Living a life that Matters

Sometimes God puts people in your life to encourage and inspire you. This week I got some quality time with two people (of so many) who have impacted me.

I was at PhoenixONE earlier this week running a booth. I ran into a guy who I haven’t seen in some time – my friend Malachi. It was funny because he was on the cover of my brochure at my table and I looked up and there he was. I love God’s sense of humor. At the very first PhoenixONE gathering in 2011, I sat with Malachi in the front row (he was volunteering). His personality made him easy to get to know as he was very friendly. Then I went through a difficult summer later that year and this guy Mike Bhatti recommended I get to know him because of our similar backgrounds. I ran into him at the ONE retreat in Williams and we spent some time together. I found out he had been through divorce and had a little daughter. He totally helped walk me through that tough time. He then moved to Alaska to be closer with his daughter not too long after that. But his impact on me remains and seeing him was a shot in the arm for me this week.

My bros Malachi and Daniel

I went to Guatemala last year and met Karyn on that trip. It was her first mission’s trip and we sat together on the plane ride there. At first I was just trying to help calm her nerves. But then I really started to see how pure her faith in God was. I kept saying to myself that this is one very good girl and God is doing something cool in her. She is getting her degree in veterinarian medicine and was on this trip to work with the animals in the villages. We had a moment on the trip where it was just her and I treating a cow by ourselves in some remote village. The needle had broken off as she was injecting the medicine into the cow. I remember her tripping out at first because she couldn’t find the needle and didn’t know what to do. I so wanted to rescue her from this situation because I’ve always had this ‘rescue’ mentality most of my life for people in need (something God has worked out of me recently). So I decided to stand back and let God work in her. I just let her know that I was there for her if she needed and prayed. I then saw someone put her faith in God and take charge of the situation. It was amazing! I gained so much respect for her and we have become good friends since then. I remember telling my friend Julie (one of her accountability partners) on the plane ride back to not let any crappy guys come in and ruin this girl because she has such a pure heart for God. Today I razz her repeatedly for her loyalties to the U of A, but love her to death. We had a fun day celebrating her birthday today.

Me and Karyn

I love that God uses people to encourage our walk. These are just a couple of people God has put in my path to make me more Christlike. After a period of time of having negative judging people in my life that just drag you down, it is refreshing to have such positive uplifting brothers and sisters to grow with. I am thankful for them and feel very blessed to have them in my life.