This past weekend was the yearly Calvary Chapel Men’s Retreat at America’s Keswick. Once again Howay and I signed up to go, and by God’s grace, we got Joe and Alex to come with us. Of all the retreats I’ve been to, this was possibly the most powerful one, not because of the powerful songs we sang, or even the convicting sermons we heard. Rather, I was reminded, in a powerful way, of God’s grace upon our lives and the way He embraces us when we make that one decision to follow him, which we witnessed first hand in the life of a lost brother.
As we packed up the car Friday night to head out to Keswick, Joe mentioned that he was thinking about not coming and wanted to back out last minute. When I heard that, I knew God had big plans for us this weekend, but I just told them to keep an open mind and heart to what’s in store because when it comes to God, we can always expect great things. As the weekend progressed, it didn’t feel like God had any plans to change our lives around. None of us were especially convicted or touched by the worship, sermons, or small groups. Despite praying together with the guys on multiple occassions, nothing was happening, at least that’s what we thought. After dinner on Saturday, Joe, a backslidden Christian who grew up in a Christian home, shared with us his apathy and lack of motivation to change his lifestyle. Joe had gotten into drugs 5 years prior and it had been a big part of his life since, to the point where he was widely known by friends and aquaintances as the “weed head.” He shared that he had been wanting to change but never felt God convicting him to. He also confessed that he had no desire to pray for change, so instead, we (Alex, Howay, Peter, and I) said that we would pray for him on his behalf because as his brothers, we hated to see him continue down this path.
At the evening service, Pastor Lloyd made an alter call for anyone who wanted to rededicate their lives to the Lord. I thought for sure that Joe was going to walk up there, but he didn’t. I admit, I was a little disappointed, but I knew God still had time and he had a plan brewing, I just didn’t know how or when he would reveal it to us. As Howay and I left the sanctuary, we bumped into one of my small group members from earlier that day, Andy. By then Alex and Joe were deep in conversation with Peter, which we found out later to be about trying to save an innocent brother who was being lectured by another brother who mistook his recent stresses with studies to be a need for Jesus, but I digress. Howay and I got to talking with Andy and he shared a bit about his passion for hip hop music and his desire to turn it into a ministry. After hearing about some tracks he had been working on, we decided to check it out so we followed him to his car. We chilled in his car for a good hour, sharing our love for Christian hip hop, and just as we were about ready to leave, Joe walked up to the car to ask us to come out to the bon fire. But because I was so impressed by Andy’s songs I told Joe he had to get into the car and hear one of his tracks. Joe jumped into the car, introduced himself to Andy, all the while, he had no idea that God wasn’t going to let him out of that car the same person.
After the song ended, we got to talking about our faith and a little bit about our family backgrounds. At one point, Howay asked Andy to share his testimony with Joe because he too came from a background where God had to pull him out of a harmful lifestyle that would’ve ended in his demise were it not for the grace of God. As the sharing continued, it turned into more of a smack down on Joe about how harmful drugs are, but because deep down he knew he needed change in his life, he didn’t walk away. Again Joe persisted that he felt no conviction to change and if God really wanted him to change why didn’t He convict him? After about 3 hours, Joe finally confessed that he needed to change but he didn’t know how and doubted that he could follow through with giving up his old life. He was also fearful of how his friends would see him if he were to suddenly turn away from drugs and his old lifestyle. We told him that he only needed to make one decision at that point, and that decision was to turn to God and entrust his life into His hands. We encouraged him to pray and offered to pray with him if he desired to give God a chance. He agreed and turned to bow his head in prayer when, in an instant, the tears began pouring uncontrollably from his eyes. God had broken him. Joe, who once believed himself to be an emotionless, unconvicted man, experienced the grace of God and the result of making that one decision to follow Jesus.
If it were up to Satan, the story would’ve ended there and Joe would’ve gone home, forgotten about what God just did for him, and gone back to his old ways. As a matter a fact, we all would have if God did not form a bond of brotherhood between us during the time we spent at the retreat.
The day after we got back home, Howay, Alex, Joe and I got together for our first official TSM meeting since Isaac was born. The minute Joe and Alex walked through the door you could see the fire in their eyes and the joy in their faces for the news they were about to share. God had already begun working. Joe began sharing with us how after he got home he began disposing all the remnants of his old life but Satan had a plan to lure him back. Just as he finished cleaning out what he had, two of his friends arrived home, expecting business as usual, they began setting up for a couple hours of getting high. On a normal day, Joe would’ve been done setting up by the time the other guys showed up, but this time he just told his friends that he was done with drugs and he wanted nothing to do with it. The others respected his decision and proceeded to get high. A little later as they were sitting around talking, one of the guys mentioned, for an unknown reason, that he too was going to give up the drugs. Then out of nowhere, the guy who got Joe into drugs in the first place, stated he too was done with drugs if everyone else was going clean. God’s plans for Joe’s life was beginning to manifest itself with no input from Joe aside from turning to God in prayer. But again, it didn’t end there. The following day, Joe emailed us to tell us that his girlfriend, after having seen the changes in Joe and Alex’s life, also wanted to clean up and find and experience what they had over the weekend.
Though my story ends here, God continues to work in Joe’s life as well as the life of the people around him. Since this post was originally started, Joe has already brought his girlfriend to church and plans to bring another friend who’s expressed a desire to change and to seek God. This change in Joe’s life is only one example of God’s grace in the life of a person who chooses Him. I have no doubts that God can and will do the same for anyone who makes the same decision as He has for countless others in the past. Though not everyone struggles with drugs, if we’re honest with ourselves and carefully inspect our lives we would find an emptiness inside that only God can fill. No amount of motorcycles, riding, knee dragging, world championships, money, drugs or worldly desire can do what Jesus has done for you if you would only give him a chance to show you what that is.
