Ethan May

My life has turned 180 degrees in the last two years through the work of Jesus in my heart and being involved in Risen Church. I am currently a Griffith University Student studying classical music in Double Bass. I’ve grown up in a Christian home and have had two Christian parents and three sisters learning to follow Jesus alongside me for most of my life. 

I thought I was a Christian

For a long time, I thought I was a devoted Christian and was following Jesus. I had been baptised and was going to church every week. I was heavily involved in my church’s youth group and was in the worship team. But then I discovered I wasn’t actually following Jesus.

Sadly, my family had a falling out with our local church and my parents split up. In this time of need instead of looking to Jesus for help, I filled my life with drinking and bad influences. My family stopped going to church, so I stopped going to church; my friends were swearing a lot, so I started swearing a lot. It became clear I had not been following Jesus, I had just been influenced by people that were.

Starting Fresh with Jesus

After I graduated from grade 12 in 2017, I made a conscious decision to try and find a church and follow Jesus. This did not happen instantly, and it did not happen effectively. But in 2019 I met a girl who I fell in love with. Little did I know that God had put her in my life to help guide me back to him. She introduced me to a church on the southside of Brisbane called Risen Church. I began reading the bible every day, going to weekly bible study, asking questions and developing strong relationships with the people from the church. But most of all, I was starting fresh with my relationship with Jesus.

Over the past two years, I have been growing in Jesus through Risen Church and my life has totally changed. I can feel how different it is to be a true Christian compared to when I was ‘pretending’ to be a Christian. I have learned to lead bible studies, how to disciple younger men, have become a Kid’s Church Leader and Worship Leader, continuing my walk with God in my own bible reading and am currently learning to preach the Word of God to others. 

The relationships that I have made at Risen have only strengthened my walk with Jesus. My church family continue to love and support me and build me up in Christ. Risen is a place where I feel that I have really grown and come into my own skin. Through all of this, I have found my passion for youth ministry and plan to develop Risen Youth over the coming year, however God shapes the year.

Investing in the right stuff - people

Something I have learned so far in my relationship with Jesus is that there is one thing that is so important on this Earth. One thing that is a more worthwhile investment than any other. One that will give you more reward in life than anything else. And that is investing in your relationships with other people. I’m not just talking about your friends and your family, although these relationships are seriously important. I’m talking about all people that you cross paths with, in your life. Every person is an opportunity for love, kindness and joy to be spread in the world. 

Every person that you reach out to sees a little bit of heaven come to earth. And that’s what being a Christian is all about right? Trying to live our lives with Jesus as our role model, to bring heaven to earth through us as Christians. 

I never would have thought I would be where I am today, and I owe it all to God. I have full trust in Him and know that he has my life planned out and under control. 

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

Ethan

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