The Lost Sheep

Going on the World Race was one of the best decisions of my life. It provided an environment where I could solely focus on my relationship with God, and it eliminated most of the distractions that America provides. It allowed me to make my faith my own and it wasn’t something that I believed just because my parents told me to believe. I experienced the Love of God for myself and I believe that that is what God wanted. He wants each of us individually to experience His love, not just to sort of believe because that’s what we’ve been told our whole lives. In one of my blogs, “Own It,” I mentioned how I needed to seek the Kingdom of God for myself, but while I read the Bible, I began to question why I actually believed in God and that resurrection of Jesus. I thought, “How am I going to go on a nine month mission trip if I don’t believe in God?” I asked one of my friends and he told me that he had the same questions his junior year of high school, but Jesus was the only one that made sense. I asked my mentor, Luis, similar questions about why he believed in God. He recommended that I read, The Case for Christ, by Lee Strobel. I didn’t give it that much thought but continued with my doubts of Jesus. I believed that God existed because I believe that nature and the human body reveal that there is a God, but I asked what makes Jesus “right” instead of Muhammad, Buddha, or any of the other world religions. Throughout training camp we’d been having teachings everyday and one day we had a teaching on miracles. After the woman was done speaking, she asked if anyone had any physical disabilities or injuries so that we could pray for them. We gathered in groups around people who’d raised their hands for physical healing. One boy on another squad had a gag reflex for most of his life and that day he was prayed over and healed! I didn’t give it that much thought, because the person that I prayed over didn’t get healed and I was more annoyed with that than the fact that someone was healed. Well later that week during our men’s dinners, which we had every night, we were talking about gratitude and what we were all thankful for. That same kid stood up and spoke of how God healed his gag reflex and in that moment God spoke to me saying, “Zach, if I didn’t raise Jesus from the dead, then miracles wouldn’t be happening in His name.” It hit me. “He’s alive!” I thought.

Matthew 18:12-14 says, “What do you think? If a man had a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” To experience God seeking me out was a completely different experience then being told God will leave the ninety-nine for the one. I was questioning God and in my doubt, He undeniably answered it by performing a miracle in Jesus’ name. But Jesus is so much more than a miracle worker. In Luke 10, Jesus sends out seventy-two to proclaim that the Kingdom of God is near to them. When they return to Jesus, they say in verse seventeen, ” Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” Jesus replies in verse twenty by saying, “Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” So I rejoice that my name is written in heaven! That Jesus Christ died on the Cross for my sins and has set me free! I want to thank everyone of my supporters, those who prayed for me and donated, because if it wasn’t for you, I don’t know where my relationship with Christ would be, and I wouldn’t have had a life changing journey these past nine months. 

For those asking, “What’s next?” I am going to a school in North Carolina called the Excel College that focuses on discipleship and what God’s purpose is for me and how I can chase after it.