Even though my parents were Christians, Jesus was never a very consistent part of my early life. I can remember playing with my friend, Alex, down the street in his basement, and hearing singing or something above us. It was nothing to me at the time, and I just dismissed it as some church thing.
Then, going into my teenage years and early twenties, my life began to spiral. I sought drugs, parties, drinks; I failed out of school, ruined relationships, and then I was in a drunk driving accident. All of this brought me to my knees and I didn't know what to do. That was when God stepped in, and revealed to me a brand new path forward.
Fast forward to my first missions trip when I was in Hungary. There I met the Kovács family. They shared stories of turning to and heroically clinging to Jesus when the Soviet Union invaded their homeland. In their living room, they showed me a picture. It was their family, sat in a very familiar living room--and next to them was my friend, Alex. Right there in his family's house, right above where I dismissed churchy things time and time again.
While I was downstairs playing, they were upstairs praying.
For most of our lives, it seems like we struggle to get a glimpse of God's vantage point. To see how things connect and twist and form a tapestry for his glory. Sometimes that tapestry is such an incomprehensible thing, but that day I felt like I got to see my part in it.
Even as I was young, faithless, and dismissive, God was waiting for me. His work was being done all around me, and He patiently knew I would soon grow to see it.
And so that is what I want to do.
God's Work. His Kingdom. His Glory. Our Hands.