There are so many things that I was told that I wasn’t able to do as a child. Most of those things were small, others where big things like “you will never make it through school, you are stupid, you will never go anywhere in life.” Being a kid who struggled with a learning disability called dyslexia I grew up thinking that I was never going to amount to anything. Obviously there where always people like my family and those closest to me that believed in me, but somehow I got it into my head that because school was harder for me than the other kids that I was never going to be someone who did anything significant- until I was a grown up that is. The academic struggle and the idea that young people can never do anything that is worth while where two things that I have wrestled with all my life. God created me to be a person of passion. That was very apparent in my early years growing up. I was a deep “feeler” and the kind of kid who once he set his heart on something, went after it full speed ahead with no breaks. As you can imagine that left me with numerous disappointments, resulting in an attitude of defeat and the acceptance of the idea that I was never going to do something that had eternal value.
Pretty soon college rolled around and before I knew it I was becoming a part of something that was far greater than myself. God had placed me in a friend group that not only grew close quickly, and not only deeply and genuinely cared for one another, but was also “overly ambitious” as our friend group has been described in the past. I can remember thinking early on in my relationships with those guys that there was something that was going to come out of that friend group that was far greater than just silly pranks and gross dares. Don’t get me wrong I did and still do thoroughly enjoy those kinds of things with my boys. However God began to move in our hearts and long story short Revive was born. My purpose of this post is not to exhaust the story of how Revive came to be and it most definitely is not to boast on what a hand full of under qualified college guys are capable of doing. Rather, it is to encourage the students that we minister to. It is to motivate my peers who are in college and seeking out something that is more than just school.
Just because you are young and feel as though you have no qualifications or do not fit the criteria that you picture in your head of what a significant person has. Just because you do not have skills that some would say you would need to do something that is far greater than any achievement of this world does not mean that you are incapable of doing something that could change someone’s life. After all the only person who is capable of doing that is Jesus. All you need to make a difference is Jesus. Take him with you wherever you go and you cannot fail. With that should come all the confidence in the world. I have seen that in myself and those that I have surrounded myself with.
So if you take anything away from this feel encouraged knowing that you are not worthless because your young, in fact you have a greater platform because you are young. Never live in the lie like I have been so trapped in and honestly still am at times! Just because you are young does not mean that you will not be able to do anything for Jesus until you are older, or out of graduate school. And secondly take Jesus with you wherever you go and you will not and cannot fail.
Love you and believe in you,
Andrew Schmidt
Pretty soon college rolled around and before I knew it I was becoming a part of something that was far greater than myself. God had placed me in a friend group that not only grew close quickly, and not only deeply and genuinely cared for one another, but was also “overly ambitious” as our friend group has been described in the past. I can remember thinking early on in my relationships with those guys that there was something that was going to come out of that friend group that was far greater than just silly pranks and gross dares. Don’t get me wrong I did and still do thoroughly enjoy those kinds of things with my boys. However God began to move in our hearts and long story short Revive was born. My purpose of this post is not to exhaust the story of how Revive came to be and it most definitely is not to boast on what a hand full of under qualified college guys are capable of doing. Rather, it is to encourage the students that we minister to. It is to motivate my peers who are in college and seeking out something that is more than just school.
Just because you are young and feel as though you have no qualifications or do not fit the criteria that you picture in your head of what a significant person has. Just because you do not have skills that some would say you would need to do something that is far greater than any achievement of this world does not mean that you are incapable of doing something that could change someone’s life. After all the only person who is capable of doing that is Jesus. All you need to make a difference is Jesus. Take him with you wherever you go and you cannot fail. With that should come all the confidence in the world. I have seen that in myself and those that I have surrounded myself with.
So if you take anything away from this feel encouraged knowing that you are not worthless because your young, in fact you have a greater platform because you are young. Never live in the lie like I have been so trapped in and honestly still am at times! Just because you are young does not mean that you will not be able to do anything for Jesus until you are older, or out of graduate school. And secondly take Jesus with you wherever you go and you will not and cannot fail.
Love you and believe in you,
Andrew Schmidt