Alright. Well, goodmorning guys.
To start things off I did not wet myself, it's actually raining outside
So uh, if you see me shaking, I'm actually cold. I'm also nervous, but that's besides the point.
Today I want to start off by telling a story
I'm gonna call it the, "Abridged Story of Logan Ferrell"
Once upon a time,
Logan Ferrell was a short scrawney little boy
who enjoyed really Star Wars and video games.
and
you would think, "Thats ok. Kids are like that now-a-days."
But, in the early 2000's if you were like that
you were kinda picked on by the uh, sports kids and the uh, redneck kids
and so
little scrawney Logan was often running for his life.
kinda like
Running away from lions as a lamb.
You know...
You go to school and theres a bunch of big lions
and they're combing their manes and flexing their teeth or whatever.
You don't flex teeth, just go with it.
And
You know. You would try to fit in and mind your own business
but because you're a lamb, they see you and they know you're easy pickin.
And so,
life was a little hard as a kid.
I had a few friends.
A few.
My best friend was actually about four years younger than me.
and when you're in elementary school that gets pretty weird.
You know, you invite all your friends to your birthday party,
which means your class,
whether you're friends with them or not,
it's no big deal.
You're best friend comes in and he's, like, in kindergarten
learning about the letter "M"
and you're in fifth grade learning about division.
It's fine.
It, it became really hard for me to maintain confidence
when every day was
ridicule
and
your best friend is so much younger than you
that, he couldn't ------- your struggles.
And
Over time it only became worse
I think we can all agree that middle school is a rough time.
And as time progressed
middle school became one of the worst periods of time in my life.
Throughout, throughout all this I went to church.
My dad, he was not ordained but he spoke in church every now and then,
And my mom led worship.
So, I knew to be good.
I knew that God loved me.
and that he was in control of everything.
But,
you know, I'm at that age where it doesn't quite click for me.
And so I'm living the way I should,
I'm thinking that if I do that I'll be fine.
But,
middle school it just...
...turned into a downward spiral.
Suicidal thoughts became a thing.
I understand it can be kinda cliche,
almost everyone goes through a period in their life where
there's, uh, depression.
This is mine.
This is what happened to me.
I would often think of myself as so insignificant
and so unloved, and so unimportant
that I really didn't make any difference.
That somehow,
God had made a mistake in creating me
because I had done nothing for him but be ridiculed and disrespected.
I had truly lost all sense of value.
The one thing that really brought me back was when we discovered this new church.
Parkway Wesleyan, actually.
Some might know of it, some may not.
It's a Wesleyan church in Roanoke pastored by John Ott
There,
I met some people that helped me discover the new life I have in Christ.
And I began to discover that,
God doesn't really make mistakes
and that everyone is here for a reason.
And so the verse I'm working off of today
is from Ephesians
it is chapter 2, verse 10.
"For we are God's handiwork,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do."
So
God doesn't create anything because he has to.
I believe that everything on Earth was built because he wanted it to be here.
And by that, I mean God wanted you.
You specifically.
He thought of you and thought that you were so fantastic that he wanted you to be on this Earth.
He wanted you to exist.
The fact that you are even here right now
is a statement that he loved you so much he had to meet you.
There is such incredible value behind that.
Because our God is something so,
beyond comprehension
Bare with me.
We know of Him as
the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit
I see those as translations of a being beyond our comprehension.
And the idea that
a being such as him
would degrade himself enough to be understood
by people made from dust
is incredible.
That is love beyond description.
And this, "Beyond Us" being
wanted us to exist.
Us in our imperfections.
Us in our sin.
Us when we deny that we have value.
When we deny the gift of life.
When we deny that we have any sense of existence, any reason to be here.
He still wanted us to be here.
He wanted us to go through all that because he can love us and can have a relationship with us.
He also created you because he has a plan for your life.
You hear that a lot.
That's like everyone's go to phrase when you're going through a hard time.
It's like, "Hey!...
...he has a plan for your life."
I'm only slightly borrowing that from John Crist from last weekend.
But it's true!
I do believe that every single person
in this room has their own unique path that God has set out for them.
