The story of me….
I grew up in a rather small town called Wheatley, Ontario, with probably the best family anyone can get. Being the youngest in the family, I would love to hang out with all my older siblings. Here's a really old picture of me and my siblings plus some cousins ( btw I'm the really cute one on the far left with the brown jacket, I know. Cute huh. )
My childhood overall was pretty great. A Christian home with great parents and siblings. What's not to like? Well as my siblings got older it became "uncool" to hang out with me ( even though I was pretty cool myself ) and I began to feel like I wasn't really worth much. I spent alot of my time alone and turned into a pretty shy guy who liked to just sit in the corner quietly for the most part. I became quite the selfish guy, you know everthing was for me and to make me happy or i got angry. But God blessed me with a wonderful youth ministry that I started attending at around age 14. I didn't realize it then but I was learning alot about God and His truths, I simply never applied them. Didn't know this either but your friends help shape who you are well at least they influence you to think like they do. Luckily I had some pretty great friends who never got me into too much trouble.
In January of 2009 one of my cousins who was a very close friend of mine was killed in a car accident by someone who was under the influence. It didn't make sense to me how God could let this happen. I was heartbroken, looking for answers. That's when God decided to show up. I had never felt so close to God before, it was like I could feel Him next to me. Holding me in His arms. I really can't explain what happened in that moment but i know i turned my life over to Him. Luckily I have some great friends that helped me as well and have been growing in their faith with me.
Ya, great group of guys huh. Seriously though these guys have really made a huge difference in my life. Probably wouldn't be where I am today if I had never had some of those moments where they encouraged me or held me accountable. That's about when I went on a mission trip to Haiti in August of 2010, and it shattered me. I absolutely fell in love with everything in Haiti. I felt God's Presence there so much and I learned so much about myself and more importantly God. So many things happened there that I'm not sure if I can writeabout it all in one blog. You gotta love VBS in Haiti though.
These kids all just totally stole my heart and I'm pretty sure I left some of it there. After I returned from Haiti nothing felt right to me anymore. So I spent alot of time praying trying to figure out the next step God wanted me to take. And then I found out about The World Race, I immediately wanted to go and God has really confirmed that it's where He wants me. We serve an awesome God and I'm just starting to realize how different my life is from what I thought it would be or where I thought it would go. To think that GOD has plans for ME! To think that my imperfections can be made perfect in HIM! To think I can go out and be His hands and feet to the world! To think I can show HIS love to everyone just like it was shown to me!
God can do whatever He wants with me, and I'll follow Him happily.
P.S. Wierd fact about me, I still love LEGO's. Seriously there the best. 🙂
