Your Past Can Come Back to Bless You

When Mark and I were first married, we were junior high youth pastors at New Life Church in Renton, WA.  As with all youth pastors, there are always certain kids who take a special place in your life.  One of those young men was Jeremy Macias.  As a seventh grader, he was awkward and insecure (like all seventh grade boys!), but also kind, eager to learn, and very much dedicated to Jesus.  He struck a cord in us of someone who would use the investment of our time in his life wisely.  And so we poured in all we could. 

We were only his youth pastors for a couple of years, but we continued to stay in touch with him throughout his high school and college years.  Jeremy had some incredible youth pastors mold and shape his life along the way, so it was no shock to us that Jeremy ended up an amazing young man with a heart for ministry.

We asked Jeremy to lead worship for our students over the course of several years at Winter Camp.  So in January 2006, as he was finishing up the music for the evening, Mark asked if he would join the journey we were about to go on.

Jeremy brought something to the table that we needed and appreciated.  He is the type of person who doesn’t talk until he has something valuable to say.  In the midst of the flood of Type A leaders around us, Jeremy brought a calm to the storm.

He lead worship for the first essential year at North Creek, before he left to finish up his degree at Northwest University.  We continue to love and adore the man who became like a son to myself and Mark. 

Sometimes you give everything you are to someone and not expect to get anything back in return.  We went into our relationship with Jeremy with that intention.  However, in the end he gave us back more than we could have ever given him.