A close friend of mine told me to just start writing so I think thats what I’ll do. I say this because over the next year I will continue to “blog” and up front I want to tell you these won’t be any carefully planned or grammatically correct masterpieces, however; they will be the amazing stories and events that are taking place in my life and more importantly how God is shaping my heart and the heart’s of those I encounter.
Moving forward I’m sure those of you who have made it to this blog are curious as to what MY story is and how/why you are here. My story is similar to many, but like the title of this blog states, it is far from cliché. What I mean by this is that most all testimonies ultimately have the same ending, a life devoted to Christ or a turn around of some sort. What I want all of you to understand is my journey and my path because that is what God has used and continues to use to develop me into a powerful tool that is dangerous for the kingdom of God.
Growing up I was always in church and the way I see it is that I was there, but most of the time I really wasn’t there. I was in church every Sunday that I didn’t have a soccer tournament and I really just went through the motions for many years, especially in my high school years. With this said I am so grateful my parents kept at it and even though I dreaded those Sunday mornings where my dad would come in singing “Rise and Shine and Give God the Glory Glory !” Yeah so anyways I feel lucky that I did get it together at age 18 instead of many years later into my life. Those countless sunday mornings and wednesday night church groups did sink in though and when I did come to this realization that I was fed up with how I was living I did have the knowledge of what to do, and that was to turn to God and rely solely on him for the first time ever.
My early years are pretty much a blur of soccer and friends and typical middle school drama so I’ll spare you those exciting glory days.
Now is when things got real, high school, the big leagues. I feel as though all four years of my time at Niceville High School were spent seeking approval and more so a friend group. Of course I had my best friends that I still have today who I had grown up with and played soccer with for countless years, but now there were bigger and cooler crowds who were trying new things and I wanted to be a part of that, big time. Just to let you know how desperately I sought to fit in with this crowd I’ll tell you the story of my first drink. So I went into my brothers car and found a warm, old Natural Light beer can and took it (sorry Russell) and proceeded to pour it over ice and drink it in the shower which sounded like a great idea at the time. Long story short I took one sip and almost threw up, but I said to myself if I wanna fit in I’ve got to be able to drink at least 5 or 6 of these gross things to show them I’ve got what it takes. This was just the beginning and I continued to dip my foot in the water and soon enough I was in over my head and a few years later and many drinks later I was in handcuffs in the back of a cop car after attempting to steal alcohol from a Walmart (genius right ?) No, so that was rock bottom for me. I spent all these years wasting time and “trying out” continuously for a group of friends who didn’t care about me in the least. Along with these pains I sought to find escape and happiness through my girlfriend. Don’t get me wrong we could’ve been a powerful couple in and through christ, but our decision making led us down a dark road that eventually tore us both apart. After graduating High school last year and when all these things were coming to a painful climax I heard the voice in my head, “It’s time to come home.” In many, many ways I am the prodigal son, from me returning to my own family and building a real and lasting relationship with them to handing my life back to God.
If you’ve made it this far I deeply appreciate you and don’t worry now is when the light breaks through the clouds and the good times start to roll and the heartbreak/pain cease. It was around November of 2014 that I said to myself I need to start making changes, I desperately needed a complete turnaround. I knew this was only possible by relying on the strength of God and his word so I truly started to give every flaw and pain I had to him and he quickly renewed my soul and gave me direction on what was next. As I had my last drink, as I stopped lying to my parents, as I fled from sexual immorality, and so on I found new friends who encouraged me and held me accountable. In early January I began to serve at the church and ever since then I have felt the call to serve that I felt in years passed when I was on the right track for brief moments. The last two years I have sought to go on the Guatemala mission trip that my church organizes every summer and like last year it fell through again and a friend who was at this meeting with me told me about the World Race and a few days later God placed that thought in my head and I looked it up and prayed over it then applied and soon after in late February I was accepted. The rest is history…
Now it’s time to dig deep and prepare myself for this life changing adventure I will embark on in early September of this year. I can see and feel God shaping me in more ways than one and I ask that each and every one of you reading this would consider praying over myself, my teammates, and this journey all together from this point on until we return. Along with steadfast prayer I invite you to take part in this furthering of God’s kingdom and support my cause financially. I must raise close to $12,500 and I know that God will provide and I ask that you prayerfully consider taking a part in this opportunity to serve.
With all of this said I can’t describe how grateful I am for this opportunity and to have the support that I already have. For those of you who donate a dollar to one thousand dollars or to those of you who pray one prayer I want to thank you in advance for your love of the Lord and your help in the next chapter of my life.
God Bless You
-Parker W
