Becoming a Christian

With anything we set out to do in life, more often than not, we want to accomplish that

task immediately, we want to reach our goals tomorrow, we want to succeed now. Our life

becomes more liberating when we realize this mindset is flawed. As difficult as it sounds, and

with it being just as easy to say, we must fall in love with the process. So…what’s the ‘process’

of “Becoming a Christian”? Jesus. We must fall in love with Jesus Christ. I want to reiterate

before I continue by saying this isn’t an easy task, nor will it happen overnight. It’s achievable

by making small, consistent, and substantial steps in our relationship with Christ, you will

ultimately get to, not only where you want to be, but where God wants you to be. I’m not up here

to say I have already accomplished this task of fulfilling my faith life, and now I’m forever

content. I am up here, today, to say I am in the same boat as you, and I believe in Jesus calling us

for something greater than who we are now. Although God loves us just the way we are, He

refuses to leave us there. I was listening to a talk from Father Mike Schmitz and he said

something that stuck out to me. So often my thought process on having a good faith was thinking

that everything has to be perfect. But Father Mike doesn’t say that. He says that God doesn’t ask

us for perfection, He asks us for faithfulness. Before I get into the main points of this talk, I want

to acknowledge that I, being the one giving this talk, am not up here to tell you all what you

should do, why I think you should act on what I say, nor am I here to act like I am more faithful

than anyone of you because I am giving this talk, I am up here to talk about my journey and what

has been useful for me. If there is something that resonates or encourages you to do something,

great, if there is something you can take away from this talk, that’s good, too. I just want you all

to know I feel blessed to give this talk and to be where I am at today, and I know that’s not from

any human hand, it’s from God.

 To summarize my background and who I am, quickly, I was born and raised in Dubuque,

Iowa. I am the youngest of six kids in my family, and I have twin brother. I love teaching tennis,

sour skittles, tacos, my family, making people smile, and seeing people laugh. I am a Senior

studying English Literature, but have the hopes of one day being a high school religion teacher.

Lastly, I grew up Catholic, our family goes to mass on Sunday, we pray before meals, and all

that jazz. And although Catholicism has been in my life, I believe that makes it easier for people

who grew up in this manner, more prone to be complacent or stagnant in their faith life. When I

think back on my experiences at mass growing up, I remember thinking about my beloved

Chicago Bears noon game during the homilies, keeping a straight face during the songs because I

thought I was too cool to sing, seeing how long the host would sit at the roof of my mouth before

it disintegrated and eventually gently yeet away, and closing my eyes while kneeling so I could

squeeze in a quick two-minute nap. After reflecting on these experiences, it made me question,

‘Why me’ why would I be chosen to give this talk. I don’t have an incredible faith moment that

propelled me forward on my faith journey, I didn’t have an epiphany where everything all the

sudden mad sense, so again I asked ‘Why me’. I’m not trying to discredit anyone who has or will

experience that life changing encounter with God, because those are so beautiful and powerful, I

just haven’t experienced something like that which I believe is okay too! I eventually realized,

maybe that’s the whole point. You see, this time period of confusion and doubt about giving this

talk made me realize that it could be resourceful to hear about someone who didn’t have a

powerful God moment, but rather someone who tries to keep God at the center of his life, and

does small, consistent steps in his faith journey in hopes of one day being in Heaven.

To further explain this notion of doing small substantial steps to grow closer to God, a

big part of it is perspective. For example, a quote that I heard that has helped me tremendously
is, “What punishments from God are not gifts?” At first, I was like, ‘What are talking about?

How are the bad things that have happened in my life gifts’? I thought about it for a bit, and

actually found a way to discover what this quote is saying.

Think about it, what difficult times have you experienced in your life you have grown from?

I’ll share an example, when my longtime tennis coach, boss, and one of my best friends passed

away due to pancreatic cancer, that really hurt me and still makes me sad. There is no denying

that this is was a difficult time for me, and still is hard to talk about. She taught me so much

more than how to hit a faster serve, a stronger forehand, or have better footwork. She taught me

at the heart of everything and everyone, there is something good. It pains me to know that I

realized this after she passed in the moment, but I can take what she exemplified as a gift of how

I can see the good in all things. The beauty of this quote, is that there is no timetable. You may

not see the gift tomorrow, in a week, month or year, but that difficult time you had to go through

can be shifted into something good. So, in the punishment, or tough experience, I was able to see

it as a gift from God for allowing me to use all that she taught me in her life, in hopes to

implement that into my life. I believe this can be applied to just about anything. In dark times, I

hope you know they are only temporary, and you will come out stronger because of it. As

frustrating and confusing this quote may seem, I truly think we can always view the people and

things in our life, as gifts. By doing this, it allows me to see God in a different light. Sometimes

He puts us in tough situations so we may grow as individuals, maybe He doesn’t give us strength

in hopes that we may turn to Him for strength and for guidance. Next time you’re going through
a difficult time such as; loss of a loved one, heartbreak, feeling down on yourself and the world, I

encourage you to go to God. Whatever you have, he’ll receive it and take it. You will grow

closer to God, and you may see growth within yourself afterwards, too. I am a firm believer that

God is leading you to be the person He created you to be, even if it involves suffering.

