Troy and Free

So the church I'm a part of in Ann Arbor, New Life Church, is currently sending some of its staff and members to East Lansing to help get a campus ministry going on MSU's campus. Of the people taking this huge step in faith are two close friends that are/were on staff with New Life. While both these guys have helped get me involved in the church, and I admire them both for their faith, they certainly are two different men. We are the Body of Christ and they are certainly two different parts of the body. Yet together they will make quite the asset for getting the campus ministry going. It is really hard to believe that they both came to Michigan as nonbelievers, while in Ann Arbor accepted Christ as their Savior, dedicated their lives to the work of the Church, and are now heading out to a new campus to expand the Kingdom.

Troy

Troy and I met at the start of the fall 2004 semester. I was in search of a church in Ann Arbor that I could get involved with, and New Life really fit the mold of what I was looking for. It is a church that doesn't bend when it comes to scripture, dedicated to introducing college students to Christ, and completely welcoming to anyone that is interested. However I wasn't sure if I would fit in, but Troy immeditately invited me to join his Small Group/Bible Study. I quickly saw that Troy was an exceptional man. Three words come to mind when I think of Troy; humble, loving, and honest. If I'm being honest, before meeting Troy it had been probably since grade school that I took anyones advice on my faith. I was pretty sure I had learned all I needed and could work on learning to listen to God's voice. Troy, without even trying, gave me tons of intruction. His humility told me that he wasn't trying to show how he was better than me, his loving nature assured me that he really only wanted the best for me, and his honesty helped me open up to him. I latter had the pleasure of leading the group with Troy, which allowed me to recieve direct instruction from him on my leadership skills...thanks Troy, you can't be replaced.

John Freeman

John is a pastor at New Life, but you will not hear anyone call him pastor Freeman, John, Freeman, but simply Free. What I quickly learned is that there couldn't be a more fitting name for him. He is both free from the pointless constraints of this world and basking in the freedom that Christ offers through the cross. While he seems a bit wild for a pastor (even a campus pastor), he is totally serious about the things that truly matter in the world (his wife and family, tending to the believers he has been entrusted with, and seeking opportunities to spread the Gospel). I never really got to know him until last summer when I began leading the Small Group while Troy was in Florida. Each week we would have lunch once, meet in a large group for discipliship, and usually get together to watch the Pistons or something fun. During this time I gained a lot of respect for Free and came to think of him as a friend.

These two men have really been a core component of our Off Campus ministry at New Life, and their absence will be impossible to replace. However I certainly know that they are doing the right thing leaving the church because they both were called by God (basically against their own wills). I was fortunate to have been instructed by these two, and blessed to have become their friends. I look forward to seeing how they will be used to change MSU's campus, and East Lansing isn't too far.

Slice of Life

At the church I attend, New Life Church, each Sunday before the sermon they ask someone to come up and share part of their life. This is called a "Slice of Life," and I was asked to share a slice of my life this past Sunday. Now for the blog I have the debate of whether to talk about my thoughts on the experience or just sharing the story. After some thought I've decided to write a briefly on my thoughts then put the story.

I was really surprised how nervous I got during the first service...at one point I thought my legs were turning into jelly. I'm not sure why I was so nervous since I've talked in front of crowds, and I was talking on a subject that I am the foremost expert on (myself). It would be nice to given an explanation now, but I just don't have an idea...I was just nervous. The second service I felt much more calm, but I have no idea if it was any smoother. Besides the nervousness I really did enjoy the experience and would do it again if the opportunity presents itself. Now in retrospect it feels really cool to have been able to share an amazing story about how God directly intervened in my life.

The Story
It took place late in the winter 2004 semester. I had just transferred to Michigan for my masters and knew nobody in Ann Arbor and lived by myself. The one advantage of having no one to hangout with was that I could easy find time to get in shape. I have my own bench press and was using it on a regular basis during this period. The one day I was lifting with about 250lbs on the bar, which wasn’t too far below my max. I finished my last set and thought to myself that it was too easy and that I should do one more rep to get a nice burn. I nearly completed the lift but found that I just couldn’t quite get the bar back to the top and it came back down on my chest. I then tried again, but this time only trying to get it up to these safety notches positioned below the top. I got the bar level with the first notch, but couldn’t get it sufficiently above so that I could safely drop the weight back into the notch. The weight came back down on my chest. I decided I would make one more attempt before trying to drop the weights off to the side because up to this point I hadn’t tried cheating by arching my back. Now, whenever I attempt a heavy lift I have this habit of tightening then relaxing my muscles right before doing it. Well without thinking I did this and when my muscles relaxed the bar rolled from my chest to my neck. For those that don’t know, this is the number one way that people get killed while lifting, so as soon as it happened I knew I was in serious trouble.

Immediately I began to fight with the bar…trying to get the bar tilted so the weights would fall off or twisting my body to try and rolling out from underneath it. After some time, I really don’t know how long, I conceded that I was not going to get this off my neck since all my attempts never even got it to sway an inch. It was at this point that I accepted the fact that I only had a few minutes before I died.

The first thing that happened when I accepted my death was that all my earthly worries and concerns felt like they just fell away. The one that I remember that I thought was kind of funny was that I didn’t have to worry about doing my laundry anymore. The feeling of all these pointless worries not mattering anymore filled me with great peace and calm…honestly that moment I felt more alive then at any other time in my life. The next thought was that I was going Home to be with God. This made me just bursting with joy and excitement. I started to think about how only in a matter of minutes I would stand before the Lord. I decided that I should say my last prayer, so I said the Lord’s Prayer because honestly I was too excited to say anything else. After that I decided I would entire the afterlife praising God, so I sang a worship song in my head (but I can’t remember which one). Then I thought to myself… “man this is taking way longer than I expected” and at this point some of the excitement wore off a bit. I began to think about what I was leaving here on earth, and immediately I thought of my parents. I’ve been blessed with a wonderful Christian family and amazing parents that have always shown me love, respect, and support throughout my life. I’ve always hoped that they would never have to bury one of their children. This thought really broke my heart and I turned to the Lord and just said to Him “I can’t go Home yet”. He immediately answered my prayer because the weight on my neck was released and I felt pushed off to the side. My next memory was gasping for air as I lay on the floor next to the bench.

Besides some major bruising on my neck, which faded away within the week, I was completely unharmed. I had always hoped that when I stood face to face with death I would be ready…this experience confirmed that and that is a slice of my life.