Scott, would you rather wrestle a lion or fight a shark? Why?
I’d wrestle a lion just because a shark is in the water and the fact that you’d have to swim against a shark would be near impossible. So I’d definitely fight a lion, because with a lion you could climb a tree or something, but with sharks, you aren’t safe anywhere in the water.
How did you find your way into the community?
Actually through the website- I came to faith my sophomore year, and I didn’t get plugged in freshman year when a lot of people did. But I looked online at campus ministries through the Loyola website and I found Agape and Ecclesia, and then I found them at the org fair. I came on my own; I didn’t know anyone, so I was kind of nervous to come here.
What’s kept you coming back?
The fact that I’m surrounded by people my age and that everyone is in the same spot in life as me, which makes it comfortable to be at, especially through coming to Christ, it’s a whole new thing, and so it was great to have people who were the same age as me and going through the same thing I was going through.
Why are you a Christian?
It goes all the way back to when one of my childhood best friends accepted Christ during college, and once over Easter break I talked to him, and he shared the gospel and I became a Christian. But now what keeps me going forward, the community strengthening my faith has been helpful. Doing it alone is so hard, but having community has honestly just been super fun.
What draws you to Jesus?
It would be his acceptance of you no matter what you’ve done, and through that the joy that you receive when you seek him. No matter what you do, you’re able to seek him and have him accept you, which is just something that you don’t really every experience in life. It’s so nice and unique that its found it him.
Where have you experienced that grace and acceptance?
It would be particularly with this community because a lot of people know that I don’t live with Christians, so that makes it had to live with people who don’t know Jesus. When I’m with this community, though, I’m able to seek him more wholeheartedly and I’m able to see him more fully. So, especially over the last three years, I’ve been able to experience that joy through the church.
What breaks your heart?
Those who haven’t experienced the joy that’s in Jesus. That’s something that I’ve been struggling with and that breaks my heart, because there’s nothing that I can do that can fix the whole world. But I can still go out for the Great Commission that Jesus left us to do, it’s still my job to do it, but it breaks my heart that, no matter how hard I try, there will be people who reject Jesus. That’s hard, for sure.
What gives you hope?
The promises that God makes that one day, every knee will bow to him. The future grace that’s promised, that gets me going and super excited. When I read about it in scripture and how real it seems, and despite me not seeing that in my lifetime, just knowing that is gonna happen gives me hope.
What’s one book everyone should read?
I’d probably go with Mere Christianity from C.S. Lewis. Typically I would give Crazy Love to everyone, but that’s really a specific crowd that it affects. But I feel like Mere Christianity can really enrich the faith of those who don’t know God and those who do know God. It teaches something to a wide demographic. It’s one of the books that really affected me when I was coming to faith and accepting Christ. It really sparked my faith. Going back years later, though, I still get stuff from it. I don’t think I’ll ever outgrow that book.
Any parting words?
The one thing that’s always been on my heart is the importance of Scripture and always going back to it. Often times, going throughout the school year with classes and tests, I just don’t have any desire to read it. But it is one of the most important things we have in this lifetime.