Life Stories


Joel Cowells

I have always been part of a Christian home.  Growing up, my family attended a southern Baptist church on the east side of the Detroit area.  When I was young, I remember going to church every week and not necessarily always loving it, but going because it was what my parents wanted me to do.  I remember really admiring their faithfulness and dedication to the church and I didn’t want to disappoint them.

When I was a teenager I was involved in the church youth group and I guess I was a somewhat typical Christian teenager attending public schools.  I had good morals, but was never overly excited about sharing my faith and didn’t want to be seen as an outsider by my peers.  I knew the Bible stories and some verses, but outside of the occasional Bible study and church camp, I was not very good about establishing a routine for studying the Word and growing in my own faith.

When I started college at Wayne State, I had a pretty miserable first year.  I commuted every day and I usually went just to attend classes; driving home as soon as they were over.  I didn’t make too many new friends.  I had really wanted to go away to college and was considering a transfer as my sophomore year began.  It was then that a friend of mine from church (who was also a student at Wayne State) started urging me to attend Intervarsity Christian Fellowship.  I had heard of Intervarsity before but had never had interest in attending because I thought I would be too busy with studying.  Reluctantly, I decided to visit one week, and immediately loved what I saw: a diverse group of young believers praising the Lord in a way that I had not previously experienced.  The worship was upbeat and exciting and the teaching was challenging and Spirit-filled.  I became very involved in the ministry and my faith grew incredibly in the years that I attended.  No longer was Christianity the faith of my parents but it was my own.  I made many friends as well, and I decided that Wayne State was the place for me after all.  I also made one very good friend named Sara Flutur.  We really were just good friends at first and she wasn’t romantically interested because I was just too tall for her.  Somehow (maybe I shrunk a little) our friendship turned into romance and we have now been married for nine years.

The verse that stood out to me during my college years is Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”   Still today, I look to this passage as a source of inspiration and hope.  God is in control of every situation in our lives.  We can trust in Him and know that His plan for our lives is much better than anything that we can come up with on our own.

As a husband and a father now, I am sometimes overwhelmed by the responsibility I have to provide for my family.  I forget to thank God for the blessings he has given us and don’t remember that our lives have been planned out by Him.  However, when I think back to Jeremiah and other scriptures such as Isaiah 43:1-3 ("Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine”) and Proverbs 3:5-6 (“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”), I know that He is in control and I can turn to Him in all circumstances.  I think the verses in Isaiah and Proverbs are especially important for men like me who try to carry all the responsibility on our own shoulders.  We are big and strong and are looked to for so many things by our spouses, our children, our employers, etc.  Who can we turn to in our times of need when our strength isn’t enough?  These verses tell us that it really is ok to lean on God and let Him be in control.  In fact, it’s His desire that we include Him in every part of our lives.

I still feel that I am a work in progress.  I sense that Christ’s work in me is not complete, as probably most Christians feel.   I still should take more time to read and study the Bible.  I still worry more than I should about life’s challenges.  I don’t always seek opportunities to talk about my faith.  But I do know that I serve a Savior who has come through with all the promises He has made and will never leave me nor forsake me.  It is ok for me to lean on Him and trust in Him.  Thank You Lord for redeeming me, loving me like your own, and giving me a purpose in life.