My Pastor Louie Giglio said recently: “If you have a story of Grace, then you have a story to tell.” Well, I definitely have a story of Grace and I have never been comfortable sharing some of this stuff, but I guess I have a story to tell. If God uses this story to bring Grace to just one person’s life, then I guess it is true. Here goes nothing…
I would say that I was in a dark place in life 6 years ago. I spent most of my high school, college, and few years after running from God. I grew up in a Christian home, read the bible, attended Church on Sundays, and had heard the story of the Gospel. However, I don’t think I ever grasped the fact that Christ lived a sinless life, hung on a cross, and then rose again for me.
I started my “party” days at a pretty young age. High school was all about having fun for me. I was in and out of trouble all the time. It was defintetly a miracle that I made it through alive. The weekend before the start of my senior year I fell asleep driving home from a football game in Athens. My car flipped end over end and I was ejected out of the sunrooof. Complete miracle that I only broke my leg and police said the only reason I lived is because I wasnt wearing my seat belt. After this, I started living every day like it was my last. I went to Ole Miss for school and my partying days picked up. I always considered myself Christian but I was living very far from a “christian lifestyle”. This really continued once I moved back to Atlanta after school right up until July 2009. I never knew what it meant to be “born again” until July 14th of that year.
All the years of alchohol, partying, etc. had let me to a place of depression and feeling as if I had no purpose in life. It all came crashing down on me that summer and I would say I hit what people call “Rock Bottom”. As bad as this is to say, I got to the point of not even wanting to live anymore. I knew God was there, however, I always thought that once I got older and started a family then that’s when I would really start to live for him. I had been going to Buckhead Church (by myself) for about six months and taking in the messages. I felt that every message Andy Stanley (the Pastor) gave was directed right towards me. That Sunday, Andy did a sermon on Grace. He said that nobody is too far from the Grace of God. I was in tears the entire message. I realized that I couldn’t run from God anymore and as soon I got home, I fell on my knees and literally cried out to God for him to save me. I didn’t even know what this meant but I told him that I want to surrender my life to him and that I never want to have this empty feeling again. I decided that day that I was going to make an effort to get back involved with church.
I had heard about a Singles Retreat to Destin that day at Church and I decided to sign up to go. This was a big step of Faith because I knew absolutely nobody going and didn’t really have 500$ to spare but something was edging me to go. Plus, I figured at the worst case a trip to the beadh would not be too bad. Listening to Christian music was something that helped me to focus on God and not everything else going on in my world, so the next day I decided I would leave that on my radio all day. All these thoughts were running through my head at work that afternoon about how selfish I was and how I needed to start living the way God wants me to again. I was in the elevator leaving the office and all these thoughts of changing were still running through my head. As I was walking out of the building, a homeless lady tapped me on the shoulder. I was a little freaked out so I kept walking. She said to me “excuse me sir, sir…” still a little bit scared I said “yes?” She says “are you a Christian?” I said “yes, why? “She said “praise god in everything you do”. I was so weirded out by the experience and all I could think to do was keep walking. I mean here I am in business clothes (seemingly having everything I would ever need in life) and here is this poor homeless lady on the side of the street in 100 degree weather with absolutely nothing and she tells me to praise god. That was literally god speaking to me through that lady. Craziest feeling I have ever had. As soon as I got in my car I had to sit there and think about what just happened. I was completely shocked. I had been trying to figure out what the name of a song I heard that Sunday at Church was called and sure enough the first song that came on the radio was “our god” by Chris tomlin. I was basically in tears the whole way home praying out loud for god to come back into my life. I prayed that he would completely take over my life. I finally realized that the only rock I needed in my life was my heavenly father and I wanted to live the rest of my life serving him.
