A lot of things have been on my mind lately. I look back over my life and realize that I have gone down a lot of different paths and have been headed in a lot of different directions, only to be brought back onto the path that God has chosen for me.
When I first started preaching at the age of sixteen, God was definitely not the number one priority on my list. Football, friends, and having fun definitely came before the things of God. Don't get me wrong. I definitely was the "ideal" teen in the youth group. I would show up to every event every time the door was open, I would preach when asked, I would sing in the choir, etc. But I was more concerned about playing football and trying to get that scholarship. Yet, God had other plans and I learned those plans in the form of a hip injury that left me unable to play the game.
Yet, that didn't stop me.
I decided that since I couldn't play football anymore, I'd coach football! What a great idea! So I went to Charleston Southern University, not because it was a Christian school, but because I wanted to study History and it was close to an historic city. I was hoping also that if my hip healed I would be able to play football at CSU considering they were not the best football team in the world (although they did go on to have some stellar seasons). However, God once again changed that path for me.
It came in the form of a New Testament survey class. All of the things that I thought I knew about church and the Bible were all of a sudden thrown in a blender and my head was reeling from all of the information that I had never been told. How could it be that I had never heard all of these wonderful things. How did I not know that within 15 years or so of Christ's resurrection the first books of the NT were written? How did I not know that Jesus definitely could not have become a myth in that amount of time? Why did the church not know these things? I was thinking that somebody needed to tell the church all of the wonderful facts. Jesus was real! Jesus really died, and he really was resurrected from the grave! Oh, if people had only known all the wonderful facts that I had known they would embrace the Gospel and realize that there is no way a myth can form so soon. The eyewitnesses were still alive. Over 500 saw Him at one time! This moment in time God told me to put away my childish ideas of what would make me happy and truly come to realize what His plan was for me.
I was to preach the Gospel...
...not in the way I did when I was in high school, but with a new vigor, a new passion for the Savior that had died for me.
And so it begun. Ever since I have been able to look back at the many jobs that I've had and realize that none of them were bumps in the road. All of them were opportunities for God to teach me something new and mold me into the person that He wanted me to become. And believe me, I've done a lot of different things: Driving range picker, restaurant cashier (twice), journalist, athletic director, football coach, golf coach, courier, parks coordinator, worship leader, youth pastor, associate youth pastor, college pastor, and senior pastor. But even now as I work for Interim Healthcare doing in-home caregiving I can feel God doing something awesome in the midst of the hard work and long hours. He has been showing me what it means to be a servant and how to humble myself despite circumstances.
In the Fall I will begin the next phase of this amazing journey as the Bible Teacher at Coastal Christian Preparatory School. Not only will I be teaching Bible, but I will also be putting many of these other skills to use as I lead chapel and the worship band, prepare conferences and sessions, plan missions events for the students, restart FCA, act as chaplain for the sports teams, and become the head golf coach. I never imagined that all of the events in my life were so intricately put together in such a way that where some people would feel overwhelmed, I am in awe of the Creator of the universe.
As I start my new job and then very shortly after get married to the love of my life, I look forward to even more opportunities to do ministry wherever I am for the glory of God and His Son. I pray that you will do the same and that as we sojourn together as pilgrims in a foreign land, we will pray for one another and keep our eyes on the prize. Thanks and God bless.
Preaching Christ Crucified,
TRS
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