Ryan James
About
My name is Ryan James (a.k.a. Rick James) -even though I look, act, and sing nothing like the musician. I popped out on January 1987 with a smile on my face ready to take on life (would you rather have me explain the true child birth process?). I was brought up in the upstate New York area, and currently live in a small country suburb called Honeoye Falls, pretty much a place where lots of corn is grown. In 2005, I escaped the corn fields and made my way down to the blue waters of West Palm Beach, FL to attend college. I graduated in 2008 with an undergraduate degree in Organizational Communication and organized lots of travel plans to start exploring the globe and serving the Lord. I have a passion for any extreme sport that deals with a board, which has ended me up in hospitals many timesJ. You know something is wrong when I repeatedly say, “I am all messed up.” God truly has blessed me with an amazing family that has a heart for the Lord and a love for others. Their example has been huge in making me the man I am today.
Faith
Being a wee lad raised in the Christian faith and taught the aspects of living a life for the Lord, I was saved at age 9, but never wanted to take that step to full commitment. I had points in my life where I went to a camp or youth event and came out praising the Lord, but soon after the passions faded. I had the thought in my mind that I will follow the Lord with all my heart when I get older. I wanted to “live life”
in the present and experience God here and there, and experience what the world had to offer. As time went on I was seeing the hypocrite I was becoming, and the life I was leading was in no way pleasing the Lord. I was like the lukewarm water ready to be spat out (Revelation 3:16). With this realization the Lord really took my heart and desires, and began to shift them towards Him.
Now I am a man that fully has a heart and desire to serve the Lord where ever He has called me. Over the past 4 years of my life God has been working in my heart in so many ways, but mostly in showing me how graceful and faithful He is. As a fallen man I need to bring my sins daily to the Lord, and the crazy thing is - He is willing to forgive me. Also, I am a person who likes to hold the reigns in life. Slowly, I am finding out that when I let God take control, the outcome is beyond anything I could do. I can honestly say I don’t know currently where the Lord wants me in life or what He wants me to do. As a young adult it seems like so many doors are open, but which one should I take? What gives me peace is knowing God will close doors and open new ones that line up with His will for me. And I will walk that way giving Him the praise and glory!
