The Gospel Colored In: Noah and Tim’s Story

Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.A.

“Maybe this whole Jesus thing is real.”

That sounds like the beginning of a great story.

On paper, for Noah, you’d think it was a given that Noah believed in Jesus. He grew up in a loving family, a strong church community — following Jesus was just something you did. But he needed to understand why you did it. And it took 17 years, a lot of heartache and a hospital lunch visit to figure that out.

Noah had been adopted at a very young age, and as he got older, he was questioning how he fit into his landscape. If he didn’t look like the people around him, maybe he didn’t believe like them, either. The more he questioned, the more he rebelled against the life he’d been raised in, becoming a self-labeled “problem child” the adults around him seemed to want to fix. And he didn’t want fixing. He wanted something to believe in.

At his lowest, Noah tried to take his own life. But hitting rock bottom isn’t what began to turn things around. It was a visit from a guy named Tim. Noah was in the hospital recovering, and Tim, one of the Awana leaders at Noah’s church, showed up for lunch. They just shared a meal and talked.

No, “we can’t have this happen again, Noah,” lectures.

No judgement.

Just love. And that looked a lot like Jesus to Noah. “That’s when the Gospel was colored in for me,” he said. It was the gentle beginning of a new life built on faith, and the moment Noah decided, “Maybe this whole Jesus thing is real.”

The impact of a caring adult like Tim investing in a young person is — well, it’s really immeasurable. Because every relationship established through Awana child discipleship has the potential for a chain reaction of faith. This one may have started with Noah, but there’s a lot of life left in that story. We’re blessed to have a front row seat.