Can I tell you a story?
You’re still reading so I am guessing the answer is “Yes”.
About 31 years ago I met a kid down the street. We were Maverick and Iceman, we were GI Joe’s, we were the Street Bike Gang, we were Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth. We came from different homes, different backgrounds, different trajectories, but here we are. Let me introduce to you my friend Kevin.
He is not perfect, actually, he is not really a good guy. Just kidding. We all have our faults. He made choices throughout his life to this point. Choices with real world consequences. Yet, here we are.
Our paths diverged through junior high school, in fact we spent over 20 years with zero contact. Yet here we are. And do you know why? God thrust Kevin back across my path like an iceberg on the Titanic’s maiden voyage. So, here we are.
Kevin and I met, caught up, covered a lot of ground from the over 20 years of not seeing each other. I shared with him my life, my experiences and my current situation. Kevin shared with me his, and we were together again on a path.
We began meeting on a semi-regular basis to talk, counsel and devour some scripture together…we were going through a discipleship book together at the time. Then life happened. My third, youngest and last, son Davis decided to karate chop his way out 9 weeks premature. After 5 weeks in the Neonatal ICU we still had to be with him over the next few months at home. My time with Kevin was on pause, but God was still working behind the scenes. We still texted occasionally, still had a few lunches together but we were not on the trail side by side again.
In 2017 Hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated Puerto Rico, and as a result I had the privilege and honor to lead a team of 10 of us to do mission work in the summer of 2018. I was also honored to have another friend join me, one who I had also met in 1988. Jason, who is hilarious and outgoing. He has a zeal for life, a hunger for God and a testimony that only God can provide from Jason’s past decisions. We were roommates on the trip. The topic of Kevin came up, and we discussed his journey, his past, and his potential future. We both agreed that if he would completely surrender to God, to allow the Holy Spirit to move in his life and work on his rough edges that Kevin would have the potential to really become a mouthpiece for the Lord!
Fast forward now to the end of the summer of 2019. Kevin, after waffling in his faith, dabbling in things he ought not to, and choosing to live a life that glorified himself, was at a crossroads. I will let him tell you the rest… follow his blog Battle for Souls.
