Who Am I?

Who am I?  What a great question.  It is a question that only I can answer for myself.  Let me explain a little about myself, and tonight I am going to be as transparent as I can be.  Like you, I once was a teenager.  The difference being, I was a teenager attending a Catholic School.  We went to school every day, read the bible daily, had weekly mass, and we were even tested on our faith in the classroom.  I thought Jesus was my homeboy just because of the motions that I went through every day.  But I could not have been more incorrect.

So many times, I would put that face on of the good Catholic boy and people bought it.  I was the altar boy and Eucharistic minister at school masses and on Sunday masses as well.  People really believed that I was a good Catholic boy.  

Then it was time to choose a college.  Of course, the good Christian boy was going to a Christian school.  How many times do you think I attended service during my freshman year?  Wrong, I attended twice, and once was because a girl that I liked asked me to go.  Can anyone guess what my most skipped class was?  It was my class on the New Testament.  It was 8:00 am and I knew the stuff because I studied it in high school.  But people back home thought the same of me.  A good kid that has his faith in line.  

Man did I have those people snowed.  Rather than attending FCA events and services on the weekends, I was the social director (unofficial title) for fourth floor in Urness Tower.  You see, I was the go to guy on what was going on, other than faith-filled events or even weekend services.  I was the leader of mischief and knew where all of the cool people would be on the weekend.  It was more important to be popular than it was to be right at that time.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  

Then I continued coasting through life.  I dropped out of school, bounced around from job to job, and really had no meaning in my life.  I made mistakes and I made positive choices.  Eventually, I went back to school and finished my degree.  Then in my mid-30s, it hit me like a rock, “I am not advancing.  I am not succeeding in the game called life.”  I started getting up early on Sunday mornings and watching online services.  I knew there had to be more.  

Then I started attending services regularly again on Sunday mornings.  That was it!  BAM!  Jesus reached out to me.  God wrapped his arms around me!  He threw a party for me because I was back.  My life started improving, my outlook started improving, and everything in my life seemed not to have life back in it.  It was the story of the Prodigal son.  Luke says in 15:32, “But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has now been found.”  There was a celebration.  It felt to me like the world was rejoicing for me.

Was I perfect?  Did I make mistakes while I was searching?  I sure did.  I made plenty of mistakes, but you know what, God forgives those mistakes.  In Ephesians 2:8-9, we are told, “For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”  Grace is what takes away all those mistakes and makes you new again.  Grace is built on love and love is what God gave us.  In John 3:16 we are told, “For God so love the world that he gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  Is there a better love than that? Jesus died for us on that cross because of God’s love and to give us Grace.  Man that is unreal.  The sacrificing of a Son and the self-sacrifice by Jesus.  

We all have a do-over, a mulligan.  Once we accept Jesus Christ into our lives, we get that fresh start through grace.  All of our past transgressions, can be eliminated by accepting Christ and admitting our mistakes.  Now, my point here isn’t to tell all of you to be perfect, because there is only one that is perfect.  What I may ask of you is to learn from our mistakes and misfortunes.  Use those to help you grow.  Why repeat someone’s if it has already been proven a mistake?  

Now comes the hard part.  How do we get there?  It has to start with a relationship and that relationship has to be personal.  Michael Jackson once wrote the song “Man in the Mirror” and the truth of the chorus couldn’t be truer.  

I’m starting with the Man in the Mirror.

I’m asking him to change his ways.

And no message could have been any clearer.

If you wanna make the world a better place,

Take a look at yourself and make a change.

You see, it has to start with each and every one of you.  You are not going to change because of neighbor, your friend, or your girlfriend or boyfriend.  Each of us, needs to take a long, hard look at ourselves and determine what we want out of life.  Jesus tells us in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the father except through me.”  You see, the only way for us to reap the benefits, is through Jesus.  There is only One Way, One Truth, and One Life.  Learn from us that have wandered and struggled and don’t go through that.  Develop that relationship.  Dig deep.  

In order for you to be found, you must be lost.  In order for you to be saved, you have to be doing something that you need to be saved from.  God has a plan for you, for me, for all of us.  I believe that plan put you right here, right now.  Jeremiah 29:11.

To sum this up, being a Christian is a personal decision.  It has to start with you and you alone.  It revolves around a relationship, not a religion.  If you are the pitcher, he has to be your catcher calling your pitches.  Don’t wait to make your mistakes.  Don’t wait until you are in your thirties like me.  You can have the benefits and the glory now.  Trust me. Trust us leaders.   Whether we admit it or not, we have all been where you guys are today.  Life is so much better with Him in it.  Accomplishments are so much greater.  And smiles are so much more frequent.  

I am not going to single anyone out, or ask you to single yourselves out, but I would like to say a prayer of surrender right now.  If you are ready and willing, please repeat this prayer after me and reap the rewards.