So again I find myself sitting in Jacksonville, Florida. I have met some pretty awesome people down here ranging from completely ripped people with full sleeve tattoos who would never hurt a fly to ladies who look like they could probably bench press you. Yet one of the coolest people that I have talked to while being down here is actually a guy from my part of the country where corn fields extend as far as the eyes can see.
Well this Midwestern kid was pretty fun to get to know. I decided that I would ask him a few questions. I started off with the basic stuff such as age and his likes but when we got to talking the interview was extremely inspiring to myself and was an overall amazing experience. Max Hill, 18, of Blue Springs Missouri and student at Northwest Missouri State University, answered these following questions on Jax Summer Training Program.
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Q: Why are you down here?
A: Well that's a big question. I am down here with the Navigators at a summer training program. Basically the Navigators are a nationwide campus ministry. They host a multitude of summer training programs across the nation. All the students at this particular program are from the Midwest and we all came down here to Jacksonville for this.
I work a full time job during the week and on Monday nights we have a worship night and on Wednesday night we have a bible study that we prep for and a bunch of other fun stuff. So basically how I got to do that is I knew that I wanted to become a better leader on my campus and this was a perfect opportunity not only for me to grow in Christ but also grow in my ability to lead in a Godly way. I know that I really felt God telling me to go to Jax this summer but I wasn't fully sure why because I would have been able to make a lot of money and I had a job internship back home. Then things fell through and so I decided why not go. What was stopping me from doing that
Q: How did you get involved?
A: Well my best friend from high school had two sister's that both participated in the Navigator's at Northwest. So through that I was pretty familiar with what the Navs were and I thought that I would just go to school and get connected with them. It was the first night on campus and I had no idea what I was going to do that night because my roommate hadn't gotten to campus yet and my parents were actually gone for the first time. I actually felt oddly free because I didn't really have any commitments to attend to. I wanted to experience everything but then I remembered that I had gotten connected with a worship leader at a local church that I was interested in. He said that he was involved with he Navs as well and invited me to hang out with all of them. Then oddly as I got off the phone I found that my RA was also involved in this program as well. Thus began our friendship and I am actually now in his wedding.That's really how I got involved with this program.
Q: How has this changed your perspective on life?
A: This has changed me pretty hardcore. So before college I had faith in God, I went to church and I had a relationship with Christ. Yet I viewed my relationship with Christ on the same field as my personal life. I viewed these as things that I should try to attain equally but when I arrived at college God showed me what a true relationship with him was instead of just what I thought it was suppose to be. He revealed that I shouldn't make a relationship with him a priority but instead I should put him at the center of my life so that I may perform the task that he has given us. The Navs really taught me how to do this.
Q: What are some things you wish to apply to your life from this?
A: A lot of things so at this summer training program i've been learning a ton of things and it's very difficult, not gonna lie to you, it's very challenging but one of the things that I want to do the most and one of things I want to try and work on is making sure that Christ is my center and not my priority. Basically I want to be able to look at my Bible study looking for scripture memory verses look at all these things and not view them as tasks that I have to do to attain God more and live to the fullest because God has allowed me to be that way. God is giving me the absolute most love He could ever give me and none of us could ever fathom something like that. I need to make sure that I remember that every single day and not treat it like a chore but as a friend to the father that I can talk to all the time. Also I want to add patience to my life. It's not easy you know waiting on God's timing and waiting for something like this to happen and to bear fruit but the cool thing is it all happens in his time. If you plant a tree and you can't stand over and yelling at the ground saying grow tree grow. You can't do that because you have to water it every single day but it was 5 minutes 10 minutes at a time you have to go out you have to water that tree and make it deliberate action and eventually the more time you begin to water that plant you begin to see the tree sprout and eventually grow roots and eventually it grows and grows and its branches spread out and it bears fruit and all that doesn't happen in just a day. Another thing, I have been working with a lady and her name is Rita and she is 63 years old and she is the funniest woman I think I have ever talked and she's been in a relationship with the Lord for thirty years and she has been telling me about how much you struggle to grow in Christ because he's teaching her new stuff every single day but she says that she knows now and the things that she knew then were completely different and she can see that in her life not because she's making it up because it happens with time so I hope to apply patience to my life and just let God work in my life.
Q: What are some words of wisdom for everyone?
A: Find something that you love and do it. I know that it's really cliche but The Navigators and God is something I live for you know God is my life and it's not just a hobby you know I don't just hang out with the Navigators because they say they don't have drama I hang out with the Navigators because it's fellowship. God has entrusted them in my life so I'm not trying to preach to you and I'm not trying to convert you through this interview but anything it could be a campus ministry whether it be a club, a fraternity, a sorority find something out there that just gets you going. Find something out there with people that you love to be with and go hang out with them. Go do things with them, go to the park, go to their hometown and go do things together. Those are the people that you want to be friends with for eternity so yeah that's just some stuff that I can leave for you.
Well this was possibly one of the best interviews I have ever conducted. It is crazy to see someone else's perspective on things that you may be involved in. I loved speaking with Max and just getting know him on a deeper level even though we mainly stuck to one topic. This may have been one of my first interviews that I have conducted but I can assure that it will not be my last.
