Amazing Grace: Chris' Faith Journey- Part 3
Hi friends! On today’s Draw Near to Me post we begin part 3 of Chris’ testimony. In part 2, I really commend Chris for being so transparent with areas in his life that must have been hard to walk through. His honesty for his past failings is refreshing because we all have places where we fall so short. I believe there was great wisdom to be gained from his experiences. We left off with Chris realizing that despite his life being far off God’s path for him, God was still with him and could still use him. Let’s dive into part 3 of Chris’ story. Enjoy!
I bought into what God was doing at my church. I began asking more and more, “Lord, what do you want me to do?” Pastor Joby often reminds us to get into a discipleship group, serve and go on a short-term mission trip. I began to do each one by one.
First, I got into a men’s group. It changed my life to the point that I will tell any guy to get around other men. Sometimes I wish God had shown me this before, but I probably would not have listened back then.
It took me a year to share my story with my men’s group because I was so scared. I felt like the other guys had it so together and my life was such a mess. I spent a year pretending as they talked about wives and families. I continued to say “my wife” even though I was divorced. I did not think there was any way I could share what I had done with those guys.
Finally, I picked one guy that I trusted and asked him to meet for coffee. I told him everything. He encouraged me to share it with the group, but I thought there was no way I could do that. Months went by. I said nothing about it to the group because I was waiting for the right guys to be there. I didn’t want to share with men outside of the core group that didn’t know me. So, I kept waiting.
One week, we had the biggest number of men show up to group. There were about 15 people there. While the guy next to me was talking, I felt the Holy Spirit wanted me to speak. He was turning on all these words. I tried to withhold them. I was fighting it and thinking, “Nope, nope, nope. I’m not doing it. This is the biggest group we’ve ever had. People I don’t even know are here.”
There are moments in your life where you really feel how real God is. That was one of those moments. When the other guy finished talking, it was like a spigot had released and the faucet opened up. With my focus looking down, I told the guys everything. I was crying and broken down. I barely got it all out.
It felt like forever. When I finally looked up I saw that the guy across from me was crying. He said, “Chris, forgive us for not showing you that you had an open place to share this with us.” The guys thanked me for sharing everything. I thought, “Dude, didn’t you hear what I said?” Then they reminded me that I was in good company because we all mess up. It still chokes me up thinking about it now.
When I began to look back over my life, it hit me that Jesus loved me even through everything. In every major crisis there was something in me that told me to go to church. It was as if God was saying, “Hey, I am always here.” Every time God drew me back. I now see that He can still use me, even if I had destroyed everything around me. To any guy that is going through a hard time, I would say stay with God. Keep doing what He is calling you to do. Don’t run from Him, run to Him.
I began serving at the church and decided to go on my first mission trip. In 2024, I went to Scotland on mission. It is by no means a third world country. We didn’t get dropped in the middle of a jungle. We didn’t have to hack our way to an ancient tribe to share the gospel or anything like that. However, the experience still changed me.
As we helped the church we were partnering with, I began to see what other Christians faced in a political and social atmosphere that was more against Christianity. God began to plant in me an understanding of the challenges that others faced to extend the gospel. On that trip I also met my friend Shannon. She really helped me in something bigger that God called me to a year later.
My experience on short-term mission in Scotland was so awesome that I could not wait to go on another trip. I’ll be honest though; I did not want to go back to Scotland because it was freezing there in February! It is like being in northern parts of Canada. I thought, “Okay Lord, let’s go someplace hot.” So, I went on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic in July.
We were partnered with a great organization, Mission of Hope, in the Dominican Republic. They served Hispaniola, which is the whole island of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It was eye-opening for me. Not only was the trip more evangelistic, but the communities we visited were not well off monetarily. Their everyday life was so different. We were sent out to churches and communities to see what the needs were and to share the gospel.
Even though people lived with very little, they were so wonderful and welcoming. You could walk into someone’s home, which was the size of a kitchen in the U.S., and they pulled chairs out of nowhere. We went from one house to the next. We often sat down and talked with people through an interpreter and they welcomed us to stay as long as we wanted. We met so many good people while walking around the community and through the kids’ camps that we helped with.
There was one Christian lady that stuck out in my mind. We heard music coming from her house as we walked by and knocked on her door. The whole morning we sat with her in her home. At one point she asked if we wanted cookies and juice. We had previously been told that people were very hospitable and enjoyed welcoming others so we said yes.
Immediately, the woman called a kid over to go out to buy juice and cookies. We protested, explaining that we didn’t realize that she did not already have some. She said, “This is what’s important. Us being together and fellowshipping this way.” Later she made us coffee, walked us around her property and even had a relative climb up a tree to cut some coconuts down for us. It was so different than anything I had experienced before. It struck me that I am not sure what I would do if random strangers came to my door in America.
In one of our last days in the Dominican Republic, we met an older man who wanted to receive Christ. I was so fortunate to be able to lead him in that prayer of salvation. I don’t know if it’s something I’d ever done before. After we had prayed with him, we asked him if he had a Bible. He did not.
That trip had such a profound effect on me. When our team arrived back home, I thought about that man we had prayed for. God really laid it on my heart that being able to give people Bibles may be a great open door. It went from this thought and some conversations to being a prayer to God. I kept thinking, “Lord, there’s a need there. We need to provide Bibles for these people because they don’t have them. There’s no Barnes & Noble or Books A Million down the street from them. The churches there don’t have enough and the people don’t have money to buy them.”
Suddenly, a conversation I had with my friend Shannon came rushing back. Over a year ago, during the Scotland mission trip, she had told me about Soles by Grace. It was a non-profit organization that she established to serve the people of Kenya. At the time I had asked her what made her do that. She replied, “I just saw a need and when you see a need you just go fill it.”
The need I saw was to get people Bibles. It was on my heart, but I was so scared from past insecurities. I always had this fear of failure. I wondered about what would happen if I stepped out in faith. What if it failed? What if it got messed up? What if it didn’t work?
Soon after, I was at church and heard Pastor Joby say something in a sermon. I’d heard it before and this time it hit. The question was, “What would you do for the glory of God if you knew it wouldn’t fail?” That was followed by a second question which was, “Why aren’t you doing it?” I realized it was time to step out and do this.
A couple of weeks after the mission trip, our team got back together to talk about the experience. I was scared to tell everyone about my idea to get Bibles to the Dominican Republic. I had this voice in my mind telling me that they would think I was an idiot or they would inwardly make fun of me and think, “Oh, look at Chris. He got so emotional and attached. Isn’t that sweet?” Regardless, I brought up this idea I had at the meeting. I had such fervor and zeal for it. I knew this could be done.
I truly felt that God wanted me to do this. I mean it’s even on their flag! The Dominican Republic is the only country that has an open Bible in the center of their flag. What a great place to extend the gospel by bringing Bibles to them. I did not want to do a one-off thing where we got donations and sent Bibles once. I felt like it was going to be an organization.
After leaving that meeting, I called my friend Shannon. I wanted to ask her for insights on where to start. I trusted the Lord with what was on my heart. I just felt like we had to get the Word out there. As I spoke to Shannon, it was like a spigot had turned on again. I shared my ideas and told her that I did not know where to start. What was I supposed to do? Thankfully, she shared the path that she went down to get her non-profit started. It was like a blueprint was laid out for me in every way possible. Our pastor once said that God will confirm what He is calling you to do. This was one way in which He confirmed it. It was time to move.
To be continued.