Something worth telling.

Lately I've been thinking about what it is that drew me into Jesus.  How did I decide that He's worth following and who was it that first helped me understand who Jesus is.
What was it for you?

A youth pastor?  Your family?  Kids at school? A billboard, tv show, magazine article?  A desperate situation? Your own curiosity?
I don't know whether you follow God or don't care about God, but this I know, no one's story is the same.  And there is no one model for telling someone about the God who saves.  Every person has their real story with their real hurt, their real curiosity and their very real needs. Praise God He meets us where we're at rather than asking us to fit a mold.

I'm currently reading a book titled Jesus Brand Spirituality where author Ken Wilson writes:

I had been to confirmation class as a kid.  I memorized the Ten Commandments and the Apostle's Creed and the longer Nicene Creed. The class influenced and informed me, but at the time it didn't take. I got hung up on a question I never bothered to ask in class: 'Why would God want to be praised? Is He some kind of egomaniac?' I couldn't swallow the package, and I didn't feel that questioning the package was allowed. After confirmation, I stopped going to church.
Several years later, I read the gospel of Matthew in a weak moment. My fascination with Jesus had begun, and reading the Bible only made it worse. I was impressed by the Jesus portrayed in Matthew.  ....I didn't have any opinions about whether the Bible was the Word of God and, if so, in what sense. I didn't have any opinions about whether Jesus was born of a virgin. I didn't have any opinions about the existence of or the nature of heaven and hell or whether Jesus was the only way a person could connect with God. I had impressions from the teaching of Jesus in the Gospels about these things, but they were sketchy. I wasn't always sure how he was using terms and what exactly he meant by things he said touching on these topics.
The package that drew me wasn't the system of Christian doctrine. The package was the person, Jesus. And thankfully, thankfully, thankfully - the people around me who were on their own path toward the center thought that was just fine. I didn't feel any pressure from them to swallow any faith package whole. I just felt a sense of shared excitement with them about taking one step closer to knowing.
So I offered myself to Jesus as a disciple, a student, a follower. (pgs. 64-65)

Coming into this job I have a heart created by God to reach out to teens. I believe there is hope for them that they rarely get a chance to see. I know that what might be effective for one as far as sharing that hope may not be effective for another.
So as a person working in a church, but more importantly as a follower of Jesus Christ himself, I pledge to get to know God's people. Not for who I think they should be. Or for what they may be in the future. But for who they are now; a person wired and created by God to know Him and to impact the world for His kingdom through their own unique life.
I'd like to think I could spew the same information at every person and expect it to make all the difference, but how much more exciting to have the opportunity to get to know the heartbeat of everyone I come into contact with? And to see how God is a part of every single story no matter the age, race, denomination or history. That's a God I love serving. That's a God passionate about adventure.
Invite Him in.
Share what He's done for you. 

Thanks for being a part of the story :)