When I read the story of the prodigal son, I used to think it wasn’t about me. After all, I had grown up in church and had always known Jesus. Then I realized I had more in common with him than I expected.
I grew up at Emmanuel Faith. My earliest memories are from the Children’s Ministries Caterpillar Room, where my faith began to take root. Yet somewhere along the way, I treated Jesus like a passenger in the back seat, someone I knew was there but rarely invited to lead. Looking back, I realize He wasn’t just riding along. He was patiently guiding me home.
After my parents divorced, our family stopped attending church regularly. My dad stopped going, and my mom spent years searching for a church that felt like home. But God never stopped pursuing me. A friend invited me back to Wednesday nights at Emmanuel Faith, where leaders still remembered my name. Somehow, both of my parents ended up living within walking distance of my childhood church, making it possible to keep coming back. Even then, God was making a way.
As I got older, I drifted again. I convinced myself I was too busy and didn’t need God the way I once had. Then my husband and I experienced the heartbreaking loss of our first baby. In my grief, I questioned God and stepped away even further. Months later, on our baby’s original due date, we learned we were expecting Tommy. God didn’t erase our grief, but He met us in it and reminded me He was still writing my story.
When Tommy was nine months old, I began looking for a job. Everywhere I turned, someone mentioned my church was hiring. I ignored it until one day I prayed, “God, if You really want me here, give me a sign.” At that moment, I drove past the church and saw the sign: “EFCC Is Hiring.” I laughed, applied that night, and was hired.
I worried I had been gone too long and had turned away from God too many times to be worthy of serving in His church. But the father in Luke 15 never asked his son where he’d been or made him earn his way back. He simply ran to meet him with open arms.
I spent years thinking Jesus was just a passenger in the back seat of my life. Looking back, I realize He was gently guiding me home the whole time. My story is about discovering that every time I wandered, He was faithfully there. And maybe He’s doing the same for you.
Madison Kamman
Early Childhood Coordinator