Blessing #2 - Jonathan Webb - Doer of the Word!

Going from my grandpa in the last blog, it was a challenge on which blessing to write about next.  I’m by no means writing these in order of when they came in to my life, nor based on value/importance.  Blessings from God are simply that, “Good gifts from above”, therefore they all carry extreme value in our lives.  Which leads me to another blessing, a college friend.  

  I met Jonathan in the Fall of 2002, when I returned back to college after sitting out a few years to make enough money to return.  The years that I had to sit out of school due to finances were agonizing!  I was so eager to learn, so eager to grow, and so eager to start a career.  But once again, God had a better plan. God was even more eager for me to grow! Those years I got to meet some amazing people, spend time with family, and come back to college with a deeper understanding of life, and a how new group of friends. 

You know you hear those sayings, "if you could only pick a hand full of people  to be in your life raft for survival who would they be?"  Well, one of those persons for me is Jonathan.   I had just been settled in my new dorm room, when this young kid pops in and just starts a casual conversation.  We found common interests, burdens, and even the fact that he and I had nearly been next door neighbors when I had moved to Temple, Texas (the years I sat out of school).  It was so wonderful to have someone to relate those past few years with.  He and I had gone to sister churches, and therefore we knew a lot of the  same people and some of the same friends.   But that was only the beginning.

Jonathan is someone who is a “doer” of the Word.  Jonathan has a strong heart for missions, evangelism, and Biblical literacy.  Jonathan’s passion to live the Word is contagious, nearly anyone who has spent anytime with him will tell you of his what they “learn from him”.   I went through some difficult times in the years that followed meeting Jonathan, yet because of his contagious faith, I found the courage to live in Christ more abundantly and therefore, I was able to weather the storms of life with a firmer foundation in Christ.  As I grew, my passion for understanding the historical & literal  interpretation of Scripture became more passionate.  Jonathan’s father is a Gideon, in 2004, he and his family took me to a Gideon Conference in Dallas.  For the first time I heard Haddon Robinson preach a two part sermon, which radically changed my life (I will share more on this in a future blog).

Jonathan and I took a trip to Boston in 2005 to check into a graduate study at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary.  The whole experience was enriching as we toured the historic New England sites.  One of the most impressive sites for both of us was they church and burial site  where George Whitfield the great evangelist preached and was buried. (Whitfield is buried below the church underneath the pulpit.  There is a basement to view his resting place. Whitfield arrived in Newburyport in September, 1740. The revival that followed his labors, brought into existence the Old South church that we visited. Whitfield crossed the Atlantic thirteen times, and preached more than 18,000 sermons. His audiences often numbered as many as 15,000 people. Interestingly enough the church bells at the Old South church were made by by Paul Revere, and its steeple guided ships to safe harbor in Newburyport. We also visited the House of Seven Gables in Salem Massachusetts and learned more about the history of one of my favorite authors Nathaniel Hawthorne.   

 I have not seen Jonathan since our graduation since 2006, and he has since gone on to graduate from Gordon Conwell, which included a semester long studying abroad in Israel & Egypt. He also has been involved in ministries such as Prison Fellowship, Angel Tree Ministries, children Ministries at Calicinto Ranch in California, mission trips to Denmark, and now Japan.   We I read this scripture, I see it exhibited in the life of Jonathan and also a challenge for myself to live in this same manner!  Jonathan thank you for your impact on my life!  

"Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.  Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror  and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do."   
                                                                   - James 1:21-25