The Lord’s Prayer
Early in his relationship with Karen, whose dad is a pastor in New Jersey, Jason was being gently encouraged to explore Christianity by Karen. He was reading The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel, a book suggested by Karen’s dad. He was also attending church to help with Karen’s choir, where he got exposed to the gospel and singing in the choir. This all became more real to him one Sunday when attending a service given by Karen’s dad. Midway through the sermon, they recited The Lord’s Prayer and Jason felt something wash over him. He became aware of Jesus in a totally real and living way. With his eyes closed, as he continued the prayer, it was as if the Holy Spirit consumed him and all the space around him. The Lord’s Prayer became a 1-on-1 communication he was having with Jesus. It was no longer a leap of faith; it was a moment of truth that would transform his life.
Jesus in the Mall
Jason and Karen remained on the East Coast, attending her dad’s church. Jason continued his studies after that moment of truth. Something you may not know about Jason is that he has Type I (juvenile) diabetes. On a few occasions he’s had episodes where his blood-sugar level dropped low enough for him to need help from someone else. One of these lapses occurred early in his relationship with Karen, not long after he’d been visited by the Holy Spirit during the service.
When Jason’s blood sugar drops, he sort-of checks out. This one particular day, he went into a dream-state where he saw himself walking with another person in what appeared to be a shopping mall. Instead of stores, the spaces in the mall were filled by workshop areas, all being guided by different instructors. The activities in each workshop were cool things to do, but not necessary good things. For example, in one area, the instructor was teaching how to do karate/ninja moves that would hurt people. The person walking with Jason told him “These things appeal to some people. You can go in if you want.” Jason decided none of these things were for him.
After a bit, and with Karen’s help, he could feel himself slowly coming out of the low blood-sugar. Right about then, the other person walking through this “mall” with him revealed himself in non-verbal ways to be Jesus. As he started to come-to, Jason saw a scarf hanging over a screen divider in their room – a scarf he remembered Karen had worn to a wedding a few days earlier. He stayed focused on the details of the scarf, clinging to who he knew it belonged to as he regained full consciousness. Slowly he became aware that Karen was there cradling him with a straw in a glass of orange juice.
On The Move
Jason continued to read and study the Bible with Karen and discuss various aspects of the Bible with Karen and her parents. They got more involved with the church as a couple and joined the choir at the Flemington church where Karen’s dad was now a pastor.
Then they moved. Karen’s job offered them an opportunity to move to Ireland where they found a great Presbyterian Church right down the street from their house in Dublin. They made some wonderful friends and stayed there two years.
Then Karen’s career had them move to Wisconsin, where they had difficulty finding a home church. For five years, they tried more than 20 churches, finding them either too shallow in providing spiritual guidance or too conservative in their practices. Jason and Karen had a hard time growing their faith and as a result went through a number of personal challenges without a nurturing home church.
Another Leap of Faith
In 2013, Jason and Karen chose to move to California, initially to El Granada. Soon after arriving here, they starting attending two churches – the Half Moon Bay Methodist Church and Mariners. The timing of the MCC service was most convenient for them so they attended MCC more regularly and began developing relationships with people at MCC almost immediately. What impressed Jason most was being surrounded people so comfortably sharing their relationship with God and their faith. That led Jason and Karen to take that leap once again and continue growing their faith in a warm and meaningful way.
Now Jason is getting involved at Mariners and integrating his faith into his life in every way and continuing to strengthen his relationship with Karen and God.
He’s found that taking that leap of faith has allowed him to have greater trust in all of life’s situations, knowing there is Godly purpose in everything we experience.
By Laura McHugh, Volunteer Storyteller
