Jake // Placement Year // Engineering Design

I have been coming to church since I first stepped foot on this planet. The stories of Jesus are as familiar to me as telling the time. You can't help it when your Dad is a Vicar and your family are all believers.

I took their ideas and used them to find my own opinion of this Jesus. What was the big idea behind a dude that existed 2000 years ago?

I asked every question I could to find the answer to the big one:
Who is he?
I prayed. I asked around. He answered.

Coincidences occurred in scenarios that only God could know about in my life, I started to see miraculous things happen around me. I discovered how close he was and heard Him speak to me.

It wasn't all easy, there were struggles and heartaches. But I had seen who God really is.
Saviour. Creator. Father. Friend.

To Jesus I was known. He loved me and was proud of me. Regardless of what I had done. He had made the greatest investment in me, his life. He died and then came back so that I could live a deep, rich life of love and abundance with Him (John 3:16, 10:10).

I was the lanky kid in school, early growth spurts made me stick out more than usual. I was an outsider to my classmates. Not just due to my height. I was 'one of those Christians'.
But we weren't that different underneath.

I'd messed up a million times- and still haven't stopped. But it doesn't affect me like before, because of Jesus' love.

I'm learning to live better. To love better. Be better. Because of Jesus.
He calls the outsider, the outcast, the orphan and wraps them in love. He brings them into His family. Then He blesses them and leads them to a place that is fully beautiful - just what life intended to be.