Last Words

This is my final Wednesday as the Student Pastor at Meadowview. This is a letter I wrote to the students. I love you all.

Dear Students,

I’ve begun packing up my office and I’m surrounded by memories. I’ve explained why Batman is better than Superman and what’s the difference between DC and Marvel. I remember the multiple semesters of high school guy’s discipleship we crammed into this room. The counseling sessions with parents and students, praying with students, and laughing about the misadventures and drama of life will never leave my mind. I’ve listened to heartbreaks, frustrations, secrets, joys, funny stories, and successes within these four walls. . Tears have stained the floor and laughter imbedded into the walls. For that, I am equally honored and blessed.

I now look at a drawing of Jesus that was beautifully created for me by a foreign exchange student from Holland. This student and her magnificent piece of art will always mean so much to me wherever I go. The paint stripe on my wall was finished by students who wanted to help me “make my office cool.” There isn’t an Appraiser on this planet capable of determining the value of this space.

I’m surrounded by Sunday School material, DiscipleNow curriculum, magazine articles on youth culture, countless devotionals, books, study tools, commentaries, concordances, and eight different Bible translations (including Greek, which I still struggle to translate). Each of these consistently played a role in the messages I preached and Bible studies I taught. I’m typing on a laptop filled with folders of messages crafted to teach and communicate the inerrant Word of God to you all.

I shared my final message as the Student Pastor of Meadowview on Wednesday, March 7, 2012. It was also the first message I shared with Meadowview in October 2007. I challenged each of you with the power of “whose we are.” God has created you, but accepting Jesus as your Savior makes you His child. He has a plan for you and by holding on to Him you will fulfill it. You will go places you’ve never dreamed. Do things you never conceived as possible. David was a simple shepherd. He loved God but all he had to give was his courage. God used that one gift/talent and took him from shepherd to King. It happened because David wanted to follow God. He trusted God in his life.

This isn’t something for the past. God wants to do that in your life today. You all have so many talents and gifts. I’m floored by what you all can do. Trust God in what He has allowed you to have in your life. No matter how small you think it is, in God’s hands it can impact 5,000+ people.

I love you all and mine and Kati’s lives have been impacted far more than we ever impacted each of you. We have made relationships that will carry on through this side of heaven. Now, I must continue to pack up my things and smile at the memories that flood my mind because half of the tears and laughter in this room belong to me. To God be the glory.

By Grace,

Jason Wallis

“But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior…” Isaiah 43. 1-3