That night I randomly connected with an old friend from college on Facebook, Allie Lewis, and decided to tell her that story. I had no idea what she would think because she knew me as the “party guy”, but I just did. It was definietlly uncomfortable because I had never shared my faith with anybody before, but something told me to share. Surprisingly, she was amazed by it. I asked her if there was any good books that I could start to read (other than the bible) that might help me and she recommended I read “the purpose driven life”. I went out and bought the book immediately. Once I got the book, I read the cover and it talked about a 40 day spiritual journey that the book will take you on. The author, Rick Warren, said to read one chapter a day for 40 days. I randomly looked at my calendar right after that and sure enough the 40th day was the last day of the retreat I signed up for. Those 40 days changed my entire life. Allie and I read that book together and I can only hope it did as much good for her as it did for me. I had spent 25 years searching for a purpose in life and I found it during those 40 days. To say that book and that 40 day period changed my life would be an understatement.
The one thing I needed going into the retreat was good Christian friends to surround myself with. During that time, God put some of the most amazing people in my life and they still have an impact on my walk to this day. The retreat that weekend was absolutely amazing. Over 30 people accepted Christ into their lives for the first time and about 20 got baptized in the ocean last night. Perry Noble, who was the speaker at the retreat, made me realize the importance of being baptized. In order to grow in my relationship with Jesus Christ I must go public with my faith. I was baptized as a baby, but had never done it on my own delcaration. I grew in my relationship with god so much that weekend that I decided I wanted to be baptized as well but I wanted my family and friends a part of it. A few months later (Nov 21st), with all my friends and family in attendance, I went public with my faith at the 6pm service at Buckhead Church.
That following year, I stepped into many leadership roles at Buckhead Church. I lead a group of middle school students at Transit and also lead many of the singles events. I joined an amazing mens bible study called “The Rock” that I still attend on Monday nights. I can’t tell you the impact that this group and these men have had on my life. In 2011, God led me to Passion City Church and that is where I plugged into and still call home. That year, I lead a group of High School Seniors and what an amazing experience that was.
I got the chance to go on my first overseas mission trip that year to Haiti. I really felt alive for the first time while I was in Haiti and a seed was planted in my heart that God was calling me into some type of full time ministry. A friend of mine on that trip mentioned an organization called “Adventures in Missions” and told me about a yearlong mission trip called “The World Race”. I remember checking out the website and instantly got excited and felt like this was what God was calling me to do. At the same time however, I was fresh out of college and searching for jobs. I decided to apply for The World Race and got accepted the same exact day I received the job offer from the firm I am still at today. Obviously, I chose to start my job as a financial adviser and nestle into the corporate world here in Buckhead.
I don’t think it is a coincidence that 5 years later the excitement and calling of this trip have come back into my life. Over the last few months I have had the feeling that God has so much more in store for me than what I am currently doing. I firmly believe the World Race has been the Lords calling for my life the whole time it just wasn’t the right time back then. I also believe the Lord wanted me to build up some “worldly success” over the last 5 years and then see if I would be willing to give it all up and follow Him. With that said, the last month has been a wild ride to say the least and it is only the beginning as I have applied again and been accepted to go on the World Race!! I will be leaving in January to become a full time missionary for 11 months in 11 different countries around the World.
The World Race has been His Will and His calling the whole time and I can’t run from it anymore. I will be giving up everything I have here and trusting Him with it all. After all, it is ALL His anyways. God has called me into a much Bigger and Greater story. The time has come for me to leave my comfort zone, love the way Jesus loves, and live radically for the sake of the gospel.
As I sit here about a month out from training camp, I am reflecting over these last 6 years. I know that every day has not been perfect and I have definitely gone through seasons where I drift from where God wants me. I know I have made mistakes and I want to continue to try and change myself for the better each and every day. The great thing is that I am so confident of where I am in my life right now and who I am in Christ. I can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store for me over the next year as I put my life in the hands of my Good Good Father. He certainly is a Good Good Father.
I know this story is long but I hope it can encourage somebody in someway. Even in your darkest hour, when you have nothing else to turn to and no purpose in life, there is a God in heaven who absolutely loves you and wants nothing more than for you to be happy in life. He is always fighting for you, is passionately pursuing you, and loves you no matter what.
A lot of the stuff I just shared is very personal to me and it defintely stretches me out of my comfort zone sharing. I know that God uses testimony to change lives and I can only pray that He will use this in ways that only He can. Like my pastor said “If you have a story of Grace, you have a story to tell.”