Sometimes I wonder why God puts bad things in my life like the examples I just shared. Then

when I was reading a book called Just Like Jesus, it made my viewpoint on me thinking I should

be exempt from suffering… change. In thinking this way, it makes me sound selfish. Why should

I be excluded from suffering, and yet watch others have to face difficult times and situations.

Who am I to say that I don’t deserve hard times too. Of course they’re not the best and happy

times, but there is so much growth to found in whatever personal battles you may be fighting. So

next time you’re mad at God for going through hard times, have the humility to recognize that

you shouldn’t be exempt from sorrow because it’s you, rather view it as a way to grow

individually, and grow closer to God.

Reverting back to the process, I believe it’s important to have somebody to look up to, or

have a hero.

Think about the heroes in your life. Who am I witnessing now that I want to be in 5-10 years.

Where do I see Christ in my life and I say ‘I want to be like that?’ (pause for 10 seconds)

How about choosing you. Not you now, but you in 5 years. Yes, as egotistical and arrogant as it

sounds to pick yourself as your hero in five years, I believe it shows signs of humility. I say that

my hero is me in 5 years because that gives me somebody to chase, and it forces me to act now.
What am I doing now that myself in the future would be thankful for? And thinking about this in

light with faith life, it calls me to get on it now. Is what I do now for my faith something I’ll be

satisfied with in 5 years? Who knows, but what I do know is, that if I set aside time for God in

my life on a daily basis, my relationship with God will undoubtedly grow. That’s a big factor

into all of this, there is a dedication that must be included. If I’m chasing the person I am going

to be, I want to put my best foot forward. Every day, week and month I decide whether I know it

or not if I chose God. And once that 5 year mark comes rolling around, my next hero is going to

be 5 years from there, and constantly going until I am no longer alive. I will never meet my hero,

but that keeps with someone to keep on chasing. One of the things that helps with this mindset, is

prioritizing your faith life. So often I fall into the trap of not praying because I am meeting with

friends, hanging out with my family, or even smaller chunks of time where I say I’ll do it after I

shower, once I get dressed, or eat breakfast… but sometimes I never get around to it. My

perspective on this is wrong, why not say ‘Okay I’ll spend time with God first, and then see if I

have time to do something with people.’ If I say I’m going to pray for 30 minuets today, block

out time where you will do that. Even if it conflicts with hanging out with other people. By

having this structure in your life, it allows you to build a life with God at the heart of it, rather

than find time for God when it’s convenient. Those small steps in growing closer to God may not

be as daunting as it sounds. It could be telling someone you’re thankful for them, praying the

rosary, making someone laugh, going to mass, and so many other ways we can embody what

Christ is all about. Last thing on this idea, there are so many things other people can do for us in

life; people can help us with homework, drive us to places, provide us with good times, and

many other things, but nobody can spend time with God for you. Spending time with God is

something that is solely dependent on you. I can’t choose to block out time on your behalf, it
takes work to independently pray to God and spend time with him. So even if you feel that your

faith life isn’t strong or when you do something faithful that you feel isn’t doing anything for

God, your future self will thank you. Don’t let the good be the enemy of the perfect. Even if what

you’re doing doesn’t feel like much, keep doing it, I promise it will build into something you’ll

be proud of over time. Like I said earlier, God calls us for faithfulness, not perfection.

