I experience joy whenever someone asks about my greatest accomplishments.  This is because my greatest achievements originate from my lover: His name is Jesus Christ.  Ephesians 2:10 declares I am “God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance” (NIV).  My relationship with Jesus defines me and is my proudest accomplishment.  God allows me to recollect exact dates surrounding many of my great accomplishments.

On Tuesday, April 7, 1998, my mother witnessed my grandfather’s death.  That evening, my mom sat me in her lap and she tearfully announced, “Evan, your Papa Carlo went to be with Jesus today.”  My mother’s saddest day became my proudest moment: she shared how Jesus offers undeserved grace to anyone willing to accept it.  She explained, “Papa Carlo believed Jesus died on a cross in everyone’s place.  His resurrection is why I know I will see my daddy again.”  Jesus not only comforted my mom in her sadness, He introduced Himself through her unwavering faith.  I eagerly await my reunion with Papa Carlo because on April 7, 1998, I “accepted Jesus”.  I’m glad Jesus became the direction and director of my life at four-and-a-half-years-old.  Jesus made my relationship with Him happen.

God provided me a fascination with technology in Kindergarten.  I accidentally created my first HTML file on August 1, 2002.  Soon after this accident, I learned people create websites using HTML documents.  I soon created HTML documents in the hopes of one day starting a website about Jesus.  In 2003, I designed a colored pencil logo of a cross, surrounded by a compass rose.  I enjoyed maritime imagery, and wanted to symbolize that Jesus Christ is the direction and director of my life.  HisCompass Ministry, my personal brand and website launched in early 2005.  As high school began, I learned a web programming language and I desired to create a Bible search engine with this newfound knowledge.  HisCompass Bible required countless hours of development and pizza.  However, collaboration with The American Bible Society and Logos Bible Software made it a reality.  I renamed the project GodWord after my high school graduation.  Upon completing my first year at Texas A&M, I developed a Bible verse memorization tool.  I prayed my high school friends would use GodWord and memorize the Bible beyond the requirements of their Bible classes.  GodWord offers seventeen Bibles to search and read, eleven Bibles to memorize, and its memorization tool has five different levels to challenge its users.  HisCompass and GodWord factored into The Association of Former Students hiring me on August 1, 2014, exactly twelve years after I first touched HTML.  Jesus made this happen.

I’m proud to be a Mays Business School student because Jesus made it happen.  February 16, 2012, was the day I decided to attend Texas A&M University as a Math major.  Although I would not be a Computer Science major, I felt Math would provide similar opportunities.   I soon discovered my foreign professors were unintelligible, and the teaching assistant habitually misgraded exams.  I decided Mathematics was not my correct major and found Management Information Systems might be right for me.  However, there were many prerequisites to overcome.  After netting only six hours my first semester at A&M, I wondered if I would ever fulfill the requirements to become a Management Information Systems major.  I took challenging courses, and I remember repeatedly saying, “Jesus, You are God, You are good, and You have a perfect plan for me” throughout my stressful semesters in General Studies.  Those three semesters made me question whether coming to Texas A&M was a good choice.  I finally became a Management Information Systems major on January 3, 2014.  Since entering Mays Business School, I have earned A’s in all of my M.I.S. courses, confirming Management Information Systems is my perfect major.  Jesus directed me to the right place.

I admit many people claim Jesus is a fairytale or a figment of my imagination.  I have many firsthand testimonies which can only be explained by His existence.  My devotion to Jesus Christ grows stronger, especially since arriving at Texas A&M.  My friends tell me I say “Jesus is awesome” whenever I talk about Him, and I guess it is now my personal catchphrase.  However, I don’t say this as a hypocrite or because my parents or Bible tell me so.  College has given me many experiences to grow closer to Jesus and encourage others to follow Him.   Jesus is awesome, because He made it all happen!