First, I’d like to welcome everybody to my blog. Bienvenidos al blog de KJ! For those of you who only speak Spanish, that’s the only part of this blog you will understand. Moving right along. Thanks for checking out my blog. In the upcoming months, I promise it will become a lot more interesting, but for now, I want to give you an idea of who I am and why I am so greatly looking forward to being a part of the world race.
I am from New Jersey, and I’m pretty sure I couldn’t be more proud of that. Sure, many people may call Jersey the “Armpit of America,� but, seriously, where would you be without your armpit? It’s an integral part of your body, and Jersey is an integral part of America. Unlike the armpit, though, New Jersey is the greatest part of this country. That’s enough Jersey ranting for this post.
I grew up going to church all the time. You probably know the deal; Sunday school and church on Sundays, midweek children’s ministry on Wednesdays, which, from my experience, consists of felt board Jesus and distributing stickers to small children, and Vacation Bible School in the summer. I recall anticipating the day I was old enough to be in youth group because that’s when the real fun happened. I would hear tales of staying up all night, playing all kinds of games, and, of course, hanging out with the cool teenagers! When I was finally in youth group, I started the whole new routine of church on Sunday mornings, youth group on Sunday nights, and Dv8, our midweek Bible study. I was pretty actively involved with my youth group. I loved the people, the activities, and even Pastor Mark.
Somewhere around the time when I was in eighth grade, I had a sudden realization that people who aren’t pastors actually read the Bible. What an epiphany this was! I had to try it out. This was the point in my life when I realized that being a Christian meant more than just going to church on Sundays, hanging out with youth group kids, or even getting lots of stickers. Since that realization in my life, I have been trying to make a conscious effort to follow Christ throughout my whole life; not just on Sundays or in church. This desire to follow Christ has led me to the World Race. Jesus walked among and hung out with the most unloved people in his society; the tax collectors, prostitutes, and lepers. The essence of His ministry was loving people who had no idea what love is, and that is exactly what I want to do with my life, my ministry. Jesus tells us that, second only to loving God, the greatest commandment is to love others as well as you love yourself. In Matthew 22:40, Jesus says that “everything in God’s law and the Prophets hangs from� these two commands. My desire for my time as a part of this World Race team is to simply love God and to love others in every place and every way possible.
