About Me
Hey, I’m Jeff. My blog is available at truje.tumblr.com. I’m 22 years old, born and raised in Michigan. I recently graduated from Michigan State. There’s a few things I really like to talk about and if you haven’t figured it out yet, I am not one of those things. I’d much rather talk about Jesus… or you. There’s a quote by C.S. Lewis that I’ve heard that I feel portrays why I love hearing your stories (and I just spent about a half hour trying to find it so I could give it accurately), “Let us always long to hear the stories of grace in others’ lives. Every conversion is the story of a blessed defeat.”
I guess since it seems to come up a lot I should also mention that I’m a non-denominational Christian. I’ve been to several different denomination’s churches and the more I’ve been to, the more I’ve realized God has put some things beyond our knowledge and though we must continue to seek truth in these matters, we must understand we may be wrong in some of our stances. In the end, what matters is Christ, His Lordship, His death, His resurrection, His mercy, His grace, and His oneness with the Father & the Holy Spirit (Probably some other things that are attributes of Him as well).
Testimony
I grew up going to church. In fact I went to a private school up through second grade. I guess it would come as no surprise that I accepted Christ as my savior at an early age. I don’t know the exact date, but it would have been around the time I was 4 years old. I’d prefer not to get into a whole lot of detail of some of the stuff during my childhood at this time, but this song really got me through some nights. Through that song, I was able to really see the power of God.
During my high school years, I really began living life my own way. The bible study groups I was a part of didn’t seem important. I began to get caught up in watching things that I really shouldn’t have. To everyone else, I seemed like a perfect Christian guy, but it was really just a facade. I was on a downward spiral. The spiral really began to escalate when I started dating a girl between my junior and senior year of high school. She was a year older and was doing the partying thing. As the relationship progress I was moving towards that lifestyle. I still hadn’t drank or had sex and she knew it, but I was getting to the point where if the opportunity presented itself, I probably would have.
Thankfully, that relationship only lasted about a month. She was going off to college and just got out of a relationship and didn’t really want to be tied down. But that wasn’t the end of it. The sexual temptations became worse for me. I remember, a few months later I was in church,the new girl I liked was wearing a low cut shirt and I tried looking down it. The Lord really caught me that day and revealed to me that who I was wasn’t who I was supposed to be. It changed my entire path. I wanted to be less… I’m going to go with perverted. I began to seek God more and tried cleaning up my life.
It was that day that I made a promise to that girl (though she didn’t know it) that I wouldn’t drink for her/my sake. I’ve since expanded it to my future wife (whoever that may be) though during special circumstances I allow myself a single drink. To this day I have only had 2 drinks both of which occurred after my 21st birthday (and neither on it).
But God has still been moving in my life. When I entered college, I had my plan. I was going to be a doctor, I was going to save lives and live a “clean” and “moral” life and I’d be all set. He had other plans for me. My second year in college, a couple of students involved in the Campus Crusade for Christ group knocked on my door and invited me out to the meetings and the dorm life group. I immediately felt at home there and got involved. That year I went out and shared my faith for the first time. During my third and final (I graduated early) year, I was set, in my plans again. I would join that dorm life group again I’d finish off my degree, etc. During a crusade praise and prayer night, the campus director asked me if I’d like to help start a life group in one of the freshmen dorms. Ironically it was right after I had said that this particular year I wasn’t going to ignore any opportunities the Lord presented me to share my faith. It took me a couple days of prayer and intense reading of the book the study was going to be on and I finally committed to it. I loved it. I was sharing my faith weekly, helping lead one day a week, going to the other dorm group another day, one on one discipling a freshman another day, and going to the weekly meetings another day. It was during this I was shown how much I was holding on to the security of the doctor job despite my distaste for some of the practices of the medical field and other issues. I also saw how much the one job that was always in the back of my mind (a pastor) but I was always afraid to take up seemed like a perfect option. I was doing ministry and despite rejection and attacks on my faith, I loved what I was doing. Through crusade Luke 12:22-34 was revealed to me and I was shown how much God loves me and has plans for me and that I don’t have to worry, I just have to trust Him.
And that really brings me to today. I’ve been seeking the path He has for me, because I want to do what He wants and I don’t want to keep getting in the way with my plans. Looking back on my life I see everything He did for me, He gave me hope in His power, He saved me from my own self-destruction, and He gave me a chance to trust Him with my life.
That’s what I hope to share with you. A chance to show you through my life that He has a plan for you that far exceeds anything you can think of, because He is a powerful, loving, saving, merciful, trustworthy God.
~JEFF~
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