So you’re probably wondering, “Who is Kyle, and why is everyone agreeing with him?”

Kyle is an outstanding Lawrence Tech student in his 3^rd year of architecture. Living on the 8^th floor of South, he misses his family, his girlfriend of 2 years, and his small farm on the west side of Michigan. Kyle is just a regular student who believes it is possible to have a personal relationship with God through Jesus' death on the cross. Below is a little slice of Kyle’s story, but come to M218 at 12:30pm on Wednesday, October 28, 2009 to meet Kyle and hear his full story in person.

“I was a pretty typical kid growing up. I rode my bike a lot and had some pretty cool sneakers. But I was miserable.

Let me explain.

I looked good on the outside, you wouldn’t think anything was wrong. I really liked to impress my parents, and I would do some pretty weird things to get my friends attention. I began to try to earn their love and approval.  I was pretending to be someone I wasn’t. It made me miserable because the satisfaction I desired never came and I was left searching for where I went wrong.

Growing up in a Christian community, I learned a lot about Jesus. I knew intellectually that He had died for me to rescue me from all the mistakes I had made. It was a daily part of life. But none of it really mattered, it was just another thing to learn about, and to be honest, I really didn’t care. I was still miserable, and learning more stories about Jesus didn’t help.

Then the light bulb came on and I fell in love with Jesus.

What made me fall in love with Jesus was grace. The mindset I had about earning the love of others was shattered when I heard about the love Jesus has for me. I didn’t realize that the whole time I was trying to earn others love, Jesus had already offered me His love and forgiveness. It ceased to be just an intellectual idea, Jesus was someone I had to make a decision for. I wanted Jesus’ love, so I turned from my sin and received what He had already given to me.

That day comes back to me from time to time, but not in a nostalgic way, it's because I still wonder how Jesus could love me that much. I am finding more and more that grace is unlike any other gift I have ever been given. Grace is an active, amazing thing that has transformed my heart from what it once was. Sometimes I try to think of other reasons why Jesus could have died for me...but I can't think of any. It always comes back to God’s grace, which gives so much purpose to life. Living life with a purpose is hard sometimes, I forget what my purpose is, I sometimes don't care, for a while I didn't even know what it was. That's because I fall so short of the purpose God created me for, sometimes I get so frustrated because I want to do good things, but I don't! I wonder why it has to be so hard...maybe I'm a bit like a rebellious child.

But despite all of that Jesus still loves me!

That day in high school sitting in the blue chair I told Jesus that I wanted to accept his love and the gift of eternal life even when I owed Him everything. And the really cool part, the life changing part, He gave me His love and grace, and living with the hope and purpose of Jesus’ saving grace gives a meaning to life that I can’t fully explain. I changed that day. I quit looking for approval in others and found it in Christ. I turned from all the sin I had been in and gave Jesus control over my life...He knows what is best for me more than I do.

I am now living life out of love and thankfulness for what Jesus has done. I used to live life trying to earn that love. I don’t feel like I have to do the right things, I want to. Jesus has completely changed who I am, and I want to share that awesome gift with everyone I know.

I know a lot of the time I get distracted by homework, and events, and the typical business of life...but when it really comes down to it, the most important thing to me is Jesus' love for me.

Come to M218 at 12:30pm on Wednesday, October 28, 2009 to meet Kyle and hear his full story in person.