Bobby settled into his couch for the evening with two grand plans: get high and watch sports center. This is a common ritual for college boys, and Bobby was no stranger to college rituals; occasional frat parties had turned to nightly - then daily - drinking, and the collegiate search for enlightenment played second fiddle to the self-soothing numbness of alcohol and drugs. But as acquainted as he was with worldly pleasures, he was just as familiar with God’s Truth.
At eight years old, Bobby had encountered the Truth at the hands of his mother. She loved Jesus and had planted a seed of this love in her son’s heart, but church visits were rare, and his father had played the part of disinterested provider, caring little about the spiritual state of his son. In the midst of this parental duality, Bobby had run from the Lord instead of toward Him, only keeping the slightest appearance of interest for the sake of his mother.
Then, at eighteen, he had left his home for college and “freedom.” He had felt liberated to fully explore his new scene, and thus inaugurated himself into the world of parties with booze, drugs, and more booze. His continued success and popularity were always followed by more of the same until these substances had become as much a part of his life as food and sleep. The company he kept had only encouraged his trajectory, until one day he met a resident advisor named Hiram.
Hiram led a university bible study through “CRU,” a Christian ministry to college students, and had begun to invest in Bobby’s life, eventually inviting him to a winter retreat where they could spend some time away refocusing on the Lord. Bobby had agreed to attend, perhaps out of curiosity, perhaps from a desire for true rest, and found himself riding in the passenger’s seat on the six-hour drive from campus to the retreat. During that long drive, Hiram had suggested he watch a video called, “The Bema,” a dramatic presentation about the Judgement Seat of Christ for believers.
Of his experience, Bobby says:
“When I saw the visual of the stadium… During that part of the drama, Christ was saying to some, ‘Well done my good and faithful servant,’ and to some he wasn’t. And my heart burned because I realized that there was nothing more worth hearing than those words.”
Bobby had re-experienced the truth and joined the bible study, but clung to his worldly pleasures, eventually changing schools and abandoning CRU to try and hide from the shame he suffered from his duplicity. Again and again he confessed his shortcomings and again and again he returned to them. He was buried in guilt, feeling trapped in a cycle of sin, and continued to self-numb.
So, Bobby settled into his couch for the evening with two grand plans: get high and watch sports center. But what came on the television was so captivating that he forgot to administer his medication. It was a short documentary about Tim Tebow and his ministry to the Philippines: physical, emotional, and spiritual care to children all over the country. To Bobby, it was a moving display of a life rich with the fulfillment of its purpose. At the end of the show, the reporter came on screen and said, directly into the camera, “Tim, if you’re out there, I’m proud of you and excited for the moment you get to hear ‘well done!’”
A flood of emotions overcame Bobby on that couch, and he remembered the words of Jesus he had heard in that drama. He says, “It brought back those words he spoke to me that day in the car. I want to live for that kingdom, and not for my own. And I think it was that night when I really gave my life to Jesus. I had multiple addictions and after that night they were just gone.”
Bobby went on to work at CRU, the same organization he had joined and fled from as a college freshman. After giving his life to Christ, he chose to steward his gifts for a Kingdom that will last forever, and lives every day in anticipation of THAT DAY when he will hear, “Well done, my good and faithful servant, in you I am well pleased!”
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