Another brush with the past…

I saw him out of the corner of my eye, but he’s kind of hard to miss. He is one of my former youth pastors (even though he wasn’t technically) and I haven’t seen him since I was 16 years old. The last memory I have of Mike was at Creation Fest, perhaps three years back, sitting underneath the stars and discussing the existance of God. It’s one of my favourite memories.

A big man, he still looks exactly the same. He has the same short curly blonde hair and the same blonde mustache and same bright white teeth, always ready to bare a smile. Soon after I saw Mike, I also saw his son, Jonathan, who has grown six feet since I saw him last.

I quickly made my way to them and even though it’d been years since he’d seen me, it was almost as if no time had passed. Mike acted as though he half-expected to see me.

So of course, you know how it goes. What are you up to? How are you these days? Where are you living now? Do you visit these people still? Etc. Etc.

Mike updated me on his family. He is now a principal at a Christian school and working in ministry full time as a youth pastor. Jonathan is currently in the eighth grade, but still possesses a harsh lisp (which he’ll grow out of, seeing as how the rest of his body is growing an inch every minute). Mike also updated me on some other people from the church. Another former youth pastor is no longer pastoring and another good friend of mine is now training to become a pastor. Two of my other friends are still married, which is good news and another one of my friends is having a hard time at getting into school due to how he can’t seem to get someone else to babysit his siblings.

We ended up having a longer discussion than I had anticipated, due to how Mike is so keen on reading people. We continued to talk about things I hadn’t heard about (not gossip, mind you) and I will now pray for those things and those people on a regular basis. But like I said, Mike can read people and he told me of how his gift of discernment has affected a lot of the kids I knew growing up in youth group. Specific issues that no one ever knew about because no one ever talked about them, but Mike still knew of because of his gift to see them plain as day.

Shocked at how right he was, I could not resist to ask, “Gosh, Mike! What do you see around me?!”

He laughed and we chatted a bit more. Was he avoiding my question? I’m not sure. But it wasn’t long before he gave me an answer.

Mike smiled and sighed. He looked down at me (from six feet, five inches) and he said, “You really want to know what I see around you?”

“Yes, I do.” I really did.

“Depression.”

Mike was always wise.

“Depression?”

He nodded, “Yeah… Something about worrying about where you’re going or if God is going to be there. But you don’t have to worry about that, because He says that you can trust Him. He won’t let you down.”

“Yeah… I worry about my salvation a lot…”

“Oh, you don’t need to. Because as long as you believe, then you’re saved. I mean, it’s not always that simple, but you know what I mean when I say that.”

“Yeah, I do.”

“And I’m not saying that you are depressed. I don’t think it’s clinical. I just see it around you. It’s like anything else. Some people, it’s sexual immorality. Other people, it’s lying. It all depends on the person. And with you, I see depression.”

“Well, that’s good. I didn’t think I was depressed, but I know what you’re saying about it being around me. Thank you. That really helps me. Can I have your phone number for future help?”

“Absolutely.”

So I got his number. In case I ever have any biblical questions, which happens quite regularly. Frankly, it was just good to have a hug from that big man and to hear him say “Everything’s gonna be okay.” It was like I’d been telling myself the same thing but it wasn’t until I heard it from Mike that I actually believed it.

Yeah. Everything’s gonna be okay.

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