I remember when I made the decision on my own, at 19 years old, to really start to pursue a relationship with Jesus. I was on fire. Nothing could knock me off the spiritual-high I was on, and I couldn't get enough of Jesus. However, like a lot of young Christians I was still naive to the world around me and the effects it can have on your faith life.

Now, being in college at the time, it was easy to fill my days with Jesus, pursue Him and focus on learning about my faith. I was already surrounded with a great number of people who were believers, started volunteering at a great church, and participated in everything I could.

Naturally, at some point, the flames of faith in my heart were stifled to an ember. The condition of the world around me started to weigh heavily on my heart, and I began to realize that things weren't as clear-cut as I previously had thought. Instead of trying to understand how to navigate this crazy world as a Christian, I did what any young Christian would most likely do — I ignored the world around me. I engulfed myself in faith, spent as much time at the church as possible, and decided when I graduated college I would backpack through South America and teach others about Jesus (granted, I had no idea how much planning that would have actually taken).

As most college students experience, my view of things began to change. It became harder and harder to maintain this lifestyle I had chosen for myself, and I started to return to some bad habits. I continued to fight the good fight, but arguably failed many times over and over again. I learned to merely "get by" and navigate the college life as Christian, or at least well enough to give off the perception to others that I was navigating it well. Typical college age behavior honestly. It wasn't until I got my first "real job" that I realized, the good fight never ends.

I started at the Fortune 500 Company that I currently work for in December of 2011, 7 months after graduating college. The first few months, I was only focused on making sure I made my mark on the company, so I could climb the corporate ladder. After the first 6 months, God really began to show me that He had a plan for me to be there. It started with trying to maintain my professionalism and not get caught up in the office gossip. Surprisingly, in a large company, avoiding the rumor mill is actually harder than you might think.

I started to realize that while I really enjoyed working with the people around me, many people I worked near did not share my faith. I had to make a decision about who I wanted to be in the office. That reality came crashing down at an after work happy hour event with my team. On one hand, there were a few people that were surprised I showed up to this bar. They had heard me talk about my faith, and based on their previous experiences with religion, assumed that someone who was outspoken about their faith in God would not be caught dead in a bar. On the other hand, there was a group of coworkers who had seen a side of me that, well to put it diplomatically, did not represent Christ very well. Upon hearing other talk about their surprise that I was in a bar, the second group admitted they were equally as surprised to learn that I was a Christian. I had reached an impasse in Corporate America.

I had a decision to make, about which person I wanted to be. Now, I would love to say that it was that black and white, but it definitely was not. I soon realized I had to find a happy medium in order to truly share Christ with others within my office. As soon as I made that decision, things actually got harder. I started to notice that there was a spiritual darkness around me, that was having a stronger effect on me than I was able to have on others. That's when I decided it was time to quit working in the corporate business world and enter into full time ministry.

It was a Thursday afternoon when I walked into my former soccer coach turned friend and mentor Luke's office at the church. I vented for a solid 20 minutes about the spiritual darkness i kept running into at work and declared that I was done. I was going to start looking for ministry jobs elsewhere so I could leave corporate business. In that moment, Luke did what a mentor is supposed to do — he posed a question. "It sounds like you have two decisions: You can run from where you are, enter into ministry and learn that even vocational ministry has it's issues. OR you could do something about it. Who are you going to be?"

Those words resonated with me in a huge way. I spent the entire weekend mulling that question over in my mind, trying to determine the answer. I prayed and sought advice from others, and less than a week later I knew the answer. I would stay and fight the spiritual darkness I was experiencing. I would trust God's plan for myself, and look at this Fortune 500 company not as some spiritually dark disaster, but as a mission field and an opportunity for growth. That growth started, with taking action towards connecting with other like-minded men at the office.

Community With a Side of Bacon was born. In response to Luke's question, I started a small group of men, that meets once a week in a local diner to discuss how we grow in our faith while working in Corporate America. It's now been 3.5 years since we started Community With a Side of Bacon, and I can honestly say without those men by my side, I would not still be with the same company after 5 years. In a world where the easy decision is often to just run at the sign of trouble, thanks to God and a good friend, I chose to stay and fight. Now I get the best of both worlds -- the challenges of corporate business mixed with the peace that comes with knowing that God is in control. I am thankful I was called to be where I am, even on the days that it isn't easy.

Proverbs 19:21 (NIV) "Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails"