Scott.

If you ever want to meet someone who passionately follows Jesus you should meet Scott. Scott is a man marked by passion. He is someone who loves the world like Jesus does, but knows that this is not where he belongs. He has an eternal perspective that influences everything that he does. He is a challenging man, but not in a confrontational or harsh way. He is also so funny, a fantastic friend, and is especially gifted in reaching out to kids. Scott, you walk in the promise of God every day and I'm so honored to know you!

Shepherded

I don’t remember ever really hearing the gospel. I know it’s crazy, especially if you look at my background being in church all of my life. But it seems that the people in my life who taught me about Jesus thought that maybe the most basic underlying idea of reality, of identity, of existence was one that did not need to be out rightly expressed or explained. Let me just personally say that without this message, church doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, the bible doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, Jesus doesn’t make a whole lot of sense and his love doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. The gospel is the framework for our faith, without it or with missing pieces; we become lopsided or crumble completely. This is the root cause of a lot of misunderstandings that led to some pretty detrimental choices in my life.

My faith was always one that I learned from others, not one I graciously received from a loving savior. I knew of Jesus. And I’m not talking like “Oh yeah Jesus. The Son of Man, chillin in heaven, God’s only begotten one, the savior of all mankind, died on the cross but beast-moded death and rose again.” I mean know him as he calls me a friend not a slave, as he comes willing to touch my blind eyes again and again, as he called me from my sinful ways to walk and abide in him. The Jesus that is in me and I in him. That Jesus.

I’ve told my testimony before, and I always use this story to explain how my life was changed. I wrote a letter in 7^th grade to myself in the future as a senior. It was a class project that was one of the first things all incoming students did. As a present hedonistic, worldly child, I didn’t really think too much on what this implied and wrote about what was on my mind. As a hormonal, world-impressed 13 year old this boiled down to about 3 things, girls, the process of getting a girlfriend, and the guys I didn’t like because they had more “girlfriends” than me. So I wrote down what was on my heart, my sick, depraved, teenage heart. Waiting for that letter was one of the most dreadful things I have ever had to do. Over the years I had lost the specifics of what was in the letter but I knew it was something I should be ashamed of. And I was. Very much so. But the final day of my senior year rolled around and I received an envelope with my name and class year on it. I felt like I was holding a portal to my old self. One I wish I could rip open so I could reach back and shake my ignorant 7^th grade neck out of my life of selfishness and lust. But I opened the envelope and began to read. What I read shocked me, not only was I shocked at the many obscenities directed at classmates I had spent 6 years getting to know, or the prideful attacks on those I felt threatened by, or the sickening thought of how horrible I must have been to be around for five minutes, but I simply did not recognize that as me. Not only were the grammar, spelling and handwriting atrocious, the thoughts they all conveyed rocked me to my core. “How could I be where I am today with this in my past? How could I have ever climbed out of this?” It simply shouldn’t have been possible. And then it hit me like this cliché in a personal narrative. I was right. By any stretch of the imagination, I wouldn’t have been able to get past this on my own. By any calculation I should be wallowing in a pit of my own subsequent pride and shame. I simply shouldn’t be who I am today. But that’s where I see that Jesus stepped in.

You see I may not have heard the gospel for 17 or 18 years of my life, but I knew bits and pieces. I knew Jesus came to save me. I didn’t know from what. I knew God loved me. I didn’t, and still don’t really, know why. I knew Jesus was God and God could do anything however I didn’t ever see that truth in action until this year. You see I may not have had the truth to defend myself against the lies of the enemy, but Jesus has more than enough to make up for it. It was in that moment, looking through that paper time machine to a boy who needed a savior more than anything, that I realized how prevalent God’s power was in my life.

When Daniel stood up to face Goliath he was initially rebuked for being foolish. But he told Saul that he had defeated many lions and bears while keeping his flock, like a good shepherd. In John 10 we see that Jesus is the perfect shepherd, he is not a hired hand who flees from any danger, abandoning those he is to care for. The Jesus I found in that moment was the Jesus who had never abandoned me to the wolves. He had guided and protected me, worked with me to find my way closer to home. He is the shepherd whose voice I know, whose I follow.

“The Lord is my SHEPHERD; I shall not want… thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me” Ps. 23