Everybody needs their own Susan Jones....
So you're probably wondering who is Susan Jones? Let me tell you a story
This story starts when I transferred from THA to HHCA my sophomore year of high school. At HHCA, I figured it would be a fresh start and since it was a Christian school, it would help me become a better Christian. As soon as I got there, I heard about a Mrs. Jones. Apparently, she was a cool teacher who was really personable and really on fire for Christ. It wasn't long after I started HHCA that I fell into a crowd that I shouldn't have. I wanted to be accepted so that meant I would do anything, including drinking, partying, and being sexual immoral. I did all of this out of school, but at the same time, I tried really hard to keep my "Christian" mask on for those at HHCA..so they wouldn't think I was a bad kid or anything. I guess you could say I had two different reputations to keep up, the cool kid reputation and the "Christian" reputation. I was good at doing this too...everyday at school, I would pretend to be good and Christ-like, but after school got out..off I went to the daily spot where the "D-boys" would go to smoke and dip. I had everybody (and myself) fooled into thinking I was good with God and a very good Christian. That is, at least I thought I did.
I kept this double-life, if you want to call it that, up all through my years at HHCA. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Senior year arrived. This particular year I had a class with Mrs. Jones, she taught math and my senior year was her last year before she moved away. Math is not my favorite subject, but thats beside point.
Fast forward some months and here we are at the end of my Senior year. Time to graduate and move on. About a month after graduation, I was talking to a girl from the grade below me. She told me that Mrs. Jones had talked to their class, since she wouldn't be with them next year. And what she said next changed my life forever. She told me that Mrs. Jones had told their class "... not to be like Reh Harvey or another one of the boys in my class"
Let that sink in. Here she was, blasting me for being hypocritical. She saw right through my mask, she knew how sinful I was. She saw it and called me out on it. Immediately after hearing this, I got on Facebook and sent her a nasty message(that I now regret sending). I told her that she shouldn't have said that, and that she should take the plank out of her own eye before calling other people out. I was mad. I was furious. I was offended.
What she doesn't know is that she changed my life forever. You see, to put it hypothetically, when someone is walking in darkness, they don't know it until someone turns on the light and exposing their lives. This is exactly what Mrs. Jones did. She exposed my sinful ways. It took her offending me and calling me out to examine my life and my walk with Christ. After getting over myself and realizing that what she said was true. I began to change my life. I went off to college that year looking for Christ followers to surround myself with, because who I hung out with was who I became. Freshman year was tough because I fell back into the same old ways, but then things got serious. The whole time I had Mrs. Jones' words in the back in my head. After transferring to CofC my sophomore year of college, I was ready for a change. I was ready to put to death the Reh that Mrs. Jones had known, and bring out the Reh that God created me to be....and thats exactly what I did by the grace of God. I surrendered my life to Christ, and let Him take control. I put to death my sinful ways and started living in the light of Jesus Christ.
This transformation is still in progress, but I thank God for Susan Jones. She opened my eyes. She changed my life. She saved my life. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't be going to BCM, going on missions trips, and living my life for God. I pray that if anyone is living in darkness, that they will have their own Susan Jones to come and flip the switch.
So to you Mrs. Jones, I say "Thank You". Thank you for being bold for Christ and saying what needed to be said. You planted a seed of hope with the words you spoke and I won't let you down.
Everybody needs their own Susan Jones. The world would be a better place if there were more people like her.
This story starts when I transferred from THA to HHCA my sophomore year of high school. At HHCA, I figured it would be a fresh start and since it was a Christian school, it would help me become a better Christian. As soon as I got there, I heard about a Mrs. Jones. Apparently, she was a cool teacher who was really personable and really on fire for Christ. It wasn't long after I started HHCA that I fell into a crowd that I shouldn't have. I wanted to be accepted so that meant I would do anything, including drinking, partying, and being sexual immoral. I did all of this out of school, but at the same time, I tried really hard to keep my "Christian" mask on for those at HHCA..so they wouldn't think I was a bad kid or anything. I guess you could say I had two different reputations to keep up, the cool kid reputation and the "Christian" reputation. I was good at doing this too...everyday at school, I would pretend to be good and Christ-like, but after school got out..off I went to the daily spot where the "D-boys" would go to smoke and dip. I had everybody (and myself) fooled into thinking I was good with God and a very good Christian. That is, at least I thought I did.
I kept this double-life, if you want to call it that, up all through my years at HHCA. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Senior year arrived. This particular year I had a class with Mrs. Jones, she taught math and my senior year was her last year before she moved away. Math is not my favorite subject, but thats beside point.
Fast forward some months and here we are at the end of my Senior year. Time to graduate and move on. About a month after graduation, I was talking to a girl from the grade below me. She told me that Mrs. Jones had talked to their class, since she wouldn't be with them next year. And what she said next changed my life forever. She told me that Mrs. Jones had told their class "... not to be like Reh Harvey or another one of the boys in my class"
Let that sink in. Here she was, blasting me for being hypocritical. She saw right through my mask, she knew how sinful I was. She saw it and called me out on it. Immediately after hearing this, I got on Facebook and sent her a nasty message(that I now regret sending). I told her that she shouldn't have said that, and that she should take the plank out of her own eye before calling other people out. I was mad. I was furious. I was offended.
What she doesn't know is that she changed my life forever. You see, to put it hypothetically, when someone is walking in darkness, they don't know it until someone turns on the light and exposing their lives. This is exactly what Mrs. Jones did. She exposed my sinful ways. It took her offending me and calling me out to examine my life and my walk with Christ. After getting over myself and realizing that what she said was true. I began to change my life. I went off to college that year looking for Christ followers to surround myself with, because who I hung out with was who I became. Freshman year was tough because I fell back into the same old ways, but then things got serious. The whole time I had Mrs. Jones' words in the back in my head. After transferring to CofC my sophomore year of college, I was ready for a change. I was ready to put to death the Reh that Mrs. Jones had known, and bring out the Reh that God created me to be....and thats exactly what I did by the grace of God. I surrendered my life to Christ, and let Him take control. I put to death my sinful ways and started living in the light of Jesus Christ.
This transformation is still in progress, but I thank God for Susan Jones. She opened my eyes. She changed my life. She saved my life. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't be going to BCM, going on missions trips, and living my life for God. I pray that if anyone is living in darkness, that they will have their own Susan Jones to come and flip the switch.
So to you Mrs. Jones, I say "Thank You". Thank you for being bold for Christ and saying what needed to be said. You planted a seed of hope with the words you spoke and I won't let you down.
Everybody needs their own Susan Jones. The world would be a better place if there were more people like her.
Comments
Post a Comment