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Faith
Journey-
Robert Yacobucci - March 15,
2007
My name
is Bob
Yacobucci, 42 years old, married to Jean, and a father of three
children, Nicholas (14 years old), Kathryn (13 years old), and
Elizabeth (11 years old).
Sometime
ago I finally understood two words that I have heard
repeatedly and I never applied these words to myself. These two words
are “Faith Journey”. I’ve always
considered my relationship with God as a static relationship. I
recently realized it is a journey that must happen over time.
My personal faith journey began when I met my wife. When I
lived
at home my Mother
always made us go to church; however, once I left home I never attended
church. It was only after I met my wife and she encouraged me to attend
a United Methodist church that I started attending a place of worship
regularly. When we moved from Florida to Hollidaysburg we began to attend the First United Methodist
Church of Hollidaysburg. The second
person in my life that played a critical role in my faith journey is
our Preacher Brinton Shafer. He did not do anything specific other than
being a terrific preacher, which encouraged me to continue to attend
church. For about 15 years though I never did anything beyond attending
church. Only recently did something change in my life, which made me
see our church for what it is and I realized that I am on a faith
journey.
Yes, I attended a Church, but I did not have God in my life.
God
knocked on my door and I ignored Him for about 3 months. God
then
pounded on my door and I finally answered and He quickly came into my
life Dec 2005. Up until this point, I knew nothing of God,
the
Bible, or who Jesus really was. I knew God wanted me to do
something and I wrestled with Him for several months. I went
down
through a long laundry list of things I was not capable of doing such
as singing, playing an instrument, speaking, and the list went on. I
felt not worthy to
be in
his presence.
I was in turmoil asking God what was it that He wanted from
me. I finally relented and said “God, all I have to
offer
you is my life. Please take my life and give it to someone in
this world who is doing your work. If it means they may live
another 5 minutes, day, week, or year doing your work, I freely give
you my life.” It was then He revealed to me what He
wanted
me to do. And He is slowly revealing more over time.
God expects from us to
reach out to other people to help them make steps towards Him. I feel
this is something I can do. I know I cannot make the journey for
anyone, or push a person towards God, but I can at least help some
people make that first step. I know when my time comes to go to be with
God that He will show me all the people I had an influence on in
helping them make their journey towards Him and forgive me for my sins
against other people.
Faith Festival is my own personal way of worshiping God, and it
will allow individuals in other congregations that are like myself to
offer
something back to God, and most importantly help others in our
community to make their first step. Even if we spend 1,000 hours
reaching out to other people, and only help one person, it will be
worth it. This is what we are all called to do. Just as if there were a
sinking boat and you were in a life raft, would you not reach
out
your
hands to help pull someone in?
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