Weddings (and funerals for the matter) are the perfect place to run into people who have known you “forever”.

While I now reside in the great state of Wisconsin, I recently found myself back in my hometown in the suburbs of Cleveland OH for my little sisters wedding. Without a doubt, be it for a day or for a week, when I come home for a visit I hear the same thing from these “forever friends”.

They tell me how much I have changed.

They tell me how they are surprised and proud of the way I turned out.

They expound some embarrassing story of my past. We all have a laugh and then move on.

But as I was in Cleveland for my sisters wedding something new struck me, something profound (I suppose).

It is far harder to serve Jesus Christ where you’re from than it is to serve him where you’re going.

Let me explain. In Wisconsin I am simply known as Pastor Steve. The only thing people know about my childhood is what I tell them. Yet whenever I am home I seem to always come face to face with someone who knows a little more about my past than I wish they did (and I was a pretty decent kid!). For me, to serve God in Cleveland, would require a strong dose of humility, for I would have to own my every failure. I would constantly come up against those who could throw my past into my face and decry hippocrite!

So why on earth would Jesus ever make someone stay in there hometown and serve in ministry like he did to the formerly possessed man he freed from bondage in Luke 8? I think the key is transformation. Sure, my friends and family knew who I was…but they can also see who I am. Where did the change come from? Jesus. That is what he said to the man he sent home: “Return to your house and describe what great things God has done for you.” It’s gritty letting those who know you best see the new you because they know the old you. But what an opportunity.

Some of us are called to new places and new people. We go without regret. Yet others of us are called to live out loud the new life that Jesus has given us right in front of those who knew us before Jesus got His hands on our lives.

To my friends and family in Cleveland who are living out loud where we grew up, may God continue to use you to change our hometown for His glory.

To my friends and family who have been scattered for His glory world wide, never forget your past, it is part of who you are.

To those of my forever friends who are reading: yeah, I know…you never thought you would see me doing what I’m doing, but I guess it’s just one more proof that God is God. Who else could have made me what I am today.

Here’s to your own hometown aha! moment