Alright I’m gonna lay out how I came to know Christ, what He did for me, and why it matters to me.
So I grew up in a United Methodist family but a divorced family. When I was around 3 or 4 my mom and dad got a divorce. A lot of my memories from when I was young have been repressed so I don’t remember a whole lot. One memory I do have is my parents getting in this huge argument that ended with my mom leaving with my brother and I. So I was taught about God when I was younger but I didn’t get why God would allow my parents to get a divorce. How could He actually care for me if I were to grow up with a broken home? Growing up with these situations caused me to get in fights with my classmates and I was constantly in trouble with teachers.
The next big thing that turned me away from God was when Grandpa Wetterstrom was killed in a car accident in 2006. I remember it happening at the start of 6th grade. I had just switched school districts to New Albany Middle School from previously attending Thomas Edison Elementary in Grandview.
My world got rocked.
My grandfather was everything to me. He was safety to me. He was arms to cry in. He told the best stories. He had a laugh that made you laugh. He taught me how to be a man by setting an example. He always encouraged me. He was the first man that I felt really believed in me and that was huge. He loved Jesus.
But I was too immature and blind to see Jesus moving in my life at 13 years old. So what did I do? I became angry and a punk. I got in and became friends with the “skater kids” in middle school. I knew that some of the guys I was friends with were smoking pot so I tried it out. Didn’t really get that heavy into smoking but I did have a solid two months smoking weed, experimenting with alcohol, and getting in trouble with teachers. Also summer after 7th grade thru the first semester of 8th grade puberty kicked in hard and I saw girls differently (classic) So I just put all my energy into seeing how many girls I could make out with (lame right?). Ultimately I was just looking for life and identity.
Thankfully I started playing lacrosse in 6th grade and continued throughout middle school and high school. I was still friends with the “punks” but I became friends with the team particularly these two twin brothers named Jason and Jordan on the lacrosse team. So I would hangout with troublemakers in school and then go to lacrosse practice and hangout with the team. Eventually I was having more fun with lacrosse team. So second semester of 8th grade I stopped hanging out with my other friends and just hung out on a regular basis with the team. Keep in mind from 6th grade to 8th grade I began to identify as an agnostic-athiest blend.
This is a picture of Grandpa Wetterstrom and I: 
Now heres where Jesus gets things really turning!
Once the 8th grade lacrosse season was over, the high school coaches would allow us to come ‘practice’ with the high school team once a week. So I went to one of these practices and after it a couple of my teammates were going with some of the high school guys to this thing called Young Life Club. But they just referred to it as ‘club’. So I asked the sophomore, Josh Martin, that was driving my teammates if I could go. He was all for me taking me and I was pumped! Now lets clarify something. I had NO CLUE what Club was. In truth I thought I was going to a high school party. So we show up to this tiny building (just picture four walls and a low ceiling). I don’t remember much of my first YL club. I just remember none of the alcohol i expected, this girl giving announcements with high leg kicks, and this dude fist bumping for thirty seconds to techno music in a blond wig, pink dress, and a lizard mask. Thats it. That was my first taste of Young Life. What????
So its 2009 and I’m a freshman at New Albany High School (Go Eagles!) and I don’t go to a single Young Life event. But I played lacrosse and so did Josh Martin. Freshman year flies by in a blur. Nothing big happened. So its like the first or second week of summer and I get a phone call at midnight from Josh Martin. I don’t remember all the things he exactly said to me, but I do remember being invited to Young Life camp. The catch was the bus left at like 8am or something early like that the next morning. But I remember my experience in 8th grade at the one YL club I went to and how much fun it was and I’m like heck yeah I’m in. So I start packing and I wake my mom up to tell her. And I’m still kinda convinced my mom wasn’t fully awake enough to really grasp what she agreed to when she said yes to me going to camp. So I finish packing and I get no sleep. I’m just too excited that a junior on the lax team called me personally to invite me to anything, let alone a summer camp.
Its super early in the morning when my mom and I show up at the high school (thats where the bus was departing from). While my moms filling out paperwork and I get on the bus it hits me. I don’t know a single person besides Josh on this trip. I’m the only freshman (well there was an Alek Buck guy but I didn’t know him that well at the time and he was in the other cabin).
