God Didn’t Give Up by Will Maxwell

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Will Maxwell has been attending Calvary Baptist Church since 2012 and resides in Grand Prairie, TX with his wife and children.  Will assists Calvary's Communications Team during the week in the sound booth as well as ushering and helping with the Judgement House production.  When he's not working or pursuing his Electrical Engineering degree with UNT, Will enjoys playing video games, carpentry, and keeping his marksmanship skills honed.  

God Didn't Give Up

Although I wouldn’t know until years later, my journey to Christ started while I was in the military.  I enlisted in the Marine Corps out of high school and served for nine years.  I was active duty during 9/11 and spent significant time deployed to the Middle East. I was close to other Marines, men I considered brothers.  Some of them were devout Christians and whenever a situation would go awry they would look to me and say, “God was watching over us today.” Being the hardened heart I was, I would brush it off and crack a joke.  Truth be told, I often could not explain why certain things happened the way they did. I lost too many brothers along the way.  We didn’t grow up together, but I would have traded my life for theirs without hesitation. I carried a huge amount of guilt, not for what we were called to do, but the fact that friends, my brothers, did not survive. I felt left behind. I wanted to be with them cracking jokes and hanging out.

When I left the Marine Corps life behind in 2008, I had a hard time dealing with being in the “real world”.  People seemed rude and as if they truly did not care about anyone but themselves. I found it difficult relating to anyone who had not been military and deployed.  This was very dark period for me; I was fighting an uphill battle every day. I leaned heavily on my wife of 14 years (and counting) and a former Army brother I met after joining the civilian world.  We developed a bond quickly because Daniel understood what it meant to have a rough night (because of my nightmares) or that I felt off (because of my anxiety) or the pain was bad today (from my back injury). He could look at me and know something was off and that I needed him to just be there. Half the time we didn’t talk, and when we did, we were cracking jokes.

Daniel invited us to his church many times in the first years I was out of the military.  Eventually, my wife started attending on a regular basis while I stayed home or “had something to take care of”. Soon, my wife recommitted herself to Christ and invited a Life Group into our home.  I was absolutely against that, but I love her, so I let it ride. As the weeks passed, I found myself getting involved with the group. I also realized these people did not judge me in any way. They knew about my military service, deployments to the Middle East, and they did not care. They showed me unconditional love even with all of my faults (to include anger, rage, and the occasional outburst).

Over time, I started attending the church on a regular basis and enjoyed helping out around the church (especially preparations for the Judgement House production).  I developed a friendship with the Pastor, Brian Loveless, and Outreach Pastor, Ron Adams. I would meet with these men regularly. They would always tell me that Christ will accept me, faults and all, but I did not believe I was worth saving.  I did not believe that Christ would want me in His church, but God didn’t give up on me. Since I wasn’t listening to God’s pull on my heart, He found a more forceful way to get my attention.  In the span of a single week we had our car repossessed, could no longer pay our bills, and everything else that could have gone wrong did!

When things fell apart, I had a meeting with Brian. I laid everything out and again he pointed out, “Christ is after you and is calling you”. In that moment, I understood that I could not do life my way. I needed Christ in my life. I needed Christ to lead me and lead my family. That was when I finally accepted Christ in the pastors office, crying and broken.  The feeling that I had someone in my corner was instant.

I would be lying if I said my walk with Christ since that moment has been easy. There have been trials and times where I fall flat on my face. The difference is instead of trying to do it my way, I allow Christ to direct me through prayer and open myself up to His “nudge” in the right direction. I still have flaws, but they are being worked out through our trials. God puts me in situations that are difficult, and once the initial shock is over, instead of getting vengeful I start looking for the thing that I am supposed to learn from this.

In 2013, my wife and I had two miscarriages relatively close together.  The losses tore me up inside, but instead of letting it destroy me; my wife and I lead tour groups through the Judgement House production.  We explained what we were going through to each and every person in our group and how we believed that God would see us through. Our church family rallied around us too; giving support, listening, and encouraging us.

A few years later, God gave us two more sons.  One was born in January 2015.  And a year later, God put an 18-year-old man in my path, leading me to bring this young man into the family. Now all four of our living children are thriving and our family is complete.

I have a saying, “family does not have to share our blood but must be willing to shed blood for each other.”  It’s an idea carried over from my time in the military. You must be willing to help each other, be there when a family member has needs, fill in the gap when one appears. You must be willing to follow through with action, not be the type of person who attends church each week just to check off a box. I have a large church family now, and when we have rough patches, they’ve come running to help.  There are multiple women I call “mom” who pray over us, brothers and sisters in Christ willing to help.  Being a follower of Christ is more than getting baptized and making a proclamation of faith.  Those things are important, but there is much more. You need to read the truth (the bible), you need to surround yourself with friends who will speak the truth into you, and you need to be an active member of your church (both through work and through tithing) and the most important task of all - pray on a regular basis.

Pray for your family, pray for others when they are in the middle of a trial, pray for your pastor, pray for your church. One on one time with God through prayer will open you up to direction and guidance.  You will be amazed how he uses you! Being a follower of Christ is not easy. You will face trials on a regular basis. You will have more questions than answers most of the time. However, eternal salvation and being in a relationship with Christ is worth it. I wake up every day with all the faults I went to bed with, but I now lay it all at the cross every day knowing He will see me through.  My sincere hope is that my story will speak to someone who needs to hear it; someone struggling to understand that Christ is there for you. His gift is free and all you have to do is accept it. And if you have questions, come to our service at Calvary Baptist Church on Sunday, we will help you answer them. 

Our mission is simple: Become whole-hearted followers of Jesus Christ. The people of Calvary Baptist Church in Grand Prairie, TX seek to fulfill our mission by accomplishing these four actions: See God - To experience God in fresh ways every week. Share Life - To enjoy biblical community with our church family. Serve Others - To manifest God’s love in tangible acts of service. Stay Connected - To remain in supporting fellowship during the pains of life.