I’ve known Jeff for years. Seven to be exact. He came to be our youth pastor when we were at our worst with open wounds that held distrust and uncertainty. We had been hurt by one of our own, and were very hesitant to let another in that could easily do the same. But in time Jeff’s corny jokes and off-the-wall humor broke through our walls and replaced our tears with laughter. He began with Underground, and what a fitting name for the ministry, since he found us under the ground as idle seeds that had been planted, but had yet to be feed into maturity.
As I look back at the many seasons we went through together, and are still going through, I remember the hot summers and the long winters. Often our group would lose a few during the dry times. Our friends would wander off into rebellion or lose interest in the straight and narrow. Yet all the while Jeff was there.
He taught us that this life is a battle and that we have to fight for the lives of others, and the salvation of others. He’s spurred us on in this fight with his constant encouragement; and some of our friends have found their way back since those days, others we still long to see return.
The element of Jeff’s character that never ceases to amaze me is how he easily unifies a group of people. We joke that he always has such great connections, and the reality is he connects many of us to each other in a web of lives. Jeff’s connected me to some extreme opposites that I would never have dreamed would become my closest friends.
Nat and I are best friends, but it hasn’t always been that way. Our immature hostility towards each other was dissipated when Jeff challenged us to leadership in our high school years. In our college years when we went through rebellious times of uncertainty that our friendship hardly withstood Jeff was there again to challenge us in Christian living. Nowadays we call each other sister and hold each other accountable to the truths he encouraged us in.
Jeff, as you enter a new season of your life my heart is torn, excited for your new adventures to come and sad for the changes. May you know how big a web your life has woven for us. I treasure the years behind us and can’t wait to see what’s ahead. If this is just the beginning can you imagine what’s in store?
