Zach (by Luke)

One night after The Salt Company, I walked out into the foyer of the Englert Theatre. There was Lance with Zach M. Lance tried to introduce me to him, but Zach was my Spanish partner in High School, so we started talking. He said he wanted to come to our connection group. He did come to our connection group about a week later. He was very open sharing about what God had done in his life this past summer. His story was obviously very powerful; Zach was shaking as he told us just a little bit of his story.

I went out for lunch with Zach later that week. I just asked him to tell rest of his story. It went something like this: Zach had a really rough freshman year; he started hanging out with some not so good people and got into drugs. Then this past summer, he had a crazy manic breakdown that couldn’t really be explained (except by God). It was so bad that his mom blackmailed him into checking into a mental hospital. Zach said that he had never really prayed before, but because of his circumstances, he started to. He started to feel peace amidst craziness. Even though his internal situation had started to get better, Zach was still sharing a room with a Schizophrenic patient. Zach asked to be moved to a different room because he couldn’t stand it anymore. Zach did eventually get moved to a room, shared with a very ill man. Then, one night as Zach was just about falling asleep; he became very sure he was supposed to pray for the man he was sharing the room with. After a few minutes, a nurse came in to administer some drugs to the man, but he said that he didn’t need them and that he was feeling better than he had in month. Immediately, a shudder ran down Zach’s spine, and he knew he had to talk to this man. Zach did, and they ended up talking for much of the night. The man was a very strong believer and Zach accepted a faith in Christ that he had never had before.

Because of his circumstances, Zach’s doctor recommended that Zach not take any classes for the fall semester, he decided he could handle one, but he told me that God had provided the room and the time for Zach to pursue him.

My senior year of high school, I had really wanted God to work at Ames High. I prayed for revival, for a movement of people to come to know Him. I was slightly disappointed at the end of my senior year, and felt like I could have done more.

This summer, I went to Salt Company in Ames. I saw Josh, who I played offensive line with in high school. He was not a Christian when I knew him, but that night, I joined the connection group that he was leading.

Hearing stories like Zach’s and Josh’s, I am convinced that God was at work during my senior year, but his timing was not my own. I am constantly amazed; it is not that Zach or Josh was so far from Christ, or that their lives were so sinful, but that their lives were so normal, that both of them seemed to have their lives pulled together. The fact that Christ impacted both of their lives makes me excited at how God works.