Jesus and The Barbell (The Method, Part 4)

Over the last three parts of the Method, I have covered my story from age twelve to college, as it related to my love for the barbell.   The problem with these last few parts of the story is that I left out the most important part of the story.  During the early time of me finding my place in the gym and the love for the barbell, I actually found and started following my Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.   I would not be giving credit where credit is due,  if I didn't mention Jesus and how he has changed my life.

Let's back track in my story to sophomore year of high school.  This was the year I first heard about Young Life.  I remember a couple of times during the year, hearing about and going to what Young Life calls "Club".  I was not that involved, but knew what it was.   So What is Young Life?

Young Life doesn't start with a program. It starts with adults who are concerned enough about kids to go to them, on their turf and in their culture, building bridges of authentic friendship. These relationships don't happen overnight — they take time, patience, trust and consistency.  The mission  is to introduce adolescents to Jesus Christ and helping them grow in their faith.  (Young Life website)

At the start of my junior year, I saw one of the Young life leaders from the previous year at a football game, his name was Josh Stull.  I had probably only met him like 1-2 times the previous year.    He introduced me to Doug Finch.  It turned out that Doug was actually on staff with Young Life and heading up Young Life for  Cherokee County.  I didn't play football, but I was a big fan and loved going to the games.  To give you an idea of how I rolled in high school, this is a picture of me before one of the football games.   Doug would start to show up at the school during lunch hour.  Doug and  the other leaders would be at football games, basketball games, other school event, and even my wrestling matches.  God had placed Josh, and Doug directly in my path.  I had no idea what he was up too.  There were a couple other female leaders as well, Karen Akridge, and  Serena Parish (now Serena Stull).

After a few weeks or even months, Doug talked with me about hosting "Club" at my house.  I remembered vaguely what this was from the previous year, but I had no clue really what this meant. I talked with my parents and they were fine with it.   I started  to host club at my house, along with some of my other friends.   It was so much fun.  This might show my age, but at this time the leaders would show up with  an over head projector, with lyrics to songs we would sing.   Karen would play guitar, and lead us in  singalongs, songs like "Sweet Home Alabama"  and "Free Fallin".  We would  play games at "Club" like Chubby Bunny.  Compete against another student to see who could shove more marshmallows in their mouth and still say "Chubby Bunny".   I think even once we played Chubby Chihuahua, which is the same game played with pickled Jalapenos.   Lots of laughter would always follow.  The leader would have us sing more songs, but these were worship songs, which lead into a 10-15 min message on the gospel, introducing Jesus to students.

Up to this point in my life, I was a twice a year Christian, my family would go to church on Christmas and Easter.  The only reason we really would go is because my grandmother would invite us.   My Mom was raised in the church, but my brother and I were not.  We had Christian ideals  in our family, but I did not have a relationship with Jesus.   I think God was preparing my heart to come to know him.  I remember, as a kid, going to Sunday school class at my grandmother's church and hearing about Solomon and his wisdom.  So, anytime I prayed at night as a kid, I would ask God for wisdom and knowledge; that was all I would pray.  I think God heard these prayers and helped guide my path over the years to not go too far off the path.  My sophomore year I had my first experience with death, which sent me into at least a month of seeking to understand, Why?   My buddy in school, whom I was not best friends with, but would have lunch together and ran around the same crowd, died in tragic accident.  His name was Taylor Randahl and he was an amazing person.  He was dedicated to mountain biking, and he was  ranked one of the best mountain bikers in the nation.  His death had me searching for who God is and why he allowed these types of things to happen.  In many cases, this would lead people away from God, but I felt a comfort during this time, and I could not explain why.  I believe this was a turning point in my life, my heart was opening to the possibility of knowing God.      

As a junior in high school, you already know I was lifting constantly, wrestling, and now I was a primary person getting other students to go to Young Life.   Young  Life was a ton of fun, the leaders invested in me, and I knew the more of my friends I could get to Club the more fun it would be for everyone.  It was September of 2000, Josh and Doug, along with a few other students and my friends were asked to go to a weekend Young life Camp. We weren't going as campers, but as part of the "Work Crew" in Jasper, GA at Sharp Top Cove.  We would be volunteering at the camp working in the kitchen serving other high school campers, in October.  I agreed, not knowing what I was getting into.  It was a ton of work , but we also had a lot of fun.  Our group ended up in the Pits, aka we washed all the dishes.   When we got to the the camp and put our stuff in the bunks, Josh said we were going to have a Bible study.  I remember turning and saying "Bible... I don't have a Bible...I don't know anything about the Bible."  This weekend I met another leader, Kevin Gantz, whom I later served beside as a Young Life leader in college, he also drove me home from camp that year.  Work Crew is normally for those kids in Young life that are already Christians. I was not a Christian, but went to serve. Young life camp is what leaders build toward all year normally.  The short message during the week is only a small part of the Gospel. Once students get to camp, it is there that the entire Gospel is shared over a series of Clubs, building up to the cross and resurrection story.  Because we were working in the Pits, we were the last ones out of the kitchen.  We missed almost every Club that weekend.  The night of the Cross talk, we finished early enough for us to go to Club.  The speaker gave the message about how Jesus died on the cross for all of our sins and we have a choice to accept or deny Him.  He challenged everyone to go out and spend some time with God and listen about making this decision.  They turned out all the lights on the camp and no one was supposed to talk.  It was that clear starry night on the field at Sharp Top Cove (Shown Below) , in the mountains of North GA ,  I said "yes" to Jesus to be my Lord and savior.   

Some people have these amazing stories about how God instantly changed them.  Remember I am a scientist and need to work though things.   I didn't even let my leaders know that I accepted Christ that weekend.  I went home and started reading my Bible that I received at some Sunday school class that I went to when I was really little.  I was going to figure this out on my own.  The week we returned, Doug gave me a Young life Bible. It was the New Testament, along with Psalms and Proverbs.  

At this point, I had become friends with Seth Condrey.  He was known as a Christian kid at school, and was an amazing singer.  To this day, he is an amazing worship leader, singer and song writer with 6 albums, in Spanish and English.   I was talking with him one day at school, and let him know that I was starting to read the Bible to understand more about God.  He said if I pick him up before school, we could go to Chick-fil-a, and he would lead me in a Bible study.   We did this three days a week.  I jumped into the deep end and God was changing my life.   Shortly after this time, Seth wanted me to train him at the gym, and I started to go with him to church.   It was not long, I was learning more about having a real relationship with Jesus Christ, while hitting the weight at the same time.   You were probably starting to wonder how this blog is even about the barbell. The same time I was falling in love with the barbell, was the same time I made the most important influential decision of my life to follow Jesus.

Over the years, I have had many friends come train with me.  A few these have been close enough friends that we would train while discussing the Bible.  This has lead me to see many comparisons between my walk with Christ and the barbell.   Please don't confuse this with a worship of the barbell, but that there are comparisons in the spiritual and physical changes both Jesus and the barbell can have on your life.   

I would not be where I am today if not for Jesus in my life, guiding me.  In in the same way, I physically would not be where I am today if it were not for the barbell in my life.   I owe everything to Jesus.  Please leave comments or email if you have questions or are interested in knowing more about my story.