny day in April 3rd 1990 in Surabaya, East Java. I live with my parents, Bambang and Po lee giok; my big brother, Gunawan; and my little sister Meliana in a home on Jl. Raya 24 Kejapanan Gempol. I live happily with my family and I love them very much. My whole family is Christian, so I used to go to the church every Sunday since I was child. I have black hair and brown eyes just like Asian people. My hobbies are playing drum, swimming, and playing basketball.
I started my kindergarten in Petra 12 Kindergarten at Sidoarjo when I was 4 years old. While I was there, I participated a singing contest for children. Unfortunately I lost, but I had a wonderful experience there.
Then I went to Petra 12 Elementary School which is also in Sidoarjo. At the Elementary, my mom always told me to study hard. As the result, I won many awards there, such as the First, second, or third rank in the class. My greatest achievement when I was at Elementary School is I got the Second Rank of Mathematic Competition for Sidoarjo Region.
After that I continued my study at Petra 4 Junior High School. While I was there, I became a naughty boy. I cheated, lied, and many other else. I thought life is my own and it is free to do anything without any goals. Time after time when I at the last year of junior high, because of my friends, I realized that I must grow up to be mature and must set a goal for my life. Finally, I got baptized in the church and I grew more, emotionally, socially, intellectually, and especially spiritually after that. My life was changed; I had a goal, value and a purpose in my life. Then I graduated from Junior High school with the fifth rank among all the students.
For my Senior High, I entered Petra 4 Senior High School. Many of my friends moved to another school, but I still enjoyed my Senior High. I began my ministry, became a drummer in my church and being a light through my moral values. At the eleventh grade, I chose science program, because I believed that I will easily enter university if I was from science program. At the twelfth grade, just like I mentioned before, thanks to God I passed the UNAS and got the first rank among all science program students. I graduated from Senior High in 2008 and I continued my study to Universitas Pelita Harapan Surabaya with Gold Scholarship until right now. I am really enjoyed studying at UPH because it teaches a holistic education. This education consists of true knowledge, faith in God, and Godly Character. It makes me more grow up and I am still in the process to become a whole man now.
Life means to me is to glorify God. Before I know that, I just live without purpose and without any order. A life without a purpose is just like a wasting time. People often live whatever they like and ignore about moral values. It will cause emptiness in our heart, just like I had before. With that condition, you cannot be growing up in spirituality and other aspects. If you don’t have a purpose in your life, hurry search for it and be growing up! For me, my purpose is to glorify God with everything in my life. Because of that, I am now enjoying the result that God gave me.

Gunanto Suhartono
Management International
01120080034