My Life Story
Growing up like a young pine sapling in the mountains and forestlands of eastern West Virginia, life was a marvelous thing. There was always new mountains to explore, dams to build, trees to climb, animals to catch, and life to me was an adventure just waiting to happen. When I reached school age my parents choose homeschooling. For me, home schooling was a glorious experience. It not only provided me with a very personalized education but allowed me explore in depth my interests in medieval castles, the effects of rats on economics, acid rain and much more. I spent my free time reading adventure novels, inventing new creations with Legoes and teasing my three younger brothers. I spent fourteen wonderful years this way.
When I was fourteen I enrolled public school. Highschool was a time of searching for my own indenity. Like many other highschool guys, much of my energy was spent focused on girls, soccer, chess, getting good grades and worrying about my self-image! At the same time, however, I was also tackling some pretty BIG questions like: "Who in the world am I?" and "Is there really a God?" and "Who is He and does he have a plan for my life?" Up until this time I had premarily lived off my parents convictions. However, these questions drove me to search even deeper for the answer. Even though I had been raised as a "Christian" I still believed deep inside that something I was missing and I felt I needed discover it without my parents.
Then in January of 1995 I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to abroad to Canada, Taiwan, Hong-Kong and Malaysia with Youth With A Mission, (YWAM) Montana. Through a five month long "Discipleship Training School" which included three months of training and then two month outreach I found what I was looking for. Previously I had always pictured God as someone far away, condemning my every move. Suddenly, however, God became real and alive in me. I began see world and other people through his eyes. Also I began to find that my own value rested in his incredible love. I discovered much to my amazement that God speaks to us all the time, I had just not been listening. I found Him to be like a father -a perfect father. He words were words of encouragement like, "I'm proud of you, Jesse!" "You are incredible." "I made you!" "I formed you while you where still in your mother womb." You are incredible -not because of anything you have done- but simply because you are mine!"
Who can refuse a God who loves you this much. Who can push away the King of the Universe when He stoops from his mighty throne above to help someone like me. And yet I am no-where close to perfect. I have struggled in my sexuality, relationships, friends, family, school, church and much, much, much more. My failures laid the path that brought Jesus into my life. Even after I have become strong I now realize that Jesus holds the universal power of life. Jesus was not a drug I took and then my problems vanished. No, my problems have increased since my coming to Christ! However, I have found the upward struggle towards Christ is so much more refreshing than the downslide of the world. Jesus holds the incredible power to change us into someone like Him. He replaces the hate, bitterness and aimlessness with unexplainable joy! When I realized that Jesus can transform my thorn bush into a rose bush, my grave into a garden, my mere existence into a life with purpose, that when I found that life was meant to be a struggle. It is by only letting the Lord Jesus Christ enter and transform your life will you discover life the way it was meant to be lived.
I'm God's Champ!