Best Friends with Jesus
I’m not an expert at writing but when I was asked to do this I thought I’d give it a go. I hope you understand me, and that it will be helpful and encouraging to you, although I’m not too sure what I’m going to say yet!
Firstly, a bit about me. I was born in Plymouth and raised in Liskeard, Cornwall. I went to a Church of England primary school and to the local secondary school. I then went to St Austell college to do my A levels. I am now at the University of Essex.
I’ve been going to church for as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest memories are going to Sunday school then being taken for a walk in the nearby park while mum was in another service. When I was about 6, I realised that I needed Jesus as my friend, so I asked Him to be in my life and to look after me. You may think that I was too young to make a sensible rational decision at that age, but I’m sure most 6 year olds know that having a best friend, who won’t ever let you down, is something important. I knew that it meant that I would be with Jesus in Heaven when I died, although I didn’t know how much of an impact this decision would make on my life. I was then baptised at the age of 13, and the water was freezing despite the fact the heater had been on for hours!
However I found it very hard to live the Christian life at school, being surrounded by people who acted and lived their lives often in contradiction with the Bible. I spent a few years wanting to be like my friends at school, not wanting to be different, and then on Sundays trying to act the way I thought people at the Church wanted me too.
It wasn’t until I was nearing the end of my GCSE’s that I started to think seriously again about my faith, and I realised that it was something that was worth giving 100% to. I had already decided that I wanted to do my ‘A’ levels somewhere else as I couldn’t cope with the bullying that I’d been getting right through secondary school. Looking back, it’s surprising how long I did manage to put up with it! I decided that I wanted to go to St Austell College. Making a new start somewhere meant that I could stand up for what I believed in from the start. I found that just wearing a fish badge meant that people asked “what’s that badge?”, and I’d have to tell them that I was a Christian. I quickly made some good friends and met a few other Christians and soon started a Christian Union.
I grew in my faith a lot over the time I was at college and thought that I had the rest of my life planned and sorted. But God had other plans and I ended up at university. After the open days I decided that I wasn’t going to come to Essex as the open day wasn’t very good, and put me off. God had other ideas and so I came to Essex and was really excited about it by the time I started.
As I had found it easier to tell people I was a Christian from the beginning at college, I decided to do the same at university and very quickly got involved with the CU at Essex. It was a shock to the system meeting people from all denominations, and even nationalities and faiths, but I quickly got settled into the CU and also into a local church. My faith continued to grow as I saw God working on the campus.
During my second year, I became the CU president, which was a great privilege, and I had a great committee to work with. The previous president had been a great inspiration to me and is still one of my closest friends. We saw the CU grow and managed to pull together with the other Christian organisations on campus to put on a few events and we have continued to see them working closer together with each event.
I also had the privilege of seeing one of my closest friends become a Christian after asking many deep and challenging questions to me and my other Christian friends.
You may be reading this and thinking that I must be some amazing Christian because of the events through university, but that’s not the case. I’m not perfect. I’m human and have made many mistakes on my journey of faith, and I’ve been tempted, and not always resisted. If you feel like you’ve failed God and wish you could do something about it, then 1 John chapter 1 verse 9 says: “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”.
I’ve found that sometimes it’s easy to know that God’s forgiven us but almost impossible to forgive ourselves. I found this very difficult to handle and eventually realised how amazing God’s grace was. Life’s a constant reminder. Every time we slip up, Jesus has already paid the punishment for it when he died on the cross for me and you, and all we have to do is say sorry to God, try to learn from our experiences and move on in our faith and lives. We also have to keep trying to seek God’s will and keep trying to become more like Christ.
I graduated last year and have since been working in the Chaplaincy at the University of Essex as the Anglican Chaplaincy Assistant. This has been a great experience for me as I’ve been able to continue to work closely with the other Christian groups on campus and also some from the town. I’ve seen God working through the town and university over the past four years, bringing people from all denominations together to work for Christ, encouraging each other and spreading the gospel. Although I am at the end of my year in this post, I am excited about what God’s going to do next with me.
The Christian life isn’t always easy, but for me it’s worth it to be privileged enough to see wrecked lives being mended, and seeing the joy of Christ in people. The best thing about it is knowing that one day I’m going to go and spend the rest of eternity with the creator of Heaven and Earth.
I’m just a normal person like you, who has made the decision to follow Jesus and I believe that as long as I try to do his will, then God will work through me to change peoples lives.
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