Just a little bit about me!

Hi! 

 

 

My name is Jake – I am a 21-year-old Minnesoootan with one semester left at UW-Madison, go Badgers!  I am soo sad that college is almost over, but I could not be more excited for the World Race, or to meet all of my teammates, or to behead a chicken and eat it in some land far away!  I cannot wait to get ROCKED by God and the Holy Spirit as I travel across the World with an awesome (I presume) group of people, and share God’s love with everything that moves!  I’ll confess that I am daunted by writing an ‘about me’, but here goes!

 

 

I have an awesome family, here they are:

 

 

My mom, Nora, is the most altruistic person I have ever met.  She is a social worker, the joy of our family, and seriously the best and most loving mother EVER! 

 

 

 My Dad, Robert, is brilliant, super disciplined, and such a fantastic example for our family!  One of my favorite times each year is our father-son fishing trip.  This past year we went to Isle Royale in Lake Michigan, braved insane winds in our canoe, and had a fantastic time!

 

 

My little sis Lauren is the most courageous person ever.  She is a junior at Cornell College in Iowa, studying Biochemistry and Math (WOAH!) and has a passion for sharing Jesus on her campus and across the world.  I am SO proud of her.

 

 Passions

 

Apart from my family, God has blessed me with a bunch of different passions, here are some of them:

 

– I love reading and writing.  Piper, Packer, Spurgeon, Tozer, Mahaney, Lewis, and Calvin are some of my favorite Christian authors.  I am also crazy about Clive Cussler, Frank Peretti, and about ten million other authors of all different genres.

 

– I want to start a non-profit.  Someday, somewhere, doing something – that’s about all I know now, but I am praying God would use my life in medical missions.  I am super passionate about medicine (and am planning on going to med school post-race), and would love to involve others by starting a Christ-centered organization.

 

– I am a sports/outdoor activites fanatic.  Naturally, being a Minnesotan boy, I learned to skate about the same time I learned to walk.  Hockey, football, baseball, golf, tennis, running, fishing, canoeing, hiking, racquetball, volleyball, and pretty much any other sports-related activity can grab my attention for hours.  I’m super competitive, sometimes to a fault!!

 

– I am passionate about being joyful in the Lord, and sharing Him!  The Lord has transformed my life and given me so much joy.  I want everyone on my campus, especially my roommates, to experience the Lord – His faithfulness, His love, His anointing of joy; seriously, it is the only thing that matters! 

 

Likes

 

 (Super-Short)  Testimony

 

I grew up as an approval-seeking perfectionist, and constantly strove to be recognized for how I performed in sports and school.  My identity was so deeply wrapped up in other people’s opinions of me that I worried to no end about ‘my image’.  This obsession was so bad that I had trouble sleeping most nights!

 

Right as I entered high school I met a few people who truly loved Jesus.  These Christ-followers were different than all the other Christians that I knew.  For the first time in my life I was concerned about what I was living for.  I realized that the punctuated thrill of chasing girls and achieving in school and sports was not fulfilling me.  I started going to church with my mom, and wondered what my life would look like if I truly believed this ‘God stuff’ and lived by the Bible. 

 

When I went to Madison I was in a long-distance relationship with a Jesus-loving girl from my high school.  She was one of the most joyful people I ever met, and such a positive witness to me.  Yet, my heart was more tied into her than it was into the Lord, and when we broke up after almost two years I was shattered.  In a desperate attempt to fulfill the hole of that relationship I dove headfirst into the Madison lifestyle.  It was so easy to go to parties and feel like I was the center of attention – to feel liked by people and girls especially.  Yet, every night, I would come back to my same quiet dorm room, and lay down on my bed as the room spun around me.  I’d wonder why I didn’t feel happy.  Without fail, I would wake up the next morning and wish that I hadn’t gone out – regardless of how ‘crazy’ and ‘fun’ of a night I’d had. 

 

Second semester freshmen year I literally felt like I was in Robert Frost’s poem; I was standing at a junction and forced to choose between two very different roads that my life could take.  One path led to ‘fun’ – partying, easy friendships, living up the college life – essentially what I thought would fulfill me.  The other road led to this God of rules – a God that I didn’t even know for certain existed, and whom I certainly didn’t see working around me.  I ran from God, knowing that if I truly believed in Him I would have to stop partying, probably lose some friends, and essentially stop having any fun.  Yet, I felt more and more convicted with every step I took away from God.

 

One day, I was in Potbelly reading Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper, and the Holy Spirit suddenly cracked through my stubborn mind.  I realized with excitement and clarity that the path to maximal joy in life was the path that led to Christ.  It only made sense – if I was God’s creation, and He made me to bring Him glory, He would surely have designed me such that I experienced joy when fulfilling my God-given role.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfullness, gentleness, and self-control.” Gal 5:22-23

 

I believe it was then that I truly became a Christian.  My life began to change drastically as the fruits of the Spirit poured forth, and each day I fell more in love with my savior.  I found that loving God and loving others truly fulfilled me and brought me more joy than any crazy wild night ever could.  Since then, following God has taken me to Ghana to share the Gospel, to New Jersey to learn how to live with brothers, and to Tanzania to love the sick and the broken.  God has blessed me with absolutely incredible friends whom I am desperately in need of.  God has blessed me with fulfillment and joy as I struggle to keep my eyes fixed on Christ, and to walk in faith and love.  I am so thankful for the road I have chosen.