The Grandson of a Preacher

As a young kid, I never went to church.  My parents and I did not even attend church for Easter or Christmas.  We just did not have an interest in these holidays.  My mom is more apt to attend church because she is a firm believer, and dad is more hesitant.  As the years went on, I started seeing my friends and hearing them talk about church.  I didn’t understand faith and I never thought about God.  It wasn’t until I was about 6, I heard my grandfather talk about God and church. My grandfather was a pastor at a church.  When I heard him talk about it, I was always happy to listen to him.  The only problem was that he lived about 5 hours away in Virginia.  I was only able to hear the Gospel about twice a year.  The problem with that is I would hear the word of God and I would feel great but then I would get home and just like that I would forget everything.   

As I got older, I would see more and more of my friends going and talking about church.  One day when I was about 10, I spoke with my parents and shared, “I want to go to church."  After that we found a church. It was a very old church, no kids, nothing!  Church would be boring and after a while, I stopped going to church.  Years would pass by, but I still heard the Gospel about twice a year at my grandpa's church.  I could not put my fingers on it, but there was a void inside of me that needed to be filled by something or someone.

I found the church that I attend now when I was in the 8th grade.  The church has an amazing youth group, and I truly have found my community.  Between the summer of my 8th grade year to my freshman year of school, my grandfather passed away.  I had lost the final light of God that I was able to hold onto in my life.  Yes, I attended church, but I rarely paid attention or cared about the messages, but the loss of my grandpa made it feel as if there wasn't a God.   My freshman year started, and I decided to go with the flow of life.   I was extremely stressed out and began to build relationships with new people.  In my mind, these new people were perceived to be cool.   Truthfully, they were some of the worst influences I could befriend.  I started drinking every now and again with some of my friends.  “Now & Again” turned into often and "often" turned into every day.  My drinking went on for 8 months.  I still would go to church with a friend.  There were times I went, and I was honestly a little hungover and the only reason I went to church was so my parents wouldn’t notice. It wasn’t until April 30th, 2022, when I decided to quit. I quit because I ended up bringing it to a place where I shouldn’t have. I realized that it was a problem and that I had been living this Christian lie. I would tell my friends every day that I believe in God and his instructions.  It was all a lie until that moment when I realized that I was presenting myself in a way that doesn’t suit him.  I had thoughts of my grandfather being disappointed in me as he looked down at me.  The thoughts encouraged me to stop drinking and began working on myself. 

A couple months later I was preparing to go on a Boy Scout Trip. The trip was a very long and difficult hiking trip in the back country of New Mexico.  I was the chaplain's aid.  A chaplain aid is a person who supposed to lead prayers and make sure we complete all the devotionals every day.  It wasn’t until the seventh day of the trip something impacted me. We had the hardest part of our hike that day where we went to the highest mountain in all of New Mexico. I opened the bible I got from the camp, and I opened it. Not knowing what I was about to do would change my life forever. I just started flipping through pages and I read 2 quotes. First Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” and then John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only son, that whoever believes in me shall not perish but have eternal life.” It was in that exact moment I accepted Christ into my heart, and I was saved!  I realized that even though I was drinking it didn’t matter, because that light I thought I had lost never went away.  If anything, it was getting brighter and brighter throughout time. When I came home from the hiking trip, I was stuck to myself to study the word of God.  I began to read my Bible and understand how to have a walk with Christ.   A couple months later I heard from a friend named Vern, who told me I should come to FCA.   Well, I was apprehensive at first because I didn’t want to wake up earlier in the morning.  I went to FCA and enjoyed the Huddle, and I haven’t stopped going since the invite.   I am truly thankful to Vern because without him I would never have been introduced to FCA.   In February of 2023, I started speaking and sharing the Gospel.   I was baptized for the first time on March 12th, 2023.  I felt free! I felt clean!  After that day I continued to grow in Christ.  My day of baptism led me on a journey to connect with wonderful friends and become more grateful for His blessings. 

In conclusion, I want to leave everyone with this final message.  I understand that everyone is going through something, whether it is drinking, drugs, sex, pornography, or anything at all.  I promise you there is always a light!  Remember that no matter how hard the devil will try and go into your soul and close you off from God, there will always be away back to Jesus.  Jesus is always the person ready to rescue you! 

Blessings,

Jacob Seyler-Schmidt!