Here is the main courtyard of New Albany High School: 
Get ready for my life to get changed big time
I’ve decided (for the sake of time) to share my first impression of the YL Camp and night four of the six day camp. After six hours of driving down to the camp property in Virginia, we finally arrive (by the way the camp was named Rockbridge). But before the bus pulls into the main property, we stop and this guy named Cam (techno lizard dude), who was one of the NAYL leaders calls me off the bus. He asked me a bunch of questions and told me to follow him. My mind is racing and I remember thinking: “oh my gosh, my grandma must of passed away or something bad has happened.” We come to a golf cart and Cam tells me to get in without any explanation. I’m really confused but I get in and Cam goes back to the bus. The golf cart driver takes me up this hill, at the top of which was a platform with cables going off of it and a dude with harness in hand. There was also another girl about my age there and we’re told to put on the harnesses and step up to the platform. Its a crazy long zipline that we’re hooked into and all I can see is the main cable going off this big hill, through some trees and over this giant pond. Ten minutes pass, small talk, and etc. I hear “send em'” over a radio and the dude says to go ahead. The girl and I step off the platform, harness kicks in, and I’m zipping through the air. Its exhilarating!! I’ve never done this before. We pass the treeline and there is this beautiful property before me. Music is playing to my right and I look over. There is just a crowd of around 150-200 people going nuts pointing at me and some dude in a costume talking into the speakers with a mic. I’m the center of attention. ITS DA BEST!!! (here is a GoPro vid of the zip-line at Rockbridge. But it looks like its autumn, so keep in mind the property looks much better in June. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikDja6JdWaQ)
Empty
Guys, camp was incredible. I have never been so rocked to the core in joy than my first time at Young Life camp. So each night was YL Club! And each night Joe Marx (camp speaker) gave a club talk. He would get real with us and share some real stories from his life. Sometimes the stories were funny but at times the stories were serious. He really opened up to us. But each time he would always share an account of Jesus Christ from the Bible. Then after each club we’d head back to the cabin and Cam would lead an open discussion about what Joe shared with us. This was super helpful because we got real with each other and were able to process things out loud.
It was like night four and Joe shared with us that we each have a Need inside of us. Don’t you ever feel empty? Like a hunger you can’t sate now matter how much you feed it. Like think right now about all that you’ve accomplished. Do you feel full? Really? No we don’t because we are gorging ourselves and trying to fill that need on things that won’t last! For me personally, I filled my need with drugs, alcohol, girls and popularity. It doesn’t have to be “bad” things too. One could try to fill up on good grades, approval of others, or succeeding in sports. I just happened to not chase those things. I would get the entire class to laugh at something or I would get a girls digits and I’d feel great. But it wouldn’t last! After a while, I’d start to feel empty again. Why??? Joe gave a this Need a diagnosis. He said our emptiness was a symptom of our Sin and that we were infected with it. Now yeah I’d heard of Sin before when I was younger in church. But here is this actual definition. Sin is archery term that means “to miss the mark”. Essentially it means to miss the bullseye or to not make the perfect shot. So when Joe said we all had Sin in us what he actually means is we all have missed the mark. Romans 3:23 states “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” God is the mark and so we all have missed him because of our separation from Him. And if all have missed the mark of God and fall short of His glory then it doesn’t matter how far you miss the target. You miss it no matter what. Think about it this way: Imagine trying to jump from one side of the Grand Canyon to another and lets say how far you are able to jump depends on your “goodness”. So Hitler steps up first and he gets a running start, goes to jump and trips and falls into the Grand Canyon. Now lets say Mother Theresa gives it her best leap. Now she gets pretty far and lets say a little over halfway. Both Hitler and Mother Theresa are equal in the end because BOTH have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Both are at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. I want you to try something else. Picture in your head a perfect person. Now is that person sick? No right! So how could we, with our sickness, be with the perfect God?!? Theres no escaping this sickness. Romans 6:23 states “For the wages of Sin is death,”. So a wage is what you earn for payment. So basically and bluntly, we earn death for our separation from God. Oh and its just not talking about physical death! No it means eternal separation from God, basically a spiritual death. Our Sin has damned us. There is no remedy we can make to fix ourselves. In other words we are helpless to ourselves. But we are not hopeless! That is what Joe ends on for night four
Ransom
So its club for night five and Joe picks up right where he left off. He starts off in Matthew 27 which is where the crucifixion is described. He shares with us that Jesus Christ has lived a sinless life. In other words Christ NEVER sinned. He NEVER missed the mark. He makes the leap over the Grand Canyon. He can be by the perfect God. But Jesus came with a purpose. Spoiler alert! YOU were His purpose. So we all know how the tale goes. Jesus was in Jerusalem and gets betrayed by Judas. Some Roman soldier gets his ear chopped off, then Peter turns his back on Jesus three times, and eventually Jesus is brought before Pontius Pilate and committed to be crucified. So before Jesus is crucified, He is flogged by Roman soldiers. Flogging, for those of you that don’t know, is when a person is whipped by a cat-of-nine-tails. This was a whip with nine threads that has pieces of bone, metal, and glass tangled up in the nine cords. Essentially it was used to rip off flesh in a line. This is so gruesome that Roman soldiers had to get super drunk to do it to another human being. Then Jesus is nailed to a cross. Most people think that you die from blood loss in crucifixion but this isn’t the case. You actually die by Asphyxiation because your body can’t get enough oxygen to your lungs. So when the cross would be stood up and dropped into a 4 foot hole. The drop would actually dislocate your shoulders. Try taking a deep breath. You use your shoulders didn’t you. Now imagine having to pull yourself up (by nails in your hand might I add) on your dislocated shoulders just to take one breath and then sink back down. How long do you think you could last before you just couldn’t pull yourself up anymore? Now here is tidbit I freaking love. Jesus Christ’s last words on the cross were “it is finished”, which in Greek basically means “the debt is paid!” That just blows my mind.
