Today I am wrapping up this series that has hopefully caused you to think back about who has helped mold your faith throughout your life.

I started by talking about people who God put in my life when I was young, then those who shared the faith with me when I was in college and just starting my career. Today, I want to talk about those God has placed in my life currently that challenge me to grow and keep me accountable to the life that I have been called to.

First, there is my wife, Laura. It has been one of my greatest joys in life watching her grow in her faith over the years–she was not a Christian when we met. She continues to stretch herself and she takes her tenacious will to understand things (those engineers!) and applies that to her faith–which also stretches me!

Most Wednesday nights at 5:15 my small group has met for the last several years. This group has helped me to articulate and live out the tenants of the faith and also has given me role models for how to be a Godly man in our culture. There are 8 of us total that are currently in the group and they are all so important to me that it is really hard to put into words (so apparently, I still have things to grow into!). These are all men that I know I can call at any hour of the day or night and they would listen to me and minister to me.

The last group I will talk about here is that Peter, James, and John group that Jesus had. The inner circle. The people who know more about you than anybody else. I am fortunate that I have people that help shape me and tell me what I need to hear even when I don’t want to hear it! Oh, how I pray that you have this also because we need people to “keep it real” for us if we are going to keep on the narrow path in our culture.

Hopefully, you see that we can’t do life on our own. We aren’t called to be Lone Rangers. I challenge you this week to reach out to those in your life who have shared the faith with you now or have at other points in your life. Let them know how thankful you are to them that they have invested in you.

Also, all of you are investing in countless lives right now! Be intentional about this–God is using YOU to help shape and mold other people! How exciting is that!! That is something that has eternal value!

More to come…
Jeremy