Core Scripture: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Message: I got the email last week.  My 30-year high school reunion is on Saturday.  Are you kidding me?  How?  How did 30 years go by since I had hair?  Since I weighed 152 pounds and could eat whatever I wanted?  Since I listened to Hootie and the Blowfish?  Since I was a rebellious teenager that refused to ask out the girl my mom told me to ask to prom???

Yeah, that was a bad one.  Carrie, if you are reading this, I am sooo sorry.  I was a jerk.  I was immature.  And even my Grandpa called me, telling me to ask you out, too!  Because you were the best girl golfer, and I was the best guy golfer, and it was meant to be.  So, in my mind I was in the right to rebel against their wishes because NOBODY was going to tell me what to do … but … yeah.

(If you are reading this, I hope you are well.  I have a beautiful wife of nearly 18 years and two amazing teenage boys that God blessed me with.  I hope He has blessed you too!)

The email brought back tons of memories.  Old friends I palled around with.  Former coaches that mentored me.  Crushes that didn’t know I existed.  It inspired me to reach out to the few people I still kept in touch with, and it led me to get in 18 holes of golf with my old football/golf coach one day and an hour walk with one of my former football teammates that rode the bench with me. 

Can I pause there for a moment?  Coach Rampy, you will forever be one of my greatest mentors of all time.  Not only did you teach me to believe in myself and never quit, but you pushed me beyond my limits to help me accomplish dreams I never thought would have happened.  I still tell stories about you and remember each one like it happened yesterday.  I can still smell the stench of my yellow-stained sweaty cut off T-shirt beneath my shoulder pads and taste the sweetness of fresh cut grass on the golf course.

And to Mike … my fellow benchwarmer on the football field.  Dude, I am so glad you stayed with me and didn’t quit the team.  We both probably wondered if we would ever see the field with two All State receivers getting all the reps, we stuck with it and made some memories, didn’t we?  I just wish I had been on board as a true Christian like you back then.  We could have shared our faith together.  Well, as you found out on our walk, I found Jesus later in life.  In my mid-30’s to be exact. 

I can’t wait to tell you more when I see you again!

Some of these people I probably haven’t even seen or heard from since I was 18-years-old.  It makes me wonder how people have changed through the years.  Will the popular people still flock together, creating an impenetrable force field of a circle that guys like me cannot break?  Will we talk about our lives 30 years ago or now?  Who will be divorced?  Who has kids?  Who made it big?  Who lost it all?

The world measures success a bit different, doesn’t it?  As for the guys, it is how much money we make, who has the trophy wife, and who can still fit into their old high school letter jacket.  Not really sure about the girls.  They might measure themselves by how many kids they have or how well they have aged or even how successful their careers are.  It is all about money.  Fame.  Looks.  Climbing the corporate ladder. 

But what about me?  I don’t have the money.  Fame has yet to find me.  My bald head gives me a Mr. Clean look, and I definitely have the “dad bod” going.  I have lost my job twice over the last two years and am working the midnight shift at Amazon to make ends meet.  If you measure me by those standards, I have failed.  Miserably! 

You can feel sorry for me if you want to, but I implore you … don’t!  I have found a joy that I didn’t have when I was in high school.  Back then, my faith was simply a Sunday thing.  I went to church and made decent enough choices, but God was not tops on my list of priorities.  Activities were—especially sports.  And my friends.  My family.  Video games.  Following my favorite teams.  But I never really knew who Jesus was.  He was on my list, but He wasn’t at the top.

Fast forward through time … I graduate college with an English degree, wait tables for a year, go back to school to get certified to be a teacher, and then start my career.  I teach, coach, meet the girl of my dreams, and start a family.  Kinda normal stuff, but God knew something was off.  He was not number one in my life.  I was living with one foot in heaven and one foot firmly planted in the world.  God didn’t like that. 

He wanted my heart.

So, He began to humble me.  My marriage began to crumble.  Fathering newborn boys 13 months apart was exhausting.  I began to burn out as a teacher and coach.  Intense lower back pain racked my body, and I fell into a severe depression that nearly took my life.  2010 to 2012 was not very kind to me.  I was left broken emotionally and physically, losing all my zest for living.  I was a mess.

Right when I thought the world was caving in, I did a reset.  I allowed God to begin molding my heart.  I found a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that literally saved my life.  It was not a single moment of surrender but rather a long sanctification process that changed my life forever.  On February 9, 2013 I made the best decision of my life.  I fully gave my life to Jesus Christ, declaring Him as Lord and Savior, and was baptized anew.

What an amazing story!  I was blessed with the opportunity to share my story with both Coach Rampy and my buddy, Mike.  Rampy and I took in 18 holes of golf at Smiley’s, and after he told me of his near-death experience, I told him about mine.  Mike and I took a walk at Heritage Park.  I wasn’t planning on sharing my story, but it just happened.  And it was beautiful.  I could have talked to the guy for another five hours at my car when we finished. 

I wanted to tell that story to someone else.  In the car ride over to my reunion, I stopped the music to say a quick prayer, asking God to give me that opportunity.  The moment never came to full fruition, but I did get to tell a few old friends about how my faith has helped me through the past few years of my life.  Especially in the chaos of my teaching career.  It wasn’t what I had envisioned, but that was okay. 

I talked about my dream to go back into education not as a teacher but as a teacher of teachers, helping educators relearn the heart of teaching through Ohana.  I also expressed my desire to bring inspirational messages to students, encouraging them with life lessons in school assemblies.  All to bring much needed hope in a chaotic world that is spinning deeper and deeper into turmoil.

Hope.

What a powerful word!  Romans 15:13 says, “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”  I could not define hope any better than that.  Let’s break down what Paul is saying there …

My hope, which comes from God, fills me SO much that it has NO CHOICE but to spill into others.  This hope resides in all believers, and this hope guarantees us eternity with our Lord, Jesus Christ, when we breathe our last breath on earth.  None of the money or fame will follow us into heaven.  Our earthly bodies don’t matter and certainly trophy wives’ beauty will eventually fade, but do you know what will never fade?

Jesus Christ.

His name reigns supreme.  Now and forever.  He is where I find my hope, and that, my friends, is all that matters.

Video application: It is amazing how God speaks to us through music, through His Word, through videos, you name it.  This video was on my feed this morning.  If you are in a mid-life crisis and want to discover God’s will for your life, give it a watch. 

Just for fun: Let’s play a game.  Which of the following statements about me from my high school days are true below?

1. I once got stuck in a basketball rebound machine in gym class.
2. I got a Saturday school for putting gum on the back of a kid’s chair and ruining his shirt.
3. I asked a girl out to homecoming through an embarrassing letter.  She turned me down.
4. I sang a rap song at my football banquet about our season.
5. I once accidentally blocked a punt in a JV football game, picking the ball up and running 20 yards downfield.  Yes, I said accidentally.  The punter was so scared when he fumbled the snap that he panicked and kicked the ball right when I was about to attempt to tackle him.  I was trying to shield myself from getting drilled by the ball, but the ball caromed off my hands instead, and I received a skull and crossbones sticker for my helmet.  The ONLY skull and crossbones sticker I ever got.  I still remember our quarterback, Matt, whispering in protest, “But it was an ACCIDENT!”

Alright, let’s be honest.  They are all true.  Proof that the human brain does not fully develop until your mid 20’s. 

Prayer: Father, thank you for old friends, old coaches, and memories.  Amen.