I'm not saying I'm a Calvinist and that it's just set,
but I do believe that there is something you are meant to do and that is why you are still here.
I had a friend in high school,
Her name was Gabby.
that's what we're gonna say her name was.
Gabby was a really sweet girl.
She was really charismatic,
she was smart when she wanted to be,
but she kinda hung out with the wrong crowd.
She had a bad home situation
and naturally that led to the use of drugs and alcohol.
Gabby ended up in a relationship that wasn't good for her.
It was..
..we'll keep it at that. It was not good for her.
A couple months later
she calls me on the phone and she says, "Logan, I'm pregnant
I don't know what to do".
We're juniors in high school at this point.
And I told her, you know, "Have you told anyone else?"
She said, "No". I'm the first person. "You're the first person I've told".
Wow...ok
I told her she needed to get right with God,
she needed to pray.
I'm giving the best advice that a "Junior in high school Logan" can give at this point.
A few months later she calls again and says,
"Logan, I'm going to kill myself. Tonight is my last dinner and I wanted you to know that".
And so I'm frantically telling her, like,
"No! Don't do it!"
You know, like...
Mustering up whatever you can think to tell someone in that moment
because you know you have maybe 15 minutes with this person before they go on to make a decision that could potentially end their life.
And so I'm scrambling for words
An awful phone call. The worst I've ever had.
And I actually...
Some of these thoughts came to me that day
You're here because God wants you here
If you didn't matter, you wouldn't be here.
The reason that you woke up this morning is evidence that you still have meaning here.
And I told her that I don't believe that any moment is wasted.
I don't believe that you are just here because God forgot you were here.
The fact that you woke up this morning.
The fact that you are still breathing.
and that some lightning bolt didn't just come and strike you during a storm or whatever
The fact that you're still here, I mean, don't you think that means something?
I don't know if she listened to me.
She said she didn't understand.
But, I saw her next week.
She's still around today. Her daughter is about five years old now.
I just see her in a parking lot sometimes.
I kind of lost touch with her, but...
I like to believe that I helped a little bit,
and that she's still around today because of me.
Everyday we wake up,
we have an opportunity to find out what is it we're here to do.
Everyday we have a chance to worship,
we have a chance to serve,
we have a chance to live for God.
And that's nothing to be taking advantage of.
And I'm sure we can think of examples of people who do take advantage of that.
I don't feel it's proper to name names or to give specific examples.
But we know there are people that just don't live the way they should.
And we could say they are wasting their time.
Even the sinners, they're still here because they have a reason.
And we all have gifts as well.
None of us are useless.
I understand we're touching on some themes that Micheala shared in her sermon.
We all have gifts,and we all have our little quirks as well.
And I think that's what makes us uniquely us.
And it's just the way God made us.
I believe that we're perfect in our imperfections.
And you may be really good with technology,
but you might be a really bad speaker.
And then one day you take a preaching class...
and then it rains really hard...
and your pants are really wet...
and you're on the stage...
and you start mumbling...
But you're here.
I believe that you need to recognize your gifts,
and don't see them as a coincidence,
and use them.
If you're a really awkward guy, or a really awkward girl. Use that.
People love awkward.
It's great.
Really is.
If you're a really sporty person or you like to go hiking a lot, use that.
Don't say that you're useless because all you're really good at is...
...something like English.
You can use that.
My cousin is a missionary in China. She teaches English there.
She teaches Christianity to people kind of underground,
not literally.
She said she has to use code-words in emails
and she has to, like, be covert because the government there doesn't approve of it.
But, she's an English major in china, but she's also a part of the ministry.
Any part of you can be used for it.
Nothing is wasted. Nothing is useless. You are precious.
God put you on this Earth because he loves you,
and he wanted you to be here.
You did not come into this world by coincidence
or because someone made a bad choice one night.
Everyone is here because they need to be here.
And I believe that we all need to recognize that
and trust in God,
find our gift,
and if you haven't found it
embrace what you are.
Cause let me tell you, I did not think that I would be up on stage preaching to a bunch of preachers.
You know how intimidating that is?!
I would just like to end by saying that...
You are loved. You are here for a reason. Go get em.
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