As you can see from the clip, one small occurrence that seeming creates tiny ripples can actually create large waves. Many people call this coincidence, fate, or luck. I have come to believe that instead, the Lord in His infinite wisdom orchestrates and ordains these occurrences to fulfill His perfect will. The scriptures affirm this viewpoint, as seen in Proverbs 16:33 which says "The lot is cast into the lap, but the decision is wholly from the Lord." Why am I bringing this up? Because recently I have found myself in a place that I probably should have never been, and when I traced how I got here back to the beginning, I found that seemingly unimportant events earlier in my life were providentially ordained by the Lord to lead me to where I am now. Let me explain via a snippet of my testimony.
It was spring break of my junior year of high school and me and a few buddies decided to go snowboarding. A church from our area was going to the same mountain as us, so we decided to meet up with a few folks we knew, one of whom was a cute girl that I had been wanting to meet (why is it that every story starts with a girl?). Anywho, we met up with them and decided to spend the afternoon hitting the same runs. Long story short, I am not a great snowboarder, and when you combine that with teenage testosterone, pretty girls, and no parental supervision, it is a bad mixture. Of course, I wipe out pretty bad trying to impress her, and manage to just about tear my arm apart from my body in the process.
Fast forward about 9 months later, and I am finally having surgery (didn't wanna sit out my senior year of football, so just played gimp). I was told that I would have to do rehab for three months, and they set me up with a physical therapist by the name of Michael Perkins. I walked in his door the first day, he took me back to my office, sat me down, closed the door, put his hand on my shoulder and prayed for me. His prayer wasn't just that I got better soon, but that Christ would shine His light on me and make me a man after His own heart. I was floored. The weeks rolled on, and I don't remember too much of the physical therapy, but what I do remember is the conversations I had with Michael. We talked about 3 things: Jesus, Texas A&M football, and my shoulder. Jesus took up the vast majority of that time. Michael's love for Christ was contagious, as was his love for people. I finished my physical therapy, said my goodbyes, and moved on with my life, inspired by the time I had spent with him.
Fast forward two more years to a backyard pickup game of basketball. I was beastin', that is until I decided to go up for a layup, come down and destroy my left knee (I made the bucket though!). Surgery soon followed, and I knew right away that I wanted Michael to do my rehab. Again, Jesus took His place as the main subject of our conversations. This time, through the physical therapy, I felt the Lord whispering to me that I could have that same influence on people that Michael did. I decided at that point that I wanted to become a physical therapist. That semester, I would change my major from business to Applied Exercise Physiology.
Fast forward 3 years later. My grades were... not... great. Not even close to what they would have to be to become a PT. But that's ok, because my heart had changed. No longer did I want to become a PT, but a strength and conditioning coach. When you think about it, they are really the same thing. Anywho, before I could graduate I had to do an internship. After many searches (and many, many closed doors), I finally landed at the University of Houston with their strength and conditioning program. That is a whole other story, but basically God funneled me right where he wanted to be. The other internships I was looking at were crap anyways, and though I didn't think I would be in Houston, God had other plans and planted me here. And I couldn't be happier. But the thing is, I'm not from Houston, nor did I know many guys who were living in Houston. The question of "where am I going to live, and who am I going to live with?" was unanswered, that is until about halfway trough the summer.
I received a random text message from a friend I had known for several years. We were cool with one another, but never really hung out. His text? "Hey do you have Jon's phone number". Not exactly an answered prayer, right? Wrong. I gave him the number, and we small talked for a bit. He found out I was moving to Houston, and it turned out that so was he. After talking for a while, we decided to live together. In fact, he was actually from Houston, in a suburb on the northwest side called Klein. He invited me to live with him and his family for a semester, while we both got our feet under us, and then to move into our own place after a few months. Free rent, a momma to cook dinner for me, and a warm bed to sleep in? Sounds good to me!
Anyways, this past summer Klein Younglife took 20 or so high school guys to camp. Many of those guys accepted Christ, and began walking with Him when they got home from camp. Klein is a school of about 4,000 students. For a school this size, a typical Younglife team would have about 7-8 guy leaders. Klein? 0. This is when the story comes full circle.
I was approached by a friend about becoming a Younglife leader for these guys. Doesn't sound like that big of a deal, but to me it is. What my buddy would have asked someone else for Jon's number? What if I had got one of the internships i originally applied for? What if I had guessed better on a test, gotten a better grade, and
gotten in to PT school? What if I would have passed the ball and not gone up
for that layup (ha, yeah right, like I would pass the ball)? What if I had been
assigned a different physical therapist? What if Michael wouldn’t have been
bold and shared Jesus with me? What if we would have taken a different run and I
wouldn’t have destroyed my shoulder trying to impress some girl?.... the
butterfly effect. Seemingly small events have now led me to the exact place the
Lord wanted me to be. When I tore up my shoulder, there is no way that I ever
thought it would have triggered a strand of seemingly unconnected events
together that would lead me to where I am now. But the Lord is good, He is
faithful, He is all knowing, and He has perfect wisdom. He knew that there
would be a group of boys that would call upon His name, and that He would want me
here to walk through this time in their life with them. So He provided. For
them, and for me. Sometimes His provision was painful (torn shoulder and knees
always are). But it was always good, it was always for my best interest, and
most importantly it was always for His glory. That is ultimately what God is
about- getting the glory that is due to His name.
I am thrilled that I am in Houston, that I am getting to work with U of
H and their amazing group of coaches, and that I am getting to lead a group of
young men closer to their Father.
“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable
are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways!... For from Him and through Him
and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever! Amen.”
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