Face The Lions
Who am I that the highest King
would welcome me?
I was lost but He brought me in
Oh His love for me
Oh His love for meI Am Who You Say I Am - Hillsong Worship
Faith has never been something that I ever felt comfortable speaking or writing about. Like most Christians, I grew up in church. It was never forced upon me, and as a kid, I always felt extremely comfortable in that environment. For most of my life, I have felt guilty for not reading and studying the bible as I knew I should. Church was a place where I learned many great things, but I do not ever recall sitting and reading scripture. I would always find ways of convincing myself that my faith was in good standing and that God understood that studying the bible was not my cup of tea. I found ways to convince myself that was okay, too.
Now, I’m not writing this to say that if you don’t read the bible, you are this or you are that. No, not at all. That’s the last thing I want anyone to get from reading this. I am writing this because I have been awakened in Christ in a way that could have only come from reading the bible and praying to be closer to God daily.
A few times in my life, I would get all fired up at the beginning of the year and tell myself that this would be the year that I was going to read the bible in its entirety; then, like most things, I would always fizzle out after a short while. This may explain why I have read the book of Genesis more times than I can count, but nothing else.
I have been going to Grawood Baptist Church for around two years with my girlfriend, Ashlie, and her three kids. I remember being in high school and thinking, “I’ll never be one of those Baptist people.” Many years later, I don’t know why I thought that or what that even meant.
In November last year, I felt compelled to join Grawood and switch my membership to them. I did it because it had been a long time since I felt comfortable in a church setting. It had been a long time since I had a place to call home, and I was driven to want more and to become more within that congregation.
Shortly after, a new Sunday school class was created, and Ashlie and I began going. I noticed that my usual Sunday morning thought was, “We don’t have to go to church today, do we?” “We’ve been the past two weeks. Can’t we stay home today?” If I wasn't there, I felt like something was missing from my life and week.
D-Group and Facing The Lions
In January 2020, my pastor, Chris, reached out to me and told me that God had placed my name on his heart as being one of four other men chosen to be in something called D-Group and that he would lead it. I didn’t know what D-Group was, but I had been searching for a way to dive deeper into my faith and thought this would be a good start. When I met with the other guys to discuss what was going to be asked of us and what D-Group was all about, I immediately became overwhelmed and anxious. I instantly thought, “Why me?” I’m not that guy! I’m not worthy! I’m not the guy that has ever really read scripture. I’m the guy who takes twenty minutes to find where in the bible a particular book is, and by the time I see it, the whole class has not only found it but found it, read it, and maybe even finished talking about it. Meanwhile, I’d still be flipping through pages trying to find it.
The Commitment
We all met in our pastor Chris’s office to discuss what D-Group was and what those of us who chose to commit to it would be committing to. I learned it was a 52-week bible study group of only five men. I immediately began to question this in my head. Reading scripture daily would be hard enough, but to memorize scripture, wow, that will be tough. The whole thought of it was pretty overwhelming. Chris assured us there would be no hard feelings if we decided this wasn’t for us. He told us that the idea was to dive into this for 52 weeks and that if we saw it through, God would grab ahold of us in a way He never had before. Chris told us to take the week, think it over, and then let him know.
That same Sunday, Chris’s sermon talked about how we, as Christians, often become too routine. We convince ourselves that whatever we are doing is enough. We find a way to be okay or good enough. I heard Chris say in his sermon that we are called to be intentional in our faith. I kept hearing him say that we are all called to be uncomfortable and that our faith is not supposed to be comfortable. We are to go out of the church and into the world to find and bring others to know Christ. I cannot explain it after his message during the praise band’s song. I sat and prayed while the rest of the church sang. This peaceful feeling came over me, and then I just knew. I knew that I had to join D-Group. I knew that I was being called to join that group and that I was precisely where God had placed me. I was exactly where I was supposed to be!
Disciple, the ‘D’ in D-Group
The ‘D’ in D Group stands for Disciple, and the idea behind D-Group is that God calls us to create fruit by teaching others about Him. The goal is that by the end of the 52 weeks, we will be confident enough to lead another group of 4 in the next year, and then those four will go forth and create their groups, too.
I can tell you all that I’m only nine weeks into this and love it. I have felt my faith grow daily by being in His word, so I have created this blog. It won’t always be about faith, and I still plan on writing about the other things that I am passionate about, but I also hope that if you are reading, you will follow along and hopefully come to know God the way I am coming to know Him.
I hope and pray that we all come to know God and learn never to live in fear.
Now this is what the LORD says — the one who created you, Jacob, and the one who formed you, Israel — “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are mine.
Isaiah 43:1 NIV
May we all face the lions knowing that we are His!
