I have been mentored by Nathan
Smothers since September 2016. It has
taught me a lot about myself and who I plan to be. Nathan graduated from Wheaton in 2014 and was
a member of the Wheaton College football team.
Nathan and I were able to connect through my church, Antioch Community
Church. I started growing closer to him
when I started to go the Antioch college life groups. By meeting every Tuesday, I grew closer to
everyone in my life group especially Nathan.
At the beginning of my Sophomore year, we thought it would be mutually beneficial
to have Nathan mentor me.
Nathan and
I meet about once a week typically at a coffee shop. We talk about spiritual life, academics, relationships,
sports, family, and life in general.
Nathan has been very helpful when we talk about life after college. I am not 100% sure what I want to do after
graduating from Wheaton College, but I do know that I want to do something in
the business world. Nathan has gone
through similar things too. Nathan
graduated Wheaton College as a communication major and was not sure what to do
with it. The Lord brought him to Antioch
Church as the head worship leader.
Nathan had no idea that he would be led there, but loves what he
does. Having this conversation with
Nathan has released lots of stress in my life.
I have
enjoyed this process with Nathan and cannot wait to see what he has in store
for our relationship.
Kobe,
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for sharing this story of your experience. It is awesome that your were able to invest in your Church and gain a mentor from the experience. Knowing your experience with athletics at Wheaton (basketball), it is interesting to see that you connected with a mentor at Wheaton who was also a student athlete. I think it is incredibly interesting to see how the Lord can use an individual's talent/skills or interests to bring him or her into unity with fellow believers in the Christian community.
In high school, I had a very similar experience with Anders Rotto (a current senior at Wheaton), who used his experience in soccer and student government to encourage me to faithfully pursue my passions and skills for the glory pf God.
I would encourage you to most definitely keep up the weekly meetings with your Nathan, and continue to learn from his past experience in order to continue to not only grow as an adult, but furthermore as a man who follows Christ. Really loved this post, Kobe, it was like a game winning three from the Mamba.
Kobe,
ReplyDeleteI just want to start this post off by letting you know that you are my dear friend. It does my heart well that you have been plugged in with a church and have been able to find a real spiritual leader who can help you and walk with you through all of the troubles of college life. That is very important.
It looks as though you are flowering into a mature young man through your conversations with your mentor.
You should ask him if he knows my brother, Tyler Peters. Nathan may know him or at least recognize him. I would be interested to see what he would have to say about Tyler.
I look forward to see how you grow with Nathan over the next couple weeks.
God Bless.
It has been a privilege Kobe to play basketball with you here at Wheaton and really getting to know you. Your ability to bring joy and stay positive has really inspired me. I look foraward to continue our relationship on and of the court. It is great that you were able to connect with someone in your church. I think that is just awesome. I hope you can continue to learn from Nathan and continue to find out what God is calling you to do in your life.
ReplyDeleteKobe its cool to see how you made connections with former Wheaton students through the your church community. I think that its beneficial to meet with former alumni to get a new perspective on the outside world after Wheaton. I also think its good to see a mix of former athletes as you already have a connection, by both of you playing sports here. Im excited to see what happens in more of your meetings.
ReplyDeleteKobe I think its great you have made an effort to really be involved in your church community and that is an example I would like to follow. The times that I have managed to connect with with adults further along in their lives off-campus has been extremely beneficial to me and it is something I seek to do more in the next school year. Looking forward to see where God leads you in the next couple of years and how He uses this mentoring relationship to help you become an effective member in the Kingdom of God.
ReplyDelete-Black
Kobe,
ReplyDeleteIt is really encouraging to see how you have been able to build a strong relationship with your friend and mentor, Nathan. Since he went to Wheaton and was an athlete, like yourself, I'm sure it is easy to connect with him. It is awesome to hear that Nathan has giving you insight for the future and how to achieve your goals. This is a really cool process and I'm glad that stress has been released from your life. This reminds me of Proverbs 12:25, "Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up." Thank you. I encourage you to continue this relationship.
Caleb