Legacy part II

The theme that has been coming back to me time and time again is that in the end I have no idea what is really going on.  A feeling that, historically, has been very daunting and even terrifying but has now become so comforting and life-giving. I think that God is most certainly in the business of showing us glimpses of what he is doing and the most certain way that we can see this is by looking back to where he has been in our lives and what he has done.  Whether this is through remembering the stories behind our scars or rereading our journals from our darkest days, one thing remains the same.  God is there, if anything, more apparent in the past but is always asking and encouraging us to join in on the story of his glory.

…For this I am immensely grateful but feel entirely ill equipped.

            In 2004, life had become almost unbearably dark for me.  I had been chasing a lot of things that I thought both loved me back and gave me purpose, all of which proved that I was sorely mistaken.  I had gotten myself in trouble with the law and had destroyed any reason to be trusted by my friends, teachers and most importantly, my parents.

            I had found my identity in playing in a band, snowboarding and partying.  I am not saying that these things are in themselves ‘evil’ but when plugged into our lives to give us life or a purpose they will let you down.

My world came crashing down.

After getting in trouble, I wasn’t allowed to hang out with my friends which eventually lead to Swank(the band I was in) breaking up.  My group of friends exploded like the powder keg it had been building into over the last couple years and I was completely alone.

That’s when I met Ryan Jordan.

He was a young life leader at my high school and I was savvy to his shenanigans.  I decided when I was 15 that because of some circumstances surrounding my heart that God either didn’t exist or he was insufferably cruel.  In the end, I chose that deciding that God didn’t exist was much less offensive and I would be held much less accountable if God simply didn’t exist.

I came to YL club and thought it was really weird/lame.  I couldn’t understand why college kids would want to hang with high schoolers.  This thought process began to make even less sense when I realized that Ryan and Tim were cool guys.  If they were nerdy, churchy, Jesus Freak’s I could have dismissed them entirely but the fact that they were cool and that Ryan and I listened to similar music and watch the same movies made my case much more difficult.

I began playing guitar at club with either Ryan or Tim Hartin and after a couple weeks of playing at club I had a conversation with Tim saying, “Hey Tim, I uhh…I don’t think YL is really my thing so I’m not going to come anymore.”  He responded, “Who’s going to play guitar if you don’t?” “Good point, I’ll keep coming” I said.

Eventually Ryan talked me into coming to fall weekend at Rockbridge.  There I heard Tim Toy speak the truth of the Gospel in a way that I had never heard before and I grew up in the church. 

On a rock by the creek at Rockbridge in November of 2004 I met Jesus and I have never been the same…

In the book of Mark(2:1-12), Jesus is teaching at a house in Capernaum and the house is PACKED.  As Jesus is teaching 4 guys come along carrying their friend.  They are trying to get their friend to Jesus so that he could heal him but when they get there they realize they can’t get in because of so many people.  So, what do they do? They do what makes sense to every 15-year-old guy; they start climbing on the roof! Then they start ripping up the ceiling to lower their friend into the front.  Can you imagine this scene? Jesus is teaching and a little bit of dust starts to fall down, then some thatch then eventually big chunks of the ceiling begin to fall.  Unreal! Jesus I’m sure steps aside and starts to help grab a corner of the mat to lower this guy in as his friends climb in too.

Their goal was to get their friend to Jesus for him to heal their friend but what does he do?

“Your sins are forgiven.” Jesus says to the man on the mat.

Here is the point where I would whisper, “Jesus, it’s his LEGS!”

Then Jesus, after seeing the faith of the four friends then heals the mans legs.

In my life there have been 4 men who carried me to the feet of Jesus.

In no specific order:

1.    Rob McClelland—Youth pastor at First Presbyterian Church from my 7^th grade year to my first year of college.

a.    Still one of the most inspirational and Christ-like men I know.

2.    Tim Hartin—Then: YL leader at Spotswood High School.  Now: On Young Life staff in Maryland.

a.    One of the wisest men I know.  He is so much of what I want to be as a man and husband.

3.    Ryan Jordan—One of the most faithful, talented and funny men I know. He is now working in Maryland.

a.    He’s my definition of cool.

b.    He was an amazing voice of hope and God’s sovereignty when I was struggling with my Mom’s death.

4.    Chris Beck—Teacher out on the Eastern Shore.

a.    When I began college he took me under his wing.  He showed me how to study scripture and how to experience Christ daily.

b.    He taught me about living in the New Covenant and what it means to be free.

c.    He’s real crazy.

Who are your four? 

Who’s mat are you now carrying to Jesus?

We have no idea the impact of loving people in our lives for Jesus will do.  I was loved by Ryan Jordan who was loved by Tim Donohue and on and on.

And now, I get to be at Stonewall Jackson, loving guys and being a part of their lives because I was so loved by Ryan, Tim, Beck and Rob.  From here I get to see Patrick Bain, Caleb Golladay and Hayden Miller go on to love people with a love that they have experienced.

This knowledge is too lofty for me, too much for me to take in.  I have two verses to bless and encourage us with.

2 Corinthians 3:2-3

“2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”

1 Thessalonians 2:8

“so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.”