Philippians 2:1-4 (New Living Translation)
"1 Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? 2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose.
3 Don't be selfish; don't try to impress others. be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too."
I had an incredible experience on Wednesday night, and I want to share it because it encouraged me so much. I pray that it encourages you as much as it encouraged me. There is so much I want to say, but it is so hard to put it all into words! I'll do my best to explain everything.
I just finished my MBA in Edmonton, and not knowing where I am going for work, and planning to go to Quebec to learn french through the Explore program (Government pays room and board and tuition, as long as you are a student!), so figured I would move back to the farm until I find a job... no rent while at home! haha
I'll go back to the beginning:
I had a really hard time growing up in small town Saskatchewan, and was picked on a lot. I felt all alone, but had my family and my faith in God. I did my best to love my classmates, and prayed for them every night before I went to bed. It is a tradition during high school grad to give gifts to everyone in the class. I felt that God was calling me to give each of my classmates a gift of more value, so I gave each of them the New Testament in The Message translation. I wrote a little personal note in the cover of each, just saying that I was praying for them and knew that God has a plan for their lives. Growing up I was your typical Christian geek in many ways. I had never tasted alcohol, nor smoked a cigarette, and only went to a couple of parties (hockey parties or grad parties). I was very conservative in my approach and tried to argue topics such as evolution, abortion and homosexuality. A few years out of high school I started to look back and cringed at how I acted. I knew that my heart was in the right place, but my approach was off and I wondered if I should have done things differently.
Well, I have come to realize several times over the last ten years that God uses us and works through our feeble attempts to love people. I don't think my approach was the best way, but God used me in several people's live through those years and since! It seriously amazed me every time I see how God used me!
Last night was one of those nights. I heard that one of my high school classmates had moved back to town after his wedding in late 2009 and that God had gotten a hold of his life and transformed him. I hadn't seen him since a year or two out of high school and I felt that it was important to re-connect with him and meet his wife. I have felt the last couple of years that it is important to connect with old teammates, classmates and friends when I come back home. Unfortunately, I haven't done a very good job of that due to living fairly far away and only ever being back to the farm for short periods at a time. But, I found Todd's company email and got a hold of him.
Todd and his wife invited me over for barbecue steak and I had a really awesome visit with the two of them. It was so awesome to share our stories of how God has been working in our lives since high school and just a real time of fellowship and encouragement. I shared my feelings from growing up, and how I kind of regretted the way that I did some of the things that I did. I barely had the words out of my mouth and Ashley said that I was completely wrong and shared with me how much Todd has talked about me over the years and how much of an impact God had had on Todd's life through my life in school! Todd told me about how he kept The Message that I gave him by his bed for years after high school grad, and when life kind of crashed he started reading it and then met Ashley and the two of them journeyed together to finding God, and he had mentioned my name to Ashley many times. He mentioned my name so often that when they met my brother and his wife her ears perked up and she wondered if he was my brother!
It was so cool to hear their story of how they pushed each other to find God and to see how they are pursuing Him now!
One thing that stood out to me in our conversation was how Todd talked about how about a year out of high school we saw each other at a senior mens hockey game and I approached him and asked how he was doing. He expected me to resent him for how he treated me in school and instead I cared about how he was doing and didn't seem to even acknowledge what had happened before. He said this rattled him for quite a while! He asked me how I could possibly not resent him. I told him that I prayed for my classmates every night and I knew that it wasn't a personal thing, I was just the person that everyone picked on growing up. I knew that they didn't have a relationship with Jesus, so didn't know any better. How could I resent someone when I prayed for them very night!?
We had some amazing conversations about the struggles of being a Christian in a small town, Ashley is from Edmonton, and I reiterated several times that I am glad that I stayed in Eatonia for high school, and didn't take off to a Christian high school in another town. I admitted that it was very difficult to live in Eatonia, but I do not regret it at all! When I see how God used me as part of the process to change lives of some of my classmates and teammates, such as Todd, it makes it all worth it!
Ashley wrote a blog after, and I think it sums up a lot of what happened over the night. We often don't know how God uses us and how much the simple act of re-connecting can mean for someone. I never realized how important it would be for me to talk to Todd and show him that he was forgiven and that I didn't harbor any ill feelings. I was so encouraged during the evening. Really wish that it didn't have to end. Such a great couple and wish that I lived closer so that we could spend more time just talking about life together! Amazing how quickly we got past the introductions and got deep in our conversation... I think I saw about a minute of the Bruins-Flyers game that we were "watching!" haha:
Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me;
all day long an attacker oppresses me;my enemies trample on me all day long;
for many attack me proudly.
When I am afraid,
I put my trust in you.
In God whose word I praise,
in God I trust ; I shall not be afraid.
What can flesh do to me?
~Psalm 56: 1-4My 2nd feature in my "28 DAYS OF OTHERS" I had the pleasure of meeting just last night. Some may find it strange that I have chosen a person I've known less than 24 hours but the decision for me was without question the obvious choice. JADON FRANK grew up with Todd in Eatonia and over the past five years of being with Todd I've heard his name plenty of times. As most of you know, and without going into every detail Todd and I did our Faith walk together a few years ago. Along our spiritual journey we found struggles and barriers, pain and guilt in our past and a comforting light and strength in our future. One of the people that remained on Todd's heart was Jadon. His influence on Todd had been so impacting on his life in a positive way and yet Todd's reflection on how he was to Jadon left him feeling broken, embarrassed and ashamed. We prayed about it over the years but I understood last night that when Todd announced Jadon was coming for supper that it was finally time to heal. When I met Jadon it was wasn't like shaking the hand of a stranger. I meet people all the time through my work but this time was different. Having Jadon here was like having an old friend from the past that we could laugh, tell stories and be 100% real with. Jadon just finished his MBA and along with his intelligence his character proves strong, forgiving, driven, and compassionate.
Ashley
Seriously, reading that had such an impact on me. Brought a tear to my eye and really moved me. It was such a spirit filled evening!
The biggest things that I am trying to say in this is that God works through us and uses us even when we don't feel like He is! God is so powerful and changes people, and it is such an honor that He uses our efforts, even when they sometimes feel like they are not done well!
It is also amazing how much just talking to a person can mean so much! I had no idea that my talking to Todd at the hockey game would mean so much, or that Todd had been harboring feelings of guilt and brokenness for all of these years. I am encouraged just to re-connect with people and trust that God will use that time how He wants, whether that means just showing that I do care about them, or going deeper and encouraging each other in our faith walk!
And I feel so blessed to have re-connected with Todd and met Ashley. It was such an encouraging time and I am just in awe of how it felt like we were old friends, even though I had only just met Ashley and hadn't talked to Todd in almost a decade! The fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ! It is an incredible thing!
