Justin Wojtczak
Creative Arts Pastor
I grew up going to a Catholic Church. My view of church was that it was an hour long. Then in the fourth grade, my mom went to a Baptist church, and now church was 4 hours long. I did not like that. On a Wednesday night in the sixth grade, I knew that I needed Jesus in my life. If I got in a car wreck on the way home and I died, I knew I needed Him in my heart as my Lord and Savior. But my life didn't change. My focus was on sports and being popular.
I started drinking in middle school behind my parents back, but I was always in church on Sundays and Wednesdays. That carried on for years. It was my seventeenth birthday. At this point I was partying every weekend, but no one knew about it. I was living two lives. My focus was football and partying. Also at this point, my life was very predictable. Each Monday was like every Monday, each Tuesday was like every Tuesday. It was like I was crawling through life to make it to bed, only to wake up and do the same thing over again.
I got out of the shower after football practice one day and my mom had put a book in my bedroom called the Prayer of Jabez. She said "Happy Birthday". I looked at myself in the mirror and said “I don't want to be 35-years old and drinking myself to sleep each day.” I knew what I was doing and I could see myself doing it.
I walked over, picked up the book and thought to myself “What is this? Really, this is all I got?” I was going to throw it in the corner of my room, but for some reason, I couldn't put it down. As I started to read it, it was on Page 17, it asked a question, “Are you ready to do something today that will change your life from ordinary to extraordinary?” I stopped and froze. That word extraordinary looked so good! I wanted it! For the next three hours I read that book and it talked about living an extraordinary life for Jesus. Doing things for Jesus, helping people out, serving people, looking for ways to show the love of Jesus for people. THIS sounded AMAZING! I wrote out a Pros and Cons list about following Jesus. I had nothing to lose. I got on my hands and knees and said “Jesus, here I am, use me!” I didn’t know what that meant, but I was ready for Him.
The next morning, I woke up and it clicked. The birds were chirping and it finally made sense. NO MATTER WHAT I DID, I WAS GOING TO DO IT FOR JESUS. So going to school, playing football, I was going to do it for Jesus and tell everyone the purpose I had. The fulfillment I now felt was indescribable. So today, it has not changed! Being able to live life and honor Jesus through everything I get to do. From being married to my amazing wife. Lori, to being a father to my sweet girls, Kylin and Charlee.
I started drinking in middle school behind my parents back, but I was always in church on Sundays and Wednesdays. That carried on for years. It was my seventeenth birthday. At this point I was partying every weekend, but no one knew about it. I was living two lives. My focus was football and partying. Also at this point, my life was very predictable. Each Monday was like every Monday, each Tuesday was like every Tuesday. It was like I was crawling through life to make it to bed, only to wake up and do the same thing over again.
I got out of the shower after football practice one day and my mom had put a book in my bedroom called the Prayer of Jabez. She said "Happy Birthday". I looked at myself in the mirror and said “I don't want to be 35-years old and drinking myself to sleep each day.” I knew what I was doing and I could see myself doing it.
I walked over, picked up the book and thought to myself “What is this? Really, this is all I got?” I was going to throw it in the corner of my room, but for some reason, I couldn't put it down. As I started to read it, it was on Page 17, it asked a question, “Are you ready to do something today that will change your life from ordinary to extraordinary?” I stopped and froze. That word extraordinary looked so good! I wanted it! For the next three hours I read that book and it talked about living an extraordinary life for Jesus. Doing things for Jesus, helping people out, serving people, looking for ways to show the love of Jesus for people. THIS sounded AMAZING! I wrote out a Pros and Cons list about following Jesus. I had nothing to lose. I got on my hands and knees and said “Jesus, here I am, use me!” I didn’t know what that meant, but I was ready for Him.
The next morning, I woke up and it clicked. The birds were chirping and it finally made sense. NO MATTER WHAT I DID, I WAS GOING TO DO IT FOR JESUS. So going to school, playing football, I was going to do it for Jesus and tell everyone the purpose I had. The fulfillment I now felt was indescribable. So today, it has not changed! Being able to live life and honor Jesus through everything I get to do. From being married to my amazing wife. Lori, to being a father to my sweet girls, Kylin and Charlee.