About twelve years ago, a man named Leon Boyd Jr. said something to me I never forgot. He told me, “You’re a very intelligent man. You know that Bible from front to back, and you even speak from it. But you don’t believe it all.”
At that time, he was right. To me, the Bible was the most incredible piece of literature I had ever read — full of wisdom, power, and stories that could shape any man’s life. But that’s all it was to me then — literature.
Then one day, something shifted. I stopped reading it for knowledge, and started reading it for truth. And when I believed it — really believed it — everything changed. The Bible stopped being a story about God and became the living voice of God. It stopped being a book I quoted, and became the breath that guided me.
That moment didn’t come from a sermon or a study. It came from a conversation. Because truth doesn’t always come from the one who knows the most — sometimes it comes from the one who’s simply listening.
Leon didn’t know the Bible like I did. But he didn’t have to. Because that word he spoke that day wasn’t his — it was God’s. And it hit me right where I lived. Maybe it wasn’t written in Scripture word-for-word, but it carried the Spirit of the Word.
That moment became the start of something — the bridge between what I knew and what I believed. The space where I couldn’t go over, couldn’t go under — so I had to go through. And in that middle ground, that in-between place, God met me.
I want to give honor where it’s due — to Leon M Byrd Jr. and the men of EncourageMen Ministries. You can also find them on Facebook at facebook.com/EncourageMen.