His Faithfulness to an Underserving Sinner
I first heard about Jesus as a little boy, and some of my earliest memories are of church—sitting in pews, hearing Bible stories, and singing songs. When I was seven, my mom sat down with me one Sunday morning and led me through a “salvation prayer.” I repeated the words and was then told I had been saved. I understood very little of what I had prayed, and I certainly did not understand the gospel, but from that point on I believed I was a Christian.
For the next ten years, my life was full of religious activity. I attended church weekly, memorized Scripture, went to children’s church and later youth group—the list could go on. Everyone in my family identified as Christian, and on the surface our lives looked Christian as well. But looking back, there was little evidence of real transformation in my own heart or in our home. Also, the church I grew up in, though sincere in some ways, placed a strong emphasis on outward behavior and moral effort.
As a result, I came to measure my standing before God by my own performance. When I thought I was doing well, I became prideful. When I felt I was failing, I lived under a burden of guilt and tried to escape it by working harder. I was not driven by a desire to honor God, but by a desire to prove myself. That mindset led me to compare myself constantly with others, and my confidence rested not in Christ’s finished work, but in my own efforts. This became the pattern of my life, and over time my understanding of the gospel grew increasingly distorted.
After leaving home for college, I stopped going to church altogether and drifted further into sin. During those years, God was largely absent from my thoughts and affections, except in the shallow cultural sense that I still considered myself a Christian. Yet my life retained many outward associations with Christianity: I attended a Christian university, went to chapel, spent summers working at a Christian camp, and was surrounded by Christian friends. But despite all that exposure, I had not experienced the saving grace of God in Christ.
Before my senior year, I was preparing to move to Paris for a French language program. Around that time, while working at summer camp, I met a girl named Leah who agreed to go on a bicycle date with me to a nearby restaurant, since neither of us had a car. Less than a month later, I left for France and somehow persuaded this girl—who is now my wife—to commit to a long-distance relationship while I was abroad. At the time, I had no idea how significantly God would use that relationship to restrain me from paths of sin I otherwise might have pursued.
When I arrived in France, I found myself in an environment with abundant opportunity to pursue sin and very little accountability. Yet through my growing relationship with Leah—especially our daily emails and Skype calls—the Lord mercifully restrained me from many of the sinful paths I otherwise could, and likely would, have taken. Looking back, I can see His kindness even in that season when I did not yet truly know Him.
After I returned from France, Leah and I graduated from college, and I began attending the church where she had grown up. That season marked a decisive turning point in my life. For the first time, I was surrounded by believers who genuinely invested in me. Men in the church discipled me, spent time with me, held me accountable, and modeled what it looked like to follow Christ. Week after week, I also sat under faithful, gospel-centered preaching.
Through those various means, God began to expose how deeply I had misunderstood the gospel. He showed me that salvation was not something I could earn through morality, religious effort, or outward conformity. Instead, He taught me that Christ had already accomplished everything necessary for my salvation, and that my only hope was to turn from my sin and trust wholly in Him. Looking back, this was the season in which the Lord brought me to true faith in Christ. I was later baptized at that same church.
A short time later, early in our marriage, the Lord opened a door for us to move to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates for work. We entered that season with excitement, but also with ongoing struggles in our marriage. Many of those difficulties were tied to my own immaturity and to sinful patterns I had carried with me from the years before I came to Christ. Yet even in that, God was merciful. He used those struggles to humble me, expose areas of needed growth, and continue His sanctifying work in both of us.
Just a few days after moving to Abu Dhabi, we visited a church where new attendees were invited to stand and share their names and countries of origin. After the service, a Sri Lankan woman approached Leah and invited us to a small-group cookout. That family became some of our dearest friends. We remained in that small group throughout our time in the UAE, and what began as a simple invitation became one of the greatest blessings of our lives. That church became our home for the next seven years.
During those years, the Lord continued to sanctify us in many ways. Through faithful pastors, sound teaching, rich fellowship, and friendships with believers from many nations, He strengthened our faith, deepened our understanding of Scripture, and increased our love for Him and for His gospel. He taught us the value of hospitality, the importance of the local church, and the joy of serving His people. He also gave us opportunities to share the gospel with people from a wide range of cultures and backgrounds.
One especially meaningful example of that came through an unbelieving French man the Lord brought into my life whom I was able to minister to over several years. Before coming to faith, my time in France and my study of French had been driven largely by selfish ambition. But in God’s providence, He later redeemed that experience and used it to create opportunities for discipleship and gospel witness.
In time, we welcomed our first child in 2020. Shortly afterward, the Lord led us back to the United States and to Columbus, Ohio for my work. Once again, He graciously provided a faithful church where, by His grace, we continued to grow, serve, and be cared for by His people. After the birth of our second child, we moved to Leah’s hometown of Hiram. As that move approached, one of our biggest prayers was that the Lord would again lead us to a faithful church.
I spent a lot of time in prayerful research, and one day I came across Cornerstone Bible Church in Middlefield. After reading through the church website and listening to a sermon from Colossians, I remember my excitement telling Leah that I may have finally found a church worth seriously considering. We moved to Hiram in April, just over two years ago, and visited Cornerstone the very next morning. It quickly became clear to us that this was where the Lord was leading us.
Since then, God has continued to show kindness to our family through this church. Through the faithful preaching of His Word, the love and encouragement of fellow believers, and the ordinary means by which He cares for, guards, and grows His people, He has continued to strengthen our faith and remind us of His grace.
