Who The Heck Are You?

One of the big reasons (excuses) that I always gave Dena for not going to church was that I didn't want to attend if I wasn't going to give 100%. Anybody who knows me, knows that I don't believe in half-assing much of anything. I mean, what's the point in going to a church service if you're just going to sit there looking at your watch the whole time? I didn't want to be one of those people who just show up on Sunday mornings to get their ticket to Heaven stamped for that week. After my meeting with Tommy, I decided to jump right in...

As a new and mobile church that meets in a high school auditorium, ICC needs all the help they can get with setting up prior to and breaking down following the service each week. It's a pretty big production setting up a reception/snack area in the lobby, a children's area, and the auditorium/stage area. I'm not exactly known for volunteering for anything but I immediately volunteered my services for the set-up team. I started out by helping to do just about anything and everything that needed to be done - setting up the reception and children's areas, assisting with parking, and taking the offering was my main focus each week until I was approached about helping with the auditorium/stage set-up, which I was very open to doing. Sunday mornings are usually pretty long for Dena and me, but busting my butt helping my friend Tommy get ICC rolling and doing it all for Jesus is way better than laying on the couch watching some stupid show on TV - did I just say that?

As the weeks passed, Tommy and I made it a point to get together weekly to discuss the Bible and become better friends. He provided me with assigned reading and then we would discuss what I had read. I'm not exactly know for being much of a reader but I decided to give it a try so we started with the book of Matthew. My experience with reading the Bible in the past was one of complete non-comprehension. It always seemed like it was written in a language that just didn't make any sense to me. With Tommy and Dena's help though, the messages started making a lot of sense to me. Even though a lot of what Jesus said through his parables can be confusing the main messages are quite clear. Even his disciples didn't always get it so I guess I'm not a complete moron after all. There's a reason why people study the Bible for years and years.

I wish I could say that I immediately bought in to everything I was reading and hearing but I still resisted for some reason. Life and work were still a pain in the rear end and I still made it a point to blame God when something went wrong. I'm sure I even considered chucking the whole church thing on a few occasions. I guess I was expecting some over-night change. I have to remember that living for Jesus is marathon and not a sprint.

This resistance came to an end in October 2007. I remember having a major breakdown after an electrical job I was doing didn't go quite as well as I hoped. I don't think it was a conscious decision, but at that point I gave my life up to Jesus entirely. Things started going better on jobs, I was working smarter, I was more patient when things did go wrong on a job, I didn't panic as much when work was slow, etc. Most importantly, I wasn't blaming God when things went wrong. I know I was getting better as an electrician through experience but something else was helping me get through the days...I had Jesus as my electrician's helper and from what I've seen of the electricians out there, he's way more reliable and hard-working than any of them.