The Men of Iron Minute
by Steve Glick | Director of Marketing Strategy
God Met Me in Liberia and Changed My Life
As we close out the week, I want to share with you guys the next part of my restoration story. This was my journey back to God, my salvation moment. The cool thing about our faith journey is that it is an ever-evolving journey. Giving your life to Jesus isn’t the end of the story, it’s the start of a new chapter.
God is always working in our lives.
As I shared on Wednesday, in 2007 my dad invited me on a missions trip with his church to Gulfport, Mississippi. I hadn’t been to church in a long time, let alone a mission trip. The thing that made it a yes for me was that I viewed it as a working trip and an opportunity to work alongside my dad.
Looking back, this trip was the catalyst to me giving my life to Jesus. All week I worked alongside my dad, building homes. I spent time working alongside other godly men as well. One in particular was Bob Bender. Bob is one of those guys that just radiates Jesus. Every conversation with Bob is like a mini-Bible study. His responses were always steeped in scripture and Holy Spirit ordained. In the moment I didn’t know what Bob had, but I wanted whatever it was.
Coming back home from that trip life looked pretty much the same for me over the next 12 months. I didn’t have a come-to-Jesus moment in Mississippi, but God was working. A few months later I ended up at my dad’s church on a Sunday morning and heard an opportunity to go to Liberia, Africa on a mission trip. I remember finding the leader of the trip after the service and telling him I was going to go with him. He seemed to give me a look like, “Okay kid, sure you are.”
I was determined to go on that trip. The next couple of months were hard. Trying to raise money for a mission trip when I wasn’t even living a life for Jesus. I felt like a fraud. How can I ask my family and friends to support this mission trip when I didn’t even know Jesus?
The enemy tried to tell me I wasn’t worthy or good enough for God’s love. But God saw me. He saw the potential, the purpose He created me for, the man He designed me to be.
I ultimately took that trip to Liberia, West Africa. In the middle of the African bush I remember saying to God, “I can’t do this on my own anymore.” I don’t want to waste another second chasing after the things of this world and not chasing after You. It was 5,000 miles away from home that I gave my life to Jesus.
The end of the story should be that I came back home, and everything was roses and sunshine, but that’s not how life works. The next year of my life was one of the hardest seasons I have ever walked through.
But with a newly built, firm foundation in Jesus, nothing could shake me. The restoration was far from over, but God started removing the dust and rust and the shine was starting to break through.
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