Mere Christia…Insanity

In the summer of 2015, I was taking a week-long seminary class in Cincinnati, the city my wife and I lived in at the time. In that class, I sat next to some people from Indian Creek Christian Church (located in Indianapolis) who were in Cincy just for the week. They were really nice people. Seth Bryant was one of them. The class ended, and we exchanged contact info.

When my family and I moved to the Indy area and got settled here last Fall, I remembered Seth and checked social media to see what he was up to. Seth had posted on the facebooks that he and his family were leaving Indy and moving to Roanoke, Virginia to lead a church there. Bummer.

I’ve been to Roanoke before. It’s a charming little town in the mountains. My buddy, Ryan, grew up there and moved back after we graduated from Kentucky. He and I had remained really close since graduation despite the distance.

2016 was a really tough year for Ryan. I won’t share too many details, but one of about six terrible things that happened to him (none of which he could control) was a house fire where he lost everything, including his dog, Remington. Any one of these things he endured last year would be enough to make a person want to give up, but Ryan hung in there. Dude is both physically and mentally strong, but every man has his breaking point.

So through all that, Scott (our mutual friend and fraternity brother), myself, and a couple other people have been praying for Ryan. That God would move in his life in a way that was unmistakable. That in the midst of that storm, he’d find Jesus. Maybe they believed it would happen. I just didn’t see a way, but I prayed anyway.

Someone Ryan knows through work gave him a copy of Mere Christianity by CS Lewis. I remember when he brought it up in our group chat, “Has anyone read Mere Christianity?” Ryan asked.

I laughed. Apart from the Bible, no book had ever had an impact on me like Mere Christianity did. I knew every inch of that book. For goodness sake, we named our first born son after the author (for real, though)! I sent Ryan this photo of my beat up old copy of it, which I’ve pored over many times and loaned to other people.

“This could be the start of something,” I thought.

Back to Seth.

So I contacted Seth on the second day of the year and said something like, “Hey man. This is David. Remember me from that week-long seminary class? I saw that y’all just moved to Roanoke. Congrats on the new job! Hey, I’ve got a buddy in Roanoke. His name is Ryan, Not sure where he stands on the whole Jesus thing. He’s had a year from hell, but a few of us have been praying for him. If I can somehow get Ryan to come by your church (NHCC), will you say hello?”

Here’s what Seth said.

So I told Ryan about “my buddy from Seminary’s” church, and he went one Sunday in January. Seth and Ryan met after the service, and Ryan came back again. And then again. And again.

Dude was on fire. Listening to sermons, reading the New Testament, asking questions about it all. “Was this really happening?” I thought. “You’ve got to be kidding me, God.”

Last week, I got a text from Ryan. He told me he had made the decision to be baptized.

This morning, Scott and I got up at 5am and drove 6 hours to be there for it, surprising Ryan.

I don’t personally know anyone who had a cumulatively more difficult 2016 than Ryan did. I also don’t know anyone or anything who could turn all of that suffering into something good and purposeful. No one other than God.

I know two people in the entire Commonwealth of Virginia. Today one of them baptized the other.

I don’t know what kind of storm you’re going through right now, but my advice to you is simple – Don’t ever, ever count God out. Ever.

“Look for Christ, and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.”

-CS Lewis, Mere Christianity