When I look back over my life now, what stands out most is not my faithfulness to God, but His abundant and wholly undeserved faithfulness to me. Even during the years when I believed I was a Christian but had not yet come to true faith, He was patiently at work, drawing me to Himself. He preserved me, humbled me, and by His grace gave me what I never could have earned: forgiveness, new life, and a sure hope in Christ. In the end, I’m simply grateful for the grace God has shown me in Christ and for His faithfulness to an undeserving sinner like me.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:6-8
For the next ten years, my life was full of religious activity. I attended church weekly, memorized Scripture, went to children’s church and later youth group—the list could go on. Everyone in my family identified as Christian, and on the surface our lives looked Christian as well. But looking back, there was little evidence of real transformation in my own heart or in our home. Also, the church I grew up in, though sincere in some ways, placed a strong emphasis on outward behavior and moral effort.
As a result, I came to measure my standing before God by my own performance. When I thought I was doing well, I became prideful. When I felt I was failing, I lived under a burden of guilt and tried to escape it by working harder. I was not driven by a desire to honor God, but by a desire to prove myself. That mindset led me to compare myself constantly with others, and my confidence rested not in Christ’s finished work, but in my own efforts. This became the pattern of my life, and over time my understanding of the gospel grew increasingly distorted.
After leaving home for college, I stopped going to church altogether and drifted further into sin. During those years, God was largely absent from my thoughts and affections, except in the shallow cultural sense that I still considered myself a Christian. Yet my life retained many outward associations with Christianity: I attended a Christian university, went to chapel, spent summers working at a Christian camp, and was surrounded by Christian friends. But despite all that exposure, I had not experienced the saving grace of God in Christ.
Before my senior year, I was preparing to move to Paris for a French language program. Around that time, while working at summer camp, I met a girl named Leah who agreed to go on a bicycle date with me to a nearby restaurant, since neither of us had a car. Less than a month later, I left for France and somehow persuaded this girl—who is now my wife—to commit to a long-distance relationship while I was abroad. At the time, I had no idea how significantly God would use that relationship to restrain me from paths of sin I otherwise might have pursued.
When I arrived in France, I found myself in an environment with abundant opportunity to pursue sin and very little accountability. Yet through my growing relationship with Leah—especially our daily emails and Skype calls—the Lord mercifully restrained me from many of the sinful paths I otherwise could, and likely would, have taken. Looking back, I can see His kindness even in that season when I did not yet truly know Him.
After I returned from France, Leah and I graduated from college, and I began attending the church where she had grown up. That season marked a decisive turning point in my life. For the first time, I was surrounded by believers who genuinely invested in me. Men in the church discipled me, spent time with me, held me accountable, and modeled what it looked like to follow Christ. Week after week, I also sat under faithful, gospel-centered preaching.
Through those various means, God began to expose how deeply I had misunderstood the gospel. He showed me that salvation was not something I could earn through morality, religious effort, or outward conformity. Instead, He taught me that Christ had already accomplished everything necessary for my salvation, and that my only hope was to turn from my sin and trust wholly in Him. Looking back, this was the season in which the Lord brought me to true faith in Christ. I was later baptized at that same church.
A short time later, early in our marriage, the Lord opened a door for us to move to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates for work. We entered that season with excitement, but also with ongoing struggles in our marriage. Many of those difficulties were tied to my own immaturity and to sinful patterns I had carried with me from the years before I came to Christ. Yet even in that, God was merciful. He used those struggles to humble me, expose areas of needed growth, and continue His sanctifying work in both of us.
Just a few days after moving to Abu Dhabi, we visited a church where new attendees were invited to stand and share their names and countries of origin. After the service, a Sri Lankan woman approached Leah and invited us to a small-group cookout. That family became some of our dearest friends. We remained in that small group throughout our time in the UAE, and what began as a simple invitation became one of the greatest blessings of our lives. That church became our home for the next seven years.
During those years, the Lord continued to sanctify us in many ways. Through faithful pastors, sound teaching, rich fellowship, and friendships with believers from many nations, He strengthened our faith, deepened our understanding of Scripture, and increased our love for Him and for His gospel. He taught us the value of hospitality, the importance of the local church, and the joy of serving His people. He also gave us opportunities to share the gospel with people from a wide range of cultures and backgrounds.
One especially meaningful example of that came through an unbelieving French man the Lord brought into my life whom I was able to minister to over several years. Before coming to faith, my time in France and my study of French had been driven largely by selfish ambition. But in God’s providence, He later redeemed that experience and used it to create opportunities for discipleship and gospel witness.
In time, we welcomed our first child in 2020. Shortly afterward, the Lord led us back to the United States and to Columbus, Ohio for my work. Once again, He graciously provided a faithful church where, by His grace, we continued to grow, serve, and be cared for by His people. After the birth of our second child, we moved to Leah’s hometown of Hiram. As that move approached, one of our biggest prayers was that the Lord would again lead us to a faithful church.
I spent a lot of time in prayerful research, and one day I came across Cornerstone Bible Church in Middlefield. After reading through the church website and listening to a sermon from Colossians, I remember my excitement telling Leah that I may have finally found a church worth seriously considering. We moved to Hiram in April, just over two years ago, and visited Cornerstone the very next morning. It quickly became clear to us that this was where the Lord was leading us.
Since then, God has continued to show kindness to our family through this church. Through the faithful preaching of His Word, the love and encouragement of fellow believers, and the ordinary means by which He cares for, guards, and grows His people, He has continued to strengthen our faith and remind us of His grace.
When I look back over my life now, what stands out most is not my faithfulness to God, but His abundant and wholly undeserved faithfulness to me. Even during the years when I believed I was a Christian but had not yet come to true faith, He was patiently at work, drawing me to Himself. He preserved me, humbled me, and by His grace gave me what I never could have earned: forgiveness, new life, and a sure hope in Christ. In the end, I’m simply grateful for the grace God has shown me in Christ and for His faithfulness to an undeserving sinner like me.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:6-8
Recent
Archive
2026
January
March
No Comments