Eteranl Life
Wait what was paid Jesus? What debt? Remember how I said earlier we were helpless to fix ourselves but not hopeless? I also quoted Romans 6:23 that says ” For the wages of Sin is death,” but I didn’t finish that verse. The entirety of Romans 6:23 is “For the wages of Sin is Death, but the free gift of God is Eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” So Jesus paid our “wage” in our place. In other terms: He took on our separation from God so we wouldn’t have to and died on the cross because that was the price of our sin. Again the wage has been paid. But that Romans 6 verse ends with “the free gift of God is Eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” What does that mean? Lemme tell you! Jesus Christ’s body is buried in a tomb. But after three days (after Passover incidentally) Jesus Christ conquers death by resurrecting. Because of this act He promises us eternal life in Heaven. He gives us Grace. Grace is receiving something you don’t deserve after committing a wrongdoing or a crime. So we have turned our back on God, He has died on the cross for us and paid our wage of eternal death, and then He rises from the grave to give us eternal life. Sounds like a whole heaping lot of Grace to me. Now theres a whole lot of background meaning behind all this and I’d love to talk about it and answer any questions but I’d end up typing a book here if I explained everything. So if you have questions or wana learn more call me! 614-542-7039.
Entering the Kingdom
So Joe just explained all of this to us in the clubroom. He gives us 20 minutes to go outside, find a place for ourselves and process this on our own. Full disclosure, I WEPT!!! tears just came streaming down my face. I wept for so much. I wept for growing up without a dad, I wept for my grandfather passing away, I wept for all the things I tried filling my life with, and I wept because I didn’t deserve this gift of eternal life from Jesus. I didn’t deserve my this. I deserved death for my disobedient heart. But thats the wonder of God’s Grace.
So cabin bell rings (which means we have like 30-40 minutes of free time before we head back to the cabins) and I head back to the clubroom. I end up sitting on the porch. Who should come across me sitting there all alone but Josh Martin. The guy who went out of his way to invite me to hear this Good News. I trusted Josh because he had earned my trust. I knew Josh loved me and didn’t judge me. I could be real with Josh.
So we start chatting. Pretty quickly I just start asking him questions and sharing how I’m feeling. Josh, to the best of his ability and understanding, answers my questions but then he asks me a question. He asks me what is my response because when someone says they love you, ya gotta respond. And no response is a response. (real quick imagine you saying “I love you” to someone and they don’t reply. Thats a response). I knew what I wanted to say and it came bursting out. YES I WANT THIS AMAZING GRAZE!!! I WANT THIS GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE! So Josh explains that prayer is how we communicate with God. We start praying and he leads me in prayer and shows me how to accept Jesus Christ into my heart. I had accepted Jesus Christ into my life.
I was Known.
Hey reading is tough so to reward you and if you’re like me and forget what you read three paragraph’s ago then you should totes watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGlx11BxF24 Really recaps it nicely. Also fun fact, in June of 2013 I had the privilege to lead a cabin of guys from Westerville North at a Young Life camp in the Catskill mountains of New York and Joe Marx was the camp speaker. Thats pretty neat. Below is a picture of the camp speaker, Joe Marx (mid club talk) and the porch of the clubroom where I accepted Jesus:
