Brady<\\/h3>\\n \ I heard about Brady\\u2019s experience first.<\\/p>\\n \ Brady picked up an interest in lacrosse as a freshman.\\u00a0 He became the JV goalie and was really, really good.\\u00a0 The coaches often had him play JV & varsity games.\\u00a0 I watched him play in the freeeeeezzzziiiiinnnnnggggg cold one January night.\\u00a0 His consistent performance stunned me. He continued to improve his game and became the varsity goalie when the previous goalie graduated.\\u00a0 The team traveled a lot to games.<\\/p>\\n \ Though many of the boys on his team belonged to the same church and faith as Brady, he somehow stood out.\\u00a0 While passing a temple, the boys would yell out, \\u201cThere\\u2019s Brady\\u2019s house!\\u201d\\u00a0 When I first heard that, I took it as a compliment for him.\\u00a0 But apparently, his teammates didn\\u2019t mean it as a compliment.<\\/p>\\n \ Brady had befriended several really strong, faithful members of the team.\\u00a0 But they all graduated and left on missions.\\u00a0 Suddenly Brady found himself standing for his standards alone.\\u00a0 On the bus, the guys shared stories or topics or clips of things that weren\\u2019t Brady\\u2019s jam.\\u00a0 He wound up sitting at the front of the bus chatting with the bus driver.<\\/p>\\n \ On the field, Brady was noticed!\\u00a0 People were talking about scholarships and playing in college.\\u00a0 He had a bright future in lacrosse.<\\/p>\\n \ However, one evening Brady approached his parents, telling them of his decision to quit the team.\\u00a0 Shocked, they asked how Brady came to that decision. Brady described his experience and said the environment wasn\\u2019t one where he wanted to spend his time.\\u00a0 He\\u2019d made covenants and planned to live them. He\\u2019d decided long ago to serve a mission and wanted to be as prepared as possible when that time came.\\u00a0 He didn\\u2019t feel that being on the team helped him reach that goal.<\\/p>\\n \ Brady shocked his coaches, too.\\u00a0 They resisted his decision but had to agree with his conclusions about the tenor of the team and ultimately supported his decision.<\\/p>\\n \ Brady walked away from scholarships and accolades and, in his newly freed-up time, found a job to earn money for his mission.<\\/p>\\n \ Brady\\u2019s mom told me this story. When I asked Brady about his experience, he shrugged it off as a decision made far in the past. Without the fanfare of look-at-me super righteousness or anything other than trying to follow the Lord\\u2019s will, Brady quietly continued his discipleship, because he truly is a disciple of Jesus Christ.<\\/p>\\n

{"id":7214,"date":"2024-02-07T07:29:53","date_gmt":"2024-02-07T17:29:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/delisahargrove\/?p=7214"},"modified":"2024-02-07T07:29:53","modified_gmt":"2024-02-07T17:29:53","slug":"brady-and-bryce-chose-jesus-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/delisahargrove\/2024\/02\/brady-and-bryce-chose-jesus-christ\/","title":{"rendered":"Brady and Bryce Chose Jesus Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

While celebrating a sealing with my family in Utah last year, I heard stories about my nephews Brady and Bryce, both juniors in high school at the time, and how they chose Christ.<\/a> They both inspired me, and I\u2019ve thought a lot about how they chose to follow Christ.<\/p>\n

Brady<\/h3>\n \ I heard about Brady\u2019s experience first.<\/p>\n \ Brady picked up an interest in lacrosse as a freshman.\u00a0 He became the JV goalie and was really, really good.\u00a0 The coaches often had him play JV & varsity games.\u00a0 I watched him play in the freeeeeezzzziiiiinnnnnggggg cold one January night.\u00a0 His consistent performance stunned me. He continued to improve his game and became the varsity goalie when the previous goalie graduated.\u00a0 The team traveled a lot to games.<\/p>\n \ Though many of the boys on his team belonged to the same church and faith as Brady, he somehow stood out.\u00a0 While passing a temple, the boys would yell out, \u201cThere\u2019s Brady\u2019s house!\u201d\u00a0 When I first heard that, I took it as a compliment for him.\u00a0 But apparently, his teammates didn\u2019t mean it as a compliment.<\/p>\n \ Brady had befriended several really strong, faithful members of the team.\u00a0 But they all graduated and left on missions.\u00a0 Suddenly Brady found himself standing for his standards alone.\u00a0 On the bus, the guys shared stories or topics or clips of things that weren\u2019t Brady\u2019s jam.\u00a0 He wound up sitting at the front of the bus chatting with the bus driver.<\/p>\n \ On the field, Brady was noticed!\u00a0 People were talking about scholarships and playing in college.\u00a0 He had a bright future in lacrosse.<\/p>\n \ However, one evening Brady approached his parents, telling them of his decision to quit the team.\u00a0 Shocked, they asked how Brady came to that decision. Brady described his experience and said the environment wasn\u2019t one where he wanted to spend his time.\u00a0 He\u2019d made covenants and planned to live them. He\u2019d decided long ago to serve a mission and wanted to be as prepared as possible when that time came.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t feel that being on the team helped him reach that goal.<\/p>\n \ Brady shocked his coaches, too.\u00a0 They resisted his decision but had to agree with his conclusions about the tenor of the team and ultimately supported his decision.<\/p>\n \ Brady walked away from scholarships and accolades and, in his newly freed-up time, found a job to earn money for his mission.<\/p>\n \ Brady\u2019s mom told me this story. When I asked Brady about his experience, he shrugged it off as a decision made far in the past. Without the fanfare of look-at-me super righteousness or anything other than trying to follow the Lord\u2019s will, Brady quietly continued his discipleship, because he truly is a disciple of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

Bryce<\/h3>\n \ The night after I heard Brady\u2019s story, the family gathered at our parents\u2019 house for the evening. People, chatter, and laughter filled the space.\u00a0 I moved over to talk to Bryce.\u00a0 He is a super-talented musician, is on his band\u2019s drumline, and has won awards with his band every year of high school.<\/p>\n \ His dad\u2019s always been a hard rock fan and has instilled that love in his boys.\u00a0 They formed their own band and covered Metallica and other favorites in a backyard concert (which they streamed for those of us not able to attend in person.)\u00a0 It really was epic.<\/p>\n \ When I stepped into it, his group\u2019s chat was about an anticipated concert and songs my brothers loved.\u00a0 I knew the songs because of Anthony, but it\u2019s not my scene. But I love that they\u2019re so happy about it. As that conversation died down, I asked Bryce about band (I played percussion in marching band a long time ago) and like having that in common with him. I asked Bryce about his band with friends.\u00a0 Then for some reason, I asked what music he listened to on the way to school.<\/p>\n \ Bryce said that he\u2019d stopped listening to the radio on the way to school so he listened to Church music for the youth.\u00a0 Somewhat surprised, I asked why he made the change.<\/p>\n \ Bryce said that in seminary, his teacher spoke of how vital it is to have the Holy Ghost as a constant companion in our lives.\u00a0 Bryce felt the power of those words and evaluated his life to see how he could have the Holy Ghost as a constant companion. He decided to make a change in what music he listened to on the way to school.<\/p>\n \ I flashed to the time when I made that very same choice.\u00a0 I\u2019d known the words of every single song on my radio channels of choice.\u00a0 As time went on, I was less excited about the lyrics and eventually chose something different, too.<\/p>\n \ I asked Bryce if he\u2019d sensed a change. Did he feel the Holy Ghost in his life more?<\/p>\n \ In typical Bryce fashion, he grinned, nodded, and said, \u201cYeah.\u201d<\/p>\n \ Bryce only brought it up because I\u2019d asked a direct question.\u00a0 No egotistical, self-righteous explanations were given.\u00a0 No comparison to what other people<\/em> do.\u00a0 Just a personal conviction to change himself to receive a promised blessing, which he received.<\/p>\n \ Aren\u2019t their stories amazing? These two cousins, good friends, born a month apart, are fully engaged in their senior year of high school, both excelling in what they\u2019ve decided to pursue and are looking forward to their missions after graduation.<\/p>\n \ Their commitment to their standards with opportunities for introspective self-assessments will continue to strengthen their faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n \ But even now, without any future triumphs, they can join with Helaman\u2019s 2,000 courageous young army in declaring<\/p>\n " Our God is with us<\/a>!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While celebrating a sealing with my family in Utah last year, I heard stories about my nephews Brady and Bryce, both juniors in high school at the time, and how they chose Christ. They both inspired me, and I\u2019ve thought a lot about how they chose to follow Christ. Brady I heard about Brady\u2019s experience […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3071,"featured_media":6897,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[56,16,19,28,38],"class_list":["post-7214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-realization","tag-better-choices-through-knowledge","tag-choose","tag-christlike-attributes","tag-covenant","tag-strength"],"yoast_head":"\nBrady and Bryce Chose Jesus Christ - Spiritual Truth Seeker \u2013 My Tesserae<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While celebrating a sealing with my family in Utah last year, I heard two stories about my nephews, Brady and Bryce, & how they chose Christ.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/delisahargrove\/2024\/02\/brady-and-bryce-chose-jesus-christ\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Brady and Bryce Chose Jesus Christ - 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