So I had a little bit of a hard time deciding what my first blog post ever would be about. And since this is the beginning of my World Race journey. I figured it would be fitting to tell everyone about my beginning. So here goes nothing!
My journey with Jesus really didn’t begin until middle school. I didn’t grow up in a christian household. My parents got divorced when I was two and my Dad was never really around after that. However my Mom did meet another man who she later married and would become my step-dad. He’s been there for my Mom and me for two decades now and has been a really awesome example of what it is to be a man of God. Really both of my parents have.
Alright now back to Jesus. My step-dad was brought up Lutheran and my mom was religious but we never went to church or anything. So they got married and a couple of years after that they decided that we should start going to church, and I’m happy they did. I accepted christ shortly after we started attending our church and shortly after that I was baptized. I was so excited for this new journey I had begun as a christian and I was so on fire! I would ask friends to come to youth group with me and carried my bible around with to school and would read it at lunch. Im not going to lie though I would get made fun of for having a bible at school and not very many of my school friends would came to church with me but I didn’t let it get me down. I was making so many new friends at church that really cared about me and wanted to be my true friends. So things were going great and then somewhere in my 8th grade year my parents decided that we were going to stop going to that church and at the time I didn’t really understand why other than at my church they spoke in tongues which I didn’t really mind but at the time I didn’t really understand what it was anyways. My parents didn’t like it so much and it made them a little uncomfortable and that ended my time at Peoples Church.
After we stopped going to church I pretty much lost my fire and love for Jesus. I wasn’t a bad kid and I didn’t go out and cause a bunch a trouble but I was not living a life completely for Jesus. I had just started my freshman year of high school and I had other things on my mind. Like girls and marching band (yes I was a band nerd and yes we had band camp) and sports. There wasn’t time for Jesus in my life at least thats what I thought.
In the summer between my junior and senior year I started my first serious relationship and I was ecstatic. She was pretty and smart and best of all she actually liked me! Well that relationship would last for the three and a half years and it was not at all peaches and roses we fought a lot and the relationship was on and off again multiple times. Needless to say we broke up and it wasn’t pretty things were said on both sides that where very hurtful. This was kind of the begging of a bad downward spiral for me. I turned 21 shortly after the brake up and I started drinking and partying and it started to get out of hand. I would go out and drink and meet girls and get in relationships (and I use the term “relationships” loosely) and do things that I would regret later. I would try to find personal happiness in other people mainly other women but every time it turned out the same way me hurt and feeling alone.
In the spring of 2012 I met a girl through an online dating site. We started talking and found out we had some mutual friends. So we went on a date. Everything went awesome. It was little weird to meet someone on the internet but none the less we hit it off and once again I put my all into the relationship and would do anything to make her happy. Well about a month and a half after we started dating we decided to move in with each other and one of her friends from school. Around this same time m parents started going to another church after not attending a church since the last one we went to. Back to the girlfriend we moved into our new apartment and after three days she was done living with me and demanded I move out but she still wanted to keep the relationship going well as you can imagine I was pissed! I just moved out of my parents house and I wasn’t about to move back in but I did anyways and my parents were very understanding despite me making an absolute stupid mistake that should have never happened but this is where Jesus enters my life again. I went to church with my parents one weekend and as soon as I walked through the doors of Morningstar Community Church I new something was different about it. I left the church that morning with feeling that I was missing something in my life and that something (or someone rather) was Jesus Christ. My relationship eventually ended after I found out that she cheated on me multiple times with her ex. One of those times being the day I moved out of the apartment. Anyways enough of that, I had found Jesus again not that i ever lost him I just finally made the choice to run after him and begin again the most important relationship of my life. And I tell you what I haven’t looked back since that day. Jesus has taught me so much in the last three years and I’m still learning. Jesus is my everything and always will be. He has shown me what I’m really passionate about and what really matters in life which has lead me to the World Race and Im so excited for what God has in store for this trip! I’m excited to go out and be the hands and feet of Jesus. Im excited to be Jesus for people who are hurting and confused just I like I used to be. Im excited to see lives changed forever and to see my life change through out this whole journey!
So there is my life in a blog post. I hope you enjoyed and that it all made sense. I hope that as I continue this amazing adventure that you would stay up to date with my life.
To God be all the glory,
Andrew
