A simple prayer can change everything. 

When you hear of someone growing up in a Christian home, you might assume that forms the foundation for that person’s Christian walk. While that is true in Caleb’s life, there was another aspect of his upbringing that also greatly influenced him. Strangely enough, it was growing up surrounded by people of a different religion.

Growing up, Caleb was surrounded by same-aged children of another faith: Mormonism. While this belief system wasn’t taught by the teachers in his school, he did learn much about the religion from his peers. Having deep conversations with kids his own age about what and why they believed spurred Caleb to dig deep in his faith. He studied in a way that he may not have had he not been surrounded by these other beliefs on a daily basis. So often, for a multitude of reasons, this kind of confrontation of other belief systems can pull you away from God, but for Caleb, it only pulled him closer.

Every believer, even those who are firm in their faith, struggles with sin. It is our nature, and it wasn’t any different for Caleb. As a teenager, he found himself struggling with a tough, habitual sin. One day, he needed to look up something in the Bible and grabbed his dad’s. As he was flipping through, a little piece of paper fell out. On the paper was a simple prayer: “Dear God, I’m tired of falling.” Slipping the paper back in the pages, he moved on—but those words stuck with him. Soon after, at a youth event, Caleb sat listening in the audience and those words kept coming back to him, over and over again. Thinking about that habitual sin and replaying those words over again in his mind, Caleb prayed that same prayer, “Dear God, I’m tired of falling.” That simple prayer tucked in his father’s Bible was just what he needed to help break that cycle in his life.

Today, Caleb works at his local corps. He does a little bit of everything and whatever is needed to help keep the mission moving along. Caleb is also a senior at university studying Emergency Services Management. Caleb would be the first to tell you that he hasn’t “arrived” in his faith; it’s a lifelong journey and there are still obstacles and struggles to overcome. Along the way, from early days in Utah to today, God has shown up in Caleb’s life by placing people around him who help him stay rooted in his relationship with Jesus. 

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