Brian Pate

Received mercy and grace from the one and only triune God, now a Follower of Jesus the Christ, Husband, Father, and “Poppy”

[Byron Donalds @ByronDonalds]

To you, it's just a Cracker Barrel parking lot. To me, it's where I gave my life to Jesus Christ.

I was 21 years old. I was working at the Cracker Barrel in Tallahassee after some of the worst years of my life. I'd made mistakes. Real ones.

I grew up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, raised by a mom who worked hard and didn't accept excuses. But I made decisions that should have ended my story before it ever really started. By the grace of God, they didn't. But every day, I was carrying them.

One afternoon, a church group came into the restaurant, just back from a revival. I served them their meals like I served any other table. But something happened while I was serving them. I can't fully explain it to you. The Lord spoke to me. He said, “Stop running from Me.”

It knocked me back.

I went to find the table, and they were all gone. I could see through their windows that they were getting on their bus, and I knew deep down that if I let them drive away, I was going to keep running. So I went outside. The last woman, just as she was stepping onto the bus, turned to me and asked, “Are you okay?”

I told her, “No ma’am, I’m not okay.” I told her the Lord was telling me to stop running.

That whole bus emptied out, stood with me in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel in Tallahassee, Florida, and prayed over me right there.

I gave my life to Christ that day. Right there.

I still get emotional about it. Because I know what I was before that moment, and I know what He's done since. He gave me a wife who shares my faith. He gave me three sons. He gave me a career, a community, a calling I never would have dared to ask for. He took a kid from Crown Heights who’d run out of chances and gave him a life that doesn't make sense apart from grace.

People ask me sometimes why I talk about it. Why I bring up the parking lot. Why I don't just keep that part private and let folks see the polished version.

I'll tell you why.

Because there's a young man out there right now — maybe in Tallahassee, maybe in Tampa, maybe in Miami, maybe in a small town in the Panhandle — who thinks his story is already over. Who thinks the mistakes he's made disqualify him from the life he could have had. Who thinks God doesn't want anything to do with somebody like him.

I'm here to tell him: that's a lie.

In life, you're not who you are at the lowest point. You're who you choose to become after.

The Lord met me in a Cracker Barrel parking lot. He'll meet you wherever you are.

You just have to stop running.

[Brian Pate @abidingWithHIM]

“Pride shrinks when Jesus is seen as majestic and beautiful.”

[Brian Pate @abidingWithHIM]

For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.” #hebrews13

[Brian Pate @abidingWithHIM]

… always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect”
— 1 Peter 3:13-15
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[Brian Pate @abidingWithHIM]

“[Christ follower] who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?
But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, …
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[Brian Pate @abidingWithHIM]

And He has given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.
— John 5:25-27
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[Brian Pate @abidingWithHIM]

“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in Himself.
…
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[Brian Pate @abidingWithHIM]

I [Jesus] do not ask that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one.
They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.
— John 17:15-17

[Brian Pate @abidingWithHIM]

Sadly, many come to the Bible with the attitude, “if this sounds reasonable to me, I will obey it.”

But God says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5

[Brian Pate @abidingWithHIM]

@akafaceUS Pond. If it was a lake, you could water ski on it. 😉 Mississippi

[Brian Pate @abidingWithHIM]

Like Ezra, I want to set my heart to study the word of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach it to others. (Ezra 7:10)

[Brian Pate @abidingWithHIM]

I want to walk in a way that is worthy of the calling with which I was called, with all humility and meekness and patience. (Ephesians 4:1-2)

[Brian Pate @abidingWithHIM]

As the earth brings forth its sprouts
And as a garden causes that which is sown to spring up, So the Lord God will make righteousness And praise spring up before all nations. (Isaiah 61:11)

[Bulldawgs247 @Bulldawgs247]

Jett Johnson officially back in maroon and white https://t.co/V4i2e8ZJMz

[Ericka Andersen | Writer @ErickaAndersen]

"In the 20 years I was drinking, I never received any spiritual guidance or Christian discipleship on the harms of alcohol.

Neither my church nor the Christians closest to me taught me how to steward my own soul if I chose to make alcohol part of my life.

Alcohol simply wasn’t addressed within any kind of meaningful spiritual framework."

via @WNGdotorg
https://t.co/Nlx5xoGpbw

[Brian Pate @abidingWithHIM]

“… so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”
#1thess4 #parousia

[Brian Pate @abidingWithHIM]

God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.” #revelation22

#solascriptura

[Brian Pate @abidingWithHIM]

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” #2timothy3
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[Brian Pate @abidingWithHIM]

“I [John] warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, …
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[Brian Pate @abidingWithHIM]

True joy and real peace are not emotions or qualities we achieve - but qualities we receive. Received from Jesus at the moment one puts their faith in Jesus. Joy and peace are intrinsic qualities - inherent and come from within rather than external factors.