12/8/10

He Sticks Closer than a Brother

Erica Ebel

I stood in the line of bridesmaids waiting for my friend Hope to come walking down the aisle. I glanced over at the groom, my brother Joel, bouncing on the stairs, anxiously peering down the rows to the doors. The organ sounded the “Wedding March”, the audience stood up, and the doors opened to show Hope wearing a tiered white dress and medium-length veil. Joel’s eyes lit up and his face could hardly contain his smile. I thought back to how much Joel had gone through to reach this point, and how we had come to be more than siblings.

Joel and I grew up in a dysfunctional family. My dad had accepted Christ but lived for his own pleasure. My mom was not saved. They married when they were 21 years old, too young and for the wrong reasons. Consequently, they divorced. My mom remarried immediately and decided to move to my stepdad’s hometown in Iowa. Three-year-old Joel had developed friendships at preschool and in the neighborhood. At 18 months old, I remembered nothing. When my mom moved us from Colorado to Iowa, Joel struggled with the transition more than I. Ironically, as I grew up I became more cynical and resistant towards my mom for making the family move. Joel, however, maintained respect and loyalty to Mom and this rubbed off on me. He made a point of taking me aside during struggles between my mom and me and reminding me that my mom had made a change out of love for us. Slowly, I began to develop a real relationship with my mom, and my relationship with Joel grew as well. Our friendship would draw us closer, especially when Joel accepted Christ as Savior.

The summer before his seventh grade year, Joel attended the Fellowship of Christian Athletes’ (FCA) baseball camp. The FCA functions to bring sports and faith together. While at this camp, Joel received Christ as his Savior. When he arrived back in Iowa, I could tell he was different. Instead of treating me well just because we were siblings, he treated me well because he had learned that Christ expected him to live as Christ lived. Joel also realized he needed to live in a home that taught the same values he now lived for. He began requesting that my mom let him move to Colorado, explaining that he wanted freedom to attend a church of his choice (my mom is a Jehovah’s Witness, and has always required us to attend meetings with her). At first, she resisted his requests; but the next year, Joel packed his bags and moved to Colorado. In the next four years, Joel grew consistently in his Christian life. The first two years after he moved, I resented him for leaving me. To spite him, and Christianity as a whole, I began seriously studying the Witnesses’ religion. Joel continued to speak to me about salvation many times and invited me to church with him every time I visited. Though he did not lead me to the Lord, Joel planted the seeds that led to my conversion.

Three months before I turned fourteen, I agreed to go with Joel to the winter camp at the Wilds of the Rockies Christian Camp in Colorado. During a night meeting, the preacher spoke about hell. I had heard of hell, but I knew few details. The Witnesses do not believe in the biblical view of hell, and I felt trapped between two extreme viewpoints. After I got home, my saved family gave me a missionary biography. As I read the story of this man’s struggle and victory of accepting Christ, I realized I had the truth presented to me and I had to make a choice. That day, I accepted Christ.

After my salvation, I wrestled with remaining in Iowa. I had no Christian friends at school, and I wasn’t growing because I had no one to disciple me. I made the same choice to leave Iowa during my sophomore year of high school. Joel and I began discussing college. As Joel considered college, he looked for one thing—a Christian college that had sports. Maranatha became his obvious choice, because they offer more intercollegiate sports than any other fundamental Baptist college. After his freshman year, he found that sports didn’t satisfy him. His first two years of baseball, he sat on the bench. After playing baseball for 14 years, Joel expected to play. God used this to change the focus of his life. Because he didn’t play much, he decided to quit before his senior year. He used this extra time to focus on things which affected his future. He declared his major as Pastoral Studies, but he was unsure of where God would use him. God also used his girlfriend Hope to change Joel’s focus. Joel had never dated anyone before meeting Hope. She comes from a Christian family, and her standards and positive influence encouraged and supported Joel in setting his own standards. Through his preaching classes and his relationship with Hope, Joel’s love for God grew and he looked for God’s direction for his life.

As his education drew closer to an end and his relationship with Hope grew more serious, Joel sought the Lord’s direction for his life. He began meeting with our youth pastor Josh Musgrave. Joel set up an internship with our home church and they assigned him to work with the youth group. Joel works well with teenagers, and was excited about the opportunity. That summer he and I taught youth Sunday school together, and his maturity amazed me. Many students at Maranatha would not describe my brother as mature; he spent most of his time goofing off in class and distracting friends studying in the dorm with silly impersonations and movie quotes. In Sunday school, however, Joel showed another side. He commanded your attention because it was obvious he had a passion for what he was teaching. When Joel spoke about God, his face lit up. He became animated and kept the youth group enwrapped in his every word. God used that summer to put Joel’s focus into youth ministries.

Joel accomplished that focus. After marrying Hope this summer, he became a youth pastor in Castle Rock, Colorado. His life choices impact the decisions I make today because I value my relationship with him. I admire the way he has led his life. He sticks closer than a brother; he is one of my best friends.