The hardest part about this process is being willing to take time to spend time with God,

and having humility about the process. Sometimes I am tired when I get home and I don’t want

to pray, I just want to go to bed. Other moments I want to be with family or friends and postpone

my prayers to God to be with them. This all changed when my grandpa passed away. My

grandpa was an old-school football and basketball coach in Wisconsin. He had a tough exterior,

but soft interior. He expected his kids to work hard, and not be complete until the work they had

to do was finished. How true is this when we think about our faith… he used to say ‘If you don’t

have time to do it correctly, when are you going to have time to redo it?’ If we’re not going to

spend time to grow in our faith, when are we going to do it? Make it a priority, and there’s no

denying you won’t be tempted on days when you have other things going on, I can assure you

that you’ll be happy that you did in the end. Most of the things that we put in front of God, are

materialistic things or temporary fixes. A quote that I like relating to this is ‘The grass withers,

the flowers fade, but the Word of God lasts forever.’ If we harvest prayer, mass, or even

modeling love towards others, we will reap the benefits in eternal life with God. Don’t stop when

you’re tired, stop when the work is done. When I think of these actions and this mindset, it

makes me think of John 4:14. To give context to this reading, it is titled Jesus Talks with a

Samaritan Woman in Scripture. This woman is filling up her bucket with water from her well,
and Jesus approaches. This woman is from Samaria and they despised people who came from

where Jesus lived. She is very protective of her water when Jesus asks for a drink. She is

consumed with the idea of having her water, and that’s how she is satisfied. But Jesus states one

of my favorite lines in the Bible saying, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,

but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will

become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” How beautiful is that! We can only

be satisfied in God alone. You may be thinking, “Riley, how does this work in my life? I don’t

have a well where I get water ya dummy” Good point. But, I’m sure there are things in your life

that you may find satisfaction from. It could be from social media. Whether you engage in it or

scroll through your feeds, it’s vital that that doesn’t satisfy us. I’m not saying it’s wrong to have

social media, where I believe it’s a problem is if that’s where we find our satisfaction, and it’s

more important to us than God. I encourage you to search for ways where you can put God first,

and find satisfaction in Him alone. There are many other ways in which we may put other things

in our life in front of God. It could be a show we are obsessed over and it clouds our time that

could be with God. Again, I’m not saying to never watch tv or movies, but make sure you leave

time for God. It also could a sport we’re involved in, musicals, homework, and all types of

things. Enjoy those activities but don’t let it be your only satisfaction, for it is in God alone that

will satisfy us for eternal life. Even if we do find this fulfillment in him over everything else,

have the humility to say it’s from God. When people see you and compliment you on your faith,

or say you are holy, that’s God. ‘Being holy is not about what you are doing, but what God is

doing through you.’

As great as these examples may sound, there is a probable chance you may be looked at

differently, or some people think you will have changed. Relating this in my life, when I starting
taking my faith life seriously, there was a shift in my priorities and where I spent my time.

Although I was happy with who I was becoming, there was some judgement from my closest

friends and even my family. Therein lies persecution to be had about how you’re acting and what

you do. The first example is when I decided to say grace before a meal with my friends. I simply

said, “Do you guys want to pray before we eat”. To my surprise, I was greeted with laughs, some

shaking their heads, and even a couple saying I was only saying that for the attention. This really

threw me off, are they actually laughing and mocking me for saying this? Am I in the wrong? In

thinking this way, I was letting earthly desires, and the devil cloud my judgement for what is

right. I knew I was right! So I didn’t let it discourage me for it is written in Scripture, “Blessed

are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Another example is when I lost the cross necklace I often wear, and I was in my house looking

around for it. I simply asked if anyone had seen my cross necklace and one of my family

members snarkily said “Oh the one you wear in front of your shirts so everyone can see you’re

Catholic?” They don’t know it, but that comment hurt me in that moment. As a way to celebrate

my faith, and hopefully serve as an example to show who Christ is, I was welcomed with a

relative saying I’m doing it for the pride of myself. As you can see, I still wear the necklace in

front of my clothes in hopes to maybe touch one soul to be reminded of Jesus, and come back to

him. Even if it touches the heart of one person, my goal will have been achieved. In the midst of

all the judgement, and harassment you might face, I encourage you to keep the faith.

To conclude, I want you to know that no matter what you say in prayer, God loves it. I

had a talk with my friend about a month ago and expressed my frustration of feeling like I pray

for the same couple things over and over again. They gave me a great analogy by saying this is

like a child giving a scribbled drawing to a parent, and how proud that parent that is. They
rejoice in their child’s work and put it on the fridge, they smile and express how great their work

is. Same thing with God, no matter how small the prayer, how vague or specific, God welcomes

that. He is proud that we are sharing our thoughts with Him, He desires us to belong to Him. As I

stated in the beginning, these perspectives and acts of faith are part of the process. We are all

running the same race, and the finish line is heaven. Be comforted in knowing we are all running

this race together. We all go at our own pace, there is no judgement from God for we are moving

forward. By doing small or big acts of faithfulness we are getting closer and closer to God. Any

step with God at the center is a step forward and I pray and desire to see all of us at